The Ponyville Post Office is just that -- the hub of all physical communication that goes in and out of Ponyville not handled by private citizens.  With the offices located by the train station for easy transport of deliveries, it divides tasks by specie for utility -- Unicorns work in office to handle paperwork and magically delivered 'telegrams', Pegasi handle long-range and/or immediate deliveries, and Earth Ponies handle all non-immediate and local deliveries via cart.  Ponyville's local delivery pony is none other than the well-meaning, though accident prone, Derpy Hooves who also lives in a small apartment on location.

<--From Town Square

"Government agencies," Atom laughed as he and Ava approached the post office. "Open right on time when nothing else is - inexcpliccably closed for random national holidays when nothing else is..."

"Wonder which we'll get this time?" Ava giggled as she stepped up to the door.

It turned out that Ava and Atom were in luck -- the post office was open and running at full capacity, as it had been since very early that same morning.  They could spot a few uniformed Pegasi taking to the skies with delivery bags strapped over their flanks and a large hauler carriage out back being loaded up with packages brought in from the neighboring train station.  At the front desk was a lone gray Pegasus, her blonde head doffed with a mailer's cap and a postage stamp stuck to her cheek unnoticed.

"Good morning~!  Welcome to Ponyville Postal Service~!" the mare had a bright and cheery greeting for the two ponies.  Disconcertingly enough, one of her golden eyes didn't seem to want to stay focused on them and pointed off in a whole other direction.  "How can I help you two today?"

"Just one package, and a roll of stamps," Ava grinned, setting the box on the counter. She paid the drifting eye no mind - without glasses, she had two of them, after all. "Busy this morning," she laughed.

"No more than usual.  'Cause we're so close to Canterlot and Fillydelphia, we get a lot of freight moving in and out." Derpy chirped as she took over the package and traded it for a delivery form Ava needed to fill out so they knew where to send it.  Thankfully there were plenty of pencils about for writing without having to worry about spilling quill ink anywhere.  "I don't think I've seen you two around before... did you just move to town?  Or are you honeymooning?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:00, Tue 12 June 2012.

"My little sister and I just moved in a couple of days ago," Ava nodded, her horn glowing turquoise as she picked up the pencil.

"And I'm just visiting," Atom nodded. "No honeymoon... yet," he snickered.

"Smart alec," Ava giggled, nudging him in the ribs with her back hoof.

"And you love me for it," Atom smirked.

"Guilty as charged," Ava laughed. "How much is the postage on that?" she asked Derpy.

"Yeah?  Well, welcome to town~!  I'll make sure to memorize where you live so I can deliver your mail from now on.  I'm Derpy Hooves and I handle the local deliveries here in Ponyville." the Pegasus introduced herself.  She giggled over the way the two flirted and played with each other, thinking them a cute couple while she tended to business.  The package was weighed on a set of scales and then referred to a chart on the wall for pricing.  Along with the roll of postage stamps it wasn't going to cost Ava more than a few Bits to get the delivery out.  Derpy wrote her up a receipt once Bits changed hooves.

"Good thing you got here before the afternoon.  We'll be able to ship your package out quick as can be~!" the mailmare sorted around under the counter for a moment before she popped up with a few different rolls of stamps, each featuring different pictures of birds, designs, or the Princesses' Cutie Marks.  There was even a special Wonderbolts set.  "What kinda stamp do you want?  I like these ones best myself -- they're scratch and sniff~!" Derpy pointed out a strip of stamps that sported pictures of various baked goods and muffins.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Tue 12 June 2012.

"Thanks," Ava nodded. It was wonderful the way everypony eas so friendly in Ponyville - she and Poppy had only been in town a few days, and already, it felt like home.

"Get the scratch and sniff ones, Avi," Atom grinned. "Because dude - Scatch and sniff is AWESOME!"

"Agreed," Ava laughed. "I may as well have an excuse to giggle and feel like a foal all over again when I'm paying the bills, right?" she giggled. "Besides, if Poppy ever found out that scratch and sniff were available, and I had chosen some other kind, I would NEVER hear the end of it," the blue mare snickered. "Thanks, Derpy Hooves. I'm Avagadra, by the way, but everypony calls me Ava. And this is Atom."

"Just Derpy is fine.  And it's nice to meet you both~!" the mare beamed, though she seemed to distract herself with a thought that made her eyes screw up together before drifting apart once more.  "You said you had a little sister?  Is she school-age?  If she is, I hope she'll get along well with my little Dinky... my daughter can be pretty shy sometimes."

"Schoolage, yes," Ava nodded. "And I'm sure they'll get along - Poppy is friendly with most everypony, though she's been rather shy herself as of late."

