Rarity had received the small envelope in with the mail when she got home. After having banished her sister to eternal damnation (a.k.a grounded her for a week), she had opened it and found a note proclaiming in brazen colors and over-the-top letters that the grand opening of ”Flim and Flam’s Fast Fabulous Fashionable Finery” would be held tomorrow at noon. The note was complete with the grinning faces of the two brothers.
Rarity had decided to attend. As far as she could tell, they seemed sincere, and in that case she would be there to show her support. She had a feeling most of Ponyville would not be to forgiving on them…
Rarity woke up the next morning and checked her mailbox. Not that she expected to much on a Sunday, but some pony might place an order.
”Nothing today…” Rarity said with a relieved sigh. ”Good, then I could make a few more dresses for the windows.”
After her morning routine, she decided to get a head start at the dressmaking. She was so caught up in her work that she nearly forget that she was supposed to be down by the post office.
”Might as well check the mail there as too, seeing how Ponyville’s postal service as somewhat… unreliable,” Rarity thought for herself as she trotted down the street.
She turned in on a smaller street down to the post office and noted a crowd of ponies gathered in front of a small building. Rarity did not have to look twice at the establishment to know she had come to the right place. The shop was painted in a yellow-green color, and had a peppermint roof. Outside over the door hung a freshly made sign shaped like the brothers' two faces in profile. The place looked like cross between circus tent and inn. Outside there was a small pile of boxes.
As rarity neared the establishment, she could easily hear that most of the ponies did not seem to happy about the place. Rarity saw Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight standing together at the side of the crowd, waiting. Rarity trotted up to them.
”Hello, Rarity,” Twilight said happily. ”So you got their… invitation too, huh?”
”Seems like all of Ponyville got one,” Pinkie Pie said happily. ”Maybe they will sell sugar and cotton candy and frosting and lollipops and frozen yoghurt and cotton candy and…” Pinkie went of into Lalaland.
”One can hope’ Ah guess…” Applejack said with a laugh.
”You does not seem to unhappy about this Applejack,” Twilight noted with an appreciative smile.
”Nah, they actually came ta mah farm yesterday an’ apologized for all they did,” Applejack said with a smile.
”Huh?” Twilight said with a surprised expression. ”I did not expect that…”
”Me nether, Twi, but-” Applejack suddenly went quiet, along with everypony else. She looked around and saw Flam stand on the boxes.
She was surprised when she saw his face. She had expected the brothers to do a typical upbeat song and dance while they proceeded to explain to everypony why they could not live another day without whatever they were trying to sell.
She was wrong, apparently. Flam stood up on the boxes and looked down on the ponies below him with regret.
”Everypony…” He said loudly, but without his normal peppiness. ”I recognize most of you, and I have no doubt that most of you came here to gloat, and my brother and I would most certainly deserve it.”
”Well, at least he is being honest?” Applejack whispered to Rarity.
”My brother and I wanted to return to this town and make amends for all that we did to you,” Flam continued with a solemn voice. He was met with an annoyed murmur.
”Of course, I know that you will not believe me, not after what I did, and nothing I say will change that. So, in order to, if not earn back your trust, at least clean our consciences, my brother and I have decided to return every last bit we scammed from you with our tonic scheme.” Flam gestured to a small seat beside the boxes, where his brother sat with a large bag of bits and a ledger beside him.
”My brother will return all what you paid back then,” Flam said with a small smile. ”I… I am truly sorry… for what we did.” Flam bowed down on top of the boxes.
The crowd was silent. Then Applejack started to stomp her hooves in applause. This was exactly what she had wanted to see. Two ponies who truly had realized the error of their ways and who did not stop with mere talking to make amends. Soon her friends joined her applause, and then everypony else.
Flim and Flam both let smiles of relief spread over their faces. ”Come, everypony, and get your money back!” Flim shouted when the mass has silenced somewhat. Most of the crowd formed a small line by Flim, who asked for the name of the pony in front, looked it up in the ledger and distributed the appropriate amount of bits.
”Hey, Flam!” Applejack shouted up to the salespony. ”What are y’all going to sell now?”
”I am glad you asked, Honest Applejack,” Flam said with a grin. ”Those who are interested in looking at our latest and greatest invention, please come with me!” He said to nopony in particular.
Most ponies picked up on that offer. The populace of Ponyville was a forgiving lot, and everypony had been amazed by these brother’s cider machine. To them it was something alien and wonderful, like something from another world. A machine that could make cider itself? While the two Unicorns just relaxed on a couch? That was incredible, and this machine was supposed to be even more incredible? Was that even possible?
The group of ponies went into the shop behind Flam. Twilight and her friends was in the front.
