//------------------------------// // Button Mash // Story: The Reservation // by Kyuubi325 //------------------------------// State of Lincoln New Brooklyn Hyatt Electronics 6:37 AM Button could think of few times in his life where he had gotten into real trouble while he sat quietly in the chair. The most trouble he could remember ever being in was when he stayed out late to play that unicorn arcade machine. Missing his curfew by only... two hours? But even then his mom was more worried and upset than angry. But not this time, he couldn’t make out what was being said in the office, but the tones certainly didn’t make it seem good. Which only upset the young colt further, already sniffling having been caught red hooded doing something so stupid. A few moments later the office door to the side of his chair unlocked. With his mother Cream Heart trotting out in her waitress outfit, complete with her name tag on the white apron. Mister Hyatt followed close behind in his white dust coat and leather apron. They both stood in front of the young colt, while he could only sink under their gaze, avoiding making eye contact. Still out of the two of them, his mother's angry disappointed stare made him feel as if he was swallowing his own breaking heart. “Button, look at me.” Cream said sternly, to which the young colt shakily looked up. “Mister Hyatt and I have talked it over, and we’ve come to an agreement. After you’ve finished your schoolwork, you will be doing some odd jobs for mister Hyatt to pay off your debt to him.” Button swallowed. “O-odd jobs?” He asked unsure, flinching a bit under the older white-haired man's gaze. “Yes Button, odd jobs, you're going to spend your time after school sweeping, cleaning, stocking, and whatever else mister Hyatt needs around his business.” She looked down at the small colt with a deep frown. Button nodded his head slowly, bowing better than to complain about losing what little free time he had after school. “Yes, mom...” “Now apologize to mister Hyatt for what you did.” She said with a stern edge that made the colt twitch. Button inhaled and exhaled attempting to calm himself, but it did little to help his dry throat. “I’m sorry mister Hyatt.” His ears instinctively lowered against his head. Cream coughed and cleared her throat, reminding him he had to say more. While giving him the eye that only made his stomach sink deeper into his hooves. “I’m... sorry for stealing the Joy Boy Emulator....” Burton swallowed while the man maintained his unreadable expression. “I’ll see you tomorrow, don’t wear nice clothes, the storefronts clean, but the workshop and warehouse are not.” He said neutrally but his stern eyes focused on the small colt. To which Button just nodded his head solemnly. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to spending his time after school here. “Thank you for your generosity mister Hyatt, I’ll make sure this never happens again.” Cream said to the old man, before using her hoof to grab the colts ear and lead him out. To which he could only whine from the pain. Once they were outside she continued to hold onto his poor ear heading towards the bus stop. Not saying a single word, the whole way, even after they boarded the bus. That’s how he knew she was furious and was waiting till they were in the privacy of their home to really chew him out. All he could do was mentally prepare himself. After about 40 minutes, the bus left the industrial area came to a stop inside the reservation. The moment the doors opened, Button's ear was grabbed again as she leads him off the bus and back home. More then a few latchkey foals watched him get dragged, a few laughing at his expense, only making him blush and sniffle more in humiliation. Once they reached the small two-bedroom emergency shelter she promptly unlocked the door and dragged the colt inside. She finally let him go and grabbed the sulking colts chin with her hoof to force him to look into her eyes. “Now... mind telling me what the buck you thought you were doing Button! I ask you to sit quietly and do your homework in the corner booth and what do you do?!” She finally screamed at him. “I-I...” He lowered his head. “Look at me Button! What were you thinking?! If Hyatt called the police do you know what would have happened?!” She yelled forcing the colt to look at her again the tears leaking down the sides of his cheeks. He just shook his head weakly. “Well let me tell you! Regardless of how the police punish you, it destroys your chances of ever getting out of this hell hole! If you have something like that on your record, good luck getting a scholarship! They will just toss your application right in the trash! Don’t even count on the trade school raffle, your name is pulled from there too!” Button was struggling to stand, visibly shaking and crying now. “I-I was just...” He sniffled. “So please... please Button... tell me why you would