As I stepped back into my assigned room, I heard rapidly-approaching hooves striking the ground. "You cheater!" It was Easy Breeze, looking incensed with a twitch just over her left eye. Her ears were folded low and back and a low growl shook her. "You got to her in front of me, and it wasn't even your turn!"

I put up my hands wardingly. "Easy there, we bumped into each other."

"In the bath of all places? It doesn't matter. You took it." She suddenly half-turned away. "They're kicking me out, don't want entertainers anymore."

Was the rumor network of the castle that fast? "Surely a mare of your talents will find other opportunities." I regretted my choice of words quickly.

"This was my big opportunity, you hairless freak! You've taken it away, without even trying. Do you think that makes it better? Do you!" She was facing me again, stomping her right forehoof. "I was ready to bedazzle her. I was playing by the rules!"

A thought came to me. "Were you serious?"

Her expression faltered a little. "About this? Of course I was."

"No, when we first met, you said you'd hire me when you won."

Her anger returned. "You're ready to rub that in my face then? You didn--"

I put a finger to her nose. It was like a pause button with ponies, even if temporary. "It's only fair if it goes both ways. Do you have any talents outside of entertainment?"

She crashed back onto her haunches. "I was..." I could see her swallowing the words. "I mean... I am a mare of many talents." Her confidence began to return. I could see it in how she stood up and her ears lifted. She was being bold instead of angry. "It depends on what you need."

"I am going to need eyes and hooves." I rolled a hand as I walked past her towards the window. "If Princess Celestia accepts my ideas, which seems likely, enacting them will be no simple matter. I will need orders given and supervising faces in more than one place at a time. In short..."

"You need an assistant," finished Easy Breeze with a smile. "A partner."

"Let's not jump to that title." I didn't know her quite that well yet. "But an assistant, for sure. What do you know of piping and construction?"

She blinked at me. "My father sent you, didn't he? This is more subtle than I would normally credit him with."

I, of course, didn't know of her father, but I started guessing. "Are you from a family of plumbers?"

She pointed a hoof at me. "Got it in one. Father wanted me to settle down and take up the family trade." She reached back and pulled up the hem of her skirt, allowing me to see her cutie mark. It showed a glittering top hat. "This is not a plumbing cutie mark. I was meant for more than that! And here I was, ready to seize that destiny."

Pony cutie marks were open to interpretation. Though they got it when they were 'close enough', better matches sometimes could be found with a bit of thought on the matter. "While that does look like a magician's hat, for one, you're not even wearing a matching one."

She glanced up in the direction of her conical hat. "I couldn't afford one..."

"For two, it could also be a mark of leadership. Serious ponies wear similar hats."

She blinked softly. "Well... Wait." She put a hoof to her chest. "While I like the idea of bossing other ponies around, that isn't what I've been practicing."

"Time to start." I crossed my arms, tapping my right foot. "Are you taking the position or not?" I had succeeded in my task. Her anger was entirely deflated in favor of considering this new possibility. "It will be a paying position."

Oh how her ears danced. "Well... I don't want to just go home in a sulk." She arched a brow at me, crossing her own hooves as if to imitate me. "How much are we talking?"

How much were supervising ponies typically paid? To hell if I knew. "We'll be hiring a lot of ponies, likely. We'll go over the fine details when we move forward. For now, you get to be an assistant, which keeps you in the castle."

"In the castle..." She suddenly nodded firmly. "Right. You have a deal." She thrust a hoof forward. "But you'd better be on the level. I didn't forget you like to cheat if you get a chance."

I balled my right hand into a fist and bumped it against her hoof and she moved up and down, forcing me to keep up to complete the pony equivalent of a shake. "It's a deal, but I'll need you to keep an eye on the other ponies involved, not me."

"Until there are other ponies, I'll start by watching you." She wrinkled her nose. "Consider it job practice." She hopped up onto the top bunk she had claimed. "What's first on your schedule?"

I had a schedule? "I planned to wait for Princess Celestia's reaction and order to proceed."

She wobbled a hoof in the air. "About that, what amazing idea did you throw at her?"

"Would you believe it is, essentially, plumbing?"

Her jaw hung open a little and she gave the most peculiar stare a moment. "Destiny... works in strange ways. Oh, hey! If you're doing a big plumbing job, we can hire my father, right? He's a good pony, great at it."

Nepotism never changed. I was facing back out the window, looking at the gardeners working to keep the palace lawn in meticulous order. "I can add him to the list of ponies to be considered for the jobs, but if I said I'd hire him without question, that would make me a poor manager."

She snorted indignantly behind me. "We can check out the rest, but you'll hire the best. He may be a pain in my rump at times, but he knows his pipes. What is it you're trying to do, install new water fountains? He's done those before."

