//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: A Talk Between Siblings 
// Story: Button Rekt: Button's Revenge 
// by Sunblast X 
//------------------------------//

"Well, looks like we didn't get our cutie marks in drinking milkshakes," Scootaloo said as she and the other crusaders stepped out of Sugarcube Corner, "No thanks to either of you! Apple Bloom, you weren't even trying!"

"Ah just had a milkshake the yesterday and another the day before that. Ya make me drink anymore, I might get sick of them, end up with diabetes, or both."

Scootaloo paused for a moment. "We didn't go out for milkshakes yesterday."

"Scootaloo, you do know ah have other friends, right?" Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since when?"

"Since forever. Just cause you never seen them, don't mean they don't exist!"

"Scootaloo, why would you even want a milkshake drinking cutie mark? What sort of optimal job opportunity would that give you when you grow up? I thought we were just getting milkshakes," Sweetie Belle commented.

"You guys stink." With her ears dropping, the Pegasus glanced towards Apple Bloom. "So, who's your friend? Does she not have her cutie mark either?"

"His name's Tender Taps, and he's a blank flank too." Apple Bloom's face fell flat when she heard a small squeak from Sweetie Belle, who was presumably starting to bounce up and down in excitement. "Yes, Sweetie Belle," Apple bloom said with a grumble, "Ah like him. Ah'm pretty sure that he likes me. No, we ain't datin'."

There was an ear-piercing squeal as Sweetie seemed to float in the air after hopping up. Several windows cracked after a few moments, and several dogs tried to desperately cover their ears "This is awesome! I better ask Rarity what you should do! She needs me back by sundown anyway. See you guys tomorrow!" Sweetie Belle ran away disappeared into the distance.

"We have to stop talking about love when she's around, I'm going to go deaf if this keeps up." Scootaloo said, her ears ringing.

"Eeyup," Apple Bloom said in agreement.

"So, do you like this Tender Taps guy, huh?"

Apple Bloom's expression went flat again as she let out a sigh. "Jus' pretend that it's like ya and Rumble and that's about it."

"What?! I-I don't—"

"Yeah, yeah, ya don't like him like that. Ah Swear, you an' Rainbow care more about yer image than Rarity does."





Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle skipped into her sister's house, humming a tune she heard playing on a record. The filly passed through main floor and went up to the second where Rarity was working. She wasn't alone, Spike was with her, standing attentively while holding various fabrics. It wasn't rare to find the dragon in the building, as he tended to stay around Rarity when he could. Sweetie Belle personally didn't mind it. Spike would often help her with homework and was a friend when she needed one.

Rarity was working on a dress that someone from Canterlot had commissioned earlier in the week. She had been working day and night on it, not because it was for a rich noble, an up and coming fashion model, or even one of her friends, but rather, it was for a teenaged filly's prom. Rarity wouldn't stand for that filly going in anything less than fabulous.

"Rarity, I'm home!" She announced. "Hi Spike!"

"Hey Sweetie Belle!" Spike chirped with a wave.

"Sweetie Belle, good to see that you're home," Rarity said, glancing at a clock that hung on a wall, "even if you're a touch late. If you don't mind my asking, where were you?"

"Out with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo," She answered with a smile.

Rarity turned to her sister, her sewing glasses making her seem stricter than normal. In fact, Sweetie felt a sudden weight fall on her the same time her sister's stare did. "Hmm, that's interesting to hear, considering that I told you not to go out until you apologized to that colt from the other day. I suppose this means you apologized, no?" For the past few days, Sweetie Belle had been in hot water with her sister ever since she rejected Button's advances. As of now, the heat had turned from hot to boiling.

"Kinda?" Sweetie Belle shifted as she tried to think of some excuse to give. "He seemed fine this morning."

"He seemed fine this morning?" Rarity said, her face falling flat.

"He seemed fine!" Sweetie Belle affirmed. "By the way, there's a colt that Apple Bloom likes, do you-"

Rarity raised her hoof and brought it down on the ground, the slam silencing Sweetie Belle. As much as she loved giving out dating advice, Sweetie Belle's behavior took priority. After all, how was she going to get a special somepony if she had no idea how to treat colts? "Sweetie Belle, if I have a chat with Button's mother, will I be told that you apologized to him?"

Sweetie Belle was unable to look her sister in the eye when she asked this. "Well, no, but he seemed fine! He's probably over it," Sweetie Belle explained, albeit unsuccessfully.

Rarity let out a sigh. "Sweetie Belle we've talked about this, if you wanted to let Button know you weren't interested in him, you could have been nicer about it!" She steeled her emotions for a moment, trying not to be too angry with the filly, even if her behavior warranted it. What Sweetie Belle said to Button was uncalled for, but she needed to handle these things with tact. "Spike, can you give us some privacy? I think I might have a ruby for you down stairs."

It was frightening how fast Spike dashed out of the room and down into the boutique's main floor. Nothing enticed the dragon quite like the promise of gems, especially if they were gems from Rarity. "There we go, solitude. Sweetie Belle do you know that boys tend to fall for girls rather easily.?

"Like Spike did with you?" Sweetie asked.

"Exactly! Now there are a few ways to handle such things, you can return those feelings, be mean about it and handle it with the subtlety of a jack hammer, or you can let them down easily, like dropping a feather. Now, if you don't like the colt, a proper lady would handle this with tact, gently letting boys down with minimal damage done to their self-esteem and ego. What you did with Button was take a sledgehammer to both those things. Now I'm not saying that you should have accepted his offer to go on a date, however you absolutely need to apologize for what you said. How would you like it if some colt you were head over heels for insulted you the moment you tried to work up the courage to ask him to Sugar Cube Corner?"