risk your chances! You're an excellent student! I’ve never seen anything lower than a B+ on your report card!” The anger draining from her face, being replaced with despair and disappointment. “I work my hooves to the bone to try and give you a better life... Did I do something wrong?! Did I not raise you right?! Tell me?!” Button just shook his head sobbing now. “I just thought... I saw the game... I don’t know mom... I-I just don’t know...” “... Go to your room button... just... go...” She sighed pointing her hoof to the door before running it over her face. “I... can’t see you right now...” Button didn’t argue, he just trotted to his room and closed the door behind him. Once he made it to his bed he just collapsed onto the bed burying his face into the pillow. He would spend the rest of the listening to his mother cry through the thin walls. Sleep didn’t come to him that night. ———————————————————- The next day wasn’t much better for Button, school just seemed to drudge on much longer. He struggled to focus on his classes, the guilt of what he did yesterday sticking with him. The bullying was definitely worse today, but eventually at 2:30 school got out. He quietly sat in the back of the school bus holding his small bag close until he reached its last stop in the industrial area of New Brooklyn. Trotting to Dairy Marys Diner, the bright neon sign buzzing faintly. Once he managed to step inside, he saw a large female Minotaur behind the bar who eyed him a bit, likely having heard of what he did. Turning to the left be made his way to a secluded booth and sat down. Just as he started to pull out his long division and multiplication homework. After making his way through the first three problems on the worksheet he heard the familiar hoofsteps of his mother. Looking up he saw her in the familiar retro waitress outfit. “Don’t forget Button, once your finished your going straight to Mister Hyatt’s shop, I expect you to be on your best behavior Button...” He could tell she was still upset. “Ok, mom...” He just nodded his head slowly, while he went back to solving the problems. After about 30 minutes he finished the math homework and started to focus on his English assignment. Already he was stumped, it was such a simple assignment, What do you want to be when you grow up? He didn’t really know, and yet he had to write a whole page about it, within a month. After spending 20 minutes just working on the introduction he gave up and slipped it into his bad. “Finished with your schoolwork Button?” He looked up to see his mom checking on him while carrying a tray of dirty dishes on her back. “Uh-huh....” He nodded his head slipping his bag back on and scooting out of the booth. “Alright... head across the street to mister Hyatt’s... and no stealing, am I clear? He was generous to you the first time, don’t test that generosity again.” He just nodded again as he turned to make his way out of the diner only for a hoof to grab his bag. “This stays here Button...” “But mom!” He frowned, but once he saw that face. He knew he wasn’t leaving with his bag. “After you tried to sneak a Joy Boy from Hyatt’s in here, do you really think I’m going to trust you with this over there?” He gave him a stern look. “...No...” He slipped the bag off, watching his mother slip it behind the counter. “Please...just behave Button...” She told him just as he made his way out of the door. The trot to Hyatt’s Electronics wasn’t far thankfully, stopping at the sidewalk, he looked both ways, seeing the vast stretches of warehouses and factories either way. Once he was sure it was safe, he quickly trotted across the road to the large steel prefabricated building, the painted sign held above. The moment he entered the sound ring signaling a someone had entered. Waiting a few moments at the door, eventually, mister Hyatt walked into the showroom. Wearing the same white dust coat and leather apron he did yesterday. “Oh, you did show up...” He said in mild if a bit tired surprise. “Was I not supposed to?” Button swallowed nervously, while the man seemed to be lost in thought. “No no... just... Nevermind... Let's see...” He mumbles trying to think of what the colt could do for him. “Let’s start you off sweeping the workshop and warehouse.” He motioned the colt to follow him through the employee only doors, contrasting with clean white modern-looking showroom, with glass shelves and cases, the Workshop and warehouse in comparison contrasted it greatly. Industrial shelving towering nearly two stories or more, above them. All loaded with old and new electronics ranging from Flatscreen TVs to rust-covered almost filing cabinet looking things covered with nobs and meters. Button looked at these things curiously, some of the older items reminded him of that movie they watched during lunchtime, Atlantis: The Lost Empire he couldn’t imagine what they were all for. But they continued to