The Ultimate Flower Seed Sales! [Dead]

[SkyBolt]

Sky Bolt sat on a wool blanket she had brought, and began to spread out her plants and seeds. On her right, she had brown seed packets with labels and price tags laid out in neat rows, and on her left, she laid out her growing plants. The masterpiece, a climbing flower that she had carefully prodded with her magic and time, to grow into the outline of a heart, with the flower she had focused on for size right in the middle. Purple, with blue tints, the big flower was perfect, centered, and beautiful. The whole plant was fairly small, but everything was perfect. The pot was polished, the dirt was smooth. Every bad leaf had been plucked, and the price tag said 35 bits. Behind that pot, others bloomed. Just general plants, cared for how a normal pony would care for their house plants. The seeds and pots made her living, but her pretty, well cared for little projects gave the money for extra things, all the entertainment. When all the plants were carefully laid out, the white unicorn sat, her light blue mane settling down, and she looked for her first customer, her sign over head. 'Sky's Seed Sales!' the chunk of wood claimed, held up by a stake, set in a base of cement for the whole thing to balance on. Sky Bolt cast her dark blueish green eyes through the crowd for customers.

[HazyFlint]

The air was filled with excitement, even HazyFlint the new herbal pony in town knew that. He stood off to the side looking around the streets. There were so many different ponies that it was difficult to decide just where to begin. A list floated next to him glowing with his magic. His eyes would occasionally glance from the list to the shops and stalls around him. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was pressed tightly shut. Hazy was busy thinking.

"Where can I find the seeds of a sunflower for cheap." He spoke to himself out loud in a whisper. Looking up at the stalls he saw a plain sign that said 'Sky's Seed Sales!'. Sales meant lower prices, low prices meant a bargain, and a bargain could mean they had what he was looking for. He took a step forward, and fell on his face. The note fluttered down to the ground and Hazy stood up shaking himself off. He was too busy focusing on thinking that he didn't even see the pebble on the ground sticking straight up. Mumbling to himself he picked the note up in his mouth and trotted over to the stall.

"Hello, I mmm hare fur seeds." he managed to say with the paper still in his mouth. He blushed a little in embarrasement before dropping the note onto the ground. "Sorry, I'm still figuring out this shopping thing. I'm here..." That's when his eyes settled on it. That flower, that gorgeous piece of work that was gallently flaunting it's uses to him. Was it? "What. What flower is that, it's gorgeous!" He pointed a hoof to the plant that was shaped as a heart.

[waxworks]

Hazy's excited comment may have been directed to Sky Bolt, but it rang into the ears of a passing unicorn in a bowler hat. In truth she'd been inspecting each and every booth casually in an attempt to see what sorts of wares were being offered around her, but the exclamation had grabbed her attention. The flowers were, she had to admit, gorgeous. She wouldn't mind decorating her own stall with a few later, but right now she was on a mission. The flower was lovely, but not profitable. Not to her. The seeds on the other hoof, those could bring a quick profit if used correctly.

Riddle Bits smiled, her head bobbling left and right slightly as she did so. While HazyFlint gushed over the flower, she quietly perused the small bags of seeds and their attached prices. One package of seeds could be split into each individual seed and then resold with those irregularly small terracotta pots that the potter pony was throwing away. Spoon in a little soil, and jackpot, instant 'my first garden' kit sold at profit. She smiled proudly to herself and sat quietly while Hazy and Sky conducted business. That was, after all, what it was all about.

[SkyBolt]

"A periwinkle, but I did nudge it with magic to make the vine much thicker. Very versatile, easily shaped, easily kept alive. And the spell it takes to get a fairly big flower like that to grow is almost ridiculously simple." Sky Bolt said, happy to have some pony look over her plant so quickly. "Not useful, mind you, but pretty." The white unicorn noticed another pony come up to her seeds, and kept an eye on them, though not in an overly obvious way. "How can I help you?" She asked, after a moment, and quickly looked over her seeds to be sure each one had price tag and label clearly visible, for convienience. "I have difficult to grow, but beautiful flower seeds for the serious gardener, as well as little things for foals, and vegetables that range from either to the other. I am open to bargaining, and trading for food, or any useful things. Sky's Sales have deals that will make you jump to the sky! Actually I don't but my niece thinks I need to always say the same thing to costumers, and that is all I can think of."

[HazyFlint]

HazyFlint shook his head. This place, Ponyville, was fantastic. There was not a day that went by that didn't surprise him. The pony looked the plant over while the, odder, pony went for business. 

The flower was fantastically treated. It was beautifully made and cared for. Sky was right, it was most likely the best flower he had seen. That was not what caught his attention though. What had stopped Hazy in his search for sunflower seeds, was the smell. There was something about the magic that Sky used that caught his attention. Hazy tilted his head and took a few steps around the flower to get a better view of it. It couldn't be. It shouldn't be. This periwinkle was perfect for all types of ailments, but he couldn't get it. No, it probably wasn't even for sale. 

