//------------------------------//
// Motherly Advice 
// Story: YouTuber: Button Mash 
// by TheAnimerican 
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	Button trotted on to his foalhood home. Although he occasionally visited his family, he never went to them to ask for advice on his current dilemma. He repeated questions in his head; in hope that it didn't sound too embarrassing or stupid. "Okay okay... Umm... Hey Mom and Dad, I really like this filly and-. No that's no good... Hey big bro, any mare advice for your little bro? Oh who am I kidding? With the mares he had, his advices would guarantee never seeing Sweetie Belle again."

Button was so distracted, he failed to notice that he reached his destination.

"Ouch!"

And slammed right into the front door.

"Just a moment!" A familiar, motherly voice was heard from behind the door. Button quickly fixed his mane before the door was opened.

"Yes?" Button's mother opened the door with her polite smile. Her expression completely changed when she noticed who her guest was.

"Button?" she questioned, "Oh my goodness it is always nice to see my little foal!" the mother shouted and wrapped her forelegs around him. Although Button loves his mother dearly, he still gets embarrassed when she refers to him as her little foal.

"Mom, I'm a grown stallion now. Do you really need to call me that?"

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie, but you will always be my little foal," she said with a smile. "Come on in. I will fix up some tea. Or if you want, I think there is some apple cider as well."

"Uh no, tea sounds great." Button entered the house, following his mom inside. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room. Not much has changed since he moved out of the house. The furniture laid exactly where they were when he left. As for the television, the cabinets looked very empty without his game consoles taking up most of the space. "Where are dad and big bro?" he asked.

"Oh, they both are in Manehattan. After you moved, your brother was thinking about moving out there. So he and your father decided to try looking for a place over the weekend," she said from the kitchen as she prepared the tea.

Of course Button loved his entire family, he couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. He drove himself nuts with the many questions he had in mind for each of his family members. It put him at ease that there was only one pony now to ask. Also, he felt that his strongest connection was with his mother. Many ponies would consider him a mama's colt, but he didn't care. Whenever he needed his stuff, needed help or advice, majority of the time he went to his mother.

Button set down his saddle bag before he entered the kitchen. He saw that she was just about finished with the tea. She carried one plate that had a couple tea cups with her mouth. "I'll get the tea kettle mom," he said getting up to do so.

"Oh dank you shweetie," she said with her mouth full. Both ponies moved to the dining room and set down the plates. Button's mom set each cup, while Button proceeded with the pouring. Button's mom couldn't help but smile, "Oh I raised such a good colt," she cooed.

Button went back to the kitchen to place the kettle on the stove, "Hehe. Thanks mom," Button gave a small chuckle as he took a seat. They both sat next to each other at one corner of the table.

"I am so glad you came to visit. Although, I do wish you let me knew ahead of time. I could have cleaned up a bit before you came."

"Cleaned up?" Button questioned as he looked around the room. This confused him as the house always seemed to be clean. Even when he was little, he could never recall his mother ever taking any time off from cleaning. "Mom, the place is so clean you could make the Crystal Empire the Diamond Empire."

His mom giggled, "Oh that is sweet of you to say. I suppose you are right though. The house is less messy now that you are not around now." Button replied with a look that showed he was obviously not amused. "Oh I am just kidding sweetie. How are you though? How is that NewTube going?"

"YouTube," Button corrected, "It's great! I have so many fans and I love creating videos for them."

"That is wonderful! I am so proud of you Button! I have to admit, you had me worried when all you did was play games as a colt. Now you are doing what you love as a career. Oh how I wish I had that YouTube when I was growing up."

"Umm... which brings me to why I am here..."

"I knew it!" Button's mom's expression completely shifted to a look of concern. This completely caught Button off guard and made him almost jump out of his chair. "I knew something was wrong. Did your computer break? Are they not paying you? Did you play a game too scary for you?" She questioned for answers like an officer interrogating a criminal. 

"Mom mom relax I'm fine!" Button said as he tried to calm down the worried mare. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I was just wondering if you could give me some advice on this problem I have."

"Oh," she gave an embarrassed chuckle, "Of course sweetie. That's what mothers are for. What is it?"

"Well, first of all, do you remember Sweetie Belle?" Button asked his mom. The mother looked down at her tea for a moment, as she tried recalling the name and face. "Oh yes! I remember her. She is Rarity's little sister right? Oh you two always had so much fun playing games together. She was always so sweet and even offered to help around the house from time to time." She gave a sigh before she continued, "Oh I miss that little filly. Well, of course she is not a filly anymore. I heard that she is now a famous pop star."

"Yeah that's her. I ran into her at Sugarcube Corner. She will be performing here in Ponyville tomorrow night."

"Oh that's wonderful!"

"Yeah..." Button said with a lower tone of voice.

