We began to hash out details. I brought out my phone to show some pictures of some of the things I wanted. "I'm thinking a ram pump is--"

"Ram pump?" Mason frowned at me. "Explain."

"Alright, there is a source of water, right? One primary place the water comes from?" I waved vaguely, not knowing where it was.

"Sure." She firmly nodded. "There are two sources." She raised a hoof. "Magic." She raised her other forehoof. "A spring a small walk from the city."

"We'll ignore that first one. Is this spring above or below the city?"

"Below." She rolled her eyes. "As if it would be that easy, Water Bringer."

Easy gestured grandly at him. "I bet he already has an answer. Show 'em, Boss."

I flipped to a diagram. "A ram pump uses the power of falling water to send water flowing uphill."

Mason's brows fell as one. "You're going to have to explain that a little better."

"Falling water has energy. If you've ever felt it dropping on you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah?" She rolled a hoof before taking a sip of her whiskey. "Mm, right, as it falls, certainly, until it hits something, then it's gone. What of it?"

"Energy is never 'gone', just moving." I could see their confused looks, all of them. "Alright, so you get a lot of water to flow down, then you trap it when it's moving fast and squeeze it right back up." I trailed a finger along the parts of the pump at work. "There are only two moving parts, so it shouldn't need a lot of upkeep. We need water coming up here, right to the city. After that, we start getting it right where we want it."

Soft inclined his head a little. "If the water is coming in through a single pipe, you could enchant the pipe to clean the water."

Easy clopped her forehooves. "Great idea! One little enchantment could clean everypony's water. It wasn't, you know, practical to do that for a whole spring, but one pipe? That wouldn't be hard."

Mason shook her head. "I don't entirely grasp how... that works, but we'll get it built. We'll lay the pipes and make sure they're sealed and ready for the water. You'll need smiths for this pump of yours. I know a few, and can put you in contact. When do we start this little experiment?"

I curled my thumb, hiking it towards the castle. "We have to meet with the budgeting council member and get funds set aside for exactly this. Once I have a specific amount, we can start."

Mason smiled, a full-face expression. "Then it has been a pleasure. You will find our organization treats its clients well, and you are now one of them." She offered a hoof towards me. "Apologies for the misunderstandings before. Let's put that quite behind us and get to building."

One of her subordinates gave a soft clopping, soon joined by the others. One of them, a mare, raised a hoof in a thrust. "To new projects!" A cry that was soon joined by the others.

Easy grinned widely. "Time for dinner? I'll have to manage soon, and a good manager needs food."

"As you request." Waiters showed up, not one, but about three, working together to get plates and dishes all across the table, ready for the dinner. "Please, enjoy," bid the original waiter, dipping his head. "It's always a pleasure, Ma'am."

Mason tittered softly. "As if I could stay away. Now run along." She made a gentle shooing motion and the waiters vanished. "You picked this place just to grease the wheels... An excellent choice."

I hadn't! I had no idea she knew of the place, or frequented it. I didn't say that. "Let's enjoy dinner."

"I'll cover this." She nodded towards the feast. "You aren't paid until after you speak with the council, is that not right?"

I considered fishing out some of the bits I had, hot to defend my honor! I realized even as my hand twitched towards a pocket that it would be a bad idea. She was trying to show generosity and a willingness to treat her clients favorably. Insisting on paying my part would just insult her and sour things. "Thank you. Your reputation is well-deserved."

She grinned a little. "All of it, good and bad. Tonight, we eat." Her horn glowed and brought some food to her waiting snout. Talking was over.

The food was quite good, allow me to say. I won't bore you with the details of it, but it did make me think. All ponies needed to be just as happy. Maybe not eating as fancy of foods, but in a clean place, safe and secure as they did so. That wasn't too much to ask for them, I decided. I would do my part to bring it to them.

Still... They had mentioned magic. Magic in my marvelous engineering! ... Was that so bad? A little magic to filter things actually sounded pretty good, and if it was at the start of the system, it would service everyone at once, instead of being a luxury good each person required. We just needed to keep the pipes clear and ready.

But who would actually be doing that enchantment? "Mason, do you have a recommendation on that enchantment?"

Easy suddenly prodded me in the side. "You have a star spellcaster right next to you and you don't even ask her?!"

Soft hiked a brow across me towards Easy. "Are you capable of such feats?"

"Well, no, still..." She tapped her forehooves lightly together. "Should have asked..."

Mason swallowed what she had been working on. "I know a few ponies, but I bet the council could arrange a royal caster, even better." She rolled a hoof. "Take advantage of the position you're in. I'll get it built, but they'll get it cast. Not the same thing."

"Sounds like a plan." I glanced aside at Easy. "You were here to be a performer, and became a manager. I didn't dare believe you could fit even more awesome into one package."

