Summer vacation meant trips to the beach, trips to music festivals, and trips to amusement parks. But it also sometimes meant just getting your friends together and going to hang out at the mall. That’s what Sunset Shimmer and her friends were doing now, sitting at a table in the food court and just talking with each other, chatting about what they did last night and what they might want to all do together tomorrow. A perfect lazy Saturday in the middle of summer vacation.
“So once Tirek’s Revenge: The Final Battle gets released I’m totally doing a blind run of it on stream,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Total marathon, not stopping till I beat it.”
“And I’ll be there watching, cause it’s seriously entertaining watching you rage,” Rainbow Dash winked at her.
“I do not—I mean—I won’t rage,” Sunset frowned.
Fluttershy giggled. “But Sunset, remember when we-”
“Yes,” Sunset cut her off. “I remember.”
“Ooh, ooh, ooh! Does that mean we’re all gonna be standing in line again for it? If we do, remind me and I’ll bring plenty of cupcakes next time!” Pinkie Pie said, pretty much bouncing up and down in her seat.
“With the popularity of that game it’s likely we’re going to have to stand in line for a very long time. Either that or camp out the night beforehand to get a good spot,” Twilight said. She then turned to the side and blushed. “Which, um, I unfortunately won’t be able to do as that night I have a date.”
“And I trust you will share with us every detail of that date, won’t you, darling?” Rarity wiggled her eyebrows at Twilight.
Applejack scoffed and rolled her eyes at her fashionista friend. “Don’t be forcing your way into her business, Rarity. Twilight’s love life is hers and hers alone, if she wants to share it then so be it. But that kind of thing should be private in my opinion.”
“Oh you’re such a killjoy, Applejack,” Rarity exaggeratedly groaned. “At the very least I can at least ask if things are going well, can’t I?”
“They are,” Twilight smiled. “And don’t worry, Rarity. If I ever do need advice on my love life or suggestions for a date you’ll be the first one I come to.”
“Anyways-” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Forget about all that stuff. What are we going to do now? Just sit around talking some more? I don’t know about you guys but after eating I wanna go do something.”
“Well if we’re at the mall I just assumed we would also be shopping or taking things more relaxed. I mean really, Rainbow Dash, as if we don’t have enough excitement and adventure in our lives, can’t we just take a day or two to sit around talking like this?” Rarity said.
“Boooooring,” Rainbow Dash slumped over in her seat.
Fluttershy patted her on the back. “You wanted to show off some new skate moves right? I wouldn’t mind coming with you to the skate park later.”
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Rainbow grinned.
“Well I’m with Rarity right now, I’ve got enough work to do at home that frankly just taking a break and walking around the mall sounds better than something like going biking or skating or what not. Though I don’t exactly think we have the same interest in stores,” Applejack said as her eyes drifted over to a store selling wood carvings.
“Actually since we just finished eating lunch it’s totally time for post-lunch snacktime dessert!” Pinkie exuberantly said. “And one of the reasons I was super okay with us all going to the mall together was because there’s a new snack cart selling chocolate covered potato chips!”
“Chocolate covered potato chips?” Twilight wretched.
“Yep! For a salty and sweet bite all in one! I have to try them,” Pinkie Pie said, nodding quite seriously.
“Gotta admit that doesn’t exactly sound tasty to me either,” Sunset said before glancing at Twilight with a smile. “Do you wanna come with me to the computer store? There’s some stuff I want to check out, was thinking of upgrading my system soon.”
“That sounds much better,” Twilight agreed.
“Eh, suit yourselves,” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Just means more chocolately potato chippy goodness for me.” She then looked up at the second floor of the mall and started tapping her chin. “Quick question though before we all head on our separate ways.”
“What?” Sunset raised an eyebrow.
“Does Watermelody have an identical twin sister who wears the exact same clothes as she does?”
“Uh, pretty sure that’s a no,” Sunset blinked. “Why?”
“Well cause I was just sort of looking around and I see two different Watermelody’s walking around,” Pinkie Pie said and pointed behind Sunset.
“What?!” Sunset and the others turned around to look where Pinkie Pie was pointing.
On the second level of the mall, they saw Watermelody walking with some other friends they all recognized from school. Everything seemed normal enough. But then… on the ground floor of the mall pretty much right below them, another Watermelody was walking around. Same girl no doubt, and even the exact same clothes, no one could mistake that hat and those gloves. But the Watermelody walking around by herself on the ground floor still seemed just a little bit off. Her legs were wobbly, she held her hands out in front of her like she was trying to stay balanced, and she looked around all wide-eyed at everything she passed.
