Chapter 44
The rumble of the diesel engine subsided as Allen shut it off. Stretching in his seat, he felt his back pop and let loose a satisfied grunt as it did so. Slowly climbing down off the 706, he looked around and nodded, satisfied with the job his workers were doing as they started in on the last hay basket for the day.
The past week had been busy for Allen as he and his workers worked to get the hay out of the fields and into the barn. So far, Allen had only focused on his fields as they were the easiest for Fluttershy and her animal helpers to clear. However, after a week of steady work, she had managed to clear and ward all of his hay fields of animals, and she was now in the process of working on warding the fields across the road from his farm. It was slower going as those fields had more critters living in them, and they weren’t happy about being forced to move, but Fluttershy was making progress. In the meantime, Allen had been following along behind cutting hay and had managed to take down around fifty acres at this point, which left him with about another fifty before he was done with his own land and could move onto Blueblood’s.
Those fifty acres however had yielded around five thousand additional bales of hay in his barn loft, which made Allen very happy. What made him even happier was the fact that Penny had managed to find more ponies to help out, at least part-time anyways.
Walking up to the elevator, Allen watched as his latest hire casually set a bale on the elevator. He was a big stallion and looked like he could be Big Mac’s twin, save that his coat was a light caramel colored instead of red and his mane was a darker shade of caramel, instead of Mac’s straw blonde. At first, Allen had thought they might be related. Though when he asked, he got an annoyed ear flick and brusque reply that they were not related. Sensing that it was a sore subject, Allen had wisely let the matter drop.
Coming to stand next to the stallion, Allen raised his voice and asked, “How’s the head spikes working for you Brulee?”
“Just fine,” he replied, before skewering another bale and setting it down on the elevator to take the short journey up into the loft where it would join its fellows in a nice comfy stack.
Allen nodded and turned away. It amazed him what these ponies could come up with to get around the issue of not having opposable thumbs. Zubchatoye had been the one to come up with the idea after watching Twilight get a hay bale stuck on her horn at one point. He’d mentioned the idea to Allen before he left for home and Allen had been interested in it. A week later, and the finished product had arrived in the mail. It wasn’t much more than a padded head plate with a pair of tines jutting out from the top, and some straps to keep it secured to the worker's head. The idea was that a non-unicorn would be able to spear a bale with it and carry the bale above their head before dropping it on the elevator. So far it seemed to work, though, after a while, neck fatigue would set in and the pony would either need to switch out with somepony else or would have to take a break.
Currently, Creme Brulee was the only pony besides Big Mac who could do this sort of work for hours on end with little complaint. Allen had already had Penny send a letter to Zubchatoye to see if he could find a way to improve on the design to make it so that anypony could use it, Zubchatoye had written back and said that he would look into it. In the meantime, what they had right now worked well enough, so Allen wasn’t going to complain about it.
Spotting Big Mac getting unhitched from the now empty hay basket, Allen walked over to him and asked, “How are you holding up?”
“Better,” he replied, “Now that Ah’m using mah own harness and a proper single pony setup, Ah’m not gettin as winded.”
Allen nodded. “That’s good to hear. I’m not loading the baskets too heavy am I?”
Big Mac shook his head. “Nope, they’re just fine.”
“Good,” said Allen before he asked, “I’ve noticed that you and Creme Brulee have been switching off every so often on carting duty. Have you been using that hay spike that Zubchatoye came up with?”
“Eeyup,” nodded Big Mac.
“And what did you think of it?” pressed Allen.
Big Mac shrugged. “It works, though the hay chaff that falls on ya gets irritating after a while, and yer neck can get pretty sore as well.”
“Any problems with them putting the hay on the elevator?”
“Only that ya gotta be careful that ya don’t stick it fully on before you’ve pulled the spikes out of the bale, otherwise the bale will want to start moving up into the barn and it’ll try ta pull you along in the process,” explained Big Mac.
