//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 Big Business Part 1 // Story: MLP Duel Academy // by Twistedphoenix1 //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Big Business “Thanks for the help sugarcube,” Applejack said as she, Applebloom, and Sugar Rush were carrying boxes from the loading dock to the cafeteria. Sugar and Applebloom were just happy Applejack was in the lead, as they could see her over the boxes they had. “You didn’t have to help us with this ya know. You probably have other things you could be doing.” “It isn’t a problem,” Sugar said, fighting back a blush. He knew she gave that nickname to a lot of people, but it just felt more personal to him. “I just can’t believe your family is in charge of the cafeteria, not to mention the biggest supplier of apple’s in the country.” “Yeah,” Applebloom said. “It is pretty amazin’.” “It’s also a lot of hard work,” Applejack reminded her sister. “Since our folks passed, it fell to me to run our branch of the business…” “Oh,” Sugar said. “I’m sorry...I didn’t know.” Applejack let out a sad chuckle. “It’s fine Sugar. As you said, you didn’t know. Now, we just have to get these boxes into…” They opened the doors to the cafeteria, only to find they weren’t alone. “What do you think about this place brother-o-mine?” “I do believe this is a wonderful little place to set up shop.” The two speakers were men that had to be twins. Both were tall and lanky, and had red and white hair that went down to the base of their necks. They both wore blue and white striped shirts, tan colored pants, and flat straw hats. The only difference between them was the fact that one of them had a mustache while the other’s face was clean shaven. Applejack set her box down on one of the tables and cleared her throat. “May I help you two?” She asked. The two turned toward the blonde. “Oh don’t mind us my dear,” the clean shaved one said. “We were simply looking over our new place of business,” the mustached one continued. “What in tarnation are you two talking about?” Applejack said her eyes narrowing. “Yeah!” Applebloom said as she set her box down and could finally see the two. “Our family runs this place.” “Well, that maybe true for now…” the one brother said. “But we’re about to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” the other finished. Before either side could say anything else, Sugar had set his box down and got a look at the two, his eyes widening. “Flim!? Flam!?” he exclaimed in shock. The two brothers, (Flim=clean shaved, Flam=Mustache) looked equally shocked. “Well look at what we got here brother,” Flim said. “If it isn’t our favorite nephew,” Flam sneered, his voice dripping sarcasm. “Now, how about you run along while we conduct business.” Applejack and Applebloom looked confused by the reaction the two brothers had to Sugar, but AJ was brought back at that comment. “There is no business to conduct,” she said. “My family has run Sweet Apple Acres for generations and will continue to do so. We aren’t selling any of our businesses.” “We would still let you run the businesses,” Flam said. “We would just oversee.” “And split the profits of course,” Flim said. “With the technology and business sense we bring to the table, I think a split of...75/25 would be fair.” “The heck it is!” Applebloom shouted. “We aren’t selling,” Applejack said. “And that's final!” “Well, that’s too bad…” Flim said as he and his brother looked down. “For the other Apple Family businesses that is…” Flam said. The other three looked at them. “What do you mean?” Sugar said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion at his two uncles. “You see,” Flam continued. “This wasn’t the first stop on our trip.” “We actually visited the rest of the branches of the Apple Family business,” Flim smiled. “And after some haggling and deals, we eventually bought them all out.” “Don’t worry though,” Flam said. “We gave them the same deal we’re offering you. They run it, just with our small changes.” “But that could change, depending on you.” Applejack growled. She was backed into a corner. If she said yes, she loses her parents’ business. If she said no, the rest of her family was going to lose everything. She looked at her sister, who looked just as upset, on the verge of tears. She was about to speak up when Sugar beat her to it. “Duel them,” Sugar said. “What?” Applejack turned to him questioning. “These two are all about risk and reward,” he said. “They will take any risk…” “So long as the reward is worth it nephew,” Flim grinned. Applejack thought for a moment before turning back to the brothers. “If you