We collected the water in a jug, fresh from the spring. "Tell me, any idea how safe ponies consider this source?"

Easy shrugged and looked to Work. Work considered the mostly clear water. "We drink from here quite often. Ponies do not typically bathe in it, sir."

"What do they bathe in?" Considering the scents around the city... "Or do they just not unless they are both rich and feeling it?"

"That is the right of it." He reached for the jug, tapping at its watery contents from the side. "What did you need water for, sir? You're staying at the castle. Surely they could have gotten no limit of water for you."

Easy floated the big jug up. "You can't make Pure Water out of magic water; learned that earlier." She turned to me. "Alright, so what's the trick?"

"Step one, we need to get a good metal pot. Think they'll lend us one at the castle?" I was dressed and good to go, looking towards the castle. "Imagine they have some."

Work nodded. "Without doubt." His horn began to glow as he joined his arcane grip with Easy's, sharing the load. "I'll help."

We made our way back to the castle. At my side, Work Pants were permitted inside without much todo. A quick inquiry pointed us towards the kitchen where everything I needed resided. There were pots, and flames. Perfect.

I grabbed a pot that looked big enough to hold all the water we had collected and set it on a free burner.

"Excuse me?" came a male voice. A peek over my shoulder revealed a pony in a chef's attire. "Can I help you? If you want something prepared, you just need to ask."

"Sorry for intruding." I patted the stovetop. "I just need to use this for a little bit and I'll be right out of the way as soon as possible."

Without prompting, Easy hefted the jug in her magic and poured it out into the pot.

The chef seemed befuddled. "Why are you bringing your own water? We have a spout just there." He pointed to a spigot attached to the wall. "Clear water on demand."

Magic water, I safely assumed. "No, thanks. Do you have a lid for this pot? That'd be great. The better the fit, the better." I was looking around for one, but there were a lot of tools to choose from.

A lid floated over in the chef's magic, popping right over the pot. "What are you preparing, exactly?"

Work reached out to turn on the flames under the pot. "Pure Water, I'm told, sir."

The chef only looked more confused. "You're performing alchemy, in my kitchen?"

I had to smile at that. "It's a kitchen. You've been doing alchemy in here from the start."

The chef frowned a moment before a little smile emerged from it. "You may have a point there, sir. Will this create any foul odors I should be concerned of?"

"Just boiling water," I assured. "Nothing should be hurt. We'll be gone after it's done, promise."

"Now I'm a little curious." He did have other things to do, being a royal chef. He went back to cooking, but kept looking over, keeping an idle eye on what we were doing.

Turns out? Watching water boil is still not terribly interesting. The water heated to a roiling boil which is when I set a timer for ten minutes on my phone and the waiting resumed. Some of the water escaped as steam, unavoidable, but the lid kept most of it in place.

My phone began chiming its alert. The boiling was complete. I reached for the knob and realized it was really made for a hoof to press against and twist, rather than human fingers to grasp. Thankfully Easy spotted my confusion and twisted it with her magic. "All done?"

"All done," I agreed. "Excuse me, is it alright if we keep this pot for a little while?"

The chef tilted his head, looking befuddled. "I suppose that shouldn't hurt too much. We have more pots. Please do bring it back when you're done." He leaned in towards the pot. "Is it pure now?"

"Pure enough." Sure, any solid material was still in there, but the creepy crawlies were removed. Minerally fortified! That was a bonus, right? I felt certain enough that the town wasn't suffering lead poisoning or similar. Of all the problems they had, that wasn't one of them. "Let's get this back to the room."

With a spot of teamwork, the metal pot was floated back to our room and set aside to cool, its lid fastened securely. Work smiled with a satisfaction of a job well done. "If that's all, I should stop loitering around here. A pleasure to assist, Sir."

Easy was suddenly at his side. "Don't be so fast. Pretty sure Boss wants to do more today."

I did. "Good eye. We have to hike up the mountain and find the real source of the water."

Work turned for the door. "It's quite a climb to the top of the mountain, Sir, Miss. If we want to do it, we'd best get started."

I patted him once on the back on the way past. "Have I mentioned I love your work ethic?"

"Comes with the name," he said in a pleased tone. We all marched out of the castle and turned out eyes to the cool purple-blue stones of the mountain and the sparse trees that dotted it.

Nothing to do but climb it... We left the city once more, aiming to climb up in the direction that the underwater river seemed to be coming from. Now, pony bodies were pretty good at some things, but human hands were still #1 for climbing. I thanked my simian ancestors for their climbing habits as I scaled from perch to perch, building up a sweat in the chilly air that had me alternately feeling hot and cold.

Easy dragged herself up to a platform and flopped onto it, heaving. "How... do you... climb so fast?" She sat up, huffing for breath. "Another one of your magics?"

