Flim-Flam Feverby EHANChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 1The familiar sound of anger filled their ears once again. By this point it had become all routine to them, to the point where they would need to plan an escape route with their plan in the case of inevitable failure. This was one of those times where they needed it. Sometimes the mob just stood and watched as the cons fled the town. But other times, like this, they would not settle for less than driving them out of town on foot. The brothers couldn't even afford to bring their machine with them. That is, if they hadn't sold it long ago just to keep their business running. The long-past joy of scamming a quick bit off of some unknowing townsfolk, the satisfaction of counting the money they had scammed from a whole town even, would never again be felt. After that day. That one day would stick in their brains for the rest of their lives. They had gone over it in their heads multiple times. With every failure they had experienced, it all started there. They had planned it out so well. They were just a simple family with a huge orchard. It would have been a snap to buy them out. Strolling into town with their machine, they won the immediate attention of the cider-deprived group. They couldn't have been luckier with their arrival. They went over their infamous song-and-dance routine, then made their move. Their motive: take the family's entire orchard. They had planned for some reluctance, so they devised a cider-making competition. After a good old-fashioned upset, the brothers beat the small family by about twice the quantity. However, the crowd didn't seem to like this at all and refused to pay them. Within minutes, they shifted their machine into high gear and retreated like the cowards they were. They won, but they lost. Such an interesting paradox to think about. This was no ordinary family, after all. After this experience, they were their sworn enemy. The Apple Family. A mere mention of the name only brought back horrible memories. And the memories they had made since then were no better. The two con-ponies had not been successful anywhere in weeks, maybe even months. It was almost impossible to gauge the time since their defeat. It felt like years to them. Their youthful appearances were still there, but they only felt depression. Back at their base of operation, if it even deserved to be called as such, the brothers went over their most recent failure. Only these words were necessary: "Same as last time, just failure." They had been doubting themselves quite a bit recently. Nothing they did was working, and they had lost almost everything at this point. They had on them the closest thing to a bounty anyone could have. Worst of all, though, they were flat broke. Almost every town across the land had heard of them. They knew the names well. Flim and Flam. They would never again make a quick bit off of anyone. They were too well-known, or rather, infamous, to be accepted in any town anywhere. The thieves, the robbers, the con-ponies. Anything related to this was an accurate description of the brothers. For every shimmering light of hope they saw for their business, it quickly became swallowed up by the darkness of defeat. However, one light shined brighter than the others, and Flim and Flam were saving the best for last. And at this point, it was the last. They had made their base of operations out of a small shack they had found deep in a secluded part of the woods. It wasn't much, but they probably wouldn't have done any better anyway. It was noticeably old and run-down, but thankfully, it was spacious enough to the point where they could live comfortably. Or rather, comfortable in the sense that they weren't being pursued by yet another angry mob, as the case had been for quite some time. Every scheme they devised was born in this shack. Every success they had, as well as the failures, were thought up in here. It was pretty much all they had left. Their fancy machine they used to make their grand appearance, the one townsfolk all across Equestria identified as the symbol of the con-ponies' arrival, had been sold away. They had to keep themselves alive with what they had, and for weeks, they slowly dropped into complete poverty. And they had hit rock bottom. The two knew that they had to put their past behind them here and now. They had planned for a day like this. They had nothing left, except the decrepit shack, their cider-creating tools, a limited supply of food, a few furniture items, and the clothes on their backs. Flim pulled out some various ingredients from a cupboard they had kept closed for this very occasion. They worked for hours, mixing the ingredients with their stashes of apple juice. Throughout the night they tested each batch, looking for one that would get a satisfactory reaction out of both of them. Anything tasting even decent would be a miracle to them in this state. The sun passed under the horizon line, leaving the world around them in a shroud of darkness. Lighting their only lantern, Flam turned to his younger brother and watched as he tried batch after batch with less than mediocre results each time. "Do you think we'll ever make a batch good enough?" he said after a long bit of silence. Flim, taking a look outside, stared off into the unforgiving darkness. Turning to Flam, he replied: "There has to be one batch. We saved these ingredients for some reason. One combination has to work. At least one." The unsure tone in his voice completely gave him away. He really had no idea anymore whether or not this plan would work. The ingredients he was saving in the cupboard: had it all been just false hope to them? They had remained devoted to their profession for this long, planning this scheme perfectly. There was no way it could possibly fail. If it even got started, that is. After a few hours, the faint glow of the moon began to light the world around the shack. They had been working since sundown, and if they had to take a guess, it was well around midnight. The two had decided to work until they could not stay awake a moment longer, but at that point, the effects of sleep deprivation started to get to them. Feeling almost defeated, they decided to try one more combination before continuing the next morning. When it was done, they both took a sip at once. They stopped for a moment. They wondered if it was just their imagination: had they really created something decent for once? Thinking it was only part of the lack of sleep they were getting, that their mind was playing tricks on them, they began to feel a little bit of happiness from the experience anyway. Setting the batch aside, they walked over to their beds and climbed in to sleep for the night. However, the thought of actually having made a successful batch kept them awake. As tired as they were, they subconsciously felt they had not only a working recipe, but - dare they believe - a masterpiece. The minutes went by. Neither one could stop thinking about the batch. As if by some cosmic coincidence, they rose simultaneously to take another sip of the batch. They grabbed their glasses, drank the contents, and set them down all in almost perfect sync. They looked down at their empty glasses, then at each other. They knew immediately, the old feeling of joy returning to them. They knew at once that they had succeeded. After months of falling into their financial abyss, they had begun their rise back to the top. Chapter 2The crack of dawn. The sign of new hope after a period of dark suspenseful waiting. At least, this is what it meant to Flim and Flam today. Getting the rest they well needed, they began work on making a barrel filled with their new cider. They had kept a record of their recipe, and began to write numerous copies of it. The recipe had become their lifeline. If they lost it, who knows what might happen to them? As Flim finished making a good number of copies, Flam had filled up the last bit of the barrel. Flim stowed all the papers away, while Flam brought the barrel over to their cart. Before they left the shack, Flam grabbed a map. He showed it to Flim and pointed out their destination. They had made marks all across the map of Equestria; it showed where they had their successes, where they had their failures, and where they dared to make return trips in the hopes to fool the townsfolk twice. They had gone back to places where they were successful, and more often than not, they left defeated after the return trip. Assuming that almost all of the towns had learned about the con ponies, one area on the map had purposely remained unchecked. Their destination: a small, cozy village by the name of Hollow Shades. This town appeared to be the ideal location of a final attempt. It was out of the way, so visitors were unlikely. This way, word of mouth could not easily have reached them about the infamous brothers and their nefarious schemes. They were a self-serving community, and everything they produced went directly to them. As secluded as they were, they welcomed strangers and treated them as they did one another. This innocent little village, as a result, was the perfect candidate to test their latest and greatest batch. The journey took a couple of hours, but in their determination, they rarely took time to rest. "The sooner we get back on their feet, the better," they told each other. The woods seemed to stretch on forever, but soon enough, they saw a clearing up ahead. A few ponies happened to be enjoying themselves on the outskirts of town, and upon seeing the new arrivals, they ran into town to spread the news. Unaware of who these ponies were, and the reputation they had gained, the inhabitants began to fill the town square to welcome the new arrivals. A crowd of just under a hundred ponies had gathered around the brothers within minutes. With their feeling of confidence returning to them, they introduced themselves to the town. The reassuring faces of friendly smiles radiated throughout the square. Flim nodded his head toward Flam. "Awfully nice group of ponies, aren't they?" he said in a hushed tone. His older brother replied, "It would appear so, brother of mine!" Walking over to one of the empty grocery stands, they set the cart and barrel down. They began to explain their motives to the crowd. Calling their cider "Golden Delight," they began to claim that it would be the best cider the group had ever tasted. They poured a few glasses and set them down in front of them. The crowd seemed a little bit skeptical at first. The town usually didn't take outside business well. However, a group of about four or five willing individuals stepped up to the stand, each asking the brothers for a cup. The moment of truth had arrived. As the ponies took their sips of cider, the brothers watched with anticipation. A few long seconds passed. The ponies set down their glasses one at a time. The blank looks on their faces made it hard to tell what they were thinking. After a brief moment, one of them uttered only three simple words. "I love it." Flim and Flam immediately felt a wave of satisfaction as the small group began to ask for more cider. The brothers were more than happy to oblige. As they drank their second cup, the whole crowd went into an uproar, all asking for a cup of the cider. Once every pony in the crowd had a cup, the barrel of cider ran out. The group was saddened to hear this, but they were satisfied with what they drank nonetheless. Asking for money, the brothers put their hats on the table. Each pony put the bits they owed into the hats, and the brothers smirked, finally happy with their new success. They had expected to make only a small profit, but by getting the entire town to drink up all of their cider, they barely had room for the bits they received. They had to stuff them all in the barrel. It wasn't the largest sum of money they had ever received at once, but it was definitely more than enough of a start. The brothers, feeling upbeat once again, thanked the town for their business, marched merrily out of the town, and on the road back to their shack in the woods, sang their merry little tune with the sun slowly rising over their heads. The brothers, when back at the