Chaos in Equestria Book One: It was almost a good idea...

 Flim and Flam had never worked so hard on anything but a sales pitch. The thing they had worked so hard on for months had brought them nothing but bruised hoofs and sweat drenched fur; but today, it would make them rich. They were in a large shed that they had rented with the last of their apple cider sales. The machine hunkered over them, nearly filling the entire shed. It wasn't the best looking machine. It was only what it needed to be to work properly.

  Flim crawled out from under one of its three wheels, "Gilda," he called, "Would you be so kind as to bring me a rag?"

  Gilda the griffin was leaning against the far wall of the shack, inspecting her claws. She easily could have been helping Flim and Flam on their project, but, that wasn't what she was being paid for. She was paid thirteen bitts a day to act as bodyguard. Bodyguard! What a waste of time! No one had even gone so far as to touch them. The pay was reasonable, but it was obvious that they couldn't afford her much longer.

  "Gilda!" Flim called again.

  "Yeah, yeah, stop complaining ya baby," Gilda responded. She picked up a rag that had been conveniently placed at her feet and hurled it at Flim. It landed perfectly on his face.

  Flam called out from the front of the shack, "Flim, Gilda, come look!"

  Flim immediately ran toward Flam’s voice, doing so caused the rag that had been resting on his nose to plop to the ground. Gilda slowly moped over, having no intentions of showing any kind of excitement or interest. "What now?" she said.

  Flim walked to Flam's right side, Gilda stood to his left. Flam pointed at the machine, "Check out the view ol' brother of mine."

  Flim spoke to himself, "I don't see why I have to come over here. I could see it just fine from the..." He looked toward the machine, "...oh my." It was cigar shaped, aside from two sets of wings on its sides and a propeller in the front . It had two seats in the front, and one in the back. Its polished wooden frame gleamed in the sunlight (which was shining through a hole in the roof).

  "A much better view," Flam stated.

  Flim's eyes opened wide, like a child on his birthday, "It's... it's..."

  "Lame," Gilda interrupted.

  "Oh, but Gilda, of course a Griffin won't care," said Flam.

  "Nor would anything that can fly in the air," added Flim. He started to move to the sound of a nonexistent drum beat.

  Gilda cringed, "Please don't sing!"

  "Too late," they said, "This will be our... world famous, flying machine! It'll make us richer than anything! Oh, because everypony will know... that it'll take you where you need to go! The age of pegasus drawn carriages is over, a thing of the past. We all knew it wouldn't last. Oh, it's the age of our world famous, flying ma..."

  Gilda grabbed them both by the necks, "Shut up! I can't put up with your awful singing!" She took a deep breath, "Now, I'm gonna let go of your necks. Do you PROMISE not to sing?"

  They nodded their heads. Gilda released them and they fell to the ground.

  "Sorry," Flim said insincerely, "Anyway, there's just one thing we need to make our flying machine work..."

  "...a unicorn!" Flam finished.

  "Oh, so those horns on your heads are just for decoration?" Gilda teased.

  "No, we can't do it," Flim replied, "We need a much more powerful unicorn than us to sit in the back and power the machine!"

  "Besides," Flam added, "We need to sit in the front and pilot the machine."

  Flim put a hoof on his chin, "Where will we find a pony like that?"

  "You dweebs don't get out much, do you? What about just hiring the Great and Powerful Trixie? Haven't you heard people talk about her?" Gilda suggested.

  "Who?"

  "Some unicorn, she's putting on a magic show in Trottingham. She says she's the best. That's what I've heard at least," Gilda answered.

  "Trottingham? That's too far away," Flam complained.

  "...It's a five minute walk..."

  "Oh, well then, let's go." Flam opened the shack door. "After you, Gilda."

  Gilda didn't budge. "I'm not paid to help you pick up mares."

  Flim blushed. "We are not 'picking her up', we are hiring her."

  Gilda chuckled, "Sure you're not."

  Flam grabbed his hat and put it on. "You will come," he said, "or you won't be paid."

  Gilda sat up. "You know what? I think I was planning on going into town anyway."