Sunny had managed to drag the black and blue pegasus from out of the open air and into a small enclosure in the icy banks. It wasn't going to provide the heat they'd need to survive, not without some very close quartering practices....
He was sobbing the entire time, hoping to Celestia that the entire situation was just a feverish dream; he and Midnight were back in the cabin, waiting out the storm. They would wake to the sound of the rescue team fluttering, teleporting onto, or boarding the ship. He knew none of it was true, but these thoughts --and Midnight's presence-- were all that kept him from tossing himself into the sea once more.
He should have just let me go, that stupid...
This line of thought continued for a great many hours as he sat nervously over the other colt's unconscious form. His horn shone through his mane as its dull yellow sparkles accompanied the weak 'warmth' spells he was casting. These spells made a world of difference for the pony for which Sunny stood vigil.
I'm so, so sorry...
Despite a lack of cognizance, Midnight was doing a hell of a lot more than just sitting around. His periodic breathing rhythms were constantly being interrupted by tremors, occasionally breaking out into spasms which Sunny found himself reflexively throwing himself onto the colt to stop. He knew little about medicine, but most ponies received a basic education covering conditions like hypothermia, and he was pretty sure that they'd both entered different stages therein.
It took a great many hours for anything resembling consciousness to return to the pegasus. The storm had passed, but Celestias's sun had left the sky and Luna's moon had taken its place by the time Midnight had begun to stir in a way that peaked Sunny's interest instead of worrying the unicorn over probable damage to the pegasus' brain. Of course, as Midnight's eyes opened, he remembered something about hypothermia. If he goes back to sleep, then... it's over.
"Su-Sunny? Are we still on the ice... ice... iceberg?"
He nodded.
Midnight looked about, craning his neck to survey their surrounding without disturbing the rest of his body.
"It's... 's cold."
The unicorn broke his stance to scoop up Midnight into a hug. "I thought you were lost!"
If the colt had any reaction beyond a "Wha?", it would have taken more energy than he had to spare. Regardless, the embrace embiggened the much needed heat between the two ponies.
"I think we have hypothermia... if either of us drifts off..."
"How long was I out?"
"Ow-hours..."
Midnight frowned. "Sunny, if we survive this, I need you to promise me something."
"What?" Renewed tears were welling up in the unicorn's eyes.
"Whatever happens, we're going to make sure the others make it out of here as well."
"... What?"
Sunny was nonplussed, but Midnight's visage had taken on an aura of seriousness that imparted... odd feelings in the unicorn.
"The others. We're going to save them."
"But... they're already dead!"
"I'm not talking about... I... I don't know exactly what I'm trying to say. We need to help the ponies they cared for, the ponies who cared for them."
"... Why?"
"It doesn't feel right, knowing what happened, and not doing our best to make everything..."
"Right?"
The other colt nodded.
"Okay...."
------
It took a great many more hours for help to arrive, and to keep each other from falling asleep, they spent much of that time chatting. In the dark, neither could see the other's face.
"So, you're a meteorologist?"
"Yep. It's not all that interesting really."
"... what is a meteorologist?"
"Somepony that studies weather... like, weather patterns and the forces in nature that cause certain events."
"Don't pegasae usually just make the weather?"
"Yes, usually. We look into 'natural' weather, and develop better ways for pegasae to control it. We also study how different cycles effect productivity, to produce the weather plans for most of Equestria."
"So when it rains on my birthday, I can blaim it on you instead of the local weather teams?"
"Nuh-no! We don't make decisions based on personal matters!"
"Alright, alright."
"..."
"Without your..."
Sunny stopped.
"I'm sorry."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What do you do?"
"... I'm a cook. In Canterlot. I work at a diner."
"What does a sun have to do with cooking?"
"It's an egg. On fire."
"Oh..."
"... Before we 'save' those ponies, why don't we go to Canterlot? Maybe I can show you what I can do while we're there..."
"Why?"
"I have some words that I need to exchange with my parents."
"Of course. We can work on 'saving' you first!"
"What?"
"... Nothing."
------
It was about two A.M. when they heard the calls. Help had arrived, and apparently, it had figured that there might be survivors clinging to the hunk of ice that had felled the ship. Sunny threw up a luminous spell to alert their saviours. The colts couldn't see them, but they were soon swaddled in down blankets and carried away. Separated briefly, but the two weren't strong enough to complain, and frankly, only Sunny had any reservations with that.
Midnight was trying to fight off his persistent drowsiness while attempting to ask the rescue crew if they had any proper lists for the ponies that were still missing. They mostly brushed him off, but that was primarily out of respect for his condition. He did manage tell the crew that between the two of them, Sunny and Midnight had witnessed the deaths of five other ponies, but-
"But don't worry! We'll save them."
At this point, they began admnistering aesthesia, presuming that any possible complications that may arise from putting the colt under had probably already occurred.
A stallion trotting alongside the ones carrying Sunny had a few questions for the young unicorn. He had a mustache obscuring his green-coated muzzle, and heavier boarding than the ponies carrying Sunny and Midnight.
