It was just over a week since Starlight Glimmer had been driven out of the villages, and the ponies were beginning to set a new routine. Party Favor's balloons were getting more creative, Sugar Belle's creations had actual flavor, and Night Glider was able to manipulate the weather enough that they were not subject to the random vagueries of stray air currents. The morning started out well enough, with ponies emerging from their homes as usual. Then Night Glider spotted a black cart stripped with white coming down the road.
"Hey everypony!" she yelled towards the ground, "Visitors!
"Is the Twilight and her friends?" Double Diamond asked as Night Glider landed
"I don't think so," Night Glider said, "They didn't have a cart, did they?"
"Oh it must be our first tourists then!" Sugar Belle said, having trotted over to see what was going on. "Oh it's so exciting to have new ponies taste my creations!
Soon most of the town was out to greet the new arrivals. As the cart grew closer, they could see it was pulled by two yellow unicorn stallions in striped vests.
*****************************
As soon as the cart had reached the edge of town, the unicorns had rapidly unhitched themselves and folded down a stage from their cart.
"Hello," Party Favor said, offering a balloon to the nearest of the newcomers, "Welcome to our town!"
The unicorn looked at the ballon strangely, then grabbed it with his magic and tied it to one of the stage supports.
"And hello to you, my commune-dwelling friend!" Flim said.
"Now I know you're asking, what are a couple of sharply dressed entrepreneurs doing coming to a distant locale like this?" Flam said, leaving almost no space between his brother's words and his.
"Entrepreneurs?" Sugar Belle asked, "Actually we could use some invest..."
"Well wonder no longer!" Flim said, cutting Sugar Belle off.
"For you see, we have heard of your town and the mysterious ability to remove cutie marks," Flam said.
"Actually..." Night Glider began.
"And you know, plenty of ponies would pay good money for that kind of peace of mind," Flim continued, totally ignoring any comments from the audience.
"Not to mention the sense of community!" Flam said.
"Right you are brother. And the way we see it, you probably want more cult... Citizens!" Flim said, hastily changing his spiel on seeing the crowd reaction. The brothers continued to alternate their spiel.
"So what we're proposing is this, we go out and find new Citizens..."
"Charge a modest initiation fee..."
"And bring them here!"
"Minus a small finder's fee of course."
"Naturally."
Finally Double Diamond managed to get a word in edge-wise. "We don't actually..."
"Have space for anymore citizen?" Flim said, completing his mark's sentence, "Not to worry, we've thought of that too!"
"Pre-fab housing!" Flam said, "Just a little bit of magic and it's up! And since I understand the cutie mark removal stifles magic, we'd be happy to handle that little job."
"And at reasonable prices, too!"
"Very reasonable."
"And why stop there? We can charge new citizens not just an initiation fee, but a cutie mark removal fee, a house building fee..."
"We could even charge separately for each flank!"
"For the cutie mark removal?"
"Why not brother!"
By this point the residents were entirely dumbfounded. A few in the back had wandered off, but most had stayed. Even if they were not entirely sure what was happening, they were reasonably confident that it was entertaining.
"And then fees to be allowed to go up the mountain on some sort of spiritual retreat!" Flim continued.
"Clever brother, very clever. We can set up all kinds of levels and charge for each one!"
"Stick with us and we'll all be rich!"
"And since the enlightenment of ponies is the true reward, we'll just take 75% of the profits!"
"What do you say?"
It took a moment for the crowd to realize someone was supposed to respond. Double Diamond, who was slowly becoming the unofficial spokespony, cleared his throat.
"Actually, we don't take cutiemarks anymore," he said.
Flim and Flam were now the ones to look dumbstruck.
"You don't?" Flam asked.
"No," Double Diamond said, turning his flank towards them, "That was all Starlight Glimmer."
"Well are you still a... uh... commune?" Flim said.
"Sort of?" Double Diamond replied, "We're self-sufficient, but we're trying to open up to tourists."
"Hmmm... Let me consult with my partner," Flim hummed. The two brothers whispered together in a huddle while the remaining town residents waited.
"Alright, then we have a NEW opportunity for you!" Flim said, "How would you like to be the first official, authorized stop on Flim and Flam's Encanted Valley Tours?"
"I don't think we're technically a valley," Sugar Belle put in.
"Close enough, my purple-maned mare, close enough!" Flam said to her before turning his attention back to Double Diamond. "Now, step in to our office and we'll work out the details..."
************
When they learned Our Town had a distinct shortage of bits owing to their recent communal past, Flim and Flam discovered a sudden urgent matter they had to attend to. They did, however, get Double Diamond to agree that they could be the 'official tour agents' of Our Town. He reflected later that they'd have probably done that whatever he said. At least it might bring in some tourists.