Pony Cider Season

Chapters

Tropic AL
World Famous Flim Flam Brothers
And with a Pinch of Pony
The Secret Ingredient
Murderous Intent

Tropic AL

The taste of them all will satisfy ANY costumer – Staples Proverb

It was only before sunrise when I, Tropic AL, heard the noises, those hooves trotting through the pathway just outside my basement window, talking about the apple family apple Ciders. It was that time of the year again, too many ponies too fussed over drinks and it’s not like it’s worth waking up early for’ I never went to those silly street shelfs to buy anything and should not have to wake up each year to the noise of other ponies. I moved to the basement because of the noises but it never really kept the noise out but it did help at least a little bit.
Each apple cider season is the same, well this time was a bit different, I had that feel; tingling’s in my mane, and flash thoughts of my past, in which I should mention that I was adopted after my real mother and father where found shredded in the corners of Stag City just off the coast of Fillydelphia. No one ever told me what they thought happened, no one ever mentioned their names after that, and I guess they think I’ll feel sad and cry or something. I am sad for that time but I’m a strong pony, other ponies used to call me heartless at Earth Pony School even my best friend believes that I wouldn’t even cry if he died, I wouldn’t think I would if I won’t cry over my parents dying but I would never do anything bad to my friend even if he brags about himself being a Pegasus and me as an Earth Pony. So anyway lets just get back to real time…Apple Family apple Cider season this year gave me my feelings, the feelings I last encountered when something bad happened, something regrettable and prepends the situation itself.
After breakfast I would normally go to Prune Currents parley, Ms Current is my boss at the Elderly Home for old ponies but today Prune Current said that today I could have a day off, well obviously because of the Ciders but I’ve never had to skip a day of work not in Cider season at least. I really had nothing else to do and it’s a wonderful day out maybe just a bit of a trot to Rocky Roads, just past Apple Acres will make me happy and get me far from the noise of cheering ponies. Coming up the road was dreadful, ponies everywhere, some in tents and hundreds up the Rocky Roads it’s like the whole town was here, but come to think of it if everypony was here then nopony would be in PonyVille well except for the elderly ponies that cannot drink Apple Cider. Oh such a hard choice it’s like a Xantos Gambit but none of which would allow me to win at all’ I could either go to town with old ponies telling me weird stories of how they grew up or I could try to squeeze past all these ponies to get to Rocky Roads, thinking of Granny Grumbles last time gave me nightmare nightdreams all week and I’d rather not talk about it just in case that happens again, so I think I’ll just have to go through the crowd.

World Famous Flim Flam Brothers

“FINALLY” probably hours after hopeless walking I found my way out of the pony crowd and tents, all the Rainbow colours of everypony is making my head spin, it would normally take me four minutes to walk across those streets of Apple Acres south but it took me too long. I would just keep walking like any other pony with a hate of crowded areas but it was strange, my feelings were getting stronger like Harry the Pony on that movie series that finished a while ago. I could hear a sound coming from up the road; it seemed to be some honking and churning sounds. Oh man, it was clear to me what was making that noise when the two ponies of it drove towards me, It was Flim and Flam the world wide famous Flim Flam brothers and their Super speed Cider Squeezy 3000 I read about these ponies in PonyTime magazine a week ago. Apparently they have their own special ingredients to the ciders they make, preferably apple flavoured’ I know I don’t like going to special events and all but tis I just had to see so I followed the Sider Squeezy 3000 after it passed me all the way up the road to the Apple Family cider making stand. By the looks of things, everyponies angry faces like last year the Apple family ran out of ciders for everypony, this time wouldn’t be any different but it’s not like they would want to make THAT many ciders, I wouldn’t so what makes the apple family different to me?
The Flim and Flam brothers introduced themselves to everypony, me and otherponies joined a crowd around the machine and Flim and Flam as they jounced around and sang a catchy song, the words were something like…”You’ve got opportunity, in this very com…; something” I have no idea what they were singing all I know is that the tune and sound was a jam of Joy for me and all the otherponies who danced and, Clopped to the beat. They were two unicorns of popularity and Duo wits. Together they used their magic to start up their marvellous ‘Maker’ Flim threw his yellow strawed and blue striped hat at a red button on the side of the metal board covering a compartment on the machine, the clear pipes sliding all through turned a colour of red coming from the compartment into a larger tube whilst Flim and Flam sucked many apples off of a tree from Apple Acres which then from a different pipe collided with the red liquid in the large tube, the two slowly pushed through into a big blending barrel and then out the back into a cup, a pouring drink of apple Cider. The Flim Flam brothers weren’t famous for their Cider making’ machine but in fact their Ciders, a secret ingredient known to relax the nerves of everypony, an unforgettable taste to have in my head “the good kind” I really wanted a taste of the Cider that was made but the Flim Flam brothers always charge and I happen to have left my Equines at home, no matter I’m sure they’d stick around long enough for me to wrap my lips around those wooden cups and take my share of thick, tasty Apple Cider.
I was enjoying the air were I was standing where the ponies were lining up for a cup of Flim Flam Ciders. A pony with two Octaves as his cutie mark, such a posh accent was given but in clear voice he asked Flim the younger brother what their secret ingredient was, Flim answered with an utter of respect “If I told you I’d have to kill you” they both laughed like ‘dumbs’ Flam said “and if he killed you I’d have to make you into Cider” such a strange answer but the pony laughed and walked off, it must have been a joke of course.

