Recipe for Success
It was an average day at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack just finished bucking the apples and was ready to view the latest sales report.
"The sales have dropped again?!" She said. Her eyes were wide open while she looked at the graph.
The graph showed a red line that slowly went down.
"We're never going to afford fixing Granny Smith's hip if we don't make those sales go up." She said worried.
"I know," Applebloom responded as worried as her big sister was, "Maybe we have to try something new."
"Are you out of your mind?" Applejack responded angrily, "Our family has been selling these products for years and we have never had anything such like this."
She thought for a moment.
"Maybe we should advertise a bit more..."
She didn't like the idea. Her family used to sell their wares without any problem. Such depression has never happened before, so it was only obvious she's worried, but she wasn't used to advertising at all. After doubting the idea she decided to do so, though.
"We'll need a design first," Applejack concluded, "Maybe Rarity could help us with that."
"Sure you don't want to try something new?" Applebloom threw in, trying to convince her sister.
"Advertising is kinda new for us, isn't it?" Applejack stated, and Applebloom could not respond in any other way but nodding.
"I guess so..."
~
Applebloom seemed worried, as if she had the feeling that advertising wouldn't work. Nonetheless the two went to Carousel Boutique, where they hoped to find Rarity, who could probably design a flyer for them. Or so they hoped.
"Oh, hello Applejack, hello Applebloom," Rarity said as she opened the door and saw the two sisters in front of her with their worried faces. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Applejack wasn't sure, because she and Rarity differed a lot from each other. But even so they were still great friends and they would be there for each other when needed.
"Well, you see..." Applejack started. She explained about the depression in the sales and that she needed her to design a flyer. "I'm sorry to bother you with it, it's just..." She hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out. "It's just that I'm no good at designing those things myself."
Rarity wasn't surprised at all. In fact, since they were good friends, she knew that the Apple family wasn't used to advertising in any way, therefore they had no experience in designs for flyers either.
"Sure, just give me a moment," Rarity responded. She grabbed a pile of papers and put them down on a desk she used to design her dresses on.
She took a moment to draw some sketches, but after a while she called over Applejack and Applebloom. "A flyer needs perfect designing," Rarity explained, "it has to represent the company, but it shouldn't be very boring either. Does this look good?"
Applejack looked at the design. The design showed drawings of apples and a silly slogan. 'For all your sweet apple products, buy them from the sweet Apple family!' She responded with a disgusted face.
"Not good?" Rarity asked, disappointed that Applejack didn't like it at all.
"Too girlish.." Applejack said doubtfully, anxious to insult her friend.
"I thought so," Rarity apologized, "My bad, it's not my day today."
She took another paper from the pile and started drawing sketches on it again. After a while she said she was finished.
"It looks fantastic!" Applebloom responded instantly. Her eyes were gleaming only from the design of the flyer.
"This sure looks promising," Applejack said, whereas Rarity responded with a big smile. "Could you make more of them?"
Rarity nodded in response and started making more of them.
"This is going to take a while," Rarity said, slightly apologizing, "I hope you don't mind waiting until tomorrow."
"No problem, sugarcube!" Applejack responded, happy she finally had a promising design for the flyer.
"But don't you think you should try something..." Rarity doubted if she should say it. "Shouldn't you try, maybe... Oh, I don't know, a new recipe?"
"No, no and no!" Applejack responded furiously, "We've been doing fine business with these recipes for years, there's no way we'll need a new one."
"If you say so..." Rarity responded, worried about her friend's family's business. She knew it would be better for her friend to make something new, it was something she did as well, and it always turned out great. Just like fashion, tastes change. What people liked a year ago might be something they've had enough of nowadays.
"Oh, well, see you tomorrow." Rarity said, still worried.
"I'll see ya tomorrow then!" Applebloom said as she and her sister walked out of the boutique, heading back to their home.
~
The next day Applejack and Applebloom went back to Carousel Boutique, where Rarity awaited them impatiently. She handed over the new flyers which, since they were friends, are free of charge, for which Applejack thanked her gratefully.
"Now we'll just need somepony to spread these," Applejack said, "Do you know somepony who could do so?" She asked Applebloom, although she already knew a pony that could.
"Oh! Oh!" Applebloom was being an enthusiastic filly, knowing the answer to her big sister's question. "I know! How about Rainbow Dash?"
"Now, that's a good idea." Applejack said happily, knowing that she and her sister were thinking of the same pony.
It didn't take them too long to find Rainbow Dash. She was relaxing on a cloud not far from the village.
"Hey Dash!" Applejack shouted, "Come over here for a minute!"
Dash slowly lifted her head and looked down to who called her. She slowly stood up and flew down.
"Can't you see I'm busy?" She said, knowing she'd have to give up some time in order to help her friend, "Well, what's the matter?"
"You see," Applejack started to explain while she grabbed the flyers, "We need you to spread these."
