Anything for My Princess

After putting away Pipsqueak's dirty magazines, Luna returned to the sitting room for more tea and a conversation with Pip's dad. Most of it was about normal, inconsequential things, but she did try to work in questions of how "mature" Pip was. His interpretation of it was that Pip, aside from being a flawed, imperfect pony who made mistakes every so often, was a generally well-behaved colt.

His biggest complaint was actually about the parenting of some of Pip's friends. Pip would brush the mud off if his hooves with the brush on their porch, where other colts would track it on the carpet. Pip would clean up his toys from the sitting room, though not always put them back in the toy chest. He was very proud of his son.

It was because of that that Luna opted not to tell him what she'd found. He loved his son very much, and she wanted it to stay that way. She didn't want him to be disappointed. Rather than having him try to fix it, she was going to take on that task, herself.

"He should be home soon," Shrimp smiled, pouring a third kettle of tea. "He'll be happy to see you. You're his favourite princess."

"I guessed as much," smiled Luna in turn. "If you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with him privately and personally."

"As long as he doesn't have any homework, go ahead."

"If he does, I'll gladly help him through it."

"Oh, that would just make his day. Maybe even his whole week!"

Luna chuckled. "I'm sure it will."

Just as she finished, the front door opened and closed. "Dad, you're never going to believe this! Princess Luna's chariot is her in the neighborhood! She's probably nearby! Can I go see her?!"

"Do you have any homework?"

"Not today! Please?!"

"Come in here, first."

Pip groaned. He was really hoping to go find out where Luna was. But as he rounded a corner and saw her there, sitting on his couch, his jaw hit the floor and his eyes lit up. "She's here! I mean, you're here! Princess Luna came to my house!"

Luna gave him a moment to calm himself, and his dad ushered him into the bathroom to relieve himself before the excitement of the situation caused him to leak onto the carpet. When he finished and washed his hooves, Luna bade him follow her to his bedroom.

Much like his father, Pipsqueak was embarrassed about the messy room, despite it not being all that messy. Luna closed the door, as she had requested some time alone with the colt.

"Do you mind if I call you Pip?" she asked. "Your father said that your friends call you that."

"Do you want to be my friend?" smiled Pip hopefully.

"I certainly hope that our relationship is a healthy one moving forward. I'd hate for us to be foes."

"You can call me Pip, if you like. Or, if you want a special nickname, you can make one up."

"Just having something to call you is fine, Pip," smiled Luna. "Tell me, do you consider yourself a good colt?"

"I think so," he smiled proudly. "I always clean my plate at dinner, I do my chores when asked, and I bathe regularly!"

"Very good," nodded Luna. Her smile soon faded, and with a stone expression, she asked, "Do you ever do things that you know your parents would not approve of?"

Pip immediately felt the tone shift. He looked to the door to make sure it was closed, and, as if his dad could be listening from the other side, swallowed and nodded.

"Like what?"

He fidgeted with his hooves. "This one time, I ate a piece of cake that was meant for my mom."

"Anything else?"

"I pulled a box of candy out of the trash. They caught me, though."

Luna's horn lit up, and she directed his attention to the bookshelf. As she pried the books out of the bottom shelf one by one, his face grew pale and he began to shake. Luna pulled out the false panel and brought over the materials. "What about these, Pip? Do you recognise these?"

He couldn't look her in the eye. Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he slowly nodded.

"From whence did these come, Pip?"

"Don't tell my dad," he sobbed. "Please?"

"It shall stay between the two of us, if you're honest with me. Will you tell me the truth, Pip?"

He nodded, wiping his face with a hoof. Luna offered him a hoofkerchief, which he gladly accepted.

"How came you by these magazines, little Pip?" she asked again.

He mumbled something, but she couldn't make out what it was.

"A bit louder, Pipsqueak. This is between you and I. From whence came these magazines?"

He sniffed. "I bought them."

"From a licensed vendor?"

"A colt from the grade ahead of me..."

"And where did he obtain them?"

"I don't know."

Luna took a deep breath and put her hoof on his shoulder. She encouraged him to do the same. "Do you know why it's bad that you have these?"

"Because these mares are masturbating?"

That was a shock. She had not expected him to know that word.

"I do that sometimes, too. Does that make me a bad colt? Am I going to be locked up in the dungeons?"

Luna leaned in and rubbed his back. "You're not a bad colt, Pipsqueak. I didn't come here with the intent of making you feel bad. I came because I wanted to help you, and I needed to know what was happening to you."

"Can you not tell my dad, anyway? I don't want him to be disappointed in me."

Luna kissed his forehead. "Not yet, anyway." She pulled out the photographs. "Why are these pictures kept next to your dirty magazines?"

Pip blushed. "I think you're prettier than them."

Luna blushed in turn. "You do?"

"I like to imagine their positions and actions, but it's you, instead." He looked very embarrassed to be admitting that. "Is that the wrong thing to do?"

Luna sighed. She was flattered, but she nodded anyway. "When you're older, it'll be something you can do. For now, you're too young for that, and you need to ease off of this for the time being. It's okay to feel these feelings, but you're too young to act on them. For now, concern yourself with playing with your friends, learning about the world, and being happy. The time will come when you're ready for this, and on that day, we can discuss this further."

"Okay."

Luna slipped the magazines and photographs back into the secret compartment. Unbeknownst to him, she put a secret magical lock on it. It would not prevent him from opening it, but it would count how many times it was opened, what went in and what went out. She covered it with the books to hide the panel again in case his parents grew too suspicious of him.

"I'm leaving them here with you," she said, gripping his hoof. "I want you to try to exercise some self-control. No looking at those until you're more mature. When you're more mature, and no longer a little colt, you can revisit them. Okay?"

"Okay." Pip wiped his face one last time and blew his nose. "Here's your hoofkerchief."

"Keep it," she answered, kissing his forehead, "as a reminder of this conversation. Remember to be a good colt, Pip, and we'll stay friends for a long time."