"Twiley!" Shining Armor exclaimed, but he pulled his ears back right after. Hence the position she was in right now, Twilight had most likely been thrown to the ground or at least knocked down. He quickly glanced around the room illuminated only by a dim light of a few candles that were there. Her friends were on the ground as well, all of them unconscious. It did seem like a powerful force sent them flying. But luckily, they didn't seem to hurt other than that. He just wished he could say the same for Twilight. But that could only stay a wish. There was a pitch black stain exactly on the place where her heart should be. Lines that awfully resembled cracks were slowly making their way from the stain toward Twilight's neck and belly as if they were trying to consume her. Perhaps that unnatural "ornament" was caused by dark magic. But, what was it? He didn't know. But he knew one thing for certain. It was hurting Twilight. He had to help her.
"Don't come near!" Twilight yelled desperately. The mare was shaking on her now weak legs, even though she wasn't even standing. She managed to get only into the kneeling position, and only with her front legs. She didn't have strength to do much more. It seemed like she could fall down any second.
Of course, Shining Armor didn't listen to her. He shook his head and quickly approached her. He held her with one of his own front legs to make sure she doesn't fall down again. "Twiley, what happened?" he asked in a worried voice as he tried to examine the wound. He was right. Nothing beside dark magic could have caused it. And, a very powerful one to say at least. That was bad. Really bad.
Twilight pressed her teeth together until the pain seemingly reduced for a moment, patiently waiting for an opportunity to strike again. Almost like it was playing with her. "Shining, listen to me," she started, only to be interrupted by another bolt of pain that caused her to convulse for a few seconds and clench her teeth, until it passed, though a pained moan managed to get out of her tightly shut mouth anyway. "You have to get away from here," she said once she could talk again. "Leave me and just go away. You have to save yourself. He is still here."
Shining Armor didn't even bother asking who is she talking about. Even though the said pony could be a powerful and on top of that evil unicorn or even an alicorn, though that was less likely. His wounded little sister was his first priority. "There is no way I'm leaving you. I will heal you and then get you and your friends out." His horn started glowing as he tried to apply a spell on Twilight. Spell of light, that was supposed to stop and then clean the darkness that gave Twilight pain and that wounded her. He knew that he will have to use up more of his energy than he usually would, since the dark spell was so powerful, but he didnt even care. All he cared about was healing Twilight. Even if the spell would drain all of his life energy, he would still do that for Twilight.
But, before he actually got a chance to do something about it, a loud and devious laughter echoed around the room, distracting him. Still holding Twilight, he turned around to see who the intruder is, just to make sure that he doesn't get attacked while he is not looking. But surprisingly, all he could see was a shadow. A pitch black rippling shadow with eyes at the height where a little taller ponies would have eyes. Their color was quite disturbing though. Blood red. While Shining Armor was distracted by the strange form in front of him, something that looked like a black rock appeared out of nowhere. Piercing the ground, it shaped a cage around him, trapping him and even worse, separating him from distressed Twilight. Enraged by the attacker's mere appearance and even more by its deeds, he tried to break the cage with his magic, but the wide "bars" didn't even twitch. He tried again. And again. Since he didn't succeed, he tried to use his physical strength to get free. But, with no avail. His stone prison was too firm. He could do nothing but watch as the shadow moved over to Twilight, shaping into a ponylike form. He couldn't be certain if it was still just a shadow or a creature made of flesh and blood, but he didn't even think about it. All he wanted was for that thing to move away from Twilight. The shadow's eyes glew for a moment, making her writhe. "No! Leave her alone!" he yelled. The creature just laughed and sadistically increased Twilight's pain. "Goodbye little filly," it said and raised Twilight in the air without even touching her. Probably with magic. Then everything started fading to black, as if he got hit in the head.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he opened his eyes, but when he did so, Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Neither were her friends. He looked around in panic and shock, but there was still no sign of Twilight, nor the other mares. Since the cage that was preventing him from even moving was also gone as if it had never been here, he could freely go and search for his little sister. He rubbed his temples, got up and started.
"Twiley!" he called, hoplessly searching the dungeonlike... castle? He didn't care what it was. All he cared about was finding and saving the mares. Running around, he searched and searched. But no matter how much he searched, they were nowhere to be found. Dark thoughts clouded his mind. To push them away, he tried to concentrate on his search even more. No. She can't be dead. She just... can't be. Not Twilight. And not her friends. Those kind young mares. They have to be alive! Destiny wouldn't just take somepony like them, right? He knew how destiny was unpredictable, but all he could do was hope. Grab that little strand of hope in front of him and move on.
