Prologue: Enter the Brothers

The cock crowed, signaling the beginning of the busy day. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but that didn’t matter to the proud and productive members of the Apple family. Applejack and her family got up from their beds and got ready for the rush of customers that they would soon have to deal with. After all, today was the day they sold their famous Apple Family Apple Cider.

“Alrighty boy an’ girls! Today is the day that we’ve all been waiting for. This is the biggest day in the entire year fer us. We earn the lion’s share of money to keep the farm running today, so let’s make a good show of this, okay?”

“Yes mam!” The family saluted the elder mare and went out to the barn to fetch supplies.

Big Mac got into position on the mill and waited for his two sisters to get the apples. These apples weren’t just any apples, but had been specifically aged for cider. This was the secret to getting the cider just right and was also the reason why they almost always ran out of their special cider since they sometimes had to get rid of apples that rotted instead of aging. It might seem like a waste, but it was worth it to get that precious juice.

“Here ya go bro!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully as she dumped her tiny basket of apples into the mill. Big Mac smiled as he saw his little sis helping out with the cider. Seeing everypony pitch in was his personal favorite part of the cider making. He kept on smiling as he kept the mill running.

“Keep up the pace! We’ll need all the cider we can squeeze out. Applejack, make sure Apple Bloom doesn’t drop any apples. I’ll be busy bottling it up.” Grannie Smith rolled out the barrels and put one near the spigot to fill it up. She turned the knob, letting the golden juice pour out into the barrel and fill it up. She buckled it shut and rolled it outside to where the stall was set up, ready to give the thirsty ponies some of their delectable cider. This continued for several hours until the sun rose up.

When the Apple Family had finished preparing the rest of the cider, they went outside and looked at the endless line of ponies gathered outside for their special concoction. As always, Pinkie Pie was at the front of the line with her tent, waiting to get the freshest cider possible.

“Nooo!” was heard from what seemed like a mile away. Applejack could tell that it was the cry of Rainbow Dash trying to get in line early only to find herself at the far end. Hopefully she’d manage to get a pint before they all ran out.

“Hope we can do as well as last year!” Apple Bloom told her family as they got the stall set up to give ponies their cider. The four of them remembered the strange events of last year’s cider sale with the arrival of the Flim Flam Brothers. They had challenged the Apple Family to a cider making contest and had somehow managed to win. Too bad for them that nopony liked the cider that they rushed to make. They ended up leaving town and the contest resulted in the Apple Family producing the most cider they’d ever made. It wasn’t cider using the aged apples, but nopony seemed to notice and the Apple family managed to give everypony at least a pint, even Rainbow Dash.

“Doesn’t matter how much we make, but how well the cider is,” replied Grannie Smith. She was the only pony who disagreed with the rest about how should make the cider this year. Big Mac had suggested that since the cider they sold using fresh apples tasted just like the cider using aged apples that they should do that instead so they could produce more and make a greater profit. Applejack and Apple Bloom agreed with the plan, but Grannie Smith was stubborn and said that it was tradition and that it “just wouldn’t be the same”. Sadly they wouldn’t make anything near the amount they produced last year.

“Well, I know we always make the best cider around. That’s for certain. Let’s open up for business!” Applejack cheered with the rest of her family as they opened up the stall for business. The very second the sign said ‘Open’, Pinkie Pie burst out of her tent, carrying a small chest with her.

“Hello everypony! I’d like whatever this amount will buy,” she said as she opened up the chest to reveal a shining mound of bits.

“Sorry Pinkie Pie, but we actually set a limit on a maximum of three pints per pony,” Applejack told her friend. She started to get scared when she witnessed the strange contortion on Pinkie Pie’s face.

“WHAT?! But I got all these bits just for cider!”

“Yeah, well, ya usually buy so much that other ponies end up missing out on getting just one pint. You’ll be fine with just three.” It was hard to tell Pinkie Pie that she couldn’t have as many sweets as she wanted. The look on her face was that of severe disappointment.

“OH! If it’s so other ponies can try it, then I’ll be fine with just three.” Pinkie Pie’s sudden mood swings were enough to keep anypony on guard, but at least it was for the better.

“Alrighty!” Applejack took three pints worth of bits from the chest and placed it in the safe under the stall. Grannie Smith took out three mugs and filled them up, the fresh foam exciting the ponies who were waiting for their chance to drink the golden elixir. Pinkie Pie grabbed her mugs, tears in her eyes, and began thanking the Apple Family.

“Thank you so much,” Pinkie Pie said to Grannie and Applejack. She grabbed the two of them and started to hug them. They were okay with this at first, but then the hug went over a minute and started to creep them out. She soon let go of them as she remembered the cider in her hooves.

The golden drink was still warm and fresh, ready to be tasted with the greatest of anticipation. The aroma was sweet and exhilarating, sending the mare’s nostrils flaring. The mug was slowly being tilted toward her, the drink coming closer and closer. This was going to be perfect.

“DO NOT DRINK THE CIDER!” a voice roared out over a megaphone. Pinkie Pie’s trance was suddenly interrupted by this loud demand, taking her out of the moment. Everypony else was wondering where the order had come from until they saw a strange sight approach them.

Over the horizon was a mechanical barge that approached them. There was a puttering sound that was heard, but as it got closer it started to resemble a quieter version of a train. As it got closer, two shadowy figures hanging on the sides of the strange contraption were identified to be near-identical minotaurs with white coats wearing black suits. One of them carried a briefcase while the other had the megaphone in hand. They stopped right in front of the stand, nudging it just a little as it came to a halt.

“What in the Sam Hay is going on?” Applejack demanded of the two. The well-dressed minotaurs leapt off the machine they had just arrived on, but one of them used a pinky to push it back several inches so it wasn’t nudging the stall anymore.

“Are you the Apple Family?” the one on the right asked.

“Yeah, and who might you be?” Applejack didn’t take too kindly to these strangers. They had arrived in the same manner as the Flim Flam Brothers had just one year ago with their mechanical barge. She had a sneaking suspicion that these two were related to them in some manner.

“That’ll be all for now, boys. We’ll be having a little conversation with these fine farmers first before deciding if we need your help or not,” one of the two familiar voices she heard said.

“I agree brother. Sometimes the most complicated issues on life can be solved through a simple talk. Hopefully this can be a simple and truthful conversation before it becomes something simple and hurtful,” the second voice said.

The hood of the traveling locomotive popped open to confirm the fears of the Apple Family; the Flim Flam Brothers had returned.

“Well look here brother of mine. It’s the entire Apple Family! This brings back memories,” said either Flim or Flam. Everypony kept on getting the two confused to the point they made a song just to tell you who is who.

“Yes indeed. Sweet, sweet memories. I can already taste the money we’ll be swimming in thanks to this place,” the other brother added.

“Alright, I’m gonna be straight with you fellas,” Applejack told them, trying to get their attention. “I have no idea which of you is which, so I’m gonna need to tell me straight up who’s who.”

“Why that’s very simple, dear. I’m Flim, as you can tell that by my bare upper lip, and over there is Flam with his wonderfully groomed mustache. I’d put it in song, but we really don’t have the time.”

“Agreed. We’ll be to the point; we’ve come to stop you from selling your cider.” Applejack heard what Flam said and nearly lost her temper.

“What in the hay y’all talking about? Ya can’t just barge in saying what we can and can’t sell!” Applejack was getting more and more furious and was only held back by her brother.

“Actually, mam, it’s in their full jurisdiction for them to demand that you stop serving cider to residents of this town. They own the rights to sell here after all,” one of the minotaurs told her.

“Yes. We were just about to explain,” Flim interrupted. “Remember the contest we held last year in order to determine who would have the rights to sell cider to the good residents of Ponyville? As you may recall, we were the ones who won the competition and the rights. While we did leave due to the fact that nopony here wanted to buy some of the rushed cider we produced, that doesn’t change the fact that we are the only ones allowed to sell in this town.”

“What’s going on here?” Twilight asked. She and the rest of her friends had come over to see the commotion. Several other ponies had left their spot in line to see what was holding up the cider as well.

“Flim and Flam here say that my family doesn’t have the rights to sell cider in Ponyville! I’m telling them that it’s just crazy talk.” Applejack was raging still while her family members dealt with it in different ways. Big Mac was stoic and calm, no expressions on his face. Grannie Smith was giving the two brothers her Evil Eye, veins clearly visible and all. Apple Bloom tried to do the same, but found that it was a whole lot more painful than expected.

“Come now, dear. It was all official and everything! Why, we even had a state official oversee the entire ordeal and give a final verdict on who won, remember?” Everypony heard what Flam had said and all eyes appeared to land on the mayor. Her eyes shifted nervously around when she noticed she was the center of attention. Negative attention. The kind of attention a politician gets after making a decision that comes to bite them in the future.

“Well, I did declare them to be the winners of the competition, so, um, yeah. Those two are…actually correct,” the mayor said, sad at the realization she could no longer purchase any Apple Family Cider.

“Yeah, well don’t expect any of us to buy your nasty cider,” Pinkie Pie told them, disgusted at the thought of drinking any other cider than the one the Apple Family produced.

The two brothers started chuckling, but soon they started bellowing out laughter, each hanging onto the other for support. Everypony looked at them in confusion, not knowing how this news was funny.

“Oh dear, you really think we’ll try to sell any cider here after that disaster? Good heavens no! Why, we’d lose so much money trying to sell anything to this town. Not only that, but we’d still need to purchase the apples from the Apple Family, and I doubt they’d be so willing to help us out,” Flim said, trying to catch his breath. “Really, the important thing for us is that you can’t sell your cider.”

“Now wait just a moment you whippersnappers!” Grannie Smith finally spoke up, pointing her hoof in their faces. “I get wanting to be a competitor and all. I even know that you’d love having no competition whatsoever. What I don’t get is being the only one with the right to sell something and not selling anything! Whatcha boys playing at?”

“Well, Grannie, one of the most important things about business isn’t focusing on exactly how much an item is actually worth, but how much somepony is willing to pay in order to buy it. To us, a bill giving us the rights to sell cider in a town that doesn’t even want our cider wouldn’t be worth much, but let’s say that hypothetically there was a family that kept its livelihood alive by selling the stuff. If they don’t have the Bill of Rights to sell their products on the land and that’s all they would be able to do, surely it’d be worth the equivalence or their livelihood, wouldn’t you say?” Flam’s smirk turned into an evil smile when he finished telling them this. His brother shared the same expression on his face as well. For a moment, it seemed as if these two brothers were the single greatest force of evil on the planet.

“Why you yellow bellied, snake oil selling, two timing-“ Grannie continued on her string of insults until she could barely say anymore. The rest of the ponies were just silent the entire time, trying to figure out what she was trying to say in the first place.

“The fact of the matter is that your family cannot afford to keep Apple Family Acres running without the money you gain today from your cider. Since you cannot sell the cider anymore, you cannot live on Apple Family Acres anymore, correct?” Flim asked the ponies rhetorically. He didn’t get any responses, except for the scowls they gave him, including Big Mac.

“The point my brother is trying to make is that we’re looking to sell it to you folks for a price we feel is not only fair, but a bargain,” Flam explained to the Apple Family. Seeing as there didn’t seem to be any other way, the four of them shared a collective sigh and decided to bargain with them.

“What’s yer price,” Grannie Smith asked.

“Well, from what our lawyers tell us, the value of the right to sell cider in Ponyville is actually very valuable, seeing as there is no competition and always a paying populace. We also took into consideration how important this particular source of income is for you to keep your farm and property and came up with an appropriate price for such. We wish to become the full owners of Apple Family Acres.” The four of them gasped at the audacity of such a proposal.

“Y’all are crazy!” Apple Bloom finally told them. The rest of the family quietly agreed with the youngest member’s statement.

“Apple Bloom’s right. The farm itself is worth way more than the right to sell cider. Ain’t no way we’d pay that much. Not only that, but wouldn’t giving you guys the farm end up defeating the purpose of getting the rights in the first place?” Applejack asked them.

“Think of it this way,” started Flam. “If you don’t have the rights to sell your cider, then you won’t end up earning enough to keep the farm. HOWEVER, if you give us the rights to your farm, you’ll be able to sell enough cider to keep the place in operation. We’ll own the name to the place, of course, but we’ll allow you to continue living where you always have. We’ll mainly have control of how products are used and such.”

“Products? They’re just apples. How many uses can apples have?” Rarity asked the brothers.

“We’ve got one particular product in mind. Using the apples on our new farm, we’ll be able to eliminate the Middle Mare and rake in the profits from across Equestria. Presenting the newest delectable taste that everypony will want more of,” A drumroll seemed to come out of nowhere, interrupting Flim as he was about to reveal his new product. Even the two brothers seemed confused by the sudden fanfare. They simply accepted it and continued on. “Flim-Flam Brother’s Apple Family Style Cider! You townsfolk might not like our product, but who’s to say how other markets would react. I believe they may even go for it and we’ll make a pretty penny from this new business venture.”

“You dunderheads can’t sell cider fer squat! The kind that you make is from those contraptions of yours. It takes hard work an’ sacrifice to make a high quality product ya lazy goobs,” Grannie told them off. The two brothers grimaced while she told them this, trying to keep composure.

“Well, your family should probably think about your options. You could either give us the farm and work for us, or you could lose the farm and be forced out of your home. I think the choice is pretty obvious.” The four of them knew that Flim was right. None of them had any chance of being able to purchase the rights for the town, and anything else would result in them losing the farm. This seemed like their only choice.

“Hold it right there!” Twilight yelled out, hoping that the Apple Family hadn’t lost hope. “We’re not letting you take over the farm just yet. We’ll find some way to get you guys your license back. Please, Mr. Flim and Mr. Flam, give us an hour to find something we can do to change your minds.”

The two brothers laughed at her plea, but then mulled over her proposal.

“You know what kid? Sure! Have an hour. I doubt you’ll find something we like by that point, however. If you do, it better be pretty good. But only you can go. We remember what happened the last time your friends joined in and helped you out.” Twilight was hoping to fulfill Flam’s hopes and find something that would be worth enough to keep the brothers from buying the farm.

“Spike. No time. Need to find something valuable, quick!” Twilight used her magic to lift up anything that could be hiding something of extreme value. Spike was just getting up from his bed and had no idea what all the commotion was about.

“Twi, why do you need to find something expensive? Did you make bets and owe the mob?” Spike said, rubbing his eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous. The Flim Flam Brothers have returned and apparently have the rights to sell cider and the Apple Family doesn’t. They’re saying they’ll give it to them if there’s something valuable enough for them to consider it.” Twilight frantically shook her head around, looking at anything she had. For a split second she considered checking out any valuable books she had before realizing the insanity of such an idea.

“So how much are the rights to sell cider here?” Spike asked, still tired.

“A WHOLE lot apparently. It’s worth more since that’s the thing that keeps Apple Acres operational. The only thing is that even if we were to give them a fair price I doubt they’d budge. This is a personal thing for them, and they even have their own business plans ready for when they take over.” The magic stopped as Twilight fell down on her hooves, feeling the hopelessness of the situation crush down on her.

“Who am I even kidding? How would I even have something that valuable in a library of all places? If only there was some kind of treasure we’d come across that’d be worth a fortune.”

“Well, there is that dragon’s treasure,” Spike said casually as he prepared his morning tea. Twilight suddenly stood to attention upon hearing what sounded like their last hope.

“Treasure? Spike, what dragon treasure are you talking about?” Twi hoped that this would be as promising as it sounded.

“Remember that giant red dragon that threated to destroy Equestria with his smoke? He actually came by here before leaving and left me a note about it. You probably don’t remember since you were really into learning dental hygiene while he visited.” Twilight reminisced about her times reading about tooth decay and cavities. Those were good times. “I think I have the letter still. Let me check my stuff,” Spike said as he rustled around in his pile. He grabbed a piece of charred paper and began to read it out loud.

“Spike. You’re the only dragon around. Guard my stuff while I’m gone. More info at the cave.”

Twilight expected more, but that’s all there was apparently. Turns out that dragons aren’t too worried about being wordy. It appeared that there were more directions at the cave. Before Spike put the note away however, she noticed a number on the back.

“Hey, what’s that on the back?” she asked.

“Huh. Never saw that. I think it’s listing the actual worth of his horde,” Spike said as he tried to make out the scribbled number. “Twi, can you figure out what this number is?”

“Let’s see,” she said as she looked over the number. It was scribbled messily it seemed at first, but then Twilight realized that the numbers were actually squished together. When she realized the total amount, her eyes popped open and she nearly fell back from what she read. “Spike, we need to go, NOW!”

“Huh? Alright,” Spike said, quickly gulping down his tea and getting on Twilight’s back. They trotted off, hoping to save the farm with their new information.

“Well, your friend seems to be running behind schedule,” Flim announced to the crowd of ponies who were anxiously waiting.

The Apple Family was nervously sitting around, hoping that Twilight would come back with something of value soon. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash managed to somehow look like they were the saddest ponies there, even compared to the Apple Family. This was because Pinkie Pie was legally forbidden to drink her cider, meaning it was just sitting in front of her. Rainbow Dash felt as if she could hear the call of the drink beckon her, wanting to be sipped while she lay down on a cloud.

Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to be handling the situation calmly. Fluttershy was attempting to coax the brothers by asking them to give them the rights “pretty pretty please” while Rarity decided to go over her own funds. As an up-and-coming fashion designer, she was sure that she had plenty of money she could spend and thought it might just be possible for her to pay for the rights. Of course, she’d like Applejack to thank her by always reserving her first in line for cider every year. That would only be fair, after all.

“So, should we call it?” Flam asked.

“Let’s give it a couple more seconds,” Flim replied. They could barely hold in their excitement as the hourglass trickled down further and further. Soon, Apple Family Acres would be theirs, and they could begin their new business venture. They were about to think about which location they’d sell to first until they saw the purple pony coming back.

“Stop the deal!” Twilight yelled, hoping that she’d made it on time. “I’ve got something!”

“Really?” the two brothers asked.

“Eeyup! I first need to ask you two a quick question; how much is the farm, including the rights to selling the cider worth?” Twilight had remembered a long time ago that her father had told her a story about an evil pony slaver who’d once captured a brave stallion’s wife and how he’d never bother to sell any of his less expensive slaves because dealing with such matters with such little money seemed too trivial. The stallion knew he could never take the slaver head on, so what he did is that he eventually earned his own fortune and bought the entire collection of slaves, including his wife, from him. After all, there’d be no way that the slaver would refuse such an amount. Actually, Twilight remembered that sometimes her father would change the way the story ended and have the stallion and his companion be found out and a huge battle ensuing that would result in the slaver’s castle being blown up by dynamite. Her mother didn’t approve of that ending.

“Well, considering all the money we could make off of this deal, plus the current worth of the farm and the value of the rights itself, our lawyers give us a rough estimate of,” Flim giggled as he knew just how large the number was, “two million bits.” Everypony’s jaw dropped at the mention of that number. Rarity just stopped looking through her books and just tossed them aside. If only she’d known how much an apple orchard could be worth, she’d have found some way to make it elegant for her tastes. Twilight didn’t look fazed however. In fact, she looked pleased.

“Oh, really?” she replied, smirking.

“Absatively posilutely! And even if you had that amount, I doubt we’d consider it still.” Flim was hoping that that would be enough to convince them to give up hopes. The pony’s expression didn’t change however.

“Well, if that’s the case, I think I have a number that’ll interest you and your brother. You say that you wouldn’t sell the farm, even for two million bits. I actually have several reasons for why you reconsider that idea.” Twilight was REALLY trying to look cool and had been practicing what she’d say in her head. “Actually I have about ten million good reasons why you should reconsider.” If there hadn’t been anypony whose jaw had dropped yet, they certainly had then. Even the Flim Flam Brothers, so confident that there wasn’t any amount that could change their thoughts, were now paying close attention.

“Mam, I believe that any argument with that much backing it up is worth listening to. Please, continue,” Flam said in his most cordial tone.

“I currently know the location of a large sum of money and will be going to retrieve it. I’ll need my friends and somepony else to help me out though. I also request a week at most to make certain that it’s the exact amount promised, if you’re willing to accept said amount.” Twilight felt like a boss at that moment, sounding awesome with her catch-phrases and making deals involving obscene amounts of money. The only thing that would make this moment more awesome was, well, she actually couldn’t think of anything. That’s how cool it was.

“Well,” Flim started talking, taking off his hat, “we do have one thing to say; we will allow all that you ask for, except that Applejack and any other members of the Apple Family will have to stay here at the farm. Also, since you’ll be requiring some time to get the funds, we also request that we stay with the Apple Family during that time. That way we not only do we have collateral for the time wasted, but also we can get acquainted with the property. Does that sound fair?” Twilight looked over to Applejack to see if this was something that she was comfortable doing. She gave a nod of head to give the all-clear.

“Deal,” she said. The two bumped hooves against each other in agreement with the lawyers acting as witnesses.

“Alright everypony! It looks like no cider fer now. Don’t fret though; we’ll be selling within a week!” Grannie Smith announced to the cheers of the townsfolk. It seems as if they were saved.

“Alright girls, just listen to my plan and we’ll have the money in no time. You got it?” Twilight asked her friends.

“Yep!” they responded.

“Alright, but first we should say goodbye to the Apple Family. Let them know that we’ll be back as quickly as possible.” Twilight went over to Applejack and her family and tried to figure out the best way to assure them that they’d get the money on time. “Don’t worry guys. We’ll have that money as soon as possible. All we ask is that you guys have some cider reserved for us when we get back, okay?”

“Hay, I’ll save a barrel just for you girls. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you Twi,” Applejack told her friend.

