//------------------------------//
// Georg's Deep Green (Georg and CCC's "Laser, Focused") 
// Story: Never the Final Word (Vol. 2) 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
//------------------------------//

"Spike!" called out Princess Twilight Sparkle from somewhere inside the leafy library.  "Is this all of the mail??"

"I put it on the writing desk, stacked by importance," called Spike back.  He considered the chessboard in the dappled light of the afternoon cascading in through the open library window, reached out to make a move, then pulled his hand back.  This game was getting tricky.

"Princess Celestia says we need to have the sewage lines inspected," called out Twilight again.  "There's something about shed alicorn hair residue causing magical reactions, but her explanation is not making much sense."

"Uh-huh," said Spike, then cautiously moved a pawn.

"I mean if I'm shedding something dangerous," she continued, "I'd be affecting the whole town's sewage lines."

"If you did the bills, you would know we're not tied into the city sewage lines," called back Spike.  "The library is old enough it has a septic tank somewhere under the roots."

There was a long pause, broken only by the scratching noise of Spike's opponent moving a bishop.

"A septic tank?" asked Twilight in a question that really did not need to be answered.  "You mean all of our... waste products have been accumulating in a tank under the library for the last few years?  That doesn't sound safe.  Have you noticed anything weird going on?" added Twilight as she trotted over to Spike's chess game and stopped.

"Weird for Ponyville?" asked Spike with a shrug.  He reached around the thin oak branch that had just moved a bishop and scooted the dragon's rook one square over.  "Check," he announced.  "I can still beat it three games out of four."