Flim and Flam's Friendship Wager

by A_Cloud

Flim and Flam's Friendship Wager

The lights and sounds of Las Pegasus rattled through Tempest’s head as she walked down the main street. Gaming establishments lined the street as far as she could see, with the tallest buildings somehow supported by clouds. “This truly is a work of wonder of pegasus magic. Such a shame it’s used for separating ponies from their money,” she muttered to herself.

Tempest was accustomed to disorienting sounds and explosions of light, having spent many years in battle, but these were different. The sounds were jingles of winning, not the awful noises of war. The lights were bright and clean. It was meant to make ponies feel welcome and happy.

She paused at a poster for a magic act. It featured a blue unicorn stallion levitating a saw over a box with a green pegasus mare inside. “Using real magic to perform fake magic. This town is absurd,” she said to the poster. Glancing at the unicorn’s pristine horn brought her own broken one to mind. Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes, and moved on. The purpose of her visit wasn’t the shows or games. She’d been invited by a set of twin brothers to come to their resort, though she didn’t quite understand why, or how they’d found her. Though after doing a little research on them, she discovered they could use a few lessons in friendship. They had a history of swindling ponies and didn’t ever seem to learn from their failure. Perhaps she could turn the purpose back on them.

Reaching with her muzzle into her saddlebag, she retrieved the invitation, which contained the address. It was only a few blocks away. Increasing her pace to a trot she thought, No reason to waste time.

After quite a bit more trotting, she reached the entrance of the resort. There was a yellow earth pony stallion wearing a suit at the door. Tempest retrieved the invitation from her saddlebag and showed it to him. "Flim and Flam are expecting me. My name is Tempest Shadow."

"Ah, yes unicorn," he sneered, "I've been informed of your arrival."

Tempest grimaced at the strange greeting. "I would appreciate you using my name," she told him. She watched his eyes darting to see the top of her head.

"My apologies, Tempest," he began. “They have a special room for you, and are eagerly awaiting. I can let them know you’re here.” He then spoke softly into a small microphone on his collar. Tempest strained to hear his words, but to no avail. “We have someone arriving to assist you,” the stallion explained, never changing his disdainful expression.

“Thank you, sir,” Tempest said. A few moments passed and a slender, tall light blue unicorn mare with a silver mane appeared in front of her. “You are Tempest Shadow, I presume?” the mare said. Tempest nodded. “I am Fleeting Glimpse. I’ll be assisting you, though I’m sure you guessed that by now. The brothers told me you would have a rather unique physical feature by which I would recognize you. I do apologize for the insensitivity, but that is how they are.”

Fleeting turned to the concierge. "Thank you," she said.

The concierge gave Fleeting Glimpse a look of disdain, which she returned in kind. "Don't think I'm beginning to like you," she spat.

"I never would, unicorn."

Fleeting turned away and walked inside, with Tempest following. "I'll show you to your room. By the way, that earth pony didn’t offend you, did he?”

Tempest gave her a puzzled look. “No, though I thought it was strange that he called me unicorn, rather than my name.”

“I doubt I would need much assistance. Nothing personal, but I can take care of myself.”

“No offense taken, though the brothers prefer to never meet with guests without having me guide them.”

“They really are full of themselves.”

Fleeting nodded, “Indeed, but at least they are fellow unicorns.”

“Um, of course, though does that matter?”

“Oh, doesn’t it always? But never mind that, let’s continue.” They walked through the spacious lobby. Large portraits of the brothers together hung on the wall behind the check-in desk, but they were unlabeled, so Tempest couldn’t tell one from the other, besides one having a mustache. The check in desk was long and made of ornate wood and marble. Gold pillars adorned the walls, reminding Tempest of an opulent castle. It made Tempest feel small, and it might have intimidated her in her younger days.

Fleeting led Tempest to an elevator and used her magic to activate a particular set of buttons. “This is for security. They’ve made few friends in this town.”

Tempest stepped inside. “Oh, I’ve looked into them, I understand why that would be. Perhaps I can change that.”

“If they are the way they are after having their own tricks used against them by Gladmane, I doubt anypony can change them. Though I wish you luck.” Fleeting activated a series of buttons, the doors closed, and they began to rise.

There was silence for a moment, but Tempest had a burning question. “Why would anyone work for these guys? Why do you?”

“Somepony needs to keep them in check. They need people around to tell them when they have a bad idea, or to be careful with how they treat guests. It’s a difficult task,” Fleeting sighed, “but with the way things are these days, perhaps fewer friends is better.”

“I’ve recently found that to be untrue. I do hope to make your job easier.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. A long hallway with only a few doors on either side opened before them. “They wanted you to have the best of accommodations.” Fleeting opened a door near the end of the hallway.

The room appearing before Tempest was enormous. She felt dazzled for a moment but kept her stern appearance. Fleeting perked her ears forward, indicating she noticed anyway. “Yes, this is one of our best, though not on the level of our Alicorn suite a few floors up. However, this room has anything you could ask for. There are two beds, a foldout, a fully functional kitchen should you feel the need, a small library, and the bathroom is exquisite.”

“This was really not necessary, but I believe I’ll be fine here.”

“Certainly. I left my number next to the phone. I’ll let you know when they want to see you.”

Fleeting departed and Tempest was left alone. She wandered the room, exploring every corner. The library had books of every kind, from Daring Do to encyclopedias. There were several works on magic as well. The kitchen was fully stocked with every kind of cooking utensil, including a full set of eating ware for four. Each bed could fit four ponies. “This is so wasteful, but I believe I can handle it for a day.” She jumped on one of the beds and sank in, she closed her eyes and smiled, admiring the softness of the mattress. “Just for a little bit…” She drifted off to sleep.

*****

A soft knocking awoke Tempest. She immediately sat up, still trained from years of battle to be alert. She peered at her surroundings and remembered where she was. The knocking started again, directing her attention to the door. She sprang out of bed and answered it. Fleeting Glimpse was on the other side. “Ah, you’ve been resting. I’m sorry to have bothered you. But the brothers wish to speak to you now.”

“Is it that obvious?” Tempest moaned.

“Your mane is terribly out of place, if you don’t mind my saying something. I’ll give you a few moments to prepare.” Fleeting smirked.

“Oh, yes, thank you.” Tempest went to the bathroom and cleaned up. As she did, she thought about what lay ahead. They were top notch scam artists, or they thought they were, quick with a wit and an offer. This much she knew from stories from others. She knew they usually preyed upon the weak and gullible. “I suppose that’s why they run this place.” Finishing her routine, she emerged from the bathroom a few moments later in better shape and presented herself to Fleeting Glimpse.

“We shall be on our way. They have been telling me how much they look forward to seeing you.”

“As do I.”

Fleeting led Tempest to the elevator, taking it to an even higher floor. The doors slid open and before them was a long hallway with a single door on the other end. They approached it and Fleeting pressed a buzzer. The door opened revealing an office with large with high ceilings and adorned with statues of golden ponies on either side of the entrance. Certificates of many different honors with dazzling script inside stained wood frames hung on the walls. Two massive desks sat on the other side of the room overlooking large windows outside of which and far below was the main floor of the resort itself. The chairs at the desks were turned to face the windows. On each desk sat plaques with the names of Flim and Flam. Tempest was silently grateful for that. She could never remember which one was which, despite having photos.

Fleeting spoke up, “Sirs, your guest, Tempest Shadow, is here.”

The chairs turned in unison away from the window to reveal the twin brothers. “Thank you, Ms. Glimpse,” Flim said.

“We’ll take it from here,” Flam finished.

Fleeting nodded, turned away, and left, closing the door behind her.

Flim and Flam stared from behind steepled hooves at Tempest. They both wore matching blue and white striped shirts and pork pie hats and were somewhat taller and lankier than typical stallions. They said nothing for a moment, and then Flam spoke up first. “You’re a difficult pony to find.”

Flim continued, “Yes, we had to do a lot of work to get you here.”

Tempest remained stone-faced. “I’m not sure why you’ve invited me, but whatever you offer, I don’t want. I came because I can offer you something you desperately want, and you don’t even know it.”

Flim smiled and spoke up, “You accepted our invitation, yet you come to give us something instead? No, I don’t believe that. You must have come because you want something. You’re a war hero, perhaps a little fame and money?” Tempest winced at being called a war hero.

Flam continued, “If you’re offering charity and kindness, that’s useless. We are businessponies, and money is our motivation. It’s even better when ponies will willingly give it to you!” The two laughed.

Tempest stepped forward and narrowed her eyes with determination. “That’s no excuse. I know of quite a few businessponies who are kind and generous. And if you intend to mock me, you’ll find me harder to offend than you believe.” She opened her eyes fully and glared. “On another note, perhaps you can explain to me why the first two ponies I meet here seem to be at each other's throats?”

“Do you mean our concierge High Hat and our assistant Fleeting Glimpse?” Flim asked, his demeanor changing to give a look of what Tempest thought could be genuine concern.

Flam finished, “Were they arguing? That does happen sometimes among these high stress positions. I’m sure it’s something we can work out. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

Tempest glared, skeptical that they would miss such obvious signs. “They seemed to dislike each other due to their respective pony kinds. I find it unnerving,” she explained.

“Preposterous!” they exclaimed together. “Pony races have been at peace with each other for countless moons,” Flam said incredulously.

“Yes, we’d have noticed something like that! If we didn't take of them, then we'd never have money.” Flim finished.

“Of course they mean nothing but money to you,” Tempest countered, “but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that they mean a little more than that, just so I have somewhere to start.”

The brothers slid from their chairs and approached her. Flim spoke first. “Let’s get to business. We only invited you in the hope that one of Equestria’s most feared fighters and respected heroes would be willing to promote our resort.”

Flam finished, “You can’t be making enough money on this friendship tour, after all.”

Tempest scoffed, “I get by just fine. This may sound alien to you, but I don’t care about money. And under what moon would you think I’d be interested in promoting anything? Do I seem like the sellout type to you?”

The two looked down their noses at her, folded their ears back, and smiled. “Everypony has their price, my dear,” Flam stated, “we discover that every day.”

“Indeed, to have you become one of our ambassadors would be quite the steal,” Flim continued. “After all, it isn’t a whole lot different from what you’re doing now, just with prestige.”

The twins’ horns glowed in unison, and there was a sound of a door opening behind her. “Let’s see how you feel about that after we show you around,” Flim said.

“Yes, come visit the floor, play a few games, have a good meal,” Flam offered.

Tempest was tempted. A good meal would be quite welcome. “I’ll entertain your offer, but you should entertain mine as well. It’s only fair.”

“We’ll consider it,” the twins said in unison.

*****

The three ponies walked the gaming floor. Flim and Flam were all smiles as employees and guests greeted them and thanked them for their hospitality. The brothers returned their gratitude by giving away free chips (of small denomination, of course), drink tickets, and vouchers for rooms for a future stay. Always something small to make the ponies want to come back for more.

