“Welcome to the first part of today’s ceremonies, here in the dining hall” Celestia said. “You’ve made it far with your businesses, and so I congratulate you all for that.

“After a late lunch, I ask that all of you come to the ballroom, where our final ceremony will be held, to give out the awards. With that, I bid you all adieu for now.” Celestia teleported away in a flash of golden light.

Once again, Fancy and Fleur were quick to approach me. “So, what happens here?” I asked.

Fancy answered. “Supposedly, this is where the various entrepreneurs share and trade their methods on running their businesses and how they manage their employees. In actuality, this is where our cohorts really get to work scooping up new businesses and pulling out the contracts and deals, especially since Celestia’s gone for this part.”

“And you?”

“I’ve been making notes on the entrepreneurs I’ve met here and figuring out who can help who best. This is where I bring the entrepreneurs together and explain how their businesses can benefit from each other. For example, you see that sleepy looking pegasus mare in the light blue dress and the nervous thestral stallion in the suit with the pink tie?”

“Yeah.”

“She makes really good pillows in Cloudsdale. He runs a love hotel in Baltimare. I’m going to introduce them to each other so he can buy quality pillows from her, helping his business with said quality pillows, and helping her by having a consistent customer.”

“That’s pretty smart.”

“No business is an island, so connections are very important. As good as one might be, it can’t be everything at once. It’s generally better to be very good at a few specific things than just decent at everything.”

“That makes sense. What about you, Fleur?”

“I’m the one out of us that makes the contracts and deals” Fleur said. “The ones I make are business ones that profit both them and us, while our cohorts look to exploit and plunder. They look to see how much they can quickly make that way while we seek more sustainable relationships.”

“I swear you two are the only smart ones among them. I’d bet 100 bits that they’re still plotting to get at me.”

“Unfortunately, they still are” Fancy said. “They take to losing like a boulder to swimming.”

“Figures. So, is there anyone here you can recommend for me?”

“Honestly, no, and mostly just because you’re already doing really well with the local farmers and bakery in Ponyville and your meat providers in the Griffon Empire. And being on the service side of business instead of production, you can’t really provide anyone here with much beyond advice and ad space. Have you considered putting up a bulletin board where other ponies could pay you to advertise something?”

“As good as that sounds, I’ll pass. I’m too busy in the kitchen to worry about that, and I don’t want to put the task on anyone else. Besides, nobody likes advertisements intruding into their favorite places.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. How do you think your employees are doing down there today?”

In the dining area of the Carne Den, tables and chairs had been moved around to form something like a nest. In the middle of it, resting on a spread of pillows and blankets, was a spread out pile of griffons, ponies, a dragon, a minotaur, and a bear.

“This is nice” Gilda said from her spot in the pile, acting as Asada’s pillow.

Various sounds of agreement came from everyone else there while a scheduled snowstorm howled by outside.

“I’m sure everyone’s working very hard.”

“I’m sure they are. Anyways, if you want, you could go relax in your room or wander around the castle and just have somepony come and get you before the ceremony starts. Just talk to one of the guards.”

“I’ll do that then. I’ll see you later, Fancy.” I waved and left them to do their thing. On the way out, I stopped at a guard posted by the dining hall. “Excuse me, sir, but could you have someone come to my room about, oh, 20 minutes before the award ceremony begins? And can they also guide me to the ballroom?”

“Of course, Miss Xiao Long” the guard professionally answered.

“Thank you, sir.” I left the room and made the walk to my room, which was only about two minutes away.

Once I was in my room, I realized that I had practically nothing to do, so I rummaged through my luggage. While going through it, I found something I hadn’t used in a long time: the buckle Ita had given me. “It’s been a while since I used this” I thought. I brought up the holographic interface and looked over the outfits that were loaded in it, stopping at the athletic outfit with the caution stripes. Before switching to that set, I logged the formal dress in the buckle.

Once I was in the athletic outfit, I started doing some exercises. Push ups, sit ups, squats, and stretches. It felt really good to do them again, and since the room was heated, I wasn’t worried about a sudden influx of cold air.

Some knocking at the door made me stop my improves routine just as I went down on a sit up. “Yes?” I called out.

“The award ceremony starts in 20 minutes, Miss Xiao Long” a mare told me through the door.

“Thanks!” After a few more sit ups, I stood up, and did some cool down stretches. After checking myself and concluding I didn’t need to do much cleaning up, just a little bit of hair brushing.

After I was done with my hair and dressed back up, I went in the hallway. There, I found the mare who would guide me. “This way, please” she politely said.

I followed her from my room to the ballroom, a walk that took five minutes and probably twice as many turns. “Thank you, ma’am” I said once we reached the ballroom.

“You’re welcome, Miss Xiao Long.” She left to go do whatever it was she had to do around the castle after a bow.

“Ah, there you are, Yang.” Fleur approached me. “Come with me, please.” I followed Fleur through the ballroom to a small table close to the right side of the stage, where Fancy was waiting.

“Hello, Yang” Fancy greeted as Fleur and I sat down. “You’re just in time. I went ahead and ordered a warm meal for you, with extra emphasis on not using grass. It should be here any moment.”

“Thanks, Fancy” I said. “So, who do you think is going to win the award?”