Allen nodded in understanding. “Yeah, Brulee said the same thing. He told me that as he sets it down in the track he’ll pull his head back and use the sides of the elevator to slide the bale off the spikes before the chain can take it too far.”
“Eeyup, Ah do the same thing,” replied Big Mac with a nod as he watched Brulee put another bale on the elevator. “Though it would help if we had something a bit higher up to help pull against.”
Allen thoughtfully chewed on his lip as he watched Brulee put another bale on, though it appeared that this time the bale didn’t want to easily slide off the head spike and he was forced to do a half step to the side as he struggled to pull his head back. However, he managed to get it free and stood back for a second as he watched the troublesome bale head up.
“Yeah, I see what you’re getting at,” replied Allen, “I think I might be able to rig something up after we’re done tonight that will make things a bit easier for you guys next time. At least Zubchatoye had the foresight to add a quick release latch so that you can get out of that helmet before you get dragged off your hooves if you can’t get free of the bale.”
“Yeah, thankfully Ah haven’t had ta use it, but it’s nice knowing it’s there.”
Allen chuckled. “Yeah, safety devices tend to have that effect on people,” his smile faded as he turned his attention to the big red stallion and asked, “Are you going to be available next week to help again?”
Big Mac shook his head. “Eenope, AJ’s gonna need mah help on the farm, Ah might be able ta help later in the week, but Ah don’t want ta make a promise Ah can’t keep.”
Allen nodded in understanding and said, “Fair enough. At least I’ve got Brulee to pull the baskets... though I’m not sure if he has a harness.”
“Pretty sure he don’t,” replied Big Mac as he started undoing his harness and shrugging out of it. “He doesn’t do enough heavy hauling like Ah do ta have one.”
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let him borrow yours?” asked Allen hopefully.
Big Mac shook his head. “Ah might need it, but Ah’ve got an old one that just needs a few repairs and it’ll be fine. You can have it if you pay to get it fixed fer him.”
“Alright, I guess that’s fair. You want to bring it by tonight or tomorrow and I’ll take a look at it?” asked Allen.
“Ah reckon Ah can,” replied Big Mac as he removed the last of his harness and stepped over to a nearby duffle bag, and pulled out an old rag and white bottle of what Allen assumed was some kind of cleaning product for the harness. Upending the bottle over the rag and giving it a squeeze, Big Mac put a generous dollop of clear liquid on the rag before he began carefully working it into the sweat-covered harness.
Allen watched him work for a minute before he politely excused himself and headed into the barn to check on his other workers. Climbing the stairs, he entered the loft just in time to see a bale come off the end of the elevator and Clover Leaf kick it across the floor towards Honeysuckle.
“How’s it going up here?” asked Allen as Honeysuckle tossed the bale up the stack to her brother Rye.
Wiping some sweat from her brow, she shot Allen a smile and said, “It’s going pretty good, we’ve got a rhythm going and we’re getting things stacked like you want them.”
Allen looked up at the now towering haystack as Rye speared the bale with his own set of head spikes and carefully maneuvered it into place in the stack.
“I can see that, it looks good,” replied Allen as he watched the trio work. “This will be the last load of the day, so as soon as you guys are done, come see me and I’ll give you your days pay.”
Tossing another bale up to her brother with a grunt, Honey replied, “Okay, sounds good!”
Giving her a wave, Allen turned and headed down the stairs and made his way to the porch where Penny was seated at a small portable desk going over several papers. Walking up, Allen sat down in one of the wicker patio chairs and snagged a nearby glass, and poured himself some cold lemonade before taking a long pull of the refreshing beverage.
Ah, nothing beats a nice cold lemonade on a hot day. He thought to himself as he refilled his glass. Especially when it’s kept cold with magic runes engraved in the pitcher.
Leaning back in his chair, he looked over at Penny and asked, “So, how are things going?”
Glancing up from her papers, she took a sip of her own lemonade glass and replied, “Well, I’ve got a lead on some twine for your baler.”