catch his eye with how much they stood out. “Cool...” He said under his breath looking over an old Analog Am transmitter. Hyatt raised an eyebrow but coughed to bring the colt's attention back to him. “If you take a look at the floors around here, they are filthy. Take that large dust mop and work out the debris over there.” He motioned to an opened truck loading dock. “That should be a good start I think.” The looked around while his face paled, this place was huge! He could fit his house in this place countless times over! “All of it?...” “Mhm, won’t take as long as ya think, just start from the north end.” He motioned his head backwards to the farthest corner behind him. “Then work your way down south.” He motioned is head to the furthest corner in front of him. “Trust that won’t be a problem?” He raised an eyebrow at the cold while keeping his neutral tired expression. “No mister Hyatt...where’s the dust mop?” Button sighed, looking around. “Should be back near one of the northern corners of the warehouse.” He motioned his head backward. “I’ll be over in the workshop.” He mumbled while turning around and heading back to whatever he was working on. Seeing it was his cue, the colt started to trot through the warehouse, after about 5 minutes he found what he was looking for. The size of it compared to him was almost comical, but he grabbed the handle in his hooves. He then began to slowly make his way down the first aisle between the shelves. Watching as the grime, dust bunnies, and little worthless baubles that fell off the varied inventory. By the time he finished the first aisle, it became apparent after each one he would have to empty the mop at the distant opening. He mumbled under his breath, it was likely going to take hours at this rate! ———————————————————- The next two weeks followed much the same pattern, Button would finish his homework under the watchful eye of his mother while she waited tables and took orders. Then once he finished his homework, or finished whatever he could... that writing assignment still sat the bottom of his bag... he would make his way across the street to Hyatt’s Electronics. So far he had cleaned the floors, helped organize inventory in the showroom (under Hyatt’s watch), and even sorted components into various boxes. Today however things would be a bit different from the usual drudgery of cleaning and sorting for the elderly man. Having not seen mister Hyatt there to greet him like he normally did in the showroom, he made his way back to the workshop. More then a bit confused since the ringing sound of the door opening was usually enough to bring him. Once he made his way past all the metal shelving to the workshop he spotted him hunched over something on the workbench, the now familiar smell of melting solder hitting the colt's nose. It wasn’t unpleasant to him, and this time he was a bit more curious about what he was working on. Slowly tiptoeing closer to the workbench while the old man worked, the colt climbed up into the nearby swivel chair to see what was going on. Looking through the binocular magnifier while he carefully desoldered a rusty metal cylinder from the mess of wires and circuits. He then slowly lifted it from the board with a pair of pliers, once it was out he slowly looked it over. The anticipation and curiously was finally too much for Button. “What’s that?” Mister Hyatt nearly jumped out of his own skin. “Huh?!....” He flipped up the large goggles up off his eyes. “Oh! Button, I didn’t hear you come in.” He rubbed his eyes. “Did you say something?” “I... Uh... asked what that was...” Button pointed nervously to the metal tube and the box filled with wires. He took a moment to register what the colt was asking before his eyes widened a bit in understanding. “Oh, this is a T-12SA7... a vacuum tube and this...” He patted the side of the box. “Is an AN/GRC-6 radio used in a tank.” Instead of looking bored, Button looked genuinely interested. “What’s a vacuum tube?” He asked tilted his head, to which the man seemed to think a bit. “I suppose the best way to describe them... is like both a one-way street and gears for electricity.” He said tapping his chin. “What do you mean?” Button sat down on the swivel chair. “Vacuum tubes allow us to control the direction of electricity, making the current stronger... hmmm I think I know how to explain it better.” He inhales a bit to catch his breath. “Imagine you have two groups of kids pulling two different carts.... one group is running and pulling in different directions, the other is pulling their cart as a group. Who do you think will go further?” “The kids pulling as a group?” Button said after thinking for a moment. “Exactly, a vacuum tube does the same thing, it makes electrons or electricity work as a group. Thus allowing them to work more efficiently.” He nodded his head. “But... how does that make a radio work?” Button asked while