“Uhhh, so I’m just gonna assume we aren’t going crazy and there’s two Watermelody’s here?” Applejack scratched her head.
“Yep. There’s definitely two of them,” Twilight nodded in agreement.
Sunset frowned and stood up. “I don’t like the look of this one bit.”
“Reckon we should go talk to her and see what’s up?” Applejack said.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Sunset nodded and swiftly started walking towards the Watermelody lurching about the ground floor. The other girls got up right behind her and followed, quickly making it to their supposed friend from high school right as she passed in front of a sunglasses store.
“Hey, Watermelody!” Pinkie Pie loudly greeted with her hand raised in the air. “What’s happening?”
The shaky girl looked startled, practically jumping and yelping at the unexpected greeting. Her wide eyes opened even wider as her head swiveled towards the seven other girls. For a moment her mouth opened and closed and she tilted her head in confusion and mild worry at them. “D-Do I know you?”
“This isn’t good,” Rainbow Dash frowned.
“You’re Watermelody, right?” Sunset Shimmer asked her seriously.
“Yes, that’s my name.”
“But you don’t recognize any of us?”
“Nooo...”
Sunset reached a hand up to her face and dragged it down in exasperation. “You’re the Watermelody from Equestria, aren’t you?”
This time “Watermelody”’s face lit up and she smiled and gasped in surprise. “Wow! I thought most ponies—er, people—here didn’t know about Equestria!”
“Oh dear...” Twilight grimaced.
“And most ponies aren’t supposed to know about here!” Sunset said through gritted teeth, she could feel a vein beginning to throb in her forehead. “How are you here?! What’s going on? Does Princess Twilight know about this?”
“Well it was really kind of a spur of the moment thing,” the pony Watermelody sheepishly replied.
“What does that even mean?!” Sunset yelled before Fluttershy shushed her and gestured at the many people around them in the mall. Sunset winced and tried to calm herself. “Okay, okay, no more yelling. But please, Watermelody, can you please explain just what the hay is going on right now? How did you get here from Equestria?”
Watermelody unconsciously tapped her chin, a surprising gesture coming from someone who had very likely only been a human for a brief amount of time, and looked up at the ceiling of the mall. “Honestly I don’t really know too many details or if Princess Twilight knows, but how could she not? She must be okay with it. And well, I didn’t even know this whole other world existed until earlier this morning. But when I woke up and went outside there was a flyer stuck in my mailbox advertising a new business that had started up in town, they were guaranteeing super special vacations and visits nopony else could offer. I was curious so I went to see what it was and it turned out that these two nice gentlecolts had built a portal connecting our world to this one! Amazing, right? They told me it was a world where we all had counterparts who were like us but not us. Oh, well, I guess I don’t really need to explain that part to you. And they said it was totally safe so… I just couldn’t resist.” Watermelody shrugged. “I had to see and I really wanted to meet my double.”
“Well you just missed her, you see she-” Pinkie Pie started to say before Rarity clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Darling, I don’t think that’s helping.”
“And you know what?” Watermelody continued. “They had these other little things too, portable little magical mirrors that you could carry around and use to communicate with others in this world, if you didn’t want to physically make the trip.”
Sunset blanched. “That is so not good.”
“This place is just so interesting. It took a little while to get used to this body, but the helpful stalli—men I met when I went through the portal made sure I knew what I was doing and knew what to expect when I left their store. So this is what’s called a mall? It’s such a big building and there are so many things you can’t find in Equestria at all! They really weren’t lying about these vacations!” Watermelody smiled.
“So this place is right here in the mall?!” Sunset (still pretty loudly) said and grabbed Watermelody by the shoulders. “Where is it? What’s it called?”
“Oh, um, it’s right down there just a little bit,” Watermelody pointed in the direction she had been walking from. “And it’s called the same thing the business in Equestria called itself: Flim & Flam’s Exceptional Interdimensional Vacations!”
“Oh geez,” Applejack groaned and facepalmed.
Sunset’s eye twitched. “Flim and Flam?” She knew the businessmen here in the human world weren’t exactly the most up and up guys, but she had heard worse stories from Princess Twilight about their counterparts in Equestria. This didn’t bode well.
