Enrique-ZX 
The snow was piling up. Fast.
It had been almost 18 hours since Shining Armor had teleported, and his energy was almost nonexistent. The snow, which had been falling gently when they had appeared in the northern reaches of the Great Eastern Wood, was now whipping past them in waves of freezing, stinging crystals. The ground had long since been covered and when the young stallion looked over his shoulder at the trail behind them, his hoofprints were already fading. The cold was creeping in on him, biting through his clothes and numbing his entire body.
Keep going, he growled at himself, forcing himself to take another step. Just keep going. Another step. Another….
The minutes dragged by. Or was it hours? It felt like it to the 16 year old. His little sister felt heavier with every step and he had to adjust her on his back as she slipped to the right. “Hang in there, Twi,” he whispered hoarsely, squinting into the wind. “I’ll get you somewhere safe.”
As he trudged on into the dark forest, one hoof plodding in front of the other like a creature half-dead – which he probably was at this point, if he was being honest with himself – his mind began to wander. As much as he tried not to, images of the attack came flickering back, darting across his tired eyes in flashes of green and magenta.
“Shining!” He gritted his teeth as his mother’s scream burst upon his ears in a fresh wave of adrenaline. “Don’t…think about it,” he muttered breathlessly, trying to focus his eyes on the trail in front of him. “Have to…. have to get Twi to safety….” However much he tried, the colt’s weak attempts soon proved futile and he found himself spinning away in a torrent of nightmarish memories.
“Shining! Shining, wake up!” His mother’s normally gentle hands shook him roughly awake, trembling with something he had never seen in her before: fear. She dragged him from his bed, grabbing a shirt from his wardrobe and pulling it clumsily over his head.
“Mother, stop!” Shining grabbed his mother’s hands, trying to catch her eye. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Twilight Velvet took a deep breath, meeting his gaze. Before she even spoke, Shining saw the barely-controlled terror glinting wildly in her eyes. When she began to speak, however, her voice was as calm as ever. “Sombra’s troops are coming. Someone…” She paused, as if wishing the opposite to be true. “Someone betrayed us. One of the refugees must have been in diguise. The king knows about the Underground escape route.”
Shining’s eyes flared wide. No. It can’t be true…
“I need you to come with me. Now.” Velvet began leading her dazed son through the house, grabbing items as she ran. She was used to unexpected arrivals from Sombra and Chrysalis – soldiers investigating the house, unexpected check-ins, and the like – and had trained herself and her children to react calmly and with a clear head. But now… when he was coming to take them, her family….. it was taking all her self-control to not give in to her panic.
“Velvet!” Her husband came racing down the stairs, carrying a bundled-up Twilight in his arms. “I can see them on the road!”
Shining ran to great fireplace and heaved one of the family-heirloom swords from its display hooks. “I’ll hold them off! Mother. Father. Take Twi to the transport room.” Shocked by his own words, he began busying himself with dragging furniture against the doors and locking the shutters.
“Shining…”
“Not now, Father! You’re wasting time!” The colt finished pushing the oaken chest against the growing barricade and started towards the dining table.
“Shining!” Night Light’s firm grip halted his son’s frenzied steps. His sad yellow eyes met Shining’s blue ones. Neither spoke, but Shining knew what that look meant.
“No.”
“Son, you and your sister need to–”
“NO!” Shining flung his father’s arm off, stumbling towards the table. He began pulling on it, hooves slipping on the floor as he flung his weight into it without any success. “Come ON!” His teeth clenched as he felt his father’s arms wrap around him. “No! GET OFF! I can-” his voice caught. “I can hold them off. You need to le-”
“No, son.” Night Light’s voice was thick with emotion, silencing Shining’s instantly. “You need to take Twilight to the transport chamber. Your mother and I will hold them off.”
The colt bowed his head, trying to hide the tears that were spilling down his cheeks. His voice came out as a broken whisper. “Please don’t make me. I want… I want you to be safe.” He looked up at his father, feeling like he was ten years old again. “Please, Father.” The expression on his father’s face told him the answer. He crumpled to the ground, shoulders shaking with sobs. “I don’t want to leave you!” he cried.
