- >Still Day 25 in Equestria
- >You're shaking off that Applejack Daniels...
- >...and Applejack...
- >...and Pinkie Pie...
- >...damn you have a lot to shake off.
- >Still not being entirely sure what happened, you decide the best, simplest, most rational course of action.
- >Pretend it never happened.
- >Consequence?
- >That's future Anon's problem.
- >However, one thing you cannot go back on is your offer to Applejack.
- >Babysitting Applebloom.
- >It's not like you haven't done it before.
- >Hell, she ENJOYS your company.
- >So why was this babysitting errand so much more important?
- >"Hai Anon!"
- "Hey 'Bloom."
- >She's all excited to hang with you.
- >Gotta admit, you always liked when kids looked up to you.
- >Boy were they wrong to think that, eh?
- >"We're gonna have a ton of fun!"
- "Don't we always?"
- >"Well this time it's gonna be super special!"
- "Oh yeah, how so?"
- >"You'll see~"
- >Great, now you're in for a surprise.
- >Considering the quality of surprises you've had in this world so far...
- >...you're less than excited.
- >But she's a little kid.
- >It can't be too terrible.
- >"C'mon Anon, we gotta go get mah friends!"
- >Right, the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'.
- "Lead the way!"
- >Turning the cheerful up to 8.
- >Hey, you've hung out with her before, and it hasn't been terribly boring.
- >Have fun with it!
- >Lead out of the orchard, you're back to strolling into town.
- >It's not an oddity anymore, which is a relief.
- >P0nies have seen you heading to the store and the bar.
- >Your new home is on the exact opposite side of town from AJ's barn, too.
- >Like it or not, you'll be making the rounds every so often.
- >Your first stop on Applebloom's friend-hunt is Carousel Boutique.
- >The home of the ever so generous, ever so fabulous, Rarity!
- >Easily one of your favorite people right now.
- >Applebloom walks up and knocks on the door.
- >Expecting a white marshmallow to answer, you prepare a cordial hello.
- >However, as the door opens, you're greeted with something else.
- >A white mini-marshmallow.
- >"Applebloom! You're here!"
- >The little thing's voice cracks in the most adorable way, and the two fillies start jumping around in circles.
- >Through the doorway, the white marshmallow you initally expected greets you.
- >"Why hello Anon. Here to pick up little sister?"
- >Must be the little filly.
- "Yep. I promised Applejack I'd look after them today."
- >Rarity giggles lightly.
- >"I hope you know what you're in for, Anon."
- >You wave her comment off gallantly.
- "I've babysit before, I'm great with kids!"
- >"If you say so~"
- >Rarity turns to leave.
- >Hey, she's wearing pants!
- >The assless ones.
- >After getting a full view of horse-butt, the two fillies stop jumping around.
- >"Hello tall odd looking sir!"
- >Blunt.
- "Hey there, what might your name be?"
- >You bend down to shake her hoof.
- >She gladly accepts.
- >Raised with class, like her older sister.
- "I'm Sweetie Belle!"
- >Her voice cracks again.
- >Adorable.
- "I'm Anon."
- >You get up, and Applebloom cheers.
- >"Now we only have to get Scootaloo, and we're all here!"
- "And where does she live?"
- >Silence from both of the fillies.
- "Well?"
- >Applebloom looks away while Sweetie Belle scuffs her hoof.
- >"Ah....don't know."
- >What.
- "How can you not know, she's your best friend!"
- >The side glancing and scuffling increase twofold.
- >You roll your eyes.
- >This is going nowhere.
- "Well, can you at least lead me to her parents?"
- >The side glancing and scuffling have reached critial levels.
- >Okay, whatever.
- "Well, then how are we going to find her?"
- >Applebloom lights up.
- >"Oh that's EASY! I just do this!"
- >She trots out to an open area in the street.
- >After a deep inhale, she yells.
- >"RAINBOW DASH IS GIVING AUTOGRAPHS!!!"
- >The yells rings through the town.
- >Not a soul seems to react.
- >Except for a dark orange blur headed right for you.