"Did the two of you swim out here?"
"No, no, sir. The pegasus, Midnight, flew me to the iceberg... when I fell over the railing. I slipped on the deck, ya' see...."
"How'd the poor colt lose his wing?"
"I... it snapped off."
The pony interrogating Sunny took on a quizzical expression. "Wings don't just snap off, boy."
"It froze over, and we tried to fold it in..."
The questioning was cut short when the two cloth-swaddled ponies were deposited on a dinghy, to be taken back to the mainland for medical attention and rest.
------
In the darkened sky above Equestria was the Earth's sole telestial body, wrought by a millennia of meteor impacts. Every night, citizens of the equine nation were treated to its sight. Unfortunately, few ponies were interested in that sort of thing, and found themselves staring at the thatched ceilings of their primitive huts instead of the moon princess's splendor. It was this disinterest that imparted a feeling of dissent and betrayal in princess Luna, prompting her to play the villain of the peace to regain the attention of Equestria's citizenry.
But Celestia, with her cunning use of the Elements of Harmony, saved her sister. It was this act that Midnight was becoming so enthused with. He had never understood it until now, and he still hadn't put together the words to convey the meaning to anyone else, but he had to extend this gesture to the ponies who helped him come to this revelation....
"Are you feeling alright?" Said a young unicorn mare. A nurse, judging by her getup.
Midnight was in a stout bed with coarse sheets. His head hurt, but not in a way that was painful, that's not how he'd describe. Something like the feeling one might associate with sore muscles, the kind of pain that tells the receiving entity that they've made progress and it's an appropriate time to settle down for a while.
"I said, are you alright?" The mare waved a hoof in the colt's face to get his attention.
"Sunny. I mean, just fine... peachy?"
The mare met his response with a look of incredulity.
"Uhm, alright. Do you need anything?"
"Could you get me some materials to draw with, miss?"
"That I can do, but, uhm, are you sure your... barrel doesn't feel strange? Like, something's missing?"
"I don't have any need to fear for my health, thank you."
The mare left to retrieve a box of colored pencils and sketch paper for the bedridden colt. Her face had taken on a sad composure as she did so.
------
Sunny was most certainly not feeling alright. He'd been trying to get out of his bed--a day sooner than prescribed, mind you--and failed miserably in all his attempts but the last. With a great heave, he was able to roll off the mattress. Unfortunately, he'd taken the sheets with him. He lay wrapped on the floor, the side of his muzzle pressed into the linoleum.
He'd been given orders to rest until the next day, but he couldn't wait until then. He had to apologize to Midnight, and he had to do so with the utmost sincerity. Being from Canterlot, Sunny's best interpretation of sincerity was speaking at least somewhat honestly while appearing to be a blubbering wreck. He could at least fulfill half of that in his current status.
Even with Sunny's meager experience with tumbling around in tight fabrics, he was able to unravel himself and stand up. Now, he just had to figure out where Midnight was in the hospital. He approached five or so nurses, asking variations of the question "Have you seen a blue pegasus with a black mane?" until one of them directed him to a room on the third story.
Inside was a Midnight, and a member of the Royal Guard standing over him. Midnight was asleep, but the guard was leafing through some papers at the colt's bedside. He looked up and had a double-take upon seeing sunny. His muzzle contorted into a frown.
"Are you Sunny Bottom? The other survivor?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to need you to come closer, mister Bottom. We need to talk."
Sunny reluctantly made his way to Midnight's bedside. He made a quick and muted salute to the guard once there, having learned to do so during his youth in Canterlot. The guard either didn't notice or didn't care, favoring a question over acknowledging the gesture.
"What did you do to my son?"
"What?"
The guard took his helmet off and held it fast to his side with a foreleg. Over the next fifteen seconds, his coat turned green, eyes changed from blue to violet, and puffy eyebrows and a mustache popped onto his square face. It was the stallion from the rescue team, and he looked pissed.
"What the buck did you do to my son, mister Bottom?"
"I... I didn't do anything to him, he saved me..."
"Yes, he told me that. Though, there were some particulars that you left out..."
Sunny gulped.
"... and, I want you to fill in the gaps. The gaps my son seems to be incapable of recalling."
"I don't know what you're talking about, sir."
"Why is my son talking like a grade-school foal? Why is he drawing these strange pictures of the princesses?"
He presented midnight with pictures in question. They depicted Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and a number of other ponies, wearing needlessly complex barding with the strangest of color schemes. Each drawing had twinkling stars in the background, implying that the figures were in the sky. Chicken scratch labels informed the viewer that they were looking at "Celestias Dias", "Lunai Hermatcom", or a distorted member of the "Elemnts of Harnony".
"He drew these?"
The guard had been breathing heavily as Sunny examined the pictures. He was evidently not... 'proud' of his son’s work.
“I really don’t know why Midnight would do any of this...”
“Well, perhaps you can explain why in Tartarus my son would draw you and him doing this?”
The stallion put down the other pictures and lifted just one. It was... Midnight and Sunny, spooning. Wait...
“... What.”