@Background Pony #8CE3  
I like the way you think. Seriously, bravo.

@thps48  
Bullseye.  
Since free subsistence is possible due to availability of wildgrowth food and zero pollution of groundwater in pre-industrial society, all ponies can comfortably spend more on luxuries, such as deliberately cultivated crops (apples, corn, etc) manufactured foods (cakes, cheese, etc) and non-food luxuries without having to be overly concerned about running out of their grocery budget.

@thps48  
Which means the Apples are LOADED.

@Background Pony  
Do we need candy to survive? ’Cause last time I checked, apples are considered treats for horses in real life. :T

You know, this is probably what poor ponies actually do. Foods that you pay for, like apples and cakes, are a luxury. This means that there are no starving ponies, so Applebloom’s nightmare situation in Hearts and Hooves Day could never happen… but the Apples have brainw- er… taught her to think that ponies must buy and eat apples to survive.

i lol’d

@Clop  
As if RD will give up Cider for grass.

Big Bad Corporation- She knows too much now, we’ll have to kill the rainbow colored one…

@Clop
 
its more like, basic food (grass) is free but anything else you have to pay.

You want to know a secret? It’s not just Equestria. All horses can talk and think, even Earth ones. But some milennia ago your ancestors realized that if they fed animals grass they could make them more obedient. A young horse feeds on hay from a young age so it never realizes what it could be.  
In Equestria it was the ponies who have taken up the burden of caring for every other animal. Cows, pigs and others were not strong enough to resist the temptation of grass.  
One week later, Rainbow Dash refused to sleep in a bed, and got out of the habit of talking. She leaves happily now on the Williams’ farm outside the borders. She’s pulling the milk carriage.

and one of the reasons why the Apples are so poor.

and this is why equestrias economy allows peace.