After meeting with Work pants, we moved as one larger party for the gate of the city. He nudged up against Easy. "Allow me, miss."

Easy snorted softly. "You think I'm not strong enough?"

"I'm certain you are, miss." He tilted his head faintly. "However, as Mister Langerman's manager, you should be free to consider more important things. I am without rank or title currently."

That line of argument seemed to reach her. Easy wriggled free of the harness and gestured back at the wagon. "Well, you have a title now. Work Pants, quartermaster."

Work inclined his head in a nod. "It is an honor." He wriggled into the harness and got the wagon moving smoothly across the cobbles while avoiding impediments to its progress.

Water walked alongside me, practically hiding in my shadow. I spoke to her, my eyes forward, "Are you alright?"

"Of course, Sir." She swallowed heavily as we approached the gates of the city. "I never... left the city before." She continued despite her obvious trepidation. "I will do my best, Sir."

Easy came in, putting Water between herself and her new boss, me. "Last chance. You could run back to the castle. I'm pretty sure The Big C would forgive you."

"No!" Water flinched away as if threatened directly. "I couldn't... She's trusting me. I will do the best I can." She looked up at me a quiet moment, still trotting forward.

The guards crossed their spears. They were both examining the lot of us and our wagon with their eyes without moving. The one on the right coughed softly before speaking, "Business and destination?"

I hadn't been questioned coming in. "Did something happen?"

"Mm?" The guard shook his head. "Orders are clear, sir. Anyone leaving with appreciable goods is to be checked." He raised a hoof at the wagon. "That looks appreciable."

Ah, so that was the difference. "We're headed to the northeast, hoping to meet some other ponies, see the sights, and maybe return with some favorable answers."

The other pony snorted. "There aren't a lot of good things out that way. You're the new mason, aren't you?"

I hadn't signed the line on joining that guild just yet. "I fancy myself a builder, but this isn't for that. We'll be careful, thank you."

"See that you are." They moved out of the way of us. We passed them and began down the trail that vaguely tried to pass for a road.

The wagon began to shake and wobble as Work got it over the rocks that littered the way. It bothered me that there wasn't enough foot traffic to beat the path down a little more. We had so much to fix. One step a time, right? If I kept getting distracted by thing I could do, nothing would get done. "Holding up alright, Work?"

"It's work, but it's not unreasonable," he assured with dignified composure. His gait became more even, as if walking calmly were a badge of honor he could wear.

Water slowed suddenly, letting Work catch up before her horn began to glow. She drew out a small bit of cloth and dabbed at the stallion, cleaning him of the sweat he had been gathering. "Thank you, sir. I wouldn't handle it as well."

Work blushed at the attention, but accepted it with a quirk of a smile. I wondered if he just liked having a mare fawning on him. I didn't see a reason to begrudge him.

"Don't spoil him," cut in Easy with a soft snort as she trotted ahead. She peered down the mountainside, taking in the vista it offered. We could see the rocky trail carving in a winding path towards the base. "We have quite a walk to get through. On the plus, I did some research before we left. The mountain's pretty safe, monster wise."

That was good to hear. I wasn't particularly eager to pull out my sword and give it a test. "With how steep this is, we'll have some times where keeping the cart from going too fast will be the challenge." I didn't want it to go careening down the hill, taking our supplies, and maybe Work Pants, with it. To that end, I let the wagon catch up and walked alongside it, keeping a hand on its side. At least I could grab it, if need be.

"Too right," agreed Work as he trudged. "I can feel it wanting to go, when a rock doesn't get in the way. Sir, I imagine it would make quite the mess if I wasn't holding it."

So we formed tight ranks, with Easy up front, watching the mountain and looking back to our progress as we slowly descended the mountain. Still, compared to when I first arrived, this was proving to be much easier. Down was just plain easier than up. I was also not alone. They were friends, and I liked their company. Sure, I knew some of them better than others of them.

"Work?" I spoke as we went. "Have you been out of the city?"

"On occasion, Sir." He nodded lightly, only to be dabbed with Water's cloth. "Thank you. My building was mostly limited to within Canterlot's walls."

That reminded me. "Were you in the guild?"

"I've been in a few, Sir." He guided the wagon around a small boulder as he walked. "Do you mean the Construction Guild? Surely I was. One couldn't work with the masons without being a part of their order. It just wouldn't do..." He slid on some pebbles that gave away under his weight, but a quick grab kept the wagon from running him over. "I'm alright." He regained his stance and resumed walking. "Why do you ask, Sir?"

Easy looked over her shoulder. "If you were in the guild, how'd they just let you become a bum on the street? What kinda guild is that?"