shack, began production of their cider on a larger scale than before. However, at Hollow Shades, the town was buzzing with the news of the traveling salesponies. Something this good could not possibly be kept a secret, they all decided. With the return of the brothers the next day, they asked Flim and Flam if they were planning to take their business to other towns. The ponies of Hollow Shades then promised Flim and Flam that they would put good word in for the next town they would visit, in exchange for more cider of course. Both sides kept their word. Chapter 3A week later, the town of Ponyville was bustling in its usual happy-go-lucky way. While not nearly as small or as secluded as Hollow Shades, they were about as cheerful. People came and went more often here. It was definitely a nice place to be at any time of the year. Two ponies strolled into town: one a mare, the other a stallion. They were in conversation with one another. The mare turned to her brother. "So what exactly are we goin' to town for, Big Mac?" she asked. He pointed over to a store which sold farm equipment. He explained to his younger sister: "Dang plow's broken down, AJ. Need to get a new one." The two walked over to the store, but the sight of another mare carrying a large barrel on her back caught their attention. She didn't seem to be struggling at all, but was trudging along at a rather slow pace. Big Mac walked up to her. "Need a little help there, miss?" he said with a chuckle. She looked at him and said back to him: "Nah, this is nothing for me. I can carry way more than this if I wanted to. You know how I am when it comes to drinks." They both shared a good, quick laugh. "So Berry, what'cha got in that barrel?" he asked her. She replied, "Oh, just a new brand of cider I saw being sold in the town square. Quite a crowd for it. If they manage to draw in a crowd here in Ponyville, then you know that they're something worth talking about. You should probably go check out the scene. You know, since you're part of the Apple Family and all. But anyway, I'm bringing this home to create some drink ideas. This could work as a pretty good base for my new beverages." Big Mac and Applejack stared at Berry Punch, interested in what new brand of cider she could possibly be talking about. They felt a bit threatened by this news, but not terribly. After Berry Punch went on their way, they decided to head into the store first to buy a new plow. On their way home, they ran into a massive crowd of excited ponies. The crowd was so large, it was impossible for them to see what they were there for. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane came out of the crowd, gulping down a cup of cider. They stopped to talk to her. "What's this big crowd for, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked her, bewildered at the sight of all these ponies. Rainbow Dash responded, "Haven't you heard? It's the new brand of cider everyone's been talking about! It's called 'Golden Delight!' Hurry up and get a cup already, guys, they're selling like crazy!" She flew off, closely gripping her cup of cider. Applejack and Big Mac decided that the only way they could figure out who was selling these cups was to make their way through the crowd. Before they got to the front, however, a voice which was nearly inaudible over the noise of the crowd shouted: "That's all for today, folks! Come back tomorrow!" The disappointed sighs rang simultaneously throughout the marketplace. Before they knew it, the crowd was dispersed, and the business ponies disappeared. Disheartened, the two continued on their way home. At their barn, they set the plow outside, and went in to tell their grandmother, Granny Smith, what they had seen in town. She was in her rocking chair, reading the newspaper. Before the two said a word to her, she told them to sit down next to her. She had seen news about the "Golden Delight" cider in a news article, and with a tone of disgust in her voice, she revealed to them that the ones behind the cider were none other than Flim and Flam. Flim and Flam. The names rang through their heads like a horrible curse. How could it be? They dropped out of the public eye long ago! The Apple Family personally ran them out of town! How could they possibly be back and doing better than ever? Granny Smith advised them to avoid the cider at all costs. No matter what anyone said, they were to keep away from the cider and do whatever it took to make sure nobody else drank any of it either. Applejack, deciding to take matters into her own hooves, went out to collect as much evidence of the situation, so that the Apple Family could know what they were up against. Chapter 4As the month went by, the Golden Delight cider craze had spread from small towns to much larger cities, even reaching the likes of Canterlot. Flim and Flam apparently had a working business on their hooves. Within the last few days, Applejack had seen actual advertisements for the cider popping up, and at this point, they were almost everywhere imaginable. Billboards and signs with the smug look of the salesponies plastered onto them proudly proclaimed the wonders of Golden Delight cider. They had become so popular that they were on the front page of newspapers and magazines for days on end. Radio news reporters asked them about their successes. Often their reply was simple: "It's all thanks to our new secret recipe, it just makes the cider irresistible!" Even the new invention of color televisions portrayed the successes of the cider. Many commercials were being put up. One had the well-known tune that the brothers used to sing when they came into town. Others had a more interesting style of advertising, in which they had hired the somewhat famous minotaur, Iron Will, to be their spokesman. The tone of aggression with which he spoke seemed to draw in more buyers than Flim and Flam initially thought. But the main way the news of Golden Delight traveled throughout Equestria was always word of mouth. Deeply involved with her research, Applejack was snapped out of her trance-like state by her younger sister, Apple Bloom, who told her that Granny Smith was immediately holding a family meeting in the kitchen. Granny Smith spoke with a hint of irritation in her voice. "All right, youngins, these are some bad times for us. Our profits are goin' down, and we ain't gonna be able to compete with Flim and Flam's fancy-schmancy new brand of cider. To make matters worse, them dastardly brothers opened up a new-fangled factory out near Hollow Shades, where they plan to use the orchards there to grow some more apples for their business! Ah fear that they'll buy out other orchards, so we'll have to do what we can to keep 'em from takin' ours!" Apple Bloom chimed in: "We need to spread the word to other Apple Family branches, so that they know not to give up their orchards to them fiends!" "Great idea, Apple Bloom!" Applejack responded. "Flim and Flam better not mess with our family, because they ought to know that they got another thing coming if they do!" Only two weeks later, the brothers had built their company headquarters right in Hollow Shades where they had made their first sale. The factory was fairly large, noisy, and definitely effective. Cider production had skyrocketed for the company, bringing sales up with it. They had also bought the apple orchard owned by Hollow Shades as well. However, the orchard would prove to be an ineffective means of supplying apples for the gargantuan factory. At all hours of the day, smoke fumes piled out of the smokestacks. The machines inside never stopped working to create the cider. This indeed proved to be a problem, as the orchard did not grow apples fast enough or in a large enough quantity to meet the factory's speedy production of cider. At first, the Flim-Flam brothers did not take notice to this impending problem, as they were too busy with all the attention they had been receiving to take any time to discover this possibility. However, in a few days' time, they soon saw that most of the apple trees were already bare. In their headquarters, which was overshadowed by the larger factory adjacent to them, Flam pointed this out to his younger brother. Flim went into a quick panic, but then an idea struck him. "We'll just have to buy out other apple orchards and use their apples!" he exclaimed proudly. His brother questioned him, "I know we're getting quite rich off of this cider, but don't you think that will be difficult?" Looking down at his desk and pulling a document out of his drawer, Flim showed it to his skeptical brother. "Not if we're already millionaires." Indeed, the document had proven that their company had already gave them a million bits. After a brief but energetic celebration, the brothers proceeded to seek out other apple orchards in Equestria, hoping to make a deal with them. They had the money to buy out apple orchards to spare. And as time went on, and more profit came to them, they had a whole corporation on their hooves. The more money they got, the more orchards they bought out. The more orchards they bought out, the more cider they produced. And the more cider they produced, the more money they got. The cycle continued like this for months, until everything eventually balanced out. They had bought out every orchard they could get their hooves on. Every orchard, that is, except the Apple Family orchards. Following the success of the Golden Delight cider brand, the Apple Family, calling the Flim-Flam brothers their sworn enemies, refused to allow the brothers access to their extensive network of farms across Equestria. Ranging from Ponyville to Appleloosa, to even the outskirts of Manehattan, Apple Family members everywhere would not let the brothers have a single one of their apples. The brothers noticed this apparent trend, but hardly saw it as a threat. As far as they were concerned, they were bringing in enough apples to the point where it became more than enough. They had to build other factories to keep up with the amount of apples they were bringing in. As long as their cider was being sold, the brothers saw no problems with their cider. The Apple Family wasn't faring nearly as well, as their sales saw a massive decline as a result of their competition. Soon there would be no place for the Apple Family in Equestria. They continued their research of the brand, in the hopes that there could be a hope to beat them. In the hopes that they could once again have relevance. In the hopes that they could soon return to the days of Apple Family quality cider, made from love and care rather than money and power. Chapter 5The sun rose over the quiet town of Ponyville. The streets were empty, and very few ponies were up and about in their homes at all. This was nothing new to the town, as most days started off this way. Among the average homes of everyday citizens, there was one structure that stood out from the rest. This was the town library, made of a fairly large tree. This place was home to a particular studious and secluded pony, a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. She lived with her assistant, a young dragon named Spike. They happened to be up at this point in the day, as they usually were. Twilight would often study early in the day until late at night. She endlessly sought to explore the world around her, striving to gather all the information she could about anything and everything. This is what she loved to do. This kept her content with her life. As the world evolved outside the library, Twilight could barely keep up with the changes, as she was wrapped up in her eternal studies. She went out every so often, so she was not entirely antisocial. She enjoyed spending time with friends and having a good time apart from studies as well. However, she had involved herself in a rather large project in recent times, leaving her next to no time to come out of her home. Any time she needed to get something at the store, she would send Spike to retrieve it for her so that she did not lose a single minute of solving her problems. As a result, these actions caused the whole cider craze to almost completely fly under her radar. When she did finally go outside after days on end of