They came into a room that looked a little like Rarity’s boutique, only not nearly as lavish. The small space had a couple of ponyquins dressed in near identical shirts, along with a whole wall with various bolts of fabrics behind a counter.
Flam guided the ponies behind the counter to a small door and entered a room behind the main shopping area.
The expectant ponies looked in awe at the giant monstrosity of metal and glass that took up most of the space. Applejack could not describe what she saw, but she had to agree it looked even more impressive than the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 had, and that was saying a lot.
”Now, I could give you all a long explanation about the beauty of our new ’Splendidly Swift Snipping Cybernetic Sewingmachine 700,’ but, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.” Flam said as soon as he stood in front of the machine. Applejack noticed that his salespony voice was back. ”Does anypony here want some new pair of clothes? Maybe a new shirt for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration?”
Nopony moved.
”Really,” Flam said with a cocky smile ”Nopony here needs new clothes?”
”As a matter of fact, Ah do!” Applejack said loudly, earning an an appreciative look from Flam.
”How lovely!” Flim, who had entered the small room along with some more ponies, said. ”Will you please present a couple of friends who can vouch that we have not bribed you in any way?”
”I will vouch for that!” Twilight said. Flam whistled theatrically. ”The Princess of Friendship, huh?”
”Well, I cannot ask for a better witness,” Flim continued. ”So, Applejack, if you would please come with me.”
Flam and Flam left the room, the crowd in tow, and brought Applejack to the main part of the store.
”Please select your fabric,” Flam gestured towards the multitude of colors behind him.
”Ah don’t know…” Applejack said sheepishly. ”Somethin’ durable, like working clothes should be.”
”You got it,” Flim said as he levitated a bolt of brownish fabric down. He presented it to Applejack, who smiled when she felt it. It was rather thick, and not to beautiful of a color, but she could feel it was durable. Just what she would need for Autumn.
”This is fine,” She said.
”Now then, would you please stand over here?” Flim gestured to a part of the wall devoid of fabric, and instead filled with various markings. Applejack obediently stood by the wall. Flam looked at how the markings fell around Applejack, and scribbled something down on a small note.
”Thank you, Honest Applejack. Now the fun can begin,” Flim said. He caught the bolt of fabric in his magic and went into the door again. The crowd of ponies followed, excited to see what the machine would do.
”Here you go, brother of mine,” Flim said and levitated the bolt of fabric over to his brother, who quickly started to unfurl it and thread it onto the machine. Flim in the meantime pulled down levers and pressed some buttons while looking at his notes.
”There, all done,” Flim said confidently.
”One moment… there,” Flam said.
”Ready Flim?”
”Ready Flam!”
”Let’s bing bang zam!”
The two brothers shoot two bolts of magic at an iron stick, and the magic started to flow into the engine. Green sparks began to flow through the glassed wires on top of the machine, and then the cogwheels started to spin. The bolts of fabric were rolled up, cut, and fed to different parts of the contraption.
The iron monstrosity chugged and whirled for almost ten minutes, mesmerizing everypony with it’s confusing gears and shifting cogs. There was always something new to look on, a spinning cogwheel, an electric jolt flowing through the glassed wires… It was impossible to look away, the contraption seemed out of this world with it’s sounds, sparks and gears. How was it possible that a machine could do all of this? As the ponies wondered, the machine abruptly stopped. The ponies looked at each other with surprised glances.
”And, voilá!” Flim said as he proudly presented an overall made of the fabric. He gave it to Applejack, who immediately took it on.
”There you have it, everypony!” Flam said with his salespony voice. ”This is Flim and Flam’s Fast Fabulous Fashionable Finery. New clothes in ten minutes in any fabric you want!”
”Not to mention the price!” Flim added. ”Only fifty bits for a shirt, up to one five hundred for a complete suit with tie!
”Incredible!” Flam said with an over-the-top voice.
”Invaluable!” Flim continued.
”Invincible!”
”Insurmountable!”
”What more can you wish for!” They both finished together as a blast of confetti appeared behind them from nowhere in particular.
”We open tomorrow, and hope to see some of you then!” Flim and Flam said in unison and made a sweeping bow.
All ponies except for one stomped their applause. Clothing was something that always had been expensive, for it was time consuming and hard to produce. But suddenly, everypony could feel like the upper class of Canterlot, prancing around in their elaborate outfits. Not to mention the spectacle. It was wonderful to see the machine work. It was just so… strange. It held a promise of mystery and elegance within it. To own a piece of clothing made by the machine was, as Rainbow Dash would have put it, awesome.
