//------------------------------// // Brotherly Love // Story: Origins of a Rainbow - A Dashie Tale // by Shorty Sparkle //------------------------------// Brotherly Love Trixie had been kind enough to let the two Pegasi stay the night. She had also provided them with some bits to buy things in Fillydalphia which they had thanked her for. After restocking their supplies, they went out to get some lunch where Trixie told them a few things about their fathers. “You know Dash; your father was a really nice man and treated me so kindly. Back then my magic wasn’t that powerful so I just did things like getting stuff off the top shelf. Any time I did anything though he congratulated me and gave me an approving look. I am sure you would have loved him.” “Yeah, I wish I had met him but I was a little bit too late to the party. He had disappeared a few months before I had come along and-” She was cut off by a loud noise of some sort of machine coming their way. It sounded like a train but there were no tracks close enough. They looked down the road to see some sort of train coming down the road. Rainbow’s moan was almost loud enough to overpower the locomotive’s sound. “What is it this time Dashie?” Spitfire asked. “Oh would you look at that!” Trixie had also noticed the strange vehicle. “The Flim Flam Brothers are here!” The noise coming from the machine was almost musical to the ears. Two brothers stepped off and looked around at the ponies of the restaurant. “Well Lookie what we got here brother of mine! It’s the same in every town!” “Ponies with good food great fun but not a drop of cider to be found!” “Maybe they are not aware of the cider that we could share!” “Maybe in this ciderless town you and I would shaaare!” “Cause you got Opportunity in this very community.” “He’s Flim.” “He’s Flam.” “And we are the world famous Flim Flam brothers! Traveling sales ponies nonparey!” “Whoa Whoa! Stop there boys, you aren’t ripping off these ponies too!” Rainbow intervened. She didn’t know why she was singing as well. “Rip them off? Why how on Equestria could you think such a thing?” “My brother and I will show you opportunity!” “I know very well the tricks you play! You did them on us back in Ponyville!” “Oh little filly don’t you think it through? Our machine works just fine don’t you see?” “Because it is the Flim Flam Brothers Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!” “It doesn’t work as you say! The Cider is terrible and you just can’t admit!” “Well if you say then sister! Why don’t you try a cup of the real stuff!” “You see little filly, you had a malfunctioned batch that came from me and my brother’s eagerness to win!” “However the cider we really make it the best of the best and nopony can disagree!” “And that is opportunity!” “Because he’s Flim!” “And he’s Flam!” “And we are the Flim Flam Brothers! Traveling Sales Ponies nonparey!” The song ended with a massive chorus from a lot of ponies in the crowd that formed. Rainbow Dash shot a look at the Stallions that had almost run Sweet Apple Acres into the ground with their terrible cider before. “Well, now since that is done. Little Filly, I assure you that our cider would have won that contest had we not pushed our machine too far. The speed we tried to make it run at was far too much for it and it ended up ruining the apples we were harvesting.” Flim said. “So in our desperation to win we overrode the good/bad apple sorter; which ended up messing up our cider and causing us to lose. So you see we just got desperate and lost because of that. We are terribly sorry for anything we did to upset your town.” Flam finished. Spitfire stepped forward. “We are the ones that should be sorry. Rainbow Dash was being critical about the whole thing. You think she would learn her lesson after finding out yesterday that somepony else was not as bad as her first impressions lead her to believe.” Dash looked to the ground in shame. She realized her friend was right. “I am terribly sorry; I really should start learning my lesson.” The brothers chuckled before crowding the Pegasus. “Don’t you worry missy, we have had far worse in our years!” Flim looked over at Flam. “In fact, I remember that time we almost died! We owe our lives to a few Pegasi!” Spitfire’s ears perked up at the mention of that. “Can I ask you two, was it a wonderbolts team?” “Of course it was! It was many years ago though when me and my brother here had first started on our journey of being salesponies!” ---{Story – Flim’s point of view}--- We were just little colts at the time but we had made something magnificent! It was an item that increased magical abilities that we created in our bedroom. Of course like any great inventor we tested it until we were sure it worked. Our magical prowess was so much higher from what we normally had because of this great machine! Only a few minor side effects plagued the machine. Anyhow, we went out on a great mission to test our machine in a place where magical abilities were normally hindered! So we went into the Everfree Forest without a second thought. My brother and I were sure our machine would work so we went deep into the forest to make sure our magic was much lower than normal. After a few controlled tests we discovered that it had in fact lowered our abilities. So we grabbed the machine and threw it on. We picked up a rock and it lifted to the air quickly. Our machine was working great (Until it ran out of battery that is). The rock we picked up came crashing down and began rolling down a hill. We had to run away to keep from being crushed ourselves. The rock tumbled down the