“We really need to get to the bottom of this,” Twilight said.
“Should we split up, gang?” Pinkie asked her.
“Huh?”
“Never mind, bad joke.”
Sunset took a deep breath and let Watermelody go. “Okay, Watermelody, thank you for helping us out here. But could you please try and stay a little inconspicuous and not let anybody know you’re actually a magical pony from Equestria? I don’t know if you personally know Princess Twilight or anything, but she would definitely not approve of this.”
“It’s not like I planned to do anything crazy,” Watermelody shrugged. “I was just coming here for a nice vacation to see the sights and have fun.” She tilted her head. “Buuut if Princess Twilight would be upset I don’t want to be the cause of that, I don’t know how you know her so well either but you seem like nice ponies—er, people.”
“Thank you,” Sunset sighed in relief. “Just, uh, look around the mall and have a little fun, okay?”
“There’s a new snack cart that sells chocolate covered potato chips! Try it out!” Pinkie Pie suggested with a big smile.
“And now we need to go,” Twilight said.
The whole group of seven waved goodbye to the pony Watermelody and sprinted down the mall in the direction towards Flim and Flam’s new store. To think what was supposed to be a normal day, maybe even a boring day compared to the normal fun of summer vacation, had turned into this. Idly, Sunset figured it actually wasn’t too unusual for them. If anything in fact this was starting to become the new normal. Either way the group ran together through the crowds of the mall, practically pushing anyone to the side who was in their way. Past the fountain, past the videogame store, past innumerable clothing stores, past Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on a bench giggling together at some weird handheld tablet device.
“Wow! Can you believe we’re talking to our pony selves? Isn’t this so cool?” Lyra said.
Sunset and the others came to a screeching halt.
Seven pairs of legs came right up to the two girls on their bench and Sunset leaned down at them, panting hard and with a very concerned look on her face. Lyra was holding the tablet close to her chest now and Sunset and the others couldn’t see the screen on the other side. “What did you just say?”
“Uhhhh, hi Sunset,” Lyra grinned awkwardly at her and the others while Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at the seven friends.
“Is something the matter?” Bon Bon asked.
“Lyra? Bon Bon? What’s going on?”
“Was that another friend of yours speaking just now?”
The two staticy and very familiar voices had come from the tablet.
“Darlings, could you please explain what you were just saying?” Rarity asked with a strained smile. “You mentioned talking to your pony selves?”
“Oh, I guess you guys would be pretty interested in that too, right?” Lyra said. “Just hold on one second.” She looked down at the screen of her tablet and smiled. “Hey you two, sorry but we need to take a quick break, call you back later!”
“Okay!”
“See ya!”
“Alright,” Lyra said as she set the tablet down between her and Bon Bon. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? What’s up?!” Sunset sputtered
“Uh, what Sunset means is, did you happen to get that doohickey there from Flim and Flam?” Applejack asked.
“Oh yeah! We just got it at their new store,” Lyra nodded. “Well actually, they contacted us first.”
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked.
“Well apparently our pony selves from Equestria heard about this new business that they started up—they being the Flim and Flam over there—and they were curious to get to know us. They wanted to see what they were like as humans,” Bon Bon explained.
“But they didn’t want to make a trip and it was a little expensive so Flim and Flam offered them this instead,” Lyra said and held up the tablet, showing it off to Sunset and the others. It was a purple color with a simple screen on one side along with a pair of speakers, no bigger than most tablets. “It’s a rental mirror, they said. If you don’t want to make the trip you can still video chat with your doubles. As soon as someone on one side makes the offer, the other Flim and Flam will find and contact the other person and give them the mirror it’s paired with.”
“And just like that you’re chatting across dimensions,” Bon Bon said. “It really works great, there’s no interference at all. After we all had to take that short trip through Equestria back when our boat sunk I have to admit I’ve been curious about things. Everyone at our school is going to love this! It’s amazing!”
“No it’s not!” Sunset yelled. “There is no possible way this can end well!”
“Eh, I actually gotta admit it’s pretty cool,” Rainbow Dash said. “Like, seriously, I would totally want to visit Equestria or at least talk to my pony self. I hear she’s pretty awesome.”
“And I’d like to be able to see all the unique animals in Equestria...”
“I think seeing Equestrian fashion could be quite the inspiration.”
“Wouldn’t mind seeing how my pony self farms apples.”