studying, she found that something was abnormal in town. It did not appear to be major at first glance, but soon she found that she had stumbled upon something huge. At first, she began to notice the more obvious signs, which were the signs themselves. Posters and billboards all over town proudly proclaimed the profit-gaining cider of the world famous Flim-Flam brothers. Twilight, reminding herself of the time they first came to Ponyville to challenge Sweet Apple Acres. "They must have finally gotten themselves on the right track," she thought to herself, "or they are once again up to no good here in Ponyville." As she went about her daily business, she ran into a few ponies who were noticeably getting into an argument. Among the group were two of her closest friends: a pegasus who went by the name of Rainbow Dash, and an earth pony named Pinkie Pie. Hoping to resolve the argument, she stepped in to try to make sense of the situation. As she looked closer, she began to hear their argument clearly: they were fighting over the last cup of cider being sold for the day. Suddenly, the ponies could not stand verbal arguments any longer, so they decided to let their hooves do the talking for them. Within seconds, every pony in the small group tackled one another to the ground, literally fighting each other for the last cup. She paid the greatest attention to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who had a rage in their eyes that made them seem as if they were intending to destroy each other. Twilight could not bear the sight of this any longer, so she used her magic to pull the cider out of the crowd. By doing this, she got the attention of the crazed ponies, and she proceeded to scold them for their reckless and unnecessary behavior. Storming off in disappointment, she brought the cider back to her library. The ponies began to feel ashamed of their actions, and apologized to one another. Hearing their apologies behind her, Twilight felt a bit satisfied, but she also knew that she had some questions that needed to be answered. After hours of testing the cider, she had gathered quite a bit of information. The research led her to an interesting but also quite expected solution: Flim and Flam had once again created a nefarious scheme. The cider was made to taste good, there was no doubt about it. However, that wasn't all there was to it. A few ingredients used in the cider linked to an interesting data point. Not only was it delicious, but it also had a hint of addictive substances in it. Drinking the cider once or twice would not have created any sort of mesmerizing sensation, but the fact was that most ponies would drink about five or more due to the cider's delightful taste. In doing this, they had ingested enough of the addictive substances that it would cause themselves to actually develop a need for the cider. The more they drank after that would only increase the sensations further. After about twenty ingested cups, the ponies would become dependent on the cider, going crazy if they were separated from the cider for too long. Eventually the effects on a pony would be amplified so greatly that they would resort to physical violence if it meant getting another cup of cider. "I bet this whole mess is surely bothering the Apple Family," she thought to herself after gathering this information. "Perhaps I should head over there and see if I can help them in some way." Sneaking out of town, she quickly trotted over to Sweet Apple Acres, which had been tightly fenced off from anyone attempting to take the apples from the trees. Heading up to the barn, she knocked on the door. The loud and somewhat intimidating voice of Big Mac shouted at her from inside. "Get off our property! We're not lettin' you take a single one of our apples! You better high-tail it out of here before we come out there and chase you out!" Twilight, quite startled, called back to the voice: "It's me, Twilight Sparkle! I just came over here to ask if I could do anything to help! I know about Flim and Flam's scheme, I know about the cider, and I want to see if there is any way I could lend a hoof!" Big Mac slightly nudged open the door, sticking only his head out. "You're not bringin' anyone with you, are you? We don't want any of them crazy ponies gettin' in here and causin' trouble!" Twilight replied, "No, Big Mac, I'm here alone. And I haven't had a single drop of the cider, I'm well aware of what it can do to a pony." He opened the door a little more, just enough to let her into the barn. He quickly closed the door behind her just in case she was being followed. Big Mac led her down into the barn's basement, where the rest of the family was. Granny Smith was in the corner reading more about Flim and Flam's business in the newspaper, with a few other stacks of papers surrounding her. She had been working hard to keep the family up to date on their financial gains and other public statements. Lately, almost every article she read meant more bad news for the Apple Family. Meanwhile, Applejack and Apple Bloom were busy with their own tests on the cider. Although not as advanced as her testing tools, Twilight had to admit that they were putting a good amount of determination into these tests. Twilight was intrigued by the amount of work the family was putting into gathering information on Flim and Flam's cider. It was odd to see someone as... simple as Applejack actually taking time to try something so complex. Walking up next to Applejack, she decided to brighten her mood a bit. "You know, this is quite different from what I'm used to from you, Applejack. You don't seem to be the kind of pony who would take time to fully research anything. But it's nice to see that you've decided to take up something that's more my speed. Maybe you could help me with some of my research sometime!" she said with a narrow smirk. Apple Bloom turned to Twilight and whispered, "It's probably best not to bug her. She's way too focused on her research to talk to anyone." Applejack, however, didn't seem to take any offense to Twilight's remark, and replied: "For you information, I'm only doin' this because it's the only way I'll keep my family business afloat. They're our business rivals, and if they don't wanna play clean, then we gotta fight back." Twilight then moved on to talk about the situation at hand. She went on to tell Applejack how the cider actually had addictive substances that Flim and Flam used to continually turn up a profit from the cider. She explained: "It's a vicious cycle; the more the ponies drink the cider, the more dependent on it they become. I refer to it as 'Golden Delight Fever.'" Applejack replied with disgust: "More like 'Flim-Flam Fever!'" Applejack took a turn in sharing information. "Although their company has been makin' a huge profit since it started, it seems like it's not gonna last much longer. They're gettin' a huge supply of apples from all the farms they bought, but the demand is increasin' way too fast. They have nowhere to expand, and soon, their apple orchards won't be producin' enough apples to meet the huge demand for cider. Their glory is lastin' for now, but this is their peak. They've run themselves into a corner, and all it's gonna take is one spark to ignite the downfall of their company." Meanwhile, at the Golden Delight factory, Flim and Flam had also started to realize their situation. Their statistics showed that ponies had begun buying the cider in bulk, purchasing an entire barrel at once. In some extreme cases, they even bought multiple barrels of cider. They were indeed turning up a huge profit from all of their sales, which meant they could still stay in business. However, they had been making so much money lately that they couldn't possibly shut it down. They realized that they couldn't possibly meet demand with the apple orchards they already owned, and since the Apple Family had made a pact to keep the remaining orchards out of the company's hooves, there was nowhere they could expand to. They had run out of options; all they could hope for was that the demand would die down a bit. The addictiveness of the cider proved this to be impossible, however. Just after their unfortunate discovery, an employee at the factory quickly approached the room of the two brothers. He knocked on the door, and when the brothers came to the door, he said with panic in his voice: "Flim and Flam, we seem to have a slight problem at the factory gates." Looking out a window, they saw a quite troubling sight. A group of ponies, hundreds or possibly even thousands strong, were pounding on the gates. They began screaming at the massive factory, demanding an increase in the supply of their precious cider. Chapter 6The brothers went into a panic. This cider-crazed mob was going to ruin their business. The mob arrived after they began to notice that there often was not enough cider in the markets to satisfy their growing demand. Flim and Flam began to see just how unavoidable their predicament was. Flim and Flam, not wanting to allow the raging ponies onto their property where they could cause massive damage, loudly called out to the crowd: "You're not getting in here and taking any cider! Not even if the princesses THEMSELVES demand it!" Ironically, at that moment, three alicorns stepped through the crowd. Their appearances were known by all in Equestria. The ponies were none other than the three princesses themselves: Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Even they had fallen victim to the horrible scheme of the brothers. The cider had gotten so popular that it made it to royalty, and obviously, they drank so much that they too became addicted to it. Flim and Flam nervously retracted their previous statement, and ordered the employees to create enough cups of cider to keep them at bay for a little while, so that they could find time to come up with a better plan. Within several minutes, the factory had produced about a thousand cups of cider, at the cost of a major portion of their apple supply. The factory workers then headed out to the gates to quell the rage of the cider-depraved ponies, hoping that giving it to them for free would aid in calming them down. The ponies in the mob pushed and shoved each other to get their own cup of cider. After each cup was passed out to the crowd, it took less than a minute for them to drink each cup, fight over the remaining drops that might have been left, and continue their rage, apparently not feeling satisfied enough. The iron gates could not hold back the force of a thousand frantic ponies for much longer, and as they continued to push against it, the locks soon gave way, causing the gates to fly open. They had made it onto the factory grounds, much to the dismay of the brothers. They realized that they had no other choice but to hope that they leave by some miracle. Now pounding on the doors to the factory, the crowd was obviously making one thing perfectly clear. They wanted cider, they wanted it now, and if they didn't get what they wanted, they would take the factory by storm. Realizing they would lose their entire profit if they agreed this time, Flim and Flam once again refused to please the crowds. The pounding on the doors continued, and eventually a loud crash indicated that they had gained access to the entire factory. They went straight for the apple cider production rooms, but four ponies had pushed through the crowds to search for the room where Flim and Flam had chosen to hide. Coming across it before the mob cared to search for it, they knocked on the door. The brothers heard the distinct, familiar voice of one of the ponies. It shouted, "Open the door, Flim and Flam! We four want a word with you!" Recognizing the voice, they knew they were facing off against their sworn enemies. Considering the situation they were soon going to be in, they realized they had no other choice and reluctantly let the four ponies step in. Flim and Flam once again stood face to face with none other than Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith. Almost immediately the ponies began arguing with one another. Screaming and hollering, they began to blame one another for the troubles they had caused one another in the past. "What