North Woods NightMares

“What’s the matter?” PW asked.

“The ship's movement concerns me.” Frosty mumbled.

“How so?”

“It’s facing up-shore. Not East towards its destination.”

Polaris looked closer and shrugged. “Sailing ships need to tack.”

“I thought that was only when sailing upwind?” She looked at him.

He licked his muzzle and tipped it skyward. “Oh. Wind’s out of the south.”

“Right.”

“If he were going for the cove he’d be on a beam reach. Except he’s on a broad reach?” PW said in confusion.

“Drink the rest of your bottle now and wet yourself in the ocean with me. We’re going to assume he’s onto us and hoof it.” She ordered.

“Okay. And for the record, Frosty, never say ‘wet yourself’ when you mean to take a dip in the ocean.” Polaris smirked.

“Yeah, that instruction was reading differently in my head.” She admitted.

After drinking all they had and letting the surf hit them they started their sprint. In the next few minutes it became clear the ship was still gaining on them.

“How the heck is it moving so fast?!? It’s not that windy!” Frosty shouted.

“Nope, the Windy is here! Are we sure it’s hostile?” PW huffed.

“It’s bright red. In nature things which are brightly colored are either incredibly dangerous and can get away with that, or a façade to make you think they are dangerous. Given there’s been no rumor about this vessel it’s either new, or so dangerous that nopony escapes to tell anyone about it!”

They stopped when it became clear the ship had overtaken their position.

“He’s closer to shore, isn’t he? Than before?” Asked Frosty.

“I would say so.” PW answered as she fished out her scope.

“Gun doors are open.” She noted.

“That’s usually only when they drill or fight. Normally they close them at sea in case a rogue wave comes up.” PW blanched.

“Shit…” Frosty whispered, lowering the scope.

“What is it?”

“Pony had glass trained on us. They saw us seeing them." She turned to him. “PW, You need to fly, now. Drop all your gear and fly up to the Night-Sky 1. You’ll need to steam it up, take off, and pick me up.”

PW realized the urgency of the situation and wordlessly complied. After the last of his gear was off Frosty took him in embrace. “PW, I am so proud of you today. Be safe.”

“Of course.” Responded PW, wrapping his wings around her.

“Now fly!” Frosty shouted.

Without any delay he was airborne and made his way to the airship.

It took him several seconds of flying before he finally overtook a sprinting Frosty below. Once he got above the canopy of the palm trees above the beach he could see the balloon just a mile ahead. He was tired after sprinting for so long, and he was lucky his flight was just two minutes long.

“Great! Just the way we left it!” He called, touching down on the hull.

The hatch was closed, holding in heat and he yelped at the burning touch.

“H-HOT!” He cried, rubbing his hoof. Wet yourself in the ocean. He remembered. He laughed at that and glided down into the advancing surf. After returning to the ship, he was able to stand the heat and turn the latch to get into the hull.

PW could clearly see the waving heat emanating from the interior. He took a deep breath and dove inside, struggling to take breaths in the stifling heat.

“Vents open! Dump valve closed! Fuel on, ignition!” PW ordered himself.

He could hear the blowing sound of the flame. “Blower, full on!” He called, escaping the hot chamber for the ocean again.

After cooling off he looked up at the horizon and gaped. The ship was now twice as close as when he left Frosty.

“Gotta pull these stakes out!” He shouted, relieved at the sight of the balloon billowing up.

Trying as hard as he could, he only pulled three of the twelve out before he knew time was running short. “Damn.” He hissed.

A loud whistle passed by him, with the sand suddenly exploding a few yards away with a BANG that even Frosty should have heard.

“What was that?!” Cried the unnerved pegasus, diving back into the hatch. “Gotta cut these lines!” He located a machete in the toolbox.

*Wshshshsh-BOOM!* Another explosion. Then he heard another fainter sound coming from the warship and pieced it together.

“A supersonic cannonball?” He slashed the remaining nine ropes from their stakes. After the last had severed, Polaris again went into the hatch to grab the ballast dump. “Please up-ship!” He cried, pulling the dump lever. The vessel shot upwards as water spilled out of the tanks.

He immediately closed the damper and opened the turbine regulator and cutoff to accelerate down the beach. He poked his head up at the ocean in the window and saw a golden flash from the ship.

A cannonball again screamed by, followed by the faint boom of its firing. He saw an explosion a full mile inland. “What kind of cannon has a range like that?”

He noticed he was off course and shook himself from the dread. “FOCUS, PW, focus! Frosty is down there!”