“Hey, that’s what friends do. Alright girls, let’s go!”

“YEAH!” they cheered as they went off, ready to save the Apple Family Farm.

Day 1: Deals with Dragons

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DAY 1: Deals with Dragons

The climb up the mountain was as difficult as the last time they went up to deal with the dragon. Rocks that’d fallen from rock slides were currently blocking several of the roads that they originally took and now they needed to find another way around. Rainbow Dash waited anxiously as everypony took their time climbing up the new path that they had found.

“Ugh! Seriously guys. Why don’t you just send me up and let me bring all the treasure down?” Rainbow asked, bored out of her mind.

“There are apparently more directions in the cave, so I’d like to read that before we start taking any treasure out,” Twilight responded. “Also, it’s our responsibility to help Mr. Donkey get up there safely.”

Twilight had recruited Cranky because of his background in being a carrier. He claimed that he could easily haul a thousand pounds given a wheelbarrow, five hundred if he was given large carrying sacks. Time was against them, so they’d need somepony who could carry a whole lot at once.

“Well why don’t I just lift the both of you up there then, huh?” Rainbow Dash went down to Cranky and placed her arms around his gut. She then tried to lift him up, but found that he wouldn’t budge. “What the hay?”

“You think I could carry all that weight without weighing something mighty heavy myself? Missy, read your physics books,” he berated her.

“Besides, we need to clear this path first before we have any ideas of bringing any treasure down. It’d be nearly impossible otherwise.” Twilight hoped that she was correct in choosing this route up the mountain. She used her magic to help smooth out the path they took up. Rainbow dash took the role of scouting ahead to locate where avalanches could occur and if possible get rid of them before anypony else came up. Fluttershy packed some healthy snacks for them on the trip while Pinkie Pie seemed to bring the pep. Rarity had the important task of appraising the worth of the treasure when they got to the top. She’d pick the items that would be the most valuable and then pack them. That way they’d be able to get their money’s worth for the trip and not become overburdened.

“Alright guys. It looks like we’ll be getting to the top just fine,” Rainbow Dash reported. “The path looks pretty smooth, except for this small part here.”

“What’s the problem? Anything scary?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nah. Just looks like you guys might have some trouble with the footing. Looks like the ground isn’t completely safe. It seems to shake on its own for some reason.” Rainbow Dash’s news was troubling. If the ground was shaking on its own, who else knew what would happen?

“Alright everypony, be careful when we get to where Rainbow Dash warned us about, okay? That means you should stop bouncing, Pinkie Pie.”

“Aww,” she moaned, stopping her bounce.

It was another fifteen minutes until they reached the spot that Rainbow Dash had warned them about. The ground started rumbling gently at first, but soon started rumbling and cracking. This didn’t look good to walk on.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to be careful-“ Twilight said as she took a step forward. The rumbling ground suddenly cracked open, causing it to collapse right before their eyes. The path was still there, but was a good ten yards away. The only way they’d get there was with flying.

“Alright. We can do this. Rainbow Dash, you get Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy, you get Rarity. I’ll be able to teleport across, but at this distance I’d only be able to teleport myself there accurately. We’ll need to figure out something for Cranky later, but right now that’s what we’ve got.” Twilight hoped that she’d find something to solve Cranky’s dilemma soon, or else they’d be stuck without their most important carrier.

The five of them put their plan into action. Twilight teleported over to where the path was stable, making sure that it wouldn’t break for anypony else. Pinkie Pie was lifted over safely, pretending to fly while in the air. Rarity was a bit more nervous however, with Fluttershy dipping up and down. Now all they had to do was find a way to get Cranky across.

“Alright, I think I’ve developed a strategy that could get Cranky across. First, I’ll need to rewind time in a limited field of area. Hopefully I won’t rip apart a piece of reality in the process. Rainbow Dash, I’ll need you to fly as fast as you can while the rift is open, hopefully making you travel faster than light. In the meanwhile-“

“Um, Twilight? I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Fluttershy pointed over to Cranky Doodle, amazing everypony by what they saw. It appeared that Cranky was walking on the steep mountainside. Twilight took out the protractor she always kept on her and measured the side of the mountain to be an eighty degree angle. Without a word, Cranky managed to reach the ponies and hopped down onto the path, surprising the lot of them.

“My cousin’s a mountain goat,” he explained before trotting on.

The rest of the trip up to the cave was relatively easy after that. Well, there was a scene where everypony almost starved because none of them had had any breakfast since they had been waiting in line all morning for cider and Fluttershy saved them all with her nutritious snacks, but that wasn’t interesting. They’d finally reached the cave and were relieved to see that it was empty.

“Heh, guess that dragon really did leave Equestria. Hope he doesn’t come back anytime soon, or I’ll have to give him the one-two,” said Rainbow Dash pretending to box. She hit her hoof against a rock and suddenly started yelping in pain.

“Huh, what’s that?” Rarity asked. A post appeared to be planted into the ground, some scribbles on it.

“Those must be the rest of the instructions!” Twilight rushed toward the post and tried to figure out the illegible writing. It just occurred to her that the dragon they’d met had claws bigger than a pony, so that was probably why it was probably so difficult for it to write legibly. She read out the instructions on the post before commenting, “Oh, boy.”

“What’s wrong, dear?” Rarity asked, dressed in gold, jewelry, and fine fabrics.

“Well, this post has certain directions for what to do if you take any treasure. Let me read it out.”

I have guy who come here monthly to check treasure. He tell me if any missing. If any missing, I burn down everything. If want to take treasure, take it all and pay with one thousand crysalids. Easier to just take all money and get that many crysalids than to worry about change of exchange rate and cost. However, if partial transactions-

She stopped reading there, her eyes killing her from the bad handwriting. Twilight rubbed her head, hoping to remember what proper spelling and grammar looked like.

“What’s a ‘crysalid’?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Is that some kind of crystal?”

“If it is, I’ve certainly never heard of it. If that’s the case, then it must certainly be rare.” Rarity was certainly concerned about this. “Twilight, have you ever heard of such a thing?”

“I feel like I have before, but all I remember about it is that it’s something dealing with biology. Don’t know what a dragon would want with something that you’d find in a biology book,” Twilight pondered.

“EEP!” Fluttershy yelled. “What if the dragon is asking for some kind of innocent fluffy creature for us to catch so it can eat?”

“I doubt a dragon would want furry creatures as payment for all this treasure. I mean, would that even be that filling?” Twilight told Fluttershy in an attempt to calm her down.

“Hey, I think I’ve heard of something like that before on my travels,” Cranky told the girls. “It was when I was visiting Baltimare and went into their Museum of Biology. It was quite a site. It looked like a giant black egg and was found near the southern border of Equestria. That’s all I can remember.”

“Wait a second,” Twilight found herself scratching her head, feeling as if she were on to something. “That’s it! I remember the details now! A crysalid is a Changeling egg that’s hatched! They’re commonly found in,” she stopped as she realized where this was going, finishing by telling them, “the badlands of the Changeling Hives.”

The group stared out into space as they knew what their next step in the journey would be. It looked like the six of them would be heading south to the fabled Land of Changelings.

“Well brother, this looks spacious, doesn’t it?” asked Flim as he and Flam were shown to their room.

“It sure does, brother. I think this’ll suit us just fine.”

“Glad you’re okay with it. Supper’s in five, so be ready by then, okay?” Applejack told them.

“Wait, you’re preparing us supper?” Flim and Flam asked, both surprised by this act of hospitality.

“Sure. We might not exactly like you fellas intruding in our homes an’ threatening to take it away, but for now you’re guests and we ‘ll treat you as such.” She left the two of them alone to help Granny Smith in the kitchen. The two brothers placed their suitcases on their beds and opened them up, placing their menial belongings in their proper places; toothbrushes in bathrooms, pillows on beds, and lastly a picture of their parents next to their beds.

After washing up, the two brothers went down to the kitchen to find Grannie Smith taking something out of the oven. It looked like apples that had just been baked. The scent of them was mixed with cinnamon and nuts that had been baked inside of them. Neither Flim nor Flam had ever wanted to taste something so badly. It would have to wait until after supper of course.

“Well, lookie who decided to show up,” Grannie Smith greeted the two. “Your spot is over there. Help yourselves. You’re the guests, after all.” On the table was steamed broccoli, diced tomatoes, chopped carrots, and freshly washed lettuce. The food looked absolutely wonderful to Flim and Flam, the two never able to enjoy a fresh looking meal like this while on the road. They knew not to take too much of each item, lest they appear greedy (or at least greedier) and passed the bowls to the right.

“I must say Granny, this looks absolutely scrumptious!” complimented Flam, taking a bite of the carrots. “Was this all produced on the farm?”

“It sure was. Most ponies only think we grow apples, but we actually do a whole lot more. Of course, we actually leave the harvesting of some other produce to the other families around here, but we’re the ones who actually own this property,” Grannie Smith told them.

“Well that’s good for us to know. After all, if Twilight doesn’t manage to get us that money she promised us, we should definitely know about what your current business deals with other businesses are,” Flim explained. The dinner table turned silent at the mention of the current dilemma the Apple Family was stuck in. Seeing that they were getting glares, Flam decided to change the subject.

“Say, what do you fellas usually do with the cider you haven’t sold at the end of the day?”

“We’ve never actually had to save any cider. We always sell out,” explained Applejack.

“Except for your cider!” Apple Bloom blurted out. “Remember when we used that stuff to ward off the Timberwolves with the smell?” The three other Apple Family members quietly smiled and blushed at what she was saying about their guests’ cider. Honestly, they weren’t surprised that something like that had happened. At least the stuff was put to good use.

“Anyway, we now need to figure out how we can keep the stuff from spoiling. WAY too much to let go to waste. It’ll go bad if it isn’t drunk in a couple of days,” Applejack told them. Flim and Flam both rubbed their chins thinking the situation over.

“Brother, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Flim.

“I do believe I am,” replied Flam.

“What’re you two planning?” Applejack asked.

“My brother and I believe we have a solution to your cider preservation problem. If we start on it tonight, we should be finished by afternoon of tomorrow,” Flam told them.

“Well, can you at least tell us what it is? Don’t want you messing with the farm while we still own it,” Grannie Smith asked.

“Let’s just say that it’s a surprise,” Flim told them.

After supper the two brothers immediately went out to the Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000 and grabbed their toolboxes. They then went down into the cellar where all the cider was currently being stored and began their project.

Day 2: Where Ponies Fear to Tread

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DAY 2: Where Ponies Fear to Tread

Twilight and her friends got off of the train that ended in the Macintosh Hills and lead them to the border of Equestria. They knew that they were near their target when warning sign started appearing, telling ponies not to continue moving on at their own risk. There were illustrations of bloodthirsty changeling swarms with captions saying, “This is what awaits you out
here.” Fluttershy was shaking nervously while they ventured on, Rainbow Dash having to push her along.

“Now Fluttershy, dear, I really doubt there’s anything you need to worry about. After all, there isn’t any sign that the changelings are nearby, are there?” Rarity asked before stepping into a pool of green goop. “EEP! EWEWEWEWEW! What is this stuff?” she asked, trying to scrape the goop off her hooves onto a nearby rock.

“That’s changeling saliva. Some must be nearby. We need to be careful,” warned Twilight.

“Hmmph. Ain’t no hangeling gonna scare me!” Rainbow Dash yelled out as she passed by a cave. She started to hear a rumble come from inside there and looked inside to check it out. Suddenly she heard the flapping of a thousand wings thundering toward her, the expression on her face becoming pure terror. In a second, a swarm of bats came pouring out of the cave, flying straight into Rainbow Dash’s face.

“BATS!” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity yelled out, running around in circles as the bats flew away. Twilight, with Rarity and Cranky, just stood and watched the three of them as they stood hugging each other with their eyes closed.

“Alright, now that you’ve probably ruined any chance of us not being heard, we should move quickly before something comes this way,” Twilight told the group.

“I’m sorry, Twi. It’s just that we’re all nervous,” apologized Fluttershy. “Maybe Pinkie Pie could sing us a song to calm our nerves.”

“Ooh! I have just the song.” Pinkie Pie jumped up on a rock and started bouncing up and down. “When I feel really nervous I like to sing the REALLY LOUD LOUD SONG-“ she belted out before Twilight tackled her.

“No! No loud songs! Just act like Cranky and be quiet!” yelled Twilight.

“Ew! Sorry Twi, but I’d rather not be like Cranky. Sorry Cranky,” apologized Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t worry. The feeling’s mutual,” he replied, confusing the brash pegasus.

“Whatever. Cranky, just take the lead. You seem to be the only one here who isn’t messing things up.” Twilight said, agitated from how things were going.

Cranky started moving, the rest of the group filing behind him. Things seemed to be going smoothly, that is until the ground started to crack.

“Oh come on!” they all yelled out as the ground gave way, causing the group to fall into a cavern filled with the sticky green goop. While it saved them from the fall, they were all stuck in place as a result.

“How could things get any worse?” Rainbow Dash asked. Suddenly the walls with lit with green dots, all pointing to the trespassers. “Great. More bats.” Twilight sent up a magic flare to light the cavern and revealed that those dots weren’t bats, but rather a swarm of changelings.

“I hope that cider is worth it,” Cranky said before everything went dark.

It was almost lunchtime at the Apple Family Farm. Big Mac and Applejack were cleaning up the farm from the crowd yesterday while Apple Bloom tended to the animals. Granny Smith had cleaned the house up and had also been preparing the lunch for when everypony had finished up.

“Alright everypony! Chow time!” Grannie Smith yelled out. Applejack and Big Mac soon came through the kitchen door. Apple Bloom was still busy cleaning the pig pen and would be in shortly. “Where are those Flim Flam boys?”

“Still in the cellar,” Big Mac said.

“Applejack, you mind letting them know its lunch time? Yer a lady and they’ll be sure to listen to you better,” Grannie Smith said.

“Uh, alright.” Applejack hated it when Grannie tried to get her with a colt. It never made any sense why she’d suddenly turn into a matchmaker at random times and try to have her interact with any colt in sight. She could tell she was trying to do that whenever she saw her eyes arching. They never seemed to rest when she was in one of her episodes.

“You boys ready for lunch?” she yelled out into the cellar. No response. “Wonder what they’re up to.” She went down into the cellar and found to her surprise a part of the room had been partitioned off with metal. She looked around the new wall in the cellar and located a metal door. Knowing that they had to be inside there, she carefully opened it up, hoping that there weren’t any unspeakable horrors lying beyond the door. She’d had enough of them for the week.

When she pulled back the door, her face was met with a blast of cool air. She heard the humming of fans blowing out cold air and saw several vents that had been installed.

“Keep the door closed!” Flim yelled out. Applejack quickly shut the door and checked out what they’d been doing since last night. Apparently the brothers had installed a refrigerator room in the cellar.

“Hey, I just realized that keeping this room running must cost a pretty penny,” Applejack pointed out. “How exactly could we afford this?”

“Don’t worry, darling. We’ll only keep the room operating when you need something to be preserved, like right now. Also, electricity is pretty cheap here, considering you live right next to a hydroelectric dam and all,” Flim explained. “Anyway, this room should keep your stuff fresh for at least a week. By that point this little ownership dilemma can be settled and we can sell off these wares.”

“Well that’s good to hear then,” she replied. “Anyway, I came to tell you two that it’s lunch time. Finish up whatever it is and head on up before it’s all gone. We’re having daisy sandwiches.”

“Sounds absolutely delightful. We’ll be up in a moment,” Flam told her. Applejack left the cellar and returned to the kitchen, her two siblings already eating their meal.

“Guess what? Those two made an entire walk-in refrigerator in our cellar to keep the cider fresh. I’ll be honest when I say that I’m mighty impressed they could do that in a single night.” Applejack sat down at her spot and immediately started digging into one of the sandwiches on the tray.

“At least they’re doing something useful rather than waiting fer us to run outta time. Big Mac! Save some sandwiches fer them. They didn’t get to eat breakfast,” Grannie Smith scolded. “It’s probably best to get them to bed after they’ve eaten. After all, they haven’t even taken a break.” As if they heard her, the two brothers come barreling up the stairs and took their places at the table.

“Boy! Have we worked up an appetite or what?” Flam exclaimed us he and his brother took the rest of the remaining sandwiches. Within a moment there were only crumbs left on the plate. “So, what else is there to do?” The Apple Family was surprised to see them so energetic after working for sixteen hours straight. It just wasn’t normal.

“Ain’t any of you tired?” Apple Bloom asked them.

“Nah. When it comes to engineering, me and my brother never get tired,” explained Flim. “Besides, I’m sure there’s more to do today, isn’t there?”

“Well, I might need help with bucking the apples. Applejack will be selling some of our other apples in town, so I’ll be on my own,” Big Mac told the brothers.

“Say no more! We’ll get straight to work on something for that. Come on, brother!” Flim yelled out. The two of them bounced out of their seats and went to the farmhouse that they had parked the Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000 in.

“Wonder what they’re up to,” Applejack whispered to herself, wondering what they could possibly be doing in the barn that would help out Big Mac.” She didn’t worry too long about it though and went off into town with Apple Bloom carrying some of the wares.

“Hey sis. Ya think that Twi and everypony else is okay?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Applejack replied. “In fact, I’d say that they must have it easy compared to us.”

Day 3: Dinner and Deserts

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DAY 3: Dinner and Deserts

“Hey, Twilight. Wake up,” Pinkie Pie whispered. Feeling drowsy, she slowly opened her eyes before coming across a horrifying vision; thousands of changelings surrounded them, hanging on the walls and humming loudly. More of them seemed to pour in through the tunnels to the chamber they were in. It seems that they were moved from their original location and put in what Twilight deduced was the changeling equivalence a courtroom. Things did not look good.

“Glad to see you up, Twi,” whispered Rainbow Dash. “Try using your magic to get us out of this goop.”

“Alright,” she responded. Her horn started glowing as she tried to lift herself out, but quickly sparked and faded away. “What’s going on?”

“That substance you’re in drains magic. Makes a delicious snack when you have a small magical creature fall in and all their magic is drained,” a sinister, familiar voice said. Out of the shadows appeared a large figure; Queen Chrysalis. Her subjects cheered as she took the stand, looking down on the ponies she had trapped. “It seems that we’ll be having a wonderful meal with you six here. You all defeated me before-wait. Who’s that?” she asked, pointing at Cranky who was just staring up at her.

“The name’s Cranky, mam. Cranky Doodle Dandy.”

“Huh. Don’t think I’ve ever met you before,” the confused queen pondered. “Anyway, you’ve all wondered into my territory and must now suffer the consequences.” The mob of changelings cheered when they heard this and rustled their wings. Twilight had to think of something fast.

“WAIT!” she yelled out. “We came here trying to find crysalids.”

“Crysalids? Why would you want those things?” Chrysalis asked. “They’re not exactly useful to have around. The only reason we still have ours is that some changelings actually find them quite comfortable to live in. Otherwise I’m trying to get rid of them somehow.”

“Well, there’s this dragon-“

“Ah. That makes sense. Dragons love to eat crysalids. One of the many reasons we hide underground is because of how addicted they can get to them.” Chrysalis explained. “So I assume that you have a deal with a dragon to trade crysalids for something then.”

“Yes. We haven’t come here for any other reasons than that,” said Twilight, hoping that she had appeased the very hungry looking queen. “It actually seems like you’d appreciate handing them over to us to get rid of. Would you mind doing that?”

There was silence in the room for a moment, then outright laughter from every side. It should have been obvious that they wouldn’t simply hand over something to a pony that’d defeated them in the past.

“Oh my. How rich. What reason should I give them to you? After all, I don’t exactly like you or your friends very much. Sorry about this, Cranky,” apologized the Queen. “However, I do see this as an opportune moment to have the six of you perform a task for me. See, there’s a certain tomb in the desert south of here that has a ward around it. This ward prevents any changelings from entering it. What I want you six to do is to enter the tomb and find the remains of the legendary unicorn Stalfos.” Twilight gasped upon hearing that name, but nopony else reacted.

“Stalfos is a legendary unicorn who spent his life hunting down rogue creatures that roamed the lands. He’s said to have disappeared a long time ago after he went south.” Twilight looked at Chrysalis and asked, “I suppose you don’t know much about it, do you?”

“Why, I have no idea what you mean,” Chrysalis pretended to say innocently. “Anyway, I should let you know that the supposed ‘Hunter of Evil’ was really a Dark Magician who actually used his abilities to defeat other creatures and steal their life force. He wasn’t ever a good guy; he was just a villain who attacked other villains to gain their strength. Eventually he would have attacked Celestia, but he was struck down. Somehow though his remains escaped and a tomb was built in the middle of the desert with a force field around it. It’s been like that for almost two hundred years now, and I want that to change. Bring me his remains, or at least his skull, and I’ll give you as many crysalids as you ask. Deal?”

“I dunno,” Twilight said. “I mean, what’re the chances that you’d actually honor our deal?”

“What other choice do you have? I mean, it’s not like you can just have me make a silly promise and you’ll suddenly trust me,” Chrysalis joked. This gave Twilight an idea however.

“Pinkie Pie, would you mind going over your promise with the queen please?” Twilight asked.

“Sure!” Pinkie Pie burst out of the goop and stood right before the Queen of the Changelings, surprising everypony there. “You can make a Pinkie Promise by crossing your heart and hoping to fly and to stick a cupcake in your eye! You do that and I’ll trust you.”

“Really?” Chrysalis asked, surprised at something so simple. “It seems like you wouldn’t trust me too much, even with a promise.”

“Oh, you will. After all, if you don’t,” Pinkie Pie’s face suddenly became serious, “you’ll have to deal with me.” Chrysalis became wide eyed, and without a word, made the Pinkie Pie Promise. “Goody!” she then exclaimed before jumping back in the goop with her friends.

