//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Something Worth Remembering // Story: Stressful Nights // by silvermoon15000 //------------------------------// "That cake was delicious!" Buttonmash's mother said, licking her lips of any excess icing. The cake was gone, Button had one slice while his mother, had the rest. She ate it as if she had not eaten anything all day, devouring it rather quickly. Button smiled though, she enjoyed the cake, that was all the mattered to him. Even as they sat at the table discussing the events of the past couple of days, Buttonmash was just happy to see his mother smile. It had been awhile since he had last seen her, but he definitely had not seen her smile in months, well not since his dad was still alive. Her smile lingered as she belched and fell back in her chair slightly. "Oh my, I've never been this full before, thank you dear," Buttonmash smiled, "It's not a problem mom, you always took care of me, so I decided to take care of you," he pointed a hoof at her as he spoke, "I mean it's the least I can do," he finished as he pushed the chair out a little bit. His mom tried to say something when the door bell rang. "Oh Button, I think that's the paper, can you get it for me, I don't think I can move!" Button chuckled at his mother's comment as he stood from the table and made his way to the door, pausing only to look through the peephole, he opened the door. "Hey Feather Weight hows the business?" Button asked the tall stallion holding the paper. He and Buttonmash were close friends back in their grade school years, but afterwards Feather Weight became focused on the business path, learning more and more about the newspaper and even how to become the class valedictorian in the meantime. "It's actually going great, and it seems like your life is picking up as well," he replied with a wink. "What do you mean?" Button asked, reaching for the paper. Feather lifted up the newspaper to show what he was hinting at. On the front page sat an article with a picture in the center. POPSTAR FINDS HER SOULMATE IN THE FORM OF HEAD VIDEO GAME DESIGNER BUTTONMASH. It read and the picture below it was that of Sweetiebelle laughing at one of Button's comments. Button's eyes widened, "Oh no!" ...................................................... "What!" Sweetie looked at the article with an expression that could only be anger and astonishment. Vanillabliss sat across from her, a smirk on her face. "Just a friend huh," Sweetiebelle slammed the paper down, her eyes glaring daggers at her friend. Vanillabliss just shrugged and continued to smile. "He is just a friend Bliss, we haven't talked in ages and we didn't exactly leave our friendship intact when I left, even now I don't see him any differently than I did be-" "You're lying," Rarity butted in as she walked into the room, a black satin dress held above her in her magic. Sweetiebelle looked at her, "Excuse me?" Rarity stopped and looked back, "You are lying my dear sis-" "I am not!" Sweetiebelle yelled. "Yes you are, you tend to get very...aggressive when you lie, especially when you say 'excuse me' I'm your sister dear I know more about you than you realize, plus Onyx does the same thing," she added as she left the room once more. Vanillabliss giggled, "Ya know, I think I'm really starting to like your sister," she told Sweetiebelle as she pulled the newspaper back towards her. "Besides, what could be so wrong with this, you both seem very comfortable around each other, and I've never seen a picture of you laughing like this, you seem happier," Sweetiebelle sighed, "You just don't get it, even if I did like him, all of Equestria would be against it...he works in what some would call the nerd department while I am popular, those never mesh well, more so considering most of those relationships don't even end well," she told her friend as she pushed herself away from the table, "Not to mention that even if we were in a relationship we would be followed around like this," she gestured towards the picture, "And we would never escape," she finished as she left the room, leaving Vanillabliss alone in the dining room of the boutique. Vanillabliss studied the paper closely, she had really only known Sweetiebelle when she was working with her and had only become friends with her a month beforehoof. She could see it in that laugh that Sweetiebelle had feelings for him, but there was only so much you can read from a picture. She left the paper on the table as she stepped away from it, she needed to speak to somepony about these two and figure out exactly what had happened to them. ................................................. Sweetiebelle walked through Ponyville, well more like ran, as there was a paparazzi on her tail. She had dealt