We emerged from the halls of the castle. The guards nodded as we passed, not impeding our progress. "Easy, for sake of argument, how close is your father?"

"Like how close am I to him?" She shrugged as she stepped down the broad platforms. "I ran away from the family business, but he took it alright."

Interesting, but... "Not what I meant. Physically?"

"A week's hike, give or take." She shook her head. "We should only call for him if we have a job, for sure."

That was a shame. I would have liked to chat with a pony that had any idea what I was doing, which he might, or might not. "Alright, we'll have to find someone closer then."

We walked along the well-paved path towards the exit, the soft and groomed grass on either side a pleasant thing to behold, at least until we reached the end. It was a sudden transition to the rest of the city, with trash and broken things coming into sight the moment the walls of the castle ground were behind us. It wasn't an immediate junk heap, but the difference was quite instant.

Easy Breeze shook her head. "If you're getting the princess to listen to you, why not start with the obvious stuff?"

"Mm?" There were so many angles to approach. "She said her number one priority is illness in city ponies."

"Not sure how this'll help with that, but why not clean up?" She waved a hoof as we went, indicating each bit of debris as we went as it grew thicker the farther we walked. "Back home, we didn't have trash piles like this, especially not where ponies walk."

I imagined the little town she likely came from. They probably buried their refuse, and had plenty of ground to do so in. Maybe they even had a dump for everyone to make use of. For that matter, why didn't Canterlot have a dump? "Tell me, what did ponies 'back home' do with their trash?"

Easy hiked a brow like that was a silly question. "The mayor'd tan yer hide for everyone to see if the front of your house wasn't fit for walking past, to start." She chuckled as if remembering watching such an action of law. "Everyone did their part if they didn't want fines, or worse."

I looked at the mess that made up Canterlot. Celestia had to know what other towns were doing. Why hadn't it made its way to Canterlot? "Was there a dump?"

"What's that?"

"A single place people put their trash?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that." She shrugged softly. "I mean, we usually just took it out of the town. The river was good for a lot of it."

Ah. That was less idyllic. There were a lot of things to fix. If I let myself get distracted, I could spend forever bouncing between projects, all equally important, and all not being done. "Let's focus on the sewers first. We get that done, we can tackle garbage disposal."

"Out of the way," came a sudden new voice. A large mare was pulling a cart down the street in our direction. "Unless you're dead, I have no use for you." Her dull-green eyes were fixed on us in irritation. That cart she was hauling had something I had not hoped to see. She was moving the still forms of less fortunate ponies.

I moved hastily to the left side of the road as Easy jumped to the right, opening the way for her to stomp past. As soon as she passed, I met Easy back in the road. "One bit of sanitation seems to be working."

East frowned at that. "Great. Pardon me if I don't get too happy about that." The mask she wore fluttered with a snort and she proceeded. "Now what are we looking for, exactly?"

"The first step, I imagine, is a lay of the grade of the land." I tapped at the street as we went with a foot. "The city is carved out of the mountain, so I imagine they tried to make it flat, but we should make sure it actually is. We also need to know how thick the platform we're on is, and if putting a sewer system in is going to cause issues with it."

"And we start doing that how?" She had an ear directed at me as we hiked.

Step one, cheat. I dug out my phone and had it awake quickly. 100% read the battery. I still wasn't sure how that worked exactly. One theory I had broke down to magic. Yes, magic was a weak excuse, but it did seem to be a 'thing' in that world, and maybe the phone liked it? I didn't argue the good fortune. I pulled up the app I had downloaded some time ago on a lark that was about to be useful.

"What are you doing?" asked Easy, looking up at the phone curiously. "What is that? It's a strange-looking thing. Magic?"

There was that word again. "Basically." I wasn't going to try to explain what a phone was. I swiveled the phone left and right slowly and a bubble on the screen moved to always point upwards. "It will tell us if something is flat, or in what direction it's slanted."

She pointed at the ground with a hoof. "Well, go ahead then."

It was as fine a spot as any to check. I crouched down and put my phone on a lonely clean brick. There was an incline, but it was a tiny one. The ponies had constructed well. "We'll need more readings to be accurate, and what's true in one place might not be in another. Record this though."

She loyally jotted down the incline and position and we began roaming the city, taking measurements as we went.

A male voice whispered harshly as we walked, "What in the sun are you doing?" We turned to see a lanky unicorn stallion in a vest and pants peering at us from an alleyway. "You working for Sombra, mayhap? Luna sympathizers?"

Easy looked ready to just keep walking and ignore the stallion outright. I put a hand on her back to slow her. "Neither of those things. We're on assignment for Princess Celestia."

His eyes narrowed. "Find that hard to believe."