"Bigger."

"An artificial waterfall? I didn't figure Celestia would drop everything for that."

Those sorts of things, outside of irrigation, were likely the tasks a plumber was faced with, I decided. "City-wide. We're going to take out the trash."

I could feel her staring at me. "Pipes are not good at that," she finally said, breaking the awkward moment.

"Not all trash." Did I have to explain it again? I'd likely have to explain it many times. I turned back to her and claimed a seat on a wide stool made for a pony perched on their haunches. "Let's start with the basics. When you..." What was the polite pony term for going to the bathroom, when they didn't have bathrooms of the sort I was thinking of, yet? "When your outhouse is full, what do you do?"

Her face screwed up with disgust. "Move the outhouse and make a new hole, of course. Yuck, what a distasteful topic."

"It only gets worse. I'm going to assume you're not from the city itself." Her ears fell and she glanced away. "Not an accusation, but imagine what a city pony has to do, since there isn't enough ground to move the outhouse around."

"I presume that explains the stench." Her eyes narrowed a little. "So what's your big idea?"

"Let ponies relieve themselves into the pipes directly, where it will be flushed away from the city, and our noses." I moved my fingers to trace the passage of the waste.

Easy blinked softly. "I am not going to sit on a pipe, and I doubt others will want to either."

"You won't." I stood up and paced the room. "You'll sit on a nice chair. The interior of that will lead to the pipe. Do your business in comfort, and enjoy a touch of cleanliness."

"If Celestia likes the idea." She shook her head slowly. "Enough of discussing how best to take care of nature's call. You are not going to sit there and wait for Celestia."

That sounded like an order. "As opposed to?"

"We are going to assume she wants to go ahead." She stood up on her bed. "We should get to work, deciding what we need to get done, considering who will need to be hired, all of that. By the time she gives the go ahead, we should be ready to do that, immediately. You'll impress her."

Perhaps I had picked the right pony. "Alright, Easy. Let's do that. Do you have something to write with?"

A quill and a sheet of parchment hovered beside her, drawn from that unknown space that ponies favored. "You hired the best," she sang in reminder as she hopped down to the floor. "Just give me a moment to prepare." She drew out a sheet of cloth that had little straps and attached it to her snout, covering her nose entirely. "There we are."

"What is that?" It looked like an equine surgical mask.

"Keeps the worst of the smells out. It's scented." She shook her head. "Doesn't stop all of it, but I'll take what I can get." She trotted ahead. "Let's get to it." Her horn glowed as she opened the door, to find a maid waiting there. "Hello?"

It was Water Lily. She smiled at Easy Breeze nervously. "I was sent to help see you from the castle, miss?"

I stepped up quickly. "That won't be needed."

Water tilted her head. "But she's been dismissed, sir."

"She is in my direct employ," I explained, reaching to put a hand on Easy's tense back. "In fact, we're just going out to start the preliminary work for the princess. Easy will be staying with me, for her benefit."

"I will have to inform my superiors," Water said, her eyes falling. "Proprieties, sir."

"Of course." I moved past Easy to gt to right in front of Water. "You're doing your job, and doing it well. Just tell them she's working for Celestia through me, and we plan to make her happy."

Water perked up a little. "Of course, sir. O-oh! I was to tell you this is to be your chamber for now." She indicated the room we were leaving. "I-if you wish to share it with Miss Breeze, I suppose that is your discretion, sir." There was a faint coloring to her cheeks. She was assuming.

"Easy will be operating as my assistant, but we have no romantic involvement," I said, trying to make that clear.

Easy snorted like the angry horse she was. "Me? With him?! He's not a pony. Whatever he is, he's naked and ugly. How would--" She seemed to catch herself. "I mean... no... offense boss?" She smiled so sheepishly. "Still, not interested."

That was artless, but served the purpose. "As you can see."

"Her loss," sighed out Water before she froze, realizing what she had said. "I'll clean while you're gone!" She said in a squeak, rushing into the room and slamming the door shut behind herself.

Easy smirked in the direction of the fled maid. "She has it bad for you. Strange mare. Let's go."

I glanced back at the closed door before moving to match Easy's pace as we wove our way through the castle. We had a city to survey, and I was looking forward to starting on what would hopefully be the first of many great projects to lift the primitive country of Equestria to grandness.

"Say, this idea of yours." Easy was looking over her shoulder at me. "Did you come up with it, or dig it out of a book?"

"The latter is more truthful."

"Minotaurs?" She hiked a brow. "I hear they have something kind of like what you described, but good luck getting close enough to find out."

Was Equestria behind some of its neighbors?

I would have to do something about that.

Author's Notes:

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