Within The Nightmare: Side Stories from the Living Nightmare universe

by Autum Breeze

Time Troubles part 12 FlimFlamverse: A Technicality Everypony Overlooks

Part 12

FlimFlamverse

A Technicality Everypony Overlooks

___________________________________________________________

For a third time we fly out of the portal, this time both Twilight and myself preparing a blast of magic, but halt when we see Starlight is levitating Fluttershy through the course, the bully colts cheering her own and joining the yellow filly in flying.

Starlight turns to us, sneering.

Damn it! If she knew what she was causing by doing this than...

Wait. Why didn't we think of this before? We just need to take her back in time with us. If she sees what she’s done (don’t know why she hasn’t seen the results before, has she not been sent back long enough to find out?), she’ll stop and we can end all this and get time back on course.

However, no sooner have I thought this then I feel the pull of the portal and deadpan as its light blinds me. Next time that portal opens up, we are taking her with us.

___________________________________________________________

When we drop out of the portal it’s again on the table. However, we barely get a second to look at the normal-looking Ponyville in the distance before a large yellow crane arm grabs a tree that is right next to the map, before the tree is uprooted.

I stare in shock at the ponies operating the crane. Flim and Flam?! What in Equestria is going on?

“What the heck is that?”

Spike’s cry turns my attention to where he’s looking before my ears wilt, realizing just where we are.

We're on Sweet Apple Acres, but you wouldn’t know it from looking. I only recognize it because... well, I’ve got Apple blood inside me, so maybe that’s why?

Anyway, along with the entire field baron of trees, there are several factory looking places in the distance, all of them spewing large amounts of black smoke into the air, polluting the skies.

“Stellar, wait.” I pause, looking to Twilight. “Before you go off half-crazed, we should understand what’s going on first. Trust me; I want to hurt them just as much as you for ruining AJ’s farm.”

Growling at not being able to do anything, I nod and hop off the map with Twilight, who erects a barrier around the map. “Don’t want them accidently damaging it.”

“Nothing's an accident with those jerks,” Spike mutters. “So, where do we go first?”

Before Twilight can answer him, I feel a pull of something and turn towards one of the buildings spewing black smoke into the air.

“This way,” I say, before heading off in that direction.

“Stellar, what are you—?” Twilight begins.

“Something’s pulling me this way,” I say, glancing over my shoulder. “Something in my blood.”

They both look at each other, before sighing and following me.

___________________________________________________________

Using my magic, I open the doors to one of the, I’ve decided factory is the best word, and enter, Twilight and Spike following behind me.

What’s before us makes my heart stop and my eyes widen in horror.

The Apples are all working on some kind of assembly line. It sort of looks like the one from back in that timeline where Sombra was waging war on Equestria, but there are some things that are vastly different.

For one, Applejack and Big Mac are standing by the conveyer like in the last world, but they’re not wearing the same clothing. In fact, they’re wearing what look like the Flim Flam brothers’ vests and they’ve had their manes and tails shaven horribly short.

Rarity is over by another machine, making designs for the cans.

Fluttershy is nearby another machine, sobbing as each of her animals is running in some kind of treadmill wheel.

Rainbow is hovering in the air, flapping her wings really hard to turn turbines on the machines.

However, the thing that causes me to see red is Apple Bloom in a treadmill wheel like Fluttershy’s animals, only she’s having to run more than five times as fast as them and looks more miserable than I have ever seen her. She has a look of hopelessness in her eyes that hurt and angers my very core.

“WHAT IN EQUESTRIA HAPPENED HERE?!” I scream in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

At once, everything halts, almost hysterically. Apple Bloom and the animals stop, causing them to be caught in the momentum of the wheels, which spin them around and around before they’re sent flying, Apple Bloom crashing into the conveyer where Big Mac and AJ were working, and most of Fluttershy’s animals crashing into where Rarity was working.

Angel Bunny’s the only one who doesn’t, but that’s only because he gets set flying into Dash, knocking her off-course and causing her to tumble.

When the dust finally clears, the whole factory looks more like a scrap metal junkyard.

“Now why in the hay did ya do that?” Applejack demands, glaring at me. “Ya’ll realize the trouble we’re all gonna be in fer this?”

“It’s worse than that time we got the wrong designs and sent thousands of cans out,” Rarity shudders. “I still have nightmares about what they said would happen to Sweetie if I made another mistake.” With that she bursts into tears, Fluttershy moving over to comfort the unicorn.

