In Bad Faith [S4: "Leap of Faith"]
Having once again been shown up by the Apples of Ponyville, the Flim Flam Brothers stood at the west road out of town.
"So, where to next, brother?"
"I'm thinking Appleloosa, brother!"
"Has a nice ring to it, plus the Buffalo are—"
"Excuse me, gentlecolts. I'd like a word."
The brothers turned at the soft voice. A familiar mare trotted up to them—familiar, yet different.
The last time they'd seen her, she didn't have wings.
"Well, well! If it isn't Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Flim said.
"A pleasure, Your Highness," Flam added, bowing.
"Can we interest you in some of our high quality merchandise?" Flim offered.
"At the...royal discount, of course," added Flam.
"Of course!" Flim agreed.
"No thank you," Twilight said primly, flaring her wings. "I've just been informed that the two of you have been selling a fake tonic and offering ponies false promises about its effects."
"Lies and slander!" Flam scoffed.
"Balderdash," Flim added.
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "I analyzed a sample of the tonic myself," she said. "In my personal laboratory. It has no medicinal value whatsoever."
Flim and Flam glanced at each other.
"The last time you two were in Ponyville," Twilight said, "you weren't really doing anything wrong. You were kind of jerks to my friend Applejack and her family, but there wasn't really anything illegal about what you were doing, and the Apples agreed to that whole silly cider contest." She pawed the ground with a hoof. "This time, however, you were scamming ponies out of money with false advertising and a blatant con game."
"And...and what of it?" Flim asked, trying not to show his nervousness.
"And if you know what's good for you, you'll learn from this and try your hoof at making a living as honest businessponies. Learn from Applejack. She's successful because she's honest and hardworking. She doesn't lie to ponies and scam them out of their bits. She does business in a simple, honest, and straightforward way. Ponies like her. Ponies respect her. Ponies do business with her again and again."
Flam grimaced. "Fine points all, but surely you realize that for travelling salesponies, things are a bit more...cutthroat."
"It's a hard life on the road," Flim added.
"Tough to say what'll take off in any given market."
"Competition from established local businesses."
"We have to stand out or we won't make any sales."
"It's just part of how we do business."
Twilight's eyes grew tighter still. "Then maybe," she said dangerously, "you should stop being travelling salesponies and open a real shop somewhere. Maybe a Barnyard Bargains franchise? I'm sure Filthy Rich would cut you a nice percentage."
"We, uhh...prefer to be our own bosses."
"One hundred percent of the profits, that's the only way to go!"
"Plus, we like to keep our overhead low."
Twilight massaged the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. "Fine, whatever. I honestly don't care what you two do with your lives, so long as you're not taking advantage of other ponies. But there is one thing I know you gentlecolts won't be doing ever again."
Flim and Flam glanced at one another. "And, err...what might that be?" Flam asked.
Twilight glared at them. "You will never set hoof in Ponyville again," she declared. "I may not be used to the idea yet or comfortable with the power I have now, but I am a Princess of Equestria, and I'm issuing a royal proclamation." She arched her neck and spread her wings to their full span. "By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the unicorns Flim and Flam are banished from Ponyville forevermore and forbidden from conducting business within five miles of the town borders."
The two stallions retreated a step. "Err...you uhh...err..."
"Are you serious?"
Twilight's horn glowed, and a startled frog appeared in front of the stallions. With a blast of her magic, the frog turned into an orange.
The twins stared at it.
"Any questions?" Twilight asked sweetly.
"Uhh...no, Your Highness," Flim said.
"We'll just, err...be on our way, and..." Flam hedged.
Quickly hitching themselves to their wagon, the stallions turned tail and ran.
Twilight smirked, then turned the orange back into a frog. "Sorry about that," she said.
The frog croaked at her and hopped away.
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Poor frog, but it did help get Twilight's point across.
There's just no helping some people. Especially people who, when given the internal combustion engine, tried to use it to acquire a farm. But that's a postscript for another episode.
Flim and Flam just never learn, do they? Oh well, at least now they can't stir up anymore trouble in Ponyville.
AJ could have sued F&F for using her image in their products without her consent.
While an enjoyable sight to see of Twilight exerting her Princess authority for once, I think I'd have preferred Flim and Flam facing a lawsuit.
Just one word:
Brilliant.
I was expecting the royal proclamation to take the form of a geas, making it physically impossible for Flim and Flam to enter Ponyville.
Twilight just nearly brushed with animal cruelty here.
How disappointing.
The perfect opportunity for someone to point out the apple-cider cart worked, produced a product that others enjoyed, and that MAYBE they might consider partnering with not only Applejack but OTHER apple farms to rent out their cider machine(s), speed up production while keeping quality, and leaving less to go to spoil. But no. Instead, in your infinite wisdom, you leave it for the supposed Princess of Friendship to ban someone from town.
7260627
Of course, in the comic canon, they turn up later in the Crystal Empire to stir up trouble alongside Iron Will, Chrysalis, and Sombra.
7260627
Oh they learn from their mistakes, just not the right lessons. One thing that always holds true when it comes to making money is that there are some people that will buy almost literally anything if the properly-charismatic person tries to sell it and if there is even a slight need from the customer for the product. Another is that sometimes using machinery does indeed turn a better profit than harvesting and crafting something by hand, and even with maintaining it and cleaning it, it will still take an amazingly shorter amount of time to do it.
Their first mistake was that they were greedy (which hasn't really changed, however, they did change their product/service). If they'd offered the Apple family a better split in profits, I have zero doubt that AJ and Big Mac would have agreed to use their machine. But they tried to take the lion's share instead, and that led to that stupid competition, which in the end wouldn't have served them well anyway since they most likely knew zilch about farming and caring for the farmland.
If their Suspiciously Specific "Theorizing" regarding the ingredients ("apple juice and beet leaves") is anything to go by, they had a nutritious -- and possibly delicious -- beverage. Problem is, that's not what they were selling it as...