Button's mom noticed the look on his muzzle, "What's wrong sweetie? Aren't you happy for her?"

"Well of course I am mom. It's just that, she gave me a ticket to her concert. The night of her concert is the same time I decided to do one of my charity live streams. Ponies will gather online to watch me and donate money for the Equestrian Red Cross."

"Umm... live stream?"

"In other words, ponies will be watching me live and hopefully they will give generous donations."

The look on the mother's face, it was obvious to Button that she finally realized the position he was in. "Oh I see. But Button, can't you just reschedule your live stream so you can see Sweetie Belle?"

"It's not that simple. Cancelling a live stream is not something a YouTuber normally does. Plus, I don't want to let the Equestrian Red Cross down. Mom... what should I do?"

The mother gave a small, but comforting smile to Button. She took a sip of her tea and said, "Button, I feel like there is more to the story than you are telling me. Is there something between you and Sweetie Belle that I don't know about?" The mother gave him a teasing smirk.

One of the downsides about having a mother like Button's, is that they have a sixth sense when it comes to their children. Button thought back about the kiss from Sweetie Belle and began to blush. "Well... uh..."

"Button, I always knew you had a crush on Sweetie Belle," the mother stated bluntly.

The statement shocked Button, "What? It's not like-."

"Button, she was here with us more than any of your other friends. Perhaps at the time you didn't even realize it was a crush. You would always want to play with her or have her come over for supper. A big hint was when you let her borrow your JoyBoy. She is the only other pony you let borrow that thing."

This was very true as Button was protective about his games and consoles. He always feared that anypony would break them or lose them. Sweetie Belle, however, was an exception. Sweetie Belle always enjoyed the JoyBoy, but Rarity and her parents thought it would be a waste of bits. So Button let her borrow it from time to time and she was always sure to bring it back.

"Button, you know that I love you and will always be here to help you. However, I feel that I must be frank with you. I don't believe there is an issue here."

"Huh?" asked a confused Button.

"Don't you think you are overthinking things a little? Button, you are not leaving Equestria anytime soon. Plus, the Red Cross isn't going anywhere either. As for your live-... stream was it? If they are truly your fans, they would understand that this is something that you have to do. Granted, there are some that might overreact, but will this really be the end of Equestria? The end of your YouTube channel?"

Button thought to himself, "She makes it sound so simple, but she could be right. Am I just overthinking things? Why does it seem so hard?"

"Button, sweetie, this is just a thought, but are you by chance scared to go see Sweetie Belle?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, throughout your foalhood, she is the friend you had spent time with the most. Without a doubt, she is probably your best friend. Then one day, that friendship grew to be something even more precious to you. Although, you never really been in a relationship with a special somepony have you?"

"Well... no I haven't..." Button was somewhat embarrassed by this, but it was a fact. Button has never dated anypony or had any interest in it. True he had special feelings for Sweetie Belle, but never really knew about his true feelings until recently.

"Button, I know what it is like to be scared to confess your feelings. In fact, you remind me a bit of your father when he tried asking me out."

"Really?"

The mother giggled before continuing, "He was the cutest thing. In high school, we were part of a video game club. We would always talk about games and had fun playing together. As we spent time together, we found more and more things that we had in common. One day, he bought me a video game that I have always wanted. When I got home to play, there was a note inside the box. At first I thought it was the game manual, but then I noticed there was a heart shape drawing on the paper. It turned out to be a letter from your father... asking me to be his very special somepony."

"Wow mom. So that's when you accepted dad as your special somepony?"

"Well... no not at first. You see, just like you, he was my best friend at the time. I was scared of what might happened if we tried to be something more. Would it work out? If not, would we still be friends or will it be too awkward? I was confused and was actually mad at him for putting me in that position. For a couple of days, we didn't speak to each other."

Button was shocked by this as he recalled how his parents were always happy together. They rarely fought, but even then they were small trivial things. "So what did you do?"

"I kept thinking about both sides of the situation. Why I would date your father and why I wouldn't date him. And you know what? The reasons why I would date him far outweighed why I wouldn't. So even though I was scared, I bought him a game that he always wanted and wrote a note for him too. He was depressed at first because I ignored the letter, but after he received the note he was the happiest colt I had ever seen. Years later, I am happily married and have two wonderful colts. The point of my story is, yes, a relationship with your best friend might seem scary at first. However, it may lead to something wonderful."

Button looked down at his tea, thinking about what his mother told him. What he was told was a lot to take in, but he knew that she was right. He was scared of what might happen between them. However, Sweetie showed that she would like to have their friendship grow into something more. She made her move, now it was time for him to make his.

Button looked to his mother with a smile, "Thanks mom. You always know what to say."

She smiled at the compliment, "That is what I'm here for sweetie."

Button then took a sip from his tea, "Bleh!"

"What's wrong Button? You don't like it?"

"No, the tea got cold."