“Well you’ve all must see exactly what we can be!”
“He’s Flim, I’m Flam!”
“And we’re we’re here to sing for yyyyyyoooooouuuuu!”
“Here to show you what we can dooooooooo!!!!!”
Flim and Flam stopped on the school stage, panting and sweating as the talent show came to a close. They’d been the last to go, but, at their father’s suggestion, they’d tried harder than ever to make this performance as memorable as they could.
At this point, the brothers were still in filly school, at their 1st grade year. Almost two years had passed of their mother teaching them every style of dance she could. They’d both caught on like pros and quickly amassed a large and vast collection of dance moves and styles. They’d even managed to dance on their hind hooves without incident.
“Do you think they liked it?” Flam asked, shaking off the sweat: the routine had been long and tiring for two little foals to accomplish.
Flim nodded, “I really hope so! I so want to win!”
Dusk Dancer ran up behind the tiny stage and hugged them gently, “Oh you two were perfect! I’m so glad I taught two great dancers!”
High Profit soon followed, waving a pony off as he smiled at his two sons, “Yes, that was a good routine.” He smiled and added under his breath, “Especially with my lyrics.”
Dusk shot him a look and he instantly quieted. The two foals had quickly picked up dancing from their mother, but they couldn’t write lyrics the way that she could. Together, they couldn’t figure out how to rhyme or create a good song. So, their father had stepped in and helped them by using a little tip he’d learned from a brochure.
“Play to the audience.” He suggested, “Acknowledge….er….let them know that you’re there. And you always stare at them. As for lyrics, why don’t we try this…”
The song was only about a minute long, but the two had devised a particularly complex and fast dance scene to go along with it. The result had been a twirling and spinning show with the two singing quickly to music played offstage by their mother.
“You two gotta get up on stage!” Their mother shoved them a bit, “Go on, you gotta see what you got!”
The two nodded to her and they jumped up, racing each other without words to the stage. They dashed through the curtain just as the other contestants had lined up for the awards.
Their teacher, Ms.Study Book, smiled at the foals and she stood up, “Ladies and gentlecolts! Before we award the prizes, let us congratulate them for a job well done on all their parts!”
As the crowd cheered Flam leaned over, “Think we won?” He whispered.
Flim butted him right as the teacher turned and shot him a quick look that put Flam in silence.
“Third Place goes to our magic performance by Little Ripple and Night Light!”
Two little foals ran up to get their ribbons, marveling at them. Flam let out both a sigh of relief and nervousness. Flim gripped his brother’s hoof.
“Second place goes to….the art demonstration by Water Color!”
The foal ran up and took her little ribbon, and she smiled, bowed to the teacher, then moved back itno line. The brothers started to sweat a bit, getting even more nervous.
“And first place goes to……..”
Flim closed his eyes.
“ ‘The New Fillies’ by Flim and Flam!” She announced, and the crowd immediately clapped for them.
Flam squeaked, “We won, we won, we won!” Flim nodded quickly and the two dashed forward and took their ribbons, smiling as they wrapped them around their necks, smiling widely to each other.
As the crowd clapped, Flim flet something. He felt the joy of being appreciated. The feeling of doing something. He looked at Flam and the two shared a hug in front of the crowd.
Flam whispered in his ear quickly, “I told you we’d be famous someday!”
Flim nodded, “Well…we’re not exactly famous just yet brother…”
As the two stepped back the other fillies left the stage. The two slowly started to trot down to the smiling parents that awaited them.
Flam giggled, “Someday! Just you wait! And we have this to prove it!” He lifted his ribbon with a large smile.
It was their last day in Pennslymare. The crowds had diminished into just a few ponies walking up to them to buy a few cups of cider. This, combined with their low bit count, had Flam set in a foul mood that particular day.
Flim seemed as bright and cheery as ever as he slowly stepped onto the stage again, “Let’s go brother, last time’s the charm for us!”
Flam didn’t even say anything. With a look that chilled Flim, he stepped onto the stage and he grunted, “Just start the music already.”
Flim turned and looked at him. Never, not once in their entire cider selling career had he ever seen Flam act like this. Sure, they’d been angry and things had gone wrong, but it never ended up in Flam acting like he didn’t want to do it at all!
