//------------------------------// // Chapter 44: Brother to Brothers // Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// The birth of The Cake Twins was not the only significant event to occur in Ponyville as Winter changed to Spring. Being close friends with Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom, both Shining Armor and Twilight knew that Spring meant the start of perhaps the most important part of the year for the Apple family, Cider Season. They also learned that Rainbow Dash had an absolute obsession with Sweet Apple Acre brand cider. An obsession that led to lots of problems. But Rainbow Dash's obsession with cider took a back seat to a much bigger problem that the Apple family faced, a lack of cider for everyone who wanted it. Everytime Cider Season began, no matter how many barrels the Apple Family made, they always ran out and had to encourage the customers that hadn't gotten any to come back the next day. That didn't stop the citizens of Equestria from complaining though, and they complained quite frequently. ----- "Sorry folks, we're all out of cider. Come back tomorrow." Applejack announced to the crowd. The last cider barrel had been drained just seconds ago. "You always say that!" Caramel complained. "Why can't you guys make more cider?! You know how much it's in demand!" Rainbow Dash added. She was especially cross, because once again she had not gotten a cup to enjoy on the first day. "I'm sorry, but the whole cider makin' process takes time," Applejack explained "If we sped up the process, we wouldn't be able to make the cider the way ya'll like it." "If you guys can't produce the cider in a way that meets demand, and maintain the quality, then maybe it's time we got our cider somewhere!" a random pony in the crowd suggested. "Last time I checked, we're the only ones who supply this stuff. But if any of ya think you can do a better job than us, by all means go ahead!" Big Macintosh spoke up. As if responding to Big Macintosh's challenge, in the distance there came a most unusual sound. It seemed to be the sound of steam, and the sound of gears and machine parts moving up and down. The noise grew louder and louder, attracting even the attention of Shining Armor and Twilight. "What's going on here?" Shining Armor thought to himself. Just a few seconds later, a large machine painted bright red appeared in the distance. It quickly became obvious that said machine was the source of the unusual sounds, as it drew closer and closer. At last, it came to a halt in front of the crowd (breaking a fence in the process). Out from the machine jumped two unicorn stallions with light yellow coats and wavy red manes and tails, both of them wearing bowler hats there were yellow with blue ribbons. One of the stallions had a mustache. With the crowd's attention drawn to them, they began to sing: (Flim Flam Brothers Song) "Now that we have your undivided attention-" Flim began. "We hope you're impressed by what we have to offer," Flam finished "This machine could revolutionize all of Equestria!" The Apple Family wasn't so convinced, despite having witnessed the machine's potential with their own eyes. They huddled close together, and began to discuss their next course of action. "There ain't any way that darn fangled machine is just gonna up and replace us!" Granny Smith said furiously "Those brothers have another thing commin' if they think they can take Cider Season from us!" "But do we really know for sure that's what they're tryin' to do?" Apple Bloom asked "I don't think we want to make them our enemies without at least givin' them a chance to be our friends." "That machine's got potential. As much as I hate to admit it, I think we're outclassed here." Applejack said glumly. "Even so, we gotta stand our ground! You all know how important Cider Season is to us!" Granny Smith said seriously, with a shake of her head "No matter what, we need the money from cider sales to stay afloat in the winter." "Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied, then he and the rest of the Apples became aware that The Flim Flam brothers were close by, and wished to speak to them. ' "So sorry to eavesdrop on your conversation, Apples, but we have a proposal to offer." Flam spoke up. "Whatever it is, we don't want to hear it! You can just take your machine and leave!" Granny Smith said angrily. "Granny Smith, calm down!" Big Macintosh pleaded, then he turned to The Flim Flam Brothers "What's yer proposal?" "It's simple, really," Flim explained "We go into business together. You give us the apples, and we'll produce the cider." "Then we split the profits, 75/25. And we'll throw in the magic to power the machine at no extra cost," Flam added "So. whadya say, Apples? Do we have a deal?" "Who gets the 75 percent?" Applejack asked the brothers. "Why, us of course, that machine requires a lot of tender love and care, and that doesn't come cheap." Flim replied. "75 percent is outrageous! You don't need that much money to power that contraption, or maintain it!" Applejack protested, angrily stomping her hoof to make a point "We, on the other hoof, need the money from Cider Season to stay in business durin' Winter! Without it, we'll have to shut down! You'll be without business partners, and we'll be homeless! We'll all lose!" "Nonsense, we can take over Sweet Apple Acres if need be and run things on our own." Flim explained. "But we're being generous, and offering you Apples a chance to keep your home. I'd suggest you take it." Flam added. "Sorry, but unless you're willin' to split those profits 50/50, we ain't acceptin' any offers you