Flim allowed the magic to fade away from his horn after finishing the power up sequence on the lunarizer. At the current moment, he was standing in the room containing both it and the solarizer, which were large, cube-shaped contraptions powered by familiar white and dark blue alicorn horns. Flim watched as the lunarizer once again raised the moon into the sky. He and Flam kept control of these devices from the general public, just in case they got too rowdy and needed the celestial cycle to stop for a few days to remind everypony who was in charge.
With the moon safely in the sky, Flim left the room, closing the door behind him with a quick pulse of magic. He trotted down the metal flooring, making his way through the rooms of what had once been Canterlot Castle. Now, it was the office building of the Flim-Flam Corporation. Production of their inventions was down at what used to be Sweet Apple Acres, guarded by a squadron of cybernetically-enhanced ponies.
Naturally, most of the natural areas in Equestria had been bulldozed to make room for Flim and Flam's new techno-Equestria. The Everfree Forest had yet to be touched, as the unruly plant life had made construction difficult. Flim and Flam were currently planning to build a group of cyber ponies armed with flamethrowers to burn away the forest, which would be replaced with their new, costly resort.
As he made his way to the throne room, Flim made a mental note to seek out more ponies nopony would miss, in order to create more cyber pony guards. Protests had been growing in Manehattan and Appleloosa, with ungrateful factory workers demanding raises and other such nonsense. The fools didn't know how good they had it under Flim and Flam's progressive regime, building Equestria into an industrial force to be reckoned with. If they hadn't stepped in and removed the princesses from power, the dragons, changelings, and other creatures would've swooped down and claimed Equestria for themselves.
Smirking a little at that thought, Flim finally opened the door to the throne room, finding his brother Flam as expected, already going to town on dinner. Only the finest produce on Equestria for its two greatest rulers, of course.
"Good evening, Brother!" said Flim, as he took his seat on the other side of the table. "I trust the uprising in Manehattan has been squashed?"
"Of course, Brother!" replied Flam. "You think I'd let a bunch of pony rebels actually burn down one of our factories? Though I am ashamed to say that Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings escaped in the chaos."
Flim groaned. "Honestly, I can't believe those Ponyville yokels managed to start a rebellion. I thought for certain we'd gotten rid of all potential leaders, but I guess you can't account for everything."
"True. Any more protests to deal with?"
"No more than usual. 'We want free businesses,' 'Honor the princesses,' 'Bring back Nightmare Night.' Nothing we've never seen before."
"It's Nightmare Night?" asked Flam. "Or rather, today would've been Nightmare Night? Huh. It's been so long since we redid the calendar that I completely forgot what day it was."
"Yes, indeed. Why do they want Nightmare Night so badly? So they can dress up in bedsheets and beg each other for candy?"
Flam rolled his eyes. "That begging would be better spent thinking of how they can serve our business. We've optimized pony society, far better than the princesses could've."
"Exactly, my Brother!" said Flim. "Let's toast. To the continuation of the Flim-Flam dynasty."
"Sure thing!" replied Flam. The two levitated up their wine glasses and clinked them together.
"How goes the attempt to retake the Crystal Empire?" Flim asked, as he finished his glass. "Are Cadence and Shining Armor still holding out?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Flam replied with a groan. "Still, that pesky Crystal Heart won't protect them forever. We'll get them sooner or later."
Deep within the bowels of the Everfree Forest lay the gray, withered husk of the Tree of Harmony. Ever since Flim and Flam's uprising, the Tree hadn't produced a spark of magic. The Elements of Harmony had been destroyed, and all their wielders were gone, after all. It made sense. Plus, since every magical artifact in Equestria was now in the hooves of Flim and Flam, there was no hope of a magical spark reigniting the power of the tree.
Until now.
A tall, robed figure trotted through the gorge, heading for what was left of the tree. If one looked closely, they would see a pair of mismatched feet at the bottom of the robe, one being a bull's hoof, and the other looking like a crocodile claw. The figure continued their advance, unhindered, until they reached the base of the tree.
"It took me so long to get back here," he said, bringing his hands together under the robe, "but I finally made it. Flim and Flam's devices drained most of my magic, but I should have enough for this."