were you two thinkin'," Granny Smith scolded the brothers, "makin' such a preposterous plan and not knowin' it was gonna backfire?" "These ponies are absolutely insane! They're gonna take down this factory and take all of your cider! How could you not have prevented this earlier?" Apple Bloom shouted up to them. Flim claimed, "Well, you all drove us to this point! Ever since that day- that competition- we have had nothing but failures! And now, we almost had something! And ONCE again, it's gonna be ruined!" "This never would have happened if you four had just let us work in Ponyville initially!" Flam claimed. Applejack replied, "This never would've HAPPENED if you two had just stayed out of Ponyville in the first place! This is ALL on you two, and you KNOW it!" Just then, the room became almost entirely silent. The only noise heard was the clamorous crowd a few floors below them. Flim and Flam finally realized that it was futile to try to blame others for their own mistakes. They had created the company, they had created the cider. They alone were the sole cause of their own problems. And now they began to see a much bleaker future ahead of them than they had ever seen before. Soon ponies everywhere would not only hate them, but just completely loathe them. If this entire mess were to ever be fixed, they knew that they would get the blame, they would get the fines for the damages caused, and they would get the pure infamy that comes with. But they also knew one thing: if they did not take the fall, the entire realm of Equestria would remain cider-crazed and eventually crumble due to the insane nature of the ponies. Sure, it might wear off, but how long would it take for every pony to just wage war on each other? There was no telling what would happen if they didn't act soon. Chapter 7Luckily for everyone, there was one other pony who did not get affected by the "Golden Delight Fever." The purple unicorn, choosing to refrain from drinking the cider and locking herself away in her home, was silently making an antidote for the insane ponies. Twilight Sparkle had finally created a batch of the antidote that appeared to reverse the effects of the cider. However, since getting a test subject to test the antidote on would have been too dangerous, so she had really only been working with a hypothetical antidote. In theory, it would reverse the effects of the chaotic nature of the ponies. She decided that it would have been best to take a risk at this point; she believed that it would be a better choice than choosing not to try at all. Arriving at the gates of the factory, she was shocked to see them lying on the ground, completely mangled by the mob that broke through them and trampled them under their hooves only about half an hour beforehand. The front doors of the factory had also been forced open, it appeared. She began to hear the hundreds of voices all calling out for cider. Their voices rang throughout the factory and were no doubt unrelenting. She heard the voices of the Apple Family and Flim and Flam as they argued above her. Finding a stairwell, she raced up the stairs and approached the room where they had chosen to hide themselves. Then she opened the doors and stepped in. The six ponies in the room were startled momentarily, thinking that the mob had come for them, but when they saw that she had not been overtaken by the cider, they had a moment of relief from their fears. Locking the door behind Twilight, Flim asked her, "What do you want? Can't you see that we're trying to prevent a crisis?" Twilight answered him, "I know what's been going on. I've done too much research on this business. I had to try to figure out a way to help you all prevent it before it got any worse. And know that I'm not just here for you two," she glared at Flim and Flam, who looked guiltily back at her, "I'm here for Equestria." Big Mac spoke up: "So what ARE you here for?" Twilight responded, "While this was all happening, I was busy making an antidote to the cider. Unfortunately, the ponies are too destructive to safely test the antidote on, so it only works in theory. But it SHOULD work in practice." "However," she added, "the ponies aren't going to give up their struggle easily, so we have probably half an hour before they completely go on a destructive rampage." Flim ran over to a door next to him, saying: "This door leads into the production room. The other ponies aren't gonna bother coming up here for a while, so let's sneak around through here!" The seven ponies ran down the staircase beyond the door and ran out into the huge production room. Flim said to Twilight, "We only have enough apples left to make one more batch of cider to satisfy the mob. Give us the antidote so we can put it in the cider." Just as Twilight pulled the vial out of her saddle bag, Applejack chimed in: "Wait a minute, we're not gonna let Flim and Flam get out of this mess that easily! You two need to swear to never do ANYTHIN' like this ever again!" Flam angrily replied to Applejack, "Don't you think we've had enough of this already? This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really think we'd ever pull a stunt like THIS again, considering what's gonna happen to us after this mess is cleaned up?" Flim continued, "Of course we apologize! Why else would we be helping you at all?" Applejack, still a bit suspicious, thought for a moment, but finally gave in. "Ok, I believe you, but don't you go thinkin' we're on good terms." Passing the vial over to Flim and Flam, they began to make cider with a bit of the antidote in each cup. The cups all passed through the assembly line, one by one, while the seven watched, hopeful that the antidote would actually work. After a few minutes, the apples had all been turned into cider, and the antidote had been mixed in with the large batch. They began to walk toward the doors where the mob had been waiting impatiently the entire time. The ponies were pounding fiercely on the doors, all of them shouting for even a single glass of cider. Flim came to a sudden realization. "Wait a second... if we open the doors like this, the mob will push their way through us and trample us for the cider! We can't just open the doors and expect them to calmly accept the cider!" They thought for a second or two, and then Twilight spoke up: "I've got an idea. Flim and Flam, you two stand on either side of the door." Flim and Flam were quite quick to agree with her plan, and took their positions around the doors. Twilight stood by the doors, waiting to pull them open. She then spoke firmly to Flim and Flam: "I'm going to pull open the doors, and on my mark, you two need to put up an immobilization spell around the mob as they come through. Got it?" "Got it!" they replied in unison. Twilight then used her magic to grab hold of the door handle. She yanked on it with great speed and power. The doors flew open, and the ponies on the other side began to fall through the doorway. "Now!" Twilight screamed, and Flim and Flam sprang into action, creating a magic shield around the mob. The hundreds of frantic ponies were immediately frozen in place. With a sigh of relief, Twilight began to carry as many glasses as possible over to the mob. Giving each pony his or her own glass, Flim and Flam released their grip on the ponies one at a time. Each pony quickly gulped down their cider, and gave a gasp of satisfaction when they had finished. They almost immediately began to feel calm, and let the other ponies enjoy their own glasses of cider. Within minutes, it seemed as if the mob was never fighting for the cider at all. After each pony had had at least one glass of the cider, there were still a few more. Surprisingly, none of the ponies went after the extra glasses. The seven ponies all were amazed that their ridiculous plan worked out as they hoped, and finally relaxed. "Thank Celestia that's over..." Flam said after a while. Then he realized: "Wait... Celestia!" Chapter 8The princesses, standing among the crowd, were recovering from their cider craze. Luna had snapped out of it first, and as she finally came to her senses, she furiously exclaimed: "Brothers Flim and Flam! Step forward!" Flim and Flam immediately went into a panic, but then slowly and reluctantly walked over to them, knowing that they wouldn't be able to escape their punishment anyway. As they came over to stand at their feet, the sun glared through the windows. Covering their eyes momentarily, they stood face-to-face with all three princesses. Celestia and Cadance had also recovered fully by this point, and Cadance spoke up first. "I'm sure you both know that you're going to be punished for this, so I'll just cut to the chase. You two are to use whatever profits you gained from this business to clean it all up. You can start by recalling all of your cider from the stores, so that we can either use it to create more of the antidote to cure any other pony suspected to still be affected by this... 'Flim-Flam Fever,' as it were, or so that we can dispose of it safely so that no pony ever becomes grasped by the cider's addictive properties. You are to return the property you bought to their respective owners. You are also to pay a fine so that we can repair what has been destroyed because of the mob. And if you ever try to start up a cider business again, we will have it shut down as soon as we hear about it." Celestia then added, "And speaking of 'shut down,' your cider business shall be closed permanently, effective immediately." Within a few days, the brothers were back down at rock bottom: completely broke, widely shamed and disgraced, with all traces of confidence sucked out of them. They wandered Equestria as they had before, with nowhere to go, and nothing to work for. Even worse than not being able to make their own cider anymore was the fact that nobody in any other job would ever think to hire them. Walking along an empty road, Flim spoke to Flam: "We've got no job, we've got no money, we've got no shred of public acceptance. Everyone hates us now, and who do we have to blame but ourselves." Flam replied, "Everything does seem bleak for us right now, brother of mine. We were pretty much destined to go down this path though. That was our final option, and even if it failed from the start, we would end up where we are now anyway." Flim though for a moment about what his brother said, and just looked down and kept walking. A thought entered his mind. He cringed at the thought, but felt he had to speak his mind. "There is one place we haven't tried to get hired at..." he said weakly. A few weeks later, the sun was high over the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple Family was busy relaxing, lying out on the grass. Applejack, in a wooden chair, called out to two ponies who were busy working out in the orchard. "You two! Get over here! I've got somethin' for ya!" The two unicorns dropped what they were doing and walked out to her. She grabbed two glasses and handed one to each of them. "Drink up!" she said heartily to them. "You boys need to stay hydrated! The heat starts to get to ya after a while!" They drank the water out of their glasses and set them down on the table next to Applejack. She then said to them, "Can I get ya anything else, Flim and Flam?" The brothers declined their offer and walked back out to the orchard. They had been manually pulling the apples off of the trees, since they didn't have the physical strength to buck the trees. After a few minutes, Flim said to Flam, "You know, this was all your fault." Flam replied to his brother, "Oh, my fault is it? Well, you were the one who brought up this dumb idea!" "You were the one who decided to go through with it! You could have said no!" Flim said as a retort. "Well you made it seem like a good idea at the time! Besides, what else could we do? We were out of work, and this was the only job available to us!" Flam shouted back. "Anything is better than this though! Having to work for our rival... how degrading!" Applejack looked on as the two brothers continued to bicker. Giggling to herself, she took a sip of the water. Then, she said to herself: "Those two are a couple of professionals, alright! Professional goofballs... nonpareil!"
