"I'm glad you could make the time to see me," the stallion speaking those words was seated in a large comfortable chair behind an equally ornate chest. He wore a set of glasses, itself a status symbol for how expensive they were. "I hear you've been quite busy."

I was seated across from him, in a smaller chair, a reminder that he was the ruler of that little office. "In all the right ways. Things are proceeding even better than I could have hoped for. This--"

He held up a hoof for quiet. "That is why we are here. I am the financier." He inclined his head towards a bag of bits there on the table. "While the council can approve the start of a project, it is by my word alone that they continue to receive funding. I am here to audit what, exactly, the kingdom's bits have been spent on, and what you plan to spend them on next."

I hadn't met that pony before. He gave off the impression of wanting facts, nice and orderly. Very well. I dug out my phone and soon had a document open. I flipped it around and nudged it towards him. "Here is a copy of my latest budget. It goes over each thing bits were spent on."

"I say..." He picked up the phone in his magic, eyes narrowing at it. "What manner of... no matter. It seems to only have part of the report, where is the rest?"

"Alright if I come around?" He floated the phone back to the middle of the desk where I could reach it. "That also works." I reached and showed him how to scroll up and down and left and right and soon he was looking around intently.

A floating quill began to write busily, copying down the budget line by line, I could see upside down. "Mmm... What are these negative numbers? You're receiving money?"

"My manager is approaching the upper crust and prioritizing them based on the contributions they make," I explained, gesturing in the air. "And we're--"

"--Accepting bribes?" One brow went up. "Hardly seemly behavior."

"The money is going directly back into the project." I pointed at the floating phone. "As you can see, every bit is accounted for. Their money isn't for me, not a single bit. Their contributions mean we can get this done faster and ensure everyone has flowing water."

"I can see what you've recorded, but how can I be sure every bit has been recorded?" He set the phone down in reach, so I took it back. "It's not an entirely new idea, to attempt to rally the nobles behind a project, but typically this is done without material rewards."

"Is it a reward?" I sat up in the chair, even if it was sized for a pony's haunches. "When we are done, everyone will have the same pipes, the same sinks, and the same everything else leading to their home. The only difference is who gets it first."

"I should imagine some will look fancier than others." A faint smile touched his lips. "But you can hardly stop them from redecorating. Yes..." His quill worked busily as he reached for a binder and flipped it open. "You've only used 47% of your budget. At this time, you were scheduled to be coming up on 65-80% of it, which is why I scheduled this meeting." He leaned forward, quill still dancing. "I scheduled this meeting months ago."

Had it been months? Time flew when I was getting things done. "The influx of funds through our prioritizing has lowered the pressure on the financing. We are having new plumbers joint the workforce. We're up to three, with two more getting up to speed. They will take more bits, but will get the project done far more quickly than the original plan of only having one."

"One pony, for such a large task? I'm glad that's been put to rest." The quill scratched at the paper. "Still, with such efficiency, do you require ongoing funding?"

Ah, the bane of governmental spending. If you were good with your money, well, did you actually need money? "The project is only going to increase in speed. We are also keeping some set aside for repairs, upkeep, and accidents. Though we've managed to avoid it so far, somepony will invariably break a pipe somewhere, and we'll be called on to repair it until a full guild of plumbers is established."

His glasses fell a few inches down his snout. "You are forming a guild? Of what was that? Plums? What do plums have to do with it?"

"I will not be." As if I knew much about guilds, or the work a plumber actually did. "I will be encouraging a pony to do so." What did plumber mean, as a word? I'd have to look that up later. "He's good with pipes, and I'll nudge him towards organizing with the others."

"Tight Fit?" he asked, eyes falling to his sheet. "Your first 'plumber'?"

"Actually, no." I had other, larger, plans for that clever pony. "Pipe Dream, one of our newer ones."

He muttered as he worked down the paper until the name came up. "Ah, here he is. More leadership skills?"

"More focused skills," I corrected with a little smile. "He only wants to work with pipes, so I say he should be in charge of it. Tight Fit has wider dreams."

"Dreams, yes." Another scribble. "Well, I doubt he can compare to you, Sir. Your dreams seem without capacity. There were many awaiting your dismal failure." He set his quill down in its ink vial. "You've won me no few bits by what I am about to announce."

That was either good or bad. "Which is?"

"I approve the continuation of this project, at the same continuing budget level. I expect another meeting with you to review your numbers. Continue to keep track meticulously of every bit given or spent. If you continue to run low, I will wish some of it back. The city, and the kingdom as a whole, does not lack for projects in need of coin. There is little reason for you to hold onto more than you need."

