Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
Slowly, one after another, Stu Leaves' eyes opened.
He wished that they hadn't.
Before him stretched a grungy room, barely lit, lined with rust and grime. Crooked jail bars framed a dank cell dripping with moisture and mildew. Rats scurried along the foundations while the whimpers of ponies lingered in the distance.
With a slight groan, the stallion shifted forward, only to hear the clink of chains. That's how he realized that he was bound to the wall, his forelimbs stretched and dangling from iron fetters. He grunted, writhing slightly, then slumped against his restraints with a sigh.
His peripheral vision caught a hint of shapes. He tilted his head aside, and that's when he saw three familiar figures lying unconscious on the hard floor. Despite theire battered condition, they weren't nearly as severely restrained as he was.
"Hey... Hey!" Stu Leaves hissed. Only when he moved his lips did her realize how bruised his muzzle was. "Grnnngh... Joe... Mulia... Gustave..." He shook and trembled within his restraints. "Can... can any of you move? They... they seem to have did a number on me here..."
"It's for their good as much as yours, buddy boy," said a perfectly healthy voice. "You've gotten them in enough trouble as it is."
Stu froze. Slowly, icily, he tilted his head up.
The bright figures of Flim and Flam came into focus. They stood before him, occupying the space in the jail cell's doorframe. A group of guards lingered on the other side of the grim interior.
"But you needn't fret about that much longer," said Flam. "Your days of getting into trouble will end soon. And so will theirs."
"You..." Stu Leaves' face hung between a grimace and a frown. "What have your Queen done to Applejack?!" he spat.
"Please, my good stallion, don't bring Mommy Dearest into this," Flim said.
"Why shouldn't I?!" Stu growled. "She brought Applejack into this! She brought innocent ponies—"
"—ponies, a griffon, and a mule." Flame raised a hoof. "All from broken families, might I add." He strolled past the quietly shifting bodies of Mulia, Joe, and Gustave. "Take these dandy fellows, for instance. This one's parents died in a fire. This birdy lost his wife and kids to a manticore attack. And Mr. Joe? Pffft... born in a cemetery and will die in a cemetery."
"How..." Stu squinted. "How could you possibly know that about them?"
"It's rather simple!" Flim said with a grin. "Mother knows all about the mortals we've... invited to our festivities. And you know what? We gave them all a far better, far more enjoyable, far happier life here in Cider Space!"
"We even gave you a better life, ol' chap," Flam added with a scathing glare cast in Stu's direction. "The very moment you came here, you were like a fish out of water. Well, we gave you quite a comfortable pool worth swimming in."
"But did you settle for what was made especially for you?" Flim shook his head. "Noooooo..."
"I didn't settle for it because it wasn't real!" Stu barked. "Rainbow Dash showed me! She helped me find my hooves again so we could take down self-righteous idiots who had taken our best friend!"
"Oh, please..." Flam rolled his eyes. "If you cared about your friend so much, you would let her be."
"After all, she's as happy as she'll ever be!" Flim added, ginning brightly. "As the Cider Princess, she has a family! A family that's whole!"
"Just to think..." Flam waved a hoof. "To no longer have to deal with the terrible pain of missing one's parents."
"Such painnnnn..." Flim melodramatically cooed.
"Are you nuts?!" Stu's voice reached an angry pitch. "Applejack is no wilting violet! Yes, what happened to her as a filly may be terrible, but she's a better pony for it! She's strong! She's dependable!" Stu gritted his teeth. "You can't j-just reject what's best about a mare and try to turn her into something she never wanted to be!"
"And that's where you're wrong, boyo," Flam said, trotting forward with a frown. "Just what would you know about the pain that festers in our beloved sister's heart? Oh yes... Mother sees. Mother sees all."
"And we're going to make our sister's dream come true," Flim added. "In a way that you and her so-called-friends never could."
"She's not your sister," Stu snarled.
"Nor is she your marefriend," Flam said with a smirk. "But—if you had stayed in that wintry cabin long enough—maybe you wouldn't have had to fret over that anymore."
"And who robbed that from you, huh?" Flim pointed. "Who got you into the place where you are now?!"
Stu Leaves fumed and fumed. He hung his head.
"Now do you see who the true villain is, my good sir?" Flam asked.
"Yes..." Stu clenched his teeth. "...I see that it's the ponies who've given up all that was good and Equestrian about themselves by forfeiting honesty."