with them before, but this wasn't a topic she wanted to discuss, with anypony. She took a left turn into the marketplace and skidded to a stop. She was surrounded, many ponies crowding around her all asking the same question. "Why him?" They all seemed to say the same thing and the noise was starting to get to Sweetiebelle, flattening her ears and gritting her teeth, she did her best to hide from the cameras but to no avail she was trapped. She closed her eyes and fought back tears, this was ther worst part of her job, the cameras, the questions, the gossip, it was so hard to handle that some nights she just wished she could get away from it all or even go back in time and stop herself. She felt her horn start to work as she slowly started to cast a teleportation spell, she didn't like doing it as it made her sick, but she would do everything in her power to get away no matter the cost. Before she could finish though, a booming voice could be heard throughout the crowd, "Get away from Sweetiebelle, or else you will all be leaving Ponyville and are never to return!" The voice boomed and caused a sudden stillness and silence amongst the large group of ponies. In mere seconds all of the ponies ran in all directions, leaving Sweetiebelle alone with whoever had just saved her. When she had opened her eyes, she saw the one pony she least expected to see, Twilight Sparkle, her magic teacher and a close friend of her sister. She was flying above her glaring at anypony that tried to take a picture or even ask a question before finally landing in front of a shaking Sweetiebelle who had tears in her eyes. Twilight walked up to the mare and slowly helped her up, wrapping a wing around her in comfort, she guided her to the castle where Twilight did her princess duties and remained far enough away from the paparazzi so she could work. As the castle doors closed behind the two, Sweetiebelle hugged the princess as hard she could, stressed tears covering the lavender mare's fur as she hugged her young friend back. Twilight knew the stresses of popularity, as she was not only a princess, but an Element of Harmony. Sweetiebelle looked up at Twilight and sniffled. "Thank you," she managed to say as she stepped away from the princess. Twilight used her magic to clean off the tears and snot on her fur and then smiled at the popstar. "Anytime Sweetiebelle, after all you still are my student," she told the mare as they started to walk through the halls of the castle, the only sounds being that of the hoof steps of the two mares. It was almost ominous and uncomfortable, but it was soon broken by Twilight asking a question. "So, what was the deal with all of that?" She looked at Sweetiebelle who looked back at her. "Just a false article in the newspaper, but I didn't expect it to draw a paparazzi from Manehattan," she told her as she turned her attention back to what was in front of her. "What article?" Twilight asked curiously. "Oh nothing important, just a whole romantic mix up," she hinted. "I wish I could get a story like that," Twilight joked butting her shoulder into Sweetiebelle. "You really don't, especially if it was just a conversation between you and a friend that was taken differently," Sweetiebelle said. Twilight looked at her, "Who was the 'lucky' stallion," she teased, trying to once again lighten the mood. "Buttonmash," she mumbled in return. Twilight looked at her with confusion, "Buttonmash? Huh I thought you two always had a thing for each other?" Sweetiebelle blushed slightly, "N-no not at all he had something for Me, but who hasn't..." Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. "That didn't come out right...it's just complicated," she added fixing what she had said before. Twilight giggled, "Sure sounds like you do have a 'thing' for him, maybe the tables have turned hm," she joked once more. Sweetiebelle glared at her, "That's not funny, I thought you were here to help me, not become a one pony paparazzi," Twilight stepped back slightly, taken aback by those words. "You really have something for him," a raspy voice said behind Sweetiebelle. "Spike what did I tell you about eavesdropping!" Twilight yelled. "What? It's not like you were not interested either," he retorted with smirk. Twilight glared at him, "I have a few books in the library that need to be put up, can you be a good uncle and show Dawn where they go," Twilight said with an evil smile. Spike mumbled something under his breath as he left leaving the two mares alone again. