Step Right Up!

[Flim & Flam]

KACHUGGACHUGGACHUGGACHUGGAWHIIIIIIIRKACHUGGACHUGGACHGGAWHIIIIR!!!!!

The strange rattling, chugging and other mechanical sounds grew closer and closer to the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Over the hilltop, some kind of mechanical vehicle rose into view. Atop it stood two nearly-identical ponies. Those who remember last cider season will certainly remember the eccentric traveling salesponies Film and Flam.

The massive machine came to a stop on the road just outside the schoolhouse, drawing out a large crowd of young ponies just as classes were ending.

Flim began to shout to the crowd enthusiastically.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, one and all, step right up and experience the magic!"

"The splendor!" Flam assisted

"The wonder of a brand new experience, touching your tastebuds for the first time that can only be brought to you by this magnificent machine, the Sweet and Creamy Ice Cream Dreamy 1000!"

"Ice cream in the winter? But there's still snow on the ground!" On little filly spoke up.

"That smart little filly is right, brother. How can anyone expect to enjoy their Ice Cream with winter wrap-up still at least a week away?" Flam spoke up encouragingly, clearly leading Film to his next statement.

"Why brother, are you honestly saying that you've never had ice cream in the ice? Why, it's such a wonderful experience, and a shame you and this poor little filly have missed out until now! Don't you love the chill of winter? That nip on your nose, the chilly tingle in your hooves? Why..." The brother's movements began to have a little beat to them, as if moving to the musical beat made by their machine.

"If I had it my way, I'd have it everyday!
You just gotta love that Ice Cream in the ice,
maybe even snowcones in the snow!"
"Ice Cream on the ice?"
"That's right and snowcones in the snow!
Feel that chill, in the air,
The Flim Flam Brothers, just don't care,
Because we're bringing you our frozen treats,"
"Little fillies, hold onto your seats!"
"It's Ice cream in the ice!
And snowcones in the snow!!!!"

And once the crowd was wrapped up in their show, the brother's kept on singing, watching a line already start to form. The dollar signs were practically plastered on their eyes!

[Twilight Sparkle]

With spring almost here, Twilight could almost feel Ponyville getting warmer and brighter. Of course, it wasn't really; the weather was the same as it had been all winter. Nothing would actually change until the Winter Wrap-Up. But nonetheless, the unicorn knew what was coming, and despite the pun, it put a certain spring into her step.

Thus, she made her way steadily away from the center of town, headed for the schoolhouse. Three books sailed along behind her, shimmering in the violet hue of her magic. Cheerilee had requested a book on the history of Canterlot to help her plan a lesson in it. Of course, Twilight knew that one book really wasn't enough to cover the subject. After all, just the events leading up to its founding were an entire volume, and would an academic like Cheerilee really want to skimp on the details?

Of course not.

So, with 300% of the requested reading material in tow, Twilight was pretty excited to make this delivery. As she neared the school, though, the lavender unicorn slowed, brows furrowing as she noticed a small crowd formed outside. "I didn't know school was out yet," she thought out loud, examining the assembly of colts and fillies curiously. She spent a few moments searching for the source of their fascination. When her eyes finally settled on it, though, she just groaned. "Oh, not this again."

Hadn't those stallions learned their lesson the last time they'd come to Ponyville? Their cider hadn't earned them any loyal customers, that was for sure. Standing at the back of the crowd (though, given that she was an adult, still clearly visible over the other ponies), Twilight said to nopony in particular, "Their cider had rocks in it, who would buy their ice cream?"

[[DAT SALESPONY SONG]]

[Flim & Flam]

A glow started to surround Flam's horn, and a massive funneled tube from the machine stretched out and started to suck up a large pile of snow. The machine whirred even louder as it sprang to life, starting to spit out cone after cone of Ice Cream, which the young ponies were more than happy to buy.

Of course, the beat of the salesponies' movements were thrown off by a certain familiar voice in the crowd. Flim sighed, and just gave a simple nod to Flam, who continued to work on selling as much Ice Cream as the machine could put out.

"Well there, did I hear a request for Rocky Road over here?" A cone drifted over, stopping right in front of Twilight, followed by Flim walking up to her. "And you can hardly blame us for a minor mechanical malfunction, can you? We just want to put some trust back in the custome-errr... citizens of ponyville. More valuable than all the cider in the world! Now, what can the Flim Flam Brothers do for you, Madame Librarian? How can we earn back your trust?"

Although his smile and tone seemed sincere, his past was against him. Flam seemed to have overheard a bit of that, and cast a confused look to his brother. To which Flim merely smiled and tried to secretly wink back at his brother.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Well there, did I hear a request for Rocky Road over here?"

Twilight didn't realize that she was the one being referenced until a cone floated over, shimmering with bright green energy. Glancing up, she saw the brother without the mustache approaching, his horn wreathed in the same verdant glow. From the moment he opened his mouth, she regarded him with suspiciously, eyes narrowed in a calculating stare; even though the unicorn had to admit she was nowhere near 'experienced' at things like this, she could tell he was schmoozing.

And her experience taught her to be skeptical about things like that.

"And you can hardly blame us for a minor mechanical malfunction, can you? We just want to put some trust back in the custome-errr... citizens of Ponyville. More valuable than all the cider in the world! Now, what can the Flim Flam Brothers do for you, Madame Librarian? How can we earn back your trust?"