“I know, son. I know.” Night Light’s strong arms lifted his son off the ground and carried him towards the cellar door. Velvet followed with Twilight, wiping away her own tears as she braved herself for whatever was to come. The group made it to the cellar in less than a minute and gathered around the secret door that lead to the teleportation chamber. Night Light tilted his son’s chin to meet his intense gaze. “Listen, Shining. I know this is hard. I know you want to stay. But right now, you need to be strong for Twilight. Be brave for Twilight. Do you understand me?” Shining nodded his head. “Say it to me.”
“I-I’ll be strong. For Twi,” he echoed back in a shaky voice.
Night Light’s eyes softened. “That’s my little knight.” He pulled his son into a hug, fighting off tears of his own. “Be brave. Be strong.” Shining took a deep breath and nodded. Be brave. Be strong.
“Oh-!” Velvet flung her arms around his neck, kissing his forehead. “We love you, Shining. Don’t ever forget it.” She held him at arm’s length. “Promise you’ll never forget?”
“I promise, Mother.”
“Good.” Velvet hugged Twilight, brushing away the confused tears from the filly’s eyes. “And you, my little starlight, don’t you ever forget how much we love you, either, okay?”
“Y-yes, M-m-m-mother,” Twilight stammered through her tears.
And then Velvet adjusted Twilight’s scarf one last time, Night Light hugged Shining one last time, and then…
Heat. Flames. Roaring down the steps from upstairs.
Shining grabbed Twilight, felt something pressed into his free hand, and was pushed through the secret door. The runes etched into the floor glowed magenta, blurring the room around the pair of terrified foals. Right before the flash of light, Shining saw his father pull his mother into an embrace, changeling fire dancing behind them in a terrible curtain of sickly green. A shadow loomed from the midst of the flames: an armor-clad umbrum, eyes glowing blood red, her black blades dripping darkness and poised above her like snake fangs….
Then the magenta light from the runes exploded in a massive burst of blinding light and–
…
They were in the woods. Snow drifting down around them. Glancing down, SHining saw his hand clutching the old sword he had grabbed from the hearth. Father must have given it to me…
Before he could begin to process what had just happened, Twilight burst into uncontrollable sobs, burying her face into her brother’s chest. Shining clutched her against him, damming up the tsunami of grief that threatened to drown him. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about them. Don’t think about anything. His father’s words echoed through his mind. Be brave. Be strong. The colt looked down at his little sister in his arms. Focus on her. Help her. Get her safe.
“Come on, Twi,” he murmured gently, strapping the sword around his waist and hoisting his little sister onto his back. “We need to get moving.” His eyes darted around the clearing. He knew where they were. He’d led several refugee to this point before, and he’d studied the map even more times. I can do this. I have to do this. Getting his bearings from the compass carved onto one of the stones on the bank of the river that ran nearby, Shining set off into the trees, snow drifting down around him. Using his magic, he smoothed the hoofprints left behind, keeping a steady, brisk walk. For Twilight.
…
And here they were. How many hours later? Shining had forgotten. He didn’t know where they were anymore, either. All sense of direction had disappeared long ago. They could be walking in circles for all he knew. The snow erased all differences in the surroundings, blurring the trees together and whirling by in dizzying clouds of spinning snowflakes. Keep going.
Cold. He was so cold. Or was he? He was so numb that he couldn’t tell anymore. He’d given up trying to use his magic to generate a heat bubble. He’d never trained with magic like Twi had, but she had long since fallen asleep. Unconscious? Maybe. He didn’t know. He couldn’t put her down to check, for fear of never being able to pick her up again. He just had to keep going. Keep going….
Was it his vision or the snow that was blurred? Why couldn’t he hear anything? Why is the ground tilting?
The young stallion had reached the end of his energy. With a tired sigh, his hooves stopped moving. For a moment, he just stood there, battered by wind and ice. Then he fell.
The snow broke his fall, cradling him a a strange numbness that made it seem so… so easy to just…
No. Where was Twilight? With the last embers of consciousness, he crawled to his sister, pulling her limp body against his. Was she dead? Is she…. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t… couldn’t keep his eyes open. He wrapped himself around Twi, willing the last of his heat to keep her alive. Just let her live….
