Dear Princess Celestia,

Last Night I was given an interesting new job as a global courier for Equestria Daily. There will be nights and even days where I am not completely available, and possibly even too busy-

"Weeeeeeee!" Spike floated by, flapping his arms as he sailed through the air in front of Twilight. Twilight went back to her letter.

-to write. I don't know how long my assignments will take so I am merely informing you that I may be busy from anywhere to a few hours to possibly days. I know you wanted me to take an interest in making friends, and having done that I believe it is time for me to take an even greater interest in my future by getting my first job! My time at the library has been quiet and fulfilling, but it doesn't earn me very many bits and it isn't exactly a model representation of what I should expect as I grow older and seek out an occupation that compliments my abilities-

"Oh no! Twilight!" Twilight looked up from her letter as a small purple missile smacked into her side.

"Oof!" She extended a hoof to steady herself, and Spike floated upwards in a daze. Twilight grabbed him by the tail with her teeth and turned him so they could meet eye-to-eye. "Spike, I know this is fun and all but we aren't supposed to use our powers. Can you please calm down and try and resist using them?" Twilight all but begged. What a mockery that would be, getting the single most important job in the entire multiverse only to have it stripped away before her first mission because what amounted to her kid couldn't contain himself.

"C'mon Twilight, there's nopony here!" Spike sat in mid-air, arms crossed while he looked around. "Besides, don't you think we'll be more useful if we know how to use them?"

Twilight snorted in annoyance, and used her magic to force the pouting dragon onto his feet on the floor. "I think they'll be suspicious and angry if they find out we know more about our powers than what they've taught us- know more about our powers than what they've taught us- know more about our powers than what they've taught us- STOP THAT!" she nearly bowled Spike over with a light kick. "We're definitely not abusing that one!"

Spike was laughing on the ground, holding his stomach as Twilight rolled her eyes. "You should have seen the look on your face! It's like record scratching but funnier!"

Twilight turned and sat on the dragon's stomach, making the little lizard squirm and complain. "Now where were we? Ah yes."

- so I have gotten a new job that will earn me more than my fair keep of bits and show me what to expect and be expected of when I get a real job.

I would hate to inconvenience you in any way in trying to contact me, so I will be taking Spike with me to see the world, so hopefully your letters will reach me through him. Much of what I will be doing is classified for whatever reason, but what I can relate I most certainly will, and I will send you lessons I learn as I pick them up as I always have.

You don't have to worry about me and my friends as I intend to spend my hours out of work with them as I normally do. If anything, I feel this will only strengthen our bond as I finally have a way to relate to Applejack and Rarity about the daily rigors of a job.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

"There, all finished." Twilight stood up, getting off of Spike and curling the letter up in a scroll and fitting a small band around it. "Here you are Spike." She floated it down to her little dragon, but Spike defiantly crossed his arms and glared. "… Spike, send the letter."

"Not until you apologize!" He harrumphed, turning his head away. Twilight rolled her eyes, and gently leaned down.

"Spike?" She called softly. The dragon flicked his eyes towards her. "I know I'm rough sometimes…" She trailed off, and waited until his head turned to face her before she pressed down on his belly with one hoof, making him burp out a green flame that incinerated the letter, sending it off to the Princess. "But I only do it because you're a stubborn little punk! Now get up, I'm meeting Fluttershy for breakfast and I want this place looking proper for our mentor when he shows up, so no sass."

"Sass? You want sass!" He wrung his hands at her when he sat up. "I'll sass you like no tomorrow for that! There will be so much sass you'll be walking in it, eating it, and bathing in it! I won't forget this! Just wait until-"

Twilight sighed heavily and walked out the door.

---

Fluttershy continued her routine of looking positively adorable in a floppy-brimmed sunhat while sipping at a cherry-lemonade on the porch of a fancy salad restaurant. It had been her choice this week for breakfast and she thought she'd play it safe and choose one of Twilight's favorites.

She was a little early, but she hoped that was okay. She'd hate to make Twilight feel late just for being so early, especially when Twilight was so prompt. It would be inconsiderate to undermine Twilight's feelings just because she felt hungry!

Though, not all ponies were so courteous when their stomachs were rumbling.

"Hey Fluttershy!" Fluttershy looked up and lifted the brim of her hat to see a rainbow-colored streak arcing towards her, slowing its descent as Fluttershy quickly pulled the table to the side and set a chair cushion on the ground right as her best friend crashed into the ground. "Ouch! Thanks for that!" Rainbow Dash sat up, no worse for the ware than she had been seconds ago.