the man smiled for the first time since he had met him. “That’s a bit more complicated, but I think I know how to show you the fundamentals.” He slowly rose his feet. “What about the radio your working on? Or my job for today?” Button said worriedly. “I can’t finish the repairs until the replacement parts come in and I don’t really have much for you to do today.” He shrugged making his way to a plastic trash bin, loaded with pieces of broken pallets. Eventually fishing out two small pieces of wood, and making his way back over. Setting them on a workbench to the right of what he was working on. “I think these will do.” “Do what?...” Button was confused, what was he going to do with those two pieces of wood? “I’m going to show you how to make a radio receiver.” He said motioned for the colt to push his chair over. Button did so a bit slowly having to climb off and then push it over. “You're going to teach me how to make a radio... out of a piece of wood?” He raised an eyebrow skeptically at the old man. “Yes, well... no, it’s more like I’m showing you how to make a radio on a piece of wood.” He said while the colt still didn’t quite believe him. “Alright...” Button didn’t have much else to do, and walking back to the diner to sulk under his mother’s watch didn’t seem that inviting. “Let’s see what else do we need...” The old man thought. “Some wire...a beer bottle... germanium diodes... 1/4 watt resistors... small disk capacitors ...piezoelectric earphones... that old coat hanger... oh and mounting hardware.” He started to dig through the parts from various drawers around the workbench, setting them down on the wood. Along with the other odds and ends he had lying around. The colt stared at the small pile of parts, not believing that they could make anything useful. “This is it?” “Hmm, yep that’s all we need, think you can follow along?” He asked pulling his chair over and sitting down. “I guess so?” Button was unsure but looking more curious again, seeing he wasn’t playing a joke on him. “Alright, follow my lead...” He passed the colt a sharpie. “I’m going to show you how to draw a simple circuit.” He slowly started to draw the crystal radio circuit on the wood. Button watching him closely before meticulously copying it onto his own board. “What are these symbols for?” Button looked at them once he finished copying the drawing. The old man had a faint smile and pressed his finger onto the wood. “So this little dot right here is where you will hook up the antenna, a long piece of magnet wire in this case. Which will pick up AM radio signals, I’ll explain what AM means later...” He then dragged his finger to a drawing that looked like loops that the colt would draw in his notebook out of boredom in school. “See this? This is a tuning coil, in your case, it will be magnet wire wrapped around some leftover the bottle. This allows you to select what radio station you want to hear by sliding the coat hanger wire across it. The energy will then move through the hanger wire over here.” Button watched as slowly dragged his finger down the strait black to what looked like an arrow pressing into the top of a capital T could be seen. He hanged onto every word he said, the simple explanations of what each part did fascinating the colt. Once he had finished explaining what each part of the radio did they finally started to assemble it. The coil took the longest, who knew wrapping magnet wire around a bottle could be so time-consuming! But once that part was finished, with the poor colt having to start over more than twice! The rest of the radio started to take shape on the piece of wood. Soon enough the radio was finished, looking it over, it didn’t look like much. It couldn’t possibly work, right? But the old man just had a faint smile. “Alright Button, slip the earpiece into your ear, I assure you it won’t bite.” Button lifted the earpiece up, slipping it into his ear. He could already hear faint static through it, developing a look of determination as he slowly slid the wire over the tuner. Once he picked up a radio broadcast his eyes seemed to brighten, it wasn’t anything terribly interesting. Just a college football game, what amazed him was the fact he built something that could pick it up. “It’s working...” “I figured it might...” The old man mumbled a bit leaning back in his chair. Button continued to fiddle with the radio searching for other stations, before looking at the clock and finally pulling the earphone out of his ear. “My moms getting off soon...” He couldn’t help but sound a little disappointed. “It’s my last day too...” “Something wrong? Usually, you can’t wait to get out of here.” He raised an eyebrow. “I... was hoping we could do another project like this... it was really cool...” Button shuffled in his chair. Hyatt developed a more thoughtful look on his face and tapped his chin. “Tell you what... if you continue to do a few odd jobs for me every now and then, I’ll teach you about electronics. Does that sound fair?” Button nodded his head. “More than fair!” He quickly covered his mouth. “I mean yes mister Hyatt, I’m sorry for shouting.” He chuckled. “I wish more kids your age were excited about working on electronics, instead of just using them. It’s alright, you best not keep your mother waiting.”Button nodded his head again slipping off the chair. Leaving the radio on the bench only for Mister Hyatt to speak up again. