Apple Jet marched into the Gala, her tail swishing underneath her green dress. She was excited to get to know some business ponies. Despite her excitement, she managed to keep her wings at her side and not fly in. If she had learned anything from her Aunt and Uncle Orange, it was that business ponies adored professionalism, and that meant no flying unless absolutely necessary.
She made her way to the long food table, where professional ponies were milling about. She decided she would listen in on some of these conversations first before engaging in any herself. If she was truly going to make this the best night ever, she was going to make sure that she was speaking the right words and knew what was in and what was out.
"Why have you tried the Berry's newest product?" A gray stallion with a puffed up white mane asked the blue mare standing beside him. "Cranberry and Elderberry's granddaughter, Ms. Green Grape, came up with this amazing new drink."
"Green Grabe?" The blue mare with straight white hair asked incredulously. It was obvious she was from Germane. "Isn't sche zee crasy Hestranged mare of zee family?"
"Why, yes, she used to be, but when she showed her parents this drink..."
Apple Jet walked away. She really didn't need to hear about some other prominent fruit family in Canterlot. She needed to know what kind of business she could make here. What kind of food ponies liked. What kind of events could be catered. Did ponies prefer delivery of pick-up? What kind of advertising deals could she pull? That was where Apple Jet's mind was at, and she was certain that most ponies would be as well.
The orange business pony made her way to the punch table. Thankfully there was no line here, so she could just dally a little bit while she listened to some other ponies' conversations. After filling a cup with ice, she held it in her wing as she looked at all of the juices the Gala had to offer. They had orange, pomegranate, grapefruit, cranberry, grape, and even watermelon juice! But there wasn't any apple juice. Apple Jet settled for the grape juice. As she poured herself a glass she heard another conversation, this one between two white unicorns.
"Oh yes, Fleur, my darling. This new grape drink truly is divine, but have you tried Strawberry's Upside Down Cake?" The stallion gestured largely as he talked, as if his words were not enough to convey the amazingness of his find. "It sounds quite weird, but my sister insisted I try it. It's absolutely divine!"
Fleur, the pink-maned mare giggled at her partner, taking a sip from her glass. "Quite." Apparently she was a mare of few words.
Apple Jet walked away wondering if the mare had any relation to Fleur de Shy. They both shared the name Fleur, were unicorns, and had wavy, somewhat short, pink hair. It wasn't uncommon for the family name to be passed down as the first name. She and Applebloom were proof of that. Twilight too, if she recalled correctly. Although, Fleur de Shy certainly talked a lot more than this white unicorn. Still, all this talk about the Berry family. Surely there was something else a buzz.
This was probably the twentieth conversation AJ had partaken in, and easily the twenty-fifth, if you counted all the one she had eaves-dropped listened too beforehoof. And yet, all of them, once directed towards the topic of food, began raving about the Berry Family and the wonders they had recently come up with.
"Of course. Who could possibly forget the Berry family?" The orange pegasus tried not to sound exasperated. "They have distributors all over Equestria. You see, apples are going to be a lot bigger than that soon enough..." She kept talking, she practically knew her spiel by heart, as well as the reaction it would get. Suddenly she saw a blue hoof waving her over, the background a wave of rainbow. Was that her sister? Perfect, a distraction like this might help her get her bouncing business head back up and running....oh that was a terrible analogy. She really needed a break. She politely excused herself from the conversation and trotted over to her sister who was manning an apple stand off to the side of the garden.
"Hi there Zap, house the business going?"
Her sister sighed. "Not well, I've only got a few sales and it's been a few hours. I figured that if I could find Twilight she would be able to help advertise a little, but I need somepony to mare the stand while I find her. Don't want to miss out on some sales, or encourage any possible, even accidental, theft.
"I promise it won't be long. Twilight's been fangirling over the Magnabolts since she heard about the tickets. She'll be watching their display, which shouldn't be hard to miss."
"Not a problem, sis. I need a break from all of these preppy Canterlot ponies anyways; I wasn't having much luck socializing anyhow." Apple Jet conceded. "All these Canterlot ponies seem to want to talk about concerning farming or food production is the dang Berry family!"
Rainbow came to the front of the stand and hugged her sister tightly. "Thanks a bunch, AJ, I'll be right back." And with that, Zap sped off into the gala. Apple Jet took up her new position behind the stand as she watched her sister leave. That mare never had gotten the socialite education from the Oranges. The pegasus decided to look over the contents of the stand as knowing your product was an important part of marketing. She noticed a white piece of paper with an inked hoofprint on the front. She picked it up with her wing so she could peer more closely at it. "Celestia's signed this?" She looked up to her left and saw a nail poking out of one of the beams. She stuck the paper up there for everypony to see. "This must be her permit. Ought to have up there so nopony tries to take the stand down."
It couldn't have been more than 15 minutes before the stand was swarmed. "I saw you talking to Filthy Rich and then when I saw that Celestia herself approved these treats, I knew they had to be good, so I came right over to try some." A young yellow mare chattered on as she bought an apple fritter, a caramel apple, and some cider. "I'm telling everypony I know to come get some."
"Well thank you kindly." AJ forced a smile as she finished the transaction and turned to the next pony. The pegasus had been counting on a slow time, a nice break from the socialite life. But here she was, talking with several of the ponies she had talked with before, and several more who had seen her talking with them. She was famous now, apparently, for talking with famous ponies. She didn't see how that worked. She had easily slipped into their conversations. Easily talked about Canterlotian things and driven the conversation towards food. Nopony had turned her away. Anypony could have come up and talked with them. Perhaps they were all just too star-struck? Sounded like a Twilight move.
"Oh my, did I see you with Hoity Toity earlier? That Stallion has a taste for food! Oh and I swore I saw Zesty Gourmand her earlier too. This must be the créme de la créme. Two slices of pie please."
"That'll be five bits." Apple Jet said as she cut the pie. The bubbly stallion pulled out the bits from his bag and they traded the bits for food.
It went on for hours like this, almost every other pony saying they had seen somepony else, likely somepony famous. Apple Jet was thankful when the last of the produce was gone. "Sorry, that's all we have everypony. Come get some fliers so you know where to find the best food around at your next event." She pulled out the fliers from underneath the stall and set them on the table. The fliers--and ponies, thank Celestia--were gone in seconds.
"Now. Where in Equestria did that sister of mine go?"