“Oh?” asked Allen curiously as he took another sip.
“They’re a rope maker out of Manehatten, but they can also do smaller stuff such as twine for packages and things. They said they would be sending us some samples here in the next few days. The problem is that we’re going to have to make a bulk purchase in order for it to be worth their time,” she explained as she straightened up.
“How much?”
“More than I would like, but it can’t really be helped,” she replied as she passed Allen the letter she had received from them. “Though considering how much we’re going to need, it’ll probably be fine.”
Looking it over, Allen pursed his lips and grunted as he saw how much he would have to buy from them. “And there wasn’t anyone else we could go with?”
“Nopony else that Fancy Pants recommended has returned my letters. I sent a letter to Prince Blueblood to see if he knew of anypony, but he hasn’t responded yet. So I went ahead and asked them to send us their samples so we could try them out and see how they work.”
“Are they going to be able to wrap the twine the way I need them? No other way will work with my balers,” he asked as he passed the letter back to Penny.
“I sent them one of the twine rolls you gave me and they said they should be able to come close enough with these samples. Seeing as how nopony else has ever done something like this, I would imagine they’re going to be improvising a lot to get this done.”
“I don’t care how they do it, just that the finished product works,” replied Allen as he took a sip of his drink and watched as Brulee put the last few bales on the elevator.
“And that’s what I told them in my latest letter,” remarked Penny as she shuffled some papers around, “I expect they’ll have the samples here in the next week or two. Their letter said that they were going to be using several different materials and processes to see which one worked best for you, so we’ll need to let them know which sample we want them to make for us if we go with them.”
Allen nodded. “What about the other stuff?”
Penny sighed. “Nothing as far as the fuel is concerned, though there’s been some promising alternatives for your grease and lubricating oil needs. But it’ll take some time, I’m afraid.”
Allen shrugged. “Well, we’ll just have to do the best we can with what we got, I’m sure something will turn up eventually.”
“Yeah, eventually,” agreed Penny, “Oh, looks like they’re done now.”
“Yep,” said Allen as he watched his five workers shut things down for the evening and dust themselves off before coming over to collect their pay for the day. Sitting back, he let Penny take care of them while he mulled things over.
I’m going to need to find a way to reduce fuel consumption until I can secure a new source of fuel. He thought quietly to himself as he watched the last pony receive their pay for the day and bid goodbye.
Having Big Mac and Brulee pulling hay baskets is a start, but it’s not enough. With having to cut, ted, rake, and bale, I’m going over the same piece of ground four times minimum to make my hay. I have to use the tractor to cut, ted, and bale the hay, as there just isn’t any other workable alternative that I can see, as I need a PTO to use them. The hay rake on the other hand is ground driven, so I could have a pony pull it, the problem is they’d have to pull it fast enough to make it work right, too slow and it doesn’t fluff the windrow well enough to allow air to circulate and dry the hay. It’s not a big deal for first cutting, as that stuff dries fast enough that it’s ready to go by the time you get to raking it into a windrow. But second cutting onwards, that’s where things get harder.
He drummed his fingers idly on the arm of his chair. But, if I have somepony pulling the rake, then I can focus on other things as it’ll reduce my workload. He nodded as he came to a decision. I’ll need another employee at least, preferably two, that way they can switch off on the rake. A decently strong earth pony should have no problem pulling it solo, and if need be we can have two working together, at least until I can get another source of fuel.
Turning to Penny, Allen asked, “Do you think we can hire another two ponies?”
Penny cocked an ear his way and gave him an inquisitive look. “Why do you ask?”
“I was just thinking of ways to reduce my fuel usage and free up some more time for me. If I can have a couple of ponies pulling my rake for me, then I don’t have to do it myself, meaning I don’t use fuel and I can cut more acreage as I won’t have as much to do since they’ll be taking over part of the job from me.”
Penny’s expression turned thoughtful as she began crunching numbers in her head. “I think we should be able to, but we’ll need to start selling hay to ponies soon or we’re going to run out of bits before long.”