She burst into a rough laughter. "Flatterer! Forgiven." She floated up her mostly-drained glass. "To having a great boss."

"I'll raise to that." Soft brought up his own glass in his magic, tinking it against Easy's lightly. "I look forward to starting. Do we have an appointment with the council?"

"We don't," I admitted. "I was going to look into that tomorrow. I presume this case calls for a meeting outside the courtroom."

"It does, and you will leave it to me." He gestured to his chest. "I know my way around that. I'll have the meeting arranged by sundown tomorrow, though I can't assure the meeting itself will take place then."

Mason waved it away. "The palace moves at its own speed." Leaning forward a little, she smirked at me. "The important part is having their eyes, and you have that. That makes you valuable."

A valuable thing she planned to make use of, I gathered. At least the food was good. "Hopefully we'll push past this part soon enough and get started. It's why I came here."

Mason hiked a brow. "That eager to leave your mark on the world?"

"I want to leave it better than I found it." I smiled a little, thinking of the future Equestria, where clean water wasn't even a thought. I knew it was possible.

Soft inclined his head faintly. "You have the look of someone with a vision... Like you can just see the project already completed."

Easy pointed at Soft. "And you don't? You took a big risk... for a reason, right? I mean, it wasn't the easy way out, that's for sure."

"No... That it was not." He coughed softly into a hoof. "I'm glad it's behind us, however well it is resolved now." His eyes fell towards my equine legs. "At what point do you intend to repair yourself?"

"Is that an option?" I hiked a brow. "Poison joke isn't a very well understood phenomenon at this point."

"This point?" He frowned with thought. "Then go to the point where it is known?"

Well, crap. I had used bad phrasing there. "Sorry, misspoke. No one has the answer to this. There's no cure, so I'm stuck with it." I wiggled my hooves, wobbling them a bit where they rested on the floor. "It's not all bad."

He cracked a little smile. "I should imagine being a pony isn't a terrible thing, or so I have discovered... Still, it is not what you were. I would be quite vexed to become... what you were, Sir. No offense towards you, but it is not what I am."

Easy suddenly nudged against me. "He's a stallion with his eyes on the prize! He wants to build things and get things done and who cares if he gets a few hooves or a tail along the way?"

That wasn't an entirely incorrect way of viewing it... "I'm still hoping Water figures something out."

"Water?" Mason looked over from her meal with some curiosity.

Easy waved it away. "Just a friend we have that knows a lot about plants, like the one that gave Ian here a set of handsome hooves."

"Wait, they're handsome?" Could hooves be handsome?

Easy burst into laughter. "I mean, they would be, but then they lead to the rest of your weird body. Water likes it though, so it isn't a total loss."

One of the stallions with Mason lifted a mug in his magic. "To new projects!"

"They already said that. Is your horn poking you the wrong way?" A fellow beside him gave him a rough nudge, both laughing for it.

It was a perfectly fine dining experience. We parted ways after that with smiles and waves. I supposed they had little reason to be upset anymore. I went from a potential rival to a potentially-lucrative client in an instant. That was a better place to be... I fiddled with my phone on the way back.

Soft took his leave with a bow. "I do not have leave to stay here, in the castle. I will return in the morrow and secure that appointment for you, Sir. Have no doubt."

"I trust you to see to that." I tucked the phone away to offer a hand. He met it with a hoof, though he looked a little bemused when I shook his hoof.

Easy snorted softly. "Next time just ball up your hand." She put out her hoof, Soft already gone. "Tap it."

A hoofbump, right. "I blame the drink." I met her offered hoof with a soft thump of my knuckles. "I have to make sure a ram pump is the best solution. We should go see that spring and what kind of situation we'll be looking at. If it flows in a river, that gives us a lot more power to work with."

She tilted her head left and right. "Oh, like a mill? Except... instead of grinding oats and things, you're moving water."

I had to smile at that. "Yes, exactly. That's another kind of pump we could use. There are countless ways to get water moving, we just have to pick the one that will work for this situation."

We were arriving back at our room. Opening the door revealed a pony with her head already bowed towards us. Water smiled brightly. "I had hoped you would return soon."

I reached for her head. She liked it when I touched her, so there was no foul there. I think she likes the feel of my bare skin against her fur. Good thing too, since I liked the feel of her fur against my skin. I gently stroked one of her ears. "I hope we didn't keep you waiting long, Water."

"Just a few minutes," she assured, though I didn't feel certain. She could have waited hours and would likely report the same. "Now that you are back, may we forget formalities?"

That was her way of saying 'I want to be your girlfriend now and not a maid.'

"Let's." I closed the door behind the snickering Easy. She knew what we would likely be doing, and it only amused her.

Author's Notes:

Dinner complete! Success, I think. Tomorrow, get funds, then, get building! What kind of pump would you use to supply the city? Is using a splash of magic a good idea or not?