After a while, Ditzy was finally done hugging her mother. As she basically pushed her mother away and took a seat on the gazebo that her mother was sitting on. Twilight meanwhile chose to not sit on the gazebo, as it felt disrespectful. Apple Green also chose to not sit on it, as she decided to merely step back and take care of the garden around it, in the meantime anyways.
"So, Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is an honor meeting someone in such high regards. My name is Garden Doo. I am Ditzy's mother and the current queen-in-honor of Hilldus." Garden said as she bowed lightly.
"The honor is all mine, Queen Garden. Our countries almost never meet, so it is a great honor to be able to." Twilight said as she too gave her a small bow.
"I agree. We should do this more often." Garden said smiling.
"Well. I suppose you will have to talk to my sisters for that. As I am a busy princess myself." Twilight said also smiling.
"Aye. You have your cafe and I have my gardens." Garden said in agreement.
"Anyhow, Ditzy aren't you going give your mother, your present?" Twilight asked, causing Ditzy to gasp.
"I nearly forgot. I brought my coffee beans from the company I own." Ditzy stated.
"What is the name of the company dear?" Garden asked kindly.
"The Bubbles Company." Ditzy said while grabbing the bag. Garden slightly gasped at that.
Twilight noticed a hint of jealousy in Garden's eyes. Causing her to smile, "Like mother, like daughter."
"Shut up, Twilight." Garden said annoyed, which only made Twilight giggle even more.
"I suppose Ditzy is the better gardener in coffee beans than even her mother." Apple said in the background.
"Aye." Twilight agreed.
"Apple, please stop teasing me." Garden said annoyed. Ditzy was giggling the background at mother's jealousy.
"Anyways, here. I brought a bag of five kilograms with me." Ditzy said as she ignored mother's annoyance.
"Five Kilos?! How do you have so much?!" Garden shouted surprised.
"Eh. I don't just focus on production in terms of quality. I also produce atleast fifty kilos of coffee beans each day. My efficiency is incredibly high. And it is also outside of Vine's range, so I am doing this alone, without any help." Ditzy smirked.
"That is impressive. I would love to see your garden." Apple said impressed.
"Perhaps another time." Ditzy dismissed.
Garden gagged at the amount, "Seriously?! My citizens have about fifty hectares of land, and even with that amount of land, we can only produce five kilos each day."
"Oh and her garden is about the size of a small backyard of an ordinary home. So that is really impressive." Twilight said impressed.
"WHAT?! Impossible!" Garden shouted angrily.
"Vine? You have the ability to listen to the coffee beans, right? Am I lying?" Ditzy asked.
Apple took that chance to talk to the beans and look surprised right after, "She isn't lying. She found a way to make coffee beans very efficiently."
Garden then immediately fainted and a couch got summoned. "Huh. She must be related to Rarity." Twilight commented.
Causing both Ditzy and Apple to snort. Garden woke up to the sound of laughing from both Ditzy and Apple. Ditzy was even tearing up from it. "Oh my Celestia. That is hilarious." Ditzy stated.
Garden meanwhile was pouting in annoyance. "Oh come on!" she shouted annoyed.
"Sorry Garden... But do you remember Rarity? The dressmaker in Equestria?" Apple asked.
"Yes?" Garden said confused.
"Apparently, when she faints, she too, summon a couch out of nowhere." Apple said while giggling.
This only caused her to pout even more. "Why are you so mean to me?!" Garden shouted annoyed.
"Why does it sound like she doesn't know how to play?" Twilight asked. Unknowingly causing Ditzy and Apple to laugh even harder.
"I do! I go karaoke every sunday!" Garden shouted annoyed.
"And yet, you dislike teasing?" Twilight asked. Garden blinked before face planting on the ground.
"I take it back. Something tells me, that Celestia will really like you." Twilight commented. Causing Apple to fall over in laughing. And Ditzy holding her belly in pain.
"That was not a joke." Twilight said slightly annoyed.
Garden sighed, "Yes we met. I don't like her very much."
"Oh. It seems I need to punish Celestia later then. I meant in the more diplomatic sense." Twilight stated.
"Oh. Oh! No, no, no. She was most kind, of all the diplomats. She welcomed me with open hooves. It's just, she then proceed to make fun me as well." Garden said surprised.
