Shadows of Progress

by Silvermyr

Chapter five

Rarity felt as if her brain had been replaced with a pile of nails, knives and saw blades. She groggily woke up by the sun shining down on her through a barred window.

Wait, barred? Since when did she put bars in front of her windows? She had thought about doing it to Sweetie Belle’s, but…

Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. Her plan, the sabotage, the wires, the spark… the barred windows. Her eyes widened in realization and fear. She had been captured and placed in custody.

She turned around towards the door with a great deal of pain and tried to get up from her bunk. She placed her left front hoof on the floor, but immediately fell as a red hot pain shot from it. She looked down and found it wrapped up in bandages.

She laid in a heap at the floor in the arrest and began to hyperventilate. ”This is the end of the line,” She thought with wide eyes. ”I will never get the money now. My boutique is lost, my reputation in shambles, my friends will hate me…”

She was returned to reality by the opening of the door. She looked up and saw the Mayor Mare look down on her. The mayor’s eyes seemed like razors and her glasses shone cold. Her face was a calm mask that hid most of, but not all, the disdain she felt.

”I knew Flim and Flam would lead to trouble, but I never expected this,” She said sternly. Rarity swallowed and tried to control her breathing. ”Rarity, Element of Generosity, turning criminal?”

”M-mayor…I-I’am sorry, I never wanted to-” Rarity began before she knew what she wanted to say. The mayor cut her of with a move of her hoof.

”I’am not interested in your excuses, Rarity. I am just informing you.” She said with an ice cold voice. ”Flim and Flam will come by, as soon as they have inspected the damages to their machine, to tell you of the charges. I should warn you that the evidence is rather clear…”

”W-what?” Rarity said with a small voice. She had not thought of the fact that she was caught red hoofed tying to sabotage Flim and Flam. Of course there would be a punishment. ”W-what will happen to me?” She did not want to know the answer.

”Depends on the charges,” The mayor explained in the same ice cold voice. ”Probably a fine or some time in jail.”

Rarity felt as if a trapdoor opened beneath her. Jail. She, Rarity, would go to jail? She started to sob quietly on the floor. She had never thought this could ever happen to her. Jail was for bad ponies, and Rarity was not a bad pony. Right? Sure, she had crossed the line, but she never had a choice. That did not make her a bad pony, did it?

What would happen to Sweetie Belle? What would she think when she found out? Would her friends come and visit her? Or would they just deny that they ever knew a criminal like her? What would happen to her boutique? Would Celestia banish her? Perhaps Flim and Flam charged her with attempted murder? Perhaps she would be encased in stone like Discord had been, or trapped beneath a glacier like Sombra?

Rarity continued to picture nightmare scenarios for an undefined amount of time. She felt pretty sure she would be imprisoned in Tartarus together with Tirek when she heard the door open again. She looked up apathetically, and saw her five friends coming through the door. None of them looked angry, they just looked confused and sad. Somehow, that only made Rarity feel worse than if they had yelled at her.

”Rarity?” Twilight asked carefully, ”How… how do you feel?”

Rarity looked down as the tears began to fell again. She took one quivering breath before answering. ”W-what could I say? I feel awful,” She said with a thick voice that steadily rose to a wail. ”I will never regain t-trust in Ponyville again, I-I will be p-put in j-jail, and m-my sister will be out of a h-home… my life is in tatters!”

”Shh, calm down, Rarity.” Twilight silently said to her friend as she draped a wing around her. ”Flim and Flam have kept… this… a secret, so your reputation is unhurt.”

”Yea, and we will look after Sweetie Belle for you,” Pinkie Pie said with a small smile. ”Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,”

”Thanks…” Rarity said sullenly as she looked at he floor. ”Thanks for… caring about some pony like me…”

”Ye’r our friend Rarity, an’ nothin’ will change that,” Applejack said softly. ”Nothin' will ever change that.”

Rarity sat on the floor and cried for a little while, lost in thought. When she looked up, her voice had stabilized somewhat. ”W-where are… they? Shouldn’t they be here?”

Twilight got something worried in her eyes for the fraction of a second. ”They are here… they sent us to collect you…”

Rarity gathered what little courage she had before she spoke. ”W-well then, let’s… let’s get this over with…” She tried to get up, only to cry out when she put her weight on her injured hoof.