Rarity left the small house as in a dream. To her it looked like a nightmare. She finally understood how Applejack had felt when the brothers came with their cider machine. This was exactly the same for her. That machine had produced an overall of what seemed decent quality in a fraction of the time it took her to make a similar one.
And the price. ”How can they be so cheap?” Rarity thought with distress as she fought the tears down ”Only the fabric should cost more that that…?”
Only the fabric. Rarity thought. That was it. The brothers did not pay anything else. They did not have to pay anypony for working for them, which normally would make it take longer time for them to produce anything. But their machine worked faster than anypony could.
”Well, Rarity,” She said to herself with steel in her voice. ”I will show them that there are some things that machines cannot do, no matter how sophisticated they are. Dresses, like cider, are made by love and integrity.”
The days passed slowly and became weeks. After two of those, Rarity was forced to admit that she would be in real trouble soon. She saw more and more ponies wearing Flim and Flam’s clothing with each passing day, even those who had never bought anything from her. Even Derpy Hooves now had a blueish vest to go with her mail cap.
”Whatever shall I do?” The alabaster mare said with a ponderous and stressed voice to her pillow. ”I am a seamstress, not an economist,” She said to herself in her pity, and discovered yet another frightening fact.
She was no economist. She did not know how to compete in her work. Normally she would not be afraid, she knew her skill with the sewing machine, but this was not a battle skill would win. Flim and Flam had something Rarity had not: they knew how to make ponies buy their stuff; they were salesponies through and through. Rarity was just a seamstress.
As Rarity got up the next morning she was greeted with a couple of good news. First of all, Sweetie Belle had left a note saying something about a field-plowing cutie mark over at Sweet Apple Acres. Normally, Rarity would not approve of such an activity, but the circumstances were not normal. She needed time to think.
Rarity was just about to get herself some breakfast when she heard a familiar crash to the wall.
”Mailmail!” Derpy Hooves said happily as she peeked her head through the door. She wore her new uniform.
”My stars, Der- Ehm, Ditzy, how do you feel?” Rarity asks with concern. She still did not think it was healthy to smack your head in a wall more than ten times a day.
”Here is your mail!” The mailmare said with veering eyes and handed Rarity two envelopes.
One contained an order from Fancypants for a new tuxedo. He was going to attend the Summer Sun Celebration, and wanted to look his best, as he wrote in the letter. This would get Rarity some much needed bits. The other one was the rent for this month.
”Thanks,” Rarity said with a tired voice.
”And there was one more thing…” Derpy said as she looked around the boutique.
”Yes darling?” Rarity said with a warm smile.
”Do you think you can repair this for me?” Derpy put her hoof to her stomach. There was a rather large rip in the seam. Considering Derpy’s many crashes, her clothes probably aged a hundred times faster than normal.
”Oh, of course,” Rarity laid her ears flat against her skull. It did feel humiliating to repair the clothes that might run her out of business.
”No, Rarity, they are not going to run you out of business. They will never get your boutique,” She thought to herself as she put the uniform over her desk. If nothing else, this might be a perfect opportunity to gain some valuable information. ”Just come by and pick them up in an hour or so…”
Derpy nodded energetically and flew straight into the wall again on her way out. She left Rarity alone with the uniform and her thoughts.
Rarity decided to concentrate of what she knew first, and figure out a solution to what she didn't know later. After starting on Fancypants’s tuxedo, she began to examine Derpy’s uniform. She nodded to herself, scowling. This was pretty much what she had expected.
Straight, exact seams, more so than anything a pony could make. She also realized that the quality of each seam was pretty bad, but the sheer amount of thread holding the clothes together made them durable still.
”Quantity over quality, that seems to be what Flim and Flam is all about,” Rarity said to herself as she examined the uniform. ”With the cider it mattered, because they concentrated to much on quantity. Now they maintain just the quality needed to keep ponies happy, while still being able to churn out clothes at breakneck speed…”
As Rarity thought about that, her hooves worked without her mind and sew up the rip in the cloths. When she was done, she decided to take a short walk. She had always had some of her best ideas when walking around in Ponyville. She stepped out in the blazing sun.
She wandered around aimlessly for a while. It did not escape her notice that wearing clothes was almost as common as not these days. ”Flim and Flam are simply too cheap…” Rarity thought, as she had many a times before, ”My work takes so long… my prices must be higher than theirs. But what do I have that they do not?”
Her thought stopped there, as usual. As much as she hated to admit it, as much as it scared her, she did not know the answer. Sure, she had the quality but, again, that was not what this was about.
”I need help…” Rarity finally admitted. ”But who can help me? Who else has knowledge with running a business?”
Rarity quickly rejected most of her friends. Twilight was a princess, she could cross out the word ”expensive” from the dictionary. Fluttershy could more or less live off what she grew herself, and had little to no expenses. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash ware both hired, Rainbow by the weather team and Pinkie by the Cakes. They did not run their own businesses.