win, you get 90% of the profits and don’t have to pay anything for the business,” she said. The brothers raised their eyebrows. “All that to ensure we don’t close the other businesses?” Flam said, and Applejack shook her head. “If we win, you turn all the businesses back over to the rest of my family.” The brothers looked at eachother before they began to laugh. “You think that 15% more profit is worth the same as the rest of the businesses under your family’s name?!” Flim chuckled. “No,” Sugar said. “But my shares in Sweet Tooth are.” The laughter stopped as all eyes turned toward the 15 year old. “Sugar...What…” But Flam cut her off. “What was that nephew?” he asked, wondering if he heard him correctly. “On top of the increased profit split,” Sugar said determined, “You get the shares I own in Sweet Tooth. That’s what you’ve always wanted right.” The twins looked at eachother. “Let me get this straight,” Flim started. “You’re willing to bet the stock your parents left you to save this chick’s business.” Sugar swallowed at the mention of his parents but nodded, his face set. “Sugar,” Applejack began. “You don’t…” “Deal!” The two brothers shouted. “We’ll duel in a couple hours. We still have some things to take care of first,” Flim said as he and his brother walked away. That left the three in silence for a while, until AJ turned to Sugar Rush. “What did he mean ‘your parents left you’?” she asked, though she felt she already knew the answer. Sugar sighed and sat at one of the empty tables. “You aren’t the only one who inherited a business from your parents,” he started. “My family has run the Sweet Tooth candy business for decades, starting as a simple mom and pop shop and then growing nation wide. A few years back, my parents died after a machine that was being tested malfunctioned and exploded. After the accident, they left all their shares in the company to me. I can’t technically access them yet until I’m 18, but I can still sign them over to another. They’re enough to gain a controlling interest in the company.” “But…” Applebloom began. “If those two are your uncles, wouldn’t they have some stock in the company anyhow?” Sugar looked up at the sisters, a small fire of fury behind his eyes that they never saw before. “They did, until they were voted out by the board after their machine claimed the lives of my parents and multiple employees.” The two sisters looked at him, unsure of what to say. “I’ve seen those two duel before. They are good…Please...please beat them.” The two saw tears beginning to form in his eyes. The sisters got on either side of him and pulled him into a group hug. “Don’t you fret none Sugar,” Applejack said. “Yeah!” Applebloom added. “We’ll beat those two till they start paying us to stop!” That got a laugh from the two sisters, until they realized that Sugar wasn’t saying anything. “Hey Sug’. You all right?” She pulled back from the hug to see that when her big sister hugged him, she pulled him face first into her chest. “I’m good,” he mumbled. Meanwhile, around the school “Oh her. Yeah she has some pretty great skills,” a male student said to Flim and Flam. They had been going around the school asking about Applejack, trying to get any insight into her dueling strategy. They had footage from when she dueled in tournaments, but she had gone on record saying that those were never her main deck and that she was keeping that a secret. “And what type of deck does she use?” Flim asked. The student narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to know?” “We were simply curious,” Flam said. “We’ve seen her in tournaments but we know she has to have used her main deck in classes at some point.” “I don’t exactly feel comfortable discussing another student’s duel strategies.” He gave them a distrustful glare and continued on his way to class. The two brothers looked at each other, slightly worried. “What do you think brother?” Flam asked. “I think we might’ve bitten off more than we chew,” Flim said. “Oh, I might be able to help with that.” The two brothers went wide eyed and looked around. “Who said that!?” Flim called, seeing that the hallway they were in was empty. “Why, little old me.” Suddenly a shadow stretched out in front of them and took the form of a strange looking creature. “Who...What are you?” Flam asked as he and his brother backed up against the wall. “My name is Discord. As for what I am...let’s just say I’m a investor, who thinks that you two are a worthwhile investment…” The two brothers, in spite of their fear, were intrigued. “Investment…” Flim said. “Yes…” Discord said with a malevolent chuckle.