Opportunity in This Community!
By Shrinky Frod

Reviewed by Rinnaul

So, let’s see what I’ve reviewed in clopfics thus far. Trollfic, F/F, F/F selfcest, F-solo, and a ridiculous panoply of depraved sexuality.

It’s about time I got some decent coltcuddling.

And there’s three of them, even!

As for those two emoticons, just try to tell me Rarity wouldn’t be a yaoi fangirl.

So, in the wake of their failed bid to take over Sweet Apple Acres, Flim and Flam find themselves in Appleloosa seeking repair parts for their machine and a decent place to stay the night. What they find is a horny Braeburn. And when he offers a bed for the night (on the condition that he’s sharing it), they readily accept.

I won’t bother summarizing the rest, because it’s mostly just sex, and I usually only go into great detail on these shorter stories if I feel the need to point out a large number of problems. Which, as I’d expect from this author, aren’t present here.

No one feels out of character, though this depiction of the Flimflam Brothers definitely predates Season 4, which gave them a nudge towards the “villain” end of things in the episode Leap of Faith. Prior to that, it could be argued that they were cutthroat, but not necessarily cheats. After they’re shown to be (almost literal) snake-oil salesmen, it becomes harder to excuse their behavior. But this fic was both written—and set—before all of that, so Flim and Flam work perfectly well as far as I’m concerned.

I’d discuss the plot, but there isn’t much of one. What we get basically amounts to:

: Greetings! We’re at the end of our mutual rope in regards to funds, and could use a place to sleep tonight!
: Well, I’ve got a bed ya’ll could take, wink wink, nudge nudge, we are going to fuck.
: Brilliant! Lead the way and show off that plot, good sir!

And this being a blatant clopfic, that’s fine. There were some good character moments during the build-up, however, playing on Braeburn being the town deputy and Flim & Flam having a record, as well as Braeburn commenting on their encounter with his cousins, but little else.

As for the sex itself, it actually left a little to be desired. The build-up was excellent, and things progressed nicely up until the climax, at which point the unicorn twins used a sense-linking spell to allow everypony involved to share sensations. While I approve of this sort of magical eroticism, and have considered having a unicorn do precisely that in a story before, the description afterwards just fell short. It became a brief whirlwind of sensation, with nothing specific told to us, and then concluded with the three reaching mutual climax. I just wish we’d had more detail on how that shared experience felt.

Apple Accent aside, few grammar errors caught my eye, the only notable one being “They might have only just been starting drinking”, which would make more sense as “been starting to drink”.

My only suggestion is as I said above—tell us more about how that sense-link spell felt. What should have been the big climax of the story instead felt rushed and confused. While that may have been appropriate for what the three of them felt, it leaves the reader wanting.

Definitely one of the strongest pieces in the Clop folder, and probably one of the better M/M stories I’ve read, with only Shrinky Frod’s own “The Things We Do For Love” and biologic orthodoxy’s “Service to the Crown” immediately coming to mind as better works.

Recommended.