My right eye twitches. Flim and Flam... threatened Sweetie Belle?

I speak in a deadly calm tone. “What. Happened?”

Dash frowns. “What are you talking about? Look around!” she indicates to the trash dump of metal around us. “You can see this, right?”

“I mean how in tartarus did Flim and Flam get these horrible factories and get all of you working for them? And why in Celestia’s name are you working for them when they’ve been tearing up your farm, AJ?!”

The farm mare wilts, before looking down, her ears folded and sighs. “Well, guessin’ yer new here, or else ya wouldn’t be askin’. About a year back, they came t’ town and challenged us for the rights to sell cider here. We lost and they took the farm.”

“Why?”

“Ah just said: we lost,” Applejack frowns at me. “Ain’t that hard ta figure out—”

“No!” I shout over her. “Why are you working for them? Couldn’t you have gone to Appleloosa, or Manehatten or one of the other dozens of places our family makes a living? You could’ve found work anywhere!”

“Well, it’s because Mr. Flim and Mr. Flam—” she pauses, looking to me with confusion. “Our family?”

I groan, slamming my face with a hoof. “We don’t have time! We need to get you all out of here, now! I’m not leaving you all to—”

“We can’t,” Dash sighs dejectedly. “Sure, we could leave, but they’ve got our families.”

My eye twitches again. “What?”

“Mr. Flim and Mr. Flam used the profits from Sweet Apple Acres to buy out all of Ponyville,” Rarity sighs, gently pushing Fluttershy away. “They used all that wealth get butter up some nobles who would keep things quiet and then went about taking members of our families hostage.”

“They got Granny Smith for us, Scootaloo for Dash and Sweetie Belle for Rarity,” Applejack sighs.

“And Miss Cheerilee,” Mac says gloomily.

“Why hasn’t the princess done anything?” Twilight looks from one to the other. “Surely she’d have learned about this during visits.”

“The princess, visit here?” Dash snorts darkly. “Those stupid nobles keep her and Luna away from here.”

“What about my M— I mean, Princess Luna?” I frown. “She walks dreams, doesn’t she? She should have learned about this ages ago.”

Fluttershy shakes her head. “Flim and Flam have some kind of magical field around Ponyville. It gives ponies good dreams, so the princess doesn’t think she’s needed here.”

Oh, great. So, those stupid unicorns are even starting the trend of Mama feeling unneeded, the same thing that lead to Nightmare Moon. Just wonderful.

“Wait,” Twilight frowns, her expression one of deep thought.

“What is it, Twilight?” Spike asks and I look to her too.

“Something just occurred to me,” she says, shaking her head. “Applejack, do you have a copy of the deal between you and the Flim Flam brothers? Proof that they won?”

She nods sadly, before lifting the tiny square head atop her head and holds out a sheet of paper, which Twilight levitates over. “Ah keep it with me all the time, t’ remind mahself of what Ah’ve done and—”

“Ah HA!” Twilight yells, causing us all to jump.

“What?” Spike and I ask together, everypony looking cautiously at Twilight.

She holds up the paper. “This only says they had the rights to sell cider.”

“So?” Apple Bloom grumbles, looking downcast at the ground. “Jus’ meant they had the right t’ kick us off—”

“But they didn’t.”

We all look to Twilight, who has a huge grin on her face. “This only says they had the rights to sell the cider. What happened AJ?”

“Well, they took over the farm like they were allowed and...” she blinked. “Wait a minute. We never agreed to givin’ them the farm if’n they won, did we? They just took it, and we were so depressed about losin' the cider busniess and tryin'a figure out how we'd get by without it we didn’t even question it!”

Each pony stares with wide eyes at the three of us as they absorb that.

Quickly using my old memories of law and quickly looking over the form myself, I realize they’re right. Flim and Flam only gained the rights to sell cider in Ponyville, but they had no legal claims to the farm.

“Spike, write a letter,” Twilight says, which causes the others to cock an eyebrow.

Spike, most likely due to habit in my own opinion, quickly pulls a blank scroll (after making sure it was indeed blank and not the Time Travel Spell) and an inked quill, prepared to write.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began, pacing back and forth. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. You do not know me, but I am contacting you about a horrible breech of the law. I’m sure you’ve heard about the rising FlimFlam Industries—” we saw the name on the crane the two had been driving— “however, they built this business by stealing another from ponies whom I’m sure you will remember: The Apples. The tricked the Apples into a contest a year ago in which the winner would gain all rights to sell cider in Ponyville.

