I squeezed Sombra against me. The unconscious stallion still able to help force the icy cold out of my fingers. "...What in the love of Luna are you doing?"

I groaned and adjusted myself, the stallion playing little spoon still wrapped in furs. "I'm freezing--"

"I can tell, now get your disgusting appendages away from my stomach!" Sombra tried to get his feet under him. I held him in place, refusing to lose my source of finger warming heat. "Let go--"

"Fuck you!" I dug my hands into the furs I'd wrapped him up in. "I saved your fucking life, pay me back!"

Sombra tried to kick free of the fur bundle. "Stop! For the love of--" I felt something oddly hot press against the backs of my fingers.

"Oh Jesus...." I slid my hands up Sombra's stomach, refusing to lose my hand warmer. "That was a cock...you shameless fuck--"

"Shut your heathen mouth!" Sombra tried to shove me away with his back. "Let me--"

"Shut the fuck up!" I headbutted the back of his neck. "It's too early and too cold for your shit...."

Sombra huffed and sputtered. "I told you to let me go!"

"Shut up...."

"Don't you--"

"No, cold. The fire is out, I can't afford to start another one until later." I squeezed Sombra close to me, refusing to lose my new heater. "Do you have a better idea?"

A loud huff filled the room. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." I closed my eyes and laid down against the floor. "Does it matter?"

Sombra hissed at me. "It might, you daft fool!" He tried to kick his legs out yet again. "I had bunkers dug under my cities--"

"What!?" I pulled my hands free and scooted back.

Sombra rolled over and looked up at me. "Find out where we are, we might be near one."

"Why would you not tell me this sooner!?" I jumped up and grabbed my head. "What is wrong with you!? You have places under your cities, with food, water, what?!"

Sombra shook himself hard. "Food, water, armor, weapons, beds. Everything I would have needed to survive a coup." He stood up, thin and lanky as ever. "And what kind of monarch would I have been if I didn't have all these? I mean, I was hated and despised, you didn't think I was completely oblivious did you!"

I shrugged. "I don't know crap about monarch secrets!" I turned to the stairs. "You listen to me, if you have a place better than this--"

"It would certainly be warmer--"

I spun in place a few times, pacing and trying to figure out what to say next. I pointed at him, dead between the eyes. "I will fuck you in the ass until you squeal if you're right!"

Sombra leaned back. "Is that a threat or--"

"It's a promise!"

"Again, can't tell if you're trying to threaten me or not--"

"I am not." I crossed my arms.

Sombra's eyes glazed over slightly. "You're saying you're going to fuck me if I help you find the hideout. That seems like a threat."

I shook my head. "No, this is a threat. Unless you find me the bunker, I will shove broken glass into a jar and jam your cock inside it! That's a fucking threat!"

Sombra just glared at me, thick mane still gangly and stringy. "Question...if I help you find this place, can you not fuck me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Here I thought you would take me up on the offer--"

Sombra limped over to me. "I barely know you--"

"Yes. I'm not proposing. Sex is sex, caring about the person you're having sex with is quite different!"

Sombra licked his lips. "Exactly how long have you been out here?"

I sighed loudly. "Long enough to start losing my mind."

Sombra nodded. "I can tell. Now pick me up and bring me to the surface. We can discuss payment afterwards."

"After food." I ducked down and held my hands back. "Climb."

Sombra trotted over. "Bipedal freaks that you are, I will say height must have its advantages."

"Don't start with me horse person. Only good thing about you is wasted on a sis." I held him in place on my back and started up towards the stairs.

"What? What was that!?" Sombra leaned over my shoulder. "What did you just say!? Stop speaking devil talk!"

I huffed and charged out of the basement, immediately assaulted by bitter frost. "I said being a horse means bigger dick, yet it is lost on--"

"Stop talking about my genitalia!" Sombra slammed his head into mine. "Lunatic!"

I shook my head to try and disperse the pain. "I'll take care of it when I'm not in danger of having it freeze off! Until then just find this place you need!" I hurried through the crystal halls, my boots nearly freezing to the floor with each step. I huffed and snarled as I hurried towards the exit. "I hate this place, I hate this place so much, hate."