He started mumbling to himself then. "Not useful. What does she mean. Periwinkle can cure lots of painful things. Sure you have to be weary about nausea, vomiting, and other stomach and intestinal symptoms. It can also cause nerve, kidney, and liver damage. Large amounts can cause very low blood pressure. But with my magic. Oh with my magic I could cure those ailments, make it safe." HazyFlint stopped talking to himself and looked up. Passing Ponies were looking at him like he had gone mad. He hand't lost it, no the opposite he had found it. Shaking his head he smiled warmly. 

"Sorry about that. Um, you should help him first. I have a few questions that can get pretty lengthy." Hazy sat down next to the flower and to others it looked like he was swooning over it. 

[waxworks]

Those little mumbled facts quietly slid into Riddle's head. Medicinal flowers, not a bad idea. But she neatly slid that idea aside. Her shop wasn't nearly large or profitable enough to attempt a medicine area unless it was something she could get from a reliable vendor. One bad bottle of medicine sold would absolutely ruin her, and she wasn't skilled enough to tell good from bad. Oh well, it didn't really matter, she wasn't in the market for medicinal flowers, she was here for seeds.

"Yes, hello," she said, bobbling sociably to Sky Bolt, "I'm most interested in these seed packets, you said you had some so easy even a foal could grow them? How many seeds are in the vegetable and flower packets? How much is each pack?" Her mind was racing with sales possibilities and repackaging opportunities, even thinking about embellishing some of her existing products with more food added onto them. Another thought suddenly rolled across her mind, and she ventured to ask the unicorn, "what do you do with your garbage? Petals, leaves, peels?"

Riddle was nothing if not ambitious, when your entire store could fit into one box the one thing you could afford was ambition.

[SkyBolt]

"Yes, I do. My simple packets are about two bits a piece, and each has about as many seeds as would fit in a five year old filly's horse shoe. So it depends on the size of each seed. I have a wide range of easy flowers, such as forget me not, and some easy vegetables." Sky said to Riddle, before turning back in time to hear the other pony mutter to themselves about the uses of periwinkle. "Oh, you are a medicine pony. I sell medicinal plants, or at least rattle off the uses to most ponies, assuming it is completely safe even in large quantities, but once I told a mare about the uses of a plant, but she used to much, and it made her puke. I just say that it has no use if there us any chance at all of a customer hurting themselves if they don't do their homework. I see you are more knowledgable though."

((I AM NOT AN HERBALIST. So I am completely clueless about what plants really do, so please have a bit of patience.))

[HazyFlint]

Hazy cocked his head to the side and listened to the market street as he waited patiently. There were so many troubles here that he could fix. His ear twitched suddenly.

'Mommy my tooth aches.'  - Easy fix, just mix up a small elixir of water and tea tree oil, or some vanilla juice. 

His ears twitched again as the salespony before him spoke to him. Yes he was a medical pony but not your typical. He was nature orianted, a sort of old age mare who kept to himself usually. He wasn't too good at the social situations but so far he thought he was doing some good here. He needed to get his hands on some rare plants and ponyville's next door neighbor, the Everfree forest, was great for that. Though one never came across good plants that were created by the ponies themselves. 

"You're a smart pony then. Unless you know the outcome one shouldn't buy anything. Um, would you happen to be willing to depart with a few cuttings of your prized heart Periwinkle? I can pay you for anything here. That and I was wondering if you sold Sunflower seeds." The use of both Periwinkle and Sunflower seeds in his shop would be great. Each had its own use and HazyFlint knew just what to do. Then again he did need to get his shop up and running soon or he wouldn't have much money for rent. The seeds would be the last thing he needed before he set up shop. 

"Maybe we could get together later at my shop and swap tales of the garden? I'd love to become an avid shopper with you if you can create this magnificent plant." 

[SkyBolt]

"I can probably find a bit that won't hurt anything to take off. Let us see here... Ah, this should do nicely." Said Sky, finding a couple of sprigs that fell outside of the over all heart shape Sky had molded the plant into. "Will this do?" She said, with several small sprigs wrapped in her magic, floating about six inches over her head. "I can probably find a few more sprigs if you like." She added, just in case.

[waxworks]

Riddle's ears wiggled while her head bobbled left and right subtly, in gentle thought. She was concentrating on how much she could safely spend and still have some left over. There wasn't much, but you had to spend money to make money. One of the points of venturing through the marketplace wasn't just finding things one could buy and sell, but finding connections. It was just now that another such event was happening as Hazy's words sank into her head and were neatly filed away under possible contacts. An herbalist, a useful merchant to know. Of course their work was often specialized meaning nothing they sold could be safely discombobulated and repackaged without tremendous risk, and otherwise you'd just be trying to sell what they sold right back. But still, it was useful to know where one could find one should the need arise.

Her bobbling stopped at the mention of sunflower seeds. A thought rolled through her head, perpendicular to Hazy's comment about using them for medicine. Sunflowers were fairly easy to grow, she knew that from wild ones she'd seen during her travels. she kicked herself now for not trying to harvest some seeds on the way, but it couldn't be helped now. But easy to grow, and tasty snacks. Profitable. Easily done. Good.

