North Woods NightMares

Polaris Wind followed Frosty in silence, lamenting his ineptitude.

“It’s not too late… I could turn around now and go back…” He moped.

“No, you won’t make it on your own.” Was her curt reply.

“Better than bringing you down.” He retorted.

“Admirable. But let’s not forget it was YOU who got us across the ocean. As well as YOU who discovered that bamboo pit.”

“You may have well just discovered it without me.” He shrugged.

She stopped and turned around to make her point. “What I’m trying to say, PW, is that you are doing good things. Just… step it up. Eliminate the behaviors driving the mistakes you’ve made.”

"I'll do my best!" Her assistant replied.

Before long the approaching night made traversing the jungle too dangerous. Atop one last hill Frosty dropped her bags. “Alright; we camp here tonight.”

PW set his stuff down as well as she took a seat on a log and set to heating up some beans over a Bunsen stove for them. Instead of sleeping bags, Quarter set them up with hammocks designed to hang between trees and mosquito nets to keep bugs away. The darkness here was particularly threatening and before going to bed either pony found a nice, flowery meadow nearby which they used as a latrine. To avoid alerting anypony to their presence Frosty forbade the use of flashlights.

PW in particular was wary of pumas and anacondas and remained as far from the trees as he could. He was thankful for his northern-genes which let him have some degree of night-vision even in the jungle. Unfortunately, night vision worked using the rod cells in their eyes. Their cone cells, responsible for determining color, were effectively blinded, and neither of them saw just how blue the flowers of the meadow were.

After dinner the pair settled into their hammocks, which were very closely positioned, to PW’s comfort. This was the first time he recalled Frosty sleeping with her weapon. The hammocks were not particularly comforable. The air cooled enough for vapor saturation to occur, causing moisture to condense on their coats, roll off, and more slimy sweat to form on them, thus their coats never dried out and their skin underneath remained spongy.

A chorus of tree frogs, insects, and all manner of nocturnal jungle life grew more intense. PW soon doubted either of them would be able to hear a would-be predator approaching them. Even Frosty’s booming snoring was subdued by background cacophony. The sound of buzzing filled Polaris’s ears as large, hungry mosquitos bounced off the netting with such force they depressed the screening. And every now and then a horsefly would try its luck and add a little extra buzz that cut through the other noises, making it more difficult to sleep. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, PW nodded off.

Polaris was knocked to the ground and grunted in pain.

“No use for you!” A voice grunted.

“NIGHT-MARE FROSTY! I have come for your magic! You are all DOOMED!” Roared a giant red centaur.

PW looked up, and saw not just Frosty but the other two Night-Mares he’d worked with previously: serials 3 and 4.

“Light him up!” Frosty shouted. The trio opened fire on the towering centaur, who moved a great staff into the stream of bullets.

The staff absorbed the projectiles and power surged through his body. “Did you really think you could defeat Lord Tirek?” He bellowed, turning the staff back on the Night-Mares. “MY TURN!” The staff lit up a brilliant white and sent a beam of magical energy that seized them.

Tirek growled as he took on more power, growing an order of magnitude in size.The magic surrounding the Night-Mares exploded in a blinding flash that scattered them.

Tirek was now the size of a house but Frosty, who had landed at her once-little assistant’s hooves, was now broken. Polaris helped the same pony, now a little, gracile mare looking up to her former smaller assistant, to her hooves. She gasped at her newfound lack of size and the unreal reality that Polaris was now bigger than her, taller than her, and built much more heavily than her. She was little more than a filly!

Tirek stormed off, leaving the little Frosty to quake in fright.

“F-Frosty?” PW whispered in shock.

“I’m frightened PW… I’m little now!” She squeaked and leaned into him for comfort.

“What… happened?”

“He got my powers. He got 3’s powers. A-and 4’s . We’re all defeated!” She sniffed.

The other two mares were now coming up to him as well.

“I can’t even look through my scope right!” Whined 4.

“Lil… er, big? Bud?” Gasped 3.

“We’re all going to be okay. Let’s all stick together real close.” PW reassured them.

A blast came from beyond the treeline, alongside a shriek.

“Aaah! Windy-san! Tirek-sama turned Echo-sama into Echo-chan!” A filly-sixed Echo appeared and galloped toward him. She dove into PW but he didn’t budge an inch.

“Girls, please calm down! We’ll get through this!” PW tried to comfort them.

A very powerful, female glottal yell was heard that rose in pitch to a filly’s voice and then a primeval scream. PW looked up to see yet another little mare running for the pile.

“Are you Recce?” He gasped, dumbfounded. “You cannot be defeated!”

“Go fuck him up!” The fifth little mare shouted.

“Too late…” PW responded as he saw the now-five story building sized centaur direct his attention back to them.

“I SAID YOU WERE OF NO THREAT TO ME! BUT I HAVE ELIMINATED ALL OTHER THREATS! NOW YOU ARE THE GREATEST THREAT ONCE AGAIN!” Lord Tirek boomed. The five little Night-Mares huddled tightly around Polaris.

“YOU FIVE HAVE BEEN THORNS IN MY SIDE! AND YOU, STALLION, SEEM TO BE THE STEM!” He boomed.

Suddenly Frosty left the huddle.

“Frosty, what are you…” Polaris started.

“Help me lift this gun!” The little mare squeaked, struggling to lift her gun.

“Your D-16? You can’t fire that now! It weighs more than you do!”

“Help me! We’re all going to fire it.”

“All Night-Mares on this D-16!” Polaris called.

“Help me lift this!” Frosty called again louder. Tirek’s staff lit up.

“HELP ME…” Frosty responded powerfully.

“We are Fro…”

“HELP ME LIFT THIS GUN.” Boomed a voice all around him.