The figure lifted his hood, revealing a goat's head with a pair of mismatched antlers. Discord knelt down by the trunk of the tree, before drawing a pointed stone from inside his cloak. He carefully jabbed the rock into his lion's paw, drawing a little blood from the site, and rubbed the wound against the Tree of Harmony.
"I couldn't save you before, Fluttershy," he said, his voice quivering with sadness. "I couldn't save anypony. But let me do this for you. Let me restore Equestria's freedom."
For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Discord sat quietly in front of the tree, waiting, nearly giving into despair when it seemed as though it didn't work. However, eventually, the blood on the tree began to glow bright blue, before it was suddenly sucked into the trunk. The dulled crystal of the tree began to light up once again, and the limp branches grew strong. They pointed skyward, and eight white wisps shot out of the tips, flying above the forest, and zipping back towards Canterlot. Discord smiled for the first time in a long time.
"Give 'em hell, everypony," he said, quietly.
After dinner, Flim and Flam did their routine checks on all the machines that protected Canterlot Castle. The force barrier that surrounded the entire building was functioning normally, the security cameras were up to date, and the cyber ponies were on standby as usual. That was one of the benefits of cyborgs: they didn't require sleep.
Satisfied that nothing would disturb them tonight, Flim and Flam both made their way towards their rooms, turning in for the night. The rooms were located right next to each other, but still separate enough to give each stallion privacy. Each brother used their magic to shut off the lights, then climbed into bed, pulling the covers up.
Outside, the cyber ponies stood watching, as their programming dictated. Unicorn horns had been replaced with laser cannons, pegasi had heavy launchers attached to their backs, and earth ponies were equipped with sharp claws on their hooves. Their eyes were capable of night vision and telescopic sight, ensuring nothing would escape their notice.
As such, they saw when the white, glowing wisps began approaching Canterlot Castle.
At first, the cyber ponies didn't react. Their programming dictated that they were only to sound an alarm if some creature got through the barrier, and so far, any attempt to penetrate it had proven futile. Plus, the wisps didn't register as living creatures on their scanners, having no bones or heat signatures. Thus, they made no move to deal with them, until the wisps phased through the energy shield around Canterlot Castle.
The cyber ponies weren't completely mechanical. They still had enough of their brains intact that they could act somewhat independently if the situation required it, though they were loyal to their masters. Thus, once the wisps entered the barrier, Defense Unit 001 immediately acted, calling out "Intruders," and opening fire on the wisps with his horn cannon.
Unfortunately, all the beams of energy did was pass right through the wisps. They danced around as though they didn't have a care in the world, ignoring the attack directed at them. The cyber ponies rallied around their commander, attacking the wisps with more lasers, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, claws, and anything they had. The results were all the same: nothing.
Suddenly, the eight wisps all flew upwards, standing in a straight line and stopping in midair. Each wisp began to glow an individual color, be it purple, orange, yellow, sky blue, white, pink, gold, or dark blue. The dark blue wisp floated forward, still completely unaffected by the attacks the cyber ponies were launching, and from it came a voice, "ENOUGH!"
The cyber ponies froze where they stood, ceasing their attacks in an instant. A blue aura surrounded them, and those that had remained on their hooves were lifted off the ground. The cyber pegasi were still airborne, despite their wings ceasing to flap. The golden wisp drifted over to join the dark blue one.
"The Royal Canterlot Voice, Sister?" it asked. "You are aware that we might give them a heads-up if you keep doing that, right?"
The dark blue wisp made a gesture that might've been a shrug. "It does not matter, they can't stop us. Besides, it's been so long since I got to do that."
"Ooh, can I make firework noises?" asked the pink wisp. "So those big meanies will think it's a party and come out?"
"I doubt that'll work," replied the orange wisp. "Flim and Flam never were party ponies."
"Now, girls, remember why we're here," insisted the purple wisp. "We also need to do something about them." A ghostly leg emerged from the wisp, pointing to the still frozen cyber ponies.
"Ah, yes. Thank you for keeping us on track, Twilight," replied the gold wisp. It looked down at the cyber ponies. "My poor little ponies. How could they do this to you?"