To answer this question, Sweetie Belle had to think of a colt she liked, and she did indeed like a certain boy in Ponyville, though the who was unimportant. But then she imagined that he'd said a fourth of the things and there came a feeling as if a hole had formed in her heart. "It would feel crummy," she mumbled.

"Exactly. How do you think poor Button Mash felt?"

"Bad. I'll apologize."

"Good! Now up to your room, do your homework, and come straight home tomorrow. Considered yourself grounded until further notice."

"Okay." Sweetie Belle went straight up to her room to begin on her homework.





There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as Rumble entered the foyer. He dropped his bags at the front door and went to the kitchen where he took a seat at the table. His body seemed to give out and his face slammed down on the hardwood surface. He let out a frustrated groan mixed with something of a sob, earning the attention of one of the mares in the house.

"Is my little Rumble-Bumble having a bad day?" Rumble recognized the voice as Flitter, Cloudchaser's sister. She tended to spend time at the house when she could, often acting as a surrogate mother for Rumble. She was also the only reason that Rumble was not moving from foster home to foster home, as Thunderlane was constantly buried in work, and Cloudchaser was not allowed to cook by law. This included things such as touching carrying takeout containers, reheating meals, and operating a dishwasher, stove, or rice cooker.

"I don't want to talk about it." Rumble said in a grumble. He felt a nudge on his left shoulder, and then another, and then another until finally he relented and lifted his head.

"Do you need a snack?" She asked. Rumble nodded, causing Flitter to rush and return with a small bowl of chips and a can of soda, something that he wasn't normally allowed to have. "It'll be our little secret."

"Thanks. Is Thunderlane home?" Rumble asked as he popped the top of his soda can.

"He's upstairs. I'll go get him. Drink it quick." Flitter rushed upstairs, and after an unsurprisingly loud conversation, as Flitter lacked an indoor voice when talking with her sister and Thunderlane, Thunderlane came tumbling down the stairs, followed by the two sisters.

Thunderlane was noticeably tired and smelled of sweat. Likely he had just gotten off practice and collapsed on his bed the moment he was able to. Cloudchaser was likely close by to make sure no one disturbed him.

"Hey, welcome home," Thunderlane said with a yawn. His eyelids raised and sank as his vision slowly returned to him. It was only when the light of the sun reflected off of a metal can that Thunderlane became alert. "You have a soda. Funny, I could have sworn that I told someone not to give you that every day. Right, Flitter?"

"I had to, he was so sad," Flitter whimpered, wrapping her arms around Rumble.

As Rumble pathetically tried to free himself form Flitter's grip, a thought crossed his mind. Was it okay to talk to Thunderlane about his dilemma? Maybe, after all, if anyone knew what to do it had to be his older brother. Before he could ask any question though, Flitter began to talk.

"Something has to be wrong, right? He took so long getting home to. Oh! Were you hanging out with Button Mash again?" Flitter assumed, her smiling face returning. "He's a good friend. I'm glad you have a friend like him."

"Yeah, I was." Rumble felt a small nudged on his side. It was Cloudchaser.

"Did something happen? Maybe talking about that might cheer you up," Cloudchaser said, taking note of his dejected voice.

"It's nothing, just been a long day. Can I just talk to Thunderlane in private?" He turned to his brother. "I need to ask you something."

There was a short silence as Thunderlane looked to Flitter, as if to have her talk to his brother in his stead. She shook her head and mouthed for him to talk with his brother. Thunderlane's eyes turned to Cloudchaser, who was already halfway towards the front door. Perhaps it was for the best. The last time Rumble wanted to talk in private, Cloudchaser shouted out 'the stork' the moment they were alone. Rumble wanted to ask what Thunderlane wanted for his birthday.

Thunderlane stood up and led Rumble to his room. Rumble sat on the bed with Thunderlane taking a seat next to him. After saying a silent prayer to any god that would listen, begging that his brother ask about birthday presents, Thunderlane asked, "So, what do you need?"

Rumble looked towards the door. "Everything in this room stays confidential, right?"

"Of course." Thunderlane screamed internally at what questions of youth were brewing in his brother's mind.

"Good. I don't need Flitter getting involved. She can be intense. Say you have a friend, and they were hurt by someone, and they want to hurt them back. You know what they're doing is wrong, but they trust you and you don't want to betray that trust. What do you do?"

There was a short silence in the room as Thunderlane thanked the heavens above for a relatively normal question. "Okay, I can deal with this. First things first. Is this Button related? No offense, but he is literally the only friend you bring home."

"Yes." Rumble proceeded to tell Thunderlane everything, every little detail there was, unabridged.

"Damn," Thunderlane said. "Look I'm not saying that what he's doing is right, but I will say that he's probably hurting. If I were you, I would just let him know that I'm there for him. Then I would talk about things. You can't run from problems and hope they get solved on their own. You need to face them head on. I'm sure that if you talk to Button, and by talk, I mean listen, everything will turn out okay. And apologize for leaving him behind with that filly you hate. Honestly, he's your friend. You don't leave your friend to behind in situations like that!"

"I understand, and I will. Thanks, Thuderlane."

"No problem. So, what do you want for dinner tonight? I really don't want to cook."

"Pizza?"

"Pizza it is."

The brothers made their way downstairs, with now lifted spirits. If everything went well tomorrow, then perhaps he and Button could move on from this unpleasant experience and live their young lives to the fullest. Unfortunately, neither Rumble nor Button Mash could be that lucky. For sitting in Button Mash's house was one Diamond Tiara.