//------------------------------// // Bread in Captivity // Story: The World Famous Flim Flam Brothers' Spectacular Travelling Menagerie // by Sage Runner //------------------------------// It had been two days since Spike had frozen himself while trying to remove his collar. In that time, Flim and Flam had only allowed him out of stasis to perform the three encore performances requested by the citizens of Vanhoover. Finally, the brothers decided that he had been punished enough and released him, letting him break his fast with a few slices of bread. The other prisoners enjoyed slightly more balanced meals. "Eat up, Dragon, you must be starving!" Flam said, gesturing towards the bread. "Hopefully that'll teach ya not to try to take off the collar," Flim added with a smirk. "Sure, lesson learned." Spike groaned, eating each slice of bread whole as his empty belly growled. "I should hope so, dear boy. We certainly didn't enjoy punishing you. After all, you've quickly become our star attraction. Without you as ringleader, we may as well have no show at all!" Flam nodded. "You all rest up. We've got a long trek ahead of us tomorrow! We're bound for Las Pegasus!" "Yes indeedy!" Flim said. "My brother and I will be celebrating our successful Vanhoover shows with some delicious apple cider!" "Sounds like a plan!" Spike replied, nodding rapidly as he ignored the hunger pangs. "You two celebrate. You've earned it after the spectacular shows you put on!" "Indeed, we have!" Flim said, his face lighting up. "Why, let's go all out tonight, eh, brother?" "You took the words right out of my mouth! We'll pay for it in the morning, but like little Dragon said, we've earned it!" The brothers returned to their own campsite and began to fill their mugs with fresh apple cider. "Why are you sucking up to them all of a sudden?" Gilda asked, her brow raised. "And where did they even get cider? I see plenty of apple trees, but no cider vendors." "That he wants to see the brothers flourish, no doubt he has become malnourished." Zecora frowned. His fellow prisoners began tossing portions of their own meals into Spike's cage. "Thanks, guys," Spike replied as he munched on his more complete meal. "But I'm not delirious. I want them to wear themselves out. Iron Will, do you think you're strong enough to bend the bars of our cages?" "Well sure," Iron Will said, "but Flim and Flam would just recapture us if we ran." "Nope, tonight's the night we escape," Spike corrected, sticking both his chin and his chest out. "Don't tease us, little man." Iron Will's lower lip quivered. "Is this really it? Are we finally gonna get away from these slave drivers?" "As long as you guys do exactly what I tell you, we'll be on our way home by the time the sun rises!" "Spike, I could kiss you!" Trixie shouted, her smile raising her cheeks to her eyes as Spike blushed. "Spill it, champ!" Gilda added, smiling just as widely. "Not yet," Spike said, causing everyone to frown. "Once Flim and Flam are asleep, I'll tell you everything, and then we're as good as gone!" *** Three hours later, Flim and Flam both appeared to be asleep, and Spike was free to talk to his friends. "So here's what I discovered," Spike began. "The collars freeze anypony who tries to take them off." Three seconds passed with nobody saying a word. "Uh..." Gilda looked back and forth among the others. "We sorta knew that already." "What I mean is," Spike continued, "when I pulled on my collar, the palms of my hands were frozen first, then it moved on to the rest of my body." "I'm still not following," Iron Will said, scratching his head. "One thing Twilight taught me about magical trinkets and enchanted items is that it's always important to figure out where the spell starts out and how it spreads," Spike explained. "When the collar was controlling me during the shows, I could feel the spell coming from the inner loop of the collar, starting at my neck and spreading up and down from there." "And?" Trixie asked as politely as her growing impatience would allow. "While the control spell starts from the inside of the collar, the stasis spell comes from the outside," Spike said. "I wasn't frozen the other night because I tried to escape, I was frozen because I pulled on a collar, and if I pulled one of your collars, I'd get frozen by it, and you wouldn't!" Four pairs of eyes grew wide as they heard this. "Okay, that's cool and all, but it still ends with someone getting frozen and the collars not actually coming off," Gilda said, tilting her head. "Not if we set it up right," Spike replied, alternating his gaze between the others. "Another thing I noticed about the stasis spell is that the target falls over. Gravity is the key. Iron Will, this is gonna come down to your strength. Trixie, your magic will be important, too." "The Great and Powerful Trixie will stand at the ready, if you can manage to remove her collar," Trixie said with a nod. "Iron Will is always ready to show off his strength!" the minotaur shouted, stretching. "Perfect," Spike said. "For phase one, you gotta run up against the bars with enough force to make your cage slide over. Get it as close to Trixie's cage as you can. That's going to make a lot of noise so, Zecora and Gilda, you two act as lookouts and warn us if Flim or Flam wake up!" The zebra and griffon nodded. "Alright, go," Spike said, nodding towards Iron Will. In response, Iron Will charged at the side of his cage with all of his might, head-butting the bars and causing the cage to lean over while sliding sideways toward Trixie's own cage. "How was that, little friend?" Iron Will asked, rubbing the top of his head and closing one eye. "That was awesome! You got it there in one push!" Spike exclaimed, giving Iron Will a thumbs-up. "Anything from the brothers?" "No sound, nor movement from their spot. Chances are we won't get caught," Zecora said as Gilda nodded. "Next, Trixie, stick your head out through the bars," Spike prompted. "Like this?" Trixie asked, slipping her head in between the metal poles. "Right," Spike said. "Now, Iron Will, here's where we need to be precise. First, press your feet up against the bars while grabbing them with your hands, so that you're pretty much hanging off of them." "Good?" Iron Will asked