Sombra snarled, his breath shooting out over my shoulder. "I don't regret a thing. The princesses overstepped their bounds, it was lose everything or send it to ice."

"Vindictive to the end." I shook my body, the frost already pulling any warmth I'd stolen from Sombra away. I hurried to the top floor and carefully pulled my window escape open. The howling frostbitten wind threw shards of ice against my face. I shook my head hard. "Hood, put my hood up!"

Sombra nipped at my hood, eventually grabbing it and ripping it away. "You'll get your hood when you find it!"

I snarled angrily and stepped out into the icy land beyond the window. "What are we looking for?!" I looked out over the endless white, only a few dark spires breaking the immediate skyline. "Blind pissing cold!"

"Shut up!" Sombra slammed his muzzle against my head. "Tallest tower in the town, it would be there."

I looked around, half blind as the snow tore against my skin. "I can't see shit." I walked in the vague direction of a taller structure jutting from the white. Sombra looked around, noticeably swinging around my back. "Where?"

Sombra leaned forward over my shoulder, coat peppered with frost. "Forward, towards that spire fifty meters ahead."

I held my hand to shield my face. "How can you even see?! Pig shit." I carried forward, blindly charging towards some shadowed pillar in the distance. The spire slowly came into sight. Bright silver crystal with a few wooden covered windows. "What--"

"Well, break in! Bust the window, get in!" Sombra pulled tight against my back. "It's freezing out here, now hurry!"

"I'll bust you!" I hurried over and kicked at the frozen wooden shudders. "Son of a bitch, break!" I felt like all the pleasure of any food, any warmth, anything nice I'd had was quickly pulled away into the whirling ice. I leaned into a kick, sending my foot straight through the shudders and into the warmer stagnant air beyond. "Mine now!"

I kicked and shoved my way into the building. Everything felt damp, the air, the waxy peel on my boots, the smell of thaw was ripe in the room. "Heat, I feel heat." Sombra bounced on my back. "Down, go down! Find stairs!"

I shook my head and raced over to the walls, eventually I found the steps down, covered by a tipped over book case. I did my best to pry up the shelves, eventually making just enough room to fit down. Sombra wiggled his way down after me, still as limp as a spring lamb straight from the womb. "So, you think this--"

"If the air is damp, yes, and the way must be open." Sombra settled back down on my back and looked towards the next set of stairs. "Must be Shard, Shard Library."

I shook my head and raced down the carved crystal steps. "Doesn't matter." My body started to grow sweaty as the humidity rose. It seemed like the slightest change in temperature would freeze the room solid. Floor by floor, room by room, we made our way downward, towards the distant heat.

Sombra kept his head up, the frost on his face melting slowly and dripping down against my head. "Well, which--"

"Keep going down." Sombra flicked his ears back. "I'll know it when we get there!"

I hurried down, deeper and deeper into the crypt. The smell of copper tinted the air as I hurried down towards a flooded room. "Running water? How--"

"A pipe must have burst." Sombra huffed softly. "I hope it's not cold."

I groaned loudly. "It will be." I nodded slowly. "Oh it will be." I took a deep breath, the waist high water was indeed dripping down from a burst out hole in the wall. "So, what--"

"Be quiet! There should be a lever somewhere, or a button...." He kept mumbling, leaving me to look around the half dark room. A small lamp was still spitting pale light.

I took a deep breath and dipped down into the tepid water. "I'm going to guess it's the thing that still has power." I waded through the surprisingly warm water, although warm was a stretch. I walked over to the wall lamp. "Well, Mr. Magic, do your thing."

Sombra grumbled angrily, his dark red magic taking hold of the lamp. He gave it a solid twist. The lamp just broke and came off the wall. Sombra looked at me with an extremely heavy grimace. "I told you...lever. These weren't really secret."

I grumbled right back and looked around again. "Well then, where would it be?"

Sombra sighed loudly. "Under a desk?"

I shook my head. "How can you-- Jesus." I caught myself thigh first on something under the water. I leaned against it, my gloves growing damp as I tried to keep from falling. "Found it...I think." I slid my hand over the smooth surface, moss and algea stuck to the underside as I looked for any secret buttons. "It--"

"It would be on the top, in plain sight." Sombra started to sound more annoyed than angry. "Government buildings, they would always be under my control, making obvious escapes would save time if I did need to leave, and an interior lock is always safer."