”Let me help,” Fluttershy said softly as she put Rarity’s hoof over her shoulder. Together the six ponies marched out of the cell, and into a small meeting room. Across a table sat Flam, along with Mayor Mare and, for whatever reason, Derpy Hooves. Flim paced nervously behind them. They all looked up when the friends entered the room.

Rarity was surprised by the looks she got. Flim looked so nervous he had trouble breathing. The Mayor tried to give Rarity a disappointed glance, but seeing her with her friends made it come out a sad grimace. Derpy looked confused and sad, and Flam’s face was an unreadable mask, set in stone. He eyed Rarity with a completely neutral look.

”Well, everypony, let’s get underway,” Mayor Mare said with a mature tone. ”I’m afraid I must ask you to leave,” She nodded towards Rarity’s friends. They helped Rarity sit down on the chair across Flam, and began to slowly leave. Twilight stayed with Rarity the longest, a hoof on her shoulder.

”Please, Mayor,” She said with a pleading voice. ”Let me stay. I wont say a word, just please let me stay…”

”Afraid not, Princess Sparkle, ” Mayor mare said curtly. ”Princess or not, you are still bound by Equestrian law.”

Twilight made sure not to show how nervous she was to Rarity, flashed a reassuring smile and slowly left the room.

As the door closed, Rarity felt like she would retch. She looked at Flam, trying to deduce anything from his face. She failed.

”So, Mr. Flim and Flam,” Mayor mare began with an official voice. ”You are requested to share the charges against miss Rarity and present a testimony to begin prosecution.”

”Esteemed Mayor,” Flim said with a nervous, but hard, voice. ”I must emphasize that I must not be here.”

The mayor heightened an eyebrow and beaconed to Flim to continue.

”I signed over my part of Flim and Flam’s Fast Fabulous Fashionable Finery to my brother,” Flim said with a more secure voice. ”He is the only one who was wronged in this affair. I request to leave.”

The mayor looked surprised, but recovered quickly. ”Very well, Mr. Flim. You may leave.”

Flim did not have to be told twice. He bolted for the door with a speed that would have yielded an invitation to the Wonderbolts, had they been there to see it. When he left the room, he faced ten eyes with varying degrees of suspicion.

”Are… are y’all done?” Applejack asked in a nervous voice.

Flim shook his head. ”I… This is not my place,” he declared while looking at Applejack with apologetic eyes. ”I never cared for the store, really. I just wanted to get a chance to make things up to you, Applejack. Rarity could have burnt it for all I care.”

”What are you talking about, you creep?” Rainbow Dash said as she glared at the Unicorn. ”And why are you staring at Applejack for.”

”He is mah special somepony, ye big dope,” Applejack said unceremoniously. The look on Rainbow Dash’s face was priceless. ”Maybe ye shouldn't spend two weeks at flight camp without writing…”

”Hey, I tried to write-” Rainbow Dash began before she was cut of by Applejack.

”And yer brother? Did… did he care?” Applejack asked carefully.

”Maybe,” Flim admitted. ”But I feel that he was wronged more by Rarity’s actions than I was, so he should decide her fate alone.”

”An’ why is that?” Applejack asked, now more nervous. She had thought that Flim might be merciful on Rarity, for the sake of them being together.

”My brother helped Rarity in any way he could. Every evening he went to her, even though she was his competitor. He tried to help, and this is how she repaid him,” Flim’s voice had changed into something that Applejack had never heard before; anger. ”I may not know much about friendship yet, but I know that is not how you repay somepony who tries to help you.”

The ponies stood silent, for they knew Flim was right in a way. They waited nervously.

*****

Left in the room, Rarity saw Flim disappearing, leaving her with Mayor Mare, Flam and Derpy.

”So, Rarity,” Flam said neutrally. ”I must say I was surprised when I woke up and saw my brother’s machine ruined…”

Rarity fidgeted under his neutral gaze. Somehow, his complete lack of emotion frightened Rarity more than him screaming at her. It was as if she listened to a speaking rock, it was impossible to make out any intentions, and there was no emotions to speak to.

”I really did not quite believe Mayor Mare when she said it was you who had broke into our humble store,” Flam continued with the same frightening neutrality. He placed two papers in front of him, both upside down. ”I just have one little question before I present my charges,” He said calmly.

