“Hello again everyone, and welcome to the second day of the Entrepreneur Awards Ceremony” Celestia said from a small podium at the front of the castle foyer. “Today’s topic involves the ones most critical to your businesses: the guests and customers. After your business has set its roots and begun growing, that is when you are there to greet and welcome them. That is why we are here in the foyer, where everyone passes through to come into the castle, just as all your guests and customers come through your front doors.

“You are now free to mingle. The waitstaff will come around to distribute menus and collect your orders for dinner in a couple hours.”

Fancy was quick to approach me after the speech. “So here’s what usually happens here: during the mingling, business deals are supposedly made between the various entrepreneurs, though more often than not, it’s usually the more naive entrepreneurs’ businesses getting absorbed by one or more of my fellow nobles.”

I thought about what he had told me. “Okay, that’s good to know, but why are you telling me this?”

“The EAC is a big deal, and it gets reported on in great detail in lots of publications. Since you’ve never had the chance to read about even one, I’ve taken it upon myself to give you a few helping hooves here and there.”

“Well, thanks, I guess.”

“But to be honest, I doubt my fellow nobles will even wish to speak to you, and you already know a bit about how they operate, so you’ll be fine. At this point, all I feel I can ask of you is to advise anyone you come across about them.”

“I can do that. Hey, maybe next year, you could give out pamphlets to all the guests?”

“That does sound like a good idea. Unfortunately, there are political aspects to that action, so I’d have to weigh that very carefully. The only reason I believe I’m able to get away with telling you these things is because they don’t like either of us.”

“Makes sense. Well, I think I’ll go ahead and start mingling.” I picked up my pencil and notepad, left Fancy, and started wandering around.

After a couple minutes, I saw a cream colored unicorn mare with a red and orange mane and tail wearing what looked like a lab coat dress. That alone caught my interest, so I wandered over to her. “Excuse me, miss?”

“Huh, oh, hello, Yang Xiao Long.” It didn’t take a genius to tell she had been deep in thought before I showed up. “I’m Safe Dose, owner and lead pharmacist of Perfect Pharmacy and Tailored Effects, located in Manehattan.”

“Two businesses?”

“No, just one with a long name. Long business names are pretty common there. Anyways, I make medicine perfectly tailored to each of my patients. This minimizes side effects, which makes the healing go so much more smoothly for everyone involved, especially foals and their families. It is a bit pricier than the mass produced medicines, but it works so much better that it’s worth it.”

“So, if I were to get sick, you could give me the right dosage to heal me within a week?”

“In theory, yes, but I know nothing about how well your body would react to or metabolize the medicine or its ingredients, nor do I have any information that would let me make an educated guess.”

“I have bad reactions to grass and grass extracts.”

“Including wheat, corn, and other grains?”

“No, not those. I’m talking about the grass you walk on, the grass ponies can eat right from the ground, the stuff that grows in blades.”

“What kind of reaction did you have?”

“I got very sick.”

“Ah. That rules out a lot of- wait, why are we talking about this again?”

“Because of a question I asked?”

“Probably. Oh, I think I see another pharmacist here. Sorry, but I think I’ll go talk to him. It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” As Safe Dose left me, I looked around at the crowd. There was a dark gray unicorn mare who caught my interest, and not because of the bright red parts of her messy mane contrasting her coat. What really caught my interest was her dress, a thing of gold, silver, glowing green, and it looked like it was a mechanical dress. There appeared to be gears, pistons, panels, and more that made it up.

I was about to leave her be and go elsewhere when she made eye contact with me and I knew then that I was going to talk with her. “Hello. Are you really Yang Xiao Long?” she asked.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Technia, the mad mare of machines from Vanhoover. I run the Mechanical Machinations shop outside of the city, though it’s really more of a devoted hobby workshop that my friends turned into a business with me as the owner without my knowing of it. I love technology, and I know that is often seen as weird, what with everypony falling on either technological or magical supremacy. Can you tell me about your bracelet gauntlet things?”

“They’re called Ember Celica and I honestly couldn’t tell you how they work, just that they do. The shells for them have some kind of enchantment on them that lets me have infinite ammo, though I can only fire one at a time.

“Anyways, I run a restaurant, the Carne Den, not too far from the Ponyville train station. It’s probably one of, if not the most popular places to eat at in the town.”

“Really?”

“I think it started out big because I was the one opening it, then the fact that we serve meat products took over, and it’s been busy ever since. I can only imagine what it might be like down there right now.”

Gilda looked outside at the huge crowd outside the Carne Den, appearing to consist of the bulk of both Ponyville and Cloudsdale’s populations. She quickly gathered everyone who was working in the kitchen. “All in favor of closing the restaurant tomorrow and just cuddling and playing with Asada?”

“Aye” said everyone in the kitchen. A growl from outside the kitchen also accompanied the consensus.

“Sounds like Asada agrees with us on that plan. If you see anyone who isn’t working tonight, tell them of the plan. In fact, let’s make that the plan for the next three days. No pay, just play.” Another round of agreement and a growl answered Gilda. “But first, let’s get through tonight.”

“So, I’ve heard you’re not from our world. What kinds of machines do you have there?”

I had no idea how to really answer that. “Well, there’s a lot. There’s small ones that can be held between two fingers and some that are simply gigantic.”

“How big?”

“Thousands of times bigger than me.”

“That sounds amazing!”

I was starting to get nervous around the mare. “Yeah, it is, anyways, I think I’ll just go somewhere else now.”

“Alright.” Technia left me and went over to talk to somepony somewhere else.

A thought crossed my mind while I was meandering around, totally not listening in on others’ conversations. Specifically, I was wondering why Celestia had strongly insisted that I come to the Entrepreneur Awards Ceremony in the first place.

Finding Celestia wasn’t difficult. She was still up at the podium, and it looked like she was either napping or meditating. I made my way up to her. “Princess?”

“Yes, Yang?” she responded without opening her eyes.

“I’m just wondering why my invitation was so strongly phrased, insisting that I come here instead of just inviting me normally.”

“I worded yours that way because I knew that you would pass on a normal invite, and instead just continue working at the Carne Den. Even strongly worded, I thought that you would still turn it down, so I had it sent to Rarity instead.”

“So that she would badger and hound me until I went along with it and came here.” And it had worked.

“Yes. Guilty as charged. It’s often said that the best way to hurt somepony is through their friends, but by the same token, it’s also one of the best ways to help somepony. Or get them to go somewhere you want.”

“I bet you play a lot of chess.”

“Actually, I prefer Chineighse Checkers myself. None of the pieces get captured, and you have to think in more directions at once. Luna still beats me more often than not.”

“That’s. . . Interesting. Well then, I think I’ll just go back out there and meander.”

“I hope you have a good time, Yang.”

The time after I talked with Celestia was very dull. I did meet some ponies that stood out, like Wood Chip, who opened a garden shop in Canterlot because he felt so strongly about decorative plants, and the disappointing lack of presence of such across Canterlot.

The waitstaff came around eventually to take orders, and they (or at least the one that helped me) knew what went into the meals. When I asked which menu items were wholly grass free, he did not hesitate at all to point out the few items that did not have grass in them. Of the few that didn’t have grass or grass based ingredients in them, there was only one that suited my pallet: the basic salad. Suffice to say, it was disappointing, but at least they were able add cheese and crumbled bits of hard boiled egg to it.

When the time came for the meals to be served, I went back to my table, accepted my salad, and waited for the cue that we could begin eating.

As I ate, I kept glancing out of the front gate of the castle and down to Ponyville. I really wanted to be done with the ceremonies and go back home.