Trash of the Royal Castle

Things were going so well.

Raincloud Dazzle agreed to give me a good word to her husband, making building my future company much easier.

But Chancellor Neighsay isn't at the Gala!

And if he's not here, I'll need to speak with him another time, which wouldn't need to happen if he was here!

But that's okay, That's fine, Good even.

I'll just schedule a talk with him for next week, get the test out of the way, build my ship, get some workers, strike some deals, and bada-bing bada-boom! Business!

In the meantime, I'll just mingle around with the rich ponies, donate a bit or two to the fundraiser, and talk about whatever topic these ponies find interesting.

And if I'm lucky, I'll manage to strike a deal with someone who has ties to Caninia or Griffonia.

Yes... I can still make this night productive.

And with these thoughts in mind, I walk out of the garden and back into the ballroom, intent on making my moves, only to pause when I spot a stand selling food being handled by an orange earth pony.

I walk over as soon as the Pegasus from the WonderShots or whatever they're called leaves the stand, a full pie held in his mouth.

"Nice to meet you Pardner, I didn't expect to get another customer so soon!" The pony said with a smile on her face.

"Not a customer, just here to ask some questions," I tell her as I look over her stand, seeing Apple-based products on the small shelves.

I point to one of the unlabeled bottles.

"What's that?"

"This is Apple Juice, freshly squeezed and bottled this morning," She says with a smile and I nod my head, pointing at another product and getting a similar response.

Apple Food, Fresh from today.

"How Much for an apple fritter?" I ask her.

"Two bits!" That's kind of cheap for a fundraiser, isn't it?

"Not five bits?" I ask with a frown, confused as to why she would sell her food for so cheap. I understand that the charities involved here are all non-profit, but they still need some sort of profit this evening to help the orphans.

"Isn't five bits too expensive for an apple fritter?" She asks back with a small frown.

"Isn't two bits too cheap for charity?" I ask her, "How will you make the money back, There isn't much food in your stall, and not all of it will be sold this evening. This is for charity, it's fine to make the products more expensive than they should normally be." I explain to her what I thought was common knowledge in business and marketing.

By making it so the profit from your products is given to charity, you can increase the price of select goods by saying that the extra cost goes directly to the charity you work for.

Two bits is the price of a normal apple-fritter, if you sell a charity-apple-fritter for the same price, you are actively losing money because the profit goes to the charity, and not back into the business.

Non-Profit charities don't give away all of the profit they receive in sales, they keep the cost of the materials and goods in order to recuperate for the next event, if you give away everything you make, you'll run out of money.

And say what you want about non-profit charities, you need money to run them.

Instead of seeing a nod of understanding and agreement from the mare, I am given a head tilted in confusion with a single eyebrow raised.

And then she asked something that made my terrible mood from earlier, the one I've tried thinking positively of in order to salvage the situation, return like a sledgehammer to the back of the knee.

"Charity?"

I didn't know what to say to that. Is she not part of one of the charities here? Did she really just open up a food stand at the Grand Galloping Gala, ask for money, and not be a part of one of the charities?

This has to be a joke. So I laughed.

"Hahaha, that's a good one," I tell her with a smile on my face and a hearty chuckle exiting my lips, "You really got me there, Hehehe. I'm talking about the charity you're working with."

"I'm not working with a charity," She told me in confusion, and the smile on my face evaporated in an instant, "I'm selling these apples to help my farm,"

I stare at her blankly for a few more seconds before turning away and heading to look for a super-specific pony.

---------------------------

Raven Inkwell expected her night to continue as it had, simply staring at the ponies down below until the Gala is over and she can go to sleep.

However, it seemed that fate had different plans for her.

"Prince Blueblood," She said in order to get the Stallion in front of her to stop speaking, "Can you repeat your question, please?"

"Gladly," The Prince said and recounted the events that brought him to her, "So my question in this regard is, did you give the mare a permit and nobody told me? Because as far as I can remember, the Grand Galloping Gala has been a non-profit fundraiser to help the downtrodden. And it's simply that having the lady selling her food for her own apple farm, doesn't really scream charity, let alone non-profit."

Raven took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Was she orange?" She asked, receiving a look of amazement from the prince.

"She was, Do you know who she is?"

Raven groaned at the incoming headache.

She wasn't supposed to do her job tonight, Princess Celestia gave her the evening off to enjoy the Gala.

So much for an evening off...

"I do," Raven said and started walking in the direction of the Ballroom, followed closely by the Unicorn Prince.

------------------

"Applejack," The mare in question turned her head to see her good friend Rarity walk up to her, "Did you perhaps see a Blonde Stallion with a White coat?"

"I did," Applejack told her, "He said something about my prices and charity before wandering off. Do you know him?"

Rarity nodded her head before smiling regally, "In fact, I do, That Stallion is none other than Prince Blueblood, Princess Celestia's nephew, and also the most eligible bachelor in Equestria." She explained with a smile, her mind depicting the handsome prince smiling at her as he takes her on a night she will never forget.

"How dreamy... Ahem! Did you perhaps see where he went?" She asked.

"Not really, He went back inside after asking me a few questions," Applejack told her before a question came to her head.

"Hey, Rarity?"

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Is my food too cheap?"

Rarity paused for a moment to think her question over, before shaking her head and giving her friend a quick answer.

"I'm not too sure Dearie, Anyway, I need to find him, See you soon!" Rarity said before making her way back into the Ballroom, intent on finding Prince Blueblood.

Leaving Applejack outside with a set of unanswered questions weighing on her head.