Applejack, on the other hoof, did run a business, and she had a history with the brothers. Rarity had to ask her for help.
She looked up to the large clock tower, and found it was almost time for Derpy to collect her uniform. Rarity picked up her pace and arrived at Carousel Boutique just as a gray streak mutilated the flowers outside it. Rarity sighed and picked up the dazed but ever so happy Pegasus.
”Your uniform is done,” Rarity said curtly, not in the mood to speak. Until she thought of something. ”Say, Ditzy, why did you all of a sudden become interested in cloths? I haven’t seen you wear anything before?”
Ditzy looked happily at her uniform, than up to Rarity. ”I have never had the bits before, not with Dinky to care for. But they are cheap, and…” Derpy leaned close to Rarity and lowered her voice conspiratorially, ”…I really like to see their machine work. It just look so… machiny…” Derpy smiled even wider.
”I see. Well, have a nice day, darling!” Rarity said with feigned happiness. Derpy managed to dodge the wall on her way out. To bad the door was closed…
Crash!
Rarity sighed again.
*****
Flim was trotting back to his and his brother’s shop along with some books in his saddlebags. He hummed his favorite song, ”Opportunity”. He felt better than he had in a long time. Their shop seemed to go well so far, and everypony loved their cloths.
”I really like it here,” Flim thought to himself. ”Of course, the view in Ponyville is the most amazing one in Equestria, at least during the market days…” Flim snickered. He proceeded to think about the improvements he could do at the machine as he entered the shop. ”Smaller safety marginals to reduce cloth waste, more patterns and sizes…”
His brother stood behind the counter along with Roseluck, who was in the process of picking fabric.
”That one, I think,” She pointed to a summer green bolt of fabric.
”Of course,” Flam said with a smile, ”just let me take your measurements, and you will have your new dress in no time.”
Ten minutes later, Roseluck left the store in a new dress. Flam levitated a portion of the bits over to a safe and beamed at his brother.
”Do you know what this is, brother of mine?” Flam said as he held a single bit in his hoof. ”This is the first bit in profit we make. The rent is paid, and the next shipment of cloth has been paid too. We are making money the honest way!”
”Wonderful brother! We should celebrate,” Flim said as he trotted up to his brother. They hugged each other quickly.
”You said it, brother!” Flam said. ”Perhaps we should buy new cloths? To symbolize our new lives, eh?”
”Excellent idea, and I think I am going to put my own little scheme in motion,” Flim said with a mischievous smile.
”Go get her, brother!” Flam said as he thumped his brother in the back. ”But first, let’s visit Rarity’s.”
”Perhaps, you two gentlecolts might wait a couple of minutes? After all, you don’t need more time than that to make new set of shirts.”
Flim and Flam both turned to the door and saw the richest pony in Ponyville, Filthy Rich, along with the scourge of ponykind and champion of all that is evil (a.k.a Diamond Tiara) in the doorway.
”Mr. Filthy, what might bring you to our humble abode?” Flim said with a smile and a low dip of his head.
”I prefer Mr. Rich, and I wanted to resupply on shirts. How much for five of them?” The stallion said lightly.
”Two hundred and fifty normally,” Flam said.
”But my brother and I are celebrating something, so we will throw in one for free,” Flim continued.
”That is two hundred bits for five, or two hundred and fifty for six,” Flam clarified.
”That’s might generous of you gentlecolts, I will take six shirts,” Mr Rich said with an appreciative smile. ”Perhaps you could throw a little something together for my Diamond too?”
”Sure thing, Sir, what might little Diamond want?” Flim asked peppily.
”I am not little,” Diamond Tiara said with an annoyed look. ”And I want a pink scarf, not magenta or purple, pink.”
”A pink scarf is thirty, and six shirts will be two hundred and eighty bits,” Flam said from behind the counter. ”Please select your fabrics.”
”When are you going to start the machine?” Diamond Tiara said in a commanding tone. ”I want to see it work.”
Almost an hour later and with two hundred and eighty bits on their pockets, the two brothers trotted over towards Carousel Boutique.
”Celestia smiles upon us brother,” Flim said confidently. ”Filthy will wear our shirts and speak of our generosity. I think the best is yet to come for our little store.”
”With you as my brother, what could go wrong!” Flam said with a great deal of swagger.
They arrived at Carousel Boutique, but found it locked.
”Huh,” Flam said with a s surprised glance. ”Guess she must be out…?”
”Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Flim said theatrically. ”What salespony goes out in the middle of a day? Well, that gives me some time to begin my own little scheme…”