- >It stops right in front of Applebloom, and starts darting around like crazy.
- >"WHERE IS SHE, WHERE IS SHE?!?"
- >A small orange filly with purple mane.
- >Safely assuming this is Scootaloo.
- >"Ahm sorry Scootaloo, ya just missed her!"
- >Scoots stamps the ground.
- >"Every single time!"
- >Okay, so this one's not so bright.
- >And obsessed with Rainbow Dash.
- >Explains why she's not so bright!
- >Ba-zing.
- >Now that the gang's all together, it's time to find out what super amazing thing they have planned for you.
- >"Ahlrighty, now that we're all here, we can start..."
- >They jump into the air simultaneously.
- >"CUTIE MARK CRUSADING!"
- >Well, at least they fit their namesake.
- >What does this mean anyway?
- "Alright, so what IS 'Cutie Mark Crusading'?
- >They turn to you in unison.
- >"We're trying to earn our cutie marks by finding our special talents!"
- >Special talents? Earn?
- "I always though those were just tattoos p0nies put on their butts because they were cool."
- >The three give you the most dumbfounded look.
- >"Dude, haven't you noticed everyone's marks have had to do with what they were good at?"
- >Scootaloo starts listing off some examples.
- >"Applejack has Apples, Twilight has Magic Sparks, Lyra has a Lyre..."
- >Now that she says it, it makes sense.
- >It's like a right of passage.
- >THAT'S why Applebloom was so sensitive about it...
- "Alright, I get it. But they just magically appear when you figure out what you're good at?"
- >"Mmhm!"
- >They're good at this 'speaking in unison' thing.
- >Applebloom leads the charge.
- >"Alright girls, let's earn our cutie marks!"
- >A few hours later...
- >You're running around town while on fire.
- >Clearly something has gone terribly wrong during the course of the day.
- >The three fillies are chasing you around with buckets of water, clad in firefighter's hats.
- >"Anon! Stop so Ah can put you out!"
- >You'd love to stop if all of your bodily functions weren't going haywire because, well, you're on fire.
- >Eventually you trip and roll on the ground.
- >The three fillies catch up and pour their buckets on you.
- >Now that the flames are gone, you have enough coherence in your thoughts...
- >...TO WRING THEIR LITTLE NECKS.
- "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU THREE?!?"
- >They laugh at your anger.
- >"Oh Anon, you were never in REAL danger! We were there to put you out!"
- >The rage of 1000 suns is building up inside you.
- >Just before you explode in a super nova, Sweetie Belle walks up to you.
- >"Anon, we're REALLY sorry we didn't put you out faster..."
- >God damn that is adorable.
- >Adorable enough to quell the rage building inside of you.
- >You let out an exasperated sigh.
- "It's...alright."
- >They all smile and look at their asses.
- >Frowns quickly follow.
- >"Awww..."
- >Not yet, it seems.
- >Good.
- >They were terrible at firefighting.
- >"Now let's try rock climbing!"
- >"Laying on beds of nails!"
- >"Hoops of fire!"
- >"Russian Roulette!"
- >These ideas are fucking terrible!
- >And damn near suicidal!
- "Stop stop stop!"
- >The three stop their extremely contrived form of brainstorming.
- >Good, shit was getting out of hand.
- >Suddenly, an idea strikes.
- >A devilish grin on your face confirms it's validity.
- "I have an idea for you girls."
- >They look up at you with smiling eyes.
- >"WHAT IS IT?!?"
- "Have you three ever tried...construction?"
- >The all look at each other.
- >"Ah fixed my clubhouse before, but..."
- >You'll take that as a no!
- "No? Good! Then follow me."
- >You lead the three fillies across town.
- >"This is your house?"
- >"Ah don't think it's very livable..."
- >"It looks so run down!"
- >The varied comments about your future abode don't phase you at all.
- >Because you know it's about to change drastically.
- "I bet you guys could try helping me fix this place up!"
- >A couple looks of varied reactions flash among the young ones.
- >Applebloom looks the most excited.
- >"Come on, girls! We could fix this place up for Anon in no time!"
- >The other two groan.