Tempest felt sick. She recognized a lot of the tricks the dealers played. Cards were being dealt so fast that most ponies didn’t see how they came from different parts of the deck. She saw several dice tables where the die seemed to always land on the same numbers. Of course, it’s all rigged, she mused, there are probably a few ringers working for them, making sure the good players don’t get out of control. This is how they do it. They can afford to give away their little things by getting the fix in on the big things. Disgusting.

Observing the crowd, she noticed something odd. The ponies seemed to be grouping together in their own races, even among the dealers. There was a card table of nothing but pegasi. Earth ponies would swerve well out of their way to avoid her, and pegasi would simply fly right over. She watched a unicorn sit at a dice table full of earth ponies, only to have the earth ponies all cash out and leave. “How could they possibly not notice this?” she muttered; certain the brothers wouldn’t hear her over the dull roar of the crowd. Despite all this, nopony seemed to care that the twins were unicorns. Pegasi and earth ponies approached them with no reluctance. Power has its perks, I suppose.

Tempest wondered how this had happened in the first place. We’ve been at peace with each other for countless years. Why now? This is everything I’ve worked against since leaving The Storm King. This is terrible. They should be friends having a good time. Something has gotten into these ponies’ heads, and I don’t know what. This is going to blow up.

They came upon a card table where a single earth pony stallion was sitting with a group of unicorns. A brave pony, Tempest observed.

“Good afternoon, ponies,” greeted Flam, “How do the games go?”

“I’ve had better luck,” said a unicorn as he frantically rearranged his cards, obviously hoping to find a pattern that wasn’t there. He pushed the last few chips from his meager pile into the center. “All in,” he choked.

“Oh, what a shame,” Flim feigned concern, “There are always other games. Don’t give up on the odds.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You own the place.”

The earth pony remained silent. He used his mouth to barely lift the cards from the table and stare at them. Tempest saw the flash of glee on his face, noting that he couldn’t have made it any plainer that he had a good set. The pile of chips on the table in front of him told the story of his success. He set the cards back down, then pushed chips equal to the amount of the unicorn’s into the center. “Call.”

“Oh, c’mon!” the unicorn said with exasperation as he slapped his cards on the table. “How the hay? This is all I have left!” He was nearly in tears.

All the other ponies at the table folded. A few slumped in their seats with frustration.

“Show em’ fellas,” the dealer said.

The unicorn flipped his magic, revealing he had nothing. The earth pony grabbed his cards in his mouth and flipped them. A good set that nopony was going to beat. He reached for the chips, but the unicorn levitated them and threw them in the earth pony’s face. “Take them you filthy mud pony. And stop getting your slobber all over the cards. You know, I may have lost but at least I’m a unicorn.”

The earth pony jumped from his chair and leaned forward into the unicorn’s face. “What did you call me?!”

Flim and Flam tried to break it up. “Gentlecolts, please, there is no need for this acrimony!” Flam pushed them apart with magic.

Flim stepped next to the unicorn. “We’ll comp you a meal, and 100 bits of free chips, maybe get your luck back! This isn’t worth fighting over!”

The unicorn pushed him away. “No, I’m done with this. It’s time to show this mud pony his place.” He walked around the table to the earth pony and got right in his face.

The earth pony smirked. “You’re just jealous you don’t have the cunning of an earth pony. You wanna go? I’ll show you what…” The unicorn levitated a stool and smashed it over the earth pony’s head, causing him to stumble, but he regained his footing.

“No, please, stop!” Flam pleaded.

“What are you doing?” Flim said, fear tinging his voice.

The unicorn used his magic to shove the brothers violently away. They stumbled into another table, but were stabilized by several patrons.

“You think that hurt me?” the earth pony continued smirking, even with a trickle of blood rising from his scalp, “Let me show you how we do it.” He turned his backside quickly to the unicorn and bucked him. He was thrown violently into the table, knocking it over. The dealer continued to stand there, stunned.

A crowd had formed now, some cheering on their own kind. The other unicorns at the table had gathered to assist the one fighting. Encouragements poured forth. “Show him!” “Let him have it!” “You gonna take that?”

Tempest attempted to stop it. “Hey!” she shot sparks from her horn, “No more!”

One of the other unicorns shoved her away. “No, it’s time we ended this,” he said. He charged an earth pony that was part of the gathering around the fighter. The others followed. Chaos erupted as the remaining crowd got into the action.

Tables and drinks were flying like missiles. Ponies were tossed like toys. Shouts of anger and pain exploded from everywhere. Even the security guards had gotten involved.

A pegasus dived at Tempest. She quickly reacted to buck him, catching him squarely on the chin. His head snapped back, and he flew into an overturned table. She watched as he slowly crawled away, clearly knocked into another plane of existence. She hoped she hadn’t hurt him too bad. A pair of earth ponies walked toward her slowly. She made sparks fly from her horn and charged them. Their eyes grew wide with terror and they turned and ran.

Fleeting Glimpse appeared from the crowd; running toward Tempest, her face stricken with fear. “Help me!”

“No, you help me!” Tempest ordered as she reared up to kick a charging Pegasus, who was dispatched with ease.

“Wha- How?”

“You help run the place. Do something!”

“I don’t know what to do…” she was cut short by an earth pony who had jumped from a table and tackled her. She stumbled and fell as the pony tried to stamp on her prone back. Tempest rammed her head into the earth pony’s side, sending her into a wall. She assisted Fleeting to her hooves.

“Fleeting, if I could stop this, I would, but as you can see,” Tempest let useless sparks fly from the remains of her horn, “I can’t. I don’t want to keep hurting anypony.”

Tempest scrutinized the room, finally finding Flim and Flam cowering in a corner.

“You two need to stop this, or more ponies get hurt.”

“Why us?” Flam cried.

“You’re the only ponies they didn’t hate. You might be the only ponies they’ll listen to. You have to get this calmed down.”

“It looks like maybe it already is,” Flim said with astonishment. The crowd had started to go outside through the smashed windows and the remains of the doors.

“No, they’re taking it to the streets. You want to see a whole city get destroyed in a riot? This is how.”

The four of them hurried to the doors to see that ponies and other creatures from other resorts had spilled into the streets as well.

“They’re all about to start an all-out war,” remarked Tempest.

“Well, at least we unicorns have magic to protect ourselves,” Fleeting said with her nose in the air. “I say we go out there and let them know who’s in charge.”

“In charge?” Tempest said with shock, “what do you mean in charge? They’re our fellow ponies. We have to stop this!”

“I for one don’t see the point,” Fleeting replied, “Let them destroy each other, and then maybe we’ll be able to take care of our own needs.”

Tempest was silent, her mouth hanging open with astonishment.

Flim and Flam had been standing silently at the threshold of the door, looking as though they wanted to leave. “Are you two going to do anything, or just stand there stupidly?” Tempest provoked them with a nudge.

“What did Fleeting Glimpse mean?” Flam remarked.

“She meant… I, I don’t know.” Flim responded.

“She meant that she’s willing to allow this to go on until the unicorns win!” Tempest shouted.

They watched as the crowd organized itself into groups of each kind. With front lines forming, they found any piece of detritus and tossed it into an opposing group.

“Make a shield!” a voice called from somewhere in the group of unicorns. A shimmering magic developed around them, and a barrier went up around them. Other ponies tried to break through, only to break themselves upon it.

“Keep hitting it,” a voice called from the earth ponies, “we’re strong enough to break it!” A line of earth ponies charged into the shield, smacking into it with violent force, but all it did was vibrate. The earth ponies stumbled but attempted again and again.

Meanwhile the pegasi had been scattering across the city, beginning to pull the supporting clouds from places, hoping to cause the whole city to fall. The street underneath the unicorns partly collapsed, breaking the shield spell, and allowing the earth ponies into the unicorns, who they began to pummel.

Tempest watched this unfold in mere moments at the door. She was trying to think of a plan, but nothing came to mind. “How can I stop a brawl? I need riot control.” She turned to the brothers, “Help me do something, you weaklings!”

They continued to stand there, frozen in fear. Tempest grunted in frustration and charged out the door. Flim and Flam hesitated but followed. Fleeting remained inside.

Tempest leapt onto an upturned cart, clearly in the line of fire of many projectiles, but she showed no fear. She forced a massive barrage of sparks from her horn. This sight stunned the rioters for long enough that they stopped and turned to her.

“Good, now that I have your attention, maybe you can explain yourselves.” She shouted with authority.

“I don’t have to explain myself to a snobby unicorn!” a faceless voice cried from somewhere.

“Maybe you can explain to your families why you or somepony else didn’t return home tonight because Las Pegasus fell to the ground.”

The crowds had turned their attention to her, momentarily stopping their fusillade, though the tension was still clearly there. Police had finally appeared, protected by shields. They pushed the crowds apart. Some tried to fight, but they were overwhelmed by the threat of magically wielded batons.

Flim and Flam had finally appeared near her.

“By Celestia, brother. How will we ever recover?”

“This is surely dreadful, Flam. We’ve come back before.”

“But never from anything this bad.”

“There’s always a new challenge. I dare say…”

Tempest sharply turned and glared at them. “All you can think of is yourselves and your bits!” she said sternly, “Ponies were hurt, and maybe worse, and you still talk of nothing but yourselves.” Sparks began to fly from her horn and she slowly walked toward them, her voice softened to a growl, “You’ve never seen carnage; you don’t know pain. There is not a moment you’ve ever feared for your life!” Tempest was inches from their muzzles, she allowed the sparks to fly profusely from her horn, “Something terrible happened here, and we can help those who were hurt. I know you usually run away, but where can you run to now? We’re on a city in the sky that might be falling apart, literally. We may really plummet to the ground if the pegasi who run this city finish the job of taking it apart. You have nowhere to hide. Either do something, or you perish!”

They stared silently at her; eyes wide with fear as her broken horn continued to throw sparks.

She continued, “What will it be? You know there’s only one right answer.”

Flam gulped and spoke up. “We have an infirmary. There are signs to find it. It’s nothing special, but there should be plenty of first aid supplies.”

Flim continued, “And we have a safe room. It’s for employees, namely us, but it’s enormous. We have a lot of non-perishable foods in there, should it come to that.”

Tempest backed off. “It’s a start. But that’s not the only thing they’ll be looking for. They’ll want reassurance. I saw how they treated you. You’re trusted ponies to them, as sick as that makes me to say. A few words might really help. They’ll trust you, as stupid as that is. Try to be a voice of reason.”

*****

The brothers circled in the space between the crowds, their legs wobbly with reluctance. Tempest was an intimidating mare, to say the least. They could understand the power of her words. “She’s right, brother,” Flim said, “We really are in deep now.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Flim replied.