“A party with not one, but two Pinkie Pies? Helloooooo, of course I want to do that!”
“And I would like to study their magic and, um, see how it feels to use it myself as a unicorn. Ahem.”
Sunset rolled her eyes and tugged on her hair in exasperation. “Ugh, fine, I can admit that it’s cool and I definitely understand why you would all be interested in that kind of thing. But can we all at least agree that it’s probably not a good idea to let people travel and talk between dimensions all willy-nilly? And that it could really be a shock to meet yourself if you aren’t prepared. And that Flim and Flam sure as hay shouldn’t be allowed to profit off of it?”
“On that last point, definitely,” Applejack nodded with a tight-lipped frown.
“The implications and possible repercussions for people and ponies to travel like this certainly aren’t good,” Twilight agreed. “I can’t imagine most are prepared, either physically or mentally, and the danger involved is too great. Much less the possibility of the government finding out or some nefarious individuals stealing things from either dimension. From what I know Equestria is rather rich in things like gold and jewels and we have advanced technology that could throw Equestria into chaos if not properly introduced and developed.”
“Which is why something like this should only be done with proper supervision at best. And quietly,” Sunset said. She then looked at Lyra and Bon Bon. “Not in the middle of a crowded mall.”
“Hey, not like we’re freaking out or doing anything bad,” Lyra shrugged.
“Can you just promise me that you won’t let any other people find out about this?” Sunset said.
“If it bothers you so much then sure,” Bon Bon said. “But anyone can just walk by Flim and Flam’s store and see it themselves.”
“And that’s why we’re going there right now. Come on Sunset, we shouldn’t waste more time,” Twilight said.
“Yeah! We gotta get there before those mirror tablets are sold out,” Rainbow Dash said. “Er, I mean-”
“Can it, Rainbow,” Sunset frowned and ran off towards the store again with everyone following her.
Pinkie Pie “discreetly” leaned over to Rainbow while they ran and whispered into her ear- “We’ll go halfsies on one.”
Sunset rolled her eyes from the front but ignored it for now. It was way more important to actually get to Flim and Flam’s store and see what was going on for themselves.
It wasn’t long before they got there this time and thankfully the store was impossible to miss. Unfortunately that was because there were a number of eye-catching banners and cardboard signboards right outside the store advertising its opening. Who knew how many curious people had already come in and learned about Equestria—or possibly even traveled there. Sunset really hoped that Princess Twilight would learn about this soon on her end and put a stop to it. The whole group came to a stop right in front of the store and, sure enough, the huge sign on top of it read: Flim & Flam’s Exceptional Interdimensional Vacations!
It looked almost like some kind of tech or sci-fi geek store, with a futuristic facade and blue carpeting on the inside with the walls painted purple. The outer windows were black so you couldn’t see inside the store from the outside if the doors were closed but at the moment they were open wide in hospitality. With a steady frown on her face, Sunset stomped her way inside and looked around. It didn’t look like there were any customers in the store but that didn’t mean there hadn’t been any others. The front room looked pretty bare, with nothing more than a few chairs set up in front of a large desk that sat between two closed doors leading into the back. Neither of the conniving brothers were manning the desk at the moment either, but there was a bell on it.
And Sunset wasted absolutely no time in walking up to that desk and repeatedly ringing the bell, practically slamming her palm down on it over and over again with enough force to make Fluttershy wince and cover her ears. The frown on Sunset’s face was slowly morphing into a visage of rage as she ground her teeth. “Come out, come out, come out!”
Both doors opened up simultaneously and two nearly identical older men in identical clothes appeared in them. “You rang?” Flim and Flam said together.
“You two!” Sunset angrily pointed at them.
“Ah! Well if it isn’t some of our favorite people! What brings you to our fine establishment?” Flam asked magnanimously.
“Shut up! You know why we’re here,” Sunset glared at them.
The two brothers balked at her furious expression and glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Flim then looked back at her with a somewhat confused look on his face. “We do?”
Rarity coughed into her fist and leaned over to Sunset, whispering in her ear. “Um, Sunset dear, how much do Flim and Flam actually know about our powers and connection to Equestria?”
“Oh...” Sunset slowly lowered her finger and furrowed her brow. “That’s uh, that’s a good question.”
“Of course it’s obvious why you’re here, however!” Flim said with that picture perfect salesman smile. “You heard about the unique, unforgettable, absolutely irreplaceable business we offer here!”
