Easy Breeze suddenly threw open the doors in front of us in an angry display. "We have things to discuss!"

I quickly moved to get ahead of her, but she didn't stop advancing. "Your Majesty," I offered as I tried to get her under control. "Apologies."

Celestia arched a brow down at us, looking between Easy and I. "I had been informed you were now in Ian's employment," she spoke in a gentle tone.

I finally got a hand on Easy's withers and grabbed the scruff of her neck and cape, barely restraining her from moving forward. "That's correct, and she should remember that."

Easy lowered to her haunches with a huff. "None of that changes that there are things we need to discuss, now." She waved a hoof at the door, closing it. "What is going on?"

Celestia's magic set the cup of tea she had been holding down. "You'll need to be a little more specific than that."

I took the step forward needed to be a little ahead of Easy. "We've seen that there are... issues--"

"Issues, he says." Eyes rolled her eyes mightilly.

"--that go beyond what a sewer system will repair. There are city ordinances that are not being enforced. The economy appears to be in disrepair. We're not sure if you have the funds and right to even authorize this project, even if it can be done in this environment."

Celestia gestured with a hoof to two chairs across the table from her. The table had small selections of biscuits and cakes. "Let us speak." Her eyes settled on the visibly irritated Easy Breeze. "I confess some surprise that you are so moved."

Easy's ears went up as she reared back a little. "What? You don't think I care about my country? Just because I perform for a living doesn't mean I'm blind to what's going on around me." She turned to me. "Besides, these days I'm a partner and manager, which means I need to keep my eyes and ears open."

I echoed Celestia's gesture before moving to take one of the two seats. "She's already been a help. So, I presume you knew this before we did. Do you have a plan at the moment?"

Celestia raised a tea kettle in her magic and poured a small cup for either of us. "I have many, but you have already seen where it has brought us. Equestria, as a whole, is beset with difficulties. I have done what I can, taking care of the more pressing matters. There is precious little time or resources left for 'smaller' things, even if they mean all the difference to my little ponies."

Easy brought down a hoof beside her cup of tea, making it rattle dangerously. "What's going on that's such a big deal?!"

That was a thought I shared. "Is there a war?" I posited with a raised brow of my own.

"Just one?" She raised her glass and sipped some of the tea gently. "My ponies are not suited for it. They are miserable, but we push on. For every attack, we must show strength, or be overwhelmed. The griffons look down on us. The minotaurs barely acknowledge we exist." Her brows went up together. "Don't get me started on the dragons. This all ignores factions of ponies that have turned away from Equestria and taken things into their own hooves. The Saddle-Arabians, the Anugyptian tribes... Then there are the closer cities that have simply decided they would be better off alone, and we don't have the spare power to argue the fact."

It seemed we had triggered a bit of a release. That was more information than I imagined she had planned to say at first. I sipped from the tea. It tasted bitter. Was it the tea's fault, or the situation? "Who are you at war with right this moment?"

Easy shook her head, looking a bit surprised. "Is it really that bad? I haven't heard a peep about any of--"

Celestia suddenly leaned forward, her long neck going across the table and brought her face close to Easy's. "We work very hard for you to not hear it. For some ponies, at least, to live peaceful lives." She righted herself and took a slow breath. "My apologies. As I'm sure you understand, this has been a trying time."

I raised a lone finger. "The current situation?"

"Ah, yes." She frowned softly. "You seem genuine in your interest, but I don't know you, sir. I would be doing a poor job to divulge much to an unvetted foreigner. What kingdom do you even call home?"

I spread my hands out, palms up. "This is the only kingdom I can call home. My original is a world away, and I doubt I'll be getting back to there. I want Equestria to succeed."

Celestia pressed her forehooves together, studying me. Easy was less quiet in her thoughts. "What do you mean 'a world away'? You're a freaky minotaur, right?" She turned her head back to Celestia. "I'm an Equestrian, tell me!"

She gestured at Easy, then me. "You are in his employ. If I do not trust him, I cannot trust you. You are correct, however. He does have the appearance of a very unusual minotaur. He has told me this is a false appearance." She leaned head head slightly over her touching hooves. "Care to tell us how you came to be here, among us ponies?"

I was hoping to avoid that story, but that was, perhaps, a silly thing to avoid. If she didn't know me, she couldn't trust me, and we would go nowhere. "I wanted to be here." Her brow raised. "Where I'm from, you are little more than a children's tale. Of course, it also glossed over the specifics that made your world work. I thought, 'I can improve on that.'. I did not know I could arrive some time in the past--"

Easy clopped a hoof on the table, that time hard enough to knock her cup right over, spilling the tea in a sadly spreading pool. "You're a time-traveling monster from... somewhere, come to play god with us?"