“Well, it seems we have a deal then,” Twilight said, hoping that things had worked out. “Anyway, we’ll need directions to where this tomb is. Do you have a map we can use?”

“Actually, I was hoping to give you one of my guides. Bob! Get down here!” The Queen yelled.

A bunch or changelings looked around dumbfounded before asking, “Which Bob?”

“Bob the Big Headed! He knows the route well,” Chrysalis clarified.

Soon a lone changeling popped out from the crowd and fluttered to Queen Chrysalis’ side.

“Bob the Big Headed, reporting for duty, mam!” he yelled out, saluting in the process.

“I’ve told you a dozen times, Bob. You don’t need to salute. I’m practically your mother,” Chrysalis said, placing her hoof against her head in trying to deal with this. “Anyway, I’d like you to escort these six to the Tomb of Stalfos.”

Bob looked at the ponies that’d been trapped in the goop and said, “Hello ladies. And donkey.” Cranky nodded in response to being greeted. “First off, let’s get you out of this goop. Can I get a little help here, fellas?” he called out. Several of his compatriots came forward and lifted them out of their trap. The six of them were soon placed on a mesa and were licked clean of the goop.

“Ewewewewew,” the five girls said as this went on. Cranky didn’t show any emotion at all while this was going on. Obviously he’d seen much worse in his lifetime.

“Alrighty! Now that you’re all cleaned up, let’s grab some gear and head out!” Bob declared. He zoomed on toward the exit before looking behind him to find the ponies struggling to catch up. “Hey slowpokes, what’s going on?”

“We haven’t eaten anything since we got on the train that brought us here,” explained Fluttershy. “Here, let me help you guys out.” She took out the snacks that were in her pack and passed them to each pony. “Hope that’s enough for now.”

“Thanks Fluttershy! You’re a lifesaver,” said Rainbow Dash before stuffing her face with the sandwich.

“When you guys finish, follow me,” Bob told them.

“Thank you, dear,” Rarity said, taking a dainty bite out of her rice cake. “I must ask something; why exactly are you considered ‘Big Headed’?”

“Oh, you didn’t notice?” Bob asked. “Look at my head brother’s head compared to mine.” He grabbed the nearest changeling and put their heads next to each other. “See? My head’s a good inch larger in circumference. Anypony could see that. Glad that you guys didn’t just patronize me with my name.”

“Oh, um, sure. Not an issue.” Now that he’d pointed it out, Rarity couldn’t help but see it.

“So we just gonna sit around and watch ponies eating?” a changeling in the crowd asked.

“Let’s get some pizza! Last one there has to pay the bill!” another one yelled. All of a sudden the sky was filled with black, fluttering creatures swarming to the nearest pizza place. Whoever owned the nearest place was going to get a pretty big surprise.

“Alright! We’re finished our food. Ready girls?” Twilight asked the group.

“Ready!” they yelled out.

“Alright then. I’ll lead you guys forward.” Bob went forward, showing the girls the exit to the cavern. “So, have you girls really come across many changelings before?”

“Yes, actually. There was that big thing with the Royal Wedding, remember?” Twilight reminded Bob. “Hay, the wedding involved my older brother. We personally confronted your queen.”

“Huh. I must have been sick that day. I remember that there was something the fellas were bummed about before, but couldn’t remember what it was.” Twilight was surprised to meet a changeling like Bob. He definitely seemed different from the rest of the swarm.

“You know, Bob,” Twilight started, “I’d never met another changeling that acted the way you do. I used to think that all you other guys did was snarl and growl. But here you are having actual conversations with us. A bit surprising for me. I ‘d thought that with all my research that I’d have learnt more about your kind.”

“Oh, so you’re a researcher then?” Bob slicked back his mane. “I thought you looked rather intelligent.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Getting complimented on her intelligence by a changeling obviously wasn’t something that Twilight had expected to have happen to her while she went on this journey.

“Yeah. You actually knew who Stalfos was as well. Not many ponies I’ve come across have actually heard about him. Not too many who do know about him look half as lovely as you though.” Twilight giggled when she heard that. Not only was she being complimented, but the changeling was flirting with her as well.

“Oh my. I’m flattered, but not interested,” she let him know. Bob looked saddened by the news. He quickly seemed to perk up though.

“Oh well. When knocked down just get up again,” he said cheerfully. “So, any of the other girls single?” Twilight just rolled her eyes at that statement.

The group finally reached the mouth of cavern and was once again in the badlands. Bob purposely stayed on the ground so he wouldn’t end up leaving them behind while flying. He warned them about other traps that they’d set up in the area, such as the goop pools and other areas that would give way if anypony stood on there. Within an hour of walking, the group felt the wind in the area pick up and get violent. Sand soon accompanied the wind, and before they knew it they were at the edge of the desert.

“Wow. This looks pretty bad. Maybe we should wait until it calms down,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Can’t do that. The wind here never dies down,” Bob told them. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait!” Twilight yelled out. “We might get lost in the sandstorm. Here,” she said taking out some rope from her pack, “let’s tie ourselves to each other so we can follow the other’s lead without losing sight of each other.”

“Good thinking.” Bob tied himself up first and then gave the next strand of the ripe to Twilight. This continued until they reached Cranky.

“Aww nuts. With this rope I can’t even fly,” Rainbow Dash complained.

“Yeah, but it’s safer. Still lame though since I love flying,” Bob commented.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Some of the other guys think I’m a pretty fast flier. I can tell just by looking at your wings that you’re no rookie yourself.”

“Hay yeah! I’m a Sonic-Rainboomer!”

“Neat! Maybe we can swap flying stories. Say, over dinner?”

“Heh. Sorry, but nice try.” Bob was shot down once more.

“Three more,” the flirting changeling said to himself. “Alright everypony! Single file and follow me. Don’t mess with your ropes or you’ll be lost soon enough.

The seven of them soon stepped into the raging storm of sand and tried to stand their ground against the torment. It was difficult to move while the sand hit their sides, but they marched on through, Bob guiding them. Several times through the journey several of them were knocked down by the ferocity of the storm. Luckily none of them succumbed to it though. It took what seemed to be an eternity before they saw a structure in the horizon.

“There it is!” Bob yelled out. The group felt relief at what seemed to be an end to their long trek. Just as they were about to move forward, Bob came to a sudden stop.

“What’s wrong?!” Twilight yelled out over the shrieking winds.

“The shield is blocking me from going through!” he yelled out. “You’ll have to go through on your own!” He then untied himself from the group and pointed them to their target location. Twilight and the rest of the group passed through the shield easily. At this point the wind seemed to subside, as if the shield also protected it from the storm as well.

“Well, let’s get a move on,” Cranky said, untying himself from the rope along with the others. They soon walked over to the tomb, Twilight staying behind for a moment.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked, seeing the look of regret on her face.

“Well, I’m just looking at Bob and noticing that he’s out there waiting for us,” she pointed out. “Honestly, I have no idea how long we could be in that tomb, and that storm’s getting pretty fierce. I don’t think that anypony could last for too long in that weather.”

“Well, what exactly can you do?” Rarity asked. “After all, this shield does prevent changelings from passing through.”

“It’s magic, so it can be affected. I think that with enough concentration I can actually create a small opening for him to pass through quickly.” Twilight was determined to make this work. Bob was a nice guy, and she wasn’t going to let the storm claim him. “Hold on!” she yelled as her horn suddenly glowed intensely. A stream of energy poured forth, creating a small hole. “Get in!” she yelled to Bob, surprising him with this act of kindness. He went through the hole that had been created and it suddenly closed shut. Twilight fell to the ground exhausted, surprised at the amount of magical energy she needed to use to create that small opening.

“THANK YOU!” Bob yelled as he suddenly hugged Twilight.

“Heh. No problem. I couldn’t stand to see you just sitting there in the middle of a sandstorm,” she told him. Bob was still holding onto her, starting to seem a little clingy. “Uh, Bob? You can let go now.”

“I’m actually trying to, but my arms are too tired.” Bob struggled to move his arms, but they’d become stiff from all the trekking he’d done through the sand. He probably had to take on the brunt of the storm, being in the front of the line. Twilight also noticed that she was feeling exhausted as well. It was hard for her to move her limbs, and casting that spell didn’t help.

“Uh, guys? I think we’re gonna have to rest up right here,” Twilight told them, struggling to stand.

“We should probably stay in the tomb at least. Don’t wanna be out in the sun for all this time, you know?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. The group entered the tomb and found that there was a large room at the entrance, almost like a foyer. Bob and Twilight entered the room with Bob flapping his wings to lift the purple pony up and carry her. Almost immediately upon entering the room, the two ran out of strength and collapsed there on the spot, sleeping right next to each other.

“Daww,” the five of them, even including Cranky, said at the sight of this.

“Well, I dunno about you fellas, but I think …um,” was all Rainbow Dash could say before plopping down right next to Twilight.

“Oh dear. This doesn’t…look,” Rarity said before gently falling down right on top of Rarity.

“Oh,” Fluttershy eked out before plopping down on her side, pushing into Pinkie Pie.

“Haha! Wow. They’re REALLY tired. I’m completely fine. Hahaha!” Pinkie Pie laughed before she started snoring. Instead of falling down, she slept while standing up.

“Huh. Might as well join them,” Cranky said to himself, laying down and resting.

Big Mac woke up early that morning, knowing that he’d have to do a good amount of work. He was supposed to finish up bucking the apples that were ready since nopony else was available. Flim and Flam said that they’d help out, but they went to the barn and never came out.

“Big Mac! Come quick!” Applejack yelled as she burst into his room. “All the apples are picked!”

“What?” Big Mac asked. He followed his sister out of the house to see that the orchard he needed to buck had already been cleared.

“Guessing those Flim Flam Brothers aren’t bad with apples after all,” Applejack commented. “Well, looks like you’re lucky, brother. That was the only thing you needed to do today, so you have the day off.”

That was surprising news for Big Mac. He almost never got days off, and when he did he never knew what to do with them. The farm was pretty much most of his life.

“Eeyup,” he said, trying to figure out how he’d spend the day now. He walked off and passed the barn hoping that something would come to mind.

“Hello there, Big Mac!” greeted Flim, soon joined by his brother, as he passed by the barn. “You see how we got everything finished for you? Yep, I’d say it was a complete success, don’t you brother?”

“I couldn’t agree more!” Flam replied. “So what’s there for you to do today, good sir?”

“Nothin’.” Big Mac let them know. “Got the day off.”

“Excellent! So what’s the first thing on your list of celebratory activities?” Flim asked.

“Notin’,” he replied. Flim and Flam looked at each other, shock on their faces.

“Are you telling us that you have been given the freedom of a day off and have absolutely no idea in which how to spend it?” Flam asked.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac wasn’t ashamed about having no plans. For him, work was most of his life, so focusing on other things was usually foolish thinking.

“Unbelievable!” Flim remarked.

“Inconceivable!” Flam added.

“You’ve forced our hooves. Looks like we’ll have to act as your guides to having a good time!” the two of them said in unison. They soon grabbed Big Mac and led him into town, hoping that they’d be able to make the colt have the time of his life.

The first place the colts hit was Sugarcube Corner. Here they convinced Big Mac to eat anything he wanted. After clearing out half of the stores’ stock of food they moved onto the bowling alley where they played three games against each other, all of them ending in ties. Next up was the market where they played Thrift, a game where the goal is to get as many different things you can buy with a certain amount of money. They set the limit at fifteen bits and after an hour the three of them met back up. Flim had three items, Flam had two, and Big Mac had five. Apparently the brother’s weren’t that great salesmen without the other helping out.

“Well, it looks like Big Mac is the better dealer here. Congratulations,” Flam said, shaking Big Mac’s hoof. “So, what should we do next?”

“Why not get to know Big Mac better first? After all, we hardly know anything about him. What say you , big fella?” Flim asked.

“Sure,” he replied.

“I’ll ask the questions,” Flam let them know. “So, Big Mac, what’s your favorite color?”

“Red.”

“Alright. What’s your favorite food?”

“Peaches.”

“Huh. Different from what I expected. Do you have a special somepony?”

“Nope.”

“Do you want to have a special somepony?”

“I…don’t…” Big Mac thought about this before responding with, “know?”

“Really?” You must have some idea if you’d like a lovely lady, lass.”

“Maybe? Don’t have much time to do that stuff. Guess I could give it a try.”

“Move over, Flam!” Flim said, shoving his brother out of the way. “When it comes to matters like this, I’m the one to talk with, okay?”

“I won’t argue with you there, brother.” Flam turned his attention to Big Mac and said, “This guy here always leaves at least one heartbroken mare in any town we visit.”

“Except here,” Big Mac told him. Flim’s expression of pride soon turned sour after hearing that. He knew that to be true. Ponyville was the place that broke his record.

“Well, let’s just forget about that for now,” Flim said, hoping to get back on track. “Anyway, there are several things I’d like to know about what kinds of mares you like. Are you a fella who likes wings, horns, neither, or are ya one who doesn’t really care?”

“Dunno,” Big Mac replied.

“Fur color. Any real preference.”

“Dunno.”

“Kind of job that they have?” Flim was hoping to get something out of him.

“Dunno.”

“Brother! He doesn’t know anything!” Flim yelled out to his brother who was sitting right next to him.

“Well, I guess there’s only one thing we can do.” Flam took out a piece of paper and started writing on it.

“You can’t possibly be-“

“We must Flim! In times of absolute desperation, we must act with haste. We must,” Flam said scribbling wildly on the piece of paper, “write an impromptu song to bring the ladies over to Big Mac!”

“Huh,” Big Mac said to himself. Of all the things he’d heard of to attract the ladies, none of them involved writing a song.

“Alright. Just a bit more and we should have it,” Flam told them. Flim was carefully wiping away the sweat from his brother’s face while he wrote down the song and dance. “Done! Alright, now we need to get you to the center of town. Come on!”

Big Mac was pulled by the two of them, but he didn’t even budge. He then just got up from his seat and walked into town to where they told him to go. For some reason they told him to stay out of sight until they brought him forth. Flim and Flam both positions themselves and Flam hit the ‘play’ button on his stereo to give them a beat. Then they sang.

Well hello there ladies. My name if Flim

Salutations, mares. The name is Flam

Us travelers here noticed something very odd

You could probably say that you’re in a jam

The very first thing we noticed while here

Was something that would seem a bit too queer

So many fine mares living in this fine town

But so little couples seen just makes us frown

Well me and my brother have just made a find

That might be the very best of all of ponykind

At least to the race of mares everywhere

Fear not ladies! No need for despair

We’ve found the world’s most eligible colt!

Big Mac was soon dragged forward and presented to the crowd that had suddenly gathered to hear the performance. Flim and Flam then took out pointing sticks and started to stick them to certain parts of his body and sing about them.

Look at this face! It’s just so strong

And yet it’s somehow not too long

Check out this coat, so fine and red

A sign that he is finely bred

These are signs of a pony with class!

Why, just check out this very tight-

But we don’t want you to think

That his body’s the only pro

If that were the only side to him

Than we’d be filled with woe

This colt has such a gentle side

A kindly sort demeanor

If you searched for years on end

You could not find a soul cleaner

This colt here works his family’s farm

Night and day without end

It’s simply a great honor

To just call him a friend

He cares for his siblings

Two sisters, both younger than he

He cares for his granny

Who has a very bad knee

Don’t forget his smarts

He takes care of taxes

He also likes his sewing

A man of household arts!

Yes this colt sure knows the way

To be a gentelcolt

He keeps silent to hear what you say

And won’t try to bolt

What do you say, Ponyville!

Will you give this colt a chance?

He isn’t some passing fancy

Not some regular song-and-dance

So here you folks now see for yourself

The world’s most eligible colt!

The two of them finished up their song-and-dance, both breathing heavily while trying to keep their composure. The crowd of mares was just standing there, looking up at Big Mac.

“He’s mine!” somepony in the crowd yelled out. In a flash, the crowd had suddenly become a rabid mob, each one of them trying to get their hooves on the bachelor.

“I think this may have taken a turn for the worse,” Flim said as he and his brother climbed up a light pole and were hanging on for dear life.

Big Mac was just standing where he was, looking at all the chaos. He decided to simply walk away from the mess and went down and alleyway, hoping that nopony would notice his departure. As he exited the alley, he ended up bumping into somepony, causing her to lose balance and drop her sack.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! Ah’ shoulda been payin’ attention,” she said.

“Nope. My bad,” Big Mac told her. He went down and picked up the sack she had on her. When he handed her the sack he got a look at her face. At that very moment he was stunned. She had a yellow coat with a light green mane and freckles on her face. Her cutie mark was a diced carrot on a plate and she wore a straw hat.

“Oh. Thank ya very much,” she said as she took the sack from him. Big Mac’s expression didn’t change at all. “Um, my name’s Diced Carrot. Ah’ work at The Rosewood as the Vegetable Cook. My sister is Carrot Top. You’ve probably seen us working the carrot fields during harvest season. Yer Big Mac, right? Ah’d recognize that coat anywhere.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied. He’d remembered seeing Carrot Top before, but never her sister. Or maybe he had, but not up close. The fields weren’t that close to each other.

“Anyway, Ah’ was heading over to the restaurant to begin preparations for tonight. Um, you wanna eat at the Prancing Pony sometime? Like, tomorrow? I mean, I’ll make sure you don’t have to pay fer yer meal. Be mighty rude ta invite ya an’ make ya pay.” Diced looked away when she said this, but Big Mac could tell she was blushing.

“Eeyup,” he told her. It’d be rude to reject her at this point. After all, it seemed like it took her a lot of effort to ask him that.

“Ah good! Make sure ta wear yer best. It’s a fine restaurant.” She pranced away, a smile on her face. Big Mac smiled as well and headed home, hoping to avoid the mob of mares that had formed.

Day 4: Date of Destiny

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DAY 4

Bob had just woken up to find that everypony around him was still sleeping. He looked to his right and left and noticed that he was surrounded by the sleeping mares. Because of this, he couldn’t help smiling just a little bit, knowing he was a very lucky changeling.

“Ugh, what happened?” Twilight said as she woke up. Bob noticed that he was right on top of the mare and managed to get off her. “Did all of us really faint at the same time?”

“I think so,” Bob answered. The rest of the group was starting to come to as well.

“How long were we out?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Let me check my clock,” Pinkie Pie said, taking a wall clock out of her pack. “Well, we either slept for a few minutes, or twelve hours.”

“We spent the entire rest of the day asleep?” Twilight said, surprised that she’d be that tired from their journey. “Look, we need to get a move on. Only a couple days are left and we don’t know how far this tomb goes.”

The group ate the last of Fluttershy’s food and ventured forth into the tomb. Twilight tried to use a glowing spell to help them move through the dark halls safely, but saw her magic failing to activate.

“Huh. Wonder if that spell I cast yesterday really did take more out of me than I thought,” she said to her friends.

“Doesn’t matter. I actually brought some matches just in case,” Rainbow Dash told them. “This really is awesome! It’s just like a Danger Do book, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I wonder if we’ll come across any traps.” Twilight said before catching her tongue. For a moment she expected something bad to happen when she said that, but was surprised to find nothing go horribly wrong.

“Oh my. I really hope we don’t,” Fluttershy said, taking very small steps.

“Don’t worry babe. I’ll take on anything that comes your way,” Bob boasted. “Just stay close to me and things will be fine.”

“Oh, um, that’s alright. I’d rather stick with my friends. NOT that you aren’t my friend. I just mean that I don’t like you in that way,” Fluttershy said quickly, trying to not upset Bob with her rejection.

“Well, that didn’t work,” he said to himself.

The group continued their trek through the halls of the tomb, not encountering anything that seemed like a trap. The closest thing that seemed like a problem for them was a puzzle that was blocking the door.

“What is this?” Rainbow Dash asked while lighting a new match.

“It’s a puzzle. It looks like it’s asking questions about magic,” said Twilight as she examined the markings. “The answer is Levitation,” she said, poking the tablet that had a strange symbol.

The door slowly rose, revealing a chamber. Rainbow Dash saw a torch on the side of the wall and lit it. Through some sort of magic, other torches leading in a straight path lit up as well. They soon led to what seemed like the center of the room, revealing a coffin. It wasn’t ornately designed or anything; just a simple stone box.

“Alright! Let’s get the head and scram! Rainbow Dash said, zooming over to open the coffin. She pushed the coffin lid off and saw the skeleton. “Now to grab the head and, huh?” she said, surprised.

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“It’s not budging,” she told them. She tugged again and again, the skull staying in place. “Come! On!”

“Let Cranky handle this. He’s pretty strong,” Twilight told Rainbow. Rainbow backed off and Cranky gave it a try. He kept pulling on the skull, putting his back into it. He stopped pulling and shook his head.

“EVERYPONY PULL!” Pinkie Pie yelled out. Everypony gathered around the skull and grabbed some portion, trying to lift it up. After a while the grunting became ridiculous.

“Oh dear, I’m actually sweating worse here than in the desert,” Rarity complained. “Now my coat is absolutely ruined.”

“Really? It looks absolutely stunning. It glistens off of you giving you a radiant glow.” Bob was impressed at how well that line was.

“My goodness! You are quite the charmer, Bob,” Rarity complimented. “I’m sure the mare that falls for you will absolutely go wild when she hears how you talk.” Once again, no luck for Bob.

“Looks like it’s magic time, girls,” Twilight declared. She tried to use her horn, but she couldn’t get any magic out. “Come on! Why isn’t this working?”