“We most certainly did,” Sunset frowned at him and his brother. “Look, I don’t know what the two of you are trying to do here, but you’re messing with stuff way out of your league. There’s no way these portals can lead to anything good.”
“Nothing to worry about there,” Flam said and pulled open a drawer in the desk before retrieving something. “Everyone who travels to or from Equestria or uses one of our mobile devices has to sign a waiver absolving us from any blame if they encounter physical injury or psychological trauma. Totally legally binding.”
Sunset’s eye twitched. “What, so just because you can’t get in trouble you don’t care what else could happen?”
“Sunset, just stop there. That aint gonna change their minds one bit,” Applejack folded her arms under her chest as she flatly stared at Flim and Flam. “You two really oughta listen though, this is way bigger than what you can handle.”
“And that’s why we’re not handling it alone, dearest Applejack,” Flim said.
“Right indeed! We’ve got help not just from some great minds here, but also from our very own doubles in Equestria!” Flam finished.
“How?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How did this start in the first place? Just what do you know about Equestria?”
“Yes, how did a couple of no good carnies like yourselves get into this?” Rarity asked, her lip curling.
Flim and Flam both grinned and chuckled to each other. “Well if you’re so curious-” Flim started. “You might want to think back to a certain vacation you were all on. After all it’s only really because of you that we got into this portal business.”
“That’s right again,” Flam said. “Your little trip on the yacht? The one that got caught in a storm and sunk? The one that caused you to travel through a small portal to Equestria so you could all make it back home safely?”
“How’d you jerks even hear about that though?” Rainbow Dash asked with a frown.
“What, you’re surprised?” Flim shrugged. “That yacht had well over a hundred passengers, most of them teenagers, of course not all of them are going to keep their mouths shut. People talk, they gossip, they post things they shouldn’t on social media. Of course we found out what had happened. It was all just rumors at first and we didn’t exactly believe it-”
“Until a lovely young lady happened to saunter into our old store looking for interesting trinkets. We got to talking and she told us everything about the trip, Equestria, and magic,” Flam said.
“And that all sounded like a swimmingly fortuitous opportunity,” Flim smiled.
“This girl explained that not only was magic real but she could actually use it herself and she knew exactly where it all came from. When she mentioned this “portal to Equestria” we had to know more and so she helpfully showed the portal in the statue right outside Canterlot High to us,” Flam said.
“And when we told her of our idea she thought it was magnificent! In fact she was the one who came up with the idea for the portable rental mirrors. And she didn’t even ask for any money in return when we got started on them, all she wanted was naming rights,” Flim shrugged as he reached behind the desk as well and pulled out one of the same kind of tablets that the girls had earlier seen Lyra and Bon Bon using. “Which is why we now have this: The Great and Powerful Interdimensional Two-Way Video Mirror 9000!”
“Trixieeeee...” Sunset grit her teeth even harder as a vein threatened to explode in her forehead.
“Oh, you know her too?” Flam smiled.
While Sunset fumed, Twilight lifted a hand to her forehead and shook her head. “I can’t believe this...”
Fluttershy meanwhile gasped as she remembered something and pulled her cellphone from her pocket. “Oh, that would explain this text message I got from Trixie last night.” She grimaced and showed her screen to the others:
If for some totally inexplicable reason Sunset gets mad at me in the next few days can you please calm her down?
“I am going to murder you, Trixie,” Sunset muttered under her breath.
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gulped.
Applejack frowned at the message and looked up at Flim and Flam. “I’m still having a tough time believing that the two of you and Trixie were able to do something like this. I know you’re a couple of pretty handy fellows but making this?” She pointed at the tablet. “Seems a little bit beyond you. And you would’ve had to have already made a portal somehow to contact your pony selves in Equestria in the first place, right?”
“Ding, ding, ding! That is correct, Applejack!” Flim said.
“We had more help than just Trixie. She was the one who clued us into the magic in the first place, the real tech was done by someone else,” Flam said. “Why don’t the seven of you come in the back with us? Our other partner is here right now and you can check out the portal and everything else yourselves. Why not even go for a visit while you’re already here?”
“The portal to Equestria is open right now?!” Sunset said.
“Ooh! Let’s go! Let’s totally go then, it’ll be super extra fun!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she bounced up and down.
“I’m all for that,” Rainbow Dash agreed.