propose to us." Applejack said seriously, and turned her back to the brothers. "Sorry Apples, but I'm afraid we can't accept anything below 75 percent, it's just not doable." Flim said, as he and his brother began to walk away. "Since you refuse to be our business partners, you leave us no choice but to drive you all out of business! When next we meet, we're rivals!" Flam added, and he and his brother got onto their machine and disappeared. "Good riddance, that's what I say!" Granny Smith said angrily. Big Macintosh, however, was not so sure his family had acted rationally "If only I hadn't been so afraid to speak up, I might have been able to work out a compromise. But now I feel like we've just made some very powerful enemies." he thought to himself. Part of him hoped he was wrong, and that Flim and Flam were just blowing off steam. ----- But the very next day, Big Macintosh found out that The Flim Flam Brothers hadn't been bluffing. When they showed up in their machine, and broke the same fence Granny Smith was trying to repair, everyone could sense that they were clearly determined to follow through on their promise to drive the Apple family out of business. "You Apples wanted to compete us, and that's exactly what you're going to get!" Flam insisted. "We're offfically challenging you to a cider making contest," Flim proposed "It would be in your best interest to accept." Upon seeing this disturbance, Shining Armor took immediate action "You two had better not be trying to force the Apple family into a contest against their will. It could end very badly for you both." he told the brothers. "Thanks for the help, Shining Armor, but we can take these two clowns by ourselves!" Applejack said seriously, stepping forward "We accept your challenge, Flim Flam Brothers! Name your terms and conditions!" "How does this sound?" Flim offered "We'll use your south field for the contest. If we win, Sweet Apple Acres is ours to do whatever we want with. And we get control of Cider Season, but we'd be more than happy to let you work for us, for a price." "Should we lose, we'll pack up our things and leave. But the machine stays with us!" Flam added "That good enough for you, Apples?! Or are you chicken?!" "Nopony calls Granny Smith a chicken!" Apple Bloom insisted. "You youngins got yerselves a deal! And when we whoop your sorry flanks in the contest, we don't ever want to see hide or hair of ya on our turf ever again, understand?!" Granny Smith said angrily. "We understand perfectly." Flam said with a smile. "I just hope you're prepared to accept your defeat when we beat you!" Flim boasted, and so a contest was held. The rules were simple, both sides were given a small amount of time to prepare and get ready, then they had 30 minutes to make as many barrels of cider as possible. Whichever side produced more barrels would be the winner. ----- "Time is up!" Mayor Mare declared when the 30 minutes had ended "After a careful tally of the barrels produced, The Apple Family wins with 65 barrels, to The Flim Flam Brothers 64!" "You know what that means, you whipper snappers! Time for you to make like a tree, and leave!" Granny Smith ordered furiously "Don't either of you ever come 'round here again!" Flim and Flam, realizing they'd been beaten, reluctantly accepted the outcome. "A deal's a deal, we've lost fair and square." Flim said, as he and his brother hopped onto their machine. "But mark our words, Apples, this isn't over! We will be back, someday!" Flam vowed, and the brothers and their machine sped away. Not long afterward, everypony was helping themselves to a cup of cider. And for once, no one seemed to be complaining about not getting any cider. And yet, Big Macintosh wasn't happy, even though he had every right to be. "Hey, why the long face?" Soarin asked his friend "It's not like you to be all gloomy, what's got your goat?" "It's nothin' really, nothin' that concerns you at least." Big Macintosh replied, his tone of voice indicating he clearly didn't think that way. "It's no use trying to hide your feelings from us, Big Macintosh." Thunderlane spoke up. "We're only here to help," Shining Armor added, having long since polished off his cup of cider "It's got something to do with The Flim Flam Brothers, doesn't it?" "It's like you can read minds or somethin', Shining Armor." Big Macintosh replied. "Or just being able to sense what's troubling you," Shining Armor explained "But why are you so concerned about them? They were pretty rude, and it seems that they really have it out for you and your family." "That may be so, but I feel like I could've prevented all of this if I'd just spoken up," Big Macintosh told his friend, the frown on his face only growing bigger "Instead, I kept my mouth shut, and I allowed my family's stubborness to do the talking for us. And said stubborness cost us two ponies that could've been valueable business partners." "Considering the way they acted, I find that highly doubtful," Soarin remarked "I'm all for seeing the good in other ponies, but those two seemed like exactly the kind of ponies I hate. Or rather, I should say, dislike very much." "As much as I hate to admit it, Soarin has a point," Shining Armor commented "Flim and Flam seemed to be very much in love with the sound of their own voices. They remind me of that Trixie fellow from a little over a year ago, except far more boastful and without any sort of excuse." "Even if they were pretty rude, that's hardly an excuse for not at least tryin' a little harder to get on their good side," Big Macintosh replied with a shake of his head "Ma and Pa always used to tell me