Celestia was silent, watching.

I was being judged. "I come only with information. I'm not a god by any measure. Hell, if Celestia wanted to, she could end me in a dozen ways before I squeaked, but I trust and hope she wouldn't do that to an unarmed person that comes with friendship in his heart."

Easy grinned in a cocky way as she wagged a hoof at me. "And you think I couldn't be creative? You're lucky you're good at ear massages, which you still owe me, by the way."

Celestia's mask fractured into a soft blink. "Ear massages?"

I opened my mouth to peak, but Easy was still going on, "I've seen a mare melt when he gave one. He knows how to use those fingers of his. So you came to rub it in our snouts that you have some fancy answers, that right?"

That was about as graceless a way to put it. "I want to share what I know with people who deserve to know it."

Celestia slowly sighed. "Tell me then, if you have come from the future, what have you seen?"

I considered that. Would it be right to say directly? "If I ended up here, I choose to accept there's a reason for that. If I can't visit the present and make a better future, it falls on me to help make sure the past becomes the present. Telling too much about that feels like it could be risky."

Celestia turned one hoof around so the clad frog was facing up. "Let us put this another way. In what major ways did this world, this 'past', surprise you?"

Where to begin with that? "There's... I missed by at least five hundred years, maybe more. Ponies aren't big on calendars, I've noticed."

"They are increasingly un-needed in cultivated areas of Equestria." Celestia looked to Easy. "Explain."

Easy jumped on being called. "Huh? Oh! Right. I mean... when is it spring? When we make it spring. When is it winter? Same deal. We argue about when's best to do it, but the ponies of my town worked pretty hard making sure it all came when it was needed."

Celestia smiled serenely. "It is my distant hope to, someday, have all of Equestria under the control of my little ponies, to have the seasons unified and upheld in harmony." She leveled her gaze on me intensely. "Do I have a hope of achieving this?"

"It isn't impossible," I said, trying to avoid a concrete answer, and it seemed to please her. "Let's not talk about the future. We have plenty to deal with right now. I didn't know Equestria was quite so... troubled." I rose to my feet, pushing my chair back with my legs in the same motion. "I'm ready to help."

Easy burst into sudden laughter. "I had you measured up wrong. I figured you were in it for some easy bits, and here you are, spinning grand promises without a single bit being offered. Are you going to drag me right down to Hades with you, mmm?" Her eyes slid over to Celestia. "Regardless, this is better than working on fountains. Count me in."

Celestia spread her hooves lightly. "Even if I accept you both at your words, there are other things in the way beyond your good will. The royal houses are split several ways on the best way to address these concerns. If I don't include them in whatever plan is devised, I'm asking for more problems. Neither of you represent them, nor are they present. If you wish to do more than plumb, you will need to become involved in the workings of this city."

Easy's eyes narrowed. "Or the failings, seeing as little in it is working right."

My dreams of being the engineer were fading. "We've met one, but I'm sure we'll need to meet many more nobles to get this moving." I glanced in the direction we had met our last. "My expertise, my specialty, you could say, is more these." I wriggled my fingers. "I'd rather get to work, but there's--"

Celestia finished my sentence, "--no point trying while things remain as they are. In this, we agree. I had planned to keep you around, learning what I might, but I never would have given the clear to advance. The funds are not present for such a project." She brought her hooves together slowly. "It is a relief that we all see the truth of the matter. This isn't to say that I'm not interested and fascinated by your proposal, but it must wait."

Easy's ears fell. "Does this mean I'm not a manager?"

I reached for one of those fallen ears and gently ran my fingertips along it from the base to the end. I could feel it twitch and jump as I found the more sensitive parts of it. Easy's eyes fell half shut as a little happy noise escaped her. "On the contrary," I argued lightly. "I need an assistant more than ever, though some call them 'secretaries'."

Easy's nose wrinkled softly. "I prefer the title of manager, if you please."

Celestia glanced between us. "He does have a talent. Perhaps in a coming day, I will experience this, but tonight is not that night." She rose, towering over us easily, though standing, she and I were not far from eye to eye. That was when I realized she had a whole body stretching out behind her. She was much larger than I was. "For tonight, I must retire and prepare for another day of work. If you wish to join me in this, report at the throneroom come the first rays of my sun. I will not afford you a favored seat. That will be up to you two to earn." She turned for the door. "I can only wish you luck."

Author's Notes:

Build a sewer? You thought that would solve all our problems? As if.

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