"Exactly. Joking should be left at the door. A diplomatic meeting should a serious meeting. Not one used to make jokes of one another. I am going to have a serious talk with Celestia once I get back." Twilight growled annoyed.
"Uhm." Garden said giving Apple and Ditzy puppy eyes and pointing at Twilight.
Ditzy sighed as she shook her head. "No, Twilight won't stop even if I tell her too. She will lecture Celestia about this later regardless."
"Besides, I can understand where Twilight is coming from." Apple admitted.
Garden sighed, "I thought you didn't like your princess status."
"I didn't. But, sometimes you just need to make a compromise. And also sometimes life can be unpredictable." Twilight commented slightly annoyed.
Garden smiled, "That's the spirit. Now onto some more serious business, shall we?"
"We shall." Twilight gave a toothy smile.
"So as you know quite well. The law your family imposed on our nation has actually caused quite a bit of damage." Garden said serious.
"And yet you know why we imposed it, no?" Twilight said knowing.
Garden sighed, "I suppose it was only a matter of time. Regardless, we were quite pissed at the change, especially since it happened during a time of transition."
"Hm." Twilight said as the gears in her head started turning.
"To begin with, for your country to prevent such an trade from occurring. Did you really not expect a bit of an fallout?"
"Let me make one thing clear. I imposed that law when I was a child. You should have expected a fallout, if such a law ever passed. And yet you didn't prepare for it, why?" Twilight questioned.
Garden's eyes widen, "Well. As I stated before. Our people were transitioning from ordinary industry to agriculture around that time period. There was no way to prepare."
"You and I both know, that that is a false statement. You knew of the faulty state of that law, you saw the potential effects. You probably just told yourself, that nobody would break that law. And yet, when it happened. You could have been prepared for it." Twilight said serious.
"Which is exactly what I should have been doing to prepare for the transition." Garden realized.
"Exactly. During a time of transitions. The most important thing to do, is to prepare for trouble. Undoubtedly something, somewhere could have gone wrong. You know that. Even the most foolhardy plan can still fail, if you are unprepared. That is why you should tell yourself. This will go wrong, let's prepare for the potential fallout. And only when the transition passed, can you ask yourself. Did I prepare too much?" Twilight explained.
"If the answer is yes. Then you did a great job." Apple said in the background.
"But if the answer is no. Then perhaps you should learn from it, for the future." Twilight finished.
"I... I..."
"In fact when we were preparing the change of law. We were always fearing the worst. That we would fail, that we didn't make enough backup plans in case of failure. Luckily that never came to pass. Our evidence was rock solid. Our standing was rock solid. Our backing, rock solid." Twilight said smiling.
Garden drooped as she realized that she hadn't prepared enough. "I see."
"Do me a favor, mother. And learn from it. That is the only way, any apology would work out. Actions speak louder than words." Ditzy said smiling in the background.
"Exactly." Apple said smiling, "You might be a puppet leader. But you are still the one in the spotlight. If you can bounce back from this mistake, only then can you be a truly good leader."
"Is that why you didn't interfere?" Garden asked.
"Yes. I wanted you to understand the burden of leadership. Only through failure could one learn." Apple admitted.
"I understand." Garden said smiling. Twilight could tell that something changed. She felt a lot more like a leader than a moment ago.
"Instead of playing the blame game. I think the best thing we should do, is to look at what the future of these two countries mean to each other." Twilight commented.
Garden and Apple nodded, "I agree. If you give me a moment. I need one of my advisors nearby." Garden stated.
"Of course. Ditzy sorry for this. But it is important that we do this, before going home." Twilight apologized.
"Twilight. You are helping our family in a way. Of course I understand. Besides, it will give me a look of what my new boss can do." Ditzy said smiling.
"Alright." Twilight said in understanding.
After a few minutes, Apple's and Garden's advisors came and took a seat next to the respective queen. They brought a massive mountain of paperwork, but it did looked quite well organized.
"Let's begin shall we?" Twilight spoke up.
"Yes. What shall we cover firstly?" Apple asked.
"Let's do trade first." Garden replied.
"Yes. Currently the trade of vegetables are mostly being traded from your capital estate. However recently we have been searching for some different traders. So instead of pushing you all into the background, I was hoping that you would be interested into turning the trade part of the capital into a company, just like what Ditzy has done. But also allowing to advocate some smaller, not yet well known companies onto the world market." Twilight explained.
