Chase and Sweetie in: The Polar Express

Chapter 1

It was a cold Christmas Eve night in Barkingburg. A small white terrier was fast asleep in her bed. She was breathing slowly and silently. She was listening for a sound she was afraid she would never hear.

The ringing bells of Santa's sleigh.

JINGLE JINGLE

Sweetie's eyes opened. She turned her attention to the source of the sound and sat up from her bed. She looked towards her window and got up to look, thinking the sound was coming from there. In the process, she rested her paws on top of a radiator heater, which she quickly took off with a silent gasp when the heater burned her paws. Sweetie rubbed her paw on her fogged-up window to have a better view outside. It was snowing. Everything outside was covered in a white blanket of snow. Sweetie wasn't a big fan of the snow. Her small size made it easy for her to get cold quickly. By the castle gates was a snowman built by the Princess. It had a red scarf, stick arms and oven mitts for hands. At least, that is what she could see looking at the snowman from behind.

JINGLE JINGLE

Sweetie turned around. The jingle was now coming from behind her. From her door. Slowly, she began walking to her door. But in doing so, she accidentally kicked a ball she had. It rolled into a metal bowl that was on its side. It let out a loud CLANG, causing Sweetie to stop in her tracks. The bowl jiggled around a big until it came to a quick stop. Sweetie continued her progress towards her door. She opened it and rushed out.

Sweetie ran towards the stairs and went down, stopping at the middle section of the stairs, where another set would lead her down further. From there, she looked at the large living area of the castle, where a big tree was set up. Decorated in ornaments and bright lights. She looked at the base of the tree. To her slight disappointment, there were no presents, the stockings weren't filled, and the cookies and milk were still sitting on a nearby table.

"Whatever." Sweetie sighed to herself. "It's not like I care anyway..."

JINGLE JINGLE

Sweetie turned to the sound. A shadow from a light from another room began walking in. It was big and it had a familiar-looking hat. Sweetie couldn't believe it. Was this really happening? Is she about to see-?

"Alright, Princess. It's time for bed."

Another shadow appeared a much smaller one. Sweetie sighed. It was only the Earl and the Princess. Sweetie shook her head in disappointment as she ran back upstairs to her room. She left a small crack open from her door so she could see what the two would do. The Princess's room was right across from hers.

"Will he be alright all by himself?" The Princess asked as the Earl opened her door.

"He'll be fine, your highness. He's strong enough to take care of himself." The Earl replied.

'Him?' Sweetie wondered.

"I guess..." The Princess started. "But it feels wrong having him guard the crown at this time of year. Especially when he may still need to recover."

'Recover?' Sweetie was now interested in this mysterious person. Whoever they were, they didn't sound like they were in the best condition.

"Earl?" The Princess started as she got into bed. "Is what Sweetie said true?"

"What do you mean, your highness?" The Earl asked.

"She said Santa would have to fly faster than the speed of light to get to every house in one night." The Princess said. "And to hold everyone's presents his sled would be bigger than an ocean liner."

"Sweetie said that?" The Earl said surprised. "She was just kidding you. She knows there's a Santa."

"She said she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if Santa was for real." The Princess stated.