as he moved himself into the aforementioned position. "Perfect! Now, in one quick motion, let go of the bars and grab Trixie's collar. Hold it tight," Spike said. "Alright." Iron Will nodded. "One, two, three!" he declared, releasing the bars and wrapping his fingers around Trixie's collar, clenching it in his fists. As expected, the green stasis aura consumed Iron Will almost instantly. He began to fall backward, completely petrified. His grip on the collar remained. "Spike?" Trixie asked as Iron Will's weight began to pull her shoulders into the bars. "Lower your head!" Spike commanded. Trixie did just that, and the collar slipped right off. Trixie's smile spread from one ear to the other as Gilda and Zecora whispered words of praise towards Spike. "You're doing great," Spike said to Trixie and the frozen Iron Will. "Now, use your magic on Iron Will, and get a feel for how to mess up theirs." "Right," Trixie said, "then Trixie shall free him, disrupt all of your collars so they can be pulled off as well, and we're completely free of their control?" "Yes, yes, and yes!" Spike nodded. "Be amazed by my powers," Trixie quietly exclaimed with a mystical wave of her hoof as she began to scan Iron Will's body with her magic before putting out a more intense burst that banished the stasis field. Iron Will quickly climbed to his feet, scratching his nose while looking relieved. "Now, after Trixie casts her next spell, remove the collar quickly!" she commanded. "Iron Will will be more than happy to do that," he said flatly. A beam of magical energy burst from Trixie's horn and lit up the collar, which Iron Will promptly tore apart. "Freedom," Iron Will said, quietly tapping his fist against his chest. "Iron Will is fairly certain he knows what comes next." Inhaling sharply, Iron Will grunted loudly as he bent the bars of his cage apart and hopped down onto the ground. Five minutes later, he and Trixie had both liberated and de-collared Spike, Gilda, and Zecora. "We should free the Manticore as well," Trixie said, running off towards its cage. The others followed her, turning their backs and failing to notice that the fire near where Flim and Flam slept had been extinguished. The Manticore, upon waking and finding Trixie standing in front of its cage, growled and slinked to the rear of its prison. "There, there," Trixie said softly. "Trixie is sorry she cracked that whip at you. She's here to set you free!" The Manticore crept towards its barred door and gave her a cautious sniff. Iron Will pried the door off of the cage and the five prisoners moved away. The Manticore stepped out and glanced at its rescuers one-by-one before it took to the air, flying in the direction of the Everfree Forest. "All that's left now is to teach those pencil-thin suits what happens when you kidnap a Griffon!" Gilda said, cracking her knuckles. "Is that really necessary, Gilda?" Spike asked with a frown. "In this instance, I must agree. If the brothers skip town, they'll be home free," Zecora replied, turning to face the campsite as well. "She's right, Spike," Iron Will said, patting the dragon on the shoulder. "Nopony else knows what they've done, so it's up to us to hand 'em over to the authorities." "You can run along home, if you wish. You've done more than enough already," Trixie smiled. "But somepony needs to make sure that they don't get away with this." "No, I get it," Spike replied. "We need to bring them to justice." "Fire's out," Gilda whispered as they approached the campsite. "Well now, what do we have here, brother of mine?" Flim asked, clicking on a flashlight and shining it under his chin. "Uncooperative assets, from the looks of it!" Flam replied, activating his own flashlight. They were both smiling. "It's over," Iron Will said, taking a step towards them. "We broke your collars, so you're all out of tricks. We're handing you over to the Royal Guard and going home!" "After I beat the snot out of the both of you for detonating fireworks on my butt!" Gilda added, a bestial growl echoing from her throat. "Au contraire," Flim said, raising an eyebrow and sporting a smug grin. "We were prepared for this little contingency. The only place you're going is back to your cages." "We've got plenty more collars to replace the ones you destroyed. Which, by the way, will be coming out of your paychecks!" Flam added. "And how exactly do you plan on recapturing us?" Iron Will asked, folding his arms. "Guys," Spike whispered, "I think we should run. I don't like the looks on their faces..." "What could they possibly be hiding?" Gilda asked, shaking her head. "Ready Flim?" "Ready Flam!" "Let's bing-bang-zam!" they shouted in unison as their horns ignited. Their illuminated faces rose high into the air as the sound of mechanical turning of gears overpowered the ambience of the quiet night. Spotlights activated and pre-recorded fanfare blasted out of speakers as Spike and company got their first clear look at Flim's and Flam's trump card. Standing before them on two legs was a mechanical monster the likes of which had never been seen before. The legs were connected to a thick torso and its shoulders connected to two large, metallic arms. The exterior was covered by a coat of red paint. At the very top sat Flim and Flam on a couch. "Guess that explains who did all the manual labor before the shows... and where they got the cider..." Spike said, his voice quivering as they all stared open-mouthed. "Allow us to present the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Six-Thousand-And-One!" Flim declared. "Indeed," Flam said, nodding his head. "With our cider-making days long gone, we went ahead and modified this little baby for heavy lifting and intense combat! It still makes cider, of course, but only recreationally." "Iron Will marvels at your engineering skills," the Minotaur said, stepping forward with a grin on his face. "But this technological terror you've constructed is no match for the power of my bicepsOOF—" He grunted as a giant, metal fist slammed into his torso, sending him sliding on his back several yards across the ground, leaving a shallow ditch in his wake. Spike and the others gasped and ran to his side. "Nope." Iron Will grunted, coming out of his shock. "We're in trouble."