“No!” Sunset shouted at Rainbow and Pinkie. “Can you imagine what the ponies in Ponyville would think if there were two Rainbow Dash’s flying around?”
Rainbow Dash tilted her head and thought for all of two seconds. “Double the awesome?”
“Quadruple the fun!” Pinkie winked.
“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Applejack said as she put her hands on the backs of Pinkie and Dash and pushed them along. “I think Sunset is close enough to going ballistic so let’s just get back there and see what’s going on.”
The girls all followed Flim and Flam through the doors and into the back room of their establishment. It was mostly similar in décor to the front room but was much rounder and had a more wide open area with a few tables and chairs on the sides and another door leading into what looked like an office or storage space on the back wall. That all was second though to the large apparatus in the very middle of the room. Six electrical coils patterned in a circle around a metal platform slightly raised above the ground with a computer assembly plugged into it all, numerous monitors and beeping machines showed off all sorts of information that was foreign to pretty much everyone but Sunset and Twilight. And working behind that computer assembly was another very familiar face.
“Micro Chips?!” Twilight yelled, shocked.
The glasses-wearing boy looked up from his station and smiled after a moment of recognition. “Oh, hey guys!”
“This young lad was more than happy to help us actually build the portal as well as the portable communicators,” Flam said. “He showed quite a keen interest in both technology and magic.”
“We have Trixie to thank again for introducing us to him,” Flim said.
“Micro Chips, what are you doing here?!” Twilight asked as she practically ran up to him and the portal device. “You helped Flim and Flam make an interdimensional portal to Equestria?! I have so many questions!”
“So do I,” Sunset said as she looked over the device. “I know you’re a smart guy but magic isn’t exactly your area of expertise.”
“Neither is caramel apples for that matter,” Applejack muttered.
“I may not be an expert in magic but I’m more than familiar with Twilight’s research and some of the unique devices she’s built. After all we’ve studied and worked on a number of projects together, you can say I was even inspired by your work,” Micro Chips said to Twilight. “So when it came to first building something that could both identify and analyze magical signatures and then amplify them, I was more than ready thanks to you.” He grinned proudly and put his hands on his waist.
“I never should have done that research project with you...” Twilight groaned.
“Okay, but why help Flim and Flam though?” Applejack asked him.
Micro Chips shrugged. “They seemed like alright guys.”
“Darling, they most certainly are not,” Rarity sighed and facepalmed.
“Slanderous!” Flim said. “We’ve been nothing but supportive and thankful to our buddy Micro Chips here. Why he even gets a cut of the profits!”
“That’s right! That’s just how grateful we are, we hardly ever just give money away like that,” Flam said.
“This still all seems way beyond the four of you,” Sunset said as she crossly looked over Flim and Flam and Micro Chips. “Even if you could figure out Equestrian magic a little bit I don’t see how you could actually create a stable portal or those video mirror things. That kind of magic is beyond almost anything in Equestria.”
“We had help of course,” Flim said.
“That’s right, at first all we had was a barely functioning portal that we could only look and talk through. But that was all we needed,” Flam grinned.
“Because-” Micro Chips cut in. “To make sure the portal appeared where we wanted it to, we made it resonate with the unique signatures of Flim and Flam here, thus we created a portal that directly opened up exactly to where the pony Flim and Flam of Equestria were.”
“You know this all sounds kind of similar to how your journal works,” Pinkie Pie said to Sunset.
“Shh!” Sunset frowned at her. “We don’t need to be giving these guys anymore bad ideas.”
“-they were a bit surprised at first but when we filled them in everything went by fast,” Flim said, continuing from where Micro Chips had left off. “Their firsthand experience and knowledge of magic was of great help and just like us they got the help of some other pony scientists and wizards in Equestria. And thus our business was born.”
“We cornered a market that didn’t even exist until just now!” Flam said and high-fived Flim.
“And now the portal is patented and everything. The only thing left to do is sell wonderful, unparalleled, totally unique vacation experiences to anyone who wants one!” Flim finished with a laugh.
“Patented?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “There is no way you’re not going to run into legal troubles down the line. Forget lawsuits from customers, the government and who knows what else are going to take issue with the creation and selling of interdimensional portals and vacations.”
“Well there’s no law against any of this in the books,” Flam shrugged.
“We checked,” Flim grinned.
“Of course there aint, who would ever make a law for such a thing?” Applejack said. “No one probably ever expected you would need to make up a law about inner-diagonal portals or whatever. I doubt even Princess Twilight back in Equestria has any real laws about it.”
