The Dazzlings' Shrines

by HorsesandMOARGaloar

Anterior

Guided by the white star-pony's light, Flim and Flam made their way through the passages of the cavern.

"If I had brought my skis with me, I would totally run through this course," Double remarked. In his sharp eyes, he noticed that many of the cavern's bridges appear to be shaped like a maze of platforms. "I'm sure that I can jump through those gaps, dudes."

The distance of the gaps and their steep height made the two brothers uneasy, but it caused Flim to panic. "Oh, brother," he muttered, "h-how are we going to make it through?"

The white horse to their right grinned. "I've got an idea, dudes," he suggested, and presented his right hoof. "Hold my hoof!" he cried.

Flim and Flam were shocked by this bizarre plan. "What," Flam groaned, "you think you can jump that high?"

"Just do as I say, will you?"

Flam raised his right hoof, and Double held it.

"You should hold on tight until I let you go!" The white pony started quickly spinning in circles, before throwing the screaming mustached pony to the other side on the cavern, where he slammed against the wall and landed on another cliff with a thud. Flim was shocked by how this white pony showed himself to be be more stronger and tougher than how he appeared.

"By Celestia's cakes," he yelled, "what in Equestria is wrong with you?! And my hoof has gotten too hot - ow!" Then he heard some kind of clownish laughter nearby.

"What's the matter, buddy?" that shrill voice asked. "Aren't you scared of ... true happiness?" It came from a blue unicorn stallion with a puffy mane and tail, and a magenta balloon poodle on each rump. His eyes appeared to drift away from each other, and his mouth has been opened to a broad smile.

"Come on, buddy," the blue horse glared, "I know you'll like it, would you?"

Flam kicked the blue horse in the face, and fled to the tunnel to his left. "Somepony, anypony, help me rid myself of this creature!!!" he cried.

Double then turned towards the other brother, who backed away and pointed his horn forward. "Stay back, whoever you are," he muttered again, "I'm warning you, I have a horn, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Then I ... have this!" The star-pony's light became so bright, that he and Flim would have been able to see the details of the roof of the cavern. Instead it stunned Flim, causing him to tumble behind. He felt as if the Sun had quickly entered the cave and seared her light into his fur.

"Aaargh!" the younger salespony cried out. "It burns! Get it off me!"

"Sorry, dude," Double responded. "What I'm doing here is the quickest way for you and your brother to go through this cave, which may take ages to navigate by climbing and jumping. You don't want to die alone here, do you?"

The white horse then grabbed Flim by his left front leg. As he spun Flim around, the poor yellow pony's coat started to catch fire, causing him to howl in pain before he was flung over to the other side of the cavern. Then the white horse joined him there after leaping in a shining blast of flame.

The last thing Flim saw was that same blue unicorn, staring back at him with his drifted eyes. "Hello, there, skinny guy," he greeted. "Would you like to experience real happiness?"

--

The exhausted, irate Flam trotted forward, sighing in relief as the dreaded gleeful maniac was out of sight. And then he saw his brother sitting beside an emerald fountain.

"Flim, my brother," the mustached pony asked, "are you alright?" Flim turned his face to see his horrified brother: not only was Flam shocked in his brother's burnt coat, but even more from his insanity. Flim had that blue unicorn's big wall-eyed smile and mad laughter, and his shirt and vest had been damaged by his against the cliff.

"Oh, Fla-ha-ham!" he guffawed uncontrollably and rolled around. "I have stared into infinity, and infinity has stared back into my eardrums! Aha-aha-ahahahaha!"

Flam broke into tears, fearing that his brother is seriously hurt, not only in the hairs of his coat, but also in what sanity remained in his mind.

"Brother," Flam sobbed. "If only there's a way to save you."

"You could have, you cheating rat." Another voice scolded him, from out of nowhere. "Just wash him in the fountain's water, and he'll be as fit as a fiddle."

Flam knew that voice, being the voice of his foe. "Applejack," he angrily asked, "is that you? Did you arrange all this to make us suffer, you tyrant?!"

"I did not do it, Flam," the voice responded, "but for now, I would like to help you. And now that I've grown up and learned a lot, I'd like to let go of my misgivings and be nice."

The mustache pony was confounded by this: his enemy and rival, who hated him and his brother before, offering her forgiveness and friendship to them instead of gloating over their suffering?

"What happened to you, Applejack?" Flam asked.

"Getting sour over some problems would make you miserable, so I shouldn't spend the rest of my life seething in rage," she explained. "Why don't you just give him a bath in that emerald fountain, will you?"

"Are you sure that it can help him recover?"

"Trust me."

Flam carried his younger brother into the fountain and gently left his body to be bathed by its splashing waters. To the salepony's awe and delight, the fountain's waters caused his wounds to rapidly heal his wounds as Applejack rightfully said earlier. Flim got himself up and gasped for breath.

"My brother, my brother!" Flam sobbed and hugged him. "Without you, how can I face danger alone?"

"What ... what happened?" Flim asked and held his dazed head. "What is going on, brother of mine?"

"Perhaps Double treated you worse for some reason," his mustached brother answered. "Either way, brother, we need to keep moving on the path, or that delusional blue horse will drive us mad again."

As they walked into the hall-like cavern, Flam muttered to himself: "Someday," he grumbled, "We will have our revenge on that burning horse, his twisted friend, those three Sirens, and anypony who was behind all of this torture."

"What did you say, Flam?" his overhearing brother broke in.

"Just keep moving, will you?"

Author's Note:

(Picture by chainchomp2)