“We’re natural showmen, and we have a way with words. We do what we always do. We dazzle them.”

The shouting continued between the groups, but the violence had subsided. A few medics were treating injured ponies on the sidewalks. Flim and Flam stared in shock at the horror. “How could we have missed this?” Flam said.

“Because our guest Tempest was right about us. We don’t see anything past our own muzzles.”

“Well, we must do something.”

The brothers glanced at each other with fearful looks in their eyes. Flam took a deep breath. “Ponies, ponies, please! Look at what you’ve done to this wonderful city.”

“Yes,” Flim continued, “What reason is there for fighting?”

“Are you on their side now?” a voice shouted from the crowd.

“We are on everypony’s side,” Flam answered. “This is absurd, can’t you see?”

Boos and shouts of disapproval began to stream from the crowd. A few pieces of debris flew in their direction.

Flim and Flam backed away toward the building, all groups still shouting at them, and found a nearby carriage which had been flipped on its side. They climbed on top of it and made explosions of magical fireworks with their horns. The crowd quieted upon seeing the display and turned toward them. Flim spoke first with a firm authority, “Ponies! Is this really worth it? You’re all here to have a good time, and you’re fighting?”

Flam continued, “We’ve lived in peace for countless generations. Is our society so fragile that a few meager disagreements about who can do what kinds of magic will tear it apart? I don’t believe it is. Look at what you’ve done to this wonderful city. Look at what you’ve done to other ponies,” he gestured to the injured ponies on the street.

Flim resumed, “Some of you were friends and family, and you let petty differences like physical ability get ahead of that. We’ve never been ponies to discriminate. We love everypony’s money, but there’s a pain here that can’t be fixed with games.”

Flam finished, “Come inside. We have medicine and food. Let us mend these wounds.”

A few ponies broke from their ranks and approached the brothers. “Where do we go?” a pegasus mare asked, fear clearly in her eyes.

“Tempest will direct you,” Flam answered, “She’s in there waiting. She’s not nearly as frightening as she looks.”

Flim continued, “Some evil force has sown this distrust among us. For what reason we can’t imagine, and what this force is we don’t know. But we can’t let that finish this wonderful friendship we’ve built among our kinds.”

Flam finished, “Let’s finish this and clean up. By helping each other, we can end this animosity.”

The crowd was silenced. A few sobs echoed between the buildings. The police were able to back off for the first time, several of them revealing hastily painted symbols on their riot shields representing solidarity with their respective kinds. A few other ponies even started to clean the street.

Flim whispered in Flam’s ear, “You don’t really believe that ‘evil force’ stuff, do you?”

Flam answered, “Not really, but ponies need to believe that whatever happened isn’t their fault, at least until we can get this calmed for good.”

Fleeting came to them as they stepped down. “I allowed myself to fall to bad influence. I’ve let you down. I should let you know I’ll be resigning my services.”

“Nonsense, Fleeting, your expertise is needed now more than ever!” Flam exclaimed.

“Yes, we’re about to embark on something for which we are not prepared,” Flim finished.

Just then the sound of rushing air and the whistling of feathers broke the silence. A pegasus appeared and dropped from the sky onto the street, collapsing in exhaustion. A collective gasp arose from the crowd when they saw that it was Soarin, the famous Wonderbolt, uncharacteristically out of uniform. “We need everypony, as many as possible, now!” he exclaimed with his last bit of energy. “Canterlot! It’s been destroyed! And The Elements are nowhere to be found, not even Princess Twilight!” He coughed, out of breath.

With one last gasp he able to bellow, “Equestria is under attack!” before losing consciousness.

*****

Tempest funneled ponies through the wrecked resort, recruiting the healthy to help the injured. Fleeting had joined her, and Tempest was relieved to see she was okay, if a little worse for wear. The floor was beginning to be cleared of the detritus and some ponies skilled in first aid were beginning treatment. “I know where all of the supplies are,” Fleeting offered, “I can bring them all in here.”

“That would be greatly appreciated.” Fleeting departed to gather them.

These were scenes familiar to Tempest, but she could tell by the somber tone in the air and the quietude that most ponies were unaccustomed to such scenes. She had heard a few words of the brothers’ speech and made a note to herself to commend them for growing spines.

A commotion erupted outside and several ponies ran inside with the frantic news. “Did you hear?” one young stallion cried.

“Hear what?” Tempest replied.

It’s Soarin. He’s… He said that Canterlot was destroyed and we’re under attack!”

Tempest sprinted outside to see the unconscious pegasus on the street, several ponies were tending him. She broke through the crowd around him. “He’s not…?”

“No, he’s just exhausted,” an earth pony mare answered, “I’m a nurse. I think he’ll be fine. He’s an athlete in peak condition. He needs water and rest. Let’s get him inside.”

“Did he really say that?”

The mare nodded; her eyes holding a worried look. “If that’s true, then we have to get to Canterlot. There could be a lot of hurt ponies there,” she said.

“What’s your name?” Tempest asked.

“Redheart.”

“My name is Tempest.”

“I know you, you’re hard to forget,” she paused and drew a sharp breath, “I’m from Ponyville, and that’s very close to Canterlot. I’m really worried about the ponies I know. Some vacation this turned out to be.”

“We’re all worried. If what he said is true, then we have to get there.”

“He said The Elements were hiding,” Redheart began to tear up, “If they can’t do it, who can? I know them, I’ve treated them! They would never just run!”

“Whatever it is, they must have a good reason, but right now that means it’s up to us.”

*****

Flim and Flam had walked into the small crowd around Soarin, who had started to stir. Flim spoke loudly to the crowd having heard what Tempest had said, “It’s up to all of us. All ponies, griffins, changelings, dragons, and others need to band together against this faceless enemy.”

Flam continued, “This time is terrifying, no doubt, but there’s no other way.”

Soarin had awoken and sat up, revived by the steady doses of water. “The Wonderbolts saw everything from Cloudsdale,” he said shakily, “You can’t just go there unprepared.”

Tempest spoke up, “Who was it?”

Soarin gulped air, “Tirek and Chrysalis, and some little pink alicorn filly,” he replied as he rose unsteadily to his hooves. “I saw her before at our races, but she wasn’t an alicorn. She said she was a big fan.”

Mumbles arose when those names were spoken. “Tirek, the monster who stole magic from everypony?” a unicorn trembled.

“Yeah, that one,” Soarin explained. “It scares me a little. The guy sucked the magic right from me too. It was the worst thing I’ve ever felt.”

A unicorn stallion approached from the crowd. “I don’t know if it makes sense, but I have a weird story that might explain this.”

“Anything helps,” Flim encouraged him.

“Yes, elucidate,” Flam continued.

“Um, my name is Stargazer, and I, um, well… I have a friend in Canterlot. He said he met a unicorn who told him all the earth ponies and pegasi were hoarding all the food and stuff. I didn’t see it, but I trust him.”

“I heard that too!” somepony shouted from the crowd.”

“I heard the unicorns were planning on taking all the magic for themselves!”

A murmur arose that turned into a roar, as each pony told their own story.

“Please! Please!” the brothers shouted in unison, “We know everypony has something to say, but what’s important is that we know where the animosity came from,” Flim said.

Flam continued, “They wanted us to fight, to lose the unity we’ve gained. They believed they succeeded. But we are stronger than them. They spread lies and hate to make it easier to invade. No more!”

The crowd started stamping their hooves in approval. There were cheers and whoops arising from all corners. Flim and Flam were taken aback in surprise, their eyes beginning to well up.

Tempest sidled next to them. “Looks like you’re in charge now. How does it feel?” she murmured.

“We’re not ready for this. Are we supposed to plan a war?” Flim asked with desperation.

“Let me handle those things. They needed a leader, and you two rose to the challenge.”

*****

Redheart had brought Soarin inside for further treatment. Tempest followed the two. Soarin rested on a mat made of tablecloths. Redheart placed a bowl of water in front of him and left to tend to others. He greedily lapped the water. When he was done, he turned his head to Tempest. “How many ponies here do you think would be willing to come with us to Canterlot?”

“You’re willing to go in your condition?” Tempest said skeptically.

“I’m fine. That was a hard flight, but I fly fast and long for a living. I can do it again. It’s more important that we get there.”

Tempest scoffed, “How would a bunch of untrained ponies be able to help in a war? You and I have had a few tussles, including with each other…” Soarin interrupted with a laugh at this line, and Tempest continued unamused, “But these ponies have no idea how to handle it. I just accidentally convinced those two con artists to be leaders,” she gestured toward the door with her head, “and they sure don’t have it. At least they can feign confidence. Nopony else here has that skill.”

Soarin was serious again. “I’m not so sure it’s that kind of war. I’ve seen a lot of weird magical stuff happen in these last few years. Those baddies have something like that about them. It’s unnatural magic. Maybe we just have to be there.”

Tempest considered his words. “That doesn’t really make any sense, Soarin. How could we help by just standing around?”

“Standing around here sure won’t help. We can’t let ourselves be enslaved. Or worse. Not without a fight. We did it when the Storm King…” he dropped his gaze to the ground. “Sorry.”

“Do you really think I hold that against Equestria? I was freed. And we’ll have to do it again. How do you know The Elements are in hiding?”

Soarin stood. “One of those foals from that Friendship School where Rainbow teaches came by and…”

“Rainbow’s what?” Tempest exclaimed.

“It’s a new thing that- Look, that’s not important. The kid gave a speech about friendship, so all of us in Cloudsdale dropped our animosity and went out to fight. I came here. We found out along the way that they were nowhere to be found.”

“Where are the other Wonderbolts?”

“We all spread out as far as possible, from Fillydelphia to Applewood. We even removed our uniforms so we could stay as discreet as possible. There aren’t enough of us to spread the warning though.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes. “I still don’t know about this plan of yours of just showing up.”

“Neither do I, but what other choice do we have?”

*****

Flim and Flam mingled among the crowd, hearing from ponies and all other creatures about their experiences. “When do we get to go to Canterlot?” an eager young earth pony stallion asked.

“When we know, gentlecolts, we’ll let you know. We’re working on a plan right now.” Flim answered.

“Who says we need a plan? I say go there and just kick some…”

“Let’s not be rash,” Flam interrupted, “We’re short on time, for sure, but there’s never no time for a plan.”

“They can’t stop us all,” an older pegasus stallion said from behind the younger one, “I’ve been in other battles. These evil beings are no match for us.”

Flam whispered into Flim’s ear, “Follow my lead,” and trotted away.

“What are you doing?!” Flim muttered as his brother left.

Flam answered, “That may be true, but we must organize.” He spoke louder, and most of the nearest in the crowd turned their attention on him. “Whoever has guard or military experience please step forward. We would prefer you, though others who feel brave enough can volunteer.”