that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. And I feel like the impression my family and I left, was one that would've made anyone want to take us down a few pegs." "If you really think that's the case, why don't you try to explain things to those two? I doubt they've gotten too far." Thunderlane suggested. Much to everyone's surprise, Big Macintosh said in reply "I suppose I will. At the very least, I want know I made an honest effort to reach ou to them." And he set off at once. ----- It turned out that Thunderlane was right, Flim and Flam had not gotten far by the time Big Macintosh had found them. They were just on the outskirts of Ponyville, their machine apparently having broken down and leaving them stranded. "I thought I told you, brother, to ensure that every part of the machine was inspected before the competition!" Flam shouted angrily, as he held a wrench in his hooves. "Hey, don't be blaming me, brother!" Flim replied, as he poked his head out from under the machine "You were the one who was supposed to give this machine a tune-up before we started the contest! It's your fault we were defeated!" "My fault?! You were the one who didn't want to turn the machine to full power when we started to lose!" Flam shouted back. "You said it yourself, we had never tested it at that power before! We have no idea what might have happened if we'd done so! For all we know, it could've blown up and taken out everything nearby, including the Apples, and us!" Flim protested. "Well, today is just a day for things to go wrong, isn't it?!" Flam pondered outloud. "Relax, brother. I think I've discovered the source of the problem," Flim replied "It should only take a couple of minutes to get it fixed, and then we can be back on the road." "This is it, it's now or never!" Big Macintosh thought to himself, as he cleared his throat. Attracting the attention of The Flim Flam Brothers. "Uh, hello." "What do you want?!" Flam asked angrily. "Come to rub your victory in our faces?! Well, go ahead, laugh yourself silly for all we care!" Flim added. "I just came here to talk, that's all." Big Macintosh said nervously. "Talk about what?! There's nothing to discuss!" Flim replied. "Now, tell us the real reason you came here!" Flam demanded "You've got five seconds!" "Would you just listen?! I wanted to apologize!" Big Macintosh insisted. "Apologize?! Do you take us for a bunch of fools?!" Flim said angrily. "We weren't born yesterday, pal! You say you want to apologize, but in reality you're just luring us into a false sense of security so you can bring us down! Nice try, but it won't work!" Flam told Big Macintosh. "You guys could've beaten us easily, that machine of yours was really powerful. But you disposed of the last few barrels, and let us win. What I wanna know is, why?" Big Macintosh asked "After the way my family and I treated you, why did you let us win?" "You're mistaken, Big Macintosh. We didn't let you win on purpose, if that's what you're implying." Flim spoke up. "Those last few barrels of cider were terrible, nopony would've wanted to drink from them. So, rather than risk public humilation, we got rid of the bad barrels. Unfortunately, we didn't make enough good barrels to beat you," Flam explained "That's why we did what we did, not because of pity or anything like that." "But why should you even care? With us out of the way, you and your family have Cider Season all to yourselves!" Flim said crossly. "Just admit it, you only came here to gloat and make us feel bad!" Flam demanded. "That's not the reason at all! Why do you two seem to think I'm trying to bring you down?" Big Macintosh asked "My family and I treated you badly, and I wanted to make an honest effort to apologize for it. Whatever it was that led to the contest, it doesn't have to define our interactions for years and years to come. I wanna build a bridge, not put up a fence." "And what do you even have to apologize for? You and your family reacted no differently from the hundreds of other ponies we've pitched our fine machine to." Flam told Big Macintosh. "And considering the state it's now in, it's hardly a surprise we get that sort of treatment," Flim said glumly "This is the third model we've designed, and we still haven't worked out all the bugs. Let's face it, we're con artists! Always have, and always will be. We've tried to make an honest living, but it's never worked out." "Then my family and I should've treated you better, but instead, we let our stubborness and pride get in the way. That machine of yours could've easily produced enough cider to keep the town happy for weeks, and save us a huge amount of backbreaking labor," Big Macintosh said honestly "But all we could think about, was ourselves." "You feel pity for us, don't you?" Flim asked. Big Macintosh nodded. "Well, we don't need your stinking pity, or anypony else's for that matter!" Flam said furiously "Is the machine fixed yet, brother of mine?" "It is, and I think I managed to correct the problem that kept causing it to break down." Flim replied. "Then let us depart at once!" Flam insisted, as he jumped onto the machine. And with that, The Flim Flam Brothers took off. But Big Macintosh had the gut feeling that he hadn't seen the last of the two. "They're just like that Trixie fellow that Shining Armor talked to," Big Macintosh thought unhappily to himself, as he made his way back to town "They're so used to having the world drag them down, that they see no way out, except to give in and embrace the hopelessness." If only there was some way, he could make them see that they didn't have to be who they were.