A magical glow of white light began to emerge from within the depths of the wisps. After a few seconds of buildup, a rainbow-colored shockwave burst out from all of them, washing over the cyber ponies. Upon touching their bodies, the rainbow wave began to dismantle the technology implanted into their bodies, carefully removing every piece of metal from their flesh. As it did so, the holes left behind by the technology knitted itself back together, sealing up the wounds and not even leaving scars. Bionic eyes were pulled out, and new eyes grew in their place. In a matter of seconds, the cyber ponies were transformed back into a group of completely normal ponies, and laid back down on the ground, where they promptly fell unconscious. There was a loud clatter as the cybernetic pieces fell to the earth.
"That takes care of the outer guard," said the gold wisp. "Shall we move on?"
"I'd like nothing more," replied the dark blue one.
"Brother! Brother, wake up!"
Flam groaned in his sleep as he opened his eyes, discovering the sight of Flim shaking him like crazy with his magic. He lifted himself out of bed, prompting Flim to relax his magical grip. Then he looked his brother dead in the eye.
"Flim, what time is it?" he demanded. "I set an alarm, and it hasn't gone off yet."
"I know, and trust me, I wouldn't be waking you if this wasn't important," Flim assured him. "I heard a beeping noise coming from the control room, since mine is closer to it than yours, so I went to check it out. I discovered that the outer guard of cyber ponies is offline."
Flam's eyebrows shot up. "Which ones?" he asked.
"All of them."
"What about the barrier?"
"It's still functioning. As far as I can tell, nothing's happened to it."
"Meaning something got through without disturbing the shield."
"Which shouldn't be possible. I mean, it even goes underground! Nothing should've been able to get through it!"
"And it's unlikely all the cyber ponies' connections are malfunctioning at once." Flam groaned, rubbing a hoof against his eyes. "Get the inner perimeter guard fired up. We need to be on high alert."
"Already done. I've been combing the security cameras to try and find whatever got through, but nothing's showing up."
The two stallions were now galloping towards the security control room. Within seconds, they'd reached it, and set themselves up at the control panel. So far, the cyber ponies working the inner guard were still online, and nothing inside the castle had been disturbed. Flim and Flam's eyes passed over every single camera feed, but nothing caught their attention.
"Hold on, let me check something," Flam interrupted both of their thoughts. He began adjusting the settings on the cameras, cycling through night vision, x-ray, thermal, and finally, aural vision. Aural vision was a filter the brothers had developed that would light up when showing magical activity, as a way of detecting possible magic interference from the resistance. When Flam turned it on, several camera feeds lit up with bright green light. The wisps were now visible, floating throughout the castle. On the cameras, the wisps were each surrounded by the silhouette of a pony.
And these silhouettes were very familiar.
Flim and Flam's jaws dropped as they watched the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony, as well as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, flying through the castle as transparent specters, dismantling the technology the brothers had incorporated into everything. The inner guard of cyber ponies had their implants removed and their flesh restored, cutting out their feed in the process. Cameras were shattered in their cradles, causing the screens to go black. Even the ponies with no horns seemed to have this power. As she floated towards another camera, Applejack stared directly into the lens. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was really looking at. Then the camera cut out
"Brother..." Flim breathed, sweat beginning to drip down his head.
"Yes?" said Flam, clearly on edge as well.
"I think we should retreat to the inner sanctum."
"Good idea."
Both stallions bolted from their chairs, rushing out of the control room as fast as their hooves could carry them. On the way, Flam pulled a small hoof-held remote from his pocket, keying in the code that summoned any remaining cyber ponies to their side. Soon enough, their sprinting got them to the inner sanctum, where the Grand Galloping Gala had once been held. The hooful of cyber ponies that had survived joined them as well. The two stallions immediately began activating every single defense they had, summoning magic-proof metal shutters around every entrance, and arming every cyber pony to defend them at all costs.
"How can this be happening?!" demanded Flam. "Even if we didn't destroy the Tree of Harmony, they shouldn't have been able to come back!"
"I know, I know, I don't get it either," replied Flim, as he frantically put in a few more commands on a console. "But they're here! We're gonna be fine, though. Everything is going to be fine!" It was hard to tell who he was talking to.
With nothing else to do, Flim and Flam hunkered down behind the small group of cyber ponies. For the first few minutes, nothing happened. There was an occasional sound elsewhere in the castle, presumably as the intruders destroyed yet another piece of technology. Flim and Flam quivered in their hiding spots, terrified but having no other options.