Rarity looked up through tear-filled eyes. His face still was an unreadable mask. ”Is there anything you want to say to me?”

The words stuck in Rarity’s throat. They were so many they could not all be voiced. ”YES!” She screamed, far louder than she had imagined.

”YES, I’M SORRY, I NEVER WANTED TO, BUT I HAD TO, I PROMISED SWEETIE BELLE! I AM SORRY I DESTROYED YOUR MACHINE AFTER ALL YOU DID FOR ME! I AM SORRY, PLAEEEEZE, I AM SORRY-Y-Y!”

Any further words were lost in the torrent of tears and hiccups that followed, since Rarity pretty much broke down. Mayor Mare and Derpy looked at her, confused as to what they should do. Flam kept his face neutral.

Flam took his hoof from one of the papers and slid it upside down towards Rarity. ”These are the charges, and the penalty I will press for. Mayor mare, Ditzy, I want a word with you alone.” With that, Flam rose from the chair and went out the door. He ignored the gathered friends and beaconed his brother to follow. Flim, Flam Ditzy and Mayor Mare left the building, but nopony cared. They all barraged into the meeting room.

Rarity was laying in a shaking wreck of a Unicorn, crying uncontrollably into the wooden table. She looked up at her friends when they entered. Her expression was enough to make Tirek feel sorry. Her eyes were red and the carefully applied makeup was smeared all over her face. The tears made white lines appear under her eyes as they washed away the mascara. Combine this with the weird hair she had gotten due to the electric shock, and the bandaged hoof, and the result was pitiful.

The friends hurried forward to comfort her in any way they could.

”Rarity, what happened?” Twilight asked.

”Ehm… what did he want?” Fluttershy asked silently.

”I will kick his flank from here to Appleloosa!” Rainbow Dash declared. She was quickly restrained by Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

”Rarity, please tell us,” Twilight said softly to her sobbing friend. Rarity moved a shaking hoof towards the still turned paper. Twilight turned it.

Five ponies looked dumbfounded at the charges. The paper was blank.

”Rarity…” Twilight said happily. ”You are free.”

*****

”Mayor Mare, Ditzy,” Flam said neutrally. ”I want you to forget that this ever happened. There will be no persecution, and Rarity will never hear a word about this again. And Ditzy, perhaps you could stop with those midnight muffins?”

The Mayor looked surprised, but a smile shone on her lips nonetheless. ”Done, Mr. Flam. I have already forgotten.”

”Me too,” Derpy said with hanging head. ”But can’t I have my midnight muffin in the bathroom, at least? No windows…”

Flam allowed a smile to break his neutral face. ”Alright, midnight muffin will be moved to the bathroom… that was a sentence I never thought I would say.”

Flim and Flam started walking away from Town Hall together. They walked in silence for a while, before Flam broke it. ”So, brother, how long will you need to repair the machine?”

”I’m afraid It won’t be ready before the summer sun celebration,” Flim answered with an apologetic tone and happy smile. ”Those wires are not the easiest thing to fix… But once I do, what will happen to her then?”

Flam chuckled. ”I will make sure her store survives, or my name isn’t Flam. Actually… I may or may not have taken a liking to that mare… in more than one way….”

Flim whistled. ”Well, brother, I really think there is opportunity for you in that community…”

Flam smiled at his brother’s encouragement, and threw the other paper he had placed in front of Rarity in a trashcan. The words ”Prosecution”, ”property damage" and ”breaking and entering” could be seen on it.

The End…?

Author's Note:

So... that was my first story. Please tell me what you think.

Also, I will not promise a sequel, but it is fully possible...

Thank you for your time.

//Slivermyr

Comments

[Silvermyr]

6184347 I have always considered Flim and Flam's cutie marks to signify their cooperation. As long as they are together, they can accomplish much, be it selling cider or clothing.

[rosebug]

I liked it! There were a few spelling errors, but nothing too glaring.

Also those are some really expensive clothes, I suppose it makes sense in context, but I could see why most of the ponies in Ponyville prefer to go without clothes.

[Silvermyr]

6315559 I am very glad you liked my story. I would also be must grateful if you were to point out any spelling mistakes you find so that they might be corrected.

[flowergirl13]

Great story! Now this made ship Rarity & Flam I hope you can make more stories with this ship in it too in the future!