It seems it was Sugarlump that visited me: Yes, I recognized her bright, yellow, crooked eyes the moment I saw them wander through the threshold to my chambers. She was very relieved to finally see me (Hear me maybe? I'm starting to wonder if perhaps she navigates by echolocation instead of sight, because I never see her turn her head to compensate for her condition), rushing to throw her front legs over my shoulders and tell me how worried she'd been.

I learned that Twilight had given her a letter to deliver to me perhaps an hour after I was taken into custody, telling her what had happened and why I did not show up to work that morning. After she relayed the information and asked Whip Snap for permission to take on the long-distance delivery, he gave her another letter to deliver to me as well, and told her to get to it.

Why did it take her 3 days to make it to Canterlot when the journey only took my wagon about six hours? She got lost. I was supposed to have these letters during the long hours that passed as I awaited my audience with the Princess on my first day in Canterlot. (Twilight's really would have helped, but it seems that I will just have to appreciate the thought that went into it instead.)

I will include her letter in this journal for the sake of safekeeping. I will not, however, bother keeping the letter from Whip Snap in my possession, as it will simply be much easier to record its contents in my journal here.

"This one must be from Ms. Pie?" I asked Sugarlump when I saw the bright color beneath the white envelope paper. I had it in mind that she would be the only one to write on hot pink letter paper to wish someone thrown in incarceration the best of luck.

"No, it's from Whip Snap. I think he wanted to wish you luck, and he wrote it on that really pretty pink paper to make you smile!"

I decided to have a look for myself, shocked that my employer actually had such feelings as to want to send me his best regards during my dark hours. As I pulled free the pink paper from the envelope, things soon made much more sense.

----------------
Prodder,

You're fired.

Sincerely,
Whip Snap.
-----------------

At least he was sincere about it: Sincerely firing me. So someone just so happens to commit accidental attempted regicide and miss a day of work due to a sudden case of thrown-in-a-dungeon? No reason to fly off the handle like that. Talk about a slave driver.

"Sugarlump, this is a pink slip."

"Uh huh, I know, it's really pretty. Did it make you smile?"

"No, not really. Do you know what a pink slip is usually for?"

"Birthday invitations?"

"Sometimes, but it's not Mr. Snap's birthday. What else?"

"Love notes?"

"... Little closer, but please tell me you don't think Mr. Snap was sending me one of those. Try again."

"Origami?"

"Okay, this isn't getting us anywhere. It's used to inform people that they're dismissed from employment."

"I know... I was really worried when you missed work too. Now you can tell him that you'll be back soon though, right?"

"No, dammit, not missed! Dismissed! Sugarlump, I've been fired."

"Fired?" I hoped that the response she had afterwards was not because I had lost my patience with our miscommunications, as her ears pinned back against her head and her face turned down towards the floor. "You mean... you're not gonna be at the post office anymore? You're not gonna be there after I wake up each morning?"

"Afraid that is what it means." It was rather shocking to see her be so much more upset about it than I was. It's never fun being informed that you're now jobless, even if it was not a great job, but she was genuinely upset about my misfortune: Specifically, sad about me. Was my presence in the mornings and giving a casual greeting to her that important? I really hate to put it this way, but perhaps simple pleasures entertain simple minds? "It also seems like I might have to stay here in Canterlot for a long while. Things are still kind of up in the air for me right now."

"This isn't Cloudsdale. It's Canterlot. You're not up in the air."

I will admit that her literal interpretations are much cuter when she's sad (or I'm just much more tolerant of someone when they are already having a hard time). "I mean that my future is uncertain right now, so it may be a long time before you see me again, depending on what the Princess decides to do with me. You can still talk to the other ponies who work up at the post office though, right? They'll still be there each morning."

She nodded a bit, before looking up to ask me, "Are you going to come back?"

"I just told you; things are pretty uncertain right now. It might be a long time before that happens."

"So you promise?"

"What?"

"You promise you're gonna come back?"

I hadn't thought about it, honestly. I had not considered what I might do with myself after my community service project, or whatever the Princess decided to have me do for my punishment, was over. After seeing her look at me (point her face towards me to be more accurate) that way, and reading the letter Twilight had sent me, I did something I'm probably going to really regret. "I promise I'll come back."

That lifted her spirits enough to wipe the frown from her face, and she was more than happy to wait for me to finish writing a response letter to Twilight to share with the rest of those who knew me in Ponyville, as well as a special response for her to give to Whip Snap for me. With a hearty "See you again soon, Benjy!” she was once again on her way. I asked the guardsman to make sure she was headed in the correct direction to make it back to Ponyville without getting lost again, but I cannot be certain they caught her before she took off outside. Perhaps I will get another letter soon though. I can hope.

-------------
Snap,

I will simply have to try to wash away the heartbreak of the loss of my job with gourmet, white, alba truffle pasta and the exorbitantly expensive midnight-berry spirits in my royal golden goblet. Do not worry, for somehow, I will find a way to make it through the pain.

Sincerely,
Benjamen Prodder
-------------

As long as it's done with sincerity.