Talk:The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000/@comment-87.54.33.238-20120217135915/@comment-121.220.36.127-20120227142604

How about "predatory pricing of equipment to small town/rural settlements"?

1) Sweet Apple Acres is having difficulty supplying demand. They've been trying to increase production, but the family can't take it (Granny Smith is getting older, AJ & BM are struggling to cope with other farm duties [like repairs, preparing for winter, trying to actually sell their food], Applebloom isn't old enough for strenuous work). They're looking for a way to improve their work, but don't have the time to properly get anything done.

3) Given that industrial equipment seems to be spreading, it turns out versions of this machine are already in use by other unicorns, to supply Manehatten and Canterlot (whilst some of the 'upper-class' seemed to denigrate apple products, they'd still have a large market) - explaining why Flim & Flam haven't set up shop there.

4) F&F, gaining the machine through family connections, cheating in a game to get it (explaining why they reduced quality control), or even just bought it for a cheap price, decide to go somewhere off the beaten track - explaining why they set such a high premium of use (and giving them a bad motivation - gouging profit from what they view as ignorant farm bumpkins).

4) Instead of the contest giving them control of the farm, it is about exclusive apple selling rights (you could even make the initial agreement turn out to be selling apples for all products, when they had thought it was just for cider production). It could even be F&F looking to knock them out of business by simply forcing them to overwork (and the contest to secure rights is either due to Applebloom's boasts, or just to get exclusive rights so they can focus on preparing for winter). The contest is the same type, but the Apple family loses, mainly because they had so much work to do before the contest, and couldn't keep up.

5) Spike (because I like Spike - he can warn against the Wonderbolt-Unicorn-Complex), who seems to go to Canterlot more often than TS, who gets told by AJ (and is gone for most of the episode, perhaps with a B story of trying to find someone in Canterlot, but failing), comes in at the end with a mechanic/salespony/contractor (and who may have had contact with F&F before) who is willing to build/sell, with it turning out that the going price in canterlot was 10/90, not F&F's 75/25 (or could even have been a gift from a grateful Equestrian who wanted to pay AJ back for her help with... something or another) - F&F discredited (and shown that they though it would be an easy fleece) flee, Trixie style. It also turns out at the end that Granny Smith is a skilled operator, as her distrust/caution makes her very focussed on quality control.