Flim and Flam raised their eyebrows.
Stu tilted his head up, frowning. "And, I'm sorry, but I'm not about to give up on loyalty." He smirked ever so slightly. "I've hung out with too awesome company to ever conceive of that..."
Flam's nostrils flared. "Then you have indeed signed your death warrant." He spun about. "Come, Flim, ol' chum. We've got a coronation to prepare for."
"You'll see your beloved friend again," Flim added in a sing-song tone. "When it comes time for her to oversee your execution."
The two siblings trotted into the dungeon hallway, where the sounds of sobbing voices echoed.
Stu spoke up. "Hey! If this is such a perfect dreamworld, then how come you've got so much suffering?"
Flim and Flam stopped on a dime. They spun to look at Stu with eerily coordinated twirls.
"There will always be suffering," Flam said. "In the real world as much as here."
"Our job—until the day we die—is to make sure Mommy Dearest never experiences it ever again."
Flam tipped his hat. "And you speak so highly of loyalty..."
Clang! The guards slammed the cell doors shut and escorted the brothers away.
Stu hung in silence, aching.
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I don't get it, are they brainwashed? Evil as hell? Have a bad mental dissorder? I feel like even with their goal to bring their father back and help their mother, this is over the top. They're too evil for no apperent reason, and you dont do that. I'm eager to find out whats up.
Was I the only one reminded of the first part of this scene?
The answer to that, my dear Stu, would be a definite...yes.
5794574
Yes, to all of the above, and then some.
Loyalty? These two dead-heads don't know what real loyalty is.
But I know someone who does.
And what they don't know is, True Loyalty is heading their way.
And she's gonna rock their world right down to it's phony foundations.
And I for one, cannot wait to see that happen!
Hmm. Maybe I've just forgotten something from a previous chapter, but... are we completely sure that Shindig is a willing participant in all this? I almost got the impression from this chapter than Flim and Flam are the masterminds, and that Shindig is no more aware of what's really going on than AJ is. The only thing I can think of to the contrary is the thing with Shindig and that ghost door thing, but I'm not sure.
5794880 Very interesting thought, that Shindig might not be a willing participant. Today you made me ponder.
Flippin' crazy villains an their flippin' nonsensical speeches about nothing...
These two need to go suck off the end of a shotgun.
5794880
Hmm, interesting to think about, but like you said, Shindig & The Door of Doom seem to disagree. I think the volume of notes and research in the farmhouse suggests that Flim & Flam are certainly the instigators of this twisted adventure.
That said...
5794615
I look forward to seeing how deep the rabbit hole goes
...Great. Extreme ptsd from the two most selfish stallions in all of Equestria. Rainbow? Time to feed them their teeth.
Holy Jesus batman Christ, flim and flam have the exact same qualities of a goddamn magicarp, except they just stay as the useless piece of stupid they are.
Hmm. Chalice. Hmm.
So far I know I never heard that the fountain of youth (Which I believe the chalice references.) could bring back anyone one from the dead. So perhaps it isn't being about bringing the father- who would probably need a new body I would think- from the dead but instead about making sure their mother doesn't suffers the same fate.
My question is "What happens when one dies in Cider Space?" I say this because I think that maybe Stu and others will be executed and then wake up in the real world. And then Rainbow saves AJ and meets then all in the real world too, but Flim, Flam, and Shindig all wake up with her and so a fight breaks out because RD "ruined EVERYTHING!!!"
5797480 due to the amount of possible Inception references/ cross overing I sense in this arc, I don't feel like they wake up when they die. Also, the way this story goes, peril and conflict pile on top of eachother constantly and are usually relieved in one climax per arc, kinda like Indiana Jones. It would relieve the story of some peril if they simply wolk up when they died. I don't see skirts doing this unless he had another way to raise the stakes.
The moral value in this paragraph runs deep.
Reminds me of Momiji in Fruits Basket talking about holding onto all your memories, good and bad, and becoming stronger through them, not rejecting them, my favorite moral ever.
I know that Flim and Flam will probably survive, but... what if they don't? What if they just get... stuck, and permanently severed from their waking bodies, doomed to float in a nightmare realm forever?
Why is that idea so satisfying?
Huh... He used the right a-word. Alright Stu you get a gold star. But just the one.