I ran my hand over the top of the desk. The lever was on the right side, and as soon as it switched on the far wall opened up. "You know, putting it under the desk would have taken up less space. Idiot."

Sombra snarled at me as I followed the rush of water. "I don't like when you speak that dirt language!"

I shook my head and stepped into a large room with a drain, slowly chugging the excess water away. "And I don't ca--" I stopped dead as another door opened. A neatly kept hallway, completely devoid of cold or frost clouding, sat before me. "God in heaven."

"Again, dirt language." Sombra peeked ahead. "But, seems like you've had your--"

"Jaaa! Ja!" I screamed, charging forward into the square room. "Das ist-- shit!" I looked down the halls, the air warm and dry despite my current sopping state. "Heat! Feel it!? Heat! Actual non fire heat!"

Sombra sighed roughly. "Yes, yes, heat. Now perhaps--"

I carried him along as I looked through the halls. Room after room filled the spacious walkway. "How big?"

"Big enough to hold thirty ponies for five years if need be." Sombra laid his chin on my head. "Should have food, water, heat. It's not a palace, but it's close."

I walked slowly down. "Bed?"

"Yes, should have seperate--"

"Where?" I hurried my pace, running down the long hall and around the corner. "Where?!"

"Learn to read and find out.... Plebeian." Sombra looked at the plaques that lined the walls. "Here, here's one. Not mine...but a--"

I looked to the door and kicked it off the hinges. My leg ached from the sudden impact. The room inside was warm, lit by a glowing crystal in the ceiling. A massive crystal frame with a simple mattress with furs thrown over the fine cotton bed. "Holy shit...." I took a deep breath and turned around.

"A sad day when this is impressive to you." Sombra looked back. "And is now the time for sleep? Surly food--"

"AAaaaaah-ha!" I threw Sombra off my back and onto the bed. "Ja! Ja! Yes! Du ist ein ubermensch! Fucking superman! Ja!" I kicked my leg out and tore my gloves off. "It's warm! There's an actual bed! I can't believe it!"

Sombra rolled onto his stomach. "I do agree, it's a nice change from the frost. But you need to calm you--"

"Shut up!" I pointed at him and pulled my jacket off. "Don't ruin--"

"Stop cutting me off you jackrabbit psychotic!" Sombra tried to stand up, only managing to get his forelegs off the ground. "You're spinning in--" I cut him off and dropped to my knees before him. "Um...hell--" I grabbed the back of his head and brought him into a quick kiss. He yanked his head back immediately, but I had no intention of holding him down. "Lunatic--"

I fell backwards and sat down. "Shut up...just, Ja!" I raised my arms and slowly laid back against the warm crystal floor. "Thank you my friend...thank you." I let out a long groan as I flopped down on the floor. "The cold is gone...thank god."

Sombra coughed loudly. "Grand, now perhaps you can help me! I need to eat."

I took a deep breath, the lack of icy burn making me laugh instinctually. "Ja, yes. Okay." I rubbed my face, my nose still cold compared to the rest of my now warming body. "Food, food, rest, defrost. I can do this."

"Oh, well I'm glad you have the capacity of a foal!" Sombra glared at me. "And do not touch me without permission you--"

I sat upright and wiped off my lips. "You need me to feed you, perhaps you could try to be more pleasant."

"I'll be pleasant when you act usfu--"

"We could be back-" I flexed my arms before me, stretching out my shoulders. "-in the basement, frozen. You could still be drifting in the snow. You could be dead.... Only saying."

Sombra lowered his eyes to the corner of the room. "If you're expecting a thanks, you'll receive none."

I laughed softly. "That's fine. Bed is reward enough." A loose coo fluttered from my lips. "I'm so happy right now...." I looked up to the red eye'd stallion. "Thank you my friend, honestly."

Sombra turned away. "As opposed to false thanks?" He huffed softly. "...Yes.... You're.... Welcome. Now help me before I bucking starve!"