Chapter 1The familiar sound of anger filled their ears once again. By this point it had become all routine to them, to the point where they would need to plan an escape route with their plan in the case of inevitable failure. This was one of those times where they needed it. Sometimes the mob just stood and watched as the cons fled the town. But other times, like this, they would not settle for less than driving them out of town on foot. The brothers couldn't even afford to bring their machine with them. That is, if they hadn't sold it long ago just to keep their business running. The long-past joy of scamming a quick bit off of some unknowing townsfolk, the satisfaction of counting the money they had scammed from a whole town even, would never again be felt. After that day. That one day would stick in their brains for the rest of their lives. They had gone over it in their heads multiple times. With every failure they had experienced, it all started there. They had planned it out so well. They were just a simple family with a huge orchard. It would have been a snap to buy them out. Strolling into town with their machine, they won the immediate attention of the cider-deprived group. They couldn't have been luckier with their arrival. They went over their infamous song-and-dance routine, then made their move. Their motive: take the family's entire orchard. They had planned for some reluctance, so they devised a cider-making competition. After a good old-fashioned upset, the brothers beat the small family by about twice the quantity. However, the crowd didn't seem to like this at all and refused to pay them. Within minutes, they shifted their machine into high gear and retreated like the cowards they were. They won, but they lost. Such an interesting paradox to think about. This was no ordinary family, after all. After this experience, they were their sworn enemy. The Apple Family. A mere mention of the name only brought back horrible memories. And the memories they had made since then were no better. The two con-ponies had not been successful anywhere in weeks, maybe even months. It was almost impossible to gauge the time since their defeat. It felt like years to them. Their youthful appearances were still there, but they only felt depression. Back at their base of operation, if it even deserved to be called as such, the brothers went over their most recent failure. Only these words were necessary: "Same as last time, just failure." They had been doubting themselves quite a bit recently. Nothing they did was working, and they had lost almost everything at this point. They had on them the closest thing to a bounty anyone could have. Worst of all, though, they were flat broke. Almost every town across the land had heard of them. They knew the names well. Flim and Flam. They would never again make a quick bit off of anyone. They were too well-known, or rather, infamous, to be accepted in any town anywhere. The thieves, the robbers, the con-ponies. Anything related to this was an accurate description of the brothers. For every shimmering light of hope they saw for their business, it quickly became swallowed up by the darkness of defeat. However, one light shined brighter than the others, and Flim and Flam were saving the best for last. And at this point, it was the last. They had made their base of operations out of a small shack they had found deep in a secluded part of the woods. It wasn't much, but they probably wouldn't have done any better anyway. It was noticeably old and run-down, but thankfully, it was spacious enough to the point where they could live comfortably. Or rather, comfortable in the sense that they weren't being pursued by yet another angry mob, as the case had been for quite some time. Every scheme they devised was born in this shack. Every success they had, as well as the failures, were thought up in here. It was pretty much all they had left. Their fancy machine they used to make their grand appearance, the one townsfolk all across Equestria identified as the symbol of the con-ponies' arrival, had been sold away. They had to keep themselves alive with what they had, and for weeks, they slowly dropped into complete poverty. And they had hit rock bottom. The two knew that they had to put their past behind them here and now. They had planned for a day like this. They had nothing left, except the decrepit shack, their cider-creating tools, a limited supply of food, a few furniture items, and the clothes on their backs. Flim pulled out some various ingredients from a cupboard they had kept closed for this very occasion. They worked for hours, mixing the ingredients with their stashes of apple juice. Throughout the night they tested each batch, looking for one that would get a satisfactory reaction out of both of them. Anything tasting even decent would be a miracle to them in this state. The sun passed under the horizon line, leaving the world around them in a shroud of darkness. Lighting their only lantern, Flam turned to his younger brother and watched as he tried batch after batch with less than mediocre results each time. "Do you think we'll ever make a batch good enough?" he said after a long bit of silence. Flim, taking a look outside, stared off into the unforgiving darkness. Turning to Flam, he replied: "There has to be one batch. We saved these ingredients for some reason. One combination has to work. At least one." The unsure tone in his voice completely gave him away. He really had no idea anymore whether or not this plan would work. The ingredients he was saving in the cupboard: had it all been just false hope to them? They had remained devoted to their profession for this long, planning this scheme perfectly. There was no way it could possibly fail. If it even got started, that is. After a few hours, the faint glow of the moon began to light the world around the shack. They had been working since sundown, and if they had to take a guess, it was well around midnight. The two had decided to work until they could not stay awake a moment longer, but at that point, the effects of sleep deprivation started to get to them. Feeling almost defeated, they decided to try one more combination before continuing the next morning. When it was done, they both took a sip at once. They stopped for a moment. They wondered if it was just their imagination: had they really created something decent for once? Thinking it was only part of the lack of sleep they were getting, that their mind was playing tricks on them, they began to feel a little bit of happiness from the experience anyway. Setting the batch aside, they walked over to their beds and climbed in to sleep for the night. However, the thought of actually having made a successful batch kept them awake. As tired as they were, they subconsciously felt they had not only a working recipe, but - dare they believe - a masterpiece. The minutes went by. Neither one could stop thinking about the batch. As if by some cosmic coincidence, they rose simultaneously to take another sip of the batch. They grabbed their glasses, drank the contents, and set them down all in almost perfect sync. They looked down at their empty glasses, then at each other. They knew immediately, the old feeling of joy returning to them. They knew at once that they had succeeded. After months of falling into their financial abyss, they had begun their rise back to the top.
Chapter 2The crack of dawn. The sign of new hope after a period of dark suspenseful waiting. At least, this is what it meant to Flim and Flam today. Getting the rest they well needed, they began work on making a barrel filled with their new cider. They had kept a record of their recipe, and began to write numerous copies of it. The recipe had become their lifeline. If they lost it, who knows what might happen to them? As Flim finished making a good number of copies, Flam had filled up the last bit of the barrel. Flim stowed all the papers away, while Flam brought the barrel over to their cart. Before they left the shack, Flam grabbed a map. He showed it to Flim and pointed out their destination. They had made marks all across the map of Equestria; it showed where they had their successes, where they had their failures, and where they dared to make return trips in the hopes to fool the townsfolk twice. They had gone back to places where they were successful, and more often than not, they left defeated after the return trip. Assuming that almost all of the towns had learned about the con ponies, one area on the map had purposely remained unchecked. Their destination: a small, cozy village by the name of Hollow Shades. This town appeared to be the ideal location of a final attempt. It was out of the way, so visitors were unlikely. This way, word of mouth could not easily have reached them about the infamous brothers and their nefarious schemes. They were a self-serving community, and everything they produced went directly to them. As secluded as they were, they welcomed strangers and treated them as they did one another. This innocent little village, as a result, was the perfect candidate to test their latest and greatest batch. The journey took a couple of hours, but in their determination, they rarely took time to rest. "The sooner we get back on their feet, the better," they told each other. The woods seemed to stretch on forever, but soon enough, they saw a clearing up ahead. A few ponies happened to be enjoying themselves on the outskirts of town, and upon seeing the new arrivals, they ran into town to spread the news. Unaware of who these ponies were, and the reputation they had gained, the inhabitants began to fill the town square to welcome the new arrivals. A crowd of just under a hundred ponies had gathered around the brothers within minutes. With their feeling of confidence returning to them, they introduced themselves to the town. The reassuring faces of friendly smiles radiated throughout the square. Flim nodded his head toward Flam. "Awfully nice group of ponies, aren't they?" he said in a hushed tone. His older brother replied, "It would appear so, brother of mine!" Walking over to one of the empty grocery stands, they set the cart and barrel down. They began to explain their motives to the crowd. Calling their cider "Golden Delight," they began to claim that it would be the best cider the group had ever tasted. They poured a few glasses and set them down in front of them. The crowd seemed a little bit skeptical at first. The town usually didn't take outside business well. However, a group of about four or five willing individuals stepped up to the stand, each asking the brothers for a cup. The moment of truth had arrived. As the ponies took their sips of cider, the brothers watched with anticipation. A few long seconds passed. The ponies set down their glasses one at a time. The blank looks on their faces made it hard to tell what they were thinking. After a brief moment, one of them uttered only three simple words. "I love it." Flim and Flam immediately felt a wave of satisfaction as the small group began to ask for more cider. The brothers were more than happy to oblige. As they drank their second cup, the whole crowd went into an uproar, all asking for a cup of the cider. Once every pony in the crowd had a cup, the barrel of cider ran out. The group was saddened to hear this, but they were satisfied with what they drank nonetheless. Asking for money, the brothers put their hats on the table. Each pony put the bits they owed into the hats, and the brothers smirked, finally happy with their new success. They had expected to make only a small profit, but by getting the entire town to drink up all of their cider, they barely had room for the bits they received. They had to stuff them all in the barrel. It wasn't the largest sum of money they had ever received at once, but it was definitely more than enough of a start. The brothers, feeling upbeat once again, thanked the town for their business, marched merrily out of the town, and on the road back to their shack in the woods, sang their merry little tune with the sun slowly rising over their heads. The brothers, when back at the shack, began production of their cider on a larger scale than before. However, at Hollow Shades, the town was buzzing with the news of the traveling salesponies. Something this good could not possibly be kept a secret, they all decided. With the return of the brothers the next day, they asked Flim and Flam if they were planning to take their business to other towns. The ponies of Hollow Shades then promised Flim and Flam that they would put good word in for the next town they would visit, in exchange for more cider of course. Both sides kept their word.