“I wonder about my magic,” said Bob. Bob’s horn glowed and the skull was lifted up easily. “Huh. That was easy.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, realizing something, “Rarity, use your magic.”

Rarity tried using her horn, but nothing was happening.

“Huh. That’s odd. I haven’t used any of my magic recently. I certainly don’t feel tired either.” Rarity’s remark let Twilight knew that something was wrong.

“Hey! Which one of you is using magic on me!?” a loud voice roared. Everypony looked around to see where the voice had come from. “You guys can’t tell? Come on! Hopefully the one that solved the puzzle can answer.” Nopony said anything, and then Twilight broke the silence.

“Stalfos?” she asked, not really sure by what she meant.

“Correct! You must be the one that answered the riddle. Didn’t make it too difficult, but made sure that you had to know magic before coming in. Sweet, sweet magic. No wonder the Changelings do what they do!” Stalfos started to laugh. How he did so was anypony’s guess. “Also, that was some very delicious magic you two girls had. I think that it’s just about enough to get me moving again. See, what I’ve been doing is luring smarty magic users like you into investigating my tomb and then sucking your magic out. If I really felt hungry, maybe just a bit more than that, like their life energy.”

“So you just like eating? Why couldn’t you just have some pie?” Pinkie Pie yelled out, angered that somepony had the gall to eat life force over a dessert.

“Well, that’s on account of me being dead. I’m using that life force to finally get up again and continue my little quest to get all the magic power I can. Too bad I wasn’t able to defeat that Changeling Queen and get her abilities. That’s the main reason why I can’t absorb their magic,” he explained. “I can absorb pretty much any other creature except for changelings, so HOW DID ONE GET PAST MY SHIELD?!” he roared, shaking the tomb.

“You really underestimate my capabilities,” Twilight told the voice.

“Ah. So one of you opened it up. Very well. I’ll just have to crush you all and then I’ll be on my merry way.” The chamber soon lit up, revealing the bones of different species covering the sides. Everypony, even Cranky, screamed in terror as they saw the bones lifting up into the air and joining together. What were formed weren’t any creatures that existed in nature, but horrific abominations fused by magic to create bone monsters. “Have fun!”

The bony creatures started their assault. Pinkie Pie somehow had her cannon with her, Rarity had curling irons she could use, Rainbow Dash her speed, Fluttershy her ability to somehow not get noticed, and Twilight improvised with her book. Cranky didn’t seem to do much at first, but after being bit several times by the beasts, he got real mad. He started braying like crazy, breaking the beasts with his hind hoofs. Bob was using his magic to break the beasts apart. It didn’t matter though, since the bones would just be put back together as soon as they broke.

“Hah! You can’t beat me! I’m a dead mage! That’s pretty much the ultimate in magic! Once I get a body that can actually handle my magic put together, I’ll be having a real good time.” Stalfos was right; they wouldn’t win at this rate.

“What can we do?” Rarity asked as she performed a Coup de Grace on a bone beast.

“I have no idea, but my magic is starting to wear thin,” Bob answered. While he was distracted, one of the beasts managed to hit him straight in the gut, causing him to spit up some green goop. The goop landed on the bone beast, making it somehow fall apart.

“That’s it!” Twilight yelled victoriously as she just figured out how to stop Stalfos. “Bob! That goop absorbs magic! Spray on Stalfos so he can’t use his to make any more beasts!”

“On it!” Bob flew to the skull of Stalfos and let loose a stream of green goop. Stalfos’ skull was splattered with goop, making everypony feel just a bit queasy.

“Agh! Gross!” Stalfos yelled out. The bone beasts started to fall apart as the skull was covered in more goop. His magic was now being shielded.

“Hand me an empty sack!” Bob yelled out. Fluttershy tossed him one of her empty snack sacks and he spat some goop into the sack before putting the skull in there. He then filled the rest of the sack of with enough goop that it was dripping.

“I guess that settled things,” Twilight said, putting her book away.

The tomb started shaking, several blocks in the ceiling falling to the ground. It appeared that without Stalfos’ magic the place would collapse. Without a word the seven of them ran out as fast as they could, managing to get out just before the entrance collapsed on itself. They were outside and noticed that both the shield and sandstorm had disappeared. Both had apparently been caused by Stalfos’ magic.

“I guess the trip home should be pretty easy now, huh?” Bob pointed out. He looked worn out after spitting out so much goop.

“You okay, Bobby?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yeah. As long as I can see your pretty face my heart’ll keep beating,” he said, trying one last time to get lucky.

“Hahahaha! You’re funny!” Pinkie Pie said, laughing.

“Geez, Pinkie. If you’re gonna let him off, at least don’t laugh in his face,” Twilight told her.

“I’m sorry girls. He’s just too hilarious!” she said, squeezing him tight. Maybe it was better off this way.

The trek back to the Changeling Stronghold was much easier now without the storm. Within an hour they had returned to Chrysalis, victorious.

“My Queen,” Bob said, bowing toward Chrysalis. “We were successful in attaining the skull of Stalfos. He was still magically active and attempted to defeat us, but I used my green goop to suppress his abilities,” he told her, handing over the bag. “Sorry about the mess.”

“That’s alright. You have done well, Bob. You too, girls and Cranky.” Chrysalis then walked over to what looked like a headstone that was behind her and took the skull out of the bag.

“NO!” they all yelled out.

“Gah! That was messy.” Stalfos said as his skull was plucked from the bag. “Hey, is that the little changeling girl I saw all those years ago? You’ve certainly grown up. Guess you needed to after my fight with your mum left her-“ He was cut off as Chrysalis dropped his skull onto the ground and stomped on it. At first it was just once, but then twice. She kept on stomping on the skull and its remaining bits to the point her hooves resembled a jackhammer. The skull that was just there had been reduced to a fine dust. At that point she plopped down on the dust and rubbed her behind on it.

“That’s for my mother, you meat eating, horn prodding, bag of a bone,” Chrysalis said, panting after she had finished. She suddenly turned her attention to the group, their faces shocked at what they just saw. “I will give you your crysalids now.”

The group cheered as they had finally reached their goal. Another cavern wall opened up, revealing the crysalids that they would now be able to take home. The smiles soon faded from their faces when they saw that each crysalid was approximately the size of half a pony.

“Uh, Chrysalis, how exactly are we supposed to carry these back to Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t you have a plan, smarty pants?” she responded. Twilight had no idea of how big the crysalids were. Even Cranky would have a hard time lifting them back. The trip to and from Ponyville would be several days to get them all to the dragon’s cave.

“Could you have some of your changelings help us carry them to Ponyville?” Twilight had never heard Chrysalis laugh so much. After a moment she stopped.

“Oh, wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder!” And then she did. “Anyway, you expect my subjects to risk flying to someplace where everypony hates them and to carry this load for you? I’m sorry, but our deal was for the crysalids. Shipping would cost extra.”

“How much is ‘extra’?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I have another little task that you and your friends could do. See, several subjects of mine were going to put on a play, but they’ve come down with something. If you can find replacements and have them perform several roles in the play, I’ll give you two thousand strong changelings to help carry these crysalids to Ponyville. Deal?” Chrysalis could make very odd demands.

“Sure. What’s the play?” Twilight asked.

“The Beast of Notre Dame. Unfortunately the stage manager is sick as well, so one of you will have to make sure things are ready. We really like our plays.” Once again, Twilight has learned something new about Changelings that she never would have read in a book.

“I think we can do that. I’ll need to look over what roles need to be filled though.” Chrysalis showed Twilight the list of characters with actors. Several of the names were crossed out, needing replacements. Twilight saw the list and immediately knew which ponies to play the roles. “Alright. I’ll just need to bring in some outside ponies to fill some of these roles, so I’ll need to contact them. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” The two bumped hooves, signaling the agreement for what might be the most chaotic play ever.

Big Mac wore his tuxedo and for once wasn’t wearing his yolk while he trotted over to The Rosewood. Flim and Flam decided to join him as well, feeling that it was only right to act as guides in tonight’s dinner.

“So, Big Mac, you feel ready for tonight?” Flim asked.

“Eeyup,” he replied. Truth is Big Mac was actually overwhelmed with nervousness. That was probably the main reason he accepted the brothers’ aid tonight.

“Don’t you worry fella! We know exactly what we’re doing. After all, our little song was such a success that we had to beat them off with sticks!” Flam boasted.

“Yes. But brother, you do realize that the point was to have Big Mac require to beat them off, remember? I’d have to say that the guards that were summoned weren’t supposed to beat them off with sticks either, but after that mob formed that’s what happened,” Flim pointed out.

“Then we did even better than expected!” Flam declared, missing the point. “Anyway, we’ll be sitting at a nearby table and helping you out in case things aren’t going smoothly. Remember your signs, alright?”

Big Mac nodded as they stood right outside the restaurant. Taking in a deep breath, the three of them entered the establishment, hoping that Big Mac’s night would go well.

“’Ello, and welcome to The Rosewood. ‘Ow may I ‘Elp you?” the host asked in a painfully exaggerated accent. He was a pony trying to speak in the same accent the griffons spoke.

“Big Mac,” Big Mac told him.

“Ah! So you’re the one Miss Carrot’s been gushing about! Sorry about the accent. The guys here really want us to sound griffon, but it’s just plain awful to speak like that.” The host then turned his attention to the Flim Flam Brothers. “And what about you two?”

“We’re here to help things go smoothly for Big Mac on this little outing of his,” Flim explained. “We’ll need a seat where he can clearly see the two of us.”

“Sorry fellas, but there’s only one other seat available for the two of you, and that’s in the next room over there,” the host pointed out to them. It appeared that they wouldn’t be able to help out Big Mac after all. “Follow me, big fella”. Big Mac was shown his table and given his spot. It was facing away from the kitchen and looking out the glass windows. “Diced Carrot told us that she invited a special somepony over tonight, so her sister is taking care of her station. The two of them are pretty good at veggies, but Diced is definitely the best. She’ll be here shortly.

The host soon returned to Flim and Flam and showed them their seats. It was located in a room to the right of Big Mac’s location and was placed behind a large griffon that was eating his meal. In some way it almost seemed deliberate.

“What can we do, brother?” Flam asked.

“I guess we just eat our meal and hope for the best,” Flim responded. It looked like their quest to help Big Mac was over and now in his hooves.

“Hey Diced! He’s already here. Let me show you,” the host said. Big Mac looked in the direction of the entrance to see if he could see her. Coming from behind the corner, Big Mac’s jaw suddenly dropped a good five inches upon seeing her. She was wearing a green dress from Rarity’s shop and had her hair done as well. When she saw Big Mac she suddenly stopped in her tracks as well, surprised to see how handsome he was in a tux. The host helped her out by pushing her all the way to her seat and sitting her down.

“Now, how may I help you?” he asked them.

“Ah’ actually gave Jerry the list of what we’ll be havin’ tonight. Just let him know we’re here an’ he’ll get started,” Diced told him. Big Mac noticed that it was unusual for the host to take orders, but then remembered that she was with the staff, so he probably made an exception.

“So, nice tux,” she started. “How long have you had it?”

“Since pa passed,” Big Mac answered.

“Oh. How sad.” Big Mac noticed that Diced wasn’t fumbling with her words like before. She must have calmed down before dinner. “Ah’ know what that’s like. Sis took care of me after both our parents passed when Ah’ was just five and she was sixteen. We had to take care of the veggies ourselves after that. And-“ Diced’s eyes started squinting, as if she were trying to see something behind Big Mac. Big Mac turned around and saw the kitchen staff just preparing the food. He faced back to continue the conversation.

“Hey! You have any music preferences?” she changed the subject to.

“Can you tell what they’re talking about?” Flim asked his brother. They were peeking around the griffon, trying to get a read on the situation.

“I have no idea,” said Flam, trying to get a view of the two ponies. “I wish we could somehow get closer without being seen.”

“You guys realize I can hear everything you’re saying, right?” the griffon told them.

“Sorry sir. We’re just two wingcolts trying to help our pal here, but we can’t get a view of the situation,” Flim explained.

“Well then I’ll let you know that things seem to be going fine. Odd though, because I keep catching that lady there squint her eyes as if she were trying to read something,” the griffon told them.

“Really? Could we bother you to go and check out the situation closely” Flam asked.

“I will, but first I need you to do something for me first. See, I actually forgot my wallet at home and realized that after I’d finished my meal. For the past hour I’ve been ordering desserts that take a while to make so I could think of a way out of this, and neither I nor my stomach can handle it anymore. You guys mind paying for it?” The Griffon’s story actually touched the hearts of the two brothers. They’d been in similar situations before where they hadn’t earned any money recently and had to dash out before they were caught.

“We absolutely will,” Flam promised.

“Awesome. The bill’s about two hundred bits,” he told them. The two’s hats spun around at that statement. They checked their wallets and found they had one hundred bits each. They put the money on the table and the griffon went out.

The brothers saw their ally walking around the restaurant, staying within earshot of Big Mac and Diced Carrot. They saw what he meant when he said that Diced Carrot would start squinting to check out what looked like something behind her. The griffon soon returned with intel on the situation.

“Well, from what I can tell the girl there is getting help from the kitchen staff. They’re holding up poster cards with topics and replies for her to say.” This news flabbergasted the two brothers.

“So they’re doing what we came here to do then?” asked Flim.

“Yeah. Not only that, but there actually are other tables for you guys to have sat over there. I think they placed you guys here to get you out of the way.”

“Why that twists my bowtie!” Flam yelled out. “I bet they’re giving out horrible advice that’s making her say ridiculous things to Big Mac. Come on brother! Let’s sort them out.”

“I’ll help you guys out,” the griffon told them. “After all, things might get hairy in there. I’m pretty experienced in combat, so I’ll give support if you guys need it.”

The three of them walked over to the kitchen and entered it. They saw several chefs holding up the posters and then quickly putting them down before anypony noticed what was going on.

“Stop right there!” both Flim and Flam yelled out. The chefs turned to see that there were three unwelcome visitors in the kitchen. One chef stepped forward; she had a green-yellow coat with an orange mane. Her cutie mark was that of a carrot.

“Just what do you think you’re doing in our kitchen?” she asked.

“We know about you and your poster cards. We’re Big Mac’s wingcolts and we can’t allow you to possibly ruin this date. Big Mac is a sensitive pony and we’re here to make sure that you don’t make him lose the only mare he’s truly shown interest in.” Flim looked determined, but the chef just laughed at what he said.

“You’re worrying about us? We know what happened yesterday with you and that mob. We’re keeping you away so you don’t give Big Mac bad advice and scare away my sister. The name’s Carrot Top, and I’ll make sure that this date goes perfectly. Jean, shut the shutters.” The openings that allowed diners to see the kitchen were suddenly blocked with shutters coming down. They also fell at the entrance to the kitchen, blocking the griffon friend, who was just outside, from entering.

“Oh dear. This can’t be good,” Diced said.

“What?” Big Mac asked.

“Um, well, uh,” she started to stutter again. Her face was turning red as she tried to explain what was going on. She took a deep breath and finally managed to tell the truth. “My sister an’ the rest of the staff have been helping me talk ta ya by showing me post cards about topics Ah’ should talk about behind yer back.” She was finally relieved to let him know that. Now she awaited his response.

“That’s alright. Flim and Flam came along to help me out tonight as well. Too bad they couldn’t. Probably made you feel awkward with all this silence.” Big Mac hoped he was coming across as understanding.

“Oh no! That’s alright. Ah’ mean, Ah’ only talk this much because Ah’ feel like if Ah’ stop then people will stop paying attention an’ be bored by me.” Diced Carrot was surprised by what she had said. Even she had never realized that fact about herself.

“That’s alright. I keep quiet ‘cause I just don’t have much I need to say. Doesn’t mean I don’t wanna say something. Just don’t need to all the time.” Big Mac noticed that he was actually saying a lot more than he usually was. He didn’t mind that.

“Well, one thing that Ah’ actually did want ta talk about was my family. See, my parents passed when Ah’ was real young an’ my sis took care of me after that. They left enough money behind so we didn’t go hungry, an’ we got enough from farming ta help pay the bills. Ah’ found that my talent was cooking veggies an’ decided to use that in order ta help my sis out fer all her help.” Diced was so happy to finally tell somepony all of that and not feel like she needed to talk out of need. Big Mac really did pay attention to everypony who wanted to really talk to him.

“Eeyup. My family pretty much had the same thing happen. We had Grannie smith to help out though. Apple Bloom doesn’t remember them at all though. Hope she never has the yearning to know more about them, or she’ll feel sad about never meeting them.”

“That’s not good! At some point she’ll wonder about them an’ wanna know more. Tell her about them when you feel it’s ready, ‘cause someday she’ll notice that an’ feel empty. Trust me on that.” Diced couldn’t believe how open she was being with her feelings today. Not only that, but she wasn’t stuttering either.

“That’s true,” Big Mac replied. He was actually saying things other than ‘eeyup’.

“Anyway, Ah hope yer friends aren’t tryin’ anything stupid right now in the kitchen. That’s never a good thing ta do.”

While Big Mac and Diced Carrot were finally having a real conversation with each other, the two groups of wingcolts were about to have a throw down.

“So, you think you can just come into this restaurant and wreck our plans, eh?” Carrot Top said. “You’ll have to fight us first.”

“Bah! You ponies don’t look so tough!” boasted Flam.

“Uh, Flam? Those other chefs are all griffons.” The two looked around and noticed that the only actual pony there was Carrot Top. At least they could take her, they thought before she took up a rolling pin and broke it in half with her bare hooves.

“Beat those trouble-making con men to the point where they can’t tell who’s Flim and who’s Flam,” Carrot ordered.

“Par Mademoiselle Diced!” the griffons yelled out as they began their onslaught. The first wave included a flurry of different knives thrown at their position. The two ducked behind cover before being filleted.

“Huh. So they can’t speak Pony, but understand it,” Flim mused.

“Flim! Not now!” his brother yelled. “We need to activate Emergency Plan Kitchen!”

“Already on it!” he said, grabbing the nearby sack of potatoes.

“I’ll move in for the bonking. Keep throwing and don’t worry about me!” Carrot ordered. The room of mad chefs kept throwing their supplies at the brothers when they saw them rise up.

It almost appeared like something in a movie where everything was slow. Using tubes and cans of compressed air, Flim and Flam had constructed a potato cannon. The rounds fired out quickly, slamming into the griffons’ faces and becoming mashed in the process. Carrot was able to take cover quickly, but the rest of the staff had been pummeled with potatoes.

“I’ll take you guys out myself!” she yelled out as she rushed forward. Flim kept with the fire, but Carrot use the broken pieces of the rolling pin to knock them out of the air.

“Oh yeah!” the griffon who was aiding Flim and Flam yelled as he finally managed to burst through. “What’d I miss?” He was promptly beaten to the ground by Carrot as he got in the way of her rampage.

“This’ll teach ya ta mess with me ya consarn fool!” she yelled out. Carrot looked horrified as she heard the sound of her own voice. “Mah accent! Consarn ya two! Ah’ spen’ years tryin ta get rid a it, an’ you two make it come right back! Now Ah’ sound like a bumpkin!” Carrot Top fell to the floor, no longer looking like she was ready to eat anypony. “Ya cost us our farm, an’ now ya wanna mess with ma family? Yer rotten.”

“Wait a moment,” Flam said, speaking up. “How exactly are we costing you your farm?”

“Ya’ll think we can pay fer our farm? Our Veggie Farm is part of Apple Family Acres. Grannie Smith took it in when our parents passed away. She’s helped pay fer it ever since.” Flim and Flam were surprised when they learned that. They never realized that the farm had even further responsibilities. Now it made sense as to why the Apple Family needed all that money; they were essentially supporting two farms.”

“Uh, listen,” Flim said, trying to console Carrot, “if we do end up getting the farm, me and my brother both promise to help you and your sister. Hay! If you want, we could even help you gain more profit by selling your profits to other businesses farther away. We promise not to interfere with your family and only wished to help Big Mac behave like a gentleman to your sister.”

Carrot Top heard what Flim was saying and said, “Well, that certainly does sound nice. Both things, I mean. Sorry about being a bit presumptuous. And trying to kill you. I think that was overreacting to the situation.” She looked at her staff, lying and the floor and yelled, “Get up! We’ve got food to serve!” The staff instantly stood in formation and saluted Carrot, cleaning off the potato on their faces with whatever they could use. Carrot then took the tallest chef’s hat that was on the rack and placed it upon her head. “Us Executive Chefs should know better than to rush into things without getting all the details.” Her telling Flim and Flam her title didn’t seem to link to anything they were talking about. Apparently she just liked boasting about her position.

“Oh snap!” Flam yelled. “How are those two doing?”

Flim, Flam, and Carrot Top peeked outside to see how things were doing. Both Big Mac and Diced Carrot were now smiling and giggling. Their hooves were touching each other’s on the table as well.

“Huh. Guess they didn’t need our help after all,” commented Carrot Top.

“Well, if you don’t mind, we’ll be leaving now,” Flim and Flam said, ducking out of the restaurant as fast as they could. The two of them considered today a success and wanted to leave before anything else insane happened. At that very moment, the two brothers wondered what Twilight’s group had been up to.

Day 5: And the Role Goes to...

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DAY 5: And the Role Goes to...

The day had been going well for everypony in the Apple Family. Big Mac was telling everypony about his date last night, exciting Grannie Smith who proclaimed that she’d finally have grandkids. Nopony wanted to correct her terminology.

The chores for today involved Applejack cleaning the barn while Big Mac helped with repairs around the house. Apple Bloom went to school today, so she didn’t have to worry about anything. Flim and Flam offered to clean the barn in place of Applejack since they still had the Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000 parked in there.