"Why? I mean, your family is doing great business, don't they?"
Applejack sighed and explained the situation. "Actually, the sales have dropped and I were hoping that a little advertising might save us a little."
Dash groaned. "It's not that nopony knows you, it's just that everypony gets bored of your products."
"So...?"
"You should try something new!"
Applejack responded angrily again. "Why does everypony keep telling me that?"
"Because it's true."
"Maybe we should..." Applebloom threw in.
Applejack groaned, but finally gave in. "You know what?" She said, "Let's see how advertising will turn out and after that we'll see about that."
"Promised?" Applebloom asked.
"Promised." Applejack responded.
Applebloom cheered a little and Rainbow Dash agreed with the idea. She took the flyers and started spreading them over Ponyville and nearby areas. Applejack and Applebloom went back home.
"I bet advertising will do the trick." Applejack said, sounding confident, but truth was that she doubted that. She knew it wasn't the lack of advertisement, she knew it was the lack of something new. But she had so much faith in the old recipes that she had been trying to convince herself that it was something else. But for now she had no other choice but to wait for the results. She was relieved she had made that promise with Applebloom.
~
The next week they viewed the sales report again. As expected, the results showed no big difference from last time. The red line was still dropping, not as much as before, but still.
Applejack groaned in disappointment.
"You know what that means, sister." Applebloom said with a big smile at her sister.
Applejack couldn't but smile a little too. "I guess so."
Applebloom enjoyed her little victory by hopping around her big sister.
"Calm down, we'll have to find something new. Something we've never done before."
"But what?"
"I don't know. Maybe we can find somepony that's used to making new things."
"You mean Rarity?"
"Well, that may actually be not such a bad idea.."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Applejack laughed, "Calm down, sugarcube, she's probably busy right now. We'll visit her later this day."
"Okay.." Applebloom said slightly disappointed.
~
The day went by quickly and Applejack decided it was time they visited Rarity for advice.
"Wait wait wait," Rarity said, astonished by Applejack's request, "You want me, a fashionista, to design food?"
"I guess that's what it comes down to," Applejack said unsure, "Or any kind of help is welcome."
"Well, I guess I can share a little secret with you," Rarity said hesitantly about telling the secret, but she couldn't let a friend down. "What it comes down to, is that I sometimes combine parts of one dress with another."
"Okay..." Applejack responded, not quite sure what to say.
"You see," Rarity started to explain, "By doing so I use parts of old dresses and combine them into something new, something more fabulous. It works every time for me."
"So, you're saying that we have to combine two products of ours to make something new." Applebloom concluded.
"I guess you can see it like that." Rarity said, uncertain if the trick would work for something else than dresses.
"It sounds weird, but let's give it a try." Applejack said, still not liking the idea. But at least she was relieved that she could create something new using the old recipes. "But we'll have to find something to combine."
"Maybe we'll find something at home," Applebloom suggested, "We've got plenty of things there!"
Applejack nodded to her sister. "You're a clever one, sugarcube."
The sisters thanked Rarity and went back home.
~
Back at Sweet Apple Acres Applejack was pacing around, thinking of what products she could combine.
"Maybe the apple cream and apple fritters?" Applejack suggested while deep in thoughts.
"No..." Applebloom rejected quickly.
"How about the apple cider with apple juice?"
"That would be silly..."
"Maybe apple muffins with apple cupcakes?"
"Wouldn't that be just apple cupcakes?"
"You're right, I can't come up with anything at all... Maybe we'll go bankrupt anyways." Applejack gave up.
"I'm sure you'll find something," Applebloom said, trying to comfort her sister, "I'll go get some apple pudding now. I'm starving."
"Apple pudding..." Applejack said and she started thinking of something again.
She looked around her, then she saw Granny Smith, who was sorting out the right apples for the apple pie.
"Apple pie..." Applejack said quietly.
Suddenly an idea came up in her head. "How about apple pie pudding?"
"That sounds yummy!" Applebloom said happily, "I knew you'd come up with something!"
Delighted by the new idea Applejack started to write a new recipe. Not much later she put the recipe to the test.
Applebloom, Applejack and the others slowly took a piece of the pudding, put it in their mouths and tasted it.
"Not bad.." Applejack said surprised.
"Not bad?" Applebloom said, "It's fantastic!"
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh agreed.
Applejack was astonished by how good it actually tasted. A few days later they were selling them on the market in the village. They were sold one after another. The big red line that went down suddenly went up. At last the other products started selling better as well.
"Well, glad we've had that," Applejack said.
Applebloom nodded in response. "You now know what we'll have to do next time, right?"
Applejack smiled. "Let's hope there's no next time, I'd hate to see that big red line going down again."
They both started to laugh. Time passed on and there were no signs of the sales going below the average sales. In fact, the sales were even higher than they used to be. Applejack had nothing to worry about and the Apple family was doing great business, and they could only hope that it would last for another hundreds of years.
The end
