Applejack scratched the back her head, something about the brother's offer was twigging the back of her mind. Something about that profit figure. She tried to think of it, but she kept coming up blank, she was never good at doing math in her head. She spotted her Granny Smith about to march up to the brothers and threw a hoof out to stop her.
"Hold on a minute." She said. "I need to check something."
She went around to the back of the stall her family had set up for the cider sale. Ducking down behind it for a few minutes, she grabbed a note book and a pencil. Placing both on the stall, she turned to Flim and Flam.
"How many barrels of cider can that machine make in a day?" She asked.
"I think our record is about 200, but our average is about seventy-three." Flim explained.
Applejack nodded and began to write down the figures on her paper, using the seventy-three. They charged two bits a mug, and the family themselves made about ten barrels a day. Each barrel made about ten mugs. Ten times seventy-three was seven-hundred and thirty, ten times ten was one-hundred. Now, there were sixty-two days in a cider season. sixty-two times seven-hundred and thirty...
"Hey, Apples." She called over to her family. "Come look at this."
Her three family members gathered around her and looked at her equations on the page, their eyes were drawn to the circled numbers at the bottom of the page. The three of them gasped.
"That's a big number." Applebloom stated.
"And that's with the seventy-five, twenty-five split." Applejack stated. "But still..." AJ turned to the brothers and marched right up to them. "I understand your reasons for the split. However, I don't think you've taken a few things into consideration. Yes, you're supplying the Super Squeeze... Doohickie, and the magic to run it. But from what I've seen it doesn't take that much of your energy to do it."
"What makes you say that?" Flam asked, almost incredulously.
"You were able to do a whole song and dance while powering it earlier." AJ stated bluntly. When the brothers said nothing, she continued. "Where as we Apples, not only have to care for the trees and the land all year round, but we also started up this farm generations ago and that's why we have a farm with crop as strong and of such quality as we do. So, the way I see it you have two options to make this partnership agreeable. Either increase the split to fifty/fifty, or get off your flanks, and help tend the crops."
The brothers looked at each other in slight shock, before huddling together for a few minutes. There were hushed voices, and they kept glancing at the strong looking mare behind them. Finally they nodded to each other and turned back to her.
"How's about a sixty-five/thirty-five split and the two of us take turns in helping with some of the chores?" Flam suggested.
AJ thought for a long moment, but eventually she nodded. "Fine. You got yourself a deal."
She extended a hoof to the brothers, who extended one of theirs each. They all shake and turn to the crowd of ponies.
"Well every pony." Applejack smiled. "I'd like to welcome you to the grand opening of the Apple Flim Flam Cider Partnership Grand Opening."
A loud cheer went up from the crowd. Applejack walked off to the stall and started cleaning things off. For the rest of the day everyone lined up at the SSCS6K for their cider. For the first day, Flam helped with the farming chores, getting rid of the rotten apples that had not gotten sucked up by the machine, helping tend the animals, and scaring of any wild animals that tried to eat the apples on the trees.
That night AJ was looking over the profits with Flim and Flam. They had made two hundred and fourteen bits that day. Applejack nodded in satisfaction as she placed the last of the bits in the safety box, before turning to the brothers.
"Were there any incidence or worries today?" She asked.
"Well..." Flim began.
"Absolutely none." Flam interrupted proudly.
Applejack nodded with a smile. Putting away the safety box, she stretched her stiff muscles and bid the brother's goodnight. After she left, Flim turned to his brother, a look of half concern, half suspicion, plastered on his face.
"Dare I ask why you just lied to our new partner?" He asked.
Flam frowned at his brother. "Film, this partnership is huge. We can't afford to make any mistakes that could cause it to fall through. We have to made them see that partnering with us was the right choice. By any means."
The next day, Flim was helping Applejack with farm chores. He was rather surprised at how she could make something as mundane as cleaning up bruised apples so enjoyable, turning it into a hybrid game of catch and basket ball. They were collecting the last of the apples, when they heard a commotion at the front of the farm. Going to see what was going on, they froze mid step as they saw what was happening. An elderly pony was yelling at the top of his lungs at Flam, who was trying desperately to calm him down. Flim had a feeling he knew what was going on. Tapping Applejack on the shoulder he motioned for her to follow him. When they were a little ways from the shouting, Flim turned to AJ with an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry, Miss Applejack." He began. "But I'm afraid my brother and I weren't entirely honest with you last night."
Applejack gave him a curious look. "How do you mean?"