Chapter 3A week later, the town of Ponyville was bustling in its usual happy-go-lucky way. While not nearly as small or as secluded as Hollow Shades, they were about as cheerful. People came and went more often here. It was definitely a nice place to be at any time of the year. Two ponies strolled into town: one a mare, the other a stallion. They were in conversation with one another. The mare turned to her brother. "So what exactly are we goin' to town for, Big Mac?" she asked. He pointed over to a store which sold farm equipment. He explained to his younger sister: "Dang plow's broken down, AJ. Need to get a new one." The two walked over to the store, but the sight of another mare carrying a large barrel on her back caught their attention. She didn't seem to be struggling at all, but was trudging along at a rather slow pace. Big Mac walked up to her. "Need a little help there, miss?" he said with a chuckle. She looked at him and said back to him: "Nah, this is nothing for me. I can carry way more than this if I wanted to. You know how I am when it comes to drinks." They both shared a good, quick laugh. "So Berry, what'cha got in that barrel?" he asked her. She replied, "Oh, just a new brand of cider I saw being sold in the town square. Quite a crowd for it. If they manage to draw in a crowd here in Ponyville, then you know that they're something worth talking about. You should probably go check out the scene. You know, since you're part of the Apple Family and all. But anyway, I'm bringing this home to create some drink ideas. This could work as a pretty good base for my new beverages." Big Mac and Applejack stared at Berry Punch, interested in what new brand of cider she could possibly be talking about. They felt a bit threatened by this news, but not terribly. After Berry Punch went on their way, they decided to head into the store first to buy a new plow. On their way home, they ran into a massive crowd of excited ponies. The crowd was so large, it was impossible for them to see what they were there for. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane came out of the crowd, gulping down a cup of cider. They stopped to talk to her. "What's this big crowd for, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked her, bewildered at the sight of all these ponies. Rainbow Dash responded, "Haven't you heard? It's the new brand of cider everyone's been talking about! It's called 'Golden Delight!' Hurry up and get a cup already, guys, they're selling like crazy!" She flew off, closely gripping her cup of cider. Applejack and Big Mac decided that the only way they could figure out who was selling these cups was to make their way through the crowd. Before they got to the front, however, a voice which was nearly inaudible over the noise of the crowd shouted: "That's all for today, folks! Come back tomorrow!" The disappointed sighs rang simultaneously throughout the marketplace. Before they knew it, the crowd was dispersed, and the business ponies disappeared. Disheartened, the two continued on their way home. At their barn, they set the plow outside, and went in to tell their grandmother, Granny Smith, what they had seen in town. She was in her rocking chair, reading the newspaper. Before the two said a word to her, she told them to sit down next to her. She had seen news about the "Golden Delight" cider in a news article, and with a tone of disgust in her voice, she revealed to them that the ones behind the cider were none other than Flim and Flam. Flim and Flam. The names rang through their heads like a horrible curse. How could it be? They dropped out of the public eye long ago! The Apple Family personally ran them out of town! How could they possibly be back and doing better than ever? Granny Smith advised them to avoid the cider at all costs. No matter what anyone said, they were to keep away from the cider and do whatever it took to make sure nobody else drank any of it either. Applejack, deciding to take matters into her own hooves, went out to collect as much evidence of the situation, so that the Apple Family could know what they were up against.
Chapter 4As the month went by, the Golden Delight cider craze had spread from small towns to much larger cities, even reaching the likes of Canterlot. Flim and Flam apparently had a working business on their hooves. Within the last few days, Applejack had seen actual advertisements for the cider popping up, and at this point, they were almost everywhere imaginable. Billboards and signs with the smug look of the salesponies plastered onto them proudly proclaimed the wonders of Golden Delight cider. They had become so popular that they were on the front page of newspapers and magazines for days on end. Radio news reporters asked them about their successes. Often their reply was simple: "It's all thanks to our new secret recipe, it just makes the cider irresistible!" Even the new invention of color televisions portrayed the successes of the cider. Many commercials were being put up. One had the well-known tune that the brothers used to sing when they came into town. Others had a more interesting style of advertising, in which they had hired the somewhat famous minotaur, Iron Will, to be their spokesman. The tone of aggression with which he spoke seemed to draw in more buyers than Flim and Flam initially thought. But the main way the news of Golden Delight traveled throughout Equestria was always word of mouth. Deeply involved with her research, Applejack was snapped out of her trance-like state by her younger sister, Apple Bloom, who told her that Granny Smith was immediately holding a family meeting in the kitchen. Granny Smith spoke with a hint of irritation in her voice. "All right, youngins, these are some bad times for us. Our profits are goin' down, and we ain't gonna be able to compete with Flim and Flam's fancy-schmancy new brand of cider. To make matters worse, them dastardly brothers opened up a new-fangled factory out near Hollow Shades, where they plan to use the orchards there to grow some more apples for their business! Ah fear that they'll buy out other orchards, so we'll have to do what we can to keep 'em from takin' ours!" Apple Bloom chimed in: "We need to spread the word to other Apple Family branches, so that they know not to give up their orchards to them fiends!" "Great idea, Apple Bloom!" Applejack responded. "Flim and Flam better not mess with our family, because they ought to know that they got another thing coming if they do!" Only two weeks later, the brothers had built their company headquarters right in Hollow Shades where they had made their first sale. The factory was fairly large, noisy, and definitely effective. Cider production had skyrocketed for the company, bringing sales up with it. They had also bought the apple orchard owned by Hollow Shades as well. However, the orchard would prove to be an ineffective means of supplying apples for the gargantuan factory. At all hours of the day, smoke fumes piled out of the smokestacks. The machines inside never stopped working to create the cider. This indeed proved to be a problem, as the orchard did not grow apples fast enough or in a large enough quantity to meet the factory's speedy production of cider. At first, the Flim-Flam brothers did not take notice to this impending problem, as they were too busy with all the attention they had been receiving to take any time to discover this possibility. However, in a few days' time, they soon saw that most of the apple trees were already bare. In their headquarters, which was overshadowed by the larger factory adjacent to them, Flam pointed this out to his younger brother. Flim went into a quick panic, but then an idea struck him. "We'll just have to buy out other apple orchards and use their apples!" he exclaimed proudly. His brother questioned him, "I know we're getting quite rich off of this cider, but don't you think that will be difficult?" Looking down at his desk and pulling a document out of his drawer, Flim showed it to his skeptical brother. "Not if we're already millionaires." Indeed, the document had proven that their company had already gave them a million bits. After a brief but energetic celebration, the brothers proceeded to seek out other apple orchards in Equestria, hoping to make a deal with them. They had the money to buy out apple orchards to spare. And as time went on, and more profit came to them, they had a whole corporation on their hooves. The more money they got, the more orchards they bought out. The more orchards they bought out, the more cider they produced. And the more cider they produced, the more money they got. The cycle continued like this for months, until everything eventually balanced out. They had bought out every orchard they could get their hooves on. Every orchard, that is, except the Apple Family orchards. Following the success of the Golden Delight cider brand, the Apple Family, calling the Flim-Flam brothers their sworn enemies, refused to allow the brothers access to their extensive network of farms across Equestria. Ranging from Ponyville to Appleloosa, to even the outskirts of Manehattan, Apple Family members everywhere would not let the brothers have a single one of their apples. The brothers noticed this apparent trend, but hardly saw it as a threat. As far as they were concerned, they were bringing in enough apples to the point where it became more than enough. They had to build other factories to keep up with the amount of apples they were bringing in. As long as their cider was being sold, the brothers saw no problems with their cider. The Apple Family wasn't faring nearly as well, as their sales saw a massive decline as a result of their competition. Soon there would be no place for the Apple Family in Equestria. They continued their research of the brand, in the hopes that there could be a hope to beat them. In the hopes that they could once again have relevance. In the hopes that they could soon return to the days of Apple Family quality cider, made from love and care rather than money and power.