“Do you have anyone lined up?”
She nodded. “Filthy Rich is interested, and he and I have come to an initial agreement. He’ll pay by the ton and take delivery here in Ponyville for all of his stores across Equestria.”
Allen nodded. “How much per ton is he willing to pay?” he asked.
“We’re still negotiating the final price, but I think it will be in our favor. While hay is a major staple in Equestrian diets, it’s very labor intensive, so the cost can be rather high in comparison to other food crops for the amount of effort put into it. However, your system will completely change that, meaning we’ll have a stronger profit margin to work with going forward. The question is what will we do if we can’t find replacements for your consumables?”
Allen quietly nodded, a serious look on his face. “I’m working on that, but I just haven’t been able to figure anything out. I guess we’ll just have to hope that the feelers we’ve put out find something soon.”
Sighing, Penny nodded in understanding. Running a business was hard, especially when you were up against the proverbial clock. Allen expected that he would have enough fuel to do around six to seven hundred acres worth of hay before he ran out. Though if he found a way for ponies to take over some of the lighter duties, such as tedding and raking, he might be able to do more, however, time would tell.
Unfortunately, the day-to-day grind prevented Allen from making those sorts of plans, which was where Penny came in. She’d already come up with a few ideas for when Allen ran out of fuel. Mostly along the lines of adapting some of his equipment to be used by Equestrians and then selling it. Zubchatoye’s hay bale head spikes had given her the idea, and she had reached out to him to see if he might be interested in some kind of partnership in the future. Even though she hadn’t heard from him yet, she figured he would be interested as she had seen the way he had practically drooled over Allen’s equipment when he had been here with Checklist.
However, that and several other ideas were still in the early stages of development and a lot could happen between now and when they would need to be implemented. In the meantime, she would just have to focus on what she could do, and pulling a sheet of papers out from under her stack of papers, she figured now was as good a time as any to get one task that she’d been meaning to do finished.
Clearing her throat, she lifted the piece of paper in her magic and asked, “Allen, do you remember when I told you that we needed to find a good name for your farm for marketing purposes?”
Allen’s shoulder’s slumped and he let loose a gusty sigh. “Yeah,” he replied unhappily as he took another sip of his drink. He’d been hoping that the topic wouldn’t come up for a while longer. Alas, it appears that his luck had run out. Even though he’d said she could change the name, in his heart, he hadn’t really meant it, and had just said he was fine with it to get her to quit pestering him about it at the time. In hindsight, he should have just put his foot down and said no, but he hadn’t, and now he was going to have to make a final decision whether he wanted to or not.
“Oh don’t be so melodramatic about it,” chided Penny as she floated the paper over to him. Taking it in his hand, he started reading it as Penny continued, “Now, while I was speaking with Filthy Rich, I asked him what he thought of your farm’s current name, and he wasn’t sure it would be a good brand for your product.”
Allen grunted in reply, not surprised at hearing the news.
Taking that as her cue to continue, Penny said, “Well, I asked him if he might be able to help us do some focus tests with his customers and see what names elicited a strong positive response, and that,” she pointed at the list in Allen’s hands, “was the result.”
Allen grunted again as he passed the paper back to Penny. “Okay,” was all he said, though a hint of petulance leaked through.
Penny waited for several seconds, but when Allen didn’t say any more, she asked, “Okay, what?”
“Pick whichever you want,” replied Allen grumpily as he took another sip of his drink.
Penny sighed wearily, she couldn’t figure out why Allen was making such a fuss over the proposed name change. Didn’t he want his business to do well? Ross Family Farms just didn’t rate very well with potential customers, it wasn’t as though it was bad per se, but it wasn’t as though it did well either.
Taking a deep breath, Penny decided to confront Allen. “Allen, why are you fighting me on this? Don’t you want your farm to do well?”
Allen didn’t say anything. Instead electing to stare straight ahead and glare at nothing in particular.