"Twilight? Applejack? Pinkie Pie?" he called the names he could remember. But, no response could be heard. He felt like the soot colored walls around him were getting closer and closer to each other, as if they were about to crush him any moment. He reached the hallway that was leading to six different rooms. He tried to open the first one, but it seemed to be locked. Then he tried to open the second one. He soon found out that all of the doors were locked. The strength of his magic and his physical strength weren't enough to open them, even combined together. He hit the door with his hind legs for one last, hopeless time. That's where he finally broke, crying out of frustration and anger mixed with regret as he kept hitting one of the doors with his front hooves. "Girls... Twiley..." he cried weakly. That resentful creature had probably killed them all by now. And he couldn't have done anything to protect them. They were dead because of him. Him and no one else. He didn't deserve to even show his face in front of the other royal guards. How could he protect Equestria when he couldn't even protect his precious little sister? He was such a disgrace. Bitter tears were still dripping down his cheeks as he kept hitting the door. He had nothing else left to do, except for banging at the door and hoping for a miracle. With each passing minute, his front legs hurt more and more. Until something grabbed him around the torso, pulling him back and away from the door. He struggled to get free, but as he did so, he was held stronger and stronger. "Release me!" he demanded.
"Shining Armor, please calm down!" a known voice begged.
"No!" the unicorn protested and tried to shake this second "attacker" off him, so he could continue mindlessly knocking at this the cursed door.
"Open your eyes. You're dreamin," another voice, even more known than the first one, said.
His eyes, that have been closed until now finally snapped open and he saw that the door had changed. It became the normal wooden door, not the heavy one made of metal. What happened? He turned to see that huge red stallion has his front legs wrapped around him, but the other soon moved one of them, so he could wipe the sweat off his forehead, before he got off him. Shining Armor started panting. He was feeling like all the strength had been drained from him. "What... What happened?" he asked.
Big McIntosh and Spike exchanged looks. "You... You don't remember?" Spike asked. When Shining Armor shook his head, he continued. "Well... you started acting weird. At first it was nothing. But, I think that you must have been having a horrible nightmare. You really acted so..." Spike couldn't find the right word, but from his expression, Shining Armor could easily guess how bad it was. "I was afraid you would hurt yourself and the only pony I could think of who is strong enough to stop you was Big Mac. So I went running until I found him."
The earth stallion nodded, but without adding his usual "eeeyup." Even though it was over, he was still worried. "What did ya dream about?" he asked.
Shining Armor's lower lip trembled for a moment, but then he sighed in relief. Thank goodness. It wasn't real. His little sister was alright, wasn't she? "It was about Twilight. I... I guess I was just worried, that's all."
"Ah see," Big McIntosh said, before looking at the little dragon, who was just as worried. "Could ya bring him some water?" he asked. Spike nodded and went to do so. Big McIntosh got Shining in the sitting position and started running his hoof over the unicorn's upper back, trying to help him calm down. But, that wasn't enough of a comfort. Without even thinking about what he is doing, Shining Armor moved closer until he could feel the earth pony's side against his own. The sadness he was feeling was overbearing. He knew that he won't be able to take it alone. Not without breaking into thousands of tiny pieces that no pony could put together anymore, no matter how hard they tried. He just needed Big McIntosh near.
The other male winced slightly at the feeling of Shining Armor nuzzling against him. He stepped back with a puzzled look on his face. He wasn't moving. Not even blinking. He was just staring at him. Pulling his ears back in an unspoken apology, Shining Armor tried to reach out his hoof for him, but he changed his mind, bit his lip and looked away, turning his back on Big McIntosh. He didn't think that Big McIntosh rejecting him when he needed him would hurt him that much. But, it did. Why did he do that? Why now? No matter how stupid that sounded, he just wanted to feel a little safe, that's all. Was the other only pretending to care about him? He trusted him! He even showed his weak side to him.
To unicorn's big surprise though, he suddenly felt the earth pony's strong front legs wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him closer. Confused, Shining Armor looked at Big McIntosh, only to see the other smiling with a smile that was saying 'sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I care about you'. He couldn't not to smile as well. Maybe he just surprised him by suddenly moving so close to him? At any rate, he was happy beyond measure to know that Big McIntosh was here after all. Being with him made him forget his worries. At least for a little. But, he still couldn't relax completely. He knew that when he stays alone, they will burden him again. It was impossible to run away from them. Not before this is all over.