“I have no idea, Yang. Celestia is the one who looks over everything and she gives out the award personally as well. I’ve met a lot of skilled, driven, and successful ponies over the last few days.”

“I managed to get a few good deals myself” Fleur said. “It turns out that the sleepy pegasus Fancy pointed out to you is a baroness, Lady Drowsy Cloud IX. I ordered some of her pillows, and I arranged for her to visit us next month to see if we can make a club for humble nobles, the ones who don’t flaunt their wealth, power, or status to get what they want. Considering everything you’ve done, I’d say you could be invited to those meetings, if it happens.”

“Thanks” I said a moment before a plate with a steaming veggie, cheese, and mushroom omelette, hash browns, and toast was placed in front of me.

“Really, Fancy?” Fleur asked. “Breakfast food at this time of day?”

“I’m fine with this. Besides, I missed the late lunch anyways.” I took a bite of the omelette. “This is really good. Want a bite?”

“No thanks, Yang. I’m fine.”

The discussion continued as I worked on my meal. I was hungrier than I thought, but that was bound to happen with having accidentally skipped breakfast and doing some exercise in the room.

Shortly after my clean plate was removed, the room dimmed, except for a single spotlight on the stage, lighting up a podium. Everyone went quiet and soon, Celestia appeared from behind the curtains. “Good evening, everyone. After three days, it’s finally time for me to reveal the winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Prince Blueblood, I’ll give you the honor of giving the award to its recipient.”

“Thank you, auntie” Blueblood happily said as he stepped onstage, accepting the elegant and partially blank placard style award.

“Now then, it’s time for me to make the announcement we’re all looking forward to hearing. After looking over a large number of documents and making my own notes, I have determined the winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award. The winner is. . .” The silence may have only lasted ten seconds, but it felt like it was so much longer. “Yang Xiao Long, with her business, the Carne Den restaurant. Come on up, Yang.”

The spotlight was literally on me as I stood up, everyone stomping or clapping their hooves while I made my way onto the stage. “Well, uh, thanks, Princess” I said as I accepted the award, now engraved with mine and the restaurant’s names, from Blueblood, who seemed to be barely holding in his anger and disgust as he left the stage. “If I may ask, why did I win?” And where was Luna?

“It comes from the fact that you run a successful restaurant, but it’s more than that. You dared to open a restaurant that serves meat in the middle of a country of vegetarians, normally a recipe for failure, but you made it work. The sheer popularity and reputation of the Carne Den has increased the number of visitors to Ponyville as well, putting more money into the economy there. But most impressively of all, you have managed to slow the continuing decline of the Griffon Empire economy a bit. Yes, you did that.”

“Wow. I mean, I’ve heard stories from my griffon employees about what life was like back in the Empire, but that I’ve done all that? I had no idea. Still, I couldn’t have done that by myself.” I took over the podium and faced everyone before continuing. “I guess I’ll start by thanking Gilda, even though she’s not here, for accidentally leading us to the idea for the Carne Den. I’m sure she’s doing her best down there right now.”

Gilda got up from her spot in the pile to use the bathroom and grab a glass of water before returning to the pile to use Asada as a pillow. It was her turn, dang it.

The snowstorm outside had gotten worse, the pegasi having lost some of their control over it.

I continued on. “I would also like to thank Fancy Pants and Fleur Dee Lis, for lending us the money, guidance, and ponies to build the place. I’d also like to thank everyone who works with me. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to keep the Carne Den running. Finally, there’s also our esteemed guests, who buy the food we make. They are the ones who give us the money we use to apparently help the Griffon Empire by accident. Thanks, everyone.” I left the stage and went back to the table, award in hand.

“Good job up there, Yang” Fancy said. “For an impromptu speech, that wasn’t bad.”

“I really had no idea what to say, so I improvised from what I remember hearing at other award ceremonies. If I knew I was the winner, I could have come up with something ahead of time.”

“True, but there’s something to be said for the surprise factor of being the winner as well.”

Celestia returned to the podium. “And with that, the ceremony is done. You’re free to mingle, grab your belongings and leave, or wander the castle.” With that, she teleported away.

“So, what now?” I asked Fancy.

“Normally, a swarm of congratulations from the other entrepreneurs and some niceties from the nobles” Fancy answered. He didn’t have to say anything about how the other nobles might treat me differently.

It wasn’t long after Fancy’s brief explanation that the table was swarmed by the other entrepreneurs, all of them complimenting me on winning, wishing me luck in my future endeavors, and shaking my hand.

To our surprise, the nobles who didn’t like me (all 28 of them!) came over to deliver compliments and congratulations, though some of them couldn’t hide the strain in their voices as well as others. After they had left came some reporters, asking for my thoughts on what all had happened during the Entrepreneur Award Ceremony, from the snow pile on the first evening to any deals I may have made, and anything else about winning the award.

Eventually, I called an end to the questions on account of needing to use the restroom. Everyone seemed to understand, and they let me leave with very little fuss. I took the award with me to my room, setting it down before using the bathroom there. While I was relieving myself, I let out a big sigh and relaxed. While I did appreciate the award, and all I’d done to earn it, I didn’t like being the center of attention like that.

Author's Notes:

Thanks go to Goldenspoon and Voldine for their submitted characters. So, thanks.