And with a Pinch of Pony

The next day Prune Currents needed me at the ‘Equestrian Elderly’ and I needed more Equines for some of that Cider being made by the Flim Flam brothers. It’s not that far into town the Elderly home, just past town hall and over ‘West Bridge’. Coming into the home makes me feel unhappy sometimes, at least my Feeling stopped around 12:00 last night. I’m in my 20s and the old ponies still grab and pinch my face like I’m a little pony, “do you have any idea how much it hurts to get pinched with hooves?”
“IT HURTS!” but it was still my job, could do with a better one but I dropped out of earth pony school before I hot year eleven, that’s two years away from graduating and getting my chance at a job. It’s amazing really, how in CloudsDale if you pass you would get a job like clearing clouds, or being a worker in the Rainbow Factory or if in the Unicorn school in Canterlot and finish, you may get a job in Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s palace or somewhere good, if you lived there you would probably be snobbish and rich anyway, that means not much work for anypony just fun and games. And down here in earth pony school the jobs are things like…well, there’s this Equestrian Elderly home and a couple of florists up PonyVille North and Winter Wrap Up, but that’s an all pony event that I and every otherpony has to participate in, if we don’t Princess Celestia might banish us to the moon. They even have ‘Pegasi UNI’ and ‘UNI for the gifted’ but not earth pony UNI, it’s like we aren’t exciting enough for the other two races, and they obviously need us for something, like farming on the ground or something.
Well Ms Currents was gone, again for the Ciders and my careen didn’t have to be fast because of how slow everypony in here are, my first patient was Mr Pearly, I despise him for every means possible, I cannot tell if he’s grumpy or just old, I think a bit of both and rumour has it that he’s almost as old as Princess Celestia and if only I believed it.
I could go for a cup of that famous Cider by now, whole hard days of work finished at slow pace. I was ready to go to the Apple family’s stand, hopefully were the Flim Flam brothers are. On my way I could see two ponies crying at the face of a cop, both of the earth ponies happened to mention a missing family member, grey fur, short brown mane and, “Oh” a two octave cutie mark, a pony can have the same cutie mark as another pony but it is very unlikely to have a pony with the talent of music, PonyVille is after all a ‘boring’ place. I trotted closer cautiously but I managed to gain enough information from the CoPony to tell exactly who has gotten their hooves on the missing pony, the information given was that the only clue left was a yellow strawed hat and a bit of reddish mane, besides what the Flim Flam brothers had said to the grey pony with two octave cutie marks yesterday it was kind of obvious who it was, but if I were wrong then all of my life would be of laughter, ponies laughing at me, nopony would like me at all. That’s why I never told the CoPony who I thought was the reason for the missing pony, who knew what the Flim Flam brothers were doing to that misfortunate pony. They could be slicing through the skin slowly from right hoof to left hoof, pulling the curtains of a room over with lights all over, taking the pony limb by limb laughing together. One Brother would lean over and take a Scalpel whilst the other would take a bone saw, then cut through the veins of the pony taking the best parts of him out onto a bowl and make him bleed out onto the floor.
The thoughts were digging through my head like a drill, my ‘Feelings’ would not stop and come to think of it the red liquid from the compartment on the machine could only be one thing, some sort of blood or organs from other ponies’ just thinking of the screams, cry’s from the ponies, real or fake in my head was just too bearable for me “hell” anypony at much. I just had to go and err ‘Investigate’, or I could go and rest my head a bit, hopefully to get rid of my ‘Feelings’ and thoughts. I think I may just go lay down and rest, my feelings are worse than migraines.