Work collapsed beside her, just making it to the same ledge. "I normally enjoy my form, Miss, but his hands do seem quite suited to this task. Are we almost there?"

"I honestly couldn't say." I craned my neck to look up the mountain, but there wasn't much to see from that angle. "I'm hoping we'll see it when we get there. Until then, we keep climbing until there's nothing left to climb."

The sun progressed, noting the hours in its silent way. It was becoming evening by the time we found something worth mentioning. There it was! A pool of dark water. The rocks beneath it were the source of the darkness, the water clear and still. I reached into the water and could feel it flowing subtly, likely working its way back down the mountain to the pond we had started at. "Fantastic."

More than fantastic. I burst into relieved laughter.

"Eh, Boss, what's so funny?" Easy was peering at me with exhaustion and confusion. "I mean, we found water, hirrah and all that, but it's so far away... How is this better?"

Work shook his head slowly. "I have to agree with Miss Breeze. How does this improve the situation?"

"Having water higher up means we have gravity on our side, instead of fighting against it. Our options for getting the water through the city just went up." I was sitting next to the water, pony-legs folded under me. "Work, this is where the pipe has to start, big and strong, working down the mountain and into the city, to carry fresh water to everypony there."

Work rubbed at his cheek with the flat of a hoof. "I see... This will certainly be a significant task, but not impossible. Do you have the bits, Sir?" There was a desperate hope in his polite eyes. He was trying to hold back that desperation.

"Let's get back to the castle and find out if we do." I pulled out my phone and set a waypoint on the map of where the spring was. No reason to be unsure about that again in the future. "Ready to climb down?"

"No!" wailed Easy, flopping to the side, her hooves kicking out lamely. "Isn't there an easy way?"

Work trotted for the edge overlooking the city and suddenly sat down. "The view is quite... amazing."

We joined him and saw what he was looking at. There was Canterlot spreading out under us, lit with the darkening sun. It wasn't as bright as, say, a modern city, but it was quite nice as sights went. Easy sat next to Work and soon I joined them. Enjoying the sight seemed to ease some of our fatigue.

"Let's get down before it gets completely dark." I started down first, cheating with clever fingers that could find purchase where hooves could not.

Easy moaned in predicted effort, but she began to descend with Work and I. We were soon back where we had begun. Relatively soon. The moon was rising in the sky and it was becoming quite dark as we wove through towards the castle. We were all quite tired, but... "Today was a good day. We got a lot done."

And it wasn't quite over. With the water cooled in our absence, I hurried it over to our magician friend. "Here you are, Pure Water."

He tapped the pot softly. "Hmm... A cooking pot? A curious choice of tools. I should warn, if you did not properly purify the water, the filter could create contaminated water whose foul odors will sicken all that suffer it without further purification." He tilted his head. "Making it into wine, for instance."

Germ theory could not come fast enough... "It's clean and ready. I'll have the exact pipe to you as soon as possible. Can you start without that?"

"In part, but not in earnest until I have that measurement, or a sample of the pipe it will be affixed to." His horn glowed as the pot lifted and moved to the side. "I look forward to that."

Which left another pony to see. Soft. Fortunately for me, he was with Water, in my room. Both dipped their head towards me as I entered with Work and Easy. All of my...

I had friends. It was a silly realization, but I had built up a few friends in that new world, and it was kind of nice. They were more than casual employees or contractors. I liked them, and I think they liked me back. "Good to have everyone together. Soft, do you have good news for us?"

Soft smiled a satisfied smile. "I am pleased to announce that we have been given official leave to begin spending Canterlot's funds. We may begin as soon as possible. I have been given the details." His horn glowed as a paper floated into view. "Which I now give to you. This is all you need to give to any given pony for them to be able to retrieve the money from the vaults, provided you sign the promissory note. They said that you are authorized to spend 100,000 bits, to be reviewed and possibly renewed after 3 moons.

A choke of a sound brought my eyes to Work. Tears were escaping him, but he was trying so hard to compose himself. "It's real..."

I set a hand on his withers. "Go home, get some sleep, then gather your crew. How much do you need to have to pay their wages for a week?"

He stuttered a quick number, working it out as he said it, his hooves moving as if to help him do the calculations. "This is... too much. Today has been so very full, Sir..."

Easy set a hoof on him beside my hand. "Hey, take it easy. We're in this. We're gonna build something great!"

"Exactly." I scribbled the amount, but paused just as my quill reached the paper. "Does that include your pay, Work, as the crew's leader?"

The number hopped up a little, Work blushing at having forgot to pay himself. Soon he had the check, or the equivalent. He had bits, precious bits. Work could start.

Author's Notes:

Today was a good day, I say.

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