//------------------------------// // The Great Cider Selloff // Story: The Price of Cider // by StormLuna //------------------------------// Eleven months had passed and Filthy Rich realized the time had come. He was at his desk chugging down coffee and tapping his hoof on his desk nervously. He had broken into a cold sweat when Diamond Tiara ran into his office. She was jumping up and down asking, "Daddy, have you sent that false report to Manehattan yet?" Filthy replied, "You know Diamond, this just doesn't feel right. It just feels wrong to stab the very family who is responsible for me having our store in the back." His daughter began to cry and whine. She gave Filthy those puppy dog eyes and cried, "But daddy, you promised Flim and Flam that you would do this for them. Remember how Miss Cheerilee likes Apple Bloom more than me?" Filthy threw his hooves up in the air and shouted, "FINE! YOU KNOW I'M ONLY DOING THIS FOR YOU!" As Filthy began to write the letter his daughter was jumping up and down shouting "Yay, thank you daddy! I love you daddy!" Within a couple of minutes Filthy had finished the letter. It read, "The CEO of Global Juices, Inc., Juice Box, has announced that a tanker with three billion barrels of cider will be shipped to Vanhoover for introduction into Equestria. He said in a press conference that he believed that the high quality cider will sell very well in Equestria and that the company's profits will explode." He read the letter to his daughter and she got this sinister grin on her face and replied, "Yay! This will bring Apple Bloom and her family down for sure!" Filthy put the letter in an envelope, put a stamp on it and addressed it to the financial section of The Neigh York Times. He was sitting at his desk in a cold sweat and he just couldn't bring himself to mail the letter. Before he could do anything though, Diamond Tiara grabbed the letter and took it to the post office. As she ran out of the door Filthy followed her and shouted, "Diamond Tiara, you bring that letter back right now or you're grounded for a month!" Diamond Tiara didn't care though. She got it to the post office right as the mail was leaving. They got it on the mail cart and it took off. Filthy was fuming mad. He shouted at his daughter, "Alright Diamond Tiara, go to your room. You are grounded for two months! I'll have Miss Cheerilee bring me your homework so you won't be seeing Silver Spoon at all." Diamond Tiara sulked but went to her room without any problems. She figured that two months confined to her room would be worth it if that meant bringing down Sweet Apple Acres. Two days later the letter arrived at the office of the Neigh York Times. It was immediately sent up to the financial news department. Money News, the editor of the financial news section read over the letter and thought it seemed suspicious. He said to himself, "A tanker carrying three billion barrels of cider? Are there even any tankers that big and where the hay did all this cider come from?" Money News also knew that Equestria only consumes 20 million barrels of cider per year, at most. This made him even more suspicious of the letter. It was late in the afternoon and the editor of the paper rushed up to his office and shouted, "Money News, there is still a blank section in your section of the paper. I need something in there, NOW! Get something in there or you're fired!" Money News replied, "Yes sir. I received a letter regarding news of a cider shipment. I will get it put in there now." Money News took the letter to the printers and it was put in there. The next day's newspaper was ready for mass production and was distributed the next morning. Money News knew that cider prices were going to drop yet he had no idea that it would cause a catastrophic collapse and wipe out not just millions, but hundreds of billions of bits in cider company stock and in revenue for cider producers. The following morning arrived and traders were arriving at the commodities exchange. They were reading through the paper when the news of the cider shipment hit the news wire. What was looking to be a rather slow day at the exchange turned into a frantic sell off of not just the price of cider, but also juice company stocks as it spilled over into the stock market and stock prices of domestic juice companies cratered. The value of the stock prices of a couple companies cratered to zero causing them to go bankrupt and shut down. Other companies' stocks lost over 95% of their value. Over two days the price of cider plunged from 130.22 bits per barrel to 0.61 bits per barrel and the stock price of the Equestrian Fruit Beverage Company collapsed by over 90%. Investors all across Equestria took hits to their portfolios. A week after the sell off the Apple Family received a letter from Juice Bottle. It read, "Dear Apple Family, I am sorry but due to a catastrophic collapse in the cider market along with our stock price cratering, we will not be able to purchase any cider from Sweet Apple Acres this year. I hope you understand. Sincerely, Juice Bottle, CEO of the Equestrian Fruit Beverage Company." Applejack began to cry realizing that Sweet Apple Acres could go under because of this. Apple Bloom went into the kitchen and asked, "Applejack, why are you crying?" Applejack replied, "Apple Bloom, could you go and get everypony else in the family. We really need to discuss something important." Granny Smith came running into the kitchen after reading the newspaper. She shouted, "Applejack, what are we going to do? The price of cider collapsed to under 1 bit per barrel." Applejack replied, "I know Granny. We got a letter in the mail today from Juice Bottle saying that because the company's stocks crashed that they will not be able to purchase any cider from us this year." Applejack continued to cry while Granny Smith went into a rage. She shouted, "In the newspaper it said something about a tanker delivering three billion barrels of cider to Vanhoover. There is no tanker that can carry that much cider. I think this is a lie!" Applejack replied, "You really think so?" Granny said, "Yes, I do!" Meanwhile up in Canterlot the news reached Celestia and Luna. Celestia asked, "Wow, I wonder who shipped that much cider to Vanhoover and where they found a carrier to deliver that much cider?" Luna was very angry and Celestia could tell it. Luna's eyes began to shine white as she shouted, "CELESTIA, I THINK THIS WAS A FALSE REPORT SENT TO THE PAPER TO PURPOSELY CRASH CIDER PRICES!" Celestia laughed, "There you go with your paranoia again Luna. I'm sure it just happened. I feel sorry for all the ponies that were hurt because of this but that is what happens when the supply far exceeds demand." Luna shouted, "Well I am going to get to the bottom of this. Just you wait big sister, I smell a rat." Luna took off towards Ponyville because she knew that the Apple family would really be hurting because of this. About an hour later the Apple family heard a knock on their door. Applejack said, "I wonder who that could be? Company is the last thing we need right now." Applejack opened the door to see a worried Princess Luna. Luna asked, "I got the bad news. Are you guys ok?" Applejack hugged Luna and began to cry. She said, "No your Majesty, we are not ok. We got the bad news in the newspaper and we got a letter from Juice Bottle telling us about what happened and that he would not be able to buy any cider from us." Luna replied, "He won't be able to buy cider from anypony this year. I just wish I knew what caused this to happen." Applejack said, "Well I remember last year when Big Mac and I headed to the bank to deposit the check we saw Flim and Flam sneaking around. Before we got back to the farm we saw them going into Barnyard Bargains, didn't we Big Mac?" Big Mac replied, "Eeyep!" Luna said, "Hmmm.....I am wondering if those two convinced Filthy Rich to do something to manipulate cider prices. I know how much those two hate you guys." Applejack replied, "I don't think Filthy would do anything like that to us because if it weren't for our family, his family would have never become wealthy." Luna said, "Well I just have this weird feeling. I am going to head over to Barnyard Bargains. I am going to get to the bottom of this. I smell a rat, well three rats to be exact." Luna left Sweet Apple Acres bound and determined to find out what caused the crash. Filthy was in at the counter of his store with a smile on his face helping customers. He had no clue that his world was about to be turned upside down.