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” He grabbed the crystal radio off the table and held it out to the colt. “It’s mine?..” Button sounded surprised. “Well, you did build it Button.” He said smiling faintly. “Besides I don’t have much use for it.” “Thank you, mister Hyatt!” Button quickly took the radio in his mouth and trotted out to find his mom across the street. Now finally having an idea of what he wanted to be. ———————————————————- The next few weeks Button occasionally helped mister Hyatt around his shop, in return getting electronics lessons from the old man. Most children would have lost interest as bits of math started to work their way into the hobby, yet he seemed continually drawn to it. Mister Hyatt would continue to teach him about new components, demonstrating how it could be used in a new project. They tended to be simple things at first, battery testers, rechargeable LED flashlights and a cigarette box guitar with a built-in amp. That last one was pretty fun as he got to meet one of Mister Hyatt’s business partners, Chris Hackett. Apparently, he ran a fabrication/art studio nearby, he was a bit odd, but always had a new project to show off. Button steadily became a common sight around the shop, either learning steadily more complex electronics, cleaning the floors, or helping sort salvaged electronics from a recent teardown. Seeing a menagerie of various electronics make their way in and out of the business. From old military radios to more modern-looking flat-screen TVs, the stock on the high metal shelves was always changing. As did the clientele, soccer moms to men in quasi-military uniforms. The young colt had just finished sorting through the variable pile of transformers and miscellaneous parts that Mister Hyatt and his employees had torn out of an old sound reinforcement system. Once the last transformer was labeled with a sharpie and tossed into a box he got up and stretched. Rather sore from sitting on the floor while he worked through the pile. “Mister Hyatt? I’m done, do you want me to move the boxes over to storage?” “Sure, once you're done could you come over to the workshop Button?” He heard him respond. After about 20 minutes of carrying the heavy boxes to their assigned shelves, he made his way to the workshop where Hyatt was looking over something. “Finished?” “Uh-huh... what are you looking at?” He looked curiously at the boxy contraption. “It’s a Zorba...” He unlocked the keyboard from the box, revealing the dark 9in screen and floppy disk drive. “It was an early portable computer from the 80s... sadly this one's components have long since given up the ghost... the case is still good though... so I got to thinking.” “About what?” Button pushed the chair over and climbed up to get a better look. “Hold on... let me find it...” The old man started to dig around the drawers before pulling out a small box with a black and white cartoon raspberry on it. “Here we go... a Raspberry Pi 5 X.” “That doesn’t look like a pie.” Button stared as he opened the box revealing the circuit board. “Not pie, pi as in the number used to calculate the circumstance of a circle.” He Shakes his head. “That’s not important... the Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer.” “What are you going to do with it?” Button continued to look over the broken vintage computer and the board. “It’s not what I’m going to do with it, it’s what we are going to do.” He chuckled gently. “Oh? What are we gonna do with it then?” The colt seemed interested and more invested in it now. “We’re gonna make you a computer, a colt your age needs to start learning IT.” He pats the vintage machine. “The best way to do it is to have a machine at home to work on.” “A computer?!” The colt nearly jumped off the seat in excitement. He had only just started to learn how to do some basic programming in his computer class in school. It wasn’t anything too complicated yet, just programming the desktops to play simple games with them. Pong and tic tac toe so far, but they were working their way up to more advanced programs. “It probably won’t play a lot of games... but it should be able to handle more mundane things, word documents, programming, maybe some web surfing if they ever get it out to the reservation...” He seemed to think a bit while leaning back in the chair looking over the old computer. “It’s going to take a while... but you’ll