Chapter 5The sun rose over the quiet town of Ponyville. The streets were empty, and very few ponies were up and about in their homes at all. This was nothing new to the town, as most days started off this way. Among the average homes of everyday citizens, there was one structure that stood out from the rest. This was the town library, made of a fairly large tree. This place was home to a particular studious and secluded pony, a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. She lived with her assistant, a young dragon named Spike. They happened to be up at this point in the day, as they usually were. Twilight would often study early in the day until late at night. She endlessly sought to explore the world around her, striving to gather all the information she could about anything and everything. This is what she loved to do. This kept her content with her life. As the world evolved outside the library, Twilight could barely keep up with the changes, as she was wrapped up in her eternal studies. She went out every so often, so she was not entirely antisocial. She enjoyed spending time with friends and having a good time apart from studies as well. However, she had involved herself in a rather large project in recent times, leaving her next to no time to come out of her home. Any time she needed to get something at the store, she would send Spike to retrieve it for her so that she did not lose a single minute of solving her problems. As a result, these actions caused the whole cider craze to almost completely fly under her radar. When she did finally go outside after days on end of studying, she found that something was abnormal in town. It did not appear to be major at first glance, but soon she found that she had stumbled upon something huge. At first, she began to notice the more obvious signs, which were the signs themselves. Posters and billboards all over town proudly proclaimed the profit-gaining cider of the world famous Flim-Flam brothers. Twilight, reminding herself of the time they first came to Ponyville to challenge Sweet Apple Acres. "They must have finally gotten themselves on the right track," she thought to herself, "or they are once again up to no good here in Ponyville." As she went about her daily business, she ran into a few ponies who were noticeably getting into an argument. Among the group were two of her closest friends: a pegasus who went by the name of Rainbow Dash, and an earth pony named Pinkie Pie. Hoping to resolve the argument, she stepped in to try to make sense of the situation. As she looked closer, she began to hear their argument clearly: they were fighting over the last cup of cider being sold for the day. Suddenly, the ponies could not stand verbal arguments any longer, so they decided to let their hooves do the talking for them. Within seconds, every pony in the small group tackled one another to the ground, literally fighting each other for the last cup. She paid the greatest attention to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who had a rage in their eyes that made them seem as if they were intending to destroy each other. Twilight could not bear the sight of this any longer, so she used her magic to pull the cider out of the crowd. By doing this, she got the attention of the crazed ponies, and she proceeded to scold them for their reckless and unnecessary behavior. Storming off in disappointment, she brought the cider back to her library. The ponies began to feel ashamed of their actions, and apologized to one another. Hearing their apologies behind her, Twilight felt a bit satisfied, but she also knew that she had some questions that needed to be answered. After hours of testing the cider, she had gathered quite a bit of information. The research led her to an interesting but also quite expected solution: Flim and Flam had once again created a nefarious scheme. The cider was made to taste good, there was no doubt about it. However, that wasn't all there was to it. A few ingredients used in the cider linked to an interesting data point. Not only was it delicious, but it also had a hint of addictive substances in it. Drinking the cider once or twice would not have created any sort of mesmerizing sensation, but the fact was that most ponies would drink about five or more due to the cider's delightful taste. In doing this, they had ingested enough of the addictive substances that it would cause themselves to actually develop a need for the cider. The more they drank after that would only increase the sensations further. After about twenty ingested cups, the ponies would become dependent on the cider, going crazy if they were separated from the cider for too long. Eventually the effects on a pony would be amplified so greatly that they would resort to physical violence if it meant getting another cup of cider. "I bet this whole mess is surely bothering the Apple Family," she thought to herself after gathering this information. "Perhaps I should head over there and see if I can help them in some way." Sneaking out of town, she quickly trotted over to Sweet Apple Acres, which had been tightly fenced off from anyone attempting to take the apples from the trees. Heading up to the barn, she knocked on the door. The loud and somewhat intimidating voice of Big Mac shouted at her from inside. "Get off our property! We're not lettin' you take a single one of our apples! You better high-tail it out of here before we come out there and chase you out!" Twilight, quite startled, called back to the voice: "It's me, Twilight Sparkle! I just came over here to ask if I could do anything to help! I know about Flim and Flam's scheme, I know about the cider, and I want to see if there is any way I could lend a hoof!" Big Mac slightly nudged open the door, sticking only his head out. "You're not bringin' anyone with you, are you? We don't want any of them crazy ponies gettin' in here and causin' trouble!" Twilight replied, "No, Big Mac, I'm here alone. And I haven't had a single drop of the cider, I'm well aware of what it can do to a pony." He opened the door a little more, just enough to let her into the barn. He quickly closed the door behind her just in case she was being followed. Big Mac led her down into the barn's basement, where the rest of the family was. Granny Smith was in the corner reading more about Flim and Flam's business in the newspaper, with a few other stacks of papers surrounding her. She had been working hard to keep the family up to date on their financial gains and other public statements. Lately, almost every article she read meant more bad news for the Apple Family. Meanwhile, Applejack and Apple Bloom were busy with their own tests on the cider. Although not as advanced as her testing tools, Twilight had to admit that they were putting a good amount of determination into these tests. Twilight was intrigued by the amount of work the family was putting into gathering information on Flim and Flam's cider. It was odd to see someone as... simple as Applejack actually taking time to try something so complex. Walking up next to Applejack, she decided to brighten her mood a bit. "You know, this is quite different from what I'm used to from you, Applejack. You don't seem to be the kind of pony who would take time to fully research anything. But it's nice to see that you've decided to take up something that's more my speed. Maybe you could help me with some of my research sometime!" she said with a narrow smirk. Apple Bloom turned to Twilight and whispered, "It's probably best not to bug her. She's way too focused on her research to talk to anyone." Applejack, however, didn't seem to take any offense to Twilight's remark, and replied: "For you information, I'm only doin' this because it's the only way I'll keep my family business afloat. They're our business rivals, and if they don't wanna play clean, then we gotta fight back." Twilight then moved on to talk about the situation at hand. She went on to tell Applejack how the cider actually had addictive substances that Flim and Flam used to continually turn up a profit from the cider. She explained: "It's a vicious cycle; the more the ponies drink the cider, the more dependent on it they become. I refer to it as 'Golden Delight Fever.'" Applejack replied with disgust: "More like 'Flim-Flam Fever!'" Applejack took a turn in sharing information. "Although their company has been makin' a huge profit since it started, it seems like it's not gonna last much longer. They're gettin' a huge supply of apples from all the farms they bought, but the demand is increasin' way too fast. They have nowhere to expand, and soon, their apple orchards won't be producin' enough apples to meet the huge demand for cider. Their glory is lastin' for now, but this is their peak. They've run themselves into a corner, and all it's gonna take is one spark to ignite the downfall of their company." Meanwhile, at the Golden Delight factory, Flim and Flam had also started to realize their situation. Their statistics showed that ponies had begun buying the cider in bulk, purchasing an entire barrel at once. In some extreme cases, they even bought multiple barrels of cider. They were indeed turning up a huge profit from all of their sales, which meant they could still stay in business. However, they had been making so much money lately that they couldn't possibly shut it down. They realized that they couldn't possibly meet demand with the apple orchards they already owned, and since the Apple Family had made a pact to keep the remaining orchards out of the company's hooves, there was nowhere they could expand to. They had run out of options; all they could hope for was that the demand would die down a bit. The addictiveness of the cider proved this to be impossible, however. Just after their unfortunate discovery, an employee at the factory quickly approached the room of the two brothers. He knocked on the door, and when the brothers came to the door, he said with panic in his voice: "Flim and Flam, we seem to have a slight problem at the factory gates." Looking out a window, they saw a quite troubling sight. A group of ponies, hundreds or possibly even thousands strong, were pounding on the gates. They began screaming at the massive factory, demanding an increase in the supply of their precious cider.
Chapter 6The brothers went into a panic. This cider-crazed mob was going to ruin their business. The mob arrived after they began to notice that there often was not enough cider in the markets to satisfy their growing demand. Flim and Flam began to see just how unavoidable their predicament was. Flim and Flam, not wanting to allow the raging ponies onto their property where they could cause massive damage, loudly called out to the crowd: "You're not getting in here and taking any cider! Not even if the princesses THEMSELVES demand it!" Ironically, at that moment, three alicorns stepped through the crowd. Their appearances were known by all in Equestria. The ponies were none other than the three princesses themselves: Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Even they had fallen victim to the horrible scheme of the brothers. The cider had gotten so popular that it made it to royalty, and obviously, they drank so much that they too became addicted to it. Flim and Flam nervously retracted their previous statement, and ordered the employees to create enough cups of cider to keep them at bay for a little while, so that they could find time to come up with a better plan. Within several minutes, the factory had produced about a thousand cups of cider, at the cost of a major portion of their apple supply. The factory workers then headed out to the gates to quell the rage of the cider-depraved ponies, hoping that giving it to them for free would aid in calming them down. The ponies in the mob pushed and shoved each other to get their own cup of cider. After each cup was passed out to the crowd, it took less than a minute for them to drink each cup, fight over the remaining drops that might have been left, and continue their rage, apparently not feeling satisfied enough. The iron gates could not hold back the force of a thousand frantic ponies for much longer, and as they continued to push against it, the locks soon gave way, causing the gates to fly open. They had made it onto the factory grounds, much to the dismay of the brothers. They realized that they had no other choice but to hope that they leave by some miracle. Now pounding on the doors to the factory, the crowd was obviously making one thing perfectly clear. They wanted cider, they wanted it now, and if they didn't get what they wanted, they would take the factory by storm. Realizing they would lose their entire profit if they agreed this time, Flim and Flam once again refused to please the crowds. The pounding on the doors continued, and eventually a loud crash indicated that they had gained access to the entire factory. They went straight for the apple cider production rooms, but four ponies had pushed through the crowds to search for the room where Flim and Flam had chosen to hide. Coming across it before the mob cared to search for it, they knocked on the door. The brothers heard the distinct, familiar voice of one of the ponies. It shouted, "Open the door, Flim and Flam! We four want a word with you!" Recognizing the voice, they knew they were facing off against their sworn enemies. Considering the situation they were soon going to be in, they realized they had no other choice and reluctantly let the four ponies step in. Flim and Flam once again stood face to face with none other than Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith. Almost immediately the ponies began arguing with one another. Screaming and hollering, they began to blame one another for the troubles they had caused one another in the past. "What were you two thinkin'," Granny Smith scolded the brothers, "makin' such a preposterous plan and not knowin' it was gonna backfire?" "These ponies are absolutely insane! They're gonna take down this factory and take all of your cider! How could you not have prevented this earlier?" Apple Bloom shouted up to them. Flim claimed, "Well, you all drove us to this point! Ever since that day- that competition- we have had nothing but failures! And now, we almost had something! And ONCE again, it's gonna be ruined!" "This never would have happened if you four had just let us work in Ponyville initially!" Flam claimed. Applejack replied, "This never would've HAPPENED if you two had just stayed out of Ponyville in the first place! This is ALL on you two, and you KNOW it!" Just then, the room became almost entirely silent. The only noise heard was the clamorous crowd a few floors below them. Flim and Flam finally realized that it was futile to try to blame others for their own mistakes. They had created the company, they had created the cider. They alone were the sole cause of their own problems. And now they began to see a much bleaker future ahead of them than they had ever seen before. Soon ponies everywhere would not only hate them, but just completely loathe them. If this entire mess were to ever be fixed, they knew that they would get the blame, they would get the fines for the damages caused, and they would get the pure infamy that comes with. But they also knew one thing: if they did not take the fall, the entire realm of Equestria would remain cider-crazed and eventually crumble due to the insane nature of the ponies. Sure, it might wear off, but how long would it take for every pony to just wage war on each other? There was no telling what would happen if they didn't act soon.