Quite a few ponies and others stepped forward. “Flam, you trickster,” Flim grumbled to him. Then he spoke up, “You’ll be the ones others look to when we head out there,” Flim explained. “You have to be the rock in the storm.”

A unicorn mare spoke up. “I got out of the guard years ago. I’m not in the shape I used to be.”

“Few of us are,” Flam explained, “But it’s not about that. It’s about standing up against evil.”

“We’re not any less scared than you,” Flim continued, “but we are called to duty. We don’t have this experience either. We’ll need your help.”

“We’ll do anything we can, sirs,” a stallion’s voice rang out, but the brothers didn’t see who it was.

“What do you do, young mare?” Flam asked a pegasus.

“I’m an EMT. I thought maybe we’d need medics.”

“Let’s hope not,” Flam reassured her.

She continued, “I… I tried helping in the resort, but there were so many out here…”

“No need to worry about that now. You did what you could.”

The brothers spent time among their new crew, hearing stories from many ponies and others so they could understand what they had for the fight. When they finished, they returned to the front to find Tempest and Soarin waiting for them.

Tempest spoke up, “I see you’ve been busy.”

“This all just kind of happened,” Flam admitted.

“No, fellas,” she said, “you just drafted an army.”

The two stared at her with wide eyes.

“But you need a commander and an executive. Fortunately, you have what you need right here,” she gestured with her hoof to Soarin and herself.

“Now what?” Flim whimpered.

“Now we fight.”

*****

Soarin had been flying over the small army to count heads and report it to Tempest, as well as inquire about their battle experience. He landed at her hooves. “Forty-four total. Thirty ponies: Ten unicorns, eight earth ponies, and twelve pegasi. We also have five gryphons, three yaks, four hippogriffs, and two changelings. Most of them have seen some kind of action, so I think we’re good on that. Kinda surprising there’s no dragons. We could use that fire breath.”

“I’ve never had an army quite like this,” Tempest remarked.

“Me either. Hey, have you noticed there’s something strange about the sky? What time is it?” Soarin craned his head around, looking all over the sky.”

“It’s late afternoon, look at the sun…” She stopped as her eyes found a working clock, “9:30? That can’t be right.”

Soarin’s eyes grew wide. “It hasn’t moved for hours! The shadows have been still since I got here. That means…”

Tempest got goosebumps, realizing the true horror of the situation. “Celestia and Luna!” she gasped, “Those beasts got them too!”

A few in the crowd had heard her exclamation. Wails of agony began to arise.

“It’s hopeless!” a voice shouted.

“No, it’s not!” Flim shouted, “They need us too. You need to gather yourselves. We’re strong enough for this.”

“Yes, friends,” Flam continued, “Equestria is stronger than this. This only strengthens our resolve to beat these dastardly fiends!”

The crowd quieted. They gathered themselves into groups.

“This just means that we have to sleep in the daylight,” Tempest grumbled. “Let’s let them get some rest. Us as well.”

“We have plenty of rooms,” Flam offered. “I can’t imagine they were damaged. Though most of them were occupied.”

Flim continued, “And the injured are being moved to the hospital. I believe we have the space.”

Tempest considered his offer. She turned to the army. “How many of you are staying in this resort or one nearby?” Nearly all of them rose a hoof or claw. “What about the few who aren’t?”

“I live here!” a pegasus stallion shouted, “Well, over that way, pretty far,” he pointed, “I work down here on the strip.”

Tempest pondered for a moment. “Those of you staying here open your rooms to those who aren’t. We’ll be up tomorrow at 0700. There is a lot of work to do before we leave.”

“As for now,” Flam called out, “Let’s have ourselves a good dinner. The buffet is open!”

Flim whispered to his brother, “What’s left of it, anyway.”

“Not much, but we can get it going. There’s plenty of food in the freezer still.”

Tempest pressed her face into theirs, “What are you two up to?” she whispered angrily. “We’re about to go out and fight, and you’re encouraging frivolity!?”

“You wouldn’t want them to fight on an empty stomach, would you?” Flam answered.

“And they have a chance to bond,” Flim continued. “I’m not a fighter, but I can imagine that’s important.”

Tempest backed off and nodded her head in understanding. “Clever move. I could use that meal you promised after all.”

*****

The walls of the dining room echoed with excited conversation. A few ponies who could cook had made use of the kitchen to make a halfway decent meal. Others had managed to restore a few gaming tables and drag them in.

The four sat at a table away from the others, and they had been joined by Fleeting, who quietly and politely ate. “You’d never know they’re preparing to fight,” Soarin said in between bites of a pie, which he buried his muzzle in with gusto.

“I’ve heard it’s often this way in real armies. Mine was never like this.”

“Reminds me of being a cadet,” He said with flakes of gooey crust running off his chin. Tempest glared at him with disgust, but he seemed not to care.

“Aren’t you just for show?” Flim asked, looking up from his cold eggplant.

“Hey! We sometimes fight. Though it doesn’t feel right without my uniform. I wanna get it at some point.” He shoved his muzzle back in the pie.

Tempest looked away from the disgusting show but kept talking to him. “Why is it important?”

He lifted his head from the tin, which he had finally emptied. “Because I’m a Wonderbolt.”

“Will they be scared in the… morning I guess it would be? It all feels the same now.” Flam inquired.

“I’m sure they will be, but most of them have the experience. We’ll be fine.” Tempest explained.

“I’m scared.” Flam muttered.

“You’re crazy if you’re not.”

Flim turned to Tempest. “Shouldn’t there be a curfew or something? That’s how this works, right?”

“Let them go. We can talk to them soon.” She finished her food and pushed the plate away.

Soaring cleaned his face. “Well, I’m going to go play some games with them. I bet they’d love to hang out with a real Wonderbolt!” Tempest and the brothers watched him trot away toward the few card tables that had been set up. The ponies at the table swarmed him and he disappeared in the crowd.

“I should probably discuss some kind of strategy with him.”

“Why not us?” Flam asked.

Flim offered, “We’ve got a record of deceit and subterfuge that might come in handy.” This caused Fleeting to chuckle.

Tempest sighed and buried her head in her hooves on the table. “You never have the fighters you want, only the ones you have,” she grumbled. She raised her head. “We still don’t have any idea what we’re getting into. We’ll have to meet other ponies on the way or something. We don’t have enough information right now.” she sighed.

Tempest continued, “We can’t just march there. Everypony will get exhausted. And we kind of need to get down from here. Where are all the balloons? We’ll need at least eight.” She slumped in her chair. “Gahh! Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Flim interjected, “That, Tempest, I believe is something we can organize.”

“You don’t run a business without learning a few basics of organization.” Flam continued.

“We might have been swindlers, but this resort was a well-oiled machine,” Flim offered.

“We’ll have everything ready by the morning,” Flam finished.

Tempest narrowed her eyes in skepticism.

The twins grinned and spoke in unison, “Trust us!”

*****

The creatures in the crowd one by one had left until all that remained were a few stragglers, Soarin, and Tempest. The brothers had left. Tempest presumed it was to fulfill their promise. She still didn’t quite trust them, but they were going through the right motions.

Tempest approached Soarin, a pegasus mare, and a unicorn stallion sitting at a card table. “You didn’t bet any real bits, did you, Soarin?”

Soarin chuckled and said, “No, I know we’ll need it for supplies. We’ve just been seeing who would quit first. This mare has some game in her!”

“You ponies should probably get to bed. The time is creeping closer. I can’t have anypony heading out tired.”

The three placed their cards on the table. The mare clearly had the best set. “I won anyway!” she said. “See you tomorrow!”

The other two separated and headed toward the stairs, leaving Soarin and Tempest alone. “You too.” She told him.

Soarin dug a hoof into the carpet, as if he were thinking of something, but avoiding it. “What is it?” Tempest sighed.

“So, I never actually got a room with anypony else…”

Tempest rolled her eyes. “Alright,” she said, “No funny stuff.”

He backed up and said, “Hey, I’m not like that! I have a mare in Cloudsdale.”

Tempest grumbled, “There’s stuff we need to discuss anyway. I need to know how much you know, and we have to organize some chains of command among them.”

Tempest started walking away, and Soarin followed. “I’ve already told you everything though.”

“But did you see anything on the ground on the way here? Anything like that?”

Soarin paused for a moment with his hoof to his chin and his brow furrowed. “There were a lot of different creatures of all kinds of travelling toward Canterlot, but that was after it was destroyed. Well, they were headed more toward the meadows below it, next to the mountains. It’s like they knew something.”

“That isn’t much.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s all I saw.”

They started toward her room. “I’m still not feeling 100%. I have a bit of a headache,” Soarin stated. “You should know that I might fall back a little tomorrow..”

“You sure didn’t look like it tonight,” Tempest scoffed.

“That’s easy, and the pie helped a lot. Tomorrow is going to be a lot tougher.”

“Just don’t fall out of the sky.”

After a few flights of stairs and a long, silent, walk down a hallway, Tempest stopped at a door and opened it with a key she had pulled from a pocket on her cloak, revealing her opulent room.

“Wow, this is like what we get when we’re on tour! Pretty cool!”

“You don’t bring anything, did you?” she asked Soarin with a little concern.

“Well, yeah, I couldn’t.”

“The bathroom has everything.”

“I appreciate that.” He jumped onto one of the beds and laid down. “These are nice. I feel like I could…” he yawned and closed his eyes. Tempest went into the bathroom to clean up, recognizing her own exhaustion. “Trouble always finds me,” she said to the mirror.

When she reemerged from the bathroom, Soarin was curled under the covers, clearly asleep. At least he doesn’t snore.

Tempest crawled into the other bed and set an alarm, but she was sure she’d be awake before it went off. “Time to save Equestria, I guess,” she uttered as she shut off the light. Sleep found her quickly.

*****

Tempest rose from her bed in the morning, though the presence of constant daylight muddied the meaning of morning. She could see Soarin had already awoken and was scribbling furiously on the hotel’s complimentary notepad with a pen in his teeth, several books from the library spread on the desk he sat at. He mumbled a few garbled lines to himself as he did so. She ignored him and went to the bathroom to bathe. Soarin had clearly already been there. Towels lay strewn on the floor, the tiny bottles of soap had been exhausted, and water pooled on the floor. “C’mon, man. Have a little courtesy. Typical guy stuff. Gross,” she grumbled to herself. She tossed a few clean towels on the puddles, leaving one for herself.

Tempest finished and exited the bathroom. “How’s your head?” she asked him.

“Fine, but I’m still a little wobbly.”

Soarin had a large stack of notes on the bed next to him. He had used nearly the entire notepad. “What are you up to?” she asked with a puzzled look.

He spat the pen out and answered, “With that many creatures, we’ll need a lot of food and other things. I’m just getting some rough calculations. And the amount changes drastically based on the travel time. We don’t have a good supply line though. Like, not at all. We’re gonna need to bring everything.”