“We’d just feel more comfortable if we were cleaning near our invention. No offense, but we really don’t want anything bad to happen,” Flim explained.

“Y’all act like I’m gonna be hitting your contraption with hammers an’ such. I’m just cleaning up around there. You can join me if you like,” Applejack replied. For some reason the Flim Flam Brothers still looked nervous.

“Well, we think you deserve a break. We can handle the barn. Don’t worry about a thing!” Flam told her, hoping that she’d take the bait.

“Listen, this ain’t your farm yet, so while I appreciate your offer, I’d feel better doing it myself,” Applejack explained. “In fact I’m heading over right now.” Applejack went off to the barn while Flim and Flam looked at each other nervously. They saw Applejack just about to enter the barn just before blocking her.

“It’s just, well, we know your family doesn’t exactly appreciate our inventions, so we just don’t feel like you’d like what you see in there.” Flim hoped that would somehow convince her to step aside. Instead, Applejack opened the barn door while the brothers tried to stop her to no avail. They wouldn’t be able to hide it any longer.

“What in the hay is that thing?” Applejack asked as she saw the monstrosity before her eyes. She had expected to see the familiar contraption that they rode on. What she ended up finding however was a vehicle with what looked like several vacuum tubes on top, along with several robotic arms.

“Well, remember how the original Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000 could pick and make cider from apples? We decided on a new design that excels specifically in picking apples in a way they can be safely harvested.” Flim and Flam wore a nervous grin on their face as they explained this to Applejack.

“So that how you fellas picked all those apples so fast!” Grannie Smith yelled when she saw the contraption. “Knew ya couldn’t do the work with yer own hooves. Yer too lazy to put effort into anything!”

“Enough!” Flim yelled out, tired of hearing her say that. “Are you for real? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make things like this? This takes years of study to understand, plus years of experience on designing and actually putting the thing together. What you call ‘lazy’ is what we call ‘skill’. Why, I bet we could build ANOTHER device that makes cider a whole lot better than yours! You’ll see what I mean. Come on, brother!” Flam grabbed his brother and then pushed everypony out of the barn to begin their creation.

“Guess I won’t be cleaning the barn after all,” joked Applejack, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Big Mac and Applejack were up on the roof, putting up new shingles. The two saw strange lights and heard loud noises coming from inside their barn. Hopefully they weren’t doing anything that would cause a fire.

“I just don’t get those fellas. Why’re they so upset when we call them out for solving all their problems with machines?” Applejack asked her brother.

“Don’t really know. Personally, I like doing work with my own hands,” he replied. Applejack was actually surprised for a moment when she heard him say more than a couple words.

“Hey sis!” Apple Bloom called out.

“Hey Apple Bloom! School out already?”

“Eeyup!” She took off her sack and climbed up the ladder to join her siblings. All of a sudden a loud bang came from the barn. “What was that?”

“Oh, just the Flim Flam Brothers getting their tails in a twist. We called them out on building machines to solve all their problems and they suddenly got upset.” Applejack saw smoke coming from the barn now. Hopefully that old adage wasn’t right and there wasn’t any fire.

“Those machines are actually kinda neat. I know I could never make something that complicated,” Apple Bloom said with admiration.

“Well they need to know that quality comes from the hooves, not some contraption. Hate that kind of thinking.” Applejack hoped to make Apple Bloom know her position on such topics. She wasn’t going to let her little sis be taken in by machinery.

“Well, don’t they make those machines with their own two hooves? And if it actually does the job, doesn’t it mean that their hard work paid off?” Applejack was about to reply to Apple Bloom, but realized that her sis actually had a good point.

“Huh. Never thought of it like that,” she admitted. Whenever Applejack had always thought of hard work, she’d always imagined putting lots of physical effort into something. She’d never thought of it from a mental standpoint however. Those two must have spent a long time studying up on machines and such to be able to build what they could. Applejack had to admit that she certainly could not make anything they could. She sighed, knowing what she needed to do.

“Big Mac, I’ll be gone for a sec,” Applejack told her brother. She went down the ladder and trotted over to the barn, hoping she could say the right words while talking with them. She knocked on the door and waited for a response. Obviously they couldn’t hear her over themselves. She pounded on the door next. No response. She then decided to just barge in, not caring about manners anymore.

“Listen,” she said before stopping. Right in front of her was the most complicated looking device she had ever seen. It was at least twice the size of the original Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000, and looked far more intimidating. At the top appeared to be chutes for where apples would be dumped in. Along the way down she saw what appeared to be an oven to heat the cider, along with a freezer on the opposite side for serving it cool. Further down were tubes that contained different additives labeled on them, such as ‘cinnamon’, ‘cloves’, ‘caramel’, and ‘nutmeg’. At the very bottom were five different spouts for different kinds of cider. Needless to say, Applejack was fairly impressed.

“Hah! Got this finished in exactly five hours!” Flim boasted. “Wouldn’t you say that’s a new record, brother?”

“It certainly does seem that way. Much better than any of the other models. I hereby christen thee,” Flam said, smashing a bottle of cider against the machine’s side, “Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 7000!”

Applejack couldn’t help but clop her hooves at the announcement. The brothers, surprised by this intrusion, turned around to see the clopping pony.

“What do you want?” Flim asked dryly.

“I actually came over here to apologize. I know what Grannie Smith said was rude and fairly hurtful to tell y’all. You obviously put a whole lot of effort into making this thing and I know I couldn’t do the same in a million years. So, peace?” she asked them, extending her hoof, hoping that they weren’t still sore.

“Alright,” they said, both shaking her hoof. At that moment, Grannie Smith came in as well, looking at the tower that was their new creation. Her expression was completely indifferent.

“So, you managed to make it that fast, eh?”

“Yes, Grannie, and she’s a beauty!” declared Flim.

“That’s fine and all, but you fellas missed the point! What I was telling you two was that yer stuck in a rut! You only build machines ta solve yer problems an’ don’t try nothing else. At least do something like clean the dishes without a machine, fer goodness sakes.” The Flim Flam Brothers were about to retort, but then realized that maybe Grannie had a point as well. They spent a lot of time making machines to solve tasks, but never actually attempt to do the tasks in the first place.

“Let’s say that we’re both right about certain things,” Applejack said, hoping to compromise the situation. “Now, how about we get ourselves something to eat?”

“I’m good with that,” Flim said. “After all, we’ve been working on this girl for five hours now. I think it’s time for a break.”

“Agreed!” Apple Bloom said. “Can you imagine how cranky you’d be doing all that work without taking a break? You’d probably go crazy!”

Twilight had spent the entire night getting things ready for the play that would soon be tomorrow. She didn’t bother sleeping as she knew that time was running out and that she needed everypony to be here by today. She managed to send letters out to certain ponies that she knew would be able to play the roles well, along with an explanation about why they needed to act quickly. Hopefully none of the changelings delivering the letters were arrested or anything, otherwise she’d be in trouble.

“Hey Twilight! Have a nice sleep?” Pinkie Pie asked while bouncing into the room Twilight had set up to prepare. Twilight just grunted, too immersed with her script revisions and casting call list in order to answer. “I’ll take that as a yes. So, you decided on our parts yet?”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, not getting the hint from Pinkie’s prodding hoof.

“Any interesting casting choices?” Pinkie hoped to get something of an answer. The moment she heard about the part of a pony who was the ‘King of Partying’ as Twilight essentially summed up for her, she knew that she needed to have that part.

“Maybe.” Twilight really wasn’t paying much attention. She was trying to cut the script in a way that everypony could memorize their lines by tomorrow. She decided to mix certain interpretations of the story together in a way that could get the story across while not lasting too long. She took the serious nature of the book and tried to combine it with the musical nature of the movie, hoping that the songs would help explain the scenes better than the dialogue that would otherwise take up too much time. What was also very helpful was that most of the songs were actually not too difficult to remember and that the only role they needed to fill that sang multiple songs would be held by Pinkie, who somehow seemed to master songs like no other pony.

“I’ll be letting you guys know who’s taking on what role. Get everypony ready outside of the stage,” Twilight told Pinkie Pie. In a moment she sprinted out, hoping that the faster she got everypony ready, the faster she could know her part.

“Done!” Pinkie Pie yelled out. Twilight walked out of her room and found that Pinkie had somehow managed to gather the entire cast and crew in a matter of minutes. At least she was fast.

“Alright everypony!” Twilight said, not sure if you could greet changelings with that phrase, “I have the new parts for everypony replacing the sick actors. First off, the part of Clopin will be played by Pinkie Pie.” She stopped talking for a moment as she knew it would take Pinkie Pie a full minute to get it out of her system. “Secondly, the part of Esmeralda will be played by Rarity. Third, the part of the Archdeacon I’ll be giving to Fluttershy. It doesn’t have too much of a speaking role, so you won’t have to worry much about stage fright. Also, you’ll be playing a guy, but let’s not worry about that. You girls okay with that?”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I get to help out AND won’t have to worry about forgetting too many lines.” Fluttershy looked happy about her part. Rarity’s expression said that she already knew that she’d get the part of the gorgeous gypsy woman. She even had her costume on.

“The part of Phoebus will be played by my brother, hope willing that he got my letter and the guards didn’t immediately blast Eric down when he arrived. Same thing for Spike, who I cast to play Quasimodo. I gave him that part since I’ve made him read the book already, so he’s at least familiar with the character. Rainbow Dash, I’ll need you to work with the stagehands. Your speed should definitely help set up the stage for scenes. As for the villain, Judge Frolo, I’ll have Cranky take that part. No offense.” Twilight apologized, hoping she wasn’t casting a bad light on donkeys.

“Ooh! Ooh! What about me?” somepony asked.

“Uh, I’m not sure who you are. All the spots are filled anyway,” Twilight explained.

“Oh come on! Surely you can make an exception for good ol’ Discord,” he told them, teleporting right in front of her. Twilight’s group looked surprised, but none the changelings changed their expressions at all.

“Discord? What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I sometimes crash here at Chrysy’s place,” he explained. “Also, wanna keep away from Ponyville for a little bit after that whole incident involving the super-villains.”

“Alright. Anyway, we don’t have a place for you in the play, so that’s the end of that.” Twilight turned around, but Discord grabbed her by the hind legs and started begging.

“Please? There must be somepony who doesn’t want their role.”

“I don’t,” Cranky spoke up. “I’m too old for all this, and I know I couldn’t get into the character properly. Help yourself,” he said, walking off the stage. Discord performed several backflips out of excitement.

“Woohoo! What character was he?” Discord asked.

“He played the fun-hating villain who wanted to destroy the entire race of people who lived by their own rules,” Twilight explained, trying not to giggle about this. Discord’s excitement suddenly disappeared as he realized that his role was the exact opposite of himself. “Alright everypony! Take a script and let’s get started!”

For the next several hours, everypony went over the script, reading out their lines and learning the stage directions. Twilight hoped that everypony would be able to make it in time so they could do at least one rehearsal before it tomorrow. She seemed confident that she’d made the correct cuts in the script as she saw her friends able to memorize their parts quickly without worrying about another several hundred lines of dialogue. Even Fluttershy seemed to be enjoying her part.

“Hey Twilight, you didn’t write any stage directions for my Topsy Turvy song,” said Pinkie. “Also, why is the word ‘man’ in here? Why not ‘colt, or ‘pony’?”

“I actually want you to do things the way you would do it. Honestly, I really wouldn’t have been that good at writing the stage directions. Surprised they weren’t there already though/ As for the pronouns, the original play was written by griffons who use the pronoun ‘man’ and ‘woman’ to refer to different genders. If you change too many of the pronouns you start to break the flow of dialogue and the music,” Twilight explained. Pinkie Pie started humming her songs when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

“Twily!” Shining Armor said, hugging her sister from behind. Twilight, surprised and over alert from lack of sleep, jumped straight out of her brother’s arms and hung onto a stalactite.

“Oh, hey Shining Armor!” she greeted when she regained her calm. “How‘ve you been?”

“Pretty good. I have to admit that I was shocked when I saw a changeling come into my kingdom with a note from you saying that you needed me to play the role of Phoebus in a play in the Changeling Kingdom. I told Cadence about it. Obviously, she didn’t want to come.” Twilight was glad her big brother could come. She remembered that he was his favorite character in the story and was actually one of his big inspirations to becoming Captain of the Guard.

“Did you come across Spike? I sent him a letter to come as well.” As if they were listening, two changelings were carrying the dragon forcefully through the hallway. They dropped him as fast as they could so he’d stop squirming.

“What? You guys can’t handle this much dragon, huh?” Spike turned around to see Twilight and Shining Armor right behind him. Shining Armor looked okay, but Twilight looked like a mess.

“Twilight! I hoped you guys were okay. These two goofs came to the library claiming that you wanted me to play some role in a fake play. I knew that they must’ve been lying since I’d never heard of any book or play like that,” Spike explained.

“Spike! I told you before to read that book. Are you telling me that you lied to me about it?” Spike’s eyes popped open as he just remembered what Twilight was talking about. She had made him read it once, but he just skimmed it and thought about what it’d be like to have a second head.

“Uh, must’ve forgotten the title,” he said, lying through his teeth. Twilight fell to her knees and groaned when she heard this.

“Spike! The play is tomorrow! You’re the only one I could think of for the role!” she told him, confusing Spike for a moment.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Spike asked.

“She means that she was so sure that you’d understood the main character of the book so well that you should play the lead role,” Shining Armor said, stopping his sister before she could say something terrible in her sleep-deprived state.

“Yeah, and you’re a beast,” she said. Luckily Spike couldn’t hear her.

“Twilight, go to bed. You look like you should take on the character of Quasimodo right now,” he told her, concerned for his sister’s health.

“At this rate I might have to. Hopefully Spike gets his rear in gear and read his lines. You doing that, Spike?!” she yelled so he could hear her.

“I am!” he replied rather loudly.

“Hey, Twilight, I think I might have a problem,” Discord said. Shining Armor turned to see who was talking and came face-to-face with the Draconequus for the first time ever. He couldn’t help but stare at all the odd features on him.

“Not now, Discord. I’ve gotta check on the stagehands. Talk to Shining Armor.” Twilight then trotted off, leaving the two alone.

“So,” Discord started, pausing for a moment, “who exactly are you?”

“Uh,” Shining Armor said, trying to regain composure, “Shining Armor, Captain of the Guard and…” He just stood there, looking at the creature with mismatched limbs. “I’m sorry, but what exactly are you?

“Discord, Master of Chaos, Ancient Ruler of Equestria deposed by your current princesses, and a really funny guy,” he answered.

“Okay.” Shining Armor just stood there, not knowing what to do next. “I’m gonna practice my lines over there, alright?” He just trotted off, leaving Discord there, still with a question on his mind. He saw Fluttershy and called out to her.

“Fluttershy, dear, I think I might be having some trouble with the script. See, I have trouble keeping to the lines that are in the script and say things that aren’t necessarily in the story. Is that alright?”

“Oh, that’s something that happens to everypony,” Fluttershy explained. “It’s called ad-libbing, and actors usually do it when they’ve forgotten a line or the situation requires them to say their lines just a bit differently. Thankfully I won’t have to worry about that. I really just have one opening song in the beginning and I think only one more line after that,” Fluttershy said cheerfully, remembering how nervous she was for the Hearth’s Warming Eve play. “Just calm down and do your best. That’s what I’m repeating to myself, over and over and over and over…” she continued saying, the smile on her face quickly turning into an expression of despair. Discord felt like his question had only been partially answered, but he guessed that would have to do.

“Alright everypony! I want you to find your costumes and wear them while you’re going over your lines. Get into character.” Twilight was hoping that one of the crew members would point out where the costumes were since she hadn’t been able to find the changing room, but was surprised when she saw what the changeling did. Instead of going into a room to change, the changelings transformed into the characters they’d be playing, costume and all with it. Anypony that wasn’t a changeling in there was caught surprised by that. Twilight however, was actually annoyed by this.

“Are you telling me that you guys don’t have any costumes for non-changelings?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, darling. I realized that this might happen, so I sent some of the other changelings out to get my sewing supplies. They should be here soon,” Rarity let Twilight know. “Once it’s all set up, I’ll make sure to-“

“Or,” Discord said, snapping his fingers and giving everypony else their costumes, “we could do that.” Rarity looked shocked to see that her sewing skills would not be needed after all.

“Great! Now that that’s settled, I wanna go over the musical numbers with the orchestra. Are they around?” Twilight asked.

“I think I saw them with the stagehands. I’ll go check that out,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Great. Now I do have one other thing I’d like to go over. One issue I’d like to know is about lighting.”

“Already taken care of, mam,” a changeling in the crowd answered. “We’ll be getting just the right lighting for the moods. Already went over the script with them and gave cues on what settings to use, even in the case of an emergency script change.”

“Uh, thanks? Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Gerald, Bob’s brother. I’m the Assistant Director/Coordinator of this play,” he told her. “By the way, Bob didn’t mention how lovely you were. At least, his words failed to do you any justice.” Twilight didn’t have any time for this.

“Gerald, what other duties do we have?” she asked.

“Well, we need to go over the set instructions with the crew. Rainbow Dash really needs to pay attention to that,” he instructed. The stage hands got into position and Gerald got into position to call the scenes he wanted to see.

“Hey,” one of the changelings called out to Rainbow Dash, “I’m Dale, the lead stagehand. Listen, what I’ll need you to do is help get all the major set pieces in position. We’ve already got guys for the smaller stuff, so stick with Eric and Jen and help them put their things in position, alright?”

“That sounds simple,” she replied.

“AND we need to be as quiet and fast as possible. We get twelve seconds total for a scene change, so work with the group and keep all that rainbow stuff to a minimum,” Dale instructed.

“Easy as pie!” Rainbow Dash got in position with her group and waited.

“Notre Dame Courtyard! Feast of Fools!” Gerald yelled. In a flash the stagehands rushed out into the dark stage, setting up the set pieces in a matter of seconds. Rainbow’s group had to place the platform where Quasimodo would get pelted in middle of the set. They managed to get this done in twelve seconds flat. “Good job, fellas. One complaint; Rainbow, we’ll need you to where something black. We can see literally everything you do with your colors.

“Alright,” she responded, and in a moment, Discord snapped his fingers and she was wearing a black suit.

“Now, Bell Tower!” Gerald yelled. The set was ready in a flash. Things looked like they’d be alright after all.

“Hey, what about the goat?” Spike asked. Everypony was surprised by such a random question. “You know, the goat the Esmeralda keeps by her side? Anypony gonna play that role?”

The group looked at Cranky for a moment before realizing that it’d be pretty rude to do so.

“Let’s just have one of the interns play the role,” Gerald told them.

“Yeah, let’s…” Twilight started slurring before she finally passed out from exhaustion. The rest of the cast, seeing that they’d just lost their Director/ Coordinator, decided to keep on doing what they were doing.

Day 6: The Show Must Go On (No Matter What You Want)

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DAY 6: The Show Must Go On (No Matter What You Want)

It was evening time, and dinner had just been finished. Today had probably been the busiest day in a long time for the Flim Flam Brothers. Wanting to take on Grannie Smith’s challenge of working with their hooves, the two decided to take on all the chores for the day and didn’t build a single device to do the work for them. Flim worked the fields, doing things like picking weeds, watering the crops, and harvest any of the crops that looked like they were coming in a bit early. Flam took on the role of cleaning every bit of the house with good-fashioned elbow grease. The two of them were exhausted when they’d finished, but it was a good kind of exhaustion. It was the feeling that you spent all your energy and strength on something directly and you got to see the results right then and there.

After dinner, Flam helped Grannie wash the dishes while Flim went to the barn to show Apple Bloom the inventions they’d made. She was actually pretty smart and was really interested in how they were made. Flim actually felt a sense of pride when she complimented the creations that he’d worked on.

“You fellas did a fine job today,” Grannie Smith complimented. “See what Ah’ mean when Ah’ tell ya ta work with yer hands? Feels mighty fine.”

“I can’t argue with you there, Grannie. It’s a unique feeling to use these hooves to do more than put together a machine that’ll do it. While creating a machine can be satisfying, doing the job yourself is another feeling altogether.” After finishing, Flam decided to hang out outside on the fence. Applejack was there as well, watching the sunset.

“Looks wonderful don’t it?” she asked him, tossing an apple his way.

“It sure does. Though I’d have to say that the sunset out in Appleloosa has to be my favorite. You get on top of a hill and see the sun set into a flat plain. It’s as if the entire plain has become a shimmering mirror,” Flam said.

“You two sure have gotten around, haven’t ya?” Applejack asked, taking a bite from her apple.

“Sure have. Travelled to pretty much every major city in Equestria, trying to strike it big. Never made it as well as Pa did though,” he told her.

“Who was your Pa?”

“Pa was one of the best salesponies you would have ever met. He actually made the devices he’d be selling you right in front of you and then use them right there. Never did he have a customer not be satisfied by what he sold. Most of his things were watches and other devices that used clockwork, but sometimes he’d tinker with either kinds of machinery.” Flam took a break and had some more of his apple before continuing with is story. “Anyway, he met Ma while showing off his new apple picking device off in Clydesdale. That was the first ever Super Speedy Squeezy Cider. The cider part of the machine was actually requested by our Ma specifically since they never had enough ponies on the farm to pick and make the stuff.”

“Wait, did you say orchard?” Applejack asked, surprised. “I never figured you two for being farmers.”

“We really weren’t,” he went onto explain. “See, when Ma and Pa married, Pa hung up the life of a salepony and decided to help with the farm. His inventions were really helpful and saved the place from closing dozens of times. They were pretty popular as well, and folks from neighboring towns would come miles to see them. Then, one winter came and killed off a bunch of the apple trees. My brother and I were about four when that happened, and the entire family worked to try and save the farm, planting seeds and constructing a giant fence to keep any new critters from eating what little we had left. Unfortunately we’d already lost our sales to another orchard during that time, and we were forced to shut it all down.”

