"You called for me?" Celestia walked across the clean tiles as if she belonged there.

There was the bathing room I was in the middle of using! "I didn't call you here," I noted, turning towards her, most of me under the water. "But--"

"--Here I am," she finished with a coy little smile. "This is how we met, if you recall. One more shared bath will harm neither of us, unless you would rather not?" She had stopped, watching me.

If I sent her away, I figured, I might have to wait a while before she had time. Sneaking my meeting into her bath time was just dovetailing on her part. "No, come in. The water's fine."

"Speaking of that." Her magic began divesting herself of her ornaments. "I hear you've been quite busy. 'The Water Pony', that's what they've started to call you when you're not around." She smirked faintly at my expression. "Don't look like that. It's a good thing. It means they've accepted you." She popped each horseshoe free with a little sigh. "They're calling you a pony."

There was that... "I'll take what I get there. I was hoping to talk about another race entirely though."

"Another race?" She started to step into the pool gently. "Another tribe of ponies, or further afield?"

"Diamond Dogs," I cut right to the thick of things. "You know them?"

Celestia sank into the pool, the water sloshing up and spilling over before a new equilibrium was found. "I have spoken to their king before. A curious people, with curious ways. What of them?"

Well that was convenient. I grabbed the brush that I hadn't been using on myself and casually turned it around to start getting Celestia's broad barrel. She quirked a brow but didn't tell me to stop, so I continued. "I want to hire them, a force to help with the sub-city tunnels. They can do it faster than ponies can by far, get this done now, rather than later."

She wriggled her sun-kissed bottom beneath the water, her magic grabbing a bottle from across the room. "I see. They are talented with such things. Well, you have your budget. If you wish to hire them, I will not stop you."

"But you know how to reach them, and I do not." I softly stroked along her spine a moment, working down the other side. She was a relatively clean pony to start, the water not clouding with my efforts. "I need more than permission."

"Something you cannot do on your own?" she almost sang out in a teasing tone. "I had started to think you were convinced you could do anything you set your mind to."

"I still plan to, which sometimes involves getting someone in the right position to act." I started working around towards her under section, dutifully cleaning her. With a wet noise, she squeezed out some goopy stuff and began to work it into her mane with a smile. "You can clean yourself, but I can see and reach, so why not have me do it?"

"It is nicer, and faster," she easily agreed with a soft nod. "Just watch where you move that brush. We are not that familiar, and you will break her heart."

Wait. "You know ab--"

"--It is my job to know, Mister Langerman. I think it's charming, and will not stop your little romance, but I will take great umbrage if you mistreat her. She is a good mare, and deserves to be treated fairly." She lifted an ear. "If she is not to your liking, set her down gently, that she does not collect too many cracks when hitting the floor."

Jesus... "I like her just fine."

She turned towards me, just her head swiveling, ears on me. "You think her perfect?"

"Perfect is a strong word... Nopony is--"

She held up a hoof suddenly. "What word was that?"

"Perfect?"

"No, no. Nopony." She quirked a little smile. "I like it."

Crap, did I just invent that word? That was not on my list of things to do that day... "Um, right, as I was saying, she's not perfect, but who is? I like her just as she is."

"Should I be planning a wedding?" She brought her forehooves together in a wet clopping splash. "How delightful that would be. I would gladly release her into your care."

This was all moving in a direction I had not planned. "Let's refocus. Can you talk to the diamond dogs? It will be a paid position, of course."

"But what will you pay them?" She suddenly dipped her head into the water, her magic working the soap free of her mane in a spreading puddle of bubbles before she came back up with a gasp for air. "They have little interest in our bits. A practical people, really."

Practical was not the word I would have chosen, but these were early diamond dogs, and early ponies. I was living in the past, a thing I had to remind myself once in a while. Wait... "What if... the ones that help us could get some land to themselves?"

Celestia quirked an ear at that. "Land, here in Equestria? How bold... Though... it could help secure the ties between our kingdoms, a symbol of peace and cooperation. Yes... that would be nice..." She stood up, water running free of her form in great sheets. "You have the most fascinating ideas."

That would make two ponies who thought that in short order. A bad habit of mine perhaps? "Do you think it can work?"

"A little plot..." She tapped a hoof to her chin before starting to climb from the tub. "I think we can arrange this. I will see about this. While that is happening, I suggest you continue as best you can."

That brought up questions in my mind of the other races I knew. "What other kingdoms do you have relations with? You doing alright with the hippogriffs?"

Magic wrapped around me and half-dragged me from the pool. "Who told you of them?" Her tone was suddenly cold, her eyes narrowed at me.

Crap. How did I explain that? "There are stories of them, where I'm from."