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "It's fine, but in some ways he's not wrong," she admitted. "I can't say for sure, but I think I might like him, it's just I don't know yet," she finished. "Hey, admitting you like somepony is already a step forward Sweetiebelle, but you might be telling the wrong pony this," she said wisely. Sweetiebelle looked at her, "What do you mean," she asked, puzzled. Twilight smiled, "You have other friends and even the stallion himself to tell, so run along, my mother sense is tingling," she told her before teleporting away. Sweetiebelle sighed and made her way out of the castle. Twilight was right, but how did Sweetie come to reveal her feelings. She had to admit, being around him put butterflies in her stomach. She knew what love was, she saw it in Rumble and Scootaloo, now she just had to do it see it for herself and Button. ..................................................... Button had searched all over town for Sweetiebelle, and the moon was starting to rise. He wanted to apologize to Sweetiebelle for the article. He felt bad, she was here to relax and now a paparazzi was here. They had attacked him about an hour ago and he had finally snuck away. Now he just had to find Sweetiebelle, except nopony had seen her since she had entered Twilight's castle. He stopped and calmed himself, "This is Sweetiebelle here, she can handle herself, don't be foalish and just look for her. You know her well enough, where would she go, maybe the boutique? But I have already checked there. Maybe I should go check again?" Button told himself, a pony close by scampered off, probably freaked out by his behavior. "Buttonmash?" A familiar voice behind him. He turned with a smile, thinking it was Sweetiebelle, but it wasn't, it was Applebloom. She was wearing a suit with a small pink bow on her mane, she looked professional. "What're ya doing out here, and without your cart," she questioned annoyingly. Buttonmash looked at her, "Not in the mood Applebloom, I'm looking for somepony." Applebloom snickered, "Lemme guess, Sweetiebelle? She just got to Sweet Apple Acres an hour ago, Ah doubt she is still there, but you can always check, but don't get any ideas, I've already told her how much you've changed." Buttonmash sat down and sighed. "Listen Applebloom, I know that what I did was wrong, but you are in a pretty similar boat aren't you?" Buttonmash said. "Hardly, Ah still have time for my friends." Applebloom snorted, walking past him. Buttonmash knew he had messed up. When he had snapped at the girls a few years ago, he said things he didn't mean, and to make things worse none of them had tried to talk to him since. He turned and grabbed her tail with a hoof. "I know what I said was wrong, I just don't know how to apologize. The things I did-" "Were wrong? Ya have no idea Button. Words hurt!" Applebloom ripped her tail out of his hoof and faced him. "The things you said threw Scootaloo and Ah in the dirt, Scootaloo still hasn't forgotten it and Ah...Ah sure as Luna haven't even considered forgiveness! Do ya have any idea how hard it already was that ya didn't show up to Granny Smith's funeral, that you didn't even make it to Big Mac's wedding and then decided to snap at us for the things you did wrong!" She was in tears as she yelled. He had avoided them for so long and now it was all hitting him. Everything he had said, everything that had ruined the friendship between him and his friends. Buttonmash sat down as Applebloom glared at him. "Even now...ya say nothin', you just stare at the ground with whatever guilt ya have. Ah believe wholeheartedly what you said that night. Because only you could say something like that and mean it, just like ya did when Sweetiebelle left. Now do Scootaloo and Ah a favor, and leave Sweetiebelle alone. She doesn't need ya, all you'll do is hurt her." Applebloom turned away and continued her walk, wiping the tears from her eyes. Buttonmash did nothing to stop her, he just stared at the ground and watched as his tears hit it. He knew exactly what he had said, and knew all of it was unforgivable. He moved his hooves one last time and went home, knowing his game needed to be finished. ............................................................. Rarity was happy to see the article, and when Sweetiebelle had entered the boutique that night, she was more than ready to tease her younger sister. "Well it seems somepony is happy." Rarity said placing the article on the table. Sweetiebelle sipped at her soup, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She was happy, she had spent the rest of her day at Sweet Apple Acres, talking with Big Macintosh and Sugarbelle about their relationship. She knew what it was like to be in a relationship, but she had never been the one to want to confess her feelings. She wanted to know what it was like and she did get some answers, which is what she had hoped for. "Darling are you lovestruck or something?" Rarity asked, tilting her head. Sweetiebelle had dazed of into her