"It'd be great if they became friends, I bet.  I know Poppy'll be happy at school here too -- Miss Cheerilee is the bestest teacher around~!" Derpy chuckled as she stowed away the rest of the unwanted stamps.  Ava just needed to make a quick signature and a stamp of her hoof on the delivery form before she could watch her package get whisked away to be loaded up and shipped off.

"Alright, you're all set.  Did you need anything else?" the mailmare asked with a pleasant smile.

"No, I think I should be all set," Ava replied, adorning the paperwork with a flowy signature and a hoofprint surprisingly small for a mare of her height. "Thanks for all your help, Derpy."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:58, Fri 15 June 2012.

"Great~!  Glad to help!  If you ever need anything else mailed, you can count on me to take care of it~!" Derpy raised her hoof in salute and accidentally thunked herself upside the head, leaving her wincing and rubbing the spot sorely.  "Ow..."

The post office wasn't exactly the best place to loiter around in.  Ava and Atom were welcome to stay as long as they liked, but Derpy soon had to head off to handle the afternoon delivery queue.  Ponies were rushing in and out constantly, hurrying to make deadlines and keep on schedule with the arriving/departing trains, flying out bundles of mail, and making sure everything ran smoothly.

"Library next?" Atom asked. As fortune would have it, his afternoon class had been canceled due to somepony creating a minor explosion in one of the labs - nopony had been hurt, fortunately, but the clean-up would take a bit, and Higgs Bosun had insisted he spend the extra time with Ava while he had the chance.

"Definitely," Ava agreed.

-->To Books and Branches

Start Day 9

First thing in the morning, Pansy set out for the post office.  Her supplies were running low in the shop after being missing for over a week.  Normally she was on top of the shipments, which would come on the train at regular intervals.  As it was, she needed to send in a rather large order today.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully as she pushed open the door.  "I need to send a telegram."

The Post Office was as busy as always in the mornings.  Pansy could hear lots of Ponies moving around behind the scenes where letters and packages were being sorted out, and there were a few townsfolk in the front going about their errands.  The Earth Pony at the front desk smiled at Pansy as she announced what she needed and waved her on over despite the line.

"Good morning, miss~!  Just go over to the left here.  Code'll help you out." he gestured for the gardener to see a bored, sullen looking Unicorn who sat at a nearby desk in front of a telegram system.  Despite all the cheer and bustle of the Post Office around her, the telegram operator looked like she'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

"How may I be of service?"  Morose Code grumped at Pansy's approach.

"Oh, right, sorry!"  She was so used to coming when the Post Office was less busy, she was rather surprised to see so many other ponies.  She moved over to Morose Code.

"Good morning," Pansy replied to Code's question.  She wasn't really put off by the unicorn's attitude.  Some ponies were just like that, just like some ponies were always cheerful like Pinkie Pie.  "I'd like these orders sent out right away, please."  She handed over a hoof-written note, featuring the names of who she ordered from, and the items and amounts.  "Each order should be a separate telegram."

Morose Code took over the slip of paper offered and lit her horn as she read over it.  She wasted not a second in activating the magically-attuned apparatus she worked at to send it tapping away, translating the contents of the notes into a specific style of messenger code for delivery.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Morose asked... morosely... as she continued to tap away at the device.  If not, she'd be quick to jot up a receipt for the transaction and hand it over.  Telegrams were priced by the letter, though it was rather impressive that the Unicorn would be able to tally up all that math in her head while simultaneously re-coding the telegram messages themselves.  It may not have been an interesting job, but she was obviously good at it.

"Oh no, that's it, thank you," the Earth pony removed some bits from her satchel to pay Morose.  It certainly was an impressive skill, and with that extra speed, hopefully her shipment would get here that much faster.

After she got her receipt, she headed for the door and her next destination.  Lots of errands to run this morning.

-->To Town Square
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Fri 15 Feb 2013.

Wordsmith looked over the letter for the third time, he had yet to seal it into the package addressed to his manehattan contact.  The package was his usual 'care package'; a letter, a recipe and a sample from that recipe.  The greeting was, as always pleasant and respectful but it was the body he was proof-reading yet again.



This letter, however, was different and it was this difference he wasn't sure about.  Of course that was his uncertain nature peaking through, even if the last three months had been some what of a self-image booster to the stallion.

This would be a big move for him.



Sighing, he folded the letter into thirds, shuffled his package on the counter and slipped the letter in, sealing it up and wrapping it up.

All he could do was wait in whatever line there was, if there was one... and of course leave a plate of his cookies for the post office staff.  Another 'tradition' that came about shortly after his first couple packages where seen being put together in the office by a curious staff member.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:32, Tue 04 Mar 2014.