“Shucks,” Applejack said. She was lucky that their farm never had to deal with weather like that.

“Yeah. Funny thing is that the orchard that ran us out of business was one we were almost close to closing ourselves. Our parents knew this though, and they purposely let them have several business contracts instead of going after them. They really could have run them into the ground, but our parents said that that’d be plain wrong. Seems like those fellas didn’t have any qualms doing that to us though.” Flam looked at his apple core and then tossed it aside. “I remember when The Fresh Market dropped us, we knew it was over.”

“The Fresh Market?” Applejack knew that shop. That was one of the shops her family had been supplying apples to for a long time now. A pit grew in Applejack’s stomach as she realized who the villains in this story truly were.

“Yes. Anyway, our Pa went back into the business of making inventions and Ma used her knowledge of orchards to write a book on different methods of apple farming. The book actually did quite well and Pa worked as a repairman. We managed to scrape by, but it was never the same as it once was,” Flam said, heaviness in his heart. “I can actually think back and remember the orchard, like it’s some other life of mine. To be honest, I don’t think my brother or I had ever been as happy as when we were on the farm.” Flam turned his head, but Applejack saw a tear go down his face.

“So what happened after that?” Applejack asked. She wanted to know how this story continued.

“When Flim and I turned eighteen, both Ma and Pa passed. We really didn’t have much money to our name, so we decided that the best way to do things was to follow in Pa’s footsteps and go on the road. He’d taught us about how to build things and how to be a good salesponies. What we did is we took it a step further and played out the whole ‘brothers’ angle and made a show wherever we stopped. It actually was pretty good and we manage to make a living off of it, but we made a promise to Pa.”

“What kind of promise?”

“We promised Pa that we’d somehow get back his good name. He and Ma were good ponies, but it seems like that’s what took them down. We learned that when it comes to money, you can’t let others get a chance when you have yours. A bit sad, actually. Capitalism is a fickle mistress. Sometimes she’ll smile on you if you put in effort and try to make things better for yourself, but try to relax a little in that relationship and you’ll end up feeling whipped.” Flam chuckled at this metaphor. He wasn’t usually this creative unless he was making a song or invention.

“Sounds like a bad relationship,” Applejack commented.

“More of a sad love story,” Flam added. “Say, I’ve been wondering about something. You mind me asking?”

“Sure,” Applejack replied.

“Why have you and your family been so kind to us? I mean, here we are threatening to take over your farm and you four just act like we’re guests. Aren’t you worried about us taking you over and having you work for us?”

Applejack just laughed, confusing Flam. “You don’t get it, do you? To us, you guys really are guests. We don’t worry about you guys owning the farm because we know that Twilight and the rest will come through. They always have. You’ll have your money and be on your way, so we might as well make you comfy while you stay.” Applejack finished the rest of her apple as well and tossed the core aside. “Besides, it’d be plain rude otherwise.”

Applejack’s heart felt heavy saying this. She realized that if it weren’t for her family, Flim and Flam would be living happily on their orchard, no worries about getting more money than they needed. They’d be happy just having a living and working on their fields. That wouldn’t be possible though, since at some point Apple Family Acres or some other farm would still rise to challenge them and at some point one would fall to the other. It’s just the way things seemed to be. At least they would.

Applejack realized that something else she never had to worry about was the problem of any real competition. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that her family was the only one that produced apples and several of the other vegetables. She’d remembered that a long time ago that there were other farms that were around, but they shut down and the Apple Family eventually gained the areas that they once controlled. They didn’t take those farms, but rather continued to produce on their land, making apples less available than before since no other farms produced the crop. This led to an increase in prices and the Apple Family gaining more money than before. She realized that they didn’t just do this to Flim and Flam, but others had had this happen to them as well because of how big they’d gotten.

“Say, you mind if I turn in now? I’m a bit tired from today,” Flam told her.

“Yeah. No problem.” Before Flam got inside the house, Applejack had to ask him a question. “Wait. I just wanna know why you guys would keep us on the farm after you own it. I mean, you won’t, but when you got here you said that you’d still keep us here. Was that just to make us accept the deal, or was there something else there?”

“To be honest,” Flam said slowly, “we remembered that we were in the exact same situation that our parents were in when they could’ve taken over the farm easily, they knew that others would suffer if they did so. Honestly, you guys seem to have this apple stuff down already, so why change that? Besides, I think that the things that my brother and I would most appreciate would be the opportunity to have a place to call our own and our family’s name be on something everypony knew and respected. If we really did kick you out, then we’d be forgetting about ourselves.” Flam finally entered the house, leaving Applejack to her thoughts.

“I think I’ll be having a little chat with Grannie Smith later on tonight,” Applejack said to herself. She knew what needed to be done.

Twilight got up out of her bed and looked around quickly. She realized that she’d fallen asleep from exhaustion and had lost time to help prepare for the show.

“Twilight! You ready?” Gerald said, bursting into the room.

“Ready?” she asked, surprised. “Oh right, the play. How much time do we have for a rehearsal?”

“Five minutes. We’re just about to go on,” he told her.

“WHAT?! How long was I out?” she yelled, angered that she hadn’t been woken up.

“Well, I think that it would be about eighteen hours now. We didn’t wanna wake you since you’d been up all that time since you came back from the dessert and didn’t know how you’d react,” Gerald explained. “Anyway, everypony has read over their parts to the point that it’s ingrained in their minds. We didn’t actually put on any rehearsals though. The stage was having some troubles with the Notre Dame set piece. At least everypony acted out the scenes they were in on their own.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing; there hadn’t been a single dress rehearsal for the new cast, and they were about to go on. At least it seemed like everypony had learnt their lines and had at least practiced their relevant scenes with the others. Twilight followed Gerald backstage and showed her the audience. The room was completely filled with changelings with Queen Chrysalis perched on a balcony overlooking the audience. Twilight took a deep breath and called the cast and crew together.

“Alright everypony! Gather round!” The cast soon gathered around her to listen to the speech. “We may not have spent much time working on this play, but I’m sure that all of you have practiced to the point where that won’t be an issue. You all seem skilled in your craft, and I know that you’ll give your role due credit. Now, let’s go out there and put on a show!” The cast cheered and got into position.

“Here you go,” said Gerald, giving Twilight a headset. “That way you can get the tech fellas up in a sec. I’ve got one as well, so contact me if you need anything. I’ll be in the back, making sure that everything else is set up.” He trotted off, leaving Twilight to view the play on stage right. The actors for the opening scene got into position, the stagehands in place, and the orchestra was prepped.

“Alright everypony,” Twilight said, nervous yet hopeful, “let’s make some magic”.

The Chorus started humming the opening tune, soon joined by the sound of bells that the orchestra made. In a moment the humming had become a loud and powerful chant, and the lights had lit on the set. The stage was filled with smoke, soon clearing to reveal the courtyard of Notre Dame. Pinkie Pie’s first song, The Bells of Notre Dame, had now begun.

“Morning in Paris, the city awakes to the bells of Notre Dame,” sang Clopin in her wagon. Children had gathered to hear the story she was about to tell.

“The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes to the bells of Notre Dame!

From the big bells as loud as thunder!

To the little bells as soft as a psalm.

And some say the soul of the city’s the toll of the bells!

The bells of Notre Dame!

Hey there! You hear the bells, don’t you? They’re all really pretty and unique. Bet you didn’t know that they don’t just ring by themselves.”

“They don’t?” Clopin’s puppet asked.

“Hahaha! Nope! Up in the bell tower lives a mysterious creature. Who is this?”

“Who?”

“What is he?”

“What?”

“How’d he get there?”

“How?”

“DARN IT PUPPET JUST LISTEN! You do this every time I try to tell anypony about this story. Do you really keep on forgetting?” either Clopin or Pinkie Pie asked the puppet. Twilight saw that Pinkie Pie was going somewhere with this and it might drag on, so she motioned her to hurry up.

“Anyway, let Clopin tell you of a tale. A tale of a man, and a monster”.

The lighting on the stage went dark, a spotlight focusing on Clopin’s wagon. The stagehands quickly went and grabbed the wagon, pulling it stage right with the spotlight following. To stage left entered a boat with several of the gypsy characters on it, another spotlight focusing on them. Twilight came up with this effect to highlight the fact that one of these is a flashback while the other part of the scene is currently happening. That or she got the idea from somewhere and forgot where.

“Dark was the night when our tale was begun,

on the docks near Notre Dame.”

“Shut it or they’ll spot us!” one of the gypsies whispered to the mother holding the swaddled baby. The mother shushed the baby as they pulled up to the dock. The four gypsies got out of the boat as quickly as possible.

“Four gilders for safe passage to Paris,” the boatpony told them, extending his hoof. In just a second on arrow flew by his head, and guards poured down upon their position.

“But a trap had been laid for the gypsies

as they gazed up in fear and alarm

At a figure whose clutches

were as iron as much as the bells.”

“Judge Claude Frollo!” the gypsy said out of fear as Frollo appeared out of the shadows. He was gargantuan, at least seven feet tall, his head wearing a black judge’s hat and entire body covered in a flowing black robe. It dragged behind him, covering his tail as well. Twilight saw how menacing Discord looked in his costume and felt like he was already the perfect fit for the role.

“The bells of Notre Dame

Judge Claude Frollo longed to purge the world of vice and sin

And he saw corruption in everywhere except within.”

“Bring these gypsy vermin down to the Palace of Judgement,” Frollo commanded. Twilight knew that he was supposed to say ‘Justice’, but felt that Discord’s version was much more ominous.

“You there! What are you hiding?” the guard asked the mother.

“Stolen intelligence, no doubt. Take it from her,” Frollo commanded. Twilight raised an eyebrow at one of the ad-libs. Stolen intelligence? It was supposed to be ‘goods’. Hopefully it wasn’t anything that was considerable.

The gypsy woman suddenly ran away from the guards. At that moment the lights for the set were turned back on, revealing a city street with plywood buildings and Notre Dame in the background. As the gypsy ran through the streets and crossed through the buildings, the pieces were pushed down-stage, giving the illusion of the chase getting closer to Notre Dame. Discord’s character chased after the gypsy mother not by his usual levitation, but by slithering through the buildings. Twilight had never realized how creepy he could be if he tried. The plywood buildings were eventually pulled off the stage by the stagehands when the characters had reached Notre Dame.

“Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” she cried out, banging on the doors to the church. Frollo caught up to her though and ripped the bundle from the mother, causing her to fall head-first onto the steps. The bundle then began to wail.

“A baby?” he asked, opening up the bundle. He was shocked with what he saw, saying, “A beast!” Frollo frantically looks around and, with the stage lighting, a well is revealed. Frollo starts walking over to the well with baby in hand, the dramatic music flaring up. It reaches a crescendo when he’s holding the baby straight over the opening. At that moment Fluttershy, as the Archdeacon, took to the stage.

“Stop!” he yelled out, approaching the gypsy lying on the steps.

“See the innocent blood you have spilt

on the steps of Notre Dame!”

“She was a member of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. I am guiltless,” Frollo declared.

“I’m sorry, but did he just say that she was part of the ‘Rebel Alliance’?” Twilight asked Gerald, who was standing right next to her.

“Apparently. There’s nothing like that in the script, so he’s seriously ad-libbing to get that,” he told her.

“No. That’s far too specific an ad-lib. He’s doing something else.” Twilight made it top priority to talk with him the first moment she got.

“Now you would add this child’s blood to your guilt

on the steps of Notre Dame.”

“My conscience is clear,” Frollo told the Archdeacon. His eyes were starting to look shifty.

“YOU CAN LIE TO YOURSELF AND YOUR MINIONS!

YOU CAN CLAIM THAT YOU HAVEN’T A QUALM!

BUT YOU NEVER CAN RUN FROM,

NOR HIDE WHAT YOU’VE DONE

FROM THE EYES!

THE VERY EYES OF NOTRE DAME!”

“And for one time in his life of power and control

Frollo felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul.”

Frollo started looking at all the statues that adorned the sides of the church as they appeared to be gazing down in condemnation of his actions. He quickly asked, “What must I do?”

“Care for the child. Raise it as your own,” the Archdeacon told him.

“What?” Frollo exclaimed. “I’m supposed to be saddled with this misshapen-“ He paused, a deep grin forming on his face. “Very well, but let him live in your church.”

“In the church?” the Archdeacon asked. “But where?”

“Anywhere,” Frollo said, not caring much about the idea of his penance.

“Just so he’s locked up away where no one else can see.

Perhaps the bell tower. Who knows- our Lord works in mysterious ways.

Even this foul creature may yet prove one day

to be of use of me.”

The spotlight soon focused back to Clopin’s wagon as it was pulled back to center stage. Discord and the other actors exited stage left, but Twilight motioned over Discord, hoping to have a word with him. The lighting shown, indicating it was modern day again, and Pinkie continued her role.

“And Frollo, being a big meanie, decided to give the baby the name ‘Quasimodo’, meaning half breed.

Now here is a riddle to guess if you can

Sing the bells of Notre Dame.

Who is the monster and who is the man?

Sings the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells, bells!

Bells of Notre DAaaAaaaAAAaaaAAaame!”

The audience, listening to the lovely music, was suddenly shocked when the actor playing Clopin suddenly had their voice crack horribly on the high note. Twilight and Gerald shared a horrified expression on their face when they heard that.

“What the hay?” Twilight asked, surprised that a singer like Pinkie Pie would mess up that badly on a note.

“Now that I think of it, we never actually heard her sing that song out loud. Guess that she’s good until she hits a high note,” Gerald told her. He took a step away from his superior, realizing that maybe he should’ve done more while Twilight was asleep.

The stage went black and the stage hands got to work setting up the stage for the Interior Tower. This was Spike’s opening scene, and he was pretty nervous. He’d never done any acting besides being the narrator for several plays. He went out, stage left, hoping for the best.

“Discord! Get over here!” Twilight yelled to him. The Draconequus approached her, wondering what could have been wrong.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You know very well what! There’s nothing in the script about a ‘Rebel Alliance’ or ‘intelligence’, and from how you’re acting in the play, I doubt there’s any in your head as well!” she scolded him. Discord actually looked surprised at how vicious Twilight could be under stress.

“I’m sorry, alright? I was trying to talk to anypony, anychangeling, anyone who could help me with my issue.” He went on to explain the trouble he was having. “See, while reading the play I couldn’t help but think of a completely different story that dealt with space battles and an evil empire. I don’t know why, but my role really seems close to the one where that guy wears all black and breathes really heavily. I wonder why.” Discord asked himself as he fixed his black cap and pulled his large black robe into position.

“That’s a sci-fi series! It’s not even like the play at all! Why would you do this?” Twilight was panting, but soon calmed down. “Alright, just try to remember the play over those movies. If you do end up confusing the two series again somehow, try to at least say a line that’s relevant to what’s going on and doesn’t break the entire plot. Hopefully everypony else will now how to make it work. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to see if Spike actually read the book this time.” Twilight went over to check on Spike as he performed.

“Thanks for the encouragement, but you’re forgetting one thing,” Quasimodo said the statues that he called his friends.

“What?” Quasimodo replied to himself in a deeper tone, representing the idea that he was actually talking to himself and that the statues really were just make-belief friends.

Twilight saw Spike doing his scene and was actually stunned by how well he pulled the role off. He played the part of the outcast authentically and did a great job of conveying the loneliness of the character by also showing that he was the one providing the voices for the statues.

“You like it also, don’t you?” Gerald asked her. “He’s a natural, that one. He said that he’d actually like to have the statues in the play again because he’d do their voices and then it’d reflect more on the character’s desire to interact with others.”

The two watched in silence and awe and Spike performed his scene with Discord coming back onto the stage as Frollo. In it, Quasimodo had lunch with Frollo and the two talked about why he’d never be able to go to the Festival of Fools. She actually noticed that the song Out There was edited out.

“What happened to the song?” she asked Gerald.

“Spike told us that he wasn’t that comfortable singing and that he felt like Frollo would be breaking character to start singing about how bad it was out in the world. He said that he wasn’t a very happy guy in the first place, so making a song about it would seem out of place,” Gerald explained. “Also, Spike said that he’s actually not that good at singing and Discord agreed, so we managed to make the music in the orchestra seem more confining and focus a spotlight on the two while they ate to signify the suffocating presence that Frollo had on Quasimodo. Spike was the one that came up with a lot of that stuff.”

“Wow! Sounds like he really knows his character.” Twilight was happy to hear about how Spike was doing in the play. He’d managed to become invested in the story in such a short time and even made changes to the play to fit the character. Not only that, but Discord managed to keep to his lines as well.

The next scene was the introduction of Phoebus entering the city. Shining Armor wore his uniform for the scene and felt appropriate about his role. He’d always wanted to play the character and now had the chance. He had imagined that his audience would be a bit more…equine however.

“Excuse me, but can anybody point me to the Palace of Justice?” Phoebus asked a passing guard who ignored him. Shining Armor knew that Discord said ‘Judgment’, but he wanted to stick to the script. “I’m guessing that’s a no.”

On the street corner, festive music was heard playing. The spotlight shown on where the music was playing to reveal Rarity as Esmeralda dancing alongside her goat. Phoebus sees the dancing gypsy and can’t help but go over to her. Pulling out his bag of bits, he places several in a hat and continues his search for somepony who can provide directions.

“Stay away from her, child,” a passing mother said to her son as they walked near the gypsy. “They’ll rob you blind otherwise.”

In a split second guards start pouring out onto the streets and the gypsies scatter. Esmeralda grabs the hat and tries to run off but is blocked by a guard.

“Alright, gypsy, where’d you get the money?” one of the guards asked.

“For your information I earned that money,” Esmeralda informed that guard.

“Hah! Gypsies don’t earn money,” he laughed.

“Did you steal it?” another guard accused.

“You would know a lot about stealing, wouldn’t you?” she told them off.

“Oh really? I’m not sure about that, but I know when somebody needs to cool off in the stocks!” The guard started to grab her, but Esmeralda fought back and started to run away. They try chasing her and the goat jumps in their way, causing them to fall face first into the mud.

“Well, gentlemen, I believe you’ve been bested by a goat,” said Phoebus.

“Out of our way, peasant!” the guard yelled, pulling his dagger out. Phoebus responded by pulling out his longsword.

“As you were saying, Lieutenant?” he asked, pointing the blade at him.

“Captain!” the two guards realized, standing in formation.

“Now, as I was asking before, the Palace of Justice?” The guards gave him a blank stare before one of them spoke up.

“Oh! Sorry sir, but we often refer to the place as the ‘Palace of Judgment’ because that’s the way Judge Frollo frequently calls it.” Gerald did a small hoof bump in the air at that line. Not only did it justify Shining Armor calling it the right name compared to Discord’s mix up, but also added more character to Frollo as a being who preferred to judge rather than have justice.

“Very well. Lead the way,” he ordered. Phoebus saw a beggar on the street and tossed him the bits that the gypsy had dropped. He gave the beggar a wink as he did so and went off. The beggar then took off his cloak to reveal that is was actually Esmeralda, who then examined the bit that the Captain had given her. The scene faded to black as the next scene was set up.

“Hey guys!” Spike said to Twilight and Gerald, eating a muffin before his next scene. “You like the play so far?” Twilight immediately galloped over to Spike and gave him a big hug.

“Spike! You’re incredible!” Twilight told him. He couldn’t help but blush as everypony saw this. She let go, realizing that she had just crumpled his muffin. “Heh, sorry. But really, you’re amazing out there. Gerald told me about how you came out with new things to do on stage and even decided that you shouldn’t sing. I’m so proud of you!”

“Daww,” he replied. “Well, I better check my lines again. I don’t wanna end up like Discord. The guy actually thought that the next scene would be in some icy plain filled with goats. I really need to help him out.”

Twilight laughed, but soon realized that Discord was only being kept sane by Spike’s presence. He wouldn’t be in the next scene.

The lights went up, revealing an office with Frollo sitting at a desk, overlooking papers. Outside, the sounds of gypsy music could be heard, causing the judge to sneer in disgust. As he signed several of the papers, there was a knock on the door.

“What is it? I’m busy,” he told whoever was at the door.

“Captain Phoebus, reporting for duty,” he replied from behind the door.

“Come in,” Frollo told him. Phoebus walked in the room, intimidated by the presence of the judge. He was at least twice his size simply while sitting down. “Ah, the gallant Captain Phoebus, home from the wars. Glad you could come.”

“Of course, sir. May I say it’s an honor to meet the famed Judge of Paris. I’ve heard things-“

“You may dispense with the pleasantries, Captain. You are here to put my men on schedule,” Frollo interrupted him.

“Hopefully your men are working as best as they can,” the captain said, thinking back to the bumbling guards he met earlier.

“If not,” Frollo said, rising up from his chair to eclipse the room, “perhaps we can find new ways to motivate them.” He approached the window, looking out onto the streets to see the gypsies performing. A ferocious glare appeared in his eyes.

“You have come to Paris in her darkest hour, Captain,” the judge informed him. “It will take your firm hoof to save the weak-minded from being misled.”

“Weak minded?” the captain asked.

“The gypsies incite the basest of instincts in the populace, spreading a flame that only leads to corruption.”

“Are you telling me that I was called from the battlefields to hunt down some tea leaf readers?” Phoebus asked.