thoughts. Sweetiebelle blushed, "Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind." She replied. "I can tell, you have finally fallen for him, haven't you." Sweetiebelle looked at her sister who was grinning from ear to ear. "What? No, I have just been catching up with ponies and the picture here was the aftermath of a joke." "Denial" Rarity sang and levitated the spoon to her mouth. Sweetiebelle glared at her, "Just because I said no doesn't mean anything." She told her sister. She then sighed, she was lying and her sister had already caught her. "You have never been a great liar dear sister, you should express yourself more. After all holding back leads to stress, and stress leads to wrinkles." Her sister taught, leaning back in her seat slightly. "Fine, ya caught me." "Aha!" Rarity chimed out, slamming her hooves on the table. Sweetiebelle shushed her and point her hoof up. "Your son is sleeping, keep it down." Rarity blushed and slid back. "Apologies, I let myself go alittle." She apologized. Sweetiebelle rolled her eyes. "Just don't say anything to anypony else, I don't want this getting to him or to a reporter, otherwise we will have put both of our careers in jeopardy." She wasn't wrong, a singer dating a game developer wasn't exactly welcome. The stallions that listened to Sweetiebelle's music would quit listening, and the gamers would probably boycott the game Button was making, believing it to be too mushy for the sake of her. Not only that but their fields didn't mix unless there was a reason for it. "I understand dear, I will hold back until something happens." Rarity promised. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Rarity said, using Pinkie's signature promise. ............................................................. KNOCK KNOCK Buttonmash groaned and lifted his head from his keyboard once again. His mane was thrown around, bags sat underneath his eyes, and when he stood his legs shook. "Buttonmash, it's Sweetiebelle." Button froze and let Applebloom's words echo in his head. He went to sit back down but his leg gave out and fell face first into his desk. As he tried to lift himself up he heard a zap sound and saw a bright light. His vision was alittle blurry but he thought he could see a pony coming towards him. "Sweet Celestia, Button are you ok!" Sweetiebelle said trying to help him up. Buttonmash groaned in response and held himself up on his desk. "I'll...I'll be fine." He told her as his legs tried to give out again. "You are not fine, you can barely stand! Were you up all night?" Sweetiebelle cried out in concern. "Kinda have to be, I have a deadline." Button said, sitting back down and facing his computer. His jaw and muzzle hurt, but that didn't matter. "Well I don't care about some stupid deadline!" Sweetiebelle argued and spun him around to face her. "This is torture and you need rest." She said. "I don't have time to rest." Button quarreled. Sweetiebelle snorted and pulled him further away from his computer. stupid chair why do you have to have wheels? he scolded the chair in his thoughts as Sweetiebelle wheeled him to his couch. "Get on the couch, please." Sweetiebelle ordered politely. "No, I need to get my work done." Buttonmash told her. "I'm not taking no for an answer. Get. On. The couch." She demanded. Button shook his head and tried to wheel away, his chair bumping on something slightly. Sweetiebelle winced and grabbed her forehoof. "Ow." Button immediately moved back to her. "Are you ok?" He questioned, reaching for her hoof. He felt bad that he had hurt her. "I am now." "Wha-" he didn't get to finish as a hoof grabbed him and threw him onto the couch. "Gotcha, now where do you keep your blankets?" She said turning away from him. He tried to get up but realized he had magical shackles holding him to the couch. "Nice try, but I'm a good student of Twilight's, plus in your state it's not like you can do much anyway." She left the room in search of a blanket. This wasn't healthy for Buttonmash, and it really annoyed her that he put up a fight, but it was a fight she won, so less annoying. She couldn't find a blanket, so she just took the quilt from his bed and brought it downstairs. She gasped, he wasn't on the couch anymore. She peered around the corner to see him back on his computer, typing away at whatever he was working on. She snuck up behind him and wrapped the blanket around his eyes and chair and pulled him back towards the couch. "No, no! Let me go, Sweetiebelle!" She ignored his demands and hummed a tune as she repositioned him onto the couch, this time a blanket holding him down. She then sat in the computer chair and looked at her work. "I win." She smiled. Buttonmash sighed in annoyance. "You didn't win anything, and how in Celestia did