Tempest stared for a moment, tilting her head in confusion.

“What? You think I’m some dumb jock who wears a cool costume? I assume that because you trusted me to help you, you knew what I could do,” Soarin stated with indignity.

Tempest glanced at her hooves with embarrassment. “Sorry. So, what are the numbers?” she asked sheepishly.

“The speed of the balloons is probably faster than walking and having them definitely helps prevent exhaustion. But we don’t know the states of the trains, which I would prefer for travel. They’re far safer and can hold more supplies. But balloons are more maneuverable, especially with a lot of flying creatures able to control them, and we can probably land right on the battlefield if we needed to, which we will need to. And any flying creatures would just be able to be escorts and lookouts. Pretty important stuff.”

Tempest considered his proposals. “Flim and Flam are organizing the balloons to get everypony out of Las Pegasus. I have no idea of their competence, but we have no choice but to trust them. What about sending out a group of flying creatures to recon, see what we can find out?”

“I already thought of that. I wanted to run it by you, since you’re the commander. Sounds like you concur, and I guess we won’t be using trains then.”

Tempest nodded.

Soarin continued, “We’ll need a lot of food. Preferably non-perishables. That’ll weigh down the balloons though, but we can’t really go without, obviously.”

“I’m sure the kitchen of this place is well stocked. Well, maybe not after last night. Fleeting will probably be able to help with that.”

Soarin chuckled, “Yeah, I planned to ask her.” He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “We have a half hour until muster. We should probably be the first out there to greet them.”

“Hmm, yeah. We’ll make sure they’ve all had a meal before we head out. We can lay this plan out and get volunteers organized for the recon.”

“I already have a few creatures in mind for that too. I spoke to most of them as they lined up. But anyway, let’s go.” Soarin hopped off the bed and headed out the door.

Tempest stopped him, “Wait, do you want to borrow a bag? I have a few spares for your notes and anything else you’ll need.”

“Sure, thanks.” He chose one of her saddlebags, plopped it on his back, and tossed his notes inside. They both left and headed toward the gaming room.

*****

The muster time arrived, and all the creatures were there. Tempest walked the lines to inspect them. Most appeared well-rested, but it was clear which ones had decided to keep partying in their rooms past the unofficial curfew. “Good to see you all here. You ready to fight for Equestria?”

A tepid cheer arose. Tempest shook her head and took a deep breath. “I SAID,” she bellowed, “ARE YOU READY TO FIGHT FOR EQUESTRIA?” The lines straightened up, and the eyes of everyone went wide. A collective “YES MA’AM!” rang out.

Tempest quieted again, “Good. I’d hate to think you weren’t serious about protecting your country, even this early in the morning.” She continued to pace the lines. “First mission, we need a few volunteers. Fliers, actually. Probably around ten of you, but we’ll take more.” The only two changelings, two of the hippogriffs, and eight of the pegasi stepped forward. “What are we doing?” asked a changeling. Tempest noted that both of them were the multicolored reformed ones.

“Who has had the most leadership or fighting experience?”

The same changeling offered a hoof, but quickly withdrew it and stared at the ground with shame. Tempest approached her. “You volunteered already.”

“I was thinking of… I was a battle leader during the assault on Canterlot years ago. I mimicked a lot of ponies. I’m pretty sure a lot were hurt and…” she trailed.

“Hey, look at me,” Tempest used a hoof to lift the changeling’s face to see hers. “What’s your name?”

“Uh, Vella, ma’am.”

“Vella, obviously you changed, pardon the pun. That old Vella is gone. Trust me, I know how that feels. But your experience is valuable. You have a chance to use it for something different. Something good.”

The changeling smiled. “Thank you, ma’am.” She straightened up. “What do we need to do?”

Tempest dropped her hoof to the ground. “We need to scope out the ground before we land. We have balloons coming and we have to be sure they’ll be safe to land. Be back by 1400, and you have some cushion time for extra work if it comes to that. 1500 at the latest, hard deadline. Organize your creatures as you need. Understood? Lunch will be there waiting. You have priority for breakfast right now, if you haven’t already eaten.”

“Yes ma’am!” the changeling replied. She turned to her group and they went to the kitchen.

“Now for the rest of you, a lot of food is going to need gathered. And I mean a lot. Non-perishables. And water, which means we need those good with supply.”

A griffin and two unicorns stepped forward. “Good, get what you can from the kitchen. You know the numbers we have?” The griffin nodded. “Alright, dismissed.”

“All others get breakfast. Back here at 1000. We await the recon, and then we move out.”

The crowd dispersed. Tempest turned to see Soarin waiting for her. “Didn’t even give me a chance to help?” he smirked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m just kind of used to that.”

“It’s fine. You already got what you needed.”

A crashing noise and a commotion on the street startled them both. They ran outside to see what the noise was. A hot air balloon basket lay toppled on the street, the balloon deflating next to it. Flim and Flam piled out, dazed. “Well, brother,” Flam said dizzily, “I believe balloon piloting is one thing I can say we do not have the talent for.”

“Agreed.” Flim said as he arose shakily to his hooves.

Another balloon landed deftly next to them. A purple earth pony jumped out and quickly tied up the balloon to a lamppost. She then ran over to the brothers and proceeded to yell at them. “You morons! You lied to me! You have no idea how to pilot this, do you? Now this one is damaged! You’re on the hook for this!”

The brothers backed away from the shouting mare, though their blushes gave away that they understood the gravity of their error. Tempest trotted over to calm the mare. “Hey, how bad is the damage?”

The mare looked it over for a minute and replied, “Not as bad as I thought. The balloon looks fine, but the basket will need some repairs.”

“I apologize for this. You understand we need these.”

The mare sighed. “Yeah, I know. I just poured my life into these. That’s all,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Thank you for the assistance, uh, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Just call me Berry. I’m not calling you ma’am, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s fine. Can you get every creature to the ground?”

“Yeah, I can. Am I getting paid for the balloon?””

Tempest gave that some thought, “Yes. We’ll get something for you. I can’t promise anything immediately.”

She turned to the brothers. “I’m holding you to this.”

They nodded wordlessly.

Berry scoffed, “I’ll be waiting.”

The twins proceeded to walk together toward Tempest and Soarin. When they were face-to-face with the two, they turned and wordlessly gestured to the sky.

A marvelous sight greeted them. At least a dozen balloons rode in the sky, of so many designs and types, with the permanent late afternoon sun gleaming off them.

“Were you two at this all night?” Tempest said in awe.

“We said you could trust us.” Flim said with a smile.

Tempest could see the weariness in their eyes. They really had been up the whole time. “You two are amazing!” she told them.

One by one, the balloons landed in the street. The pilots moored them to whatever convenient place offered itself.

“We have connections,” Flam said with a little triumph in his voice, “We may have made offers we cannot keep, but all for a good cause.”

Tempest placed her face close to theirs. “I know you’re the leaders and all, but you two really should get some sleep. They’re going to need you at your best. Soarin and I have planned this out. Get outta here. You did pretty well.”

The brothers smiled at the approval. They nodded and walked away into their giant resort.

*****

Flim and Flam carefully walked through the still-wrecked remains of their resort toward the elevator that would take them to their private rooms.

“Is this where you thought we’d be, brother?” Flam asked, kicking an empty glass from his path.

“What do you mean?” Flim answered, using his magic to right a chair.

“All those years we spent trying to earn a few extra bits. None of that feels right anymore.” Flam kicked a die out of the way.

“There’s nothing wrong with owning a business, dear brother.” Flim righted a roulette wheel.

“But we never did it right, did we?” Flam flipped a few chairs on their legs.

Flim hesitated. “We did it the easy way. Money is easy to steal from the gullible.”

The two walked silently through the halls of their empty resort. The reached their private rooms on the penthouse level. Before separating to their rooms for a few hours of sleep, Flam spoke up. “Do you ever still think about the Apple family?”

Flim sighed. “Sometimes. They were good ponies. We really messed that up, like we do everything. Why?”

“You know Applejack is one of The Elements?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“I’ve been thinking about her a lot since we heard the news. I hope she’s okay, brother.”

“I hope so too.”

For the first time in years, the two embraced. They both thought they saw a tear in the other’s eye. They departed to their rooms.

*****

Flam arose from his bed. He didn’t feel good, but he felt as though he had slept enough. The clock read noon. “Ugh.” He plopped his head back on the pillow and groaned. “There’s no sleeping this off. Maybe on the way there. This permanent sun is ridiculous. At least I’m in better shape than the princesses.” He wondered what horrors they had endured, and then quickly shut it from his mind, trying not to think of such awful things.

He left the bed and went over to his brother’s room. He placed his ear to the door to listen for anything that tell him his brother’s state. He heard some shuffling that sounded like his brother’s hoofsteps. Flam knocked on the door. “Come in, Flam,” he heard from the other side.

Flam opened the door and walked in. “I take it you didn’t sleep well either?”

“How could I? Are you packed? It’s almost time to leave,” Flim answered as he tossed clothes into a suitcase.

“No. We can’t bring much anyway.”

“These silly blue and white shirts really aren’t martial, but it’s all we have,” Flim said, holding one up with his magic. He tossed it haphazardly into the case.

Flam drew a sharp breath, “Now what do we do? They’re expecting us to be some kind of inspiring leaders. I sure don’t feel that way right now.”

“How so?”

“We didn’t plan anything. We don’t have any fighting experience. And we have no idea what’s really waiting for us out there. We have two far superior ponies handling everything for us. What’s left for us to do?” Flam walked to a chair and flopped into it.

“Have you forgotten why we were up all night?” Flim paused filling his suitcase.

“Yeah, for business. Which we’re not very good at.” Flam hung his head dejectedly.

Flim was silent for a moment, then he answered, “I have all my own doubts as well. I’ve never been so scared. I’m afraid I’m going to run away when the time comes. It’s who I’ve always been. Both of us.”

Flam raised his head, “It’s not the fight I’m scared of. It’s the ponies who trust us. I just know we’re going to let them down. They’ll see us for who we are.”

Flim approached his brother and placed his hoof on his brother’s shoulder. “Are we still that? How good does it feel to make ponies and others feel good? We need to be out there, if anything, for us. To prove to ourselves that we are not just crooks.” Flim thought he saw a tear in Flam’s eye.

Flam arose from the chair. “I’ll go pack.” He marched out the door.

*****

The brothers went out to the awaiting crowd, who were mingling among the balloons. A few creatures approached them and bombarded them with questions about the fight, the travel, and a dozen others lost in the noise.

“Every creature, quiet, please! One at a time!” they shouted in unison. The crowd noise quieted.

A white unicorn stallion was the first to say something. “There have been rumors that there’s an army coming this way. Others are hearing that Applewood has been devastated.”

