Friend and Foe

by Benman

2

“Fools!” roared Nemesis, his tenebrous cloak billowing behind him. “You thought you could defeat me? I am Nemesis, and your friendship is nothing against my hate!”

I pushed against the slime that engulfed me, but it didn’t budge. The showdown had gone against Nemmie at first, but then he conjured those balls of clinging goo. They caught everyone in the town square; the Elements of Harmony were stuck, of course, along with me and the rest of the spectators. Twilight Sparkle had magicked herself free, but now three of Nemmie’s terrordactyls battered at the floating shield sphere she’d conjured about herself, and she didn’t look like she could hold out much longer. The other five heroes were held fast by the slime.

I was just as stuck. My head and neck were free, as was the tip of my left wing, but other than that I couldn’t move a muscle.

Nemesis glanced my way, and I flashed him an encouraging grin. I wasn’t sure what heroic last-ditch effort would turn the tide, but however he was thwarted, he’d be able to say that he’d gone horn to horn with Harmony itself and fared no worse than Discord. He’d worked so hard for this. I was so proud my heart felt like it would burst from my chest. Or maybe it was just the slime’s crushing pressure.

“You can do it, Twi!” said Applejack, speaking with the weight of Honesty. “I believe in you!”

“You’re right!” said Twilight Sparkle. “As long as—”

The shield sphere gave way, shattering into a thousand thousand shards as the largest terrordactyl plowed through the weakened magic and slammed the Princess of Friendship to earth. The others swooped down and held her fast. She struggled to her hooves, sending the terrordactyls sprawling with an explosion of eldritch power. Then Nemesis blasted her with crackling negenergy from his crown, and she went down in a heap.

“Hah!” Nemesis cried. He glanced around at his vanquished foes. “Hah,” he said again, a bit less forcefully.

He teleported to where Fiddleblossom and I were stuck, appearing with a puff of noxious smoke. “Girls!” he said, all but bouncing up and down in his spiked armor. “Girls, I did it!”

“Amazing!” I said. “You earned it, Nemmie.”

“Now what?” said Fiddleblossom.

“Now what?” he echoed. “I just defeated the Elements of Harmony! What do you mean, now what?”

“I mean,” she said, “now what?”

“Oh!” he said. “Smoldering stones! Now what? I wasn’t really expecting to, well, you know…”

“Win?” said Fiddleblossom.

“Yeah,” said Nemmie. “That.”

“Maybe you could explain your evil plot?” I said. “I mean, since you have them helpless. Tradition, and all.”

“I’m, uh. I’m a bit between plots just now.”

“Oh,” I said. “Huh. So what do you usually do after you explain your plot?”

“Right!” He perked up. “MINIONS!” he bellowed. “I want these would-be heroes out of my sight! Imprison the fools for all time!”

“Yes, sire,” said the big terrordactyl. “Where, sire?”

“Oh horseshoes,” he said softly. He glanced back to us. “Where do I put them?”

I blinked. “You don’t have a dungeon or something?”

“You know I’ve been staying with my aunt.”

I shrugged, or would’ve, except for the slime. “Well, then.”

“Horseshoes,” he said. Then, “MINIONS! Seal the fools in my aunt’s basement!”

The Elements glanced at each other. “Seriously?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Now, Rainbow,” said Rarity. “If that’s what Mister Nemesis has available, then we’ll just have to make do.”

“Nemmie,” said Fiddleblossom, “what about that portal thing you picked up in the Undercaverns?”

“The Hopeless Gate?” I said. “It’s not exactly a prison, though, is it?”

“Well,” said Nemmie, “it’s better than my aunt’s, at least. MINIONS! Cast the fools through the Hopeless Gate, that they may languish in the Realm of Despair!”

“Aw yeah!” said Rainbow Dash, as the terrordactyls carried her away. “Now that’s more like it!”

“So what’s your next big move?” I asked, once they were gone.

“Um,” said Nemmie.

“I mean, you’ve beaten one princess,” I said. “The traditional thing would be to challenge Luna or Celestia, right?”

“Or both,” said Fiddleblossom.

“Both?” Nemmie turned pale. “No. No no no.” He took a step back. “Maybe I could challenge Cadence instead. That’d work, right? She’s a princess too.”

I frowned. “I dunno. The sisters will probably be coming anyway, yeah? I mean, you captured Princess Twilight.”

Fiddleblossom nodded. “Cadence would be a step down from this. You’ve got to keep your momentum.”

“Okay,” said Nemmie. “Momentum is good. But… the princess sisters? Against me?”

“Hey, you just beat the Elements of Harmony,” I said. “Give yourself some credit.”

“So, what, I just show up at the gates of Canterlot and demand they face me?”

“Oh! Yeah!” I said. “And, like, get some thunderclouds behind you! And you can be all, ‘Your time has come, you sniveling cur!’ It’ll be awesome.”

“It would make a statement,” said Fiddleblossom.

“No, wait!” I said. “What you say is, ‘The time of reckoning is nigh!’ Imagine their faces!”

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Time of reckoning. Okay. Here goes.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay.” He teleported away, leaving behind a cloud of greenish smoke.

I blinked furiously against the smoke, which stung the eyes like a thousand molten needles. “You think he’ll pull it off?”

“No,” said Fiddleblossom. “But it’s a good way to go out. I bet they seal him for a thousand years.”

“He always wanted to be sealed,” I said. “They don’t do that for just anybody.”

We shared a companionable silence.

“Sundrop?” Fiddleblossom said at last.

“Hm?”

“Before he left, we should’ve asked him to get rid of the slime.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Probably.”

Comments

[pterrorgrine]

This is not a story I expected to receive an update. It's good though! Also,

terrordactyls

This was very nearly my name before it assumed its current form (well, "pterrordactyl", singular, but you get the idea). I'm totally counting this as a cameo.

[ForSpite]

A most pleasant surprise. Of course, if Nemesis keeps winning, no one is going to have any idea what to do.

[Arcshod]

5596955 Least of all him.

[Imrix]

... Huh.

[Themaskedferret]

Poor Nemmie, he's trying so hard.

[djthomp]

Dash, you really shouldn't be so excited about being thrown through something called the "Hopeless Gate".

[PresentPerfect]

Yes

YES

THIS WAS AMAZING

[Inquisitor M]

&c &c.

Uuuh, what?

Anyway. I guess if you're going to be silly, it makes to go all out with it. I can respect that.

[iisaw]

5628833 Archaic "etc"; perfectly acceptable, with a bit of Victorian flavor.

Oh yeah, the story's brilliant, too!

[Icy Shake]

5630651
Yep, it's related to the evolution of the ampersand, which began as a ligature of the letters e and t.

[Meridian Prime]

Beautiful.

[Joural]

wat the heck

I mean, I'll admit "I've won! ... now what?" is a BIT overplayed, I see it all the time, but you had an interesting spin on it, what with the heroes joining in on the discussion and the friends cheering him on. Usually they go with a genuinely hated villain who is totes evil for it, so this was entertaining.

[Nimnul]

I really enjoyed this.

[Mane 6 Pets]

What the hay did I just read?

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

Came from a review by Paul Asaran.

Good work

Random as all get out but not in a bad way.