To be honest, Twilight felt like saying something along the lines of 'you can't.' But as much as she didn't like the Flim Flam brothers (she could still remember, quite vividly, the way they'd laughed at how they'd almost destroyed the Apple family's livelihood), it somehow didn't feel right to refuse anypony a second chance. Being a student of the magic of friendship, going against it was probably not the right course of action.

Of course, that didn't make it any easier to like them...but she could at least tolerate them.

"Well, you can stay away from the Apples, for one," Twilight finally responded, a mild frown on her face. "That's as much for your benefit as theirs. And mine." Glancing sidelong at the proffered cone, she raised a hoof to gently nudge it away. "And thanks, but I'm not big on nuts." Of course, if they had...no. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to give them her business.

Not that an ice cream in the ice sounded all that bad.

[Flim & Flam]

Flim gave a bit of a half-frown. He wasn't sure whether to consider this too easy, or suspiciously difficult. She wasn't melting in his hooves like ponies who have met him for the first time... but she wasn't rejecting him like a pony from a town like Ponyville that he's tried to scam before. This unicorn simply existed in some middle-spot that he wasn't familiar with. But then again, he wasn't about to look a gift-pony in the mouth.

"Fine, fine. Suit yourself" He replied to her rejection of the ice cream. "ON THE HOUSE FOR THE LOVELY TEACHER!" he called out, letting the cone drift out over to the only head that rose up over the crowd, being Cheerilee's.

"Now then, I can assure you that we'll be giving the Apple Family their space. Anypony who's so willing to defend their business has earned out respect." He gave her another of his winning, shmoozy smiles. "As you can see, we've moved on from cider... although I can't guarantee we'll stay away completely. After all, we may end up wanting to buy some apples." he smirked and winked. "You wouldn't want me making a deal with you that denies your friend some good business, now would you?"

"Now then, I'm glad we can be back on good terms. You see, I hear your the librarian in town, and as you can see, my brother over there is quite the tinker." he glanced over to Flam, who seemed to be happily showing off his machine to entertain the crowd of fillies.

"So, naturally he may be paying you a visit now and then, looking for a few books. Wouldn't do him any good if there were any bad blood between him and the librarian." he grinned. "Now then, is there anything else that we can do for you? A cone without nuts, perhaps?"

[Twilight Sparkle]

"Fine, fine. Suit yourself."

It was rather jarring how quickly Flim seemed to lose interest in her. Twilight assumed it was because he no longer saw a 'sale' in her; whether that sale was just the still-floating cone of rocky road or something greater, though, she couldn't say. Watching curiously as the male unicorn sent a complimentary treat over to Cheerilee, she remembered her original reason for coming here with a bit of a jolt. She'd been levitating the books subconsciously by this point, and now that she remembered them, the connection broke, and each fell with a piff onto the snow. Giving them a displeased look, she refocused her magic, taking a moment to realize that Flim was speaking to her once again.

"Now then, I can assure you that we'll be giving the Apple Family their space. Anypony who's so willing to defend their business has earned our respect."

There it was again: that calculated, sugary smile that just reeked of commerce. She wasn't going to fall for it, though. Not like all of Ponyville (including, she was ashamed to admit, herself) had the last time the Flim Flam Brothers had rolled into town. So, hoping to get that message across succinctly, Twilight Sparkle countered with a look of utter skepticism.

Nothing was going to get past her powers of observation and logic.

"As you can see, we've moved on from cider... although I can't guarantee we'll stay away completely. After all, we may end up wanting to buy some apples." he smirked and winked. "You wouldn't want me making a deal with you that denies your friend some good business, now would you?"

Clearly, Flim was better at this than she'd thought. He was using logic against her--and while it wasn't a perfect argument, she had to at least admit there was some merit to it. Sounding a little less certain than previously, the purple unicorn took a moment before finally saying, "Well...I guess that's up to Applejack."

With that settled, Flim went on to discuss how convenient it was that Flam would be able to rent books from her, what with Twilight not despising them anymore. Secretly, she was thrilled by the prospect of anypony thirsting after knowledge. It was her opinion that the ponies of Ponyville generally read far too little; in fact, were she not so busy with her studies, she would gladly form some sort of reading club to promote it.

In fact, maybe she should!

But this was a line of thought for later, so Twilight mentally filed it away, along with a note to write to the princess for feedback about the idea. "Well, I'd never say no to a pony who wants a book," she responded wryly. It was getting a little tiresome being hostile to them, and honestly starting to make her feel bad, so she resolved to let them be innocent until proven guilty. Just...a carefully-observed sort of innocent.

"Now then, is there anything else that we can do for you? A cone without nuts, perhaps?"

Oh, dear. Temptation was rearing its ugly head once more. By principle, Twilight should have refused. She had to make this delivery quickly; after all, she had to finish reading Potentially Potent Potions by the end of the day! But it was ice cream. Could anypony, even her, really say no to that? "Well...I guess if you have strawberry. Uh--not too much, though," she added quickly, not pleased at just how interested she sounded. It was like giving in to his sales schtick even having caught it from the start.

She was weak; it was strawberry ice cream.