Flim paced the crowd. “We don’t know anything yet. We’re awaiting word from the flying crew we sent out earlier. Rumors do nothing for us.”

“I understand that, though I don’t know if that will be enough to quell the unease here,” the unicorn answered.

“Speaking of which…” Flim pointed a hoof toward the sky. The crew of griffins, changelings, and pegasi were flying over the street. They landed right in front of the brothers.

“Where are Tempest and Soarin?” Vella the changeling commanded.

“Whatever you can tell them, you can tell us,” Flim answered.

“I think we’re gonna win this thing!” The others in her group nodded or smiled in agreement.

“How so?” Flam asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

Vella drew a breath. “Well, first the bad news,” she paused. “There are windigos above Canterlot, and it’s really bad out there. Every creature is in hiding.” The audience behind her responded with gasps of shock.

Flim was taken aback. “Then what makes you believe we can win?”

Vella continued. “We’re up against a small group of weirdos. We can confirm that it’s just those three. If we’re all there, we can overwhelm them, but…” she paused. Her pause hung heavy over the crowd.

“But we were able to talk to some ponies in Ponyville who know a thing or two. And you know the reputation of that town. If anypony knows, it’s them.” A few creatures chuckled. “Anyway, those weirdos stole chaos magic. Probably from Discord. If you know who that is, you know that’s bad.” Several ponies nodded in knowing agreement.

Flam leaned toward Vella. “Are you sure about that? How do you know these aren’t rumors as well?”

A griffin in the group answered, “Because we spoke to ponies who know him and who work in the castle in Ponyville. It’s very real. And Canterlot…” he cleared his throat, “it’s practically gone. The castle is rubble. We went by quickly so as not to be noticed. There was no one there, fortunately.”

Flim and Flam contemplated the situation. Flam spoke first. “We know what we must do. Facing this kind of magic is far more dangerous than any kind of army. But we have the advantage. We have harmony on our side.”

Flim continued, “What is chaos but a bunch of rabid nonsense, anyway? Up against this army?” He raised his hoof and gestured across the crowd. A cheer arose.

*****

Tempest and Soarin had been standing well away from the crowd watching the proceedings of the twins. “It was probably for the best we let them do that, huh?” Soarin said with a smirk.

“They still don’t know anything about managing a war,” Tempest contested.

“Well, we have that covered. Did you hear what the recon crew said?”

“Not a bit. Let’s have them tell us.”

Soarin shook his head with disbelief. “They do still love the attention, Don’t they?”

“Well, showponies never stop being showponies. Imagine how inspiring we’d be if we were in charge,” Tempest said.

“Hey!” Soarin exclaimed, “I’m a showpony.” He walked away in a huff.

Tempest followed Soarin and sped up to catch him. They met the army together. “What did you hear?” Tempest asked of the twins. They explained everything.

“That’s not good at all,” Soarin remarked.

Tempest remained silent for a moment, her head hanging. The army had been quiet, as if awaiting something profound to be said by their leaders.

Tempest turned to face the army and raised her head. “Most, maybe all, of you know who I am. At the very least you know the Storm King. You know how he lost and how I became who I am now. It took the efforts of countless ponies working together to defeat him. If it’s true they have control of chaos magic, that’s dire, but we have the magic of harmony on our side. I would never have believed it myself had I not seen it; had I not been defeated by it. That magic is real, and it’s inside all of us. So, let’s go get in those balloons and show evil what the true meaning of the magic of friendship!”

*****

The armada of balloons arose into the skies above Las Pegasus. Those who had remained below stared in awe at the majestic sight and bade the army goodbye. Flim, Flam, and Tempest elected to go in one balloon together, while Soarin had decided to fly alongside the fleet. He went from basket to basket speaking with each pilot to make sure they knew where to land. “We can’t be too close together,” one pilot told him, “or else we’ll collide.”

“But we can’t be too far apart so we can communicate,” he countered.

“We can help with that.”

“We’re going to need that help when we get to the windigos. It’s going to get pretty bad.”

“Yeah, but that’s how things get confused…” They were interrupted by screaming. They both turned in the direction it came from. A balloon had a tear in it and was losing altitude fast.

“Grab it!” Soarin shouted to nearby fliers. Several rushed over to it and supported it. “It’s too heavy!” a pegasus strained.

“Get them all out, fast!”

Several more fliers picked up the five passengers and transferred them to other baskets. “I’m not going to be able to hold you much longer!” a changeling said to a unicorn.

“Change into something else!” the unicorn pleaded.

“I can’t while I’m holding you!” the changeling replied. The unicorn slid from the changeling’s hooves and shrieked.

“No!” the changeling shouted. He transformed into a falcon and raced to get below the falling pony. He then changed into a bugbear and grasped the unicorn firmly. “I’m sorry,” the changeling said softly. The unicorn whimpered in response. The rest of the passengers had been safely transferred to other baskets.

“My balloon!” an earth pony said tearfully and reaching out a hoof as a griffin carried her away. Once all the passengers were out, they let it go and it plummeted.

“That was my livelihood,” she wept as she was transferred into the balloon with the brothers and Tempest. They realized it was Berry, whose balloon they had tried to land earlier.

Flim placed a hoof over her shoulder. “We’re very sorry for your loss, but it’s good you’re okay.”

She brushed his hoof away. “That was your fault. I should have known not to trust you. You owe me a lot,” she grumbled, “and now I’m stuck here with you.”

The brothers stared at the floor. “Ma’am,” Flam started, “we do offer our apologies. You may not believe it, but I – we – are truly sorry for having wrecked your balloon. I promise we’ll do what it takes to replace it.”

Berry wiped away a tear. “I loved that thing. It was like a second home.”

“We’re almost there,” the pilot remarked. He pointed toward a large meadow below. Then his eyes were drawn up toward what had once been the castle in Canterlot. “Oh no…” he trailed.

Cries of shock arose from the balloons as each passenger saw what the flying crew had seen before; the smoking ruins of Canterlot Castle. Even from far away, it was clear that the city had been laid to waste.

Even worse, above the castle were a sight that nopony had seen in generations. The windigos circled, darkening the sky with their magic, causing a furious wind. The howling of the evil spirits chilled even Tempest. “I’ve heard of them from the stories of Hearthswarming, but I thought they were legends made to frighten foals.”

Their pilot spoke up, “It’s gonna get really rough. Hold on tight!” The wind strengthened as they approached the remains of the castle. The balloons began to rock and sway. The flying creatures raced back and forth among the vehicles, struggling to push them away from each other. The swirling wind made their movements unpredictable, and each time a balloon was pushed one way, it would go back another. The swaying was exacerbated by the added weight of the supplies.

Soarin rushed from balloon to balloon, desperately pushing them away from each other, but he became more and more exhausted. His breathing became harder and harder. “I shouldn’t have pushed so hard. I have to finish this,” he encouraged himself. He pushed a balloon one last time and couldn’t push away. Soarin started to slip down the balloon. Hooking his hoof through roped that was looped over the balloon, he tried to stop his slide, but this caused the balloon to compress and it started to sink and lean to his side. Soarin desperately pressed his hoof into the fabric, but it only tore it. The passengers reached toward him to attempt to pull him in, but the winds made it too hard to reach from the basket.

His grasp began to slip from the rope, and then it failed. Soarin splayed his wings to catch air, but the wind caused a spinout. His fall followed that of the balloon.

Tempest watched all of this from her balloon. “Drop us down there!” she shouted to the pilot.

“I can’t, we haven’t lost enough heat yet!”

Tempest peered from the basket at Soarin. His wings wouldn’t be enough to prevent a crash landing, and the balloon was now falling as well. “No!” Tempest shouted in desperation.

“We don’t have enough for all of them!” a griffon panicked.

“Do it anyway!” Tempest pleaded.

“Dump everything!” the pilot of the falling balloon ordered. The passengers starting throwing all their supplies and belongings over the side. This slowed the balloon’s fall, but it wasn’t enough. The fliers started a second rescue effort, removing the passengers one by one. They were finally able to retrieve all the passengers, but another balloon was lost.

Meanwhile, Soarin spun toward the ground flapping his wings a few times, but he couldn’t do it quickly enough to stay in flight. Another pegasus dropped from the sky to Soarin, grabbing him and slowing him before another assisted and lifted him into the air. He folded his wings and passed out. The two pegasi struggled as Soarin was a dead weight in her arms. They dropped him into the basket with Tempest and Soarin.

“Soarin! Wake up!” Tempest pleaded.

Flim and Flam retrieved a water skin and together they trickled it into his mouth. His eyes fluttered open. “I should never have come,” he whispered.

“Nonsense, you’re still valuable, even like this,” Tempest reassured him.

It took great effort, but the rest of the fliers were able to push the balloons low enough so they were no longer in danger. “We’ve lost a lot of food and water, Tempest,” a pegasus reported.

“Well, I hope they have some down there.”

The pilot interrupted, “Speaking of which.” Below them was a mass of creatures gathered in camps in the meadow.

“Where could they have come from?” Tempest said in awe.

“Everywhere,” the pilot answered.

To the creatures on the ground, the sight of the balloons was hard to miss. A cheer could be heard arising from the camps.

*****

The balloons landed on the perimeter of the camps. A crowd formed around each one to greet them. When Tempest’s balloon landed, the passengers were assisted out of the basket by a group of Kirin. “Are you the Tempest Shadow?” a smiling Kirin mare asked.

“You’ve heard of me?”

“Who hasn’t? I’m a big fan!”

“A fan?” Tempest answered with a puzzled look.

“What you’ve done is an inspiration to all of us.”

Tempest turned her head to hide a blush. “I’m flattered. I haven’t caught your name.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Autumn Blaze.” She raised a cloven hoof toward Tempest, who took it and shook.

“This is amazing,” Tempest expressed, barely hiding a smile, “all these creatures out here to smash this chaos.”

“We sure are. Equestria is a wonderful place.”

“I don’t believe I’ve met a Kirin before.”

“Well, we’re happy to assist in any way possible. Let’s start with these balloons.”

“First, we need help with this guy,” Tempest gestured to Soarin, who lay in a heap in the basket. The kirin helped to fashion a stretcher and he was gently laid upon it. He grunted as they adjusted him. “Careful,” he demanded.

“Will he be okay?” Autumn asked.

“I think so, but we’ll need more water. And he can’t be moved too much. Can we leave him here while we go around?”

“Of course. Though you should know our supplies are limited. None of us were able to bring much food or water. We’ve been scavenging, but this meadow is pretty bare. We’ll help him, of course.” Autumn offered.

“Well, we had quite a bit more in the way of food and water, but we lost a lot of supplies along the way. We had a few accidents.”

“Well, we’ll make sure the rest of these are taken care of.”