get to learn some more advanced electronics along the way.” “B-but something like this has to cost money!” Button said in shock not quite believing was he was hearing the computers at school were tightly regulated after all. “I did the math if you were making minimum wage you’d be able to cover this project. Even taking into account the other projects we’ve done.” He slowly pushed away from the workbench and got to his feet, a bit shakily. “It’s around that time... Why don’t we both go visit Dairy Marys Diner? “Uh... ok?” Button slipped off the chair to follow him. The way across the street to the retro diner was short, the familiar smells of the greasy food hitting them before they even opened the door. The Minotaur looked up at them as they came in and smiled gently. “Come on in darlin’s.” She motioned to the open booths. “Ya just missed the after-work rush, why don’t you go ahead and choose a seat and order.” Once they got seated Cream Heart made her way over with the menus. “Oh! Mister Hyatt! I hope Button hasn’t gotten in trouble again...” The mare looked worried. “No no, just felt in the mood for a warm dinner.” He chuckled. “Two menus please, Button feel free to order what you want, it’s on me.” “Thank you, Mister Hyatt.” The colt smiled taking the menu into his hooves, more than a little excited. Cream looked surprised but shrugged her shoulders. “Can I get you boys something to drink?” She asked after shaking her head clear. Hyatt seemed to think a bit while looking over the menu. “I’ll have an egg cream.” “Ohhhh, can I have the chocolate malt?” Button smiled seeing a picture of the shake in the menu. Hyatt nodded to the mare as she mentally took down the orders. “All go bring those right out.” She left them to look over the menus. “What’s an egg cream?” The colt finally asked looking up from his menu at the old man. “It’s like.... carbonated chocolate milk.” He said after thinking. “With eggs?” Button tilted his head confused. “Oh no no, it’s just a name, maybe in the past, it had eggs. The ones Mary makes are just carbonated chocolate.” He shrugged. “I just like the taste.” Cream came over with their drink orders setting them on the table. “Have you two decided on what to order?” “Tofu bacon cheeseburger with home fries!...Please.” Button quickly added blushing from his outburst. “I’ll have the meatloaf sandwich, with coleslaw instead of fries please.” Hyatt said setting down his menu. “Alright, I’ll go tell Rover your order.” She smiled trotting off, a few moments later the smells and sounds of cooking food could be heard from the kitchen. She would eventually come back with the orders, along with half a tofu turkey club with a side salad, before sitting down next to Button. “Got room for one more?” “I don’t see why not.” Hyatt smiled as he pulled his meal closer to him. “So what did you have my son working on today?” She asked while lifting the sandwich to her mouth. “Oh! Mister Hyatt is gonna help me build a computer!” Button said excitedly while Cream looked surprised. “A computer? Are you going to help him with a project or something?” She raised an eyebrow only for Button to shake his head. “No, we're going to build him a computer.” Hyatt smiled gently. “I have some spare parts from leftover from a job. Might as well put them to use.” “W-we can’t afford that!” Cream sounded shocked and worried, computers were expensive, especially nowadays with the shortages. “No no, consider it a way to pay him back for all the work he’s done for me. If he was old enough, his wages would have covered it.” Hyatt said while biting into the meatloaf sandwich, humming with delight. “It’s nothing special, not like one of those....” He seemed to think for a moment. “rare gaming rigs kids would practically kill for... just something for typing up papers, practicing his coding, maybe surf the web if they ever get it hooked up out there. Besides, he’ll learn some valuable IT skills along the way, that’s always a bonus when it comes time for his first job.” “B-but what about power? It’s so intermittent with those crummy power lines! Once the power went out for 2 whole weeks before they got it fixed!” She still sounded skeptical. “I got plenty of rechargeable cells from a recent Tesla teardown, I’m sure I can incorporate a battery. The components don’t take that much power either...” He shrugged again while he ate. “But... why?... even a simple computer is worth a lot these days...” She now sounded a bit more suspicious, her natural motherly instinct coming in. “What’s in it for you?” “I enjoy teaching someone about electronics, most of the employees I have are electronics engineers who feel like they got cheated. Being stuck helping an old man fix flat screens and salvaging components from busted junk, instead of designing the next iPhone I reckon. Getting them to listen and learn practical electronics has been hard... you only learn so much