//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Flim-Flam Fever 
// by EHAN 
//------------------------------//

Luckily for everyone, there was one other pony who did not get affected by the "Golden Delight Fever." The purple unicorn, choosing to refrain from drinking the cider and locking herself away in her home, was silently making an antidote for the insane ponies. Twilight Sparkle had finally created a batch of the antidote that appeared to reverse the effects of the cider. However, since getting a test subject to test the antidote on would have been too dangerous, so she had really only been working with a hypothetical antidote. In theory, it would reverse the effects of the chaotic nature of the ponies. She decided that it would have been best to take a risk at this point; she believed that it would be a better choice than choosing not to try at all.

Arriving at the gates of the factory, she was shocked to see them lying on the ground, completely mangled by the mob that broke through them and trampled them under their hooves only about half an hour beforehand. The front doors of the factory had also been forced open, it appeared. She began to hear the hundreds of voices all calling out for cider. Their voices rang throughout the factory and were no doubt unrelenting.

She heard the voices of the Apple Family and Flim and Flam as they argued above her. Finding a stairwell, she raced up the stairs and approached the room where they had chosen to hide themselves. Then she opened the doors and stepped in.

The six ponies in the room were startled momentarily, thinking that the mob had come for them, but when they saw that she had not been overtaken by the cider, they had a moment of relief from their fears. Locking the door behind Twilight, Flim asked her, "What do you want? Can't you see that we're trying to prevent a crisis?"

Twilight answered him, "I know what's been going on. I've done too much research on this business. I had to try to figure out a way to help you all prevent it before it got any worse. And know that I'm not just here for you two," she glared at Flim and Flam, who looked guiltily back at her, "I'm here for Equestria."

Big Mac spoke up: "So what ARE you here for?" Twilight responded, "While this was all happening, I was busy making an antidote to the cider. Unfortunately, the ponies are too destructive to safely test the antidote on, so it only works in theory. But it SHOULD work in practice."

"However," she added, "the ponies aren't going to give up their struggle easily, so we have probably half an hour before they completely go on a destructive rampage."

Flim ran over to a door next to him, saying: "This door leads into the production room. The other ponies aren't gonna bother coming up here for a while, so let's sneak around through here!"

The seven ponies ran down the staircase beyond the door and ran out into the huge production room. Flim said to Twilight, "We only have enough apples left to make one more batch of cider to satisfy the mob. Give us the antidote so we can put it in the cider."

Just as Twilight pulled the vial out of her saddle bag, Applejack chimed in: "Wait a minute, we're not gonna let Flim and Flam get out of this mess that easily! You two need to swear to never do ANYTHIN' like this ever again!"

Flam angrily replied to Applejack, "Don't you think we've had enough of this already? This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really think we'd ever pull a stunt like THIS again, considering what's gonna happen to us after this mess is cleaned up?" Flim continued, "Of course we apologize! Why else would we be helping you at all?"

Applejack, still a bit suspicious, thought for a moment, but finally gave in. "Ok, I believe you, but don't you go thinkin' we're on good terms."

Passing the vial over to Flim and Flam, they began to make cider with a bit of the antidote in each cup. The cups all passed through the assembly line, one by one, while the seven watched, hopeful that the antidote would actually work.

After a few minutes, the apples had all been turned into cider, and the antidote had been mixed in with the large batch. They began to walk toward the doors where the mob had been waiting impatiently the entire time. The ponies were pounding fiercely on the doors, all of them shouting for even a single glass of cider.

Flim came to a sudden realization. "Wait a second... if we open the doors like this, the mob will push their way through us and trample us for the cider! We can't just open the doors and expect them to calmly accept the cider!" They thought for a second or two, and then Twilight spoke up: "I've got an idea. Flim and Flam, you two stand on either side of the door."

Flim and Flam were quite quick to agree with her plan, and took their positions around the doors. Twilight stood by the doors, waiting to pull them open. She then spoke firmly to Flim and Flam: "I'm going to pull open the doors, and on my mark, you two need to put up an immobilization spell around the mob as they come through. Got it?"

"Got it!" they replied in unison.

Twilight then used her magic to grab hold of the door handle. She yanked on it with great speed and power. The doors flew open, and the ponies on the other side began to fall through the doorway. "Now!" Twilight screamed, and Flim and Flam sprang into action, creating a magic shield around the mob. The hundreds of frantic ponies were immediately frozen in place.

With a sigh of relief, Twilight began to carry as many glasses as possible over to the mob. Giving each pony his or her own glass, Flim and Flam released their grip on the ponies one at a time. Each pony quickly gulped down their cider, and gave a gasp of satisfaction when they had finished. They almost immediately began to feel calm, and let the other ponies enjoy their own glasses of cider. Within minutes, it seemed as if the mob was never fighting for the cider at all.

After each pony had had at least one glass of the cider, there were still a few more. Surprisingly, none of the ponies went after the extra glasses. The seven ponies all were amazed that their ridiculous plan worked out as they hoped, and finally relaxed.

"Thank Celestia that's over..." Flam said after a while. Then he realized: "Wait... Celestia!"