"Why is that?"

He waved a hoof around. "It isn't obvious? She's so busy taking care of the world, she's forgotten to give a hoot about what's going on right underhoof."

Easy took a step back, tossing her head in a signal to continue, but I wanted to hear what the stallion was talking about. "Yeah? Are things that dire?"

The stallion took a step forward. "You don't know? Guess you wouldn't, if you think the bit stops at her."

It didn't? "Where does it?"

He put out a hoof turned upwards. "You reached the end of my generosity."

Easy Breeze returned to my side just to bump against me. "Ignore him. We have plenty of work left to do."

"Hold on a moment." I crouched down to be even with the stallion. "Do you want this to get better?"

The Stallion turned his head, eyeing me with one eye directly. "Sure, I guess. I live here. That doesn't feed me, and nopony has been rushing to do that." He turned his outheld hoof to face the flat end towards me instead of upwards. "So, what's your name, good sir?"

"Ian Langerman," I easily replied as I reached out and held his hoof. He shook it up and down, not seeming too disarmed by the motion. "Nice to meet you."

"Same, but it won't be if you keep going that way." He drew his hoof back just far enough to swing it down the road we had been going down. "The city has turfs, and that is far from a good one."

That got Easy's attention. "There a wild herd here?" Her eyes darted wildly. "Are they dangerous?"

I pointed to the stallion. "Beside you answer that, a name is usually a trade."

"Too right." His ears went to the sides. "Apologies. I'm Work Pants. So, are you really with the princess?" He looked towards the nervous Easy. "And your name, miss?"

"Easy Breeze." She made a dismissive wave of her right hoof. "So what's this about dangerous gangs of ponies?"

"They're harmless, if you stay out of their territory." He rose to stand properly. "We have an understanding, on account of my living there. Word goes around, mister Langerman, and they're eager to meet you." He glanced down the road. "Not in a friendly way."

That was far from ideal, but a thought nagged at me. "Why don't they come to me then?"

"Not how it works." Work looked to Easy. "You're not local, and neither is the gentlepony. That's another strike against you."

Easy flinched back. "We're just trying to help and make some honest bits. Why would anypony be upset at that?"

"It's not terribly polite, but we live in interesting times." He put a hoof under his chin. "You're either with us, or against us, and they don't know you, so they assume. Now, you've been nothing but upstanding with me so far, so I gently caution you to find another place to be."

I was getting a solid picture. "Thank you, for giving us the benefit of the doubt."

He smiled. It was a toothless curling of his lips. "A pleasure. Now, I don't... mean to sound needy, but times really have been difficult." His hoof turned back around, offering the flatside up.

And there was the trick. Celestia had not given me a single bit yet. I didn't have too much. Still, I had a castle to go get something to eat. I dug around in my pockets and drew out one of my precious remaining bits of candy. I placed the nutty-caramely teat on his hoof. "From a distant land, and one of my last ones. I hope it helps." I saw him about to try biting right into the wrapper and quickly stopped him with a yelp. "Wait! No. It's wrapped."

"Oh, my mistake." His horn glowed and he quickly had the wrapper broken and the nutty bar coming into view. "This is a fascinating bit of confectionary."

He talked fancy for a random beggar. "Say, what did you do for a living, before you became... disadvantaged?"

"Gently put," he said with a smile before he took a bite of the bar and let out a happy sigh. "A little too sweet, but lovely. Thank you. I worked in construction. It's hard work, but good work. I ran a herd of builders that oversaw some very nice buildings being erected that I see not one bit from now that they're done." He leaned back against the wall he was beside. "But let's not get mired in the unfortunate past."

Easy sprung forward. "Hey, what luck! We're looking for builder ponies. You still have your buddies around?"

His ears went up as he flinched back in surprise from her sudden approach. "Y-yes... I mean..." He looked suddenly very awkward.

"Don't mind her." I gently pulled her back. "She's eager to get to work, but she isn't wrong. We are in the market for able-bodied construction experts."

He glanced between her and me. "I don't doubt you, sir... but most of that gang ahead... That is where they turned to make ends meet. It's unfortunate, but it works for them." His barrel expanded before a great sigh escaped him. "I opted against it. I'd rather starve than turn against my fellow ponies, but I don't hold it against them. Many of them have families that need feeding, sir. They're not bad ponies, just in bad times."

There was more going on than just a simple lack of hygiene and technology. Equestria had problems. I started to wonder just how much Celestia knew. If she wasn't the one at the top of the chain, who was? Knowing that would be vital if I hoped to make any real progress. "Work Pants, we have things to discuss." I couldn't hire him right away.

Celestia hadn't even approved the project, if that was something she could do.

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