Finally, there was silence. The brothers quietly counted the seconds to see if it was merely a lull in the paranormal activity, or if it was over. The minutes seemed to take an eternity to pass by, but eventually, they'd counted ten without a single sound.
"I think...they're gone," Flim whispered.
"Are you sure?" breathed Flam.
"I wouldn't bet on it, Sugar Cube," came a voice from beyond the door.
Flim and Flam screamed and hugged each other with their forelegs as the eight wisps phased through the metal that was supposed to be magic-proof. Once they did, they stopped in midair, and around each one, the silhouette of the respective mare appeared. Applejack stood at the front of the group, her green, transparent eyes filled with disgust.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" screamed Flam. "WE...WE KILLED YOU! WE BEAT YOU! YOU CAN'T BE HERE!"
"Do you doubt the sights your own eyes are showing you?" demanded Princess Twilight. "I wouldn't blame you, given how much you had to drink a while ago, but we're real, I assure you."
"Alcohol! Why am I not surprised?!" scoffed Rarity. She gave a brush to her ethereal mane. "You two really are the most repulsive enemies we ever dealt with!"
Flim climbed to his hooves, legs wobbling as he did so. "Y-you can't beat us!" he stammered, trying to sound as brave as possible. "W-we have superior n-numbers and weaponry! Th-this won't end any differently."
"Really? Then why'd you run away the second you saw us?" asked Rainbow Dash, smiling as wide as she could. "You know you can't win this, don't you?"
"Rainbow, there's no reason to freak them out any more!" insisted Fluttershy. At the look the others all gave her, she quickly added, "Okay, maybe a little."
Flam jammed his hoof down on the "Attack" button of the remote. "Fire! FIRE! Get rid of them!" he pleaded.
The cyber ponies obeyed, launching a barrage of horn lasers and missiles at the ghostly ponies that stood before them. The effect was so great, it created a massive smokescreen that obscured everything from view. However, when the attacks ceased, the pony apparitions remained unharmed, while the walls and floors behind them were cracked, burned, and broken.
"No sell!" said Pinkie, bouncing for joy.
Celestia and Luna stepped forward, lighting up their horns. The cyber ponies were pulled towards them, where they were quickly stripped of their cybernetic enhancements, and healed up accordingly. The unconscious ponies were then deposited safely on the ground, and the mares turned to face Flim and Flam, who'd both turned white as sheets.
"I...uh...I don't suppose we can convince you to be merciful?" Flim ventured, smiling as wide as he could.
"Mercy? You want mercy?! After everything you did?!" shouted Applejack. "It was bad enough when you two were just con artists, but to stoop to this level, to take over Equestria like this!"
"Applejack's right," said Twilight. "I tried to live my life according to the principles of friendship. I believed that every creature deserves a second chance, deserves mercy. But you two? You used up your second chances a long time ago."
"There isn't a punishment worthy of all you've done!" Luna growled. "And I'm not just talking about what you did to us. Look at what you've done to Equestria!"
"B-but w-w-we just wanted Equestria to p-progress technology wise!" stammered Flam. "Y-you—"
"Don't bother trying to cover your hides now!" snapped Rarity. "Actually, I think Princess Luna here was wrong. I believe there are consequences fit for your crimes."
"Really? What did you have in mind?" asked Celestia.
Rarity beckoned the rest of the group close, and whispered something. The others, upon hearing it, all nodded, and stood up to face Flim and Flam once more.
"Just so you know, boys," said Applejack, "you brought this on yourselves."
Flim and Flam both screamed as the ponies flew towards them and enveloped them.
The next day, the barrier around Canterlot Castle disappeared. The resistance immediately breached the castle, but found only Flim and Flam's former cyber ponies, all of whom had been restored to their original status, yet had no memory of what happened to them. Cyber ponies all around Equestria all underwent the same experience, as Flim and Flam's machines were torn down, and the resistance began the long process of rebuilding the kingdom. It was also discovered that the solarizer and lunarizer had been destroyed, and the sun and moon now rose and fell on their own. Within time, Princess Cadence ascended to the throne of Equestria, and helped to restore it to its former glory.
As for the FlimFlam brothers themselves, they were never found, despite extensive searching. However, if one stepped into the sanctum of Canterlot Castle, sometimes they could faintly hear the terrified voices of the brothers screaming into the abyss.