The Secret Ingredient

Coming to an end of the feelings was pretty fast; I just lay down in bed and thought about fillies, nice colourful flanks and their juicy, “Uh let’s not get on that conversation”. Going back to Apple Acres once again felt pretty good besides the fact that it was dark and there were murderers in PonyVille. I came around a light in the fields of Apple Acres north; it was the machine that much I could tell, I grabbed the nearest bush and planted myself in it and snuck up behind the machine hoping to find some information I worried about an hour or two ago. Flim and Flam were both sitting on their couch in the front of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 3000, I crouched and up beside them were the secret compartment was, a slot just under a green and red button was pull able, I pulled it down towards me and hoped the compartment opened up, it did and the results were very, inexpressible, there was no pony in the compartment, nor a scent of blood.
This was unexpected, especially when I saw the only red ingredient in the compartment that could possibly be what came through that pipe besides pony blood was a barrel of strawberries in the compartment. I reached out to take one of the strawberries but before I could Flim was calling out “Oy, you rascal get back here” I ran into the Apple Trees into darkness, leaving the bush behind along with any other clue that would help them find me if they were the ponies killing other ponies. “STRAWBERRIES” they were the Flim Flam brothers secret ingredient to their world famous Apple Ciders, such a taste could not go unfound in a cider could it? That couldn’t have really been their real ingredient, but neither is the taste of Blood that could go unfound. Maybe there’s a salt or sugar that gets rid of the bloodies taste built inside the machine to prevent suspicion, or even the strawberries are to prevent suspicion. Whichever it is, I still believe the Flim Flam Brothers are the murderers to the missing pony and I will find out whether it is or not even if it kills me, “wait a minute skip the last part”.
They never caught me last night; they will never get me no they won’t, there won’t be murderers in this town, PonyVille is a place of peace oh and noisy events but not ponies on the kill. An abrupt lot of thoughts flashed my mind; again, I guess there cannot be a type of drug that could help my feelings of pain through the ‘mental world’. I couldn’t do this by myself I needed a friend to help me with this investigation and I know just the Pegasus pony to help me, my friend from school I know I never mentioned his name and how we became friends, well I might as well anyway for he will now be a part of this heroic affair or so I hope so. His name is Azul Flow, we became friends when he was transferred to my school, I know he is a Pegasus and our school was only for earth ponies but he was for some reason allowed in our school, everypony teased him “what’s there to tease about?” I stuck up for him once and since that day we’ve been the best of friends, besides work pulling us down we do get to spend some time together “oh yes, he got work as a cloud blanket designer”.