Now getting annoyed, Penny jumped down from her chair and stood in front of Allen, all but glaring at him, and said, “Allen, please stop being stubborn and help me understand why you are against the name change. I thought that you were willing to let me change it after our last conversation regarding this topic?”
Allen shifted in his seat and took another sip of his drink before saying, “Maybe because I don’t want to change my farm’s name? The name that it’s had for generations? I know it’s not the most catchy or elegant name out there, but it’s the name that it’s always had, and changing it just for the sake of marketing seems... disrespectful, I guess. I know it’ll make things more difficult, but, I’ve lost so much already... I just don’t want to lose anything else if I can help it,” he finished sadly before then draining his glass dry.
Penny felt her ears droop as she listened, and she felt a twinge of shame. I... didn’t think of that, she thought quietly to herself, I was just so focused on the business side of things that... I didn’t consider what the name might actually mean to him.
“I’m sorry, Allen,” she replied sadly, “I didn’t think about what I was asking you to do by changing the name like that... we don’t have to change it if you don’t want to,” she added reluctantly.
Staring down into his empty glass, Allen didn’t say anything for a bit. Inside he felt his heart lighten at the news he’d be allowed to have his way. Though on the other hand, he felt a hint of shame at how he had acted. If he’d just come out and stated his reasons for keeping the name, this whole mess could have been avoided, alas, it hadn’t and as the silence started to become oppressive, he sighed and said, “It’s okay, you were just trying to help, and I didn’t make it easier by being all petulant like I was. I should have told you from the beginning that I didn’t want to change it rather than make it sound like I was willing to let the name go.”
Penny nodded silently before she took a deep breath and lifted her head up. “Well, then I guess I better get to work on getting ‘Ross Family Farms’ branding set up, huh?”
Allen reached over and grabbed the lemonade pitcher and refilled his and Penny’s glasses. Pointing at the chair with a small smile, he said, “You can get to that later, right now, just kick back and relax for a bit and have another lemonade.”
Looking between him, the chair, and her paperwork, Penny chuckled and jumped up on the chair, and settled herself in. Taking a sip of lemonade she asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
“Relax and enjoy my lemonade, then I guess I’ll put everything away for the night and do my evening chores before I have dinner and go to bed, what about you?”
“Pretty much the same, I suppose, though I’ll have to add walking home in there somewhere,” she joked.
Allen chuckled and sat back in his chair as he took the opportunity to enjoy the quiet moment, eventually, however, he had to get up.
“Well,” he said with a grunt as he stood up and stretched, “I guess I better get things put away.”
Looking up at the now much lower sun, Penny nodded and replied, “And I better get home before it gets too dark out,” gathering up her papers and things, she stowed them in her saddlebags and levitated them onto her back. Giving a little hop to settle them fully, she turned and bade Allen goodnight.
Waving goodbye, he watched her go for a moment before getting started on putting things put away for the night.
~oOo~
The following morning found Penny sitting in Filthy Rich’s office in the back of Barnyard Bargains as she explained the change in plans regarding Allen’s farm.
Leaning back in his chair, Filthy had a thoughtful look on his face as she steepled his hooves under his chin.
“So is his decision on the name final?” he asked.
Penny nodded. “It is, he told me he felt that changing it would be ‘disrespectful’ to the name and his ancestors that gave it to the farm.”
Filthy grunted in acknowledgment. “I can respect that,” he said, though he clearly wasn’t happy hearing it. Leaning forward, he grabbed a piece of paper and looked it over, “though I hope he realizes that he’s made a lot more work for both himself and us going forward. Ross Family Farms was about the middle of the pack when it came to customer favorability, not bad, but not great either. I was hoping he’d either choose Green Acres or Hidden Valley Farms as those scored right at the top, though the name you suggested, Golden Acres had a nice ring to it as well, and folks responded very well to it.”
“I know, and he knows as well, I showed the results to him, but he seems set on keeping the name,” she replied.