from theory in college... but Button? He absorbs it all like a sponge, it’s nice to have someone around who actually listens for once.” He set the sandwich back down and sipped his egg cream slowly, savoring the chocolate flavor. Cream developed a more thoughtful look on her face, mulling it over in her head. “I suppose that makes sense, I’d like to see this computer your planning on building.” Hyatt nodded his head. “It’ll take a while, but you're free to drop by my shop to see anytime.” He said while going back for another bite of his sandwich. Cream seemed to think about that, and listed it under the things she would have to do. It was about time she saw her colts hard work in action. “Thank you, Mister Hyatt...” ———————————————————- Cream would make good on her promise to pay more attention to what her colt was building. She walked into the nearby workshop during her breaks, at first seeing them remove borderline rotten components from an old computer casing. Clearing out the layers of dust and cobwebs that had somehow built up inside. Over the next few weeks, she kept a close eye on the two during her breaks, while also eyeing Buttons grades. After school activities were secondary to grade after all. But little seemed to change, in fact, they seemed to improve a bit, especially math and science. She didn’t always trot into them working on the computer though, sometimes she would step into seeing Button sweeping the floors, or tossing components she couldn’t guess the purpose off into boxes like some sort of sorting game. It was strange, before this... he seemed to aimless. Yet, here her colt was finding his place in this new confusing world. One day while slipping into the workshop to peek in to see what they were up too she saw them both sitting down in front of one of the workbenches. Button was the first to look over with bright eyes. “Mom! Come over you have to see this!” Mister Hyatt looked up adjusting his glasses and smiled weakly. “Ah miss Heart, come come, it’s finished, why don’t you give it a try?” Cream trotted over while the two of them scooter out of the way for her to see what they had created. She wasn’t disappointed, compared to what they started with, she was stumped with what they had now. It was a far cry from the filthy box she had seen weeks ago or the pile of wires they assured they could cram inside of it. The case had a new coat of black paint covering it, with a noticeable sheen. Little red LEDs lit up around the opening of the case, where a salvaged 9in LED screen sat dormant on the right. A row of USB ports lined the bottom of the left side, along with a CD, floppy, and oddly enough tape drive. Though she didn’t know what they were called, the LED lights lit up on it made it almost look like something out of one of those old science fiction books Button would bring home from the library. Once she sat down in the offered chair in front of the contraption she slowly pressed her hoof onto the mouse and rolled it forward. Nearly gasping as the screen lit up showing a bright red raspberry as it started to boot up. Eventually coming to a rather simple home screen, there was Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, even a few little games! “Button built this?...” She was completely shocked as she started to click Word typing on the keyboard experimentally. Watching the keystrokes become words right before her eyes. “Well... Mister Hyatt helped a lot...” Button rubbed the back of his head looking away. “Button, don’t sell yourself short, you just followed my directions, most kids your age could have never soldered the way you did.” He chuckled. “I was completely hands-off off this build, I just directed him as he went.” “This is incredible...” She mumbled having never actually touched a computer before, the way it turned her keystrokes into words seemed almost like magic. “It has a built-in battery pack too, so even when the power goes out on the reservation, he can continue to work for at least a few days.... provided it’s only on school work.” He eyed the colt who smiled innocently. “We can... take it home then?” Cream said still not quite believing it. “Uh-huh... Hyatt looked it all over and says it’s ready!” Button said excitedly while prancing in place. “I... don’t know what to say to you mister Hyatt.... except... thank you.” She smiled up at him pushing herself away from the keyboard. “Eh, I consider it an investment, maybe someday Button will work for me officially?” He chuckles while unhooking the power cable to the computer and closing the keyboard against the display with a click as it snapped into place. “There we go... think you can carry this back on your own?” He asked while lifting it up off the table so she could grasp it. “Definitely, thank you so much, mister Hyatt.” She was about to take the handle into her mouth. “Call me Gilbert.” He waved them both goodby as they carried it out.