Flim Flam Brothers

The Flim Flam Brothers are two unicorns who are featured as antagonists in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. They return in the episode Leap of Faith.

In the IDW comics, Flim and Flam are unseen antagonists mentioned in Micro-Series Issue #3's story How Rarity Got Her Groovy Back and also appear in Friendship is Magic Issue #10's story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair - Part Deux 'If You Only Have a Hammer, You See Every Problem as a Nail and Micro-Series Issue #10's story The Day Shift.

Role in Series
Their names are a play on a flimflam, otherwise known as a confidence trick or a con, which also foreshadows their role in the same episode's storyline. They drive into one of the gate of Sweet Apple Acres' apple orchard on a cider-making contraption and introduce themselves through song and dance. They challenge the Apple family to a cider-making competition against their machine, The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.With Ponyville's citizens faced with the dilemma of a limited quantity of manually pressed cider, they turn to the Flim Flam brothers and their automated cider production. The brothers attempt to broker a deal with the Apple Family, who will supply them with their delicious apples, and they will sell the cider under the Flim Flam brothers name. They call for a 75-25 split in profits in their favor.

The Apple Family denies the offer, which prompts Flim to state that if the Apple Family refuses to partner up with the brothers, they will run the family out of business and Ponyville. The Flim Flam brothers challenge and provoke the Apple family into a cider-making competition, and end up winning the competition.

However, it turns out all of the ponies dislike the cider the Film Flam brothers made because they decided to go for quantity over quality unlike the Apple Family. After Twilight, and the others volunteered to help the Apple Family, the brothers increased suction on their machine to speed up their production rate in order to win. This causes the machine to suck not only the apples but up whole trees and other debris such as rocks, rotten apples, and branches.

The brothers in panic, change the setting of the machine so it no longer preforms quality check what goes into their cider and make more barrels of cider. The end result of this action causes the cider to taste horrible and all the ponies refuse to drink it. Realizing nopony in Ponyville will pay for their cider, regardless that they won, the Flim Flam brothers decide to try the next town over, and beat a hasty retreat. This alludes to the fact that this is not the first time the brothers have been run out of a town because of their tactics (and most likely won't be their last either).

The brothers return in the season four episode Leap of Faith, this time selling a product called the "Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic", using a song number to hype it as a panacea able to cure any ailment and injury, and even restore youth, among other outrageous claims. The tonic appears to work on a crutch-wielding volunteer in the audience, who casts off his crutches after drinking it; and later on Granny Smith, who overcomes her crippling fear of swimming.

Suspicious of Flim and Flam, Applejack visits the brothers' tent that night and discovers that the volunteer pony, Silver Shill, is part of the brothers' act to promote the tonic. When confronted by Applejack, the two partially admit that their tonic is a useless mixture of apple juice and beet leaves. However, they point out that Granny Smith's blissful ignorance of the tonic's true nature is allowing her to relive her youth as an aquapony, and guile Applejack into silence by suggesting that she would be denying her grandmother that happiness if the truth is revealed.

The next day, Flim and Flam sell their entire stock of tonic to Granny Smith for her to perform at the Ponyville Swim Meet, while Applejack unwittingly approves of its apparent beneficial effects, boosting their credibility. They set up shop at the swimming competition, promoting Silver Shill to help sell their tonic. However, Applejack realizes the bad example her dishonesty is setting for others and, after stopping Granny Smith from performing a dangerous high diving stunt, reveals that the tonic is fake. The brothers try to save face by endorsing the tonic's placebo effects, but Silver Shill, inspired by Applejack's honesty, intervenes and further confirms the brothers' schemes. Defeated again, Flim and Flam hastily flee Ponyville before anyone notices their absence.

Flim and Flam's human versions appear in the Equestria Girls short, A Case For The Bass where they own a pawn shop and Granny Smith's human version inadvertently sold the human Applejack's bass to them. When Applejack and her friends come to the shop to retrieve it, the brothers try to con Applejack out of a fortune, but when she explains the situation to them, the twins at first are skeptical about her ownership and find the evidence that proves otherwise to be circumstantial. However, once Applejack shows her talent by playing the instrument (and magically gain pony ears and a tail) the brothers are convinced by her ownership and when the gang (minus Applejack) glare daggers at the twins when they charge the instrument for ridiculous aspects, the con artists manage to get Applejack to trade for the instrument for advertising their store (but, ironically, get the last laugh (unlike their pony versions) when they make her dress up in a banana suit, much to her displeasure.)

Flim and Flam have a cameo in the Season 5 finale, The Cutie Re-Mark Part 2. In one of the alternate timelines created by Starlight Glimmer interfering with history, the brothers have somehow conquered Equestria, turning it into a heavily industrialized nation and clearing away the forests to feed the trees into their factories' furnaces, which in turn fill the skies with smog. This timeline, along with the others, is erased when Twilight Sparkle manages to get history back on track.

Roles in Comics
In Friendship is Magic Issue #34, Flim and Flan are recruited by Radiant Hope to orchestrate an attack on the Crystal Empire, using their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 as a Trojan horse to smuggle changelings in. Over the course of the following issues, they are captured by the Mane Six and freed by King Sombra. By Issue #36, they begin to have second thoughts about their role in the invasion and probably fled The Crystal Empire.

Personality
As their names imply, the Flim Flam Brothers are a duo of tricky con artists ready to swindle the pants out of any pony and they seem to have an eye for greed. They also seem to be arrogant as they gloat about their victory against the Apple family and were confident enough to allow Applejack's friends assist them in producing cider as they believe that they'll win the cider contest regardless, as Flam states that they aren't worried even if the entire Canterlot kingdom assists and this overconfidence leads to their downfall.

Another flaw of theirs, typical for a con artist, is that they flee from raging crowds when they discover the twins' trickery.

Trivia

 * The Flim Flam Brothers and their song are parodies of the one scene in The Music Man, when the conmen were tricking River City. The Flim Flam Brothers and the Conmen both wear straw hats and bow ties, they both trick an entire town, and the part in Flim Flam Brothers song, where the ponies all chant cider,cider,cider,cider etc. and in the music man the townsfolk were all chanting trouble,trouble,trouble,trouble etc. Also, at the end of the musical and this episode, Flim and Flam are both run out of town by the citizens of Ponyville, much like the conmen were in the  musical. However in The Music Man, the lead conman decides to stay in the town. Flim is the parody of the main conman, Professor Hill and Flam is the parody of his associate, Marcellus Washburn.


 * They are the sixth recurring villains in the show, The others are: Diamond Tiana, Silver Spoon, Trixie, Discord and Ahuizotl.


 * They are similar to the historical brothers, 'The Wright Brothers', with Flim as Wilbur and Flam as Orville, and they have their vocal mannerisms.