The male earth pony arrived at his business, ready to make his deliveries. “That’s a large shipment of food for him. He must be catering a large party.”
Special Delivery ran his own small business in midtown Corel. It was in this location where he had equal access to all of Corel. All day, orders came in for him to deliver all over Corel. Today, he had a large delivery to drop off at The Galloping Galiceno. The head chef, Paring Knife always used him for his deliveries because Special Delivery was never late. He loaded his truck with his morning deliveries. He got into his truck, started it up, and was off on his way.
His first stop was a boutique known as Dress for Success. There, he dropped fabrics, string, and other materials that the dressmaker needed. His next stop was a research facility in uptown Corel. There, a pegasus signed for the delivery. The pegasus put the package on his back and went back into the facility after tipping him. His third stop a midtown arcade where they ordered a new machine.
His next stop was The Galloping Galiceno. Paring Knife greeted him with his usual grunt. He signed for the food and Special Delivery moved it into the freezer. With a nod, Special Delivery headed off to his next delivery. It was at a small apartment building. As he was dropping the package off at the lobby desk. A pegasus came from the elevator. As she passed by, she saw the package.
“Oh! It’s here! I ordered a bunch of new knives and cutting boards to help out the restaurant. I thought I was going to have to come back and get it,” she said. Special Delivery turned to her and gave her the package. “Here you go, ma’am,” he said. She took the package and placed it into her saddlebag. She then tipped him. “Thanks!” she said as she went on her way. “No problem,” Special Delivery said. With his final delivery for the morning finished, Special Delivery returned to his business.
Almost immediately upon returning, he received a phone call. “Special Deliver speaking,” he answered. “Yeah, Special Delivery? It’s Paring Knife from The Galloping Galiceno.” Special Delivery recognized his gruff voice. “It turns out I made a mistake in ordering the food and didn’t order enough. Could you get some more?” Paring Knife asked. “That kind of express shipping is going to cost extra and the earliest I could get to you is 8:00,” Special Delivery responded. “That’s fine. I just need that food,” Paring Knife said. “Alright then. I’ll be back at 8,” Special Delivery. He hung up the phone and this newest delivery to his schedule. He was going to have to stop the warehouse in uptown Corel in order to get the food.
After rearranging his deliveries for the rest of the day, Special Delivery was sure he could make it. He loaded up his truck for a second round of deliveries. His first stop this time was a elementary school where he delivered the new books the library ordered. The rest of the deliveries were residential deliveries and then Special Delivery returned back to his business. He had his lunch in silence. He had no employees so it was always just him. He didn’t mind the loneliness, he met plenty of interesting ponies in his routes. Lately though, they were all seeming… bland. A few weeks ago, he and Paring Knife would have a friendly banter every time he was there. Now, they barely spoke to each other.
In the middle of his third set of deliveries Special Delivery had stop for gas. After that he arrived at a construction site. They had torn an old apartment building and building a newer, bigger one in its place. Some of their tools had broken so Special Delivery had brought new ones. At the site, he noticed they were having difficulty moving a steel beam into position for the crane to move. Without asking permission he walked up to it and using his strength pushed it into position.
At first, the construction ponies were shocked that it began moving. Some fell to the ground and the others quickly realized that their effort was doing nothing. They all watched as Special Delivery pushed it all by himself into position. When he was finished the foreman came up to him. “Do you know how illegal that was?!” he shouted at him. Special Delivery just shrugged and said, “You needed help. I helped.” The foreman sighed. “Fine. We’ll just… look the other way this time. Don’t do it again,” he said. Special Delivery received his tip, and a little extra for his help, and moved on.
A few hours later, he was making his final deliveries of the day. When he finished his uptown deliveries, he had made enough room in the truck to pick up the food Paring Knife had ordered. He stopped by the warehouse and ordered the food to be placed in his truck. It took about half an hour and when Special Delivery checked his watch, it was 7:20. “Perfect. Plenty of time to get to The Galloping Galiceno,” he said.
With two more stops for deliveries along the way, he made it to The Galloping Galiceno by 7:50. He began unloading it into the freezer and Paring Knife acknowledged his presence. When he had finished he examined his truck and found he had no more deliveries for the night. “Since I have no other plans, I may as well stay for dinner,” Special Delivery thought to himself. He went to the restaurant and got his own table.
He opened the menu and began deciding what he should have.