North Woods NightMares

Cozy Glow narrowed her eyes and raised her cheeks in a sinister smile. “Gamma Constance!” She shrieked loud enough to spook even Frosty.

“Yes, my Beta.” Called the Rot diamond dog bitch, turning around.

“Should we talk about the flammable option, the corrosive option, the reactive option, or the biological one?” Cozy asked, slinking back into a recline again.

“How about the safe option?” Polaris muttered.

Before Cozy could respond heavy steps were heard behind her and she whirled about. “Ah! Emperor! I thought you were asleep.”

“I was. Until your joyous scream. Keep it down.” He growled before turning around and disappearing again through the hatchway.

Admiral Cozy Glow turned back sporting the most reassuring and yet somehow unhinged toothy smile there ever was. “Well, scratch the corrosive one and the reactive one!” She laughed a little more quietly than last time. “They will scream too loudly!”

“You should know a part of our training was under Commander Tempest from the Storm King War!” Frosty boomed.

“YEEAP!” The admiral giggled in sudden delight.

“I am feeling fire!” Constance decided.

Cozy Glow leaned back and began panting, clapping her forehooves together while pumping her hinds. Frosty and Polaris again exchanged glances of concern.

Finally, Cozy composed herself. “Commander Fizzlepop, Berry-Twist! Bad choice. Baaad choice!” She sang, waving her wings up and down. “Fizzy’s way of getting information was one-and-done. Don’t give her the info? Boom – gone! Around here, things are done differently.” She accepted a gas canister from Constance.

“Methane gas.” She explained, holding the canister aloft. “Smells like a stallion’s room but perfectly harmless, breathable and non-toxic. Just like the nitrogen in your lungs now, if only it weren’t so explosive!” Cozy Glow laughed and popped the valve open to let a jet hiss for a few seconds. She next reached into her bag for a match, struck it and tossed it into the air above her. The air flashed in a cloud of bright flames. Cozy meanwhile ignored the spectacle and was already staring back at her victims.

“You see, methane reacts vigorously with oxygen when mixed just right. And, golly!” Cozy Glow jumped from her new throne and took hold of a larger tank to her left. She dragged it to the middle of the room. “It seems we have just such a mixture in this tank!” She yanked a breathing apparatus off the wall.

“We’ll have you just put this on and let you breathe out of that tank for a few minutes. Then, when your lungs are nice and full… ” She rubbed her forehooves together. “... we ask our question. If we don’t like our answer?” She held another match up. “Boom!”

Polaris gulped at the threat.

“Of course, the mixture in your lungs isn’t actually explosive, merely flammable.” She grinned. “You’ll die eventually, but not before getting another chance to answer! We do this again and again until your lungs are charred and you suffocate or all of our questions are answered! And then we can deal a merciful blow!”

Just then a dog appeared through the forward hatch. “Orders from the Emperor.” He announced, pushing a note into Cozy’s hooves.

She rolled her eyes and glanced down at it.

“Well… shoot!” She spat, bucking the methane tank hard back into the wall and eliciting a few diamond dog whimpers. “Scratch that.” Cozy turned back to her prisoners and puckered her lips. “Windy? Dearest sweetheart.” She called in a mushy voice and propped her head on a forehoof with fluttering lashes. “Do you know what a trim tank is?”

PW looked at Frosty. She nodded.

“It’s a ballast tank used for adjusting the weight of the front or rear of a ship.” He answered.

Cozy’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “Very good! We have two on board! Let’s get down to business. First off, let’s see how you two mutants relate.”

“What?” Frosty and PW said in unison.

“Your relationship!” Cozy said in exasperation. “Are you two in love? Don’t lie! I know when you’re lying!” She put on a sly smile. “Friends with benefits?” PW’s eye twitched and Cozy noticed. “Ah yes, I see. Friends without benefits, then. Hm, so the usual method of revenge-relations isn’t going to work here…”

“I don’t know what you’re onto!” Frosty shouted, a shade more red than she was a second ago. Cozy grinned at seeing her theory mutually confirmed.

“Almost time for my favorite part!” Cozy bounced her eyebrows. “Mister Windy?” She asked in the same tone. “I have a question for you! How many Night-Mare squadrons are there in total in the Royal Guard?”

“Classified.” He and Frosty responded in unison.

Cozy Glow sat back and narrowed her eyes. “I like where we’re going. Would you like to try again, Windy?”