“Captain, I have been hunting down the gypsies for well over twenty years now, and I have not noticed a single dent made in them. I believe that they are hiding in a stronghold right within the city.” Frollo handed the captain a paper with an interrogation report. “We believe this place to be called the ‘Court of Miracles’. I want you to find it and eliminate the threat once and for all.”

“Of course, sir,” Phoebus responded.

“I like you, captain,” Frollo informed him. “Come and join me. I’m required to attend a peasant festival. It’ll be educational.”

The scene soon went dark. When the lights came back on, the stage had different colored tents set up and nopony who was part of the scene was on the stage, leaving Twilight confused.

“Alright, fellas,” Gerald said, speaking into his headset, “get ready for the party!” The lights all shown on the main entrance into the audience. Soon the sound of hooves was heard coming down the entrance, hooded figures soon marching out. The music started to drum up as they went down the main aisle. It was time for Pinky to sing Topsy Turvy.

“Come one! Come all!

Leave the looms and milking stools

Coop the hens and pen the mules!” the hooded ponies said. They soon started to encourage the audience to join in the singing.

“Come one! Come all!

Close the churches and the schools.

It’s the time for breaking rules.

Come and join the Feast…of…”

“FOOLS!” Clopin suddenly burst out from under the hooded figures who took off their hoods to reveal them wearing wild costumes. Confetti suddenly burst out from random spots in the audience, surprising everypony along with Twilight. Other actors in costumes got out of their seat in the audience and started dancing down the aisles to the stage.

“Once a year we throw a party here in town!

Once a year we turn all of Paris upside-down!

Every man’s a king and every king’s a clown!

Once again it’s Topsy Turvy Day!” Clopin suddenly appeared behind Chrysalis and put a fool’s hat on her. Everypony in the audience laughed when they saw this. Shining Armor and Discord, both in character on the stage, had difficulty keeping the laughter in as well. While Frollo was sitting in his chair, Clopin suddenly appeared right behind him.

“It’s the day the devil in us gets released!

It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest!

Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools!”

Quasimodo made his way through the crowd, disguising himself with a cloak he’d found. It was hard to move with all the dancing going on.

“TOPSY TURVY!”

“Everything is upsy daisy!”

“TOPSY TURVY!”

“Everypony’s acting crazy!

Dross is gold and weeds are the bouquet!

That’s the way on Topsy Turvy Day!”

The crowd was too much for Quasimodo, as he was pushed into a nearby tent. Inside the tent was Esmeralda, changing out of her white-and-purple dress and into something else.

“Oh dear! Are you alright?” she asked.

“I-I’m fine,” stuttered out Quasimodo, trying to cover himself so she couldn’t see his features.

“Let me see if you’re hurt,” Esmeralda told him. She approached and lifted up the hood that covered his face.

“No!” he cried out of fear of being seen.

“You look fine, no harm done. Just be careful,” she told him as he got out of her tent. “By the way, great costume.”

“TOPSY TURVY!

BEAT THE DRUMS AND BLOW THE TRUMPETS!

TOPSY TURVY!

JOIN THE BUMS AND THIEVES AND STRUMPETS

STREAMING IN FROM CHARTRES TO CALAIS!”

“Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy

On the sixth of ‘Januervy’!

All because of Topsy Turvy Day!” Clopin sang just before popping up behind Phoebus and bouncing over to Frollo.

“Come one! Come all!

Hurry, hurry, here’s your chance.

See the mystery and the romance.” Clopin said, dancing to the center of a platform that had been set up on the stage in front of Frollo.

"Come one! Come all!

Make an entrance to entrance!

Dance la Esmeralda…DANCE!” Clopin threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared. In her place was Esmeralda, dressed in an exotic red dress with a purpled sash around her waist. The crowd, both the actors and the real audience, went wild when they saw this. Esmeralda started off simple in her dance, but as the music quickened so did she. Eventually she cartwheeled right up to Frollo. She then landed on his lap and took off her sash, putting it around the judge’s neck and dancing off. He snatched it off and looked at it with anger and intrigue.

“Is she usually like this when she dances?” Gerald asked Twilight upon seeing Rarity grab one of the guard’s spears and dance with it.

“If she does, she sure isn’t doing it in public.” Twilight was actually surprised at how fluid her friend was moving. A bit jealous as well, seeing that Rarity pulled off that dress way better than she ever could.

Clopin now returned to the stage to give the big announcement.

“Here it is! The moment you’ve been waiting for.

Here it is! You know exactly what’s in store.

Now’s the time we laugh until our sides get sore.

Now’s the time we crown the King of Fools!”

Ponies started gathering up near the platform, hoping to get chosen.

“Make a face that’s horrible and frightening.

Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle’s wing.

For the face that’s ugliest will be crowned the King of Fools! Why?”

“TOPSY TURVY!”

“Ugly folks ,forget your shyness!” she told them. Quasimodo was helped up onto the stage by Esmeralda and took the last position.

“TOPSY TURVY!”

“You could soon be crowned your highness!”

“PUT YOUR FOULEST FEATURES ON DISPLAY!

BE THE KING OF TOPSY TURVY DAY!”

The ponies on the stage had their masks taken off by Clopin as they tried to show their ugliest faces. The ones who failed were booed and promptly kicked off the platform by the goat. Gerald couldn’t hold in his laughter when he saw this.

“Wow! I bet Bob’s really enjoying his role,” he told Twilight.

“Wait, the goat is Bob?” she asked.

“Yeah. Turns out that we really didn’t have anypony else around, so he just volunteered for the part of Djali. Gotta say that he’s pretty good.” The two watched as the ponies were kicked off the platform into the crowd. Right before Esmeralda was about to get to Quasimodo, Queen Chrysalis was suddenly teleported onto the stage, surprised as well as anypony else.

“Fillies and gentlecolts! Our winner!” Clopin declared. The entire room roared in laughter as they saw this. Twilight and Gerald needed to lean on each other they were laughing so hard. Frollo was the only one not laughing, but that was because Discord was the one who teleported her there. She flew up from the platform and went back to her balcony, rolling her eyes.

The play continued, Esmeralda reaching Quasimodo and trying to take his mask off.

“It’s not a mask!” she declared. The audience gasped at this. They were mumbling, saying that it was the fabled bell ringer. Quasimodo was starting to panic, but Clopin then intervened.

“Ladies and gentlemen, don’t panic. You asked for the ugliest face in all of Paris. Well, here it is! Quasimodo, the beast of Notre Dame!” The crowd cheered, and Quasimodo was surprised. Frollo shared the same expression when he saw his pet out of the tower. The crowd grabbed him and lifted him in the air to take him to the central podium to be crowned.

“ONCE A YEAR WE THROW A PARTY HERE IN TOWN!”

“Hail to the King!”

“ONCE A YEAR WE TURN ALL OF PARIS UPSIDE DOWN!”

“What a King!”

“ONCE A YEAR THE UGLIEST WILL WEAR A CROWN!”

“Give him a kiss, girls!”

“ONCE A YEAR ON TOPSY TURVY DAY!”

“Never had a king like this!”

For the final verse, everypony sang together, belting out as Quasimodo was given his crown and regal clothes. A tear feel from his eye, as he’d finally gained acceptance.

“AND IT'S THE DAY WE DO THE THINGS THAT WE DEPLORE

ON THE OTHER THREE-HUNDRED-AND-SIXTY-FOUR

ONCE A YEAR WE LOVE TO DROP IN

WHERE THE BEER IS NEVER STOPPIN'

FOR THE CHANCE TO POP SOME POPINJAY

AND PICK A KING WHO'LL PUT THE TOP

IN TOPSY...TURVY...DAY !!!!”

The song concluded, everypony in the audience feeling exhausted. That wasn’t the end for them, however, as Gerald planned to involve them at least one last time.

“Get the fruits ready to be passed out,” he reported to stagehands. The bags of fruits were ready and placed around the audience, visible to everypony. It was only at this moment that Twilight remembered what happened next in the story and felt ashamed for making Spike play his role.

“You call that ugly?” one of the guards yelled out as he tossed a tomato right at Quasimodo. Instead of hitting him in his face, it landed directly in his mouth. “Now that’s ugly!”

“Hail to the King!” another yelled out. Another tomato was thrown at his face, once again landing in his mouth. Spike was surprised to find that these actors had such weird accuracy as he tried to swallow them down. “Everybody join in!”

Soon the audience was grabbing the produce in the bag and tossing it at Quasimodo. Astonishingly, most of the fruit either missed him or ended up in his maw. Ropes were tied around him to keep him down as this happened. Phoebus moved in to stop it, but Frollo motioned him back, hoping that Quasimodo would learn a lesson from this.

“Stop!” Esmeralda yelled out as she took to the podium. The onslaught of fruit stopped as she approached Quasimodo.

“You! Gypsy girl. Get down at once!” ordered Frollo.

“I will. As soon as I free this poor creature,” she said, motioning to poor Quasimodo. Actually, Rarity’s face showed a bit of disgust when she saw Spike, mainly because he looked less like ‘poor, mistreated individual’ and more like somepony who took a bet to see how many tomatoes they could fit in their mouth at once. Her saw her expression and spit the tomatoes out, finally able to breathe again.

“I forbid it!” Frollo barked. Ignoring his words, Esmeralda cut him free. “You dare defy me?”

“You mistreat my people like you mistreat this boy!” she yelled. “You speak of justice, yet are cruel to those in need of it.”

“Silence!” he yelled out.

“JUSTICE!” she retaliated. Frollo gave Phoebus a look, having him send in his guards. While they were moving in she started counting. “Hmm, it looks like there’s ten of you, and only one of me. Now, what’s a lady like me to do? Oh, right, this!” she said as her horn glowed and she disappeared.

“Witchcraft!” Frolo said, shocked by what he saw.

“Or she’s a unicorn and she simply used her magic to teleport,” Phoebus told him. If Discord could ad-lib, so could he.

“Spread out and find her! I want her alive!” Frollo ordered the guards. They went out into the crowd and saw if they could find her. The scene cut to black and the curtain fell.

The next several scenes went without a hitch. Phoebus met Esmeralda in Notre Dame and she declared Sanctuary. Rarity than gave a tear-jerking performance of Lord Help the Outcasts, followed by the single most terrifying performance of Hellfire that Discord displayed. Gerald and Twilight had to hold each other, shaking as his voice roared and his magic made the flames from the fireplace dance around the entire room. Eventually the scene where both Quasimodo and Phoebus entered the Court of Miracles came up, Pinkie Pie as Clopin giving her performance of The Court of Miracles. She was finishing up the song, which currently had both Quasimodo and Phoebus tied up and about to hang when Esmeralda would come and save them.

“We find you totally innocent…

Which is the worst crime of all.

SO YOU’RE GOING TO HANG!” Clopin then pulled the lever, with Pinkie Pie waiting to hear Esmeralda yell ‘stop!’ but that didn’t happen. When the lever was pulled all the way back, the floor of the gallows actually opened up, surprising Spike and Shining Armor who both thought that it was just a set piece. Acting quickly, Shining Armor used his magic to keep Spike and himself in the air and not get their necks snapped. He was caught by surprise though, and didn’t know how long he could hold it.

“That’s a real gallows?” Twilight asked Gerald incredulously.

“Yeah. Makes things more authentic,” he answered, not knowing otherwise how to respond to this situation.

“WHERE IS RARITY!” Twilight yelled trying to find her before Shining Armor’s magic gave out. The entire crew was scrambling to see where she’d possibly gone, hoping that there was enough time for them. A full minute had passed, and things on the stage were getting awkward.

“Boy! You fellas are pretty good at HANGING AROUND! You guys must have some LOOSE ENDS to tie up if you’re trying this hard!” Clopin joked. In reality, Pinkie Pie was trying to keep the mood calm while waiting for Rarity to make her appearance. The rest of the crew was in a scramble, trying to find one of the lead actors.

“RARITY!” Twilight yelled out of despair. Amid all the chaos, a flushing noise was heard from the bathroom. Nopony else had gone in there since Rarity was missing, so they came to a logical conclusion. As she exited the bathroom, all eyes were on her.

“Oh dear,” she asked, embarrassed at how many ponies were watching her at that candid moment.

“RARITY! STAGE! NOW! HANGING!” Twilight barked out, pushing her as fast as she could onto the stage.

“Stop!” Esmeralda yelled, her faithful goat following behind. “They’re our friends!”

“Well why didn’t they say so?” Clopin asked, looking to Quasimodo and Phoebus who had been gagged. Clopin then took out a dagger and cut the ropes around their necks, sending them to the ground. The other gypsies worked quickly to undue the ropes around them, finally giving them some air.

“Frollo knows where you are! He’s coming in the morning!” Phoebus told the gypsies. “You need to pack up and leave at once!” The gypsies started to scramble, gathering their supplies as fast as they could. It was no use however, as at that moment a hundred guards poured in from the main entrance and into the room. The last to enter was Judge Frollo.

“At last. After twenty years, I have found your hideout. I have you now,” he said with a deep grin on his face. Phoebus and Quasimodo were brought forward to him. “Ah, Captain Phoebus, back from the dead? You won’t for long. As for you, dear boy,” he said to the guards holding down Quasimodo, “lock him up in the tower. Make sure he doesn’t escape. As for the rest of you, we’ll be having a bonfire tomorrow, and you’re all invited.” The scene cut to dark, and the stagehands hurried with the next set.

“Hey, you mind watching things from here? I wanna see Spike pull off his big stunt on the catwalks,” Twilight told Gerald.

“Sure,” he responded. Twilight then teleported up to the catwalks to see Spike getting help from some of the other stagehands for the scene where he swoops down and saves Esmeralda.

“Hey Twi!” he greeted as he saw her. “Things are nearly over now, huh.”

“Yeah. You’ve done great Spike. When we get back to Ponyville, I’ll make sure that at I can save you the nicest, juiciest gem from the dragon’s cave. Hopefully the Flim Flam Brothers won’t mind one missing gem.” The lights came on and the plaza of Notre Dame could be seen. Frollo and the townsfolk gathered as Esmeralda was tied to a pyre.

“For the crime of using your magic to subvert the good people of Paris,” Frollo yelled out to the crowd, “you are to be put to the flame.” The fire was lit, and Spike waited for his signal.

“Alright. Just have to jump with this rope and grab Rarity, all in one swing. No pressure,” he said. The sweat covering his brow told a different story however. He saw the stagehand give the signal and jumped down with his rope. Twilight saw Spike fly over the audience and could immediately tell that he was going to horribly miss his target. Seeing this, she used her magic to nudge him so that he’d grab her in one swing.

“What?” Frollo asked, astonished by this sight. The unconscious Esmeralda was suddenly ripped from the pyre as Quasimodo flew up back onto the top of Notre Dame. He held her in the air victoriously and began to shout.

“Sanc…tu…ar-“ was all he could say before the weight of Rarity was too much for him and he fell under her. Rarity saw this and realized that she needed to do something quickly. In a moment of inspiration, SHE lifted up Spike and said his line!

“Sanctuary!” she yelled out. “Sanctuary!” The crowd cheered as Frollo looked on in horror.

“NOOOOOO!” Frollo yelled out, enraged at the prospect of losing. “Guards! Gather! We’re taking the church!” The guards grabbed a battering ram and began their assault on the church doors. Phoebus managed to break free from his captors and deliver a speech to the crowd.

“Citizens of Paris! Judge Frollo has destroyed our homes in his mad campaign. Are you to watch as he declares war on Notre Dame herself?”

“No!” they responded, assaulting the guards. Frollo, seeing his men being taken over by the mob, quickly snuck through the small crack in the door. The Archdeacon came down the steps leading to the tower to confront him, but was met with a stare that immediately shut him up. He broke through the doors to the tower to see both Quasimodo and Esmeralda.

“Quasimodo! Listen to me-“

“No! You listen! All my life you’ve told me that the world’s a dark place, but from what I’ve seen, the only thing dark and terrible out there is you!” Quasimodo told Frollo.

“Very well then. If that’s the situation, then I’m afraid you are beyond redemption.” Frollo took out his blade and, with a snap, lit it on fire. The blade become red and hummed as it sliced through the air. Quasimodo and Esmeralda ran as fast as they could from the judge, trying to escape outside. They were soon cornered however, finding no place to run. “I should have known you’d risk your life to save that gypsy witch. Just like your mother did with you.”

“What?” Quasimodo asked, surprised to hear his mother being brought up. It now made sense.

“Yes. However,” Frollo started saying, “did anypony ever tell you about your father?”

“Gerald, what’s going on?” Twilight asked over her headset.

“I think he’s ad-libbing again,” he replied. “Wait a second…I think I know what’s next,” he said nervously.

“No. I assume you killed him as well?” Quasimodo asked.

“No, Quasimodo. I am your father.”

At that very second, Twilight had finally felt her mind break. The audience had all their jaws drop at the twist, along with the crew of the show as well. Twilight immediately teleported down to Gerald and gave him a long, soul piercing look.

“I didn’t know! I thought he knew!” he said in defense of himself. In the background they heard that the orchestra, which was originally playing the music set for the play, had changed their venue and were now playing the music present during that scene in the film. The chaos had officially infected everypony and Twilight was no longer in control of the play.

“No. No! NO!” she yelled out in frustration. “I refuse to let him change things this much! You know what? I’m gonna make a change to the script even HE didn’t expect.”

“Hey Twi,” Cranky said, making his first appearance since he left the play yesterday, “I think I know of a way to get back at him and make sense of things.”

“How? He just said that he’s now the father of Quasimodo!” Twilight’s brain was now leaving, and she had nothing left.

“Actually, I found something in the book that I could use to help fuse both scripts together so they’d make some sense.” Cranky told her. “That or we could at least get back at him. Let me tell you.” Cranky then whispered the new script revision into her ear, causing Twilight to smile from how devious the idea was.

“Perfect! I’ll create your costume. Get onto the set when the time comes,” Twilight told him. Twilight created the outfit he’d be wearing and he got in position for his grand entrance.

Back on the stage, everything was still quiet, Spike trying to figure out what to do. Realizing that he had no idea how to respond, he said, “Wait, that’s not true. That’s impossible.”

“Search your feelings. You know it to be true,” he responded. “The King is weak. He has foreseen that he will be replaced. WE can replace him. Join me, Quasimodo. Together, we can rule Paris and all of France as father and son. We can bring order to the nation.”

Spike saw that Discord had evidently crossed the line and they couldn’t simply return to the play they had originally come up with. He knew that he’d have to ad-lib as well.

“I’ll never join you!” Quasimodo yelled, headbutting Frollo and sending him to the ground. Quasimodo grabbed a nearby rod and defended himself from his father’s strikes. Sparks flew as the metal made contact with each other. Shining Armor expected to enter and finish up his role in the play and was surprised to see a fight still going on with the two. They should’ve been done by this point.

“Esmeralda, what’s going on here?” Phoebus asked. He hoped that somepony could bring him up to speed.

“Well,” Esmeralda thought for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on, “Frollo is apparently Quasimodo’s father, and he wants him to join him and take over Paris and France by taking out the King or something like that.”

“What?” Phoebus asked. Shining Armor couldn’t tell whether he was acting anymore with his confusion. He had become the character. “You know what? I’m just gonna finish this fight so we can end all these problems. This is just getting ridiculous.” He charged into the fray with his blade, quickly being parried by Frollo. Frollo managed to fight both Phoebus and Quasimodo at the same time. Discord actually had no idea what he was doing anymore and was hoping that something would come up and move the plot along.

His prayer was answered, as the music the orchestra suddenly stopped. The sound of a heavy suit of armor could now be heard coming up the stairs. Everypony stopped fighting and turned their attention to the doorway to witness the entrance of a new character.

“Hello everypony. It is I, King Louis the Eleventh,” Cranky told everypony. The audience was shocked at the sight of this new and seemingly random character, the same with all the actors. They turned their heads to stage right to ask Twilight what was going on and saw her rubbing her hooves villainously. She was back in charge.

“Now, Frollo, I’ve heard about this commotion occurring in my fair city and that you were at the center of this. Care to explain?” the king asked.

“Your Highness!” Frollo exclaimed. “I was about to rid of us these sinners corrupting our city. They have caused chaos and wish to get rid of me in my quest of justice.”

“Hmm, is that so?” the king asked. “I remember the same thing occurring with your predecessor.” He then started speaking to the other ponies in the tower. “You see, my Parisian judges often seem to get, well, zealous after a while. I remember when you were a Captain as well, Frollo, and how you struck down my former judge after finding him guilty of corruption of power. It seems that your time may have come as well. Isn’t that right, Captain Phoebus?”

“What do you mean, Your Highness?” he asked.

“Strike down my judge, and claim his place. You will become a more powerful judge than those before. Frollo, if you wish to remain not only in your position but this world, fight back and you may strike him down. Whoever remains shall be the Judge of Paris and my personal Warrior of Virtue.”

“What if I don’t wish to fight?” Phoebus asked.

“Phoebus, my dear Captain who I’ve had fight my wars to prove your worth, if you do not fight then I will consider you a traitor and strike you down. Also,” King Louis suddenly rushed with incredible speed to Quasimodo, knocking him down and holding him under a hoof, “I will be forced to rid you of Frollo’s son. I know that you wouldn’t desire that.” Phoebus was angry and knew that he didn’t have a choice.

“Very well. I will fight him, not to bring him to justice, but to the death as you wish, Your Highness,” Phoebus said through grit teeth. The two got into position and waited for the other to make their move.

After several minutes, Phoebus was the first to strike. The attacks were few and focused, but each strike was filled with determination. This no longer felt like a play to either Discord or Shining Armor, but a real showdown. Phoebus, seeing that the fight seemed to be a stalemate, pushed forward with his assault, leading up the stairs. King Louis the Eleventh watched with a smile on his face as the fight went on. Frollo struck at Phoebus’ hooves and tried to get him off balance and push him down, but he managed to jump and evade his strikes. Frollo took a running strike at Phoebus, his blade aimed straight forward. Seeing as there was no other way to evade his attack, he jumped off the steps and looked for a place to hide and regain his strength.