Filthy chewed on his bottom lip as he contemplated their next move. “Well, then I suppose our next move would be to come up with a good product name to compensate for the loss of brand name power.”
“Do you have any ideas?” asked Penny hopefully.
Filthy shook his head. “Not right now, I’ll need to consult with a couple of my marketing ponies first. See if you can bring us a few bales of hay for testing purposes.”
Penny nodded and made a note in her notepad. “I’ll snag a couple once Allen starts cutting his Equestrian fields, right now he’s focused on getting his personal hay needs taken care of.”
“Can’t say as I blame him, hay prices have been rising steadily lately, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be coming down anytime soon either,” he replied with an understanding nod.
“Yes, I have noticed that,” she replied, a thoughtful look on her face. “Though I don’t understand why, really.”
“Too many new towns, and not enough farmers to supply them,” replied Filthy with a sigh.
“Really? I thought that the princess’s settler initiative was working out well?”
“Yes and no,” replied Filthy as he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a bottle of apple cider and a pair of glasses. Popping the top off the cider bottle, he poured the sweet-smelling liquid into the two glasses with practiced ease. Offering Penny a glass, which she accepted with a thanks, he elaborated, “A lot of these new towns aren’t self-sufficient yet, and quite a few of them aren’t agriculturally focused. My contacts in the government have told me that Princess Celestia has been concerned with Equestria’s lack of industrial capacity for several decades and as such, she’s been pushing to rectify that situation.”
“At the unintended expense of the agricultural sector,” finished Penny as she took a sip of the sweet-tasting cider.
“More or less,” nodded Filthy. “As you know, hay has never been as lucrative a crop per acre as say apples or carrots. It’s a lot of work, and it generally yields less tonnage in comparison to other fruit and vegetable crops, so most ponies don’t really bother growing it beyond what they require for local needs. Sure you’ve got your traveling hay cutters and local farmers are all to happy to harvest the wild meadow grasses around their farms and villages for local consumption. However, that’s not enough to keep up with the growing demand, especially as more ponies move to the cities or these new settlements in search of a better life.”
Penny nodded in understanding. “High demand, low supply.”
“Bingo,” replied Filthy with a wink and a chuckle. “Which brings us to our resident human. With his machines, I doubt he will have much trouble supplying not just Ponyville’s hay needs, but quite possibly, Canterlot’s as well.”
“You really think so? That’s a lot of ponies,” replied Penny, a doubtful look on her face.
Resuming his seat, Filthy took a sip of his cider and gave a hum in acknowledgment. “I do,” he said as he leaned back in his chair, “His little demonstration he gave us on how many acres he could cut by himself the other week was quite impressive. What’s more, since he has access to Prince Blueblood’s land, he should be able to meet a large part of that demand with little difficulty.”
“Well, so long as his equipment is supplied with the needed parts and fuel he will. If he runs out though...” she trailed off, but Filthy understood what she was getting at.
“I’ve been looking into that since you mentioned that to me during our initial negotiations,” he replied, “we still haven’t found a good substitute for his fuel requirements. However, I’ve found some good alternatives for his lubrication needs that I think he will find helpful,” he slid a manila folder across his desk to Penny, who took it in her magic and opened it, glancing at its contents.
“I’ll be sure to pass this along to him,” she said, “I’ve been able to find a few things myself lately, such as a potential source of new twine, so that’s taken some of the stress off of him. As for the rest, we just need to figure out which substitutes will be the best choice.”
Pouring himself another round of cider, before offering to refill her glass, Filthy replied, “I’ve heard about that, and I’m glad to hear it. Who’s your potential source of twine, if I may ask?”
Waving away the offer, Penny said, “They’re a rope maker out of Manehatten. They mostly deal in rope for ships and such, but they say they make twine as well for wrapping packages and such. We should have some samples to test out soon.”
“When do you think he plans to move on to the Equestrian fields? I’d like to have a little bit of a heads up so that I can get the logistics sorted out on my end,” he asked.