“I am not going to tell you the information! That’s not your business and it’s classified!” Snapped PW.

“Such a good boy.” Responded the admiral, biting her lip in anticipation. “Ms. Frosty? Would you like to answer for him?”

“Go back to Tartarus you little creep!” Frosty shouted back.

“Sorry, but I remodeled it for myself and now it's quite boring. I need to finish my work here!” Cozy leaned forward. “Last chance. I won’t ask again.”

With that she leapt down onto the metal floor, opening her wings in a display. Frosty took a strong posture, looking down hard at the pegasus to frighten her. As Polaris did so often, Cozy walked all the way up to Frosty and her smile finally faded.

“Last. Chance.” She emphasized with two taps of her hooves.

Frosty leaned forwards. “Oops! I’m falling!” She cried, collapsing into a not-quite-fast-enough Cozy Glow.

“UGH!” Cozy grunted, partially smothered. “Get this wet dog off me you Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons!” The six escorts were quick to drag Frosty off her before she could be crushed. The admiral said nothing and simply turned around. In silence she made her way to the forward wall again behind the emperor’s seat and picked up the gas container before walking it back to Frosty. She turned the valve and ejected cold methane liquid onto Frosty’s chest that instantly frosted over.

The pink pegasus returned to her chair and struck a match, finally making eye contact with the Night-Mare. “You make a joke out of me? You pay the price!” She whispered, winding up for a throw to light the subliming methane.

“Admiral Grand Glow, are you about to light up the star of Alpha’s show?” Called a lanky green pegasus as he strolled in. Polaris took his opportunity and lunged to extinguish the match with a great blow of breath.

“Zee-Bee!” Cozy whined, turning to him. “I almost lost it! It was horrible! You saved them. Surely, they would have been ashes by now had you not strolled in!”

“YOU!” She suddenly fumed, turning around and pointing at Polaris. “Frosty wouldn’t answer me, either. You’re coming with me!”

“Wait! I’ll answer you now.” Frosty interjected.

“Wait, no!” PW tried to stop her but she turned and gave him an almost imperceptible wink..

“I am not accepting answers at this time!” Shouted Cozy, taking hold of PW’s ear in her wing.

“There is one! One Night-Mare squadron! Our squadron!” Frosty answered.

“Hmpf! Maybe next time you’ll listen when I say I won’t ask again! I warned you, now we’re following through!” Cozy insisted.

“But I answered truthfully! Ask your next question, we’ll spill everything!” Frosty lied.

Cozy stopped and waited for the entire room to stop and cease for her. “I. Don’t. Care.”

“I’m sorry buddy.” Frosty admitted.

“Anything for the mission Frosty! You did what had to be done. I am proud of you!” Polaris responded.

Frosty fought to hide her smile as Cozy yanked Polaris by the ear into rooms he never saw before, where all the higher ups emerged from.

“Zee-Bee! I’m taking this brat in for conditioning. Keep an eye on that overfed mutant!” Cozy yelled over her withers.

“Sure can do, Grand Glow! After all, a big babe requires big attention! A big responsibility if I do say so myself!” Zephyr chanted as PW snorted loudly in irritation.

He was towed through the hatchway into the next chamber with the dog escorts at his back. There was a junction of two small rooms on either side. What looked like a small post office to the right and to the left a break-room. This was clearly the location of where the hidden laughing had come from during their arrival. Continuing along, the walkway angled more towards the center of the ship and was lined with dark blue curtains.

Finally, the procession entered a large conference or dining room, complete with cloth benches and a long table which connected to the main hallway at each end. Waiting for them, the emperor sat at the shiny oak table sipping from a mug.

“Oh, Emperor Alpha! You’re up.” Beta Grand Glow noticed, halting their advance.

“Hard to sleep with a madmare working.” He smiled.

“Sorry about that.” She grinned back at him. “We had a breach of interrogation protocol and were going to initiate your personal selection of torture.”

“I heard! Great job enforcing the rules. Have fun.” He lit a cigar and waved them on.

Cozy made a hissing sound through her closed, grinning teeth and took hold of PW’s chest floof with her hooves to yank him along.

After the dining room they passed some additional curtained-off hallways before stepping through another hatchway into a room with many pistons, or so PW thought.

“I don’t suppose there’s anything I can do to appeal or absolve myself?” He asked.