That was close enough to what I was driving at. I just looked to Work to continue.

"I wasn't... happy just taking my easy out, and there were the political troubles, I will remind." He craned his neck to look up at the sky and the sun that worked through it. "Mmm, I've grown spoiled by the town clock."

I pulled out my phone and checked. It was getting close to noon. "Just about noon. We can take a break?"

"Gladly." He veered to the left and ran the wheel of the wagon against a larger rock, parking it firmly.

Even as he wriggled free of the wagon, Water came trotting up to me with a little smile. "Lay down, Sir. I'll massage the tension away."

I sat down on another rock, there were plenty to choose from. "Thanks... for the offer." Apparently 'thanks' was keyword for 'sure!' since I felt her magic start gripping at my shoulders and down my legs, squeezing at the muscles that had worked the hardest to get us that far. She wasn't bad at the job. Part of me wanted to just roll with it. It was why she was there, right?

A valid excuse came to me. "Work looks like he could use your treatment a lot more than me. He was the one pulling the wagon."

She glanced towards him. "... Yes, I suppose being all... furry... would make this harder." She turned to him, her magic fading from me. "I'll be back."

Easy hopped up onto the wagon and she plucked a few small bundles and a water skin from the supplies. "Eat up while you can." She floated down the preserved food into the reach of each of us.

It was only then that I realized we were a party that all had effective fingers. I held my food and water in tricky human hands. The others all had theirs floating beside them, grasped in equally tricky unicorn horns. That made some things a lot easier.

The food was a simple fare of what tasted like dried corn and mashed potatoes ground together with a collection of nuts and seeds. A sweet sappy stuff held it all together into a sort of granola that was easy enough to bite chunks off of. Just a dash of salt added some savory hints and bring out the subtler flavors of the blend.

The drink was simpler, being just water. It was cool as the mountain breeze, that being the effective room temperature of the moment. I didn't have anything against water. Hunger defeated, I folded up the cloth the food had come in and tucked it back in the wagon.

Easy watched me with a cocked brow. "We're already in the middle of nowhere, you could just drop it."

"Could, but why make a mess?" I wanted to help fix Equestria, not be some small source of pollution and filth.

My actions seemed to inspire the others, and soon their cloths joined mine, to be brought with us, even if they didn't hold food anymore.

Water Lily trotted back to me. "It's your turn."

Easy saved me from having to shoot her down. "Let's get moving!" She moved under the harness before Work could get there. "I'll take a turn."

Work inclined his head towards her. "Very well. I'll assume the duties of scout then." He trotted up ahead, looking across the mountain.

I liked that. The way I saw it, they were coming to a sort of equilibrium. They were a team, my team, and were sharing duties. That was good. Maybe they'd even become friends? I felt a brush against my pants leg and saw Water was walking alongside me. "Sir, we need to talk, when we set up camp for the evening." She trotted past me then, not waiting for a reply.

Something to look forward to? I shook my head and pulled out my phone. The GPS didn't work, which was no huge surprise, but the map did. It was how I found my way to Canterlot in the first place. It being on the biggest mountain around helped, to a point, but it wasn't nearly as golden and shiny as it was in the cartoon, yet.

I pinched and zoomed around, finding ourselves. It didn't give us a marker, and certainly not one that moved around. GPS was out, remember? But I could find Canterlot on it, and could follow the way down to where we slowly descended the mountain. It looked like the road meandered down, becoming more and more snake-like on its way towards the base of the mountain.

"What are you looking at?" Work was walking alongside me at an easy clip-clop. "Is that a magic device?"

I mean, it basically was. "Yes, from my original homeland." I turned it towards him, so he could see the map too.

He turned his head, directing one eye at it instead of trying for a stereo view of it. "Fascinating. That is quite an intricate painting of the mountain, Sir. Did you make it? You have more talents than I would have credited, I admit."

A painting? I suppose one could see it from that angle. "I didn't. Really, I'm not sure what did. It wasn't there before I left my old home." My phone was a collection of mysteries I really needed to dig into some day... "But why complain? It has good maps of most of Equestria, provided we can keep track of where we are on it."

"I certainly wouldn't," he agreed with a flick of his tail. "I should imagine you could sell that artifact for quite the tidy sum of bits."

Easy snorted loudly. "I heard that! One, that's from his home, his original. I doubt he wants to give it up. Two, it's tricky to use."

Tricky to use? "How do you know that?"

Water pounced on the chance with a triumphant smile. "I was not the only one to give into curiosity, I see." She leaned in towards Easy as she pulled the wagon. "It's alright, we forgive you."

Author's Notes:

Water feels vindicated! But who put these maps here? Can they be trusted to not have typos?

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