However, Flim and Flam used the depression the Apple Family felt at losing such a big part of their business to take over the farm, leaving the Apples to not realize that the unicorns have no actual claim to the farm and have been forcing the Apples and several others in Ponyville to work for them illegally.

I would also like to inform you that they are holding family and loved ones of the ponies they have forced to work for them hostage to keep them from rebelling or going to the authorities.

For the Apples, the hostage taken from their family is Granny Smith Apple, a pony you yourself met when she was but a young filly and has lived in Ponyville since its founding.

To top it off, I have witnessed them forcing a young filly into horrible manual labor simply because they feel like it, along with having destroyed almost all the trees on the Sweet Apple Acres farm.

Please respond the moment you get this.

Signed, Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and Princess Stellar Nova.”

“Stell-ar No-va,” Spike said, finishing his writing.

“Better put a PS saying I’m Luna daughter,” I add, ignoring the gasps and “Whats” coming from the other. “That’ll get their attention.”

“Got it,” Spike said, putting what I’d said down, before rolling up the scroll and setting it aflame.

“Wait, what?!” Dash shoots forward, glaring at the little drake. “What the heck did you burn it for?!”

“Spike’s fire breath is magic,” I state simply. “Cos Twilight hatch him with her magic, he’s magical himself.”

“Wait he is?” Twilight asks, turning to me.

“I am?” the drake asks, looking just as confused.

“What in Euqestria?!” two angry voices shout from behind us.

Turning around, I see Flim and Flam are looking past us and at the wreckage inside.

“We warned you what would happen if you did anything wrong again,” Flam growls, looking at the mares and Mac with hatred.

“And, even after everything we’ve done for you ungrateful ponies, this is how you repaying us?” Flim indicates to all the damage.

“Oh, blow it out your ass!” I snarl, causing the two unicorns to look to me.

“How dare you, you little brat?!” Flam glares at me. “You dare talk that way to a pony superior to you?”

“Superior, huh?” I just snort and extend my wings, Twilight doing the same.

The two blink for a moment, glancing between the two of us, and I smirk as I watch it slowly dawn on them.

“Y-you’re Alicorns?” Flim squeaks, taking a step back.

“Eeyup,” I growl. “And, in case you can’t tell from the mane and tail, I’m Luna's daughter.”

“Princess Luna had a daughter?” Flam looks gobsmacked. “What? When? How? She was on the moon for a thousand years.”

“Yeah. I was born over a thousand years ago, technically,” I toss my head back. “Oh, and, speaking of my Mama and Auntie, they should be here in three, two, one...”

There’s a bright flash and both Alicorn sisters appear, causing both stallions to yelp. I notice something on the two Alicorns’ front right legs. They look like couplings.

A quick scan with my magic reveals they’re devices with crystal that allow for long-range teleports.

I smirk. No doubt those brothers made those. Oh, irony is so sweet, isn’t it?

Mama and Auntie Tia have a quick look inside, looking at all the damage and the state all the ponies are in, before they turn glares on Flim and Flam.

Before they tell teleport out, as I had just noticed similar couplings on each of their front right legs, I teleport them off them, whilst also casting a spell that prevents teleports for several hours.

“Luna,” Tia says in a deathly calm tone, “I shall take these two scumbags to Canterlot. Will you come with me or...?”

Mama shakes her head. “I... have something to look into, sister. As you know.”

Tia nods, before looking to Twilight. “I do not know who you are, Princess Twilight, nor how you sent me that message. However, your quick actions have likely saved many this day.”

Twilight bows, before Tia teleports away with the two retched unicorns in toe.

With her gone, I turn my attention to the mare who is giving me a very stern glare. “Um... hey, Mama.”

“Wait. She wasn’t joking about that?”

Rainbow’s question is ignored as Mama moves closer, looking down at me. “Nightmare?”

I shake my head. “Not... exactly. I’m what she became... and... your daughter. I’m sorry, it’s hard to explain.”

“Something tells me we’ll have plenty of time for explanations,” she replies, still just as sternly.

___________________________________________________________

“Man, that took forever,” Spike grumbles as we step up onto the map.

Around us are our friends that we met up with in the factory and those of their family and loved ones whom were held hostage.

