On the Road to Filliedelphia
There was a silence between us. I had my eyes closed because I knew that Flam would be disgusted by me. In truth, however, we both trusted each other, which was why I told him. He’s the very first pony that, maybe, should know the truth. Today, I finally up and told him. I mean, sure, my twin brother and I have shared practically everything since day one. We grew up together; we got our cutie marks at the same time, and not to mention that we rely on our genius and charisma to make a living for everything we've sold.
The machine we were riding on towards Fillydelphia slowed to a halt. Oh no... he’s going to kick me out too, leave me by the wayside.
I waited for the inevitable. I waited for him to call me those same names as he did in the last town. I was expecting him to hit me. I expected him to disown me, to say that I was no longer his brother anymore.
I waited. Only... nothing happened.
Then, I opened an eye to take a peek at what was going on. He was looking at me, but there was no anger or confusion. Actually, there was no emotion at all. Other than his wide eyes, his face was completely blank. Even his mustache didn’t move.
“Really?” he asked.
I nodded.
He looked back to the road for a moment, knowing him; he’s trying to figure out what to say. Then he looked back at me again, “Really?”
“Y-Yes.” A moment past, he opened his mouth but I interrupted him, “Yes Flam, I am being dead serious here. I-I really do mean every word of what I said. Flam, I really am gay.”
His jaw dropped. Blinking, he looked back at the road again, completely dumbstruck. I couldn’t blame him really; I would have been too in his position.
I’m not sure how long we stayed like that beside the road. I was waiting for him to make a response of some kind. But now that he had this piece of information about me, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t scared out of my mind of what he might do next. “Are you mad at me?” I asked.
Flam looked at me surprised, “What?”
“L-Look, I know you’re mad at me. Let’s face it; I’ve been lying to you because you don’t ever want to deal with ponies like me. So if you want, I’ll take my leave-”
“What! Now you just wait right there! I never said I was mad at you. It’s just… Well… I don’t know what to do.” Flam paused for a moment to put a hoof to his chin. “Although, now looking back – this somewhat makes sense.”
I blinked, “Huh?”
“Allow me to cite an example. Do you remember back in Ponyville, the one about the whole cider contest? I brushed this off at the time, thinking it was nothing; but I saw that you seemed to be eyeing that one farmer pony. Tall, red, made out of muscles.”
“O-Oh.” I said, I turned away in embarrassment, and I think I was blushing. “You saw that.”
“As I said, I thought it was nothing. And then there was the time when that one fellow... what was his name? Silver Shill wasn’t it? Yes, I remember that you were a little generous with his paycheck.”
“It doesn’t matter now, he’s moved on with other things.”
“True, but there is one thing that doesn’t make sense to me. What about what happened with Marian in Dodge Junction? I mean, we both fell in love with her, didn’t we?”
I sighed, “Well, you did. And that was the problem. Ha, I remember how caught up you were with her that I... well... I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Well… To tell you the truth, I did it for a few reasons. One of which was to show you that I was, well, like you. Don’t get me wrong Flam, Marian was a wonderful mare, but passion wise, it wasn’t there. So I put up an act, thinking that if I at least try hard enough for her to like me, maybe I would like her back. To show you with absolute, no doubt about it, no questions asked to prove that I liked mares as much as you do. Does that make sense?”
Flam nodded.
“And perhaps for a selfish reason, I was truly afraid of losing you. If I didn’t do something, you might have fallen in love with her and see that you probably won’t need me anymore. And considering the last reason with hindsight, I probably wasn’t thinking that once I tried courting her, I have to show that I did love her so you won’t know that I’m… You know.” I sighed in heavy regret. “But look where that got us. We ended up fighting over nothing and nearly came close to parting ways for good. I wish I would have said something right there and then, but I was too big of a coward to do such.”
“Well with that, I have two things to say to you, one...” He used his hoof to smack me at the back of my head.
“Ow!”
“That was for lying. In a way, I am mad at you, but only because you didn’t say anything beforehoof. Now thanks to you, I’m the one feeling guilty. This whole time with all those jokes I've been making, I was the one who’s been insulting you to your face. And this,” then to my utter shock and surprise, he leaned over in his seat and hugged me.
“Flam, what are you-”
“This is me saying, I’m sorry. Flim, no matter what, we are still family, and you are still my brother. Now grant it, this may take some time on my part to accept this... Celestia, maybe I may never understand it, but all I want from you, however, is to be sure that you’re happy.”
“You… You mean that?”
“You’re still my brother aren’t you? That’s what brothers do. And don’t you worry, we are the Flim Flam Brothers, after all, we can’t sca- sell ponies things without the other can’t we?” In a moment of shaken relief, I hugged him back.
But a moment later, we broke the hug and Flam turned back to the road. “Besides,” he said. “We have some work to do in Fillydelphia after all. So how about we get right on to it. Oh, and Flim?”
I turned to him, asking “What is it?”
“Brother of mine, if in the future you’re seriously considering being with somepony, promise me, for my sake and yours that whoever it is, make sure he isn’t annoying.”
I laughed. “Of course, oh brother of mine, that is something I can guarantee on.”
