Hell On Wheels

Note: This is my very first work, ever. So please, be nice with criticism and such. I hope you guys like the idea I'm getting at here. Also, please keep in mind that this NEEDS to be proofread and I am fully aware of it. So don't go to the comments and simply tell me what I already know. Thank you and enjoy.

One Last Barrel

"Don't worry Flam. There are plenty more towns with plenty of ponies who would definitely want some of our top notch quality cider." Flim said, trying to stay focused on the road. "Of course! More ponies means more money! My dear Flim, Ponyville was only one bad bushel out of all the apples in Equestria."

After driving for roughly two hours, they arrived in Trottingham. Several ponies began looking at the two brothers and their strange contraption with puzzled expressions. They were all asking the same questions. "Who are these two strange ponies? What is that... thing?"

Flim hopped out of the seat and landed in front of the mass of ponies that have congregated around them. "Ah! Brother, it appears that we have arrived in Trottingham!" Flim shot a confident grin at Flam. "I must say that the long drive from Ponyville has left me quite parched." Flam did his best to look distressed. "Oh, have no fear brother! Surely you haven't forgotten about what you are sitting on right now?" Flam immediately perked up and took in a deep breath. "How could I have forgotten about the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000?"

"The super say-what-now?" A confused pony shouted out from the crowd. Hearing this, both Flim and Flam's ears perked up and they both shot their attention to the orange earth pony. "You there! Yes you! What is your name kind sir?" Having been singled out, the pony immediately regretted his choice of words. "Ummm... my name is Sunny. Who are you?" "Why I am Flim." "and I am Flam!" "We're the Flim Flam brothers and we're here to show you the wonders of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!"

The name sounded familiar to the orange pony. He heard of them when a message was sent all the way from Ponyville that two twins might show up here trying to sell cider.

"Dear Sunny,

I am writing this letter to let you, and all of Trottingham, know of two ponies that almost took away our farm. They called themselves the Flim Flam brothers and they have this crazy doo-hickey thing that makes cider. We just barely beat them in a stupid contest and chased them out of Ponyville. Watch out, they will probably make it to Trottingham in about an hour or so! They are nothing but thieves! Make sure to keep an eye on everyponies' bits!

Sincerely, Applejack"

Before Sunny could say another word, a cup was forced into his hands. It was filled to the top with a sparkling golden yellow liquid that smelled sweet. The aroma was simply overwhelming and he quickly gulped it down. It was delicious. The flavor was simply perfect.

"Well? Does the cider go beyond your expectations?" Flam asked eagerly. "This sample is on us, no charge." Flim added. Sunny suddenly was in a tough spot. The cider was amazing, but because of these two ponies, all of Trottingham's beverage businesses would be beaten out by Flim and Flam. After a short pause, Sunny looked up and with a disgusted look on his face and gave a the brothers a word that they had only heard mere hours ago.

"Bleeeh! This is disgusting! How could you possibly expect to sell this? Why would you expect anypony to drink this? Good thing this was free because I wouldn't pay for this with even a speck of dirt!" Flim and Flam both went silent. It must've been at least ten seconds of silence, but to Flim and Flam, it seemed like days. Never have they seen a customer so outspoken about their product. Of course, this was a lie, Sunny would gladly pay hundreds of bits for more, but he knew that it's for the best of Trottingham for everypony to go against the two salesponies.

After another ten seconds of silence, Flim regained his composure. "I see that you don't enjoy our cider, that's such a shame. We understand. We completely respect your opinions." Flim looked at his brother and then back to the crowd. "We're sorry that we wasted your time. However, we are weary from traveling. Would it be troublesome if we remained in Trottingham for the night? You have my word that we will not pester you with our business and we will leave when the sun appears on the horizon tomorrow morning." Nopony seemed to object, after all, they weren't cruel ponies and enough damage had been done. Or so they thought.

That night, the brothers had rented a room in a hotel and discussed their situation.

"Unbelievable! How could this have happened?! There's no way that just happened!" Flam was clearly distraught by the whole incident. "Brother please, calm down, surely there must be a perfectly good reason as to why he didn't li--" he was cut off with a loud "NO! There is no reason! The quality test switch was turned on and we also brought some of the apples from Ponyville with us to use as our demonstration! It was the perfect cup of cider!" Flim was now starting to lose hope. "Well... I guess we should leave now. There's always the next town."

Something about this statement hit Flam, hard. His mind started going crazy with more failures in each town they went to. He told himself, No, this can't be the end! I have to do something. That one pony back in Ponyville must've told them about us before we arrived. Flam closed his eyes and was soon lost in a deep thought. Flim, trying to knock some sense into his depressed brother, began lightly slapping his face. Flam then opened his eyes, looked at Flim, and a wide smile stretched across his face from ear to ear.

"Excuse me, there is something that I must do." Flam gently pushed Flim out of the way and headed for the door. "What could that be?" Flim was puzzled, what could possibly have been going though Flam's mind? What was he thinking about doing? As Flam opened the door he looked back and said "I'm going to make one more batch of cider. It'll probably be our last, but it also just might save us from defeat."

The next morning, the innkeeper went to go get some cider from the local general store. He opened the door to find a rather large barrel sitting on the front step. "What the hay could this be?" The puzzled pony asked himself. He gave it a nudge and heard a sloshing sound come from inside the barrel. With even more questions popping into his head, he began to examine the barrel and its surroundings to find a note being held down by the barrel.

"We are so sorry that we wasted your time and I, we, are truly embarrassed by the lack of quality our drink contained yesterday. We have no other way of apologizing but the best I could do was provide you with a barrel of cider free of charge. Don't worry, I was extra careful that I used only the most high quality ingredients for this batch. This is the only way we could thank you."

There was no signature on the note but the pony knew that it was obviously the Flim Flam brothers who wrote this. He lowered the note and looked out to the street to see tracks coming from the orchard and into the road leaving traces of where that machine had been. "Oh well, this will save me a trip to the store and a beating to my wallet, hehe." The pony chuckled as he rolled the barrel back inside.

He rolled the barrel into the back of the storage room and pulled out a tap and stabbed it into the side of the barrel. The moment the opening was made, the pony got a whiff of something odd. It reminded him of cider, but at the same time, there was something else to it that was slipping his mind. "Weird, oh well. It's still early, and everypony is still sleeping. I guess the time I would have spent in the store, I can spend in bed." The earth pony chuckled at his lucky break. He went back to his room and fell asleep, completely forgetting about the barrel.

Hours later, the inn was filled with ponies who had just gotten off work or were chatting with friends. By now, the innkeeper was reminded of the smell from this morning. It was stronger now, still smelled of apples but still had that extra mystery scent. "Sir, can I have three cups of cider?" A pony called out. "Three? I don't see anypony else at the table. Don't tell me that they're all for you, are they? Hahaha, of course, three cups of cider coming right up!" He went back to the kitchen and got three cups then headed to the storage room to see the barrel from earlier and walked to it to fill the cups. He put a cup under the tap and pulled the lever to be blasted by the smell from earlier. He tried examined the contents of the cup, but it was impossible due to poor lighting in the storage room. The only option he had was to walk into the dining room, but he was afraid to because now he realized what the smell was. He gulped and walked out into the light.

"Hey man! What took you so long? Where are the other two cups?" The pony asked, now a little irritated. The innkeeper didn't respond. He just stared into the cup. What he saw was red. The smell from earlier, it was blood. Before he could ask himself who was in this barrel, strands of orange hairs began lining the side of the cup. He dropped the cup, letting its contents spill out onto the floor. The whole room went silent as they all stared at the shocked innkeeper.