The pilot of the balloon perked up, “Oh, thank you! I’ll show you how to store these.” The group of kirin listened as the pilot instructed them on how to properly care for the balloon, while others began to tend to Soarin. Tempest left them on their own set out to gather their army.

She approached another balloon that had set down near a camp of griffins and unicorns, and they had started a small meal for their guests. “What is the situation of food and water?” she asked.

“This little bit of food is about all we have,” an older gentleman griffin responded, “We’ve been collecting a lot, but not even rationing is working. Ponyville doesn’t have enough.”

“I’m from Canterlot,” a unicorn mare interrupted. “I know the city keeps reserves that are probably safe, but we can’t get there because, well…” she looked at the windigos.

“We can’t fight on an empty stomach.”

“We may not have a choice,” the griffin said with morosity.

The army slowly integrated with the other groups. Tempest found Flim and Flam, and naturally a crowd had gathered around them. “Enjoying the attention?”

Flim laughed. “We never stop. Someone has to keep the mood up!”

“Of course,” Flam continued, “morale is going to need to be boosted if we’re out here for a long time. And we have the chops for it. Anything to keep that noise out of mind.” He glanced toward the windigos.

“It is quite the tall task, of course,” Flim said, gesturing to the vast group before them.

Tempest followed his hoof. She hadn’t yet looked at the size of the group from the ground. “This has to be one of the largest gatherings of creatures I’ve ever seen.” Spread before them was a massive number of creatures. Many of the camps had tents, though some didn’t. A few had fires. The mass spread from the edge of Ponyville to the crest of a hill that hid a plain below. Had Tempest not known the purpose of the gathering, she could have mistaken it for a festival.

“Many of them don’t trust us,” Flam lamented, “I suppose it’s an earned reputation. We have our new friends from Las Pegasus helping on that.”

“But it’s not about us,” Flim said with his head low, “It’s about making sure they stay together.”

“That’s all wonderful, but don’t you two think some sleep is in order? You might have more success if you can stay on your hooves.” Tempest said, meaning it as a command. She could see the darkness under their eyes and that they were unsteady on their legs.

Some of the ponies in their group offered to clear room for them in their tent. The twins accepted the offer and entered as they offered their gratitude.

Tempest continued to traverse the camp, ensuring the entirety of their army was in good shape. “Don’t be afraid to get to others,” she suggested to a group that hadn’t left the area of the balloon.

“We don’t know anypony here,” a unicorn stallion hesitated.

“Did you know each other before you met yesterday?”

“Well…”

“That’s a lonely-looking group of ponies over there,” Tempest gestured to a group that was silently sitting around a small fire. “Maybe they’d want some company. We’re barely keeping the windigos at bay.” The ponies from the balloon hesitated, but slowly walked over. Tempest didn’t hear their greeting, but from their expressions, she could tell they were happy to see new faces.

“Make some friends,” she muttered to herself. “This is the only weapon we have.”

*****

The kirin continued to tend to Soarin. He was finally able to sit up. He tried to stand, but fell over. He punched the ground in frustration. “Just sit here. We’ll get you better soon,” Autumn offered. Soaring sat moping on his stretcher, his head resting on his hooves.

A sound of rushing air and whistling in the sky drew the attention of very creature nearby. The Wonderbolts blazed above them, circling and getting lower until they landed near the kirin.

The captain, Spitfire, marched toward Soarin. “Soarin! I knew I’d find you out here like this, all by yourself!” she commanded.

Soarin attempted to stand. “Captain, I’m sorry…”

“Relax, Clipper. Lay down. You know I’m just messing with you. Although I mean it when I say I knew I’d find you like this. You went the furthest and the fastest across Equestria of all of us. You always did though. We came prepared.” Another Wonderbolt arrived with a medical bag and retrieved an IV.

“Wait, you’re just going to do this yourself?” Soarin asked with concern.

“No! Are you kidding? We brought a medic. I suspected you’d need help when we didn’t hear from you.”

The medic came to the other side of the stretcher. “It’s all the carbs and saline a growing boy like you needs,” he said sarcastically. “We’ll have you flying again in no time. You ate nothing but pie before flying again didn’t you?”

Soarin remained quiet, keeping his face as still as possible.

“Yeah, I thought so,” the medic answered. “How many times am I going to have to do this for you?” He cleaned up a spot on Soarin’s front leg and gently placed the needle in. “It’ll be a few hours, and you’ll probably have to use the bathroom a lot, but you’ll be fine. Of course you already know the drill. I can’t say you’ll be back to speed, but I can’t stop you from fighting, as usual. What did the kirin give you?”

“Water and a little soup,” Autumn answered over his shoulder. “We have a lot of experience treating ourselves, given how remote we are. I knew what he’d need. Not pie!” Autumn finished by glaring at Soarin.

“Good work,” the medic commended Autumn.

“Hey, Clipper,” Spitfire drew his attention. She was holding his flightsuit and goggles. His eyes lit up and he smiled.

“Thanks, Spitfire. It wouldn’t feel right to fight without it.”

*****

The twins’ tent door burst open. “They’re here! They’re here!” an earth pony said frantically. Flim and Flam shot up, suddenly awakened by the panic. “Wha… what? Who?” Flam said, bleary eyed.

“The Elements! They’re back!”

The twins stood. “How do you know?” Flim asked.

“Just look!”

The twins left the tent hurriedly and peered toward the castle. A griffin with binoculars was observing the meadow below the city. “It’s them alright,” he said, “and they’re about to tussle.”

“Then we have no time to waste!” Flam exclaimed.

The brothers split up and ran through the camp. “All of you, go, now! Toward Canterlot!” they shouted.

All the creatures trailed them. Tempest joined from a mass. “How do you feel?” she asked with a smirk.

“Terrified and excited.” Flim said through his heavy breathing.

Just then Soarin landed next to them, donned in his flight suit, strutting in front of Tempest, with his goggles lifted up. “Good to know you guys have this under control. I just wanted to be sure you were okay.”

“You’re okay now?” Tempest asked with concern.

“The Wonderbolts found me. It took a while, but I got all the medicine I needed.”

“Are you sure?”

“I do it all the time. I’m a Wonderbolt, and if this is how it ends,” he flipped his goggles down and grinned, “I’m going out like one.” He shot into the sky. Tempest and the brothers craned their necks skyward to see the blue and yellow team soaring proudly overhead. Soarin quickly went into formation with them.

They looked back down at each other. “I don’t know about you guys,” Tempest said, “but I feel a lot more comfortable at the head of an army. I’m proud to have worked with you gentlemen.” She departed and placed herself at the front.

The griffin with the binoculars shouted, “They’re being attacked! It’s that centaur, the changeling queen, and… that little filly is an alicorn now?!”

The army paused at the crest of the hill. They observed the six ponies and the young dragon work for a few minutes as the seven attempted each trick they had to defeat the three, but each one failed. The seven were gathered in a group, ready to take on the end together. No one could hear what they said, but their body language gave away a sense of determination. But the actions of the three could leave no doubt they were prepared to annihilate the seven.

“All the unicorns up front,” Tempest commanded, “we have to make a shield! Now!” They did as she commanded, including Flim and Flam. She struggled with her own damaged horn. Amidst the sparks a faint glow emitted, and she felt the slight buzz of magic in her head. So, there was a little life left there after all.

The three villains shot a massive burst of magic at the ponies, and at the same time the unicorns lit their horns in unison. The burst of evil magic disintegrated, revealing the shield intact and protecting the seven.

“Use everything you have!” Flim and Flam shouted in unison. Every creature around took that as an opportunity to create chaos. Changelings switched forms to the Elements to confuse the Changeling queen and the centaur. Dragons whizzed by the alicorn filly to disorient her. Griffons reached out with their claws and swatted at the three, some of them taking advantage of their carnivorous instincts by flashing rows of sharp teeth at the filly, who showed true fear in her face for the first time in the fight.

“Try to gather them all together in a group, get the three of them together!” Tempest commanded.

The cacophony and chaos did its job. With each move, the three of them were gathered nearer to each other, until they were surrounded by a whirling mass of creatures. Even with chaos magic they were too disoriented to do anything about it. A group of other friends of the seven arrived and the unicorns extended the shield over them.

Soarin broke from his group and appeared next to Tempest. “We’re all getting pretty exhausted. We’re all feeling that lack of water right now. I don’t know how much longer we can up. It’s taking everything we have just to keep them together.”

“We’re almost there,” she answered, “Just hold out as long as you can! It’s all we have!” Soarin flew away quickly and joined the mass.

Tempest found herself next to Flim and Flam again. She peered down at the seven heroes, who were doing quite well now that they had an army for assistance.

Then the three villains started to show their strength against the weakened army, and they tossed Soarin and a few other creatures from the fight into the shield. It finally broke, giving the three an opportunity to attack, but Twilight blasted a magical beam in their path. She started to give an impassioned speech about friendship, and even pointed toward Tempest and the brothers as she did. They smiled in the recognition. As she spoke, the princesses, Discord, and others appeared from thin air next to the rest of their friends.

Just then, a force took hold of the Elements that none of the fighters recognized. A glow emanated from every one of them and their numerous friends, and each one was levitated from where they stood.

A massive ray of energy of rainbow colors rise from the heroes, shot into the sky, blasted away the storm clouds and the windigos, and fell upon the three villains like a bomb. It erupted in a blinding flash and an incredible humming, shrieking noise. When it disappeared the three emerged from it visibly weakened. Chrysalis started to make a threat, but a giant cupcake dropped from the sky onto them, and chocolate rain began to fall.

Tempest and the Brothers watched as Pinkie Pie arose, and grew a hundred times her size, and declared “I will transform the cosmos so that everything is made of icing!” Pinkie’s friends quickly convinced her to give up the power, and it was restored to its owners.

A shout from the crowd interrupted the conversation. “They’re not done yet!”

Discord summoned a blast of magic that enveloped the three villains. When the light cleared, they had turned to stone, stuck for eternity with the frightened visages they had shown when first confronted. A cheer erupted from the army when the statue settled into place.

*****

Tempest approached Flim and Flam, who were clearly in shock about what they had just seen and experienced. “So,” she began, “How does it feel to have saved the world?”

Flim took a moment to compose himself and replied, “This is what we’ve missed out on. Goodness, had we known that we could use our talents…”

Flam interrupted, “Our talents for inspiration, we…”

“That feeling,” Flim continued, “We’ve never been part of such a thing. It was wonderful.”

“What a waste of a life we’ve been,” Flam finished. They hung their heads.

Tempest approached them and lifted Flim’s head with her hoof. Flam raised his. “Flim, Flam,” she said softly, “None of this has been a waste, and you’ve shown what mettle you have. It is never too late to change. You were courageous and strong, nothing like the scam artists I met just a day ago. You had it in you all along.”

“Thank you, Tempest,” Flam said tearfully.