Murderous Intent

When I got to Azul’s place he immediately opened the door, not really expecting me but he just dragged me in the house. He wanted to go buy some Apple Cider from the Flim Flam brothers, I told him about the Flim Flam brothers and how I think that they had kidnapped that pony with the two octave cutie mark and the thoughts I get with the pony being cut open with a scalpel and a bone saw cutting the hooves off then put through the pipes and the blending barrel now being drunken by everypony that buys Flim and Flam brothers merchandise, “excuse myself, I sometimes over exaggerate” over things that come to my mind such as this. Azul never believed me at all, and for the trust we have together it was a surprise’ I tried to persuade him my thoughts but it left him saying I’m crazy. We went out to Apple Acres, I went to prove something if I found something to use as proof and he was going to get some Cider; I ended up getting him to promise not to drink any of the Flim Flam brothers famous ‘pony infested’ Cider. When we got their the crowds were not in a line but in fact covering the fields, they were watching something happening in the clearing of trees I asked one of the ponies close to me what was happening, apparently a competition between who keeps Apple Acres and all the apples in it, they have to race making…”APPLE CIDERS!”. I pushed through the crowds with Azul and as I got closer to competes I could clearly see the red liquid from the Flim Flam Brothers machine flow through the pipes and into barrels. This is my chance to find proof of the ponies being used for the Ciders, being murdered and what not.
The red eyes from Flim and Flam were glowing; I could see and sense evil in their eyes, it’s like staring deep into a glowing red never ending hole of death. I came around to the machine, luckily with nopony finding me I quickly pressed the button that opens the secret compartment and scurried into the bushes. The audience changed their eye path from the competition to the compartment as it arose above the apple trees all around, everyponies jaws dropped, was it amazement or was it shock? Something easily guessed but not quite as accurate as expected. There was nothing in the compartment but…”STRAWBERRIES!” oh and I suppose they already finished off the pony seconds before I opened it, everypony gathered to take their shots from their cameras and it was all because of me; Tropic, of PonyVille has just revealed the secret ingredient to the Famous Flim Flam Brothers Ciders. I’m now starting to have my doubts on who is really behind the case of the missing pony; I have no real proof on it even being a murder anyway but at least I didn’t make a complete fool out of myself and I’m sure nopony is on to me and my, well, horrible detective act. I did end up going back to Azul’s place and like anypony would say “I told you” he just made it seem like he was right the whole time, and come to think of it that’s what makes me want to try and find out if they were not what they seem but for all I’ve found is that it’s nothing to get all worried about knowing the that they weren’t chopping up ponies and selling drinks that were made from one hundred percent pony meat, not to get my feelings and thoughts acting up as well.
I would lay those few days over, just thinking about what clues would come to my mind, with work in the way and Azul contacting me too much about ‘how I was wrong and he was right’, As the days had passed you could easily feel your own day of reckoning, in this basement. I guess my life as an earth pony has been boring, I lived my life not understanding the true reason I’m living and I’ll just let my feelings pass along with the days’ like a water current in the reef looking desperately for some thought of mind to take away with it.
As the days pass I thought about the clues, everything that could have possibly led to Flim and Flam being the ones behind the disappearance, well coming back to think about it I was doing all of this for nothing, well just because that one pony I don’t even know got my thoughts thinking too much. As anypony would say I was getting headache thinking about it, but just to think about the facts, adding every possible thing up in my head, it was finally clear to me. No reason for all of this to happen all at the same time, the criminal wanted me to think that Flim and Flam were the ones behind all of this. Behind the crowds when I pressed the button of Flim and Flams machine were another lot of ponies, the Apple Family, they were working as a team with each other, they must have been acting in a manner that would not allow me to think it was them, the younger pony was looking at me, she knew what I was doing, what I was going to do, her griming smile, the red bow she wore was the reason I acted up, my feelings only act up from flash thoughts, a red flash through my eyes.
In fact the only way this can only ‘add up’ to the matter is if I was the next victim, They waited for me to do it, I was the one who took the missing pony, I’m the one who gave the pony to the Apple Family the drink everypony drank on the day they were born, they were used to it from the beginning, the apple ciders with berries that Flim and Flam made were the real tasting Ciders, everypony just wasn’t used to the taste of real fresh Cider…And now I have told you all my secret it is now time for me to work, and then pay a little visit to Azul, never really not messed up was it?
The time had come, the end of Cider season had finally come, and it’s a relief for other ponies, not me. But there will still be a Cider season next year…