He looked and spotted her on the beach at a perfect angle. He shut the regulator off and began dumping air from the balloon to descend quickly. She only had to wait for the craft to touch down before climbing aboard.

“Whew - it’s hot.” Frosty puffed, dropping the gear packs in.

“You wouldn’t believe it when I got there! It must have been two hundred degrees.” PW smiled at her. “I had boiler pressure in only two minutes!” Luckily the hot hull meant Frosty was able to fit through the expanded metal better and didn’t get stuck.

He opened the damper but the craft didn’t budge.

“Why won’t it rise?” Frosty asked, alarmed.

“I had to land quickly and we’re taking on six hundred pounds! We have a lot of heat to build up! By the way, did you hear–”

Another cannonball whirled overhead, causing them both to instinctively duck.

“That? Yes!” She nodded.

PW popped his head up and found the red ship had come around and was now heading for their current location.

“They’re coming for us, I’m going to fly and haul us up so we drop a hundred pounds and gain fifty in lift!”

“Be careful, PW! You’re safer in this ship with the steel hull!”

“I just saw half an acre of jungle get blasted!” He shook his head. “It’ll tear this ship apart like Recce would a tin can! Have you seen any… unclassified naval weapons of this caliber?” He asked while hauling up the guy line and flapping furiously.

“No.” She shouted back. “Classified or unclassified!”

“It’s supersonic, too! You hear it hit before you hear it fire!” He ducked as another cannonball shot past, much closer this time.

He cried out under a barrage of fragmentation.

“You OK? Did they hit us?” Frosty asked.

“No, but it’s close! Fifty yards north!”

“Fifty?” She poked her head out to see “By Celestia!” She screamed, an octave higher than her normal voice.

“I think we’re off!” PW grunted in the effort.

“Upship! Keep it up PW!” She encouraged him. “Up five… up ten. Up fifteen. Up twenty five. You should be able to let go now!”

He released his grip and rose alongside the balloon. “Up fast, now!” Frosty added. “We’re going to give them a taste of their own medicine. Drag us 90 degrees counter-clockwise!” Ordered Frosty.

“Yes!” He said, seeing the muzzle of the D16 rising out of the hatch.

He swung the balloon about as ordered and she took aim, firing as soon as the shot was clear.

“Just a few shots. Can’t waste ammo.” Frosty ceased her shooting.

A number of shots came from the hostile ship, striking the hull in an unexpected reply from below.

“What was that?” PW yelled.

“Get inside!” She shouted, taking hold of Polaris in flight and dragging him through the hatch with her. “A very high powered gun.”

She next raised her scope and noticed a good portion of the observation glass was shattered. “We’re not airtight anymore.”

“They hit us!” Polaris shouted.

“Check the balloon. Don’t climb up.”

He did so and reported. “Two small holes from what I can see. No additional damage.”

“Are we still rising?” She asked.

“Yes, very quickly.” PW saw the altitude gauge go past 1,000. “We’re limited to twenty now, unless you jump out.”

“Only if I have to.” She smirked, taking another look at the enemy ship. “At a thousand feet we have a twelve-degree down-angle. They got to be about a mile away. Okay, I see a large weapon mounted to the top deck pointing at us. That’s probably what hit us after I fired.”

“Two thousand.” PW closed the damper some. “Direction bearing, Frosty?”

“Take us inland. They can’t follow us there.” She ordered.

“We’ll power inland and then let the prevailing winds blow us out to sea again.”

“We’ll make that course correction at night.” Decided Frosty.

“Three thousand.” Announced Polaris, setting the cutoff, regulator, and rudder.

“I'll be back. I need air.”

“Me too.” PW flew out of the hatch and onto the hull. Frosty reared, popping her head and withers up through the hatch.

“Did you check the boiler for leaks?” She asked.

“No, good iea.” PW responded, diving off the hull and under the ship. “All clear. No water.” PW reported, landing back on top.

She blew a deep sigh of relief and rested on the cooling hull. “What’s going on, PW."

“That ship. That ship, Frosty, that's the only oddity.” He shrugged.

“It and whatever entity is arming it.” She added.

“What do you think the odds are that the red ship was the one being described by Captain Celaeno? The one attacking Catoshima and retreating quickly?” PW asked.

She cocked her head in thought. “Strikes hard and retreats too quickly to follow. I think this meets a possible description. We’ll bring it up in our status report tonight.”

Finally, at ten thousand feet the air cooled to a comfortable temperature. Frosty was slowly slipping into her low energy state at the sensation.