"Oh, it's no problem Rainbow Dash. I'm just glad they have these cushions." Fluttershy smiled sincerely as she picked up the little savior of the hour and set it back on the chair it belonged on, then pushed the table back into place when Dash floated into the seat.

"Yeah, saved me a headache or two! So watcha up to Fluttershy? Aren't you usually at home feeding the Wabberjockey?" She asked, nicking a straw from a passing waiter to share Fluttershy's drink. The two sipped for a moment, and Fluttershy shrugged.

"He's on vacation today so he doesn't need appeasement, but I was stockpiling pop-tarts for his return before I left. A-anyways, Twilight and I are meeting for breakfast here. I got here a little early is all." Fluttershy looked off in the distance, spotting a familiar unicorn making her way to the restaurant. "Oh, there she is."

"Sounds like a plan! I think I'll join you guys." Rainbow Dash lounged back in her chair and stuck a forearm out when a suited colt passed by. "Hey garcon, bring me a basket of those fancy breadsticks and some butter! Not that store-brand kind, I want the good stuff!" She ordered casually. The heavily mustachioed colt gave her a huffy look and stormed off, mumbling about pushy customers.

"Aren't you busy this morning? You said today was going to be a cloudy day, and you were going to be cleaning them out all morning…" Fluttershy reminded her gently.

"Psh!" Rainbow Dash was the perfect picture of a pony who just didn't give a crap. "You say that like it'll be hard! I'll get some breakfast, kick it into overdrive, do a little mopping up, whish bang boom, skies are clear and lunch is served!"

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Twilight greeted when she walked up, and the rainbow-maned mare was quick to her hooves. "Good morning Fluttershy. Good pick!"

"Thank you very much, and a hearty good morning to you too!" Fluttershy smiled gently and pulled out a scrapbook.

"Great ta see ya Twi! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" The blue pegasus asked as Fluttershy opened the scrapbook in front of them both. Dash took a look, and saw it was a picture of a mouse with a painfully twisted ankle. She winced, and glanced away immediately. She wasn't squeamish but she was sympathetic.

"Oh no, not at all! Twilight's been going through medical books for me so I can help this poor mouse with his leg." Fluttershy nodded while Twilight took a good, long look at the pictures.

"He's healing up nicely. You can probably switch him to small bandages and a cold compress when the pain flares up. Good work Fluttershy. And again, excellent choice." Twilight turned her head away from the book to follow a waiter walking by with a very exotic fruit salad that made her coat hairs stand on end.

"I wasn't in the mood for waffles again today, so I thought a salad would be nice."

"I don't need a salad." Dash nodded, leaning back again when the scrapbook was put away. "Basket of bread and some good butter and I'll be set for the rest of the day!"

"You always were really simple to cook for." Twilight noted with amusement. "Not that that's a bad thing." She added.

"Simple tastes for the world's fastest flier! When I get rich and famous as a Wonderbolt, I'm not gonna need that fancy frou-frou hors d'oeurves and cordon bleu mademoiselle type stuff! But hay, I'll treat you guys to it if you want." She sat up, all smiles as Twilight and Fluttershy giggled.

"Sounds great Dash. Waiter!" Twilight flagged a passing colt down and ordered. Fluttershy also gave her order, and despite what she'd said earlier, Rainbow Dash opted for a side salad to go with her bread.

The conversation kept on until the food was delivered. The girls happily ate their salads (and bread), keeping them too occupied to talk. It wasn't until the three had finished and Dash was idly munching on the last of her breadsticks did she start up another, "So, what are you guys gonna be up to today? 'Cause I have a clear schedule after I give you clear skies. Ooh, I should write that one down…"

"After I tend to my animal friends I should be open. I was thinking about visiting Applejack about her leftover apple seeds though." Fluttershy nodded, then went back to sipping her drink.

"Oh! Cool, we can probably get her to come to the lake with us! Today's looking hot and the perfect cure for that is water volleyball!" Dash imitated spiking a ball, and ended up tossing her bread out into the yard.

"Water polo." Twilight corrected automatically.

"Whatever!" Dash slurped at the end of her straw and then glanced to Twilight. "So what about you?"

"Oh, me?" Twilight glanced up. Between all the talk, she'd nearly forgotten the plans for the night. Yes, that's right, idle conversation had completely distracted her from saving the multiverse. Wow, it sounded a loss less stellar when she realized it was a job, not some heroic duty. "I'm, well… I'm going to be busy this afternoon, nothing too big."