He suddenly leaned forward. "I will be reviewing those expenditures. Do not purchase what need not be purchased. I know when books have been altered for my benefit."

There was a pony that took his job seriously, but he seemed a straight shot. I offered a hand. "A pleasure meeting with you. We'll catch up in another few months then?"

He looked at my hand suspiciously a moment before he imitated the gesture, offering a hoof towards me. Oh how he jumped when I took hold of his hoof in my fingers, but we managed a shake, mostly of my own initiative. He reclaimed his hoof and sat up with a little throat clear. "Yes, well, I have many other projects to review. That will be all."

That was a dismissal if ever I heard one. I rose, gave a little nod, and went off to pursue other work.

"Something's bothering me." There was Easy, her hooves hanging off the edge of her bed, her tail swaying behind her. "You have everything accounted for. I help with that." She turned one hoof towards herself with pride. "But there's at least one person not getting paid a bit for all the work they're doing."

I quickly ran through the list I could think of. "There's Tight, he has a set wage. Pipe, Quarter?"

She shook her head slowly. "You are a creature of perfect innocence, or just an idiot, and I lean towards the latter." She thrust the same hoof at me as had been pointing at herself. "You, ninny. You're not getting paid! You add all your expenditures as project expenses, but that's dumb and you're dumb for doing it. You're doing a lot of work like everyone else getting bits."

I hadn't even really thought about it. There I was, a crazy space alien, there to give them hints for a better tomorrow. Did I deserve any money on top of that? I had gotten what I could have hoped for. A romantic partner that adored me, a group of friends. I had respect and was valued.

And almost none of it was specifically my work. I was borrowing it all from people long since dead, stolen and spirited away to another world without their leave and without giving them an ounce of credit, however that would have worked if even I had tried.

Which I hadn't.

"You look like you forgot where you put something." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Or you realized I'm right and you're fishing for a snappy retort."

"No, you aren't wrong," I assured. "It's complicated."

"Try me?" She sat up, her blanket flowing off of her. "I may be your 'subordinate', but I'm a friend too, right? Lay it on me. Unless this is business, in which case why do I have to tell you to tell me?"

I smirked at that, sinking on my own bed. "Look, just about every idea I've come up with isn't my idea."

"Uh huh?" She inclined her head faintly. "They were... from wherever you're from, right? Really common there?"

"Very," I agreed with one big roll of a hand. "None of this is my innovation."

"So?" Her magic thwipped my nose. "They're not here, making it happen, and you are. Even if we just called you the 'director' of it all, that deserves bits. You are a diplomat, a lobbyist, and the overseer of this enormous project. Even if we assumed you were working with other people's books, that deserves bits!" She huffed as she sat up. "Besides, I know that isn't all you've been doing."

"What else have I been doing then?" Had I lost track of it somewhere?

"My dad can't stop gushing about it." Oh how her eyes rolled. "You've given him a new lease on life, sparked a raging inferno between his ears that will not shut up, and neither will he! And he talks about you, all the time. 'He wants to share it all, so ponies who never meet us can use our work and know our name', he said, and he's all shaking." She leaned forward, her hooves withdrawing to support her weight on her folded legs. "You're doing a lot."

I... was doing a lot. I worked every day. Maybe I was just being stupid. "Well, alright... but how much should that pay?"

"You were just talking to the financier, right?" When I nodded, she smiled. "Then you have someone to ask. He did warn you about unneeded expenditures, so you have all the excuses to--"

"--ask him what is a fair and proper amount." I clapped my hands. "You're right. I'll see about getting a moment with him a bit earlier than he planned."

"Do I hear celebration?" The door opened, revealing Water Lily entering with a tray atop her back, covered in a metal dome. "That is one of your cute little things. When you are happy, you enjoy striking your naked flesh against naked flesh. It makes a sound a pony cannot."

Easy took that as a challenge, raising her hooves and imitating the motion, but her hooves made loud clopping noises no matter what angle she tried. A clap was not something her anatomy could make easily. "Huh..."

Water trotted up to me and turned to the side. "I have brought refreshments. I hear you had a meeting today with a pony that has reduced others to tears and open wailing, but instead you are cheering. It went well?"

I reached for the dome, grabbing its handle and lifting it. Underneath were a variety of finger sandwiches, which they did not call that, and a smattering of nuts and fruits. There was also a flask of some unidentified fluid. A little lunch, as promised. "I am surrounded by wonderful people."

So I told her how it went, and enjoyed what she had brought, which I shared with her and Easy, of course. Water brought more than enough for me and I doubt it was by accident.

Author's Note

A chapter of review, I think. Let us look back at what we have accomplished.

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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