Friendship Force!

by Chrome Masquerade

Origin: Pink Genie and Pridemaster part 2

Pridemaster sniffed along the ground, tracking the would-be kidnappers with her newly enhanced senses. Pink Genie floated a small distance behind, using a hastily borrowed grandé-sized rug as a vehicle, watching from the sky for danger as her sister snuffled her way forward(1).

Both were wearing new duds, courtesy of the transformation. Pink Genie's was enough to hide the necessities, but not much more, creating a captivating cameo.
Pridemaster's, by contrast, covered most of her body with form-fitting armour that shifted in hue to match her surroundings; a naturally adaptive camoflage.

At length, Pridemaster raised her head, then opened her wings and dashed forward.

Pink Genie tapped the floating rug twice. "Yah!" she exclaimed, prompting the impromptu flying carpet to go faster.

Soon enough, they reached the headquarters of the mobsters. Pink Genie leapt to the ground, the carpet rolling up behind her and placing itself on her back.

There they stood in front of the gate to the place, which ked to a gigantic mansion. And the colour scheme screamed 'bad guys here'. Pink Genie waggled her fingers and a beam of energy struck the lock on the gate, causing it to unlock, admitting the duo.

Pridemanster said, "You know, I probably could have just bent the bars."

"Save it for the bad guys, sis. This won't be easy, and we've spent a fair bit of our energy just getting here." Pink Genie replied, walking through the gateway.

"After you." Pridemaster snarked, taking the time to focus her energy, creating a shield and spear from the aether. The spear was a Tribal spear, bound with leather. At the head was a large tuft of lion mane fur, and the head itself was a shiny black piece of tempered obsidian. The shield, on the other hand, was a traditional Afrtcan tribal shield in shape and design, but was made of refined jade and obsidian.

Pink Genie herself was packing a whip made with a handle of mahogany, croc skin grip and length of flexible leather.

Since all three items were made with aether, no creatures were harmed, which was a nice bonus.

Walking through the front door casually, the duo readied their weapons, daring any challengers to come forth. Surprisingly, the place was deathly quiet, suspiciously so..

Pridemaster kept a watchful eye out. "I don't like this. It's way too quiet."

Pink Genie nodded. "I noticed that too. They must have all their bad eggs in one basket." she replied.

They walked through the house unchallenged, until they at last reached the center of the place. Through a set of double doors was a long table covered with various foodstuffs, at which sat eight people of various professions. All of them were anthrofied.

One was black and had holes throughout her body, a wickedly twisted horn jutting from her forehead. One looked to be made of green slime, but was still stable, to some extent. One was wearing a business suit, had pale skin and reddish hair. One was covered with armour, with a curved, angry red horn. The next was bedecked in finery, obviously a noble. After that was one that was roughly eight feet tall, but had the impression of being MUCH larger, as if they were only that size as a courtesy. The penultimate was cloaked in obvious ninja garb, only a bit of purple showing in a few places.
The last person (a dark violet in hue, with what seemed to be stars within him) sat at the head of the table.(2) He was the one who spoke. "Ah, ladies! Come in! Come in! You're just in time for lunch."

Pridemaster's expression shifted by a fraction. "I take it you know why we're here, so let's skip the pleasantries."

"Oh, but I insist! I go by Nightmare, of late. My associates here are...." He pointed to each of them in turn, "Heartless (our occultist), Blight (Enforcer 1), Manipulator (our talent scout), Shade (our spymaster), Monarch (our resources specialist), Ursa (enforcer 2) and Kunoichi (My personal bodyguard). Some are from this world, some not. I'll leave it to you to guess. Come, sit. I can tell that you've not eaten in some time. Don't worry, it isn't poisoned, though I'd be lying if I said that I've not used that method before. I want to to be at your full strength, so you know just how powerful we are."

Out of the ether, two extra chairs appeared. Reluctantly, Pink Genie and Pridemaster sat, looking over the selection.