"Hey, if it's not too big, then blow it off for a night and come join us! We could use a decent server on our team!" Dash, once again, mimed spiking the ball, and ended up throwing her straw over by her lost bread. "I need to stop that."

"Why not get Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked. She wasn't exactly sure how to break she had a new job to them.

"Well, if we get Rarity to join us then Rarity will always get Pinkie Pie to join her team so she can be the closest to the net, and if we can't and it's the five of us then I'll need you on my team to serve, since Pinkie always picks to serve on Applejack's team if it's two-on-two so Fluttershy can referee, and one-on-one is just plain boring! We might as well just splash around and play catch." Dash copied a splashing motion, and ended up shoving the lemonade off the porch, right by her bread and straw. "Sorry Fluttershy." She smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, it's okay. I was getting full anyways." Fluttershy nodded.

"Well, I sort of can't skip out…" Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and tried to smile apologetically. "I-… I sorta… I sorta got a new job, see?"

"Oh!" Dash bobbed her head. "Well that's cool." Twilight let out a long, low sigh of relief as Fluttershy looked on curiously. "So what do ya do?" Oh shoot. Right. What she did.

"Ah, well, see, I, uh, it's not a glamorous job, per se, but it's a job none-the-less! See, I'm going to be a global courier for Equestria Daily and-"

"Awesome!" Dash leapt out of her seat and smiled hugely, surprising both Twilight and Fluttershy into taking a scootch back. "That's great news!" She was almost buzzing her wings with happiness.

"It… it is?" Twilight's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Rainbow Dash, the coolest of cool ponies, thought being a newspaper delivery mare was great news? It boggled her mind.

"Heck yes!" Dash nodded her head in front of Twilight's face. "I've been looking for a new job for months ever since they started hiring more Pegasi! Now that I've got a best friend in a job I'd be a pro at, I've got a definite in!"

Twilight stared at her with worry. This was unexpected. Very unexpected. Okay, she could talk her way out of this, she just hoped she didn't disappoint Rainbow Dash in the process. "W-well, it's not exactly an easy job. It'd be tougher and longer than your weather-pony duties-"

"And that means better pay for me! And besides, I'm the fastest pony in the world! What's a delivery job to a pro like me?" Dash thumped her own chest. "I'll fly around the world at super-sonic speeds-" she extended a hoof, pretending to fly, accidentally shoving a waiter over the patio's guardrail. "- dropping off newspapers and wowing foreign ponies with my skills!"

"Whose bread is this!"

"I might even bring you along Twilight! We could double-team this!" Rainbow Dash grinned and nudged her friend.

"W-well…" Twilight gulped loudly. "I don't know, Rainbow Dash. They require specialists, and as a unicorn-"

"Oh it's just a little travel and dropping off papers! It'll be as easy as one, two, three!" Dash extended her wings and nodded.

Okay. Point taken. But no! "But I can teleport, and they're really looking for somepony to communicate with the locals to make sure-"

"Right! We'll double-team it! I fly in, deliver the papers, you talk to the pony in charge, we'll kick so much newspaper-delivering flank it won't even be funny!" Dash started shadow-boxing the air, and Fluttershy was quick to move the table out of the way while the rest of the patrons ducked.

"Well…" Twilight glanced down at the table. Valid points, all of them… "I just got hired though, and my first delivery is tonight." She chanced, and Dash nodded. "Since I'm so new, they probably won't take my word too seriously until they see how seriously I'm taking my job. So…"

"Oh yeah! Well no problem, give it a month and they'll be totally unprepared at how awesome you are at your job, then slip them my name! They'll have to take you seriously when you outdo every other pony working for them in your first month!" Dash's proud smile went from ear to ear, and Twilight was actually blushing from how much faith the pegasus had in her skills.

"Dash, I…" She smiled genuinely, "Thank you. I'm really relieved you think I'll do great. I'll… I'll definitely try. Thanks."

"No prob Twi." Dash sat back coolly and held her foreleg out to another passing waiter. "Madam, another cherry lemonade for me and my amigos!"

"… It's amiga's." The waitress growled and went to the back.

"I'm very happy for you Twilight, I hope you have fun with your new job. I'm sure with your dedication and talents, you'll blow them out of the water! You'll have to tell us about the interesting things you see around the world." Fluttershy beamed. Though Twilight had no doubt she was most interested in what sort of animals she'd see, she couldn't help but smile and nod.

"Of course I will Fluttershy."