The Crystal Empire... a beautiful place to live, unless you are homeless and starving. A young colt and his little sister know this lesson all too well. They have been homeless for a few months after the death of their parents.
“S-Sister, I miss mommy and daddy, e-especially now during H-Hearth's Warming Eve” the little colt says as he shivers next to his younger sister, his stained and shriveled dark blue mane and tail blowing in the soft, but stinging cold breeze as a light blanket covers his once goldenrod body, now almost unrecognizable in color.
"I... I know brother... I miss b-being ho-home and feeling safe and w-warm," the little sister replies as she cuddles up against his side to try and keep them both warm despite having little to no protection against the stinging cold.
“W-Why did they have t-to die? We’re t-too young to be homeless!”
"I... I don't know... I just do-don't know if we can survive out he-here another week.”
“W-We haven’t e-eaten for three days. I-I’m so hungry…” the colt moans as he hears his belly growl in hunger. The young colt and filly have survived this long by themselves by either looking through scraps or, in some desperate cases, steal with one acting as a distraction or both using stealth to eat for a day, maybe two if they were lucky. “It’s Heart’s Warming Eve and we have no mommy, daddy, f-food, home, o-or toys! W-Why’d i-it have to be us?” he curses, quivering as tears of anger and sadness form in his eyes.
"If we d-don't find a pl-place to stay... I think this may be it," She replies and winces as her belly rumbles loudly and remembers every house they had stolen from or looked through the trash of. "Br-Brother? Wh-What will we do?”
“I-I don’t know…” he moans, hearing his belly rumble again. “C-Come, let’s get s-some food if w-we can…”
"W-We've tried... th-there's no place that'll put their trash out now," She says fearing starving to death in the cold on Hearths Warming Eve.
“W-We’ll have to try to steal something… anything…”
"I can't move... but could we try the castle?”
“I-It’d be too far away… T-There’s a bakery just nearby. M-Maybe we can try to steal a… a loaf?” the colt suggests, shivering as a gust of wind travels through his bones, trying to help his sister up.
"I-It's our only ch-chance... l-let's give a shot," She says struggling to her hooves and uses her bother as little as she could so he wouldn't be carrying all of her weight.
The two young foals shiver as they make their way towards the nearby bakery as snow begins to fall around them. As they make their way to the bakery, they stop and look at a toy store, its display full of various toys such as colorful balls, dolls, plushes, and wooden crafts. “I-I’d give a-anything for a toy now, sister. I’d love a ball or a toy soldier.”
"I know brother... I'd like one t-too," She replies and then slowly starts looking over the toys and eyes them with envy before looking away as tears start building in her eyes.
“Oh… why couldn’t mommy and daddy buy toys like those?” he asks, placing a hoof on the display glass, near a colorful ball.
"I... I don't know... Mommy and d-daddy did the best they co-could..." She says and slowly looks at her brother's hoof then at the ball.
“I know, but, why not buy us something like this?” the colt asks her before hearing an angry voice begin to shoo them away.
"Go on! Get out of here!" The owner of the shop says as he opens the door.
“Come on sis! Let’s go…” the colt says, taking his younger sister’s hoof, and making their way towards the bakery with a tear in their eyes, wishing one of those toys, just one of them, could be theirs to own.
"Wh-Why are th-those ponies so cruel?" She asks as the tears start flowing down her cheeks like small rivers as her small horn aches from the cold air.
“I… I don’t know…” he replies, feeling his tiny wings shuffle against his body, the tears in his eyes almost freezing due to the cold and wind hitting their frail bodies. After several agonizing minutes in the cold, they manage to reach the bakery, seeing a few customers in it, acting as a perfect distraction, or so they had hoped.
"So... nor-normal plan?" She asks, looking at her brother and then starts lifting her hoof to look “injured.”
“Mmhmm. When you hear the bell ring, that’s your cue to leave and meet me outside for our escape," he affirms her. "I hate to do this. Even though mommy and daddy said not to steal, w-we have to.”
"I know... ju-just don't take long... I do-don't want to get caught," She says as she starts stumbling toward the bakery hoping their plan would work.