There was a king's ransom of choice menu items, including (but by no means limited to) turkey, macaroni pie, ham, devilled eggs, soup, corn on the cob, sandwiches, lasagna (vegetarian and not), bread, donuts, mixed vegetables, and in the center was a double tiered chocolate cake with marshmallow ganache in the layers, coconut on top and a cherry to boot. (3)

The newly minted heroines ate their fill, regaining their strength.

When all was said and done, th food dsappeared with a double clap of Nightmare's hands. "Now that the dinner's done with, let's see to the entertainment, yes?" There were several chuckles at that. "Who wants to have the honours?"

Heartless stepped up first. "I have a bone to pick with the rest, but these two will make for a good... appetizer." She licked her lips at that.

The fight began. Heartless let loose with a barrage of green blasts from her horn and hands. She then transformed into a giant scorpion with a crystal tail(4) by way of a plume of green flame. Dashing forward, She stabbed at Pridemaster, who dodged. The tail was briefly stuck, but when removed there was a patch of ice left behind.

Nightmare scolded Heartless for her error. "HEY! Those tiles are expensive! Watch where you point that."

Shifting to the form of a fire breathing cerberus, Heartless bounded forward. Pink Genie taunted, "Well well! Somepony's been boning up on their Greek mythology."

Having had her warm up, Heartless proceeded to keep the duo on their hooves the whole fight, never staying in a form for more than a few seconds Much as the heroes got in a few strikes, they were still terribly outmatched. When both heroes were downed, she reverted to her base form. "You see? I'm the second weakest among us and I STILL beat you." She stalked over to Pink Genie and opened her mouth, a stream of pink energy flowing out of the pink mare, who started becoming more pale.

Shortly, her mane went flat and her Cutie Mark shifted to that of a sharp-looking dagger, three drops of blood falling from the tip. She glared at Heartless and said, "You'll wish that you hadn't done that." with a tone of bitter cold. Summoning a pair of knives, she drove those into the anthro-Changeling's gut, causing her to fall back. "Get ready for a world of PAIN!" Pink Genie shouted, lunging forth, her wounds swiftly closing up.

Nightmare guffawed. "My! How interesting! This might just be getting good!"

Having let her guard down, Heartless was now on the defensive,forced to be the one dodging now. Pridemaster took the moment she was given to recover.

Manipulator stepped up, tossing Pridemaster a rapier, which was deftly caught. "I do hope you know how to use that. It's been a long time since I was able to find a decent challenge."

"No." Pridemaster admitted, "But I'm a fast learner." She matched Manipulator's stance and the two engaged in a flurry of strikes and parries, not to mention quite a quantity of quips.

"I won't rest until you've been eliminated!"

"Then perhaps you should've switched to decaffeinated!"

Yeah, like that.

At length, Nightmare clapped his hands and said, "ENOUGH! You two have proved that you are worthy. We will leave the villagers be, no matter what you do now. It's clear that we've underestimated you, and so you've earned a reward. But keep in mind, you only matched our two weakest members, - and even then, just barely. Don't think that the next time will be so easy. Come, everyone. There are plenty of opportunities elsewhere."

Thw lot of them teleported. The two heroines slumped to the ground, Pink Genie reassuming her previous colouring. The two breathed heavily. "That... wastooclose." Pridemaster said, panting.

"You're.... telling me!" Pink Genie agreed, just as out of breath.

"We... need help. Need a... damn good team. Ugh."

That was true. If they were to take those villains out, they needed all the help they could get.

"Yeah." Pink Genie agreed. "But for now... let's just.... go home."

Feeling slightly downhearted from the partial victory, the two went back to their home for a well deserved rest.

Author's Note:

1: No. Not THAT WayForward. Shantae references here will be given the Treatment.
2: Obviously based on Chrysalis, The Smooze, Svengallop, Sombra, Prince Blueblood, the Ursa Major, Suri Polomare and the Tantibus. I didn't include Spoiled Rich or Tirek because I somehow doubted that they would elect to get outside help. Also, Cozy Glow is too young.
Suri being a ninja is based on this picture.
https://www.deviantart.com/janji009/art/Suri-Element-of-Deception-458919033
She's more covered, of course.
3: If i'm making you hungry, sorry/not sorry.
4: Anyone who's played God of War 3 will know what I mean.