"Stories?" She released me, letting me flop nakedly back into the pool. "Stories? They've... only just become a thing, a secret thing at that, and already stories?" She leaned in close, her equine face inches from mine. "And yet you speak plainly, with an edge. You know more than you admit. Is this part of that bright future you have seen?"

Well... "Yes, actually. I don't want to go into details."

"Yes, yes, musn't ruin that vision." She glanced away and back at me. "I am no stranger to visions of futures that may be. A delicate walk, that line, to see them through without ruining them. Tell me this alone... will there still be hippogriffs, in this happy future?"

Hippogriffs were new?! "They will have hard times, but they will have happy times, with good endings. They will..." I trailed off, unsure of what more would be prudent to say. "They'll be fine."

"Fine..." She turned away, her magic picking up her jewelry to re-adorn herself quietly for a moment. "They'll be alright... Do you know their true story?"

True story? "I didn't know there was a 'true' story to know."

"That answer speaks clearly." She stepped into each shoe one at a time, her magic working them perfectly into place. "In your happy future, perhaps this start was forgotten. Good... It serves us little to linger on it... The griffons." She tossed her head, perhaps in the direction of the griffons. "We have fought with them, long and hard. Bitter exchanges... Sometimes they capture a pony or two and instead of devouring them, make use of them for... other means."

She shook her head slowly as she moved for the door. "The result of those unhappinesses are the hippogriffs, a people that could be the bridge between our people, but instead stand alone and abused. I do what I can, which was very little... With our war abated, perhaps that can improve. They need a home, and so much more. They are not comfortable among the ponies of their mothers, nor among the griffons of their fathers."

"Shit..." I pulled myself free of the tub, suddenly lacking any desire to soak in its waters. "I thought they weren't related to either, to be honest." I mean, sure, myth had them related, but the show certainly had ignored that.

"Not related?" She turned back towards me with a powerful equine snort. "With the forebody of a griffon and the posterior of a pony, how can they not be? True, they lack our cutie marks... Another facet that drives a wedge, as if the violence of their creation separated them from destiny itself."

This was going downhill. "They don't think about that, in the future. I think, eventually, maybe it's just you that remembers?"

Celestia's lips turned upwards in a bitter smile. "A burden I would gladly bear, if it means none other need to. Yes, perhaps their children's children's children will forget this, if we can find them a safe place to live in peace. Tell me, are we still at war with the griffons?"

Crap... "Not sure I should answer that?" I pulled up some boxers and went for my shirt next, covering up. "It may change nothing, or not. I probably shouldn't be having this conversation at all."

"I thank you for doing so." She dipped her head a few inches before standing straight. "I will see about the diamond dogs. Perhaps, when times are less hectic, we can talk, speak of this bright future of yours. I would like to hear more tales of it, if you would."

She soon left me there, just getting on the last of my clothes. Was I supposed to tell her about things? Maybe my loose lips created the world I was trying to make. Maybe I was just one more prophetic voice in her head, guiding her towards that bright possibility. I wouldn't be the first, from the sound of it, and not the last. I knew not the last. Maybe she deserved to know...

"There you are!" Just as I came out of the bathroom, there was Easy, another unicorn just beside her, male, older. Her father? "Look who I brought with me."

"Not so loud," cautioned the male, a hoof to his lips. "We're in the royal palace! And you're shouting in it as if you own it. They'll throw us out... Or into jail. Maybe both?"

"Nice to meet you, Mister..." I offered a hand towards the stallion.

He suddenly reared up and thrust a hoof right into my palm, making a shaking motion as if he'd done it before. "Nice to meet you, Sir Langerman. That is your name, yes? My daughter's been gushing about you the entire way."

"I have not!" hotly defended Easy, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, this is my father, Tight Fit."

Tight nodded. "That's the name. I hear you're working with pipes?"

A few improper jokes danced into and out of my mind, shoved aside forcefully. Tight fit, what a name... "Nice to have you aboard. My goal is to provide fresh water to all of the city, and to carry waste away from the city. Two networks, water and waste. The two need to not contaminate one another."

His face scrunched up. "Oh, ick, no. I wouldn't want a little sip of someone's dropping, no sir." He fell back to all fours, head still shaking. "We can't have that. Now, I don't do... big pipes."

"He knows that, Dad." Easy thudded against his side with her own. "But there are plenty of smaller pipes that could use your touch."

"Now you're talking! Oh, little pipes to connect the entire city? That will be a maze... Looks like you'll need a..." I could see him waiting for the right moment, such a smug grin on his face. "--Tight Fit. Consider me hired, assuming you'll be paying, which my little girl assured."

I had a plumber! The day was looking good.

Author's Note

Ian has a heart to heart with Celestia. Do her words ring true in your ears?

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