“This feels great. It’s in the forties now.” PW billowed his feathers.

“Yeah, it’s nice.” Frosty nodded before climbing into the cabin and collapsing on her bunk.

PW leveled the ship out at fifteen thousand. There was little to gain in climbing higher. No elaborate meal was had that night. PW ate some nutrient-infused popcorn snack and some soup (which did not need heating, due to being cooked during the day in the cabin).

Polaris watched the sun set, then poked Frosty. “You want to see if we can get a radio call through?”

“Sure. Let’s make our move westward.” She mumbled.

“That’s easy, just cut power. The trade winds will carry us back west.” Answered PW, closing the regulator and lowering the oil flame further.

He retrieved the radio equipment configured to transmit. “Ready?” He asked. Frosty just formed a fist and made an up indication with her largest finger.

Windy keyed the mouthpiece. “Norfilly Control. Norfilly Control, this is Windy. Do you read, over."

They waited for several seconds. “Norfilly Control, say again.”

“Windy and Frosty here. How do you read?”

“Five by five, good to hear from you!”

“Affirm, and I’m reading you the same!”

“Since we have limited time we’ll limit our status to the basics. Mission status?”

“Nearly complete, if not done. The ship we tracked was destroyed. The wharf was destroyed. Number 1 was going to destroy a large number of sealed coke bags on the floor of the harbor, and to engage Longhorn Largo. We do not know her status.”

“You confirmed Longhorn Largo is real?”

“We did, per his description.”

“Roger. Counts. Kills?”

“Unknown.” Responded Windy.

“Key it up.” Ordered Frosty. “Estimate is 25 to 30 by rifle and hoof-to-hoof. We have no way of knowing how many were killed in the explosion and fire that destroyed the site.” Frosty shouted from her bunk.

“Captures?”

“None captured.” Shouted Frosty.

“Escaped?” Frosty and Windy looked at each other.

“We had one. That Frosty and I observed.”

“Description?”

“Pink pegasus. That’s all we know.” Responded Windy.

“Anything else to report?”

“Norfilly Control, get a fresh piece of paper. Advise when ready to copy.” Ordered Frosty. A few seconds passed.

“Ready.”

“Returning to Night-Sky 1 after the mission, an enormous, first-rate ship was spotted in the ocean. Cherry-red sails. This craft sailed towards the Night-Sky and landed on the beach, not the engagement area.”

*WUOOOR* Howled the radio.

“That was weird. Sounded like somepony else keyed up.” Frosty transmitted.

“What did you hear?”

“We heard a low, squealing sound like we used to hear all the time in training when 2 mikes were open. You didn’t?”

“Negative.”

“Anyway, this ship sailed faster than anything I’ve seen before, over – *XSHXSHXSH* – knots.”

“What knots?”

“Over twenty.”

“Two zero?”

“Affirm. Two-zero. Windy was able to intercept and reach Night-Sky 1 first. They fired a cannon so fast and so powerful it appeared to be supersonic. The projectile impacted like a small bomb! Windy was able to retrieve me while taking fire. We engaged after takeoff with the D16 at a range estimated around 1 mile. Received heavy return fire from an unknown, mounted machine gun. The firepower was substantial. Night Sky 1 has sustained damage. Two impacts on the balloon. Pressure hull compromised.”

“Confirm the following. Ship with cherry red sails. Speed two-zero knots. Supersonic cannon. High-power machine gun, caused damage in flight?”

“All correct!” Frosty shouted. “Get Quarter’s team working on this. We’re out-gunned here.”

“There’s a lot happening on my end right now, Frosty.” The controller responded, with murmuring heard in the background. “Can you give us some description of any creature on board? Were – *XSHXSHXSH*

“Repeat your last please?”

“Were any creatures– “ *XSHXSHXSH*

“Try again?”

“Let’s try this – can you tell us the approximate angle the projectile was impacting at the furthest observed range, and the distance of that range?”

*XSHXSHXSH* The radio went.

“Norfilly Control, if you read, it sounds like our signal window may be vanishing.”

“I hear you loud and –” *XSHXSHXSH*

“Five by one or…” began Frosty. *XSHXSHXSH* “Ugh, forget it.” Frosty slapped the microphone down and squeezed back to her bunk. The static and squealing sound continued for the next few minutes after which PW gave up as well and turned it off.

“Maybe it got messed up in all that heat?” He received no reply.

The assistant closed the damper, turned the barometric valve, and closed the cutoff and regulator before lying down in his bunk for the night, slowly falling asleep, counting his blessings.