“Give yourself to the King’s will, Phoebus. You know that it is the only way to save your friends,” Frollo said, hoping to lure him out. “I know that you know the truth about Esmeralda. You saw the documents I found about her. How she was sent away because of the scandal that would be caused. That is the reason you care for her so much.” Phoebus had no idea what he was talking about, but feared that it wasn’t anything good. “You know that she’s actually,” he paused for a moment, “your half-sister. Yes. The scandal from your father having a gypsy child would have ruined his reputation, so she was taken away. Very well; if Quasimodo being threatened does not motivate you, perhaps I shall have to deal with your sister.”

“No!” Phoebus yelled out, striking with all his fury at Frollo. In reality, it was Shining Armor who was angry, not because of Esmeralda being threatened, but because Discord had just told them that they were actually brother and sister, not only making the whole romantic side story really creepy in hindsight, but also ruining Shining Armor’s dream of playing this role and having a romantic kiss with Esmeralda, the first crush, real or not, he’d ever had. He was glad his wide wasn’t watching this.

The strikes against Frollo were too much, and he fell to the ground. His blade was knocked from his hand, and he was left defenseless. Phoebus was about to strike down the judge who had now curled up in a ball, with rage and desire for justice flowing within, but then he noticed Frollo’s hat. That hat had been the same one the former judge had worn before Frollo struck him down. This had all happened before. It would happen again. Phoebus, realizing this, took a deep breath and calmed down. He then threw aside his blade causing the King to lose his smile.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I cannot execute a man in cold blood. Judge Frollo will be tried in another court by a jury and will be sentenced if found guilty. I cannot kill a man in cold blood. I am a Captain of the Guard, a champion for what is right, just like the true forefathers before me.” King Louis did not look pleased with Phoebus’ response.

“Very well. If you will not fight, then Quasimodo will die,” he said as he pushed his hoof down. Quasimodo let out a scream and Phoebus tried to fight the king. He didn’t stand a chance however, as he tried to strike and was kicked right in the face by both his hind hooves. Frollo got back to his feet and stood by his king, watching as he crushed his son.

“Father! Help me father!” he cried out. Esmeralda watched in horror as this happened, unable to stand against their strength. The king laughed as he pushed down more and more. The audience was horrified by what they were seeing, including Queen Chrysalis.

Frollo saw what was happening and tried to comprehend the flood of thoughts rushing to his head. He remembered a long time ago, before he became judge, of why he wanted to fight for what was right. He wanted to help those who were crushed by evil. He wanted to fight so that justice may prevail over the allure of sin. He fought that those who spoke for justice may speak out of a desire to do true good. He fought so that those who desire justice and what it right would lead the world, not by ambition, but by humble intentions.

At that very moment, he realized that he was watching the most powerful being in the entire country crush a poor, defenseless creature to death as he laughed out of pleasure.

Frollo walked over to the king and, using all of his strength, lifted him off of Quasimodo and over his head. He knew that his blade would not pierce the king’s armor and knew only one way to eliminate him. Being crushed by his incredible weight, he walked over to the ledge of the tower and, with what remained of his strength, tossed the king down, screaming as he fell. In reality, he had tossed him off to the side of the set onto the stage. The impact of Cranky sent the entire set shaking, causing bolts to come lose. The set started to rumble as the entire Interior Tower set piece had begun to collapse on itself.

“We need to get out, now!” Esmeralda yelled, approaching Quasimodo and helping him up.

“I’ll be fine! Get to Phoebus. Hurry!” he told her. She went and picked up the unconscious captain and went down the stairs, getting off the stage as quickly as possible. Quasimodo went over to Frollo, who was laying down on his back, no energy left in him. “I’ll get you out of here, father.”

“No Quasimodo, my son. It is too late for me now. It was too late for me all those years ago when I met the gypsy that would be your mother. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and when I fell into temptation, my rage was directed at her. I ran away and hoped that I’d never see her again. When I found her with you that night, I knew you were mine, and once again my rage and pride beat me. Truly, I have done many things to make me damned. Only now do I see the horror that was my life and pray that my one sober act of justice might plant the seeds of future goodness and that the Lord takes pity on those who had shun the idea of asking for forgiveness,” Frollo told him.

“I can still save you!” Quasimodo said with tears in his eyes as he tried fruitlessly to lift him up.

“My son,” he replied, “you already have.” Frollo’s head tilted back, a smile appearing on his face. For the first time in a long time, the smile was out of genuine happiness. Quasimodo rushed out of the tower just in time as it collapsed on itself. The lights went down, signifying the end of the scene.

“Gerald, we’re gonna need at least a minute to clean this up,” Dale said over his headset.

“Alright. Also, make sure to get Discord out. He’s under there somewhere and I’d prefer not to have dead actors on my stage,” he replied. In about fifty seconds the stage he been cleared and Discord lifted off the stage. The next scene was set up, the set piece of Notre Dame cleverly having the tower cut off for accuracy, and the actors got in place.

Our heroes exited Notre Dame and were greeted with fanfare by the crowd of villagers and gypsies. Upon seeing Quasimodo, they all races over and lifted him up in the air, cheering his name. At that point in the play, both Esmeralda and Phoebus would have kissed, but recent events led to them simply giving each other an awkward sibling hug. Clopin made his final appearance, finishing things off.

“So here is a riddle you never can guess

Sing the bells of Notre Dame!

What makes a monster and what makes a man?

Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells

Whatever their pitch, you can hear them bewitch you

The rich and the ritual knells,

Of the bells of Notre,” she took a deep breath and was about to finish, everypony in the audience ready for the crackling voice, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!” Nailed it.

The orchestra finished up their number and the curtain finally closed on the play. Twilight and the rest of the crew waited for the crowd’s reaction. They were silent.

“Uh oh,” Twilight said. There were no noises coming from outside, and things had not gone as planned for their play. This was not what she had hoped for.

To the surprise of everypony, the very first one to make a noise was Queen Chrysalis, who started to slowly clop her hooves in applause. Soon, the rest of the audience was doing the same, leading up to the entire hall filled with the applause.

“They liked us! They really, really liked us!” Pinkie Pie said. The rest of the cast cheered as well, giving each other hoof bumps. Gerald and Twilight hugged, Gerald trying unsuccessfully to get a kiss from his partner. Rainbow Dash high-fived the crew she was with while Shining Armor got swarmed by female changelings asking for an autograph, the opposite happening with Rarity. Spike got lost in the crowd as he looked for a place to sit down and have a snack.

“Spike!” Twilight said, rushing over to him, “None of this could have been done without you. You really are something of an actor, you know?”

“Yeah, well, I guess that’s just one of those things I’m good at. Too bad I can’t have a cutie mark to make sure if that’s true,” he remarked.

“Cutie Mark, Shmooty Mark! You were awesome!” Rainbow Dash told him.

“You really were. I actually was a bit sad that I couldn’t have much time with you in the play,” Fluttershy added.

“Oh, dear, you were the best one out there. You mind filling us in on your acting method?” Rarity asked.

“Well, I am a beast who lives in a quiet place secluded from most of the other ponies,” he told them. “The difference is that my Frollo isn’t quite as nasty,” he said, giving a hug to Twilight. As if he had heard them, Discord approached them, bandages covering his body. The crew gave him an odd look as he approached them.

“Oh, come on! It was just too fitting for the situation. Besides, Twilight’s the one that decided to have this living lump of coal come out and beat Shining Armor senseless,” he said, pointing to Cranky, also in bandages.

“Hey, it was pretty much the only way I could figure out how to get the plot back on track. Besides, I’d have to say it worked out pretty well,” Twilight told the crew.

“Hey guys, I think they want to give us a standing ovation!” Bob told them. The actors got back in their costumes and took to the stage once more. For a solid five minutes there was applause, and everypony felt as if they were on top of the world. Queen Chrysalis floated down to them after the applause was finished and was ready to announce something.

“So, who wants to help carry these crysalids to Ponyville for these outstanding actors!” she asked. The reaction was overwhelming, as thousands of changelings flew into the room full of crysalids and carried them off. Their quest was nearly complete.

Day 7: Home Again

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Day 7: Home Again

Right after the play, Twilight and everypony else immediately took the next possible train back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash lead the changelings that were transporting the crysalids over to the dragon’s cave so they wouldn’t end up just following the train into Ponyville. They had taken on the disguise of pegasi so even if they were seen, they wouldn’t be shot down by any guards. There were no breaks on the way to the cave, so the entire trip ended up taking about eight hours. When they had finally reached the cave everypony took a rest.

“Never thought I’d be this tired after a flight,” Rainbow Dash said, massaging her wings.

“Well at least you didn’t need to help carry a giant egg shell while you were doing it,” Bob said, his head resting on the cave’s floor. “Anyway, Gerald, how you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” he responded, stretching himself out with two other changelings keeping him confined. “So now we’ve got to carry this treasure down to where exactly?”

“Apple Family Acres,” Rainbow Dash told them. “I told them that I’d be up here to help guide you guys there while they went over there to explain that they were about to get their money. Can’t wait to see their faces when they see that we actually got it on time,” she laughed.

“Yeah, and that an army of changelings is carrying it. How about we don’t go in disguised and totally scare them, huh?” Bob suggested.

“That sounds like it could only end badly. Let’s totally do that,” Gerald replied. They all laughed at the idea and seriously considered doing that as a way to get back at those brothers for all the trouble that they’ve put us through.

Flim and Flam woke up that morning, feeling a bit different. Today was the last day they had to get their money or get the farm. Flim went down to greet Apple Bloom and promised to show her more of the machines he and his brother had made in the past. She’d really shown interest in their machines and he loved having his own little pupil to teach things to. Flam went down and helped get breakfast ready, going so far as to actually make some biscuits. Grannie Smith was glad to see somepony else do some cooking for once and commented that they were probably the best biscuits she’d ever had. Big Mac was sitting at the table waiting to have some breakfast. Applejack wasn’t seen around though, something that Flam found suspicious when they’d rung the bell and everypony else had come to eat.

“Say, Grannie, you have any idea where Applejack might be?” he asked.

“Ah feel like she’s busy doing something important,” she told him. “Best not to worry ‘bout it.”

“I worry that she’ll miss out on these delicious biscuits!” Flim said, taking another. “These are absolutely divine.”

“Glad you like my cooking, brother,” Flam said. The four laughed as they saw Flim’s eyes light up. At that very moment, Applejack came in the kitchen, her eyes showing a pony that hadn’t slept a wink.

“Howdy y’all,” she greeted. “Don’t mind me. I’m just gonna wash myself off. Messy job. Worth it though.” The family heard the water running as Applejack washed herself off. Neither Flim nor Flam had any idea what she could be doing that was messy. She hadn’t been in the stables or pig pen, but she was covered in something greasy and brown. It almost looked like lacquer.

“Well, I’m off,” Big Mac told his family.

“Just hold on a sec, Big Mac. Have an announcement that we’ll be making soon. Is it ready, Applejack?” Grannie Smith yelled.

“Sure is,” she replied, looking nice and clean again. “Everypony, follow me.”

The group got up from the table and followed Applejack outside to the barn. She stood outside the doors, Grannie Smith joining her. Neither the brothers nor other Apple Family members knew what was going on.

“Fellas,” Grannie Smith started, “Applejack talked to me last night about yer past, an’ I reckon I feel mighty shamed that that happened ta ya. I confess that me an’ some other members of our family were responsible fer you guys losing yer farm,” she told them. The brothers looked taken aback by this information. It should have been fairly obvious that the only apple orchard that was around for miles would be the one that had originally run them out, but it just seemed too convenient.

“Yeah, and not only that, but we feel like we owe your family a debt of gratitude. If they’d gone and taken us over, then Apple Family Acres would’ve been lost, and a line of apple farmers would have been left without a place of their own. Your parents were definitely the better of us, and we’d like you to know that with this.” Applejack and Grannie Smith opened up the doors to the barn to finally reveal what Applejack had been doing.

The thing the ponies saw was a remade sign for the Apple Family Acres. Instead of simply reading ‘Apple Family Acres’ like it always had, the sign now read ‘Flim-Flam Apple Family Acres’. The four were stunned at what they saw, the brothers especially.

“So, we were wondering, would you fellas mind if we made you part of the family? By choice we mean; not by some business contract. Y’all have some pretty neat ideas, and I think that we could use that on the farm. Deal?” Applejack was surprised to see the brothers’ reactions. Flam was actually crying at the site of the sign while Flim comforted him. To them, it seemed like a dream come true.

“Mam,” Flam said, taking the legal document that gave him and his brother the rights to sell cider, “you have a deal.” He handed her the paper and the family cheered.

“Stop!” four of Applejack’s friends yelled out, seeing that something that looked like a business deal was going down. They trotted over to them, breathless.

“You don’t need to give them the barn now. We got the money, and it shouldn’t be any longer now,” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh darling, how awful was it with those brutes?” Rarity asked.

“Now see here-“ Applejack tried to explain the situation before being cut off by Pinkie Pie.

“Applejack, where’s the cider? What happened to it? Did they get rid of it?” she asked pointing to the brothers. She then rushed over to them and held them up by the collars. “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE CIDER! Talk, or I’ll use my laser vision!”

“You don’t have laser vision,” Flim responded.

“DON’T TEMPT ME!” she yelled.

“Girls, calm down! Listen, Applejack, your family’s safe now. Rainbow Dash is coming with the ponies that’ll be carrying the money, so-“ Twilight was suddenly interrupted by the sound of buzzing echoing through the air. She turned to see that the changelings hadn’t kept their pony disguises and were snarling.

“There they are!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, pointing to Flim and Flam, both still in Pinkie Pie’s grasp. “Charge!” The changelings soon dropped down on their position, terrifying everypony on the ground. While everypony closed their eyes, the horde placed the treasure from the cave into a pile for the brothers.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said angrily, “was that a prank?”

“Heh, yeah. Bob and Gerald came up with that one,” she said, laughing along with the other changelings.

“Girls!” Applejack yelled out. “It’s alright. We’ve decided to let them live with us on the farm and that they’re names also be on it. Only seems fair for what happened in the past. Besides,” she went over to the brothers, putting her hooves around their shoulders, “these fellas are natural born apple farmers. Hay, we might even give your contraptions a go and see if they work out well.”

“Well, that just sounds… thank you guys,” Flam said, letting go of his usual eccentric way of talking.

“Hey, if any of you are gonna make any more of those machines, can I help?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sure, kid! Be nice to have somepony else that knows what we’re talking about, right brother?” Flim asked.

“It sure is.” Before anypony else could celebrate this event, the two minotaurs that originally came with Flim and Flam approached Twilight Sparkle.

“Miss Sparkle?”

“Yes?” she replied. She had no idea what those lawyers would want with her.

“My associate and I now represent the Fast Foods of Equestria organization, and it has come to our attention that you have a Mr. Bob with you, correct?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Mr. Bob has an outstanding debt he owes to fast food businesses all across Equestria. We are here to request that he pay in full at this very moment.”

“How much does he owe?”

“Nine million, nine hundred ninety-five thousand bits.”

“WHAT?!” everypony exclaimed.

“BOB!” Twilight yelled. “How the hay did you manage to rack up a bill that high by eating fast food?”

“I didn’t! I just- wait a second. Did you guys use my name whenever you went out to eat?” The other changelings tried to look around disinterested, whistling in hopes that he’d just dismiss the claim. He did not.

“If you cannot fulfill the payment at this very moment, me and my associate will be obliged to complete your color pattern,” the lawyer told them.

“What’s that mean?” Bob asked.

“You’re already black and blue. We’ll just finish it by making you red all over,” he replied. The silent associate took off his jacket to reveal probably the largest set of muscles in Equestria at the moment.

“Guys, I think you better pay the man,” Bob told his siblings.

“Sorry Bob, but we don’t have any money on us,” Gerald told him. Bob was not looking so good right then.

“Here; that treasure over there should be enough,” Twilight told the lawyers. The two inspected the pile and nodded in approval.

“Hold on,” one of them said, taking a large silver jewel out of the pile and tossing it to them, “that was five thousand bits too much. That should even it out,” he told them, lifting up the pile of treasure in their large arms and walking off.

“THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” Bob told Twilight as he hugged her tightly. He then gave a vicious glare to the other changelings. “YOU guys owe Twilight for paying off your debt. Hope you can come up with something good.”

“I think I know a way they repay us all,” she told him, a smirk on her face.

“And sit together, now and forever

For it’s plain anypony can see

We’re simply meant to be,” sang the two changelings playing Jack and Sally from “The Nightmare Before Hearth’s Warming Eve”.

The audience cheered as the curtain closed and applauded the play. Twilight’s decision for how the changelings could best repay her and her friends for their debt included them performing a professional play in Ponyville every Saturday for the next three years. It was a huge success, attracting ponies from all over Equestria to watch the famous actors. Even Celestia and Luna came to watch the performances. Everypony was surprised to see Queen Chrysalis come to watch the plays, but were even more shocked when she didn’t cause any trouble and just watched the play with everypony else. Luna and Celestia saw her and decided to invite her to their own private booth to watch. For the first time in memory, the two kingdoms had gotten together and not fought.

Twilight and her friends had gotten private booths for the event, with Gerald being their personal servant during the shows. Cranky was given a seat as well, but he’d had enough for a while and decided to stay at home for a while. Spike enjoyed the play while he snacked on his delicious gem. Bob was also given a seat with the girls, and he loved every single moment of it. Soon he’d figure out the line that would make Applejack fall for him. It was only a matter of time.

The Apple Family, along with the Flim Flam Brothers, watched the performance as well. The entire town was ecstatic when they learned that they’d be selling their cider at the play, causing a huge outcome as well as many interested investors. Applejack and Grannie Smith sold not only the cider that they’d saved, but also some of the new cider that the Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 7000 produced. They purposely didn’t tell anypony about that, but the brothers relished as they saw that nopony could tell the difference between the two in terms of quality. Big Mac invited Diced Carrot to join him and his family during the play, something he regretted whenever they would doddle over the couple. Earlier in the day, Apple Bloom gave Flim and Flam the next big idea for an invention: an automatic apple peeler. She had come up with some blueprints based on what Flim had taught her and they thought that it could work. They’d make the first prototype tomorrow.

Everypony got out of their seats after the show ended and decided to head home. Twilight couldn’t wait until next week when they performed a play she’d written herself. Gerald said that he wouldn’t mind getting suggestions since he didn’t want to end up repeating too much. Rainbow Dash decided to do the same and submitted her play. Never had anypony actually see somepony’s eyes roll up into their head in order to keep themselves from reading anymore.

“Hey Rarity, I was wondering I you’d mind me staying at your place. Kinda wanna get out of the nest for a while and I know you’d love to use me as a model on account of my shapeshifting and all,” Bob suggested.

“I’d be happy to do so darling, as soon as your friends bring back the sewing equipment I sent them out to get in the first place,” she told him, remembering that Alex and George ended up taking most of Rarity’s supplies when she originally sent them off. They still hadn’t returned them yet.

“He can stay with us!” Sweetie Belle suggested, flittering her eyes at the uncomfortable changeling.

“Um, that’s alright but-“

“Nonsense! We’ll have you stay in Rarity’s old room till things are sorted out!” Rarity’s dad told him while giving him a noogie. “The wife and I can’t wait to tell you about our recent vacation. Why, we even have a slideshow! Come with us and we’ll get you set up.” Bob was soon dragged away by Rarity’s parents, leaving him to wonder what he was doing with his life.

“Well, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I could do with some average for a couple of days,” Pinkie Pie told the group. “Night everypony!”

“Night!” they yelled back. The rest of the group soon went to their homes and went to bed as well. Flim and Flam were the last ones to leave the theater.

“Come on fellas! Don’t wanna leave ya behind!” Grannie Smith yelled out as they were leaving.

“We’ll be right there, Grannie!” Flim replied. Flim and Flam just sat in their seats for a moment before saying something.

“So, we have an actual home now, don’t we?” Flam asked.

“Looks like it. Wonder how it’ll work out.”

“Well I hope. This town always seems to have something going on, so we shouldn’t be bored at least.”

“Yeah. I’m just wondering how we’ll adapt to this new life. I mean, we’ve done well so far. I just hope that-“ Flim was cut off as his brother took out a whistle and set a tune. He then started to sing.

Well lookie right here dear brother of mine, in this very town

I can assure that things here will be fine, no need to frown

There’s no need for this melancholy.

Living life like that’s a folly.

It’s time to live and not only regret.

Flim cheered up and started to sing with his brother.

I see here brother of mine what you are saying

There’s no need of me to be kept nervous and start fraying

Let’s charge the day tomorrow

To hay with our sorrow!

Let’s see what life’s got stored for us just yet.

The two locked arms and started dancing out of the theatre, singing together in tune.

Well we’ve got opportunity

In this very community!

You’re Flim!

You’re Flam!

We’re the world famous Flim Flam Brothers!

Apple picking farm ponies nonpareil!

The two left the theater, hope held high in their hearts. Tomorrow was the beginning of their new life.

Apples: A Love Story

by Mod On Death

Prologue: Enter the Brothers

Day 1: Deals with Dragons

Day 2: Where Ponies Fear to Tread

Day 3: Dinner and Deserts

Day 4: Date of Destiny

Day 5: And the Role Goes to...

Day 6: The Show Must Go On (No Matter What You Want)

Day 7: Home Again