steep decline and managed to clip none other than a cockatrice in the tail. It got angry and ran toward us already preparing to turn us into stone. I started running away only to find my brother had been stuck in his tracks. The Cockatrice stared him down and he turned quickly into stone. I closed my eyes as fast as I could when the Cockatrice jumped on top of me knocking me to the ground, feeling it pull at my eyes to open them and it was starting to hurt. I was about to give up when I felt a whoosh of wind and the weight of the monster flying off me. When I opened my eyes again, I saw a griffin wrestling with it. Then I saw a few Pegasi land around it. One of the Pegasi told the griffin to get off before it was turned to stone as well. The Pegasus had an eye patch on one eye and the other that landed had a massive scar on it. I don’t know what it was about that eye that made him unable to be turned to stone but it did just that. He stared straight at the cockatrice without being turned. It was amazing. After a conversation with the monster I saw my brother turned back to flesh and fur by that cockatrice before it flew off in terror. I ran to him and we promised to never leave one another behind no matter what, and from that day we have stayed together. Afterward the Pegasus with the eye patch came over to us, this time the patch on the other side. “Listen, you two should not be in the Everfree Forest no matter what. It is far too dangerous for anypony to wander without an adult. So before we carry you back I want to make sure you two don’t go running back in here. So I want you to promise me that you won’t do it again.” Of course we agreed without argument, this had been far too scary for either of us to handle again and even though our machine worked it was now completely destroyed. So we let the Griffin carry us back to our home where we got chewed out by our parents. ---{Main}--- “So you see, we got saved ever so generously by a group of Pegasi and even a griffin!” Flim looked down for the first time since starting to story. He saw that Rainbow was almost crying and Spitfire had a huge smile on her face. “And why exactly are you staring at me like that?” “Well, two of those Pegasi were our parents. The one that talked to you was Rainbow’s dad. You two got saved by our family!” Flam’s mouth dropped to the floor and Flim had a rather similar reaction. Spitfire wondered if they were twins. “You are telling us that your family saved us from a cockatrice? You better not be bluffing!” “We wouldn’t lie you know!” Rainbow spoke up the first time since the story started. “Ask Trixie, we came here to ask her the story of how she was saved by them.” “Yes, they are telling the truth.” She sighed. “You see, I was just a filly when my parents were attacked by an Ursa Minor. It killed them and I survived thanks to their dads.” “Whoa whoa back up there Trixie. ‘I’ was just a filly?” Flim expressed his amazement at how Trixie had said I. “Yes, I realize now had terrible of a pony I had been and it was time to grow up. I am still having trouble adjusting to the whole ‘I’ thing as well.” “You know, since we were both saved by those great ponies then maybe we should all stick together! I am sure your great showmareship would provide a great help to our routine.” Suddenly a Pegasus was flying down from the clouds. A mail bag slung over the grey Pegasi’s body and her eyes a bit off kilter gave away just who it was. Rainbow Dash flew up to meet her before she could get too close to the ground. “Derpy! What are you doing way out this far?” “It’s Ditzy, and remember I am a mail pony so I deliver mail. Anyway, I have a statement for the cost of those apples for the Flim Flam Brothers.” She shot a look down at the machine and the two brothers that came on it. “Of course, hey you know what? Can you wait a few minutes so I can write a letter to Twilight that you can take to her?” “I don’t see why not. Everypony is talking about how you went off to find yourself. I hope you are doing a good job!” “I hope so too Derpy.” ---{Notes}--- Phew, a bit of a doozy here. Fun to write though for sure. The Flim Flam Brothers are the best background ponies and I got a chance to redeem them for what they really are! They just got wronged in Ponyville because of a generic mistake. Plus, who could POSSIBLY beat the Apple family in anything that relates to apples? They had no chance to beat them in the first place. Anywho, I decided to write this chapter without the traveling scene that seems to plague every chapter. So I brought the Flim Flam brothers to them! I had originally thought I would have Ditzy give a story about how they saved her. I decided though that after the whole Derpy thing with the Last Roundup that I wouldn’t go there. The next chapter won’t be a chapter at all but is the letter that Dash sends to Twilight. Basically a recap of what happened for anypony to lazy to read all five chapters. Seriously though, why wouldn’t they? It is a good story. Anyway, I hope you are all enjoying the story and those of you who have been reading might want to recheck chapter one. I overhauled it to make it better. Rainbow was way too out of character originally so I changed it up a lot. I also changed how she found out about her father so make sure you know the new way she finds it out. (Holy cow, Essay sized notes!) Lastly, I want to make you sure everyone understands that I like hearing about what I did wrong as long as it is put in a way that actually helps me fix it. And if you love my story then take a second to like it and give us a comment! Any little bit helps!