Thinking back, he realized this had begun right after their little adventure into Ponyville. Ever since that town, Flam hadn’t been the same. He no longer addressed Flim, and if at all it was by ‘Flim’ and not ‘brother,’ was constantly grumpy, and no longer spoke or addressed him directly. Ever since the Apple Family had shown them up with their higher quality cider, it seemed like the machine wasn’t the only thing that was broken that day.
Fortunately for the crowd, Flam was good at putting on a façade when he needed to. The mustached stallion quickly smoothed his mane and put on his hat, and he nodded to Flim to turn on the music.
Reluctantly, Flim turned the tune to start the music for them to perform.
As the two foals walked home with their parents, Flim noticed a little gray colt standing on the side of the path, jerking his hooves at a large stand of some sort of drink he’d put together. Flim had no idea what it was, but he found it intriguing to listen to.
“Come one, come all!” The gray pony announced to the passerbys, “And have a taste of a drink that even Celestia herself would have trouble turning down!”
Flim blinked and turned to his father, and he tugged on his hoof. High Profit turned and said, “Yes, Flim?”
Flim pointed at the gray colt, not sure exactly what to say. He asked, “Is the drink really as good as he says it is?”
High Profit shook his head and quickly tried to stand between him and the colt, “No son, it’s not. He’s conning people.”
“Cone-ing?” Flim tried pronouncing, unable to say the word right.
“C-on-ing.” High Profit corrected. He turned to look at the colt, “He’s telling them things that may or may not be true to sell a quick buck. He’ll probably be gone tomorrow.”
Flim blinked and he nodded, “But Daddy, he sounds really cool and…it does look like a good drink…and if Celestia herself`-“
High Profit suddenly shoved Flim a few paces in front of him, “Now listen here son: he’s probably never met Celestia. That’s a lie and he’s lying to sell his product. I sell things the right way: I make posters and adds to sell things. He’s lying.”
Flim blinked, “But-“
“No buts.” High Profit began to trot forward at a brisk pace, “Come on Flim!”
The foal turned and looked once more at the gray colt, mesmerized but forced to continue away from the strange con artist.
Flim quickly dished out another cup of cider. The performance hadn’t done them much good, but it had at least earned them a few measly ponies standing in line for their cider. It wasn’t much, but it was still bits to add to the fund to fix the machine.
Flam, however, wasn’t anywhere near as cheery. He’d hit his hoof twice during the quick little song, and it was starting to bruise. He groaned and quickly handed to Flim another cup, operating the barrels so he wouldn’t have to look his brother in the eye.
“Keep it coming!” Flim shouted, “There’s plenty of cider for all of you!”
Flam grumbled something and he started to hit the button when a very loud crash was heard from the inside of the machine. He jumped back as a tiny band of smoke began rolling out the side of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.
Flam yelped as the machine stopped its usual clanking and spurting, now instead making a horrible gridning noise. The barrel started shaking and the two glasses suddenly filled with rocks, filling to the brim until the glass burst, spewing half made cider and rocks in every direction.
The ponies in the crowd ran as the machine spewed the liquid at them. Flim started to tell them to stay, then he was hit with a wave of the cider and he spat, “Turn it off brother, turn it off!”
Flam was furiously hitting buttons, his horn glowing and sputtering as he tried to stop the machine. However, for all his abilities, he couldn’t stop it from continuing to burst, smoke, and spray them all at once.
“Turn it off!” Flim yelled, diving under the stage as the rocks started to burst at him.
“I’M TRYING FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE!” Flam screamed at him, then he finally was fed up with trying to turn it off. He went around the side of the machine and he twisted the little bar of metal that fed their magic into the machine. He growled and yanked it out of the position, immediately stopping all magic from going into the machine.
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 finally stopped its obsessive rumbling and the entire contraption silenced. The brothers both sat there, staring at it with both anger and fear at the same time.
Flim was the first to speak, “Brother…”
Flam looked at him and he spat, “Shut up! Just shut up! JUST SHUT UP FLIM!” He walked over to the little couch and found it was ruined. He yelled and kicked it, then he walked off into the distance and he kicked something else.
Flim was left stunned, sitting there on his hooves with a face that would make even Maud Pie shed a tear. He slowly trotted over to the ruined couch and laid on it, ignoring the little squeaks of protest from it.
The salespony slowly curled his head up into his hooves and cried, letting his tears mix with the cider as the sun slowly slid down the horizon line.