Oh, look. I was tired enough to set off another debate about earth pony magic and Secrecy in the comments again. That's always a recipe for a perfectly calm and reasonable discussion which can never go wrong in any way.
...it's gonna be a looooong night.
Two chapters this time, with just about 9000 words between them. This is a case where I knew I had a natural break point after a scene and when that break point came with the word count short of the pledge minimum, I just kept pushing. Plus that first chapter ended on something of a cliffhanger, and I knew I had to clear up part of what had happened immediately or face a Comments section which was completely free of stress and so had nothing to discuss other than my handling of earth pony magic. It's not a fate worse than death, but it only takes a handicap of three from Death during normal play and then takes its chances in getting the ball over the water.
And I do have to post a minor warning: the second chapter contains a nude scene. It's not explicit, and nothing is described in detail. It's just Cerea taking a bath, and washing requires nudity. I am certain that the story has remained within the confines of the Teen rating (although I'll adjust if a moderator says otherwise), and am almost fully sure that I have written the single least fanservicey nude centaur scene on the planet.
It's gonna be a long night for me.
Longer for Cerea.