“No.” Was Cozy’s curt reply. She took hold of a call tube. “Command! Verify we are on the surface!”

A few seconds passed.

“Aye! Depth to Keel 1-7 feet!” Polaris heard in reply and watched as Cozy took flight.

The room they were inside was lined with pipes, cylinders, dials, and yet more bunks hanging from the metalwork. The room was shaped like a triangle and Polaris judged this to be the front of the vessel. Cozy Glow landed on a pipe towards the top and front of the room and turned a number of knobs to remove a square hatch from the front metal plate of the ship.

It was pitch dark inside the chamber, and the inside face of the hatch was covered in water droplets, some of which ran down and precipitated off. Sloshing sounds were coming from inside. At this point Cozy nodded and PW was unchained.

A bulldog soldier lifted him towards the hatch, and he became alarmed when he saw there was no way to open it from the inside. “Admiral? I don’t like this.” The honest and logical side of his brain said aloud. “There’s no way to open this hatch from the other side. It doesn’t look safe!”

“Of course there isn’t, you dolt! That’s the point!” She grunted back.

Once the dog had him at the hatch opening, Cozy turned around and bucked his body into the chamber.

“Falling!” He cried, before splashing into a few inches of water.

“What are we on the surface for?” Frosty asked Zephyr.

“Fa-ros-tay! Night-Mare, main mare – did you pay attention at all t’what lil Ze-Glow said?” He raised his eyebrows.

She simply stared daggers without a word.

“Now, now! We can’t all be geniuses, can we? Well, as you might recall, she mentioned a trim tank. We use that device to help us dive up and down. It fills with water, you see. On the surface, it’s empty. Underwater? Not so much! Basically, she puts your friend in there, locks it up, and we dive.” He finished.

Frosty suddenly became furious, striking the floor so hard with her bound hooves it dented.

“Do we have a code omega?” The emperor’s voice yelled down the hallway. Everycreature in the room shouted back negative answers ranging from ‘no’ to ‘not a code omega’.

Polaris looked up and found Cozy’s grin peering downward into the hatchway.

“Hm, where do I remember this from? Oh, yeah! My preteen years when I took over Twilight’s School of Friendship!” With that she slammed the hatch closed and locked it, plunging Polaris into darkness. “I can hear you in there by the way!” Cozy sang. “Sounds carry delightfully well through water and metal!”

“Periscope Depth!” She shouted into the call-tube.

“Yes ma’am. Periscope Depth!” PW heard through the wall. A few seconds later the trapped pegasus heard gurgling, humming, and felt fast moving air.

“We’re gonna listen to you struggle for every breath you take!” Cozy Glow said with a tap on the hatch.

PW heard the warning klaxon sound and just seconds later a torrent of seawater poured flooded the chamber. Cozy Glow had her ear on the wall the whole while, moving up with the level of the water. Before long Polaris found himself rearing to stay above the surface.

‘I’ll be alright as long as it doesn’t fill completely.’ He reassured himself as he was forced to tread the rising water.

The flow was suddenly cut off and the only sound to be had was the sloshing water.

’If I act dead, maybe I’ll get out of here!’ Polaris tried to go completely still, relaxing every muscle and felt for the bottom of the tank. It was just out of reach.

He inwardly sighed, cursing his height and trying to figure out how to stay up. His hind hoof stirred in its search for the floor and a bubble was sent to the surface.

“Ah-ha! Right here!” Cozy’s voice shrieked and she tapped the wall in line with the water. “We’re gonna make sure you have no air!”

“Crash Dive!” She ordered.

“Yes, ma’am! Crash Dive!” Polaris heard the reply.

He was plunged to the bottom and held there while the torrent of high pressure water displaced his remaining air. Once he could move again, he floated up until his head hit the tank roof, and he felt all around for any remaining air.

But there was none.

“No air! None at all! What ever will you do?” He heard through the water.

’Now what happens?’ He wondered, fighting the instinct to panic as much as his instinct to breathe. He had been through a lot in basic, even more with Recce but this was next-level.

’You will not breathe.’ His thoughts repeated but with every moment his lungs grew more desperate..

“Breath in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.” The demented admiral encouraged from outside.

Polaris’ lungs burned and he saw bursts of light in the darkness.

This is it… He realized. Somehow, the thought brought him peace. He relaxed and finally opened his mouth.

All was white, and he heard a mare’s voice.

“STOP!” She cried.