Not-so Anonymously 3 - or 'Why is everyone calling me ANON?!' (MLP FiM, SI - Not!Anon)

"So… I suppose we can all accept that-"

"You were right, yes!" A frustrated young girl of the tomboy kind whined loudly, interrupting me as she was immensely embarrassed by what I had seen and ruled out from the very beginning as a disastrous effort.

I mean, trying to get a 'rocket cart' by mounting fireworks by the wooden tires sure sounded like a dumb idea, but I could see how the girls saw it as feasible considering that Pinkie had once pulled that one off without causing… this:

A cart that one of the girls found 'dying' by the barn and using it for one last ride. Sadly, said ride was a fiery descent to hell as the fireworks had turned it into a small-scaled inferno that had luckily stuck to one spot once one or two of the tires had detonated due to the fireworks.

Before anyone tries to insinuate anything, I did find the sight quite horrifying. But since I was chatting calmly while putting the cart out of misery with a water pump connected to my personal supply.

There was no harm done with this, but I could see the girls responsible for this looking quite beaten up by this failure. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were a common fixture of Ponyville and MLP in general.

The three 'little sisters' to the 'Main Characters' were known troublemakers but they all acted for a rather innocent reason: to get their Cutie Marks and not be bullied as 'Blank Flanks' from their frequent bully, which was Filthy Rich's daughter.

First was Apple Bloom. The humble kid was adorable and quite honest to the core, quite reminiscent of her big sister Applejack- she was by far the middle point for the two other personalities within the group and she had quite the cute Southern Accent to her.

The most innocent was, by far, Sweetie Belle. Rarity's little sister had inherited a fraction of the Element of Generosity's renown sense of formality. She was quite polite, but still had that childish wonder that was fitting for someone her age. Out of the three, she was also the one that was most responsible and the one that called me to get this mess dealt with as fast as this unfolded.

Lastly, but not the least promising at all, was Scootaloo. The girl was a Rainbro's fangirl and wanted to mimic the fast Pegasus within most of her behaviors. She was still her own pony, but also someone that loved her idol with pure admiration.

"So… what is our punishment?" Bloom asked with some unease and I frowned at it.

"Punishment?"

"Well, you usually give us punishments like fixing the aftermath like the others do and-" Sweetie started to elaborate, but I interrupted before she was done with this.

"But this isn't the usual case," I pointed out, my response catching the trio off-guard. "I mean… the fireworks were bought by Scoots, the cart was not meant to be used against as the wood was not good to be used to carry large loads if repaired from what your sister told you, Bloom, and you asked for the space in front of my house because it was not my property. So… it's a bit of an awkward spot in the grass but it's not exactly something that demands a punishment- the damage was onto your items so… that's already punishment."

…

…

"Hafta say, s'not something ah thought much about."

"Th-That's because this is the first time we did something like this without damaging other properties," Scootaloo caught up to my logic, and then grimaced. "But it's still a bummer for failing."

Sweetie hummed. "Yeah but… at least we are free from being put through detention."

The other two nodded in agreement and-

"It's still a loss. One you should learn from despite not having to 'make amend' to someone or something- just because you don't get punished that doesn't mean you do not learn from mistakes. After all, you don't get punished for failing a small exercise in your homework, yet you all work hard to fix it."

The trio looked pleased to hear this and smiled a bit about it.

"Next time…" Bloom started to say.

"We shall make it a flying rocket with firecrackers!" Scoots announced, causing me and Sweetie to shake heads at the idea, but where my reaction was one of light-disappointment, to her it was a case of amusement.

"Well, my lil' pyromaniacs, I got the cookies ready at this point so, if you get your hands and faces washed up you can… and they are gone."

They were so close to leaving smoke silhouettes with that sort of rush towards the house, the trio blurring back indoors and bolting to the bathroom to get ready for a nice snack or two. I hummed in relief at the fact they had gotten 'better' in handling their 'search for their Marks'.