“Yes, we shall always consider you a friend,” Flim finished.

*****

The army had broken apart to their separate camps, but ponies and others wandered through each of their different sites, mingling with new friends they made before and during the battle. Where they did, singing and dancing erupted from various places. Now that Canterlot was safe from the windigos and the villains, ponies had been able to retrieve the vast amounts of food and drink saved in the city.

However, Tempest, Flim, and Flam settled at a campfire, laying on their haunches, each silently staring at the leaping flames. Flim and Flam were each pondering the events that had just happened.

“Flam?”

“Yes, brother?”

“We’ll never be able to run our place the same. I don’t even know if I can go back.”

“I know. It sure doesn’t seem right to run a place that rips money away from ponies now.”

Tempest interjected, “You know, you can go back and help fix it. The city is a wreck. Ponies of your means would be able to contribute a great deal to fix it.”

“Who would believe we’re not who we were?” Flam asked, never turning his gaze from the fire.

“Nopony is going to believe we’ve turned over a new leaf. They’ll think we’ve done it for business,” Flim finished.

Tempest stood and stretched. “Do what I do,” she suggested, “Just keep being the new you until nopony is afraid of you, and they believe it.” Tempest walked away to her tent.

The sun was finally beginning to set. The brothers decided that it was time to head to their tent as well.

“Where do you guys think you’re going?” a voice called. It was Soarin. They turned to see him with the rest of the Wonderbolts, still adorned in their skin tight flight suits.

“How can we help you?” the brothers answered in unison.

Spitfire replied, “Soarin has told us all about what you did. Pretty impressive stuff. We’re thinking about doing a benefit show for Las Pegasus and having your place host it.”

Flim and Flam glanced at each other with pensive looks. “Ms. Spitfire,” Flam started, “we have a lot to think about right now…”

Flim finished, “and we don’t know if we’ll be able to run our place at all.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Spitfire replied, “because we always love to do charity work. And I can’t think of a better charity than rebuilding a city.”

Soarin trotted up to them. “Hey guys, I know you’re a little shocked about what just happened, but we won! We saved Equestria, so why the long faces? Look, we Wonderbolts have been through a lot too, but we get right back to it. Think about it. It’ll be a good thing. And I know exactly how I can change you minds. There’s a big bonfire out here where every creature is gathering. I think they’d like to hear your stories. C’mon, don’t be so dour.”

The rest of the Wonderbolts floated toward Flim and Flam and gently pushed them toward a large gathering with a fire in the middle. A cacophony of laughter, song, and dance emerged as they got closer. When they entered the crowd, a cheer arose from some, and a chant began: “Flim! Flam! Flim! Flam!” A few creatures from Las Pegasus, including the changeling Vella, the earth pony and the unicorn who had started the fight, and Berry, the owner of one of the crashed balloon, embraced them.

“We were wondering when you’d come by,” Vella said, “You’re like our guests of honor!”

“Guests of honor?!” they replied in unison.

“Equestria owes a lot to you,” Vella replied, “None of us would have been able to get here and do what we did had you not gathered the balloons! I can’t believe that might have made the difference!”

Flim and Flam began to tear up, and they returned the embraces. When the hugs broke away, someone shoved mugs of cider into their hooves, which they drank from heartily.

They sat and listened to two dragons, Garble and his little sister Smolder, share embarrassing stories about each other. Even the famously feelings-averse dragons were sharing their emotions. “His molt was disgusting,” She said as he covered his face with his claws, “We still have to keep his bedroom door shut. The smell won’t go away! Hey, bro, how about you read some of your poetry?” Garble could not have shoved his claws harder into his face, but he tried.

Garble replied, “How about I tell them how much you like cute and girly things? Like when you came home over the summer and I found you staging a tea party with dolls? Where did you even get the dolls?” The crowd roared with laughter as both dragons had their heads in their claws.

Someone from the crowd shouted, “Hey, Flim and Flam, tell the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 story!”

“Aww, I don’t know,” Flim said as he finished his mug.

“Yeah, it’s a little embarrassing now,” Flam finished, “We weren’t really at our best. I’d say we were at our worst, taking advantage of the Apples like that.”

“But that’s over now!” Berry demanded, “They’re fine, you’re fine. Hey, sing the song. I remember it from when I used to live there!”

The crowd roared with approval. More mugs of cider were shoved in their faces, which they grabbed with magic and took long drinks from.

“Are you ready, brother?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be!”

They took deep breaths and Flim started. “Well, lookie what we got here, brother of mine, it’s the same in every town. Ponies with thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found! Maybe they’re not aware that there’s really no need for this teary despair!”

“That the key that they need to solve this sad cider shortage you and I will share!”

The crowd bellowed their approval as they continued, imbibing in the ample cider, well aware of the current irony of the song.

*****

Tempest was awakened by a raucousness. “I just want some sleep.” She grumbled. She poked her head from her tent, looking around grumpily. The fire and the crowd in the distance were hard to ignore. “Well, I guess I can’t be upset over some celebration. Maybe I’ll join them.”

She shook off the sleep, donned her smock, and trotted to the fire. When she arrived, she could see a griffin and a dragon involved in a wrestling match, with a large portion of different creatures cheering each one on. On the other side of the fire were Flim and Flam with a crowd around them, including Soarin. They were obviously telling a story but were drowned out by the cheering of the wrestling match.

When she got close enough to hear them, somepony called to her” Hey, Tempest!” It was Soarin, he was without his uniform and was approaching her. “Glad you could join us! You’re missing the party!”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever missed a party, but I can make an exception for this one. So, what’s happening with those two?” she nodded toward Flim and Flam.

“Winning over the crowd, like the showponies they are. They’ve gotten to be pretty popular.”

Flim saw that she was there. “Ah, Tempest, you’ve joined us, please have a seat. Tell your tales!”

“Yeah,” Flam continued, “Everypony is doing it!”

“Yeah, what was the Storm King really like?” a hippogriff mare asked, “Was he as dumb as I’ve heard?”

Tempest winced, not wanting to remember those days, and especially not wanting to tell the tale to the creatures who had been so subjugated her and the Storm King that they abandoned their homes for safety.

“Well?” the hippogriff continued with a smile. “Hey, don’t be scared. Everypony knows you aren’t who you were.”

Tempest sighed, and then laughed. It’ll always be a part of me. Might as well embrace it. “Oh, well, he was really dumb. I did all the work, and he got all the credit,” she rolled her eyes. “He took nothing seriously, never planned, and always leaned on me to get things right. He never did know what he was doing.”

“So, you’re the real mastermind, huh?” the hippogriff said with a chuckle.

“I suppose. Hey, what’s your name?”

“Baywind.”

“Baywind, let me tell you how happy I am to meet a hippogriff who isn’t afraid to hear of The Storm King.”

Baywind embraced Tempest. “Let me tell you how happy I am that I get to meet the pony who worked for the Storm King and still couldn’t be bad.”

Tempest hesitated and returned the embrace. “Thank you,” she replied, failing at holding back a tear.

Flim looked up from his cider mug. “Ah, she does have feelings!”

“Indeed.” Flam added.

Without breaking the embrace, Baywind said, “Tempest, you’re proof that all it takes some friendship and understanding to show that most ponies we think are bad really aren’t.”

Flim and Flam looked at each other and then at Baywind and Tempest. They approached and partook of the hug. “Indeed, that is true,” Flam said.

“Thank you, Tempest, for showing us your friendship,” Flim finished.

They broke the embrace. “What do you intend to do now?” Tempest asked.

“What were always meant to do,” Flam replied.

“Entertain ponies!” Flim finished.

“And that means we have to help fix Las Pegasus.”

“After all, what would it be without the two of us?”

The embrace broke. Tempest looked around at the darkened site. “Well, you’ll have to get these balloons cleaned up first. You owe a lot of ponies money for those.”

“Let’s do this in the morning,” Flam proposed.

“Yes, we are all very tired,” Flim explained.

“Well,” Tempest sighed, “this is one time your excuses work.”

They retired to their tents to sleep away the revelry and recover for the return trip.

*****

The sun peered through the partially open flap of the brothers’ tent, shining directly into their eyes. Both arose with hesitation. “Ugh, brother, I don’t feel so great,” Flim said grumpily as he rose to his hooves.

Flam did the same. “It was worth it though.”

They left the tent to find that they were some of the last ponies awake. The site had been nearly completely cleaned up with the exception of the balloons. Most ponies remained, chatting with each other.

“Ah, there you two are,” Tempest said as she approached from a nearby camp, accompanied by Soarin, “We let you two go. We decided you had done enough, except for the balloons. That’s on you to get organized, since only you know where they came from.”

“So do the pilots, of course,” Flam corrected her.

“We’ll see to it they are returned safely,” Flim offered.

“You have it under control?” Soarin asked.

“Of course.” The brothers answered in unison.

The rest of the day was spent by all getting the balloons ready for flight. The windigos had caused some degree of damage to nearly all of them. When the work was complete Flim and Flam gathered every creature together for one last talk. Flim spoke first. “Your kindness and generosity toward each other are the best examples of the values of Equestria. This fight would have been impossible without it. We’d have surely lost and lives would have been in danger.”

Flam finished, “May your sacrifices for each other be yet rewarded by the friends you’ve made on this field. May they be for life.” With that, they loaded the balloons and started to leave one by one.

Flim and Flam waited to be on the last one, with Soarin standing by to help guide it in flight. Tempest remained outside of the basket.

“Aren’t you joining us, Ms. Shadow?” Flam asked with concern.

“Gentlecolts, I don’t believe I need to,” she replied with a ghost of a smile, “I had work to do for you, and that work is complete.”

“Well, then,” Flim said as he lifted her front hoof, joined by his brother, “We hope to see you again soon.” They climbed into the basket. “Where are you off to now?” Flim asked.

“To see some old friends and maybe make some new ones.”

“Give them our greetings!” Flam said.

“I will be sure to do so, and I’ll let them know you’re the best hosts in Las Pegasus. Oh, and please give Fleeting Glimpse my regards.”

“Thank you, Ms. Shadow, and we will.”

Soarin released the line and the balloon drifted into the sky. He then set down in front of her and offered a salute.

Tempest returned the salute with a “Dismissed.”

Soarin jumped into the air and said, “Goodbye, Tempest,” and darted to follow the balloon.

Tempest watched them fly away into the sky until they couldn’t be seen, allowing a few tears to fall from her eyes as she did. Tears she’d never admit to anypony. She turned and set down a new path.

Author's Note:

We saw Flim and Flam in "The End of the End" helping to make the unicorn shield to protect the ponies. Rather than see this as their way of protecting their own interests as usual, I wanted to explore how they could seriously change while making it an exciting story.

Thanks to Striving for Harmony for the proofreading help. It cleared up a lot of inconsistencies and helped me shape it.