- >"'Bloom, we're not GOOD at construction like you."
- >"Yeah, we can't hammer or nothing!"
- >Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo seem pretty sure in their lack of ability.
- >"Ah'll do all the hammerin' and whatnot, you two can do all the interior work!"
- >Sweetie lights up at this prospect.
- >"Okay! It'll look so pretty!"
- >Scoots still isn't convinced.
- >"It still sounds dumb to me."
- >You devise a plan to get her to work...
- >...but Applebloom is three steps ahead of you.
- >"Ya know, Dash helped Anon fix a barn before..."
- >That sent her over the edge.
- >"LET'S GET TO WORK!"
- >The three run into the shack, getting ready to create.
- >You are starting to have second thoughts about this...
- >Applebloom is one hell of a worker.
- >You and her patch up every hole in the house, and get to the windows rather quickly.
- >She HAS done this before!
- >Through a side glance, you keep checking on Sweetie Belle and Scoots.
- >Sweetie is rearranging furniture, dusting it off and moving it nicely.
- >Scoots is following her order, constantly saying things should look 20% cooler.
- >That gets old, fast.
- >After a few hours, you notice it's getting dark outside.
- >You convinced three fillies to work for you for free for a whole day!
- >You should have been born a chinese sweatshop owner.
- "Alright girls, that's enough for the day, let's head outside."
- >Leading them to the front, you turn back to see what you've accomplished.
- >It looks livable!
- >"Wow girls, we did a great job!"
- >Applebloom's especially proud of her work.
- >...it would be unfair to let such proud fillies go home empty handed.
- >You reach into your pocket and pull out a few bits.
- "Here you go, girls. You earned them."
- >You give them 5 bits a piece.
- >They just stare at them in awe.
- >Then all at once, the ear-splitting shriek is heard.
- >"THANK YOU ANON!"
- >And they hug your legs.
- >Fucking. Adorable.
- >You walk them back to their respective homes.
- >Rarity and Applejack are noticeably missing from their homes.
- >No doubt already gone on their girl's night out with the others.
- >You're now alone.
- >Well, except for Scootaloo.
- "So, where do you li-"
- >Before you can finish, Scoots is gone.
- >Weird filly.
- >Shrugging it off, you walk back to your new home.
- >It still needs some touching up, but it's pretty cozy!
- >You walk in, appreciating the care put into the furniture arrangement.
- >This all started as a ploy for free labor, but you feel those fillies may actually...
- >...what's it called...
- >...'earn their cutie marks' from this.
- >Walking upstairs to your bedroom, you take notice of Scootaloo's biggest addition to the project.
- >Rainbow Dash posters.
- >Fucking everywhere.
- >God damnit it Scoots.
- >Whatever.
- >You flop down on the mattress that is now yours.
- >It's no pile of hay, but it's pretty comfortable.
- >You stare up to the ceiling.
- >A full body poster of Rainbow Dash is situated right above your bed.
- >Okay, that's just creepy.
- >You turn on your side.
- >Another poster on the wall, staring at you.
- >This is gonna be a weird night.
- >The next morning, Day 26 in Equestria...
- >You're headed out for Sweet Apple Acres.
- >After a morning of removing Rainbow Dash posters from your wall, of course.
- >Your dreams, not surprisingly, involved Rainbow Dash.
- >After all the imagery plastered around your room, how could you not?
- >She always appeared in dumb ways, though.
- >Imagine a dream where you're shooting a 3-point basket, and get blocked by Rainbow Dash.
- >You're relaxing on a beach, and the person bringing you drinks is Rainbow Dash.
- >You're driving a fast car in the Indy 500, and the announcer is Rainbow Dash.
- >Is this why Scoots is so obsessed?
- >You could only imagine what her posters consist of...
- >Shaking off that thought, you make it to the orchard before you even know it.
- >First things first, you gotta change into your working gear.
- >You open the barn door, and as you go for your pile of clothes...
- >...you can't help but notice the sleeping Applejack on your pile of hay.
- >You close the door promptly.
- >You don't NEED to change your clothes today.