With what Twilight had brought to light, which I wasn’t surprised had gone unnoticed til now, what with how crafty those damn unicorns were, Flim and Flam are now in jail, serving life for enslavement, theft, foal labour and ponynapping among many other things. And the two nobles who'd been accepting bribes from the two unciorns? Striped of their rank and their assets frozen. They'll now be helping the Apples run their newly replanted farm whilst it gets back on it's hooves, which had taken a month two get somewhat ready.

It was nice, staying in this timeline for a while though. It almost felt like back on Earth, with all the industrial advancement this Equestria has. However, the princesses will be re-evaluating it and making changes so that it is more in harmony with the world around them.

What hadn’t been nice was the time it took to convince Mama I wasn’t Nightmare Moon given form and back to take over Equestria. That had taken a lot of explaining.

However, though she wasn’t motherly to me in any way, Twilight helped convince Mama that I wasn’t a bad pony.

Now, as much as I’ve enjoyed feeling a little like I’m back on Earth, it’s time to head home.

“Remember what we told you, Princess Twilight,” Celestia says as we get into position, Twilight levitating the scroll out to cast the spell. “It is clear this Starlight Glimmer has yet to see what her actions have rort.”

“If you should fail to stop her again, be sure to pull her along with you when the Time Portal opens,” Luna says firmly. “Whilst I have no idea what kind of world she will see, if your tales of your travels through alternate times is any indicator, it will be bleak at best.”

Twilight nods. “I will try to explain it to her. If she will not listen, we will show her.”

“I’m just annoyed I didn’t think that until right before we ended up here, myself,” I pout. “We could’ve saved this world from suffering those... those...”

Grr. Even with my memories now, I don’t feel right saying the really big curse words, even if those two unicorns deserve the worst I know.

Twilight nods again, before looking to everypony as she casts the spell. “Farewell, everypony. I wish you all well.”

“And wish us all luck,” Spike calls as we float up to the portal. “Trust me, we’ll need it!”

Author's Note:

Realized whilst writing this that it would be better as it's own chapter. The finale for Time Troubles will be next, though it probably won't be out til after Christmas.

I apolgize if any of the last few chapters have felt rushed. that's just how i felt them playing out, though this was a little trickier to work out without having to go too much into a lore.

Also, yeah, anyone ASIDE from me always annoyed how the Flim Flam brothers just decided to takeover the whole farm when they won the writes to sell cider? Last i checked, that doesn't give them right to just take the farm away. The bet was the right to sell cider, nothing more.

I decided to address the stupidity of that and how it never got acknowledged in the show here.

Well, that's all from me until after Christmas, since, now that i'm on my holidays, the rules for how i use the family computer have changed. Whereas, during the work year i'm allowed on three days a week during the four days i have off of work normally, now that it's the holidays, i'm only allowed to use it every other day, so, since i used it today, i can't use it tomorrow.

Whether i'll be on it on Boxing day depends on what my family have planned for that day.

On another note: This week, thanks to SHiN TOKYO's 12 days of Christmas sale, i now have the entire The Mighty Birdy series, collection one of Ghost Hunt and now all of Love Hina.

One i'm not too pleased about is that, not really knowing anything about it but having been told it was really popular, i also bought the entire series of Maburaho. Sure, it had a few funny moments and a few sweet ones, but it's really just ones of those anime you watch once, then don't really have too much reason to want to watch again.

I also, thanks to target, now have the entire Ben 10: Ultamite Alien series, which is where the series ended, as far as i'm concerned. And if anyone says Omniverse is a great series, as far as i'm concerned, it butchers Ben 10 is so many ways it was take all the time Luna was trapped on the moon to list the reasons.

Anyway, sorry for that pointless rant. Pointless to all of you, anyway. Helped me get some things off my chest.

Okay, gonna shut up now and let you get on with your day.

Til next time, later and a happy hearth's warming everypony

Comments

[Twilight Best Pony]

So are they gonna split again? Cause this Stellar is well, a little op.

[Autum Breeze]

6762406 I will say this, remember, this is a stellar from after the main story.

[Kage no Brony]

Anyone who harms innocent third parties, or threatens to, are scum.

Targets locked.

Safeties off.

Light 'em up.

[DerpTape]

You are not alone in the slow head shake at the Apples for not thinking things through with the Flim Flan contest. Heck, they still could have made a tidy profit by overcharging the brothers for the apples they would need to make the cider. Or just refuse to sell them any at all, as well as getting the rest of the Apple clan to boycott selling the apples.

Strength in numbers y'all World for Wal-Mart, works for Apples