“As soon as Fluttershy clears enough acreage for him to start,” she replied, “I spoke with her yesterday, and she said she’d managed to get around twenty acres cleared, and warded so far. Though it’s slower going as the local wildlife are resistant to move somewhere else this late into the year. In addition, she needs to put up the warding stakes, along with markers to show where they are so Allen doesn’t run them over by accident. I’ve recommended that she seek a few more pony helpers to speed the process along, but as you can guess she is reluctant to do so.”
Filthy nodded, an understanding look on his face. It was no secret in Ponyville that Fluttershy was a well... shy pony, and lacked the level of confidence that most ponies carried themselves in their day-to-day lives.
“I know of a couple of good earth pony field clearers that I think would work well with her. They’re not from around here, but they’re some of the best. I can send them a letter to see if they can help speed the process along.”
Penny shook her head. “I’m afraid our budget won’t be able to cover the additional expenses of hiring non-local field clearers. We could swing an extra one, maybe two locals assisting Fluttershy, but non-local professionals would break our bank I’m afraid. I’ve already looked into it,” she said sadly.
Filthy waved a hoof as if batting her concerns away like one would a persistent fly. “Barnyard Bargains will take care of the expense.”
Her ears perking up in surprise, Penny gave him a wary look. “That is very... generous of you Mr. Rich, but I must ask what will this cost us?”
Filthy chuckled. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” asked Penny in disbelief, “Forgive me, but I can’t help but feel a little perplexed at this offer. What’s the catch?”
Filthy leaned back in his seat and grinned. “No catch, beyond a small discount on the price of this year's hay sold to me.”
Narrowing her eyes, Penny warily asked, “How much of a discount are we talking about here?”
“Oh I was thinking say... ten percent?” he casually ventured.
Sitting up straight in her chair, Penny settled fully into business mode. “You know I can’t agree to something like that until I get an estimate for how much it will cost us per acre to clear with you hiring the ponies.”
His smile widening, Filthy leaned forward and said, “Well, then it's a good thing I’ve got those estimates right here, along with when the selected ponies can start, here take a look,” he slid another manila envelope across his desk to Penny.
Taking it in her magical grasp, Penny quickly scanned the papers in front of her and started doing the math.
It seems to add up, and giving up only ten percent on the final sale price of the hay wouldn’t be a bad trade... but if there is one thing I’ve learned in business is that you need to do your own homework.
“Well, everything looks good, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to take some more time to look things over, you understand of course?” she asked diplomatically as she carefully slid the manila folder into her saddlebags.
Filthy simply smiled. “Of course, I do not mind at all. Though just a forewarning, this offer won’t stay on the table forever. I will need an answer by the end of this week, one way or another.”
Keeping her expression neutral, Penny easily replied, “I’ll have an answer for you within the week, both in regards to this new offer of yours, as well as when you can expect those samples.”
Smiling even wider, Filthy stood up from his desk and said, “Glad to hear it, now unless you have something else you need to bring to my attention, I’m afraid I must get going. I promised my daughter I would spend some time with her today.”
Slipping her saddlebags on, Penny trotted out after him. “Not a problem, Mr. Rich,” she replied as she watched him lock up for the day. “I didn’t have anything else to add to the conversation anyways.”
Giving the door a firm pull to make sure it was shut properly, Filthy turned around and replied, “Well, I’m glad to hear that, I always hate it when meetings run late.”
“Oh, I know,” replied Penny with a sympathetic giggle as she fell in alongside the business stallion, “I’ve had my fair share of late-night meetings that seemed to just drag on for eternity.”
As the two entered the front of the store, they continued to make casual small talk before then parting ways at the front doors. Filthy to go home, and Penny to return to her office to get started on cross-checking this new wrinkle in the deal between Allen and Filthy.
Looks like it's going to be another late night tonight, she sighed to herself. Oh well, it’s what I signed up for, and if this works out the way I hope it will, it’ll all be worth it in the end.