//------------------------------//
// Choice 
// Story: Drabble Daze 
// by Sketcha-Holic 
//------------------------------//

Silver Shill backed up, blinking in wary astonishment of what he had just heard. "So... you're going to sell the juice... as a curative tonic?"

The twin unicorns towered over him, bearing confident grins and holding the bottle of apple and beet leaf juice that they had made. The clean shaven one swirled the liquid inside as he said, "Why, Silver, why the disbelief in your voice?"

His mustached twin added, "Do you not have faith in our salesmanship?"

Silver rubbed the back of his head. "Well, no, I don't doubt that you'll sell many bottles, Flim and Flam, it's just... isn't billing the juice as a tonic lying?"

Flim shook his head and clicked his tongue. He pulled Silver close. "No no no, see, when you're an entrepreneur like us, sometimes you just have to stretch the truth."

Flam appeared on Silver's other side.  "You have billed the health benefits of this juice that you made, with how it prevents diseases, strengthens the senses, and just how delicious it is--however, what pony is going to buy it when they think they're too healthy for it? A lot of ponies would turn their nose up at it!"

Flim took a cloth out of the pocket of his shirt and wiped the bottle. "So, we figured we'd market it to the ill, and the only way for the ill to buy it if it was the solution to their problem."

Flam twirled his mustache. "And we need you to show them that it works!"

"B-But it won't cure anything!" Silver Shill squeezed himself out from in between Flim and Flam. With a deep breath, he turned to them and said, "Look, I can't help you with this. I'm not so sure I can lie to all those ponies about what's not much more than simple apple juice with something added to it. Maybe I should work for someone else, and maybe you should get some other schmuck to go along with your lies."

As he turned to walk out the tent door, one of them said, "Now, now, Silver, you have said so yourself that everypony else turned you away when you approached them for a job."

The other then said, "But, then, who are we to stop you? Hopefully there's an employer out there just as kind as we are, who's willing to listen to your story of how you need to earn money to help your family pay for your sister's surgery."

Silver froze in his tracks. He did not turn, he just stared outside, wondering why they were bringing up his sister. 

Flim and Flam smirked at each other. Flim then said, "Why, I can understand why you're desperate--you clearly love that little sister of yours to bits. Why, if my brother was sick enough to need surgery, I'd be looking for money too."

Flam took his boater off and put it over his chest. "What kind of cruel, heartless employer would overlook the tragic story of how Miss Comedy Gold fell ill with colic, and with money being tight, her sisters and only brother have to scrounge around for every bit they can find?"

Flim shook his head and clicked his tongue. "The same fools who dismissed Shilly for lying when he was asked why he was applying for the job."

Silver's heart sank as he remembered his previous attempts at getting a job. Flim and Flam were the first ones to have believed him when he mentioned his sister Goldie in the hospital. He glanced back at the "tonic", wishing that it was real so he could just take it to Goldie and have her drink it. If only it was that easy.

Flam sighed and put his hat back on. "But, he has made his choice. He's going to do better things out there, and we'll just have to get somepony else to help us, like he suggested."

Flim tipped his hat at Silver. "But, at least Goldie would rest well, knowing that her brother took the moral high ground. Good on you, Mr. Shill! I'm sure she'd be proud of you for your high standards!"

"And may you be rewarded with a good employer that pays you well!"

Silver bit his lip, and he kept on glancing back at the Flim Flam Brothers. He wanted to step out of that tent. He wanted to have a job that didn't involve a scam. He wanted to go out and do better things. But deep down, he knew that nopony else would want to hire such a short little loser with an underbite. Especially if they thought he was making the sister in the hospital thing up. 

And if he came up short and Goldie didn't get better because of it, he was sure that his mother and other sisters would hate him for it. They already lost a father, they didn't need to lose a sister. 

He took a deep breath and turned around. He looked at the "tonic" again. It was rather harmless, and it did have it's nutritional benefits. Sure it wouldn't really cure anything, but surely this lie wouldn't hurt anypony.

He walked back to the Flim Flam Brothers. "On second thought..."