Flim sighed. "Things hadn't gone as smoothly as my brother claimed. While I was working the front, I'd received several complaints about how the cider had not tasted the same as usual. I'd thought maybe it was just that the machine was still new but..." He sighed again. "I'm sorry."
Applejack placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "S'all right. We'll find out what's going on. But, first," she turned back in the direction of the shouting. "I think we should stop that old stallion from scaring off all our customers."
After ushering the elderly stallion away, the day continued rather quietly. That night, Applejack and Flim stayed up late looking over the machine, trying to find out what was causing the cider to taste different. Applejack was completely lost on exactly how the big hunk of metal work, and was finding it difficult to keep up.
"Just how did you two make this thing?" She asked, massaging her sore head. "All this technical mumbo jumbo is completely over my head."
Flim scratched the back of his head nervously. "We didn't, actually. Our father did."
Applejack looked at Flim in confusion. "Ya pop?"
Flim nodded. "Yeah. He was an inventor. The SSCS6K was his last invention, before..."
Applejack looked at Flim sympathetically. She knew where this was going, and how painful it could be to go back to it. She placed a hoof on his shoulder and gave him a look that said he didn't need to continue if he didn't want to. Flim smiled greatfully. They when back to work until AJ thought of another question.
"So, have you gotten complaints about the cider before?"she asked.
Flim shook his head. "No, but we were never in the one place for very long."
"How do ya mean?"
"You're not the first ones we tried to strike a partnership with." Flim explained. "All the others turned us down. Then, without any apples to make the cider we were forced to move on."
Applejack raised an eyebrow at this. "But when you both rolled in. You didn't act like you'd been having any trouble."
"Flam calls it 'Putting on a sales face'." Flim explained. "We weren't getting anywhere by being honest, so we decided that in the next town we'd... put on an act."
Applejack shook her head. "You were faking the whole time?"
"Not the whole time. I am completely confident in father's invention. It's the culmination of years of research, trial and error. It's the perfect machine."
Applejack stared at Flim. The way he talked about the SSCS6K was a lot like how she talked about Sweet Apple Akers. She turned back to her work deep in thought.
"Our farms gone through a lot of trial and error too." Applejack said thoughtfully. "We weren't always so 'top notch'. When Granny Smith first started making zap-apple jam, there were a lot of times it didn't come out right."
"Really?" Flim asked, sounding interested.
"Yeah. And the cider too. There were a lot of thing added in or taken out when the family first started that. Even had a stint where we were constantly switching what wood was use for the barrels."
The was a crash as Flim dropped the wrench he'd been holding, startling AJ and coursing her to smack her head on one of the metal hatches. Hissing in pain, she rubbed the sore spot as she turned to Flim, who was staring at AJ like a deer in headlights.
"Miss Applejack. What was that last part?"
Applejack looked at him in confusion. "The wood we use for the barrels changed several times before we settled on one?"
Flim threw a hoof over AJ's shoulders a huge grin on his face. "That's it! Miss Applejack, you're a genius."
"Say what?"
"I know what's coursing the cider to taste different." Flim explained. "It's not the machine, it's the barrels. What wood are your barrels made of?"
"Apple tree wood." Applejack said simply.
"Ours it made from oak trees." Flim stated.
Applejack's eyes widened as she began to realize what Flim was getting at. "The wood effects the flavor of the cider."
Flim nodded. "We need all of the barrels your family has."
"There are some in the cellar, I'll get them. You get the ones in the barn."
The two ponies rushed off to gather the barrels from their respective areas. They worked throughout the night, pulling out the oak barrels and replacing them with the apple wood. They were still going even, when the sun came up and the rest of the apple family were getting out of bed. As the SSCS6K was rolled out to the front of the orchard The apple family and the brothers held their breath as the first glass was sold. As the mare took a sip of the cider, her face lit up.
"I see you found out the course of the problem. That's a relief, Cider Season's my favorite time of year."
The four ponies breathed a sigh of relief as the mare walked away with her glass. Granny Smith looked around for AJ and Flim to congratulate them on a job well done. She grinned in that knowing way of hers as she saw the two of the asleep under a tree not far off.
"Well done, wiper snappers." She said softly.
Dear Princess Celesita.
Today, I learnt something I never expected. While new things can be scary, they may even confuse you, that doesn't make it bad. But something old isn't bad neither. And sometimes, taking something that's old and combining it with something that's new, can create something truly special and unique.
And I've found something really great in my new friends Flim and Flam.
Applejack.