you even get in here?" He asked. "Well I am Twilight's student." She responded, her mentor's words echoed in her head. Button tried to sit up but soon realized he couldn't. He peeked underneath the sheets and saw them tucked underneath the cushions with magic holding them under. "Like I said, I win." Sweetiebelle said. His ears flattened and he glared at his friend. "I have work to do Belle, now if you could let up that magic so I can-" "Nope, not until you rest." She interrupted. He struggled with blanket, tossing and turning, but to no avail he couldn't get free. Sweetiebelle giggled, his struggles amusing her. He pouted and turned towards the cushions. "Awww what's wrong, sad because a mare beat ya at something." Sweetiebelle taunted. He didn't answer and his breathing slowed. He had fallen asleep. well that was fast. Sweetiebelle told herself. She waited a bit longer just to make sure and then decided to explore the house. There was a lot of pictures on the walls, some art, others photos of Button, and some photos of other ponies. His living room wasn't large, but it held a couch and chair with a small table and a lamp. The walls were a grass green, and there was a set of stairs that acted as an exit along with and archway that led to the kitchen. The kitchen itself matched the living room but with a tile floor rather than wood. The stove and refrigerator contrasted the room nicely with a jet black color. There was also no dishes in the sink. She looked back in the living room to check on her friend and heard a grumble from the stallion. This grumble though didn't come from his mouth but rather his stomach. "When was the last time you ate?" Sweetiebelle asked the sleeping Buttonmash quietly. He snored in response, putting a smile on Sweetiebelle's face. She turned back to the kitchen and decided that he deserved a meal once he woke up. She wasn't the most talented in the kitchen, but she knew the basics and could make some simple dishes. She decided on something rather quickly and got to work. ......................................................... The smell of something good woke up Buttonmash from his slumber, something was being cooked. He slowly lifted his head off his couch and looked around, the memory of the events from earlier slowly pulling him back to reality. "How...how long was I out?" He asked, his eyes widening in fear. He knew Sweetiebelle was around somewhere, but the magic was now gone. He jumped off the couch and basically ran to his computer, not paying attention to the plate of pancakes on his table. "No, no! It's almost sundown, I'm gonna be behind!" He cried out. "Behind? From what I could tell there was more work in there to last you a month's break." A voice said behind him. He quickly turned to face Sweetiebelle who was levitating the plate of pancakes in front of her. "Well at least now you do." She added trotting up to him. "What...did you...do?" He did his best to hold back his anger. "Well for one I fleshed out some of your characters, most of them seemed one sided, and for two I did some editing," she made it to his side and set the plate down, "Here, see for yourself." He stared at the screen and scrolled down through all of the work, his eyes widening at how easily she had done this. "What, how did you figure it out?" She gave him a confused look. "I mean my characters, the stories that I had in mind, I had all of those...locked...away." the realization hit him and he reached into a drawer where a journal sat. Sweetiebelle looked away sheepishly. She had read his notes, thinking they were well just notes, but she could tell that some of the characters were based off of real ponies. She also found some entries from back in Button's highschool years, not realizing that they were that. When she turned back around she met his glare, one that scared her. "You read...through my personal journal!" He yelled. "I didn't realize it was personal at first, but when I read the scripts on the screen, they sounded very bland, I just wanted to help." She glared back at him, angry that he had yelled at her. Button's expression changed suddenly, his conversation with Applebloom coming back to him. He sat down in his chair and took a deep breathe. This needed to stop. "Just don't go through my stuff before asking, some of it is private and I don't need anypony seeing it," he then looked at her, "And I'm sorry for yelling, that...that was wrong of me." He added the apology. Sweetiebelle smiled in return and accepted his apology, slowly pushing the plate of pancakes towards him with her magic. He smiled back and took a bite, his eyes lighting up. "Sweet Celestia, these are amazing! Almost as good as mom's!" He said with a mouthful. She giggled as he took another bite. As he ate Sweetiebelle's