“Ugh! Technically legal or not, we’re going to put a stop to this!” Sunset angrily said.
“But why?” Flim looked genuinely surprised. “And what right do you even have? Last I checked you weren’t queen of Equestria or had some sort of ownership over dimensional travel. You don’t have any authority to interfere with our business.”
“Unless you want to say the moral high-ground gives you the right?” Flam chuckled and playfully ribbed Flim.
“Well first off, yeah! I think that should at least mean something! And secondly I’m from Equestria and I don’t like how you’re using it like this! Or taking advantage of all the ignorant ponies and people you’re doing business with!” Sunset balled her fists in anger as she glared furiously at the two charlatans.
“Ah, but unfortunately my dear, that argument just doesn’t hold water,” Flim smiled condescendingly and shrugged. “For we’re not using Equestria anymore than Equestria is using our world. This is a totally equal exchange and this world is just as much a victim of exploita—destination for vacation as Equestria.”
“And how can we be taking advantage of ignorant ponies when our partners are ponies? Our counterparts are over there doing the exact same thing we are,” Flam confidently folded his arms.
“You two are reprehensible,” Rarity spat.
“Oh there’s no reason to be so upset with us,” Flim scoffed. “In fact, as a token of good will, how about we let you through our portal for half price?”
“Why would we do that when we have our own portal? Even if we did go on a vacation to Equestria, obviously we wouldn’t pay for it,” Twilight said.
Flam twirled his mustache and thought to himself for a second. “Hm, good point. How about half off one of our rental mirrors? I’m sure you’d love to talk with your pony counterparts in Equestria whenever you wanted.”
“I’m down,” Rainbow Dash said as she pulled out her wallet.
“No, Rainbow! Don’t enable them!” Sunset pushed her arm back down.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and groaned. “Come on, you know at least I would be responsible with it!”
Sunset just flatly stared back at her, as did most everyone else.
“Okay… that’s fair,” Rainbow snorted.
Sunset then returned her attention to Flim and Flam. “So maybe there’s nothing we can do about this right now but I’m going to tell Princess Twilight all about this and she’ll definitely put a stop to it on her end. She actually is a ruler and if she doesn’t want this portal going to and from Equestria and her own people going on dangerous vacations then she has every right to shut this down! Not to mention she’s also pretty much the authority on magic and this kind of thing in the first place, so yeah, if anybody has the right to say you can’t do this—it’s her!”
Flim and Flam both just nonchalantly shrugged together, playful smiles on their faces.
“Go right ahead, tell your princess on us,” Flim said.
“Our pony brothers are well prepared,” Flam said.
“We’ll see about that,” Sunset narrowed her eyes and turned to leave. “Come on everyone, we’re heading back to my place!”
“What are we going to do there?” Fluttershy asked as they all walked out of the store together.
“I’m getting my journal and we’re going to tell Princess Twilight everything. She’s dealt with the pony versions of these guys before, she’ll deal with them again.”
An innocent look came over Pinkie’s face as she bounced towards Sunset. “You knoooow… instead of using your journal we could always-”
“No!”
“Well at least something exciting happened today,” Rainbow Dash said. “Definitely didn’t see this coming but it beats wandering around the mall doing nothing.”
“I’m afraid I don’t share your sentiment. There was quite a bit I wanted to look at today.” Rarity said.
“And I’m just plum annoyed that Flim and Flam are making money off this,” Applejack shook her head. “Those jerks.”
“Not for much longer at least,” Sunset said with a slight smirk tugging up her lips. “Princess Twilight will take care of it.”
“I really hope you’re right,” Twilight said.
Only two short hours later in the land of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were seated inside a meeting room at the Equestria branch of Flim & Flam’s Exceptional Interdimensional Vacations!. Across the table from them, two nearly identical unicorn brothers sat with happy smiles on their faces. The unicorns levitated a large book entitled Laws and Ordinances of Equestria over the table towards Twilight. It plopped onto the table right in front of her with a heavy thud while the smiles on Flim and Flam’s faces started to radiate pure smugness.
“There’s no law against it.”
“We checked.”
“ARRRRGHHHH!” Twilight yelled in frustration and yanked her mane before slamming her face into the cover of the book.
Author's Note
I may write a continuation to this at some point in the future but for now I kind of like ending it right there.