She looked up at Skybolt after coming to a decision and producing several bits, "I will take a packet each of your smallest, easy-to-grow seeds for flowers and vegetables, mam. If you have any more sunflower seeds left over after filling sir's order, I will take a package of those as well."

Her almond eyes swiveled to Hazy Flint, "herbalism, a very useful trade, sir." She addressed both ponies, deciding it wouldn't do to mask her intentions any longer, "I too am a merchant, with a bazaar just a ways from here. All manner of things might be sold there, sir, mam."

She paused and realized it wasn't time for her to say exactly why she wanted the seeds. Honestly, she had no idea if they'd even sell in the way she was thinking of selling them, and there was no sense risking the very seed of the idea before she was sure it could even take root.

[HazyFlint]

Hazy graciously nodded and stared at the clippings. It was his lucky day. He was going to be very popular here, maybe even get a collaboration with the local hospital. His glee seemed to seep into his features as his tail began to sway left and right rather quickly. The herbalist pony was excited and already was planning various elixirs he could whip up. 

"Um, these sprigs should be just enough for the work I do." he added after her. 

His eyes traveled over to Riddle's when she too asked for sunflower seeds. Another herbalist or another merchant trying to add her own pizaz is what he thought at first. He was right to think that as well as she started to speak. She seemed to be interested in him a bit more than the usual passer-byer. Hazy made a note not to mention anything about himself. He didn't want to be too popular here. 

"Wow, what sort of things do you sell there? I might have to stop over there myself." He chuckled a bit to ease some worry from his mind. He wasn't the sort of pony to start thinking suspiciously but after a few days here he knew some ponies just couldn't be trusted. Friendship made this town but friendship was a hard thing to earn. 

Hazy clicked his tongue after remembering something. To his side hung a brown sack-like bag. It opened up a bit with a misty glow around it. Out floated a cardboard box small enough to hold the clippings and the seeds with some space left over. He was ready to purchase his objects. "About the seeds, I only need about five of them." He was still waiting on Riddle to answer his question he posed. He needed to know if she might have something else on his list. 

[SkyBolt]

Sky magically handed over the small bundle of dark green periwinkle clippings, before rumaging through a blue and green painted wicker box of various seeds she hadn't laid out for sale, due to her rather annoying lack of room, that was sitting next to her, and eventually the pretty white and blue unicorn found some sunflower seeds. "Here you go. That will be three bits, for 5 of them, plus the clippings, unless you want to bargain, trade, or otherwise spend less then three bits. If you have everything you need." She said, before turning her attention back to Riddle. "I would estimate I have twenty-five left, but will need a few to grow more seeds, so I will sell twenty seeds, tops. If you want twenty, you can have them for four bits, but if you want less seeds then that, we can find a different price, to suit a different amount of seeds. Is there anything else you need?" She continued, counting out twenty seeds, and was left with two extra. The normally less then amazing at social situations Sky was being seemingly, well, likeable, to her own surprise. But then, she generally got on fine from pretty early on with ponies she had any potential for a friendship with at all. Raven Feather, Sun Riser, and Black Star were all good examples of this. Not to mention Slipstream, who really shouldn't be mentioned. Sky had no idea what to think of the energetic pegasus. But that was a different time, different place.

[CableZ]

(woah woah woah people, there is a word count minimum you know? Not only does this not meet the new current requirement for posts but it doesn't even meet the old one so there's no excuse. 250 words MINIMUM for posts. can people not reply when they see rule violations? either inform the person or tell me, don't just keep roleplaying.
Storm bolt please up your word count, this is your first and only warning.)

[SkyBolt]

((I am very sorry, and thank you for taking the time to warn me. I will try to avoid it happening again, and again, thank you for your patience, warning, and understanding. I will edit the post, and make absolutely sure it gets the proper word count.))

[waxworks]

(( And don't forget if you're ever curious about word-count, there's now that helpful little word counter at the bottom of the text box. ))

Riddle's ears seemed to snap to attention with such speed and urgency that they could've snipped a piece of paper in two. Five seeds for three, or twenty for four. She'd heard about offering a reduction in price for moving a greater bulk of product but she quickly calculated out the rate as being somewhat ridiculous to her merchant instincts. Was this plant selling pony aware of her own calculations, or was she really willing to give away that much of product at such a painfully low price? Right now under her bowler hat there was an argument going on between her better nature and her haggling nature, until finally her better nature was joined in echo by the voices of her elders and she relented with a soft sigh.

"I'll take the two packets of easy to grow seeds, one for flowers, one for vegetables mam, but... but mam I must warn that the prices you are offering for sunflower seeds aren't right."

She sent a sidelong glance at Hazy Flint, hoping that he was an honorable pony and wouldn't be angered at her revealing a possible pricing error that could've played to his favor. "If mam's price for sunflower seeds is to remain as it is, I am afraid I must insist I pay five bits for ten seeds. If you are going to become a thriving plant merchant then you must remember, mam, that everything you sell is worth something and not to be sold lightly. Enticing the customer with a discount is common, but you have to make sure that such a discount will not break you if everypony and their grandfather decides to take advantage of it, mam."