mind wandered back to what she had seen in his journal. The entries in there focused on his life, but a lot of it also had to do with her and the other crusaders. There was no true mention of his affection towards her until the last of the entries. The entry was dated a week before she had started her big tour. She couldn't remember most of the words, but two sentences stuck out to her. I am going to try, I have to, it'll be my only chance. And then the last sentence. I was stupid to think she had anything for me, I just wish I could have said something. The sentences were from different time periods on the same same day. It would be two days after this entry that they would argue over everything that was going to happen and would ruin their friendship. "You okay?" Button asked, bringing her back to the present. She looked at the empty plate and then back at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, just day dreaming." She lied. He looked at her with a smile and stood back up. "I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen." He left the room and went to the kitchen. Sweetiebelle could hear the water running soon after, and walked to the living room to fix the couch. She folded the blanket as neatly as possible and then put it back where it came from before entering the kitchen. Button was cleaning off the pan that she had used to make the pancakes and from what she could tell he was focused on his task. She sat down at the small dining table in the room, waiting for him to get done. Twilight's advice echoed in Sweetiebelle's head, giving way for her nerves to creep in. She felt her heart rate pick up as he turned off the water, this was it. "Hey Button I-" there was a loud crash as the door in the other room swung open and then shut. Button, who had just finished drying his hooves, slowly crept to the archway. He was afraid that somepony was about to rob his home. "Button dear? Are you home?" His mother's voice called. Button sighed in relief, "In the kitchen, mom!" He called back returning to the sink long enough to put the remaining dishes in the soapy water. The mare entered the room with a pleasant smile on her face, not noticing Sweetiebelle at first. "Why did you swing the door open so hard? You could've broken something." He scolded in confusion. "The wind was picking up, I almost couldn't open it or even close it, I think I'm getting old." She laughed and turned towards Sweetiebelle. She gasped, "Am I interrupting something?" She asked politely. "Not at all, Sweetiebelle was just coming over to catch up some more." Button told his mother, leaving out his nap and the prepped food. "What's up? You look a little tired." Button asked as his mother sat down next to Sweetiebelle. He joined them and sat down opposite of Sweetiebelle. "Well I was coming over to make sure you were alright, you left on such short notice that I thought maybe one of your friends ended up in the hospital." She told him. Her reasoning was solid, mainly because after the article he just left, he didn't say goodbye or even leave a note. "And I didn't come over yesterday because I thought maybe you were working on your game after making sure everything was ok, but it surely doesn't seem that way." She tried to subtly gesture her eyes towards Sweetiebelle who took notice immediately. "No, no, something just came up and I was in a hurry, I am sorry for not saying something at least." His mother shook her head. "No don't be, if you are in a hurry then you don't have time for goodbyes, much less so when it's your mother, I don't think I would have let you go after the cake yesterday." Button laughed and rubbed the back of his head. he made his mother a cake, how sweet. Sweetiebelle thought. "So what were saying, Sweetiebelle?" Button asked, remembering her trying to say something earlier. Sweetiebelle looked at him and then his mother, would it be right of her to say something around his mother. In Sweetiebelle's mind she knew Button's mother probably didn't like her anymore, she did after all fight and hurt her son. She was also an adult, so hopefully she had gotten over their quarrel. Sweetiebelle sighed and looked at her crush, her heart threatening to jump out of her chest. "Um Button, I...I have been thinking about some things while I have been here...in Ponyville I mean...and I have come to a realization that-" there was a loud knock on the door, cutting off Sweetiebelle once more. The knock sounded frantic and Button didn't hesitate to run to the door. He swung the door open to reveal Vanillabliss, Sweetiebelle's manager. "Is Sweetiebelle here?" She asked, sweat running down her forehead. "Bliss? What's going on?" Sweetiebelle asked trotting up to the door. "It's your sister she is in the hospital!"