Chapter 7Luckily for everyone, there was one other pony who did not get affected by the "Golden Delight Fever." The purple unicorn, choosing to refrain from drinking the cider and locking herself away in her home, was silently making an antidote for the insane ponies. Twilight Sparkle had finally created a batch of the antidote that appeared to reverse the effects of the cider. However, since getting a test subject to test the antidote on would have been too dangerous, so she had really only been working with a hypothetical antidote. In theory, it would reverse the effects of the chaotic nature of the ponies. She decided that it would have been best to take a risk at this point; she believed that it would be a better choice than choosing not to try at all. Arriving at the gates of the factory, she was shocked to see them lying on the ground, completely mangled by the mob that broke through them and trampled them under their hooves only about half an hour beforehand. The front doors of the factory had also been forced open, it appeared. She began to hear the hundreds of voices all calling out for cider. Their voices rang throughout the factory and were no doubt unrelenting. She heard the voices of the Apple Family and Flim and Flam as they argued above her. Finding a stairwell, she raced up the stairs and approached the room where they had chosen to hide themselves. Then she opened the doors and stepped in. The six ponies in the room were startled momentarily, thinking that the mob had come for them, but when they saw that she had not been overtaken by the cider, they had a moment of relief from their fears. Locking the door behind Twilight, Flim asked her, "What do you want? Can't you see that we're trying to prevent a crisis?" Twilight answered him, "I know what's been going on. I've done too much research on this business. I had to try to figure out a way to help you all prevent it before it got any worse. And know that I'm not just here for you two," she glared at Flim and Flam, who looked guiltily back at her, "I'm here for Equestria." Big Mac spoke up: "So what ARE you here for?" Twilight responded, "While this was all happening, I was busy making an antidote to the cider. Unfortunately, the ponies are too destructive to safely test the antidote on, so it only works in theory. But it SHOULD work in practice." "However," she added, "the ponies aren't going to give up their struggle easily, so we have probably half an hour before they completely go on a destructive rampage." Flim ran over to a door next to him, saying: "This door leads into the production room. The other ponies aren't gonna bother coming up here for a while, so let's sneak around through here!" The seven ponies ran down the staircase beyond the door and ran out into the huge production room. Flim said to Twilight, "We only have enough apples left to make one more batch of cider to satisfy the mob. Give us the antidote so we can put it in the cider." Just as Twilight pulled the vial out of her saddle bag, Applejack chimed in: "Wait a minute, we're not gonna let Flim and Flam get out of this mess that easily! You two need to swear to never do ANYTHIN' like this ever again!" Flam angrily replied to Applejack, "Don't you think we've had enough of this already? This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really think we'd ever pull a stunt like THIS again, considering what's gonna happen to us after this mess is cleaned up?" Flim continued, "Of course we apologize! Why else would we be helping you at all?" Applejack, still a bit suspicious, thought for a moment, but finally gave in. "Ok, I believe you, but don't you go thinkin' we're on good terms." Passing the vial over to Flim and Flam, they began to make cider with a bit of the antidote in each cup. The cups all passed through the assembly line, one by one, while the seven watched, hopeful that the antidote would actually work. After a few minutes, the apples had all been turned into cider, and the antidote had been mixed in with the large batch. They began to walk toward the doors where the mob had been waiting impatiently the entire time. The ponies were pounding fiercely on the doors, all of them shouting for even a single glass of cider. Flim came to a sudden realization. "Wait a second... if we open the doors like this, the mob will push their way through us and trample us for the cider! We can't just open the doors and expect them to calmly accept the cider!" They thought for a second or two, and then Twilight spoke up: "I've got an idea. Flim and Flam, you two stand on either side of the door." Flim and Flam were quite quick to agree with her plan, and took their positions around the doors. Twilight stood by the doors, waiting to pull them open. She then spoke firmly to Flim and Flam: "I'm going to pull open the doors, and on my mark, you two need to put up an immobilization spell around the mob as they come through. Got it?" "Got it!" they replied in unison. Twilight then used her magic to grab hold of the door handle. She yanked on it with great speed and power. The doors flew open, and the ponies on the other side began to fall through the doorway. "Now!" Twilight screamed, and Flim and Flam sprang into action, creating a magic shield around the mob. The hundreds of frantic ponies were immediately frozen in place. With a sigh of relief, Twilight began to carry as many glasses as possible over to the mob. Giving each pony his or her own glass, Flim and Flam released their grip on the ponies one at a time. Each pony quickly gulped down their cider, and gave a gasp of satisfaction when they had finished. They almost immediately began to feel calm, and let the other ponies enjoy their own glasses of cider. Within minutes, it seemed as if the mob was never fighting for the cider at all. After each pony had had at least one glass of the cider, there were still a few more. Surprisingly, none of the ponies went after the extra glasses. The seven ponies all were amazed that their ridiculous plan worked out as they hoped, and finally relaxed. "Thank Celestia that's over..." Flam said after a while. Then he realized: "Wait... Celestia!"
Chapter 8The princesses, standing among the crowd, were recovering from their cider craze. Luna had snapped out of it first, and as she finally came to her senses, she furiously exclaimed: "Brothers Flim and Flam! Step forward!" Flim and Flam immediately went into a panic, but then slowly and reluctantly walked over to them, knowing that they wouldn't be able to escape their punishment anyway. As they came over to stand at their feet, the sun glared through the windows. Covering their eyes momentarily, they stood face-to-face with all three princesses. Celestia and Cadance had also recovered fully by this point, and Cadance spoke up first. "I'm sure you both know that you're going to be punished for this, so I'll just cut to the chase. You two are to use whatever profits you gained from this business to clean it all up. You can start by recalling all of your cider from the stores, so that we can either use it to create more of the antidote to cure any other pony suspected to still be affected by this... 'Flim-Flam Fever,' as it were, or so that we can dispose of it safely so that no pony ever becomes grasped by the cider's addictive properties. You are to return the property you bought to their respective owners. You are also to pay a fine so that we can repair what has been destroyed because of the mob. And if you ever try to start up a cider business again, we will have it shut down as soon as we hear about it." Celestia then added, "And speaking of 'shut down,' your cider business shall be closed permanently, effective immediately." Within a few days, the brothers were back down at rock bottom: completely broke, widely shamed and disgraced, with all traces of confidence sucked out of them. They wandered Equestria as they had before, with nowhere to go, and nothing to work for. Even worse than not being able to make their own cider anymore was the fact that nobody in any other job would ever think to hire them. Walking along an empty road, Flim spoke to Flam: "We've got no job, we've got no money, we've got no shred of public acceptance. Everyone hates us now, and who do we have to blame but ourselves." Flam replied, "Everything does seem bleak for us right now, brother of mine. We were pretty much destined to go down this path though. That was our final option, and even if it failed from the start, we would end up where we are now anyway." Flim though for a moment about what his brother said, and just looked down and kept walking. A thought entered his mind. He cringed at the thought, but felt he had to speak his mind. "There is one place we haven't tried to get hired at..." he said weakly. A few weeks later, the sun was high over the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple Family was busy relaxing, lying out on the grass. Applejack, in a wooden chair, called out to two ponies who were busy working out in the orchard. "You two! Get over here! I've got somethin' for ya!" The two unicorns dropped what they were doing and walked out to her. She grabbed two glasses and handed one to each of them. "Drink up!" she said heartily to them. "You boys need to stay hydrated! The heat starts to get to ya after a while!" They drank the water out of their glasses and set them down on the table next to Applejack. She then said to them, "Can I get ya anything else, Flim and Flam?" The brothers declined their offer and walked back out to the orchard. They had been manually pulling the apples off of the trees, since they didn't have the physical strength to buck the trees. After a few minutes, Flim said to Flam, "You know, this was all your fault." Flam replied to his brother, "Oh, my fault is it? Well, you were the one who brought up this dumb idea!" "You were the one who decided to go through with it! You could have said no!" Flim said as a retort. "Well you made it seem like a good idea at the time! Besides, what else could we do? We were out of work, and this was the only job available to us!" Flam shouted back. "Anything is better than this though! Having to work for our rival... how degrading!" Applejack looked on as the two brothers continued to bicker. Giggling to herself, she took a sip of the water. Then, she said to herself: "Those two are a couple of professionals, alright! Professional goofballs... nonpareil!"
