Friends like these

by Istaran

Act 3 - Chapter 2: The presence of gluttony

"I said, we're out!", the human exclaimed, "I ain't doing any more business with you horny headed fuckers!"

"Do you have any idea how racist you sound?" Flim chided.

"And how ungrateful? Wasn't pirin your fasted moving product just a few days ago? And now you're going to drop it, just like that?" Flam added.

"Shit, man, haven't you heard? Carrying that stuff is like walkin' around with a target on your back! There's some crazy red monster hunting down anyone who has it on them, and gobbling it like candy. If they don't hand it over, like, without even being asked he just up and fucking kills them! They even say he's fucking bulletproof! I ain't up for that shit, man. I've got enough money, I'm thinking now's a good time to live long enough to spend it, you know what I'm saying?"

The unicorn twins were just about to reply when a loud crash echoed out from the far side of the warehouse, followed by a clatter. It was only a few seconds before the closest door was opened and their human companion was out the door, sprinting. That left Flim and Flam to consider their options. Their pirin manufacturing device was here, and they normally would be quite put out to lose another one. With no distributers on board anymore, though, it might not really be a serious loss. They had enough of the human currency now to start up another venture easily, or even just enjoy the good life for some time.

They spent too long thinking about it, however, and looked up when they heard the hoofsteps of the six foot tall tauroid figure approaching them. Tirek towered over the Flim Flam brothers, grinning viciously at them as he swiftly approached. Remembering what their former distributer had said, Flim bucked the output tray from the Pirin making machine, spilling the pills out in front of the centaur.

"Take them, they're all yours!" Flam said.

"Oh, they will be," Tirek noted with a cruel laugh, as he opened his mouth. Chains of energy struck the unicorns, swiftly ripping the power out of them both. They tried to struggle, to fight back, but they could barely even manage cries of pain before they collapsed to the ground. Similar chains of energy, much smaller but countless in number licked across the spilled Pirin pills, draining them of their enchantments before Tirek, slightly taller than before, strolled back through the warehouse to move on.

---

"Can you hear me?" a voice said, reaching from beyond the edge of consciousness. Flam struggled to open his eyes even the tiniest bit, and was rewarded with a blurry sight, a vaguely bluish humanoid figure with a shiny glint on its chest. He tried to nod and lost sight of the man, before just giving up and closing his eyes again. The man started talking, but Flam didn't think it was to him.

He faded in again briefly in a moving vehicle. He was strapped down to something, and there was a very loud ongoing noise, though it sounded muffled, and the humans around him seemed a bit excited to see him for some reason, but it was all too much to make sense of, so he closed his eyes again.

Being rolled around on whatever he was strapped too, around various corners and down hallways was disorienting enough to warrant opening his eyes again, though he shut them with a wince at the bright lights overhead. Where was he? And where was Flim?

When he finally opened his eyes again, there was a strange tube stuffed down his throat. It made him want to gag, but he couldn't. Looking around the brightly lit room, he quickly spotted Scott, who perked up to see him moving. He tried to sit up, but couldn't, even though he didn't feel the pressure of the straps anymore. He tried to speak but couldn't. He tried using his horn, but there was nothing. No magic. Not the slightest inkling of power to push into that organ. He did manage to shed a few tears in frustration.

Scott hugged him awkwardly before sitting down again, his own face streaked with the signs of his own tears over the past hours. He said something about Flim, but Flam couldn't make it out.

[We were doing it all for you,] Flam thought to Scott, though the human was oblivious. [We thought we could buy your friendship, if we were just rich enough. But we just managed to pull ourselves away from you, bury ourselves in our work, and get ourselves attacked. Is it too late?]

A hand placed gently on his hoof was the only answer for now.

---

With the sun down and the moon high, a lone pony stood on the rooftops of lower Canterlot, surveying the comings and goings below. Nopony ever looked up, especially now that pegasi were incapable of flying in this cursed place. But that suited a clever earth pony like her just fine. There were ways to fly for those born without wings, and they worked just fine here. Better, with no pegasi to mock her or disrupt her passage with their wings' turbulence.

Tugging on the bit in her mouth, she spread the cloth wings behind her and angled them to grant her a smooth and silent descent into the back alley behind her target. This would be easy, she was sure. She just had to be patient. Waiting by the back door, she listened attentively, knowing her moment would come soon.

Her patience was demanded of her, but it was eventually rewarded. Somepony opened the door from inside, stepping out into the back alley to get some fresh air. Stretching, the stallion look up into the night sky, not noticing the door behind him taking a little longer than usual to close.

She would have to act fast, before the stallion returned. She hadn't been able to case the kitchen properly without drawing suspicion to herself, but luckily it was a fairly obvious setup. There were a dozen large vats of soup on burners being kept warm, and on a counter nearby, the artifact. The legendary endless soup can. She grabbed it swiftly but silently before diving over the counter separating the kitchen from the dining room.

Her instincts had been correct: the stallion returned from his brief break before she would have even reached the door. Had she tried straight for it, she would have been face to face with him, caught red handed. She didn't want to hurt anypony, if she didn't have to. As it was, he quickly noticed the artifact missing, and began searching high and low for it.

The quiet whir of her grappling hook went unnoticed, but the clatter of a chair across the room when she hooked it and retracted her hook got the stallions attention. He came to look over the counter, looking back and forth for any sign of the source of the disturbance, but failing to spot the mare tucked tightly against the counter he was looking over. When that failed, he made his way through the doors on the far side. She was silently over the counter as she heard the doors swinging shut.

When she opened the back door to let herself out, he turned just in time to see the flutter of black cloth before she was gone. And even when he followed her into the alleyway he still didn't think to look up.

---

"Be patient, I just need to finish tightening this so it doesn't fall out," the mare told her client. The metal rigging that would hold the can in place was simple enough, but she hadn't had the exact dimensions of the can when she had first built it, and now it needed some adjustment. Which was a bit hard with the materials she had to work with, as softer metals would not have been reliable in the hot environment her invention would be functioning in.

"Hunger and patience do not go well together, Clockwork Wing," his voice rumbled in return. "I've spared you and your village this long, don't make me wait any longer!"

"Alright, alright. Here it is," Clockwork said as she approached the dragon's maw. The fact that he really could snap her up in a single bite was not lost on her. She still had scars from the time he had. And now she was reaching into it intentionally. She grit her teeth against the fear, as she slipped her forehooves inside.

With a few final adjustments, the soup can was in place, secured upside down to the dragon's tooth by bands of metal.

"It's not working," the dragon immediately complained. "Make it work, now!"

"You have to make it work! Think of what kind of soup you want," she snapped back. The dragon may be terrifying, but she didn't have to put up with it being an idiot.

"I don't know any kind of soups," he said after a moment.

"Minestrone!" she shouted back.

"What's that even lik- eech!" he said, trying to spit out the vegetable soup forming in his mouth. "Something with meat in it!" he said, apparently looking to Clockwork for a suggestion, but suddenly he was lapping at the inside of his mouth. "Better, but it'd be better with emera-mmm..."

With the dragon apparently figuring out how to fulfill his own desires, the mare scooped up her meager payment and headed for the exit. The bits weren't plentiful, but keeping the dragon's hunger sated was its own reward. The ache in her scars reminded her of that.

Comments

[Morning Dusk]

Wait, wahhhhhhhhh?! What just happened at the end there?

[Morning Dusk]

Also "GRAPPLING GOOK!!!!" (That is a reference I will appreciate you more for getting)