The entire situation was morbidly hilarious and downright silly if one was to take into account how Cutie Marks work- no one gets to pick what they want to do, they just feel it. And, in a sense, this reminded me how some kids really wanted to reach adulthood as fast as possible to be 'cool'.

In the case of the trio, it was a matter of a bully or two that really have been missing parental guidance for how they behaved. Likewise, the girls were too unprepared to handle that sort of interaction and tended to be goaded around by these troublesome rich pests.

So, they tended to really get 'influenced' on trying to get the 'best Cutie Marks possible' out of a principle to show off their own bullies with them. Was it the right way to do this? No. Did I condemn this behavior altogether? Not exactly.

I found their interest to pursue new stuff commendable, but I made sure that they didn't try to make it too bad on themselves and others. It took a few visits and stays at my home to get them to ultimately pick up a proper pattern on how to judge if an idea is too destructive and thus required extra caution and adult supervision or if something was downright too silly to even try.

I wasn't there to kick them down, but I wanted them to slowly build a conscious understanding of what was best to try and what not. And it was working. I could even tell that by the way their sisters/sister figure tended to drop them at my doorsteps for further babysitting.

The girls would get some help with homework and other school-related stuff when their families were busy helping them themselves so… I was there to provide as much assistance as a rather cheap price. I didn't need money, but it was still a job so I set the tariff down to ten Bits per hour.

This very visit was a rather tranquil one as the girls didn't have much school stuff to 'endure' and they were free to play around the house or by its proximity for as long as they were meant to stay there. I had snacks and water bottles ready if they needed a break so… yeah, this was quite chill.

They left without causing me any stress beyond 'demanding' headpats for behaving 'well'. Their sisters were deeply amused by this but no comments were raised as the trio left satisfied and ready to go back to their respective homes.

That should have been the end of the day for me but-

"I need your help!"

I sighed, my attempt to achieve a dreamless night ruined by a certain Moonbutt that manifested in a dreamscape version of my bed where I was resting- right over my body at that.

"Important duties or booty call?" I asked with a serious tone, causing the Princess to blush a storm.

"Boo-I mean, Important duties!" Luna stammered a bit, shaking herself off from the unease to deliver the announcement. "Nightmare Night is upon us and I wanted to know if… you know…"

I blinked, guessing roughly what she was up to. "You want me to be your guide so you don't look like an inept pony around your subjects and… don't give the impression you are Nightmare Moon in disguise, right?"

"I…" She looked a bit irked at the 'inept' comment, but she shrugged it off for a nod. "Yes."

"Hm, is this also a request for a date, Princess Woona?"

She burned red at that nickname, causing her to facepalm. "I-I should have told Tia to not bring that up to you."

"Why not? Older siblings need to cooperate at times to tease lil' siblings~."

Luna pouted immensely and adorably. "N-No, you don't need to and I refuse to be- be teased by the likes of you both!"

Chuckling at her rebuttal, I noticed how close she had gotten and… I gave her a hug. The princess didn't tense up, merely leaning closer as she rested her chin on my shoulder and-

"By the way, are you done working around the dreamscape or-"

"I am… close to finishing the shift."

"...How about a deal?" I offered with a bit of a smug smile, releasing her much to her upset pout. "You handle that, and tell Tia you are spending the night here, and you get to spend the whole day here tomorrow without any disturbance?"

Luna perked in surprise at this and then blinked. "You don't mind if I stay the… the whole day?"

She looked confused, frowning suspiciously over the 'sweet offer'.

"Well, tomorrow is my free day at work and I don't have much to do, so I can house a Moonbutt for that whole day if she so wishes."

She beamed at this and- "Deal!"

It didn't even take ten minutes that Luna was done with her shift and had dropped her lovely behind on the bed, happily welcomed by a big hug leading to some gentle cuddling.

While I envisioned a fun day tomorrow with Luna around, I was more intrigued by how to plan out Luna's first Nightmare Night experience…

AN

Give thy cuddles to the Moon(butt) Princess!