All in the Name of... Tickets!

Part Three

All in the Name of… Tickets!

***

Day Twenty-One

“Ring, Ring, Ring-” Rainbow Dash punched her key wound clock.

Instead of waking up with the usual grogginess in her behavior, Rainbow Dash woke up to a mess of her mental emotions as she threw a temper tantrum in her bed. Upset over the fact that she probably knew what the time was, she still resisted all her mental temptations to check the clock. Instead, she remained in her bed until her mind came to the conclusion that it was inevitable to look at it. Therefore, she slowly rolled onto her side and expressed her sheer annoyance for what she read.

         “3:00 a.m! Uggggg,” she grunted. “Why did I agree to be a Mail Mare?”

Rainbow Dash lowered her vocal tone, to represent her subconscious, as she said, “Because you need the bits! After all, you still want to see Pöny Crüe? Right?”

“I do, but is making me work this early going to continue to be worth it?” She rolled on her back and stared at the roof.

“It think it will,” said herself in the lowered tone.

Dash snapped back at herself as she said, “Really?”

“Yes… Just remember to take it one step at a time. Right?”

Rainbow Dash sighed before she whispered, “Yeah. One step at a time.”

As she slid off her bed, Dash set her hoofs down on the floor. Quietly, she escorted herself to the bathroom and erased her sloppy appearance by the hoof of her comb, that fixed her coat and mane. She returned to her bedroom and after she found the time to be “3:27 a.m,” Rainbow Dash proceeded to dress herself in her new mail uniform. After she put on her hat, shined her hoofs, and checked to see if she was ready to go, Dash unfolded her wings and flew out her bedroom window.

As Rainbow Dash arrived inside the crew room at “3:51 a.m,” she stepped over to her locker and sat down upon her stool. After she completely listened to Crafty Crate’s morning announcements, she progressed from the single entrance to the room towards the door that led to the outside of building. Afterwards, she took off and delivered her usual morning rounds while still dealing with the weather. Upon her quick completion, due to her getting faster on her duties, Rainbow Dash sputtered into the break room to serve her mid-shift rest with Stamps and Derpy.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” nudged Stamps, “I have something for you.”

Tired from her morning hassle, she asked, “What is it?”

Stamps waved a letter in front of Rainbow Dash.

“A letter for me?” said Dash.

“Well it’s your twenty day progress report,” replied the tan pegasus. “Basicly this is your indication on how you are doing and where you need to improve or maintain.”

“Oh,” responded Rainbow Dash, surprised to hear about the report. “Well, can I have it?”

Stamps gave it to her. After she tore the seal off the envelope and grabbed the paper from within, Rainbow Dash unfolded and scanned the entire document. While she thoroughly checked among the “A’s” and “B’s” she received in her mail carrying duties, she found a “D-” by the category of “Mail Presentation” along with a note from Crafty that read:

While Rainbow Dash has been excellent in maintaining her duties while finishing her routes on time, the residents of Ponyville have numerously complained about the conditions of their letters after receiving them from her. The employee will be confronted.

“...Will be confronted?” questioned Rainbow Dash. “I haven’t even been asked about this-”

“Well you are now,” shouted Crafty as he entered the room. “Follow me Rainbow Dash.”

She gulped as she thought, This is not going to be good.

After they progressed down the same long rows of sorted mail, Crafty opened up a door to a room that was about the size of a large closet. Crafty then guided Rainbow Dash into his office while he instructed her to sit down at the head of the broad maple desk. As she took her seat, Rainbow Dash’s nerves from the long walk began to grab a firm hold on her emotions as she twitched her leg in anticipation. Then as Crafty sat down on his end of the desk, she suddenly felt the cold, theatrical silence between herself and the head manager.

“So, Rainbow Dash,” said Crafty.

“Huh.”

“I’m guessing you know why I brought you in here,” asked Crafty Crate. “Right?”

“Umm,” she paused. “It’s because of my performance, right?”

