//------------------------------// // Friends Forever #9.5: Key-Frame and Golden-Fox The Flim-Flam Brothers Part 2: // Story: Tales from Bronyville // by InkyPye //------------------------------// The game was to protect a cardboard Cadence and Shining Armor from an attack of Changelings, whoever shot the most changelings won a prize, involving many Cadence and Shining Armor toys, along with at least one Chrysalis plushy. "Well isn't that great, they turned what would've have been a parasitical tyranny and horror into commercialism, am I right, Goldie?" Key-Frame said as she shot changeling after changeling, but Golden Fox was too busy trying to concentrate. Key played a lot more shooter games than him, and was almost a sniper in Dr. Wolf's project...Which turned ugly pretty fast. The Flim-Flam brothers were decent shots, but only slightly better than Golden Fox, the round ended quickly with Golden Fox at a sum of 30, each brother with a 45, and Key with 75. "Well Miss, you're the winner, pick anything you'd like." Said the carnie, still with a heavy Manehatten accent. "Hmm...Queen Chrysalis, please!" Key replied, cheerily. "Oh, sorry, Miss. Pick one of those." He said, pointing to some cheaply made Cadence toys. "You need 100 to get at that one." "You literally just said I could have whatever one I wanted." The carnie just shrugged. The Flim-Flam brothers saw their chance, and took it. "Watch and learn, lover-colt." Flam whispered to Golden as his wings puffed up. "Flam did he say 'anything she'd like?'" "That's what I heard, did you hear that, Flim? How about you Key? Goldie? Yup, we've got 4 solid witnesses here." "So we'll make you a deal, 20 bits and you give the mare what she asked for." Flim said, pulling a coin-bag from seemingly nowhere (Key figured that he stole it from some pedestrian.) "35 bits perhaps? We'll raise you for no more than 35 bits." Flam added, as he jingled a coin purse in front of the stallion, hearing the sweet sound, he complied. "You guys don't really have to do-" Key began, but was cut off. "Here's your prize, ma'am, now scram!" The carnie yelled, as Flim and Flam seemed to step closer to Key-Frame as she nuzzled the doll and carried it with her magic, leaving Golden in the dust. "Well buddy, we're one to zero on the y'e olde merit system." Said Flim. "Actually, it should be two considering the both of us impressed her, so, two to zero." Flam said in reply as the three walked and Key-Frame was far in front of the feud, not exactly oblivious. "All you did was prove that you have a lot of money." Golden said in a grit-teeth expression. "You know, you're right. Hey Key! Key!" Yelled Flim, as he ran towards her, he pointed to the ocean, and began talking as Key nodded. Golden couldn't hear, so he flew faster to catch up with em'. "-And this ocean is the only one in Equestria to have flying sea-ponies, based on the salty air." He told her, as 5 sea ponies flew from the water, to a salt-water taffy booth. "Wow." She said, awestruck, as their tails were like ribbons in the air, shiny, wavy, and free. "3 to 0, Goldie." Said Flam as Key-Frame's green eyes shimmered like stars. Golden looked around, desperate for something to turn the tides. They were annoying, but they were also thought on their hooves. "Perhaps if you feel like it, maybe later we could visit one of the cove's many waterfalls?" Flam said, hinting at something. Key-Frame could sense it. "...Sure? I mean, I suppose? I mean-" "Too flustered to speak." The brothers whispered and bro-hoofed as Key-Frame turned around flustered and frustrated. Golden couldn't take it anymore! He was her friend, and those colts just pushed a date onto her! "Key-Frame! Let's go to the Ferris Wheel!" Golden practically yelled as Key-Frame followed, passive-aggressively muttering. Key and Golden just ran to the Ferris Wheel. Flim and Flam just shared looks with each other. "Oh thank goodness! Finally some time without the two of them. If I was going to spend one more minute with them I was going to blast their bloody corpses to Tartarus twice over." KeyFrame told Golden as the ride started slowly. "Wait, you weren't enjoying-" "Goldie. They weren't going to leave us alone. Did you really think I was that oblivious to everything going on around me? Really?" "I guess I hoped you were somewhat oblivious." Golden muttered as the ride stopped a few feet away from the top. "Is it, jammed or-" and as soon as he could say that, the ride started again at a faster pace. And then it went faster. The faster pace was jarring, but didn't bother them too much, until it went faster. "Should we be concerned?" Golden asked. Then from the Ferris wheel there was a sickening crack. "Yes." Golden fluffed up his wings. "Yes we should." Key said as the Ferris Wheel was now going at an extremely fast pace, to the point where the two were trying frivolously hold on with hooves. CLUNK. At that moment, their seat flipped sideways. Golden zipped out a few feet above it as Key was holding on, there was a certain desperateness in Key's eyes, but at the same time, determination. Then, in the same moment it took for Key to realize what she had to do, CLUNK. "Key!" Golden yelled as he dived after the seat, that was then levitated in a green glow. "Miss Frame, are you alright? We saw what happened and-" Flim began saying, when he realized the carriage was empty. "And what?" Key's voice said from above, she was levitating above the two unicorns as Golden flew his way down."All I wanted to do was have a fun afternoon! But no! You two had to tag along! And you three spent a considerable amount of time treating me like I was some oblivious bimbo and didn't realize what was going on around me! If you two just wanted to tag along and hang around, that would've been fine, that would've been dandy." Key's face was growing red, a usual sign in her temper spike. "But NO. You three have been bickering behind my back to the point that somepony could have gotten injured or killed. Now, I'm going home. If anypony wants to follow me I'll-" She then teleported herself to the train station from what Golden could see in the distance. "Eh, mares. It's Marian all over again." Flim mumbled. "Mares. Dime a dozen!" Flam grumbled as they themselves ran to their show-booth, as Golden just stared at the train-station. "Well that was almost as bad as the time 25 changelings decided to take the form of D." Key says to herself, as she pulls pieces of paint and a screw out of her hair with her magic and turns back to her sketchbook. A few moments after the trolley mare had stopped by to help Key drink her vacation from her memory, a voice perked up. "Mind if I sit here?" Golden asked. "Do I have a choice?" Key dead-panned. "Key, I'm so sorry about what happened, it's just that-" "I know, the only reason I invited them was because I knew they wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I wanted to just have fun, I wanted to play shooter games, go to the beach, try not to get eaten alive by Steven Magnet's third-cousin-twice-removed..." Key told him, as she snuggled the Chrysalis toy for a Chryssi. It seemed fitting. "Maybe we just invite a few friends over for some horror movies and just have fun?" Golden said, treading carefully. Key just laughed. "With less of a chance of dying? With our friends? No promises."