"I see. To allow not a single company to dominate the market correct?" Garden asked.
Twilight nodded, "Yes. But also to allow you to turn yourself into a bit of a logistic company. Since it's unlikely that any small company within the country to succeed alone. That way we can mark vegetables with a mark from which country it came from while also creating a mark of quality. To ensure that your country will still put out the same quality, just spread among companies around the whole country."
"To create diversity and allow everyone equally to gain economical benefit to our trade with Equestria, correct?" Apple asked.
"Exactly. Not to mention, such an implementation could allow the process of transport to be sped up around the country. Since most of the country is still stuck in the industry age, while the capital is literally generations ahead in the game. Allowing roads, train lines and boat transport lines to be created. Allowing more capital to flow through the entire country. Giving everyone the incentive to participate and improving living conditions as an result. More trade means improved comfort and allowing villages to be put on the map." Twilight explained.
"I see." Garden said.
Twilight's eyes turns a bit more serious suddenly, "However this could also bring more problems. In the form of corruption, a toxic workspace and more pressure being place on industries that aren't ready to change yet. Meaning you need to crack down on corruption in the country. Create inspections to ensure a good workspace around the country. And pumping money into industries to create change."
"In short, this could cost an astronomical amount of money. But with the added benefit that our country will be better off it." Apple said out loud. Twilight could see the gears turning.
"Luckily we are actually already working on the inspectors. And on cracking down on corruption." Garden said optimistic.
Twilight shook her head, "You don't understand. This change will not remove corruption. It will ADD corruption. It would make corruption more likely. All you can do, is to ensure the right people are places at the right job. Pay everyone a good enough wage that most won't fall to corruption, but also not pay too much to make them money hungry."
"Make the people want comfort over money, correct?" Apple asked smiling.
Twilight nodded, "Exactly."
"Meaning we need to be prepared for the worst of the worst right?" Garden asked, Apple and Twilight nodded in response.
"Another thing that might be worth investing into is an Customs for the trade of food and goods. To ensure no contraband enters or exits the country. In fact, if you make a Customs. You need to make it enforceable. By law and act." Twilight commented.
"Oh! Advisor, write that one down. We need to get onto that as soon as possible." Garden requested.
"Agreed." Apple said shocked that she hadn't done that before.
"Well this is all I can do. I am not an advisory. I am not an ambassador. I am merely a chef with a lot of connections. A princess without any real duty attached to it. All I can do, is to create an opportunity. For both of our countries to become closer. In ways we can only do together. If you need any help with this, I can ensure you. Princess Celestia will be able to help in ways I am unable to do so." Twilight admitted.
"Princess Celestia's greatest strength is the understand on how to rule an country. How to improve it through the generations. Her sheer power in money and goods are her greatest backbone. Princess Luna's greatest strength is to understand civil understanding. She understands corruption better than most. She knows why or how they occurred and how to prevent or nurture them. Believe it or not, but corruption can be used for good too. You just need to know how to. And finally Princess Moon. The oldest of the three. Her understanding of the world is amazing. She knows creatures and have connections in ways, nopony could rival. From old friends to old rivals. If you ever need another trading partner, she knows how to hook you up." Twilight explained.
"And finally Princess Twilight." Ditzy said in the background, "Her greatest strength is her determination. Able to puppeteer the country and bend it's wishes. She is able to bring strength to the individual people. From ponies to other creatures. Her greatest skill is knowing how to use those around her. In ways that neither Princess Celestia, Princess Luna or Princess Moon is capable of."
Twilight slightly blushed at the mention causing Apple to smile.
"With other words. It is alright to ask for help. Especially someone in your seat. From the ordinary baker to another princess. If you rule your country without help, your country will eventually fail. Only together are you stronger." Twilight finished explaining.
"And with that, my time here is up. We are now going home. If you ever need me, you know where to find me." Twilight said allowing no response.
Ditzy hugged Garden, before stepping in line with Twilight and leaving the queens to their thoughts. And while leaving Ditzy took one last look around. Before changing her mind to what brought everything to this point, coffee.
While Twilight smiled, she knew that she has done everything she is capable of. All she can do now, is wait. And also finish up everything. Going back to where it began, she needs to visit the slums. One last time. Before she is able to truly move on.