“Correct,” he responded as he pulled out and placed a file marked “Rainbow Dash” on top of the desk. Crafty then opened up the folder and revealed a small stack of completed “Customer Complaint” notes that outlined the date, time, and description of their discontent towards their route deliverer. As Crafty shifted threw the papers, he pulled out on in particular and handed it to Rainbow Dash. He then demanded her to read it out loud.

She cleared her throat and spoke timidly, “My mother, that lived outside of Equestria, recently passed away. Since I wasn’t able to travel to her home to collect and store her small dragon figurine, that she gave to me when I was a filly, it had to mailed to me. Sadly, after seeing it delivered at a very fast and abrupt pace by one of your mail carriers. I’m afraid her mistreatment of my very valuable and personal package is the reason why it arrived broken. Therefore, I’m very disappointed and heart-broken by this and I will not be using the mail service anytime soon.”

Rainbow Dash placed the paper down upon her lap and frowned from the fact that she failed to maintain one of her responsibilities as a mail mare. She was also devastated by the thought that her irrational actions, in order to maintain two jobs, came at the price of her damaging another pony’s stuff. To which those events didn’t go over very well with Crafty after he heard about them through phone calls from the main mail offices in Canterlot along with the ones from the citizens of Ponyville.

He asked, “Ok, now let’s be honest here… and I’m serious. Did it ever, ever occur to you, while on your route, to consider the condition of our customers property? Just like the one in this story? Because I’m pretty sure that this is common sense? Right?”

“Right,” replied Rainbow Dash.

A moment of silence goes by as Crafty waited for Dash to answer his question. However, the pressure from the situation contracted Rainbow Dash’s vocal abilities. Therefore, she made it hard for herself to immediately answer his simple question.

Crafty lifted his shoulders and asked, “Well? It’s a simple question.”

Rainbow Dash hesitantly responded, “I ah…erm.” She slumped her head down. “No.”

Crafty rebuked her answer as he crossed his hoofs and leaned in slightly towards her. He then said, “Now look, Rainbow Dash. It’s as much as my job, as well as yours, to make sure that we can maintain our quality standards, along with our responsibilities, to what is required from corporate and the recipients of our service. Therefore, if somepony is not doing their job… Guess what?”

Rainbow Dash quietly answered, “They get a write up?”

Crafty replied, “No.” He patted his hoof on the notes. “I get these papers telling me what you should be doing, but aren’t for the sake of time, right?”

“Right,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Alright then,” replied Crafty. “Now what should you be doing instead of breaking people’s packages?”

Rainbow Dash responded with a lack of assurance in her tone, “Make sure they arrive at their mailbox safe and undamaged?”

“And?” asked Crafty.

“Slow down?”

Crafty smiled and nodded his head to let Rainbow Dash know she was correct. “Now, you are going to promise me that you are going to do that? I mean, because if I get another one of these stacks of papers again… It’s not going to be good for you. Ok?”

“Yes sir,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, then. Step it up.” said Crafty.

“No problem,” Dash said while she extended her hoof out to shake Crafty’s.

After the short meeting, Rainbow Dash got out her seat and exited the room while she kept the story tucked under her wing. Displaying it inside her locker, she placed it there to serve as a reminder to take it easy on what she was doing. To which, the idea worked. Her her job performance slightly improved since she took it upon herself to fly at a brisk speed when she delivered the mail. However when a cloud flouted into her sight, Rainbow Dash placed her mail atop of a roof, to prevent an Earth Pony from stealing it, and flew at a her usual subsonic speed to completely annihilate the cloud. Afterwards, she returned to her pouch and continued her route.

As another seven-days passed, Rainbow Dash kept up her new strategy while her determination deteriorated with the sweat and energy from her work. However, the idea awarded itself with an impressed Crafty Crate, no new complaints, and another paycheck for eight-hundred and sixty-four bits. Therefore, she granted her desire to see Pöny Crüe after twenty-eight days of hard labor.

Now she must go and see them.