“I’ll try not to. I’ll grab the first thing that looks good and then get out. Ready?” he asks, approaching the building, smelling bread in the air.
"Ready..." She says as she weakly pushes the door open causing the bell over the door to go off, alerting all inside to her appearance: despite managing to quickly slide a small block of wood into the door to keep it from ringing the bell as it closed.
'I hope this works…' the colt says to himself before sneaking in the store, past the customers, making it past the counter and towards the bread rack. He looks at the many delicious options to him and his sister. After several moments, he decides to get a simple loaf and snatch it from the basket. Score! he says to himself as he makes his way past the counter before hearing a bell. 'No! No! Not now!' he thinks in a panicked state, knowing that was their cue. But this time, it was premature for his sister to stop her act, leaving him exposed.
As she turns around, she sees her brother at the door looking fearfully at the ponies in the bakery before turning her attention back to the owner of the bakery and then starts running to her brother and pushes the door open hoping her brother would be behind her.
The colt makes a break for the door as the loaf begins to break off. 'Nonononono! Please hold on! Please hold on!' he thinks as he runs towards the door before feeling the loaf fall to the ground as he runs to the door. Knowing that their plan backfired and there was no chance of him going back for the loaf, he swallows the small bite he managed to get of it and calls out to his sister, “Run sis!”
As she runs after her brother she tries to make a quick pick up only to grab a couple slices of the loaf of bread between her teeth and then feels a small bolt of weak energy strike her flank, nearly making her drop the bread as they ran as fast as they could.
After several moments of running back into the striking cold, they hide in a side alley and huddle again. “I-I’m sorry sister, I did what I… I could,” he apologizes, tears forming in his eyes again, wishing he hadn’t dropped the bread, their only source of food in a three days.
She pants around the bread in her teeth and then gently releases the bread onto her small foreleg. "H-Hey...I got so-something..." She says and then steps forward and then nuzzles his cheek softly. "You did we-well.”
“I-I know, but… this won’t feed us enough t-to make us not hungry…” he sighs, taking a slice in his hooves and nibbles on it.
"It's so-something, not a lot but... we tried," She says and then starts nibbling on one of the other four slices she managed to grab then winces at the stinging on her flank.
“Y-You okay? Does it hurt?”
"It just stings a li-little, not that bad," She says and then bites into the bread she had started nibbling on.
He nods as the two hungry ponies savor every bite of their “meal” of bread, even though it wouldn't completely satisfy their hunger.
"That wa-wasn't even enough to fi-fill me up..." She says softly and then looks at her brother who looked just as sad.
“I-I know sis. I’m still hungry… and thirsty.”
"C-Can we find any snow?”
“T-There’s not enough o-on the ground to e-eat sister. I-I’m sorry…” he says softly and nuzzles her, a tear sliding down his cheek.
"Do-Don't worry... we'll think of so-something," She says as she cuddles up to her brother and then hugs him close as his wings shuffle gently against her sides.
A hard blowing wind starts to pick up and mercilessly hits them, making them shiver. “K-Know any warming s-spells?” the brother asks her, feeling the biting wind and snow run through his blanket and bones.
"I do-don't have enough energy... sorry," She shivers and starts crying again, her tears flowing down her cheeks.
“I-It’s o-ok-k-k-kay…” he sighs, shivering heavily, huddling as close to her as he could to keep warm, feeling the end of them was near.
—
"Honey? Do you see that?" a soft voice, belonging to a mare asks while walking down the street and then pauses at an alley and looks into the shadows.
“I do, my love. The poor things…” a stallion’s voice replies. “We should take them back home with us. They’ll freeze to death out here on a night like this.”
"That's a great idea love, I'll carry the filly," She says and then gently lifts them both up while moving the filly to her back and the colt to her husband’s.
“Come on little ones, you’re coming with us…” the stallion says softly to the colt on his back as he makes it back to the carriage with his wife in it, laying the young colt next to his sister. He closes the door to the carriage as his wife tells the driver to take them back home, giving the young crystal ponies a second chance at life.