"Always cherish those you love the most whenever you can. Even after their gone, that love with always be there. However, this is one of the reasons there is no time like the present." RedStar76
This story is dedicated to families everywhere.
Luna's moon was at its peak in the star filled sky as the peaceful winds of the night gently had blown through the quiet town of Ponyville. Ponies were fast asleep, snug in their blankets in their homes. Even in the home of a certain video game playing colt, young Button Mash was sleeping peacefully in his bed. However, all was not peaceful with the mother of Button Mash. Try as she might, tossing and turning, waving her hooves, pulling the covers, all she could do was stare at the ceiling above her.
"Ugh..." the audible groan came forth. "I give up," she sighed in defeat and gently pulled the covers off of her body. Crawling slowly out of bed, and gently lowering her hooves onto the floor. "I'll just get some milk and hope for the best." She carefully opened the door and and trotted into the hallway. As she was about to pass the door to Button's room, a thought occurred to her, and she pressed her ear up against the door. Nothing but silence. She giggled to herself slightly, seeing as this was just her acting on the force of habit. Finding herself slowly turning the doorknob, she opened the door slightly to take a peek inside, of course, she found her little button sleeping soundly with his chest slowly rising and falling.
"Mmh... rupees... red." Button said waving his hooves slightly in the air before letting them slowly set down on the bed once more. Button's mom sighed happily as she looked at her son with a warm smile.
"He's sleeping just fine," she said to herself as she quietly closed the door to Button Mash's room. "Now for that glass of milk," however, as soon a she took a single hoof step, she felt a wave of sleepiness suddenly wash over her. "Oh," she yawned. "I guess it wasn't the glass of milk that I needed," her eyelids were now half closed. She slowly trotted back to her room, climbing into bed once again and falling fast asleep.
The next morning, the majestic equestrian sky was was lit up by the beautiful rays of Celestia's sun. As the warm sunlight had begun to shine through windows of the homes of Ponyville, ponies began to shift silently in their beds until awakening. Progressing steadily from ponies reading the newspaper, and having their morning cup of coffee, eventually turned into ponies out in the streets bustling about getting their market stands ready. Morning gave way as the sun continued to steadily rise to it's noon peak in the sky.
Finally slowly beginning to shift in her bed once again, Button Mash's mother slowly began to open her eyes. Yawning softly, she sat up in her bed. "M-morning, already?" she said letting out another yawn. "I should... go make breakfast." As she slowly began sliding out of bed, she noticed the distinct smell food, but not just any food, the smell of eggs and toast. The aroma ensnared her nose in bliss... that is, before she realized two very important details. Detail number one; the window in her room was closed, meaning that the smell was coming from inside. Second and most important detail, if she was here in her bed, and the smell was coming from inside, then how is anything cooking inside the kitchen. After a few more moments of post sleep daze, her eyes completely snapped opened and widened in realization that she wasn't the one who was currently cooking the food. Tossing the blanket off of her with her hoof, she raced out of her room and towards the kitchen.
What she found was both a sigh of relief... and a brief panic attack.
She saw Button Mash eating a typical daisy sandwich, while another plate across from him had eggs and toast on it. At first, Button's mother wasn't exactly sure what to think. On one hoof, the kitchen isn't in flames, so that was good sign. The odd part was that... who cooked the eggs and made the toast?
"Hey Mom you're up!" Button Mash said happily smiling at his mother. Snapping herself out of her current state of thought in order to respond to her son, she began to speak.
"Oh, um, good morning sweetie," she began. Looking around the kitchen she clearly saw that there was nopony else there. Only her son and herself.
"You okay Mom? You seem a little out there," Button asked with concern present in his voice. Button's mother once again had to snap herself out of her current daze of moderate confusion.
"Oh, I'm fine Button," it then clicked in her mind that her son was currently eating a sandwich instead of the breakfast located on the other side of the table. "Button, why are you eating just a sandwich for breakfast?"
Button finished eating another bite of his sandwich and replied, "Mom, it's one in the afternoon.I made that for you." he said pointing to the eggs and toast. "Aren't ya gonna to eat it before it gets cold Mom?"
"Hmm, oh yes, thank you sweetie," she said sitting down and starting to eat the breakfast/lunch. A single bite, and her eyes widened. It was absolutely delicious. "This is wonderful Button. D-did you make this?" she asked curiously.
"Well duh. I actually taught Sweetie Belle how to cook breakfast a little while ago." Button Mash said taking another bite of his daisy sandwich. Button's mother gave a smile a she continued to eat the eggs and toast, however, on the inside she felt proud for her son, as well as moderate curiousness. Since when could Button cook this well? Actually, when could Button cook at all? The thought had crossed her mind a couple of time to teach Button how to cook when he got older, but she's been busy with work as of late. Curiosity finally got the best of her as she finished off the toast.
"Button sweetie, when did you learn to cook so well?" she said with a smile. Button Mash swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and smiled back at his mom.
"When I helped you make dinner, I started to try cooking for myself. Besides, I'm the one who made dinner last night, although granted it wasn't really anything special just-" Button's Mom had stopped listening at the point he mentioned last night. It was almost a complete blur to her. She came home from work, yes, ate dinner, yes, and said goodnight to Button and went to bed soon after. Of course, she also clearly remembered how tired she was, but was she so tired that she wasn't the one who made dinner last night? Well, it didn't really help that she woke up in the middle of the night to check on Bu- no, it wasn't because she wanted check on Button, was it? "Mom?"
"Huh?" she snapped out of her deep thought.
"I said, I'm going to-"
"Oh my goodness!" Button's mother said looking at the clock. "I should have been at work over an hour ago! I should get-"
"Mom!" Button Mash nearly shouted to get her attention. "You don't have to go to work today, it's your day off!" Button's mother rubbed her eyes. Was it her day off today? That would have to mean that today is Saturday. Thinking about it, and looking at the clock again, if it weren't Saturday or Sunday, then how could Button Mash be home from school? Her nerves had settled to a calm and she sighed, sinking back into the chair and turning her head back to her son, giving him a small smile.
"I see... sorry Button. What were you saying before sweetie?"
Button Mash smiled back, "I said I was going to go meet Sweetie Belle in little while. I was wondering if you needed me to get anything while I'm out."
"Um..." Button's mother quizzically tapped her hoof on her chin. At first, it was at the initial question that Button had asked, but she soon found herself drifting off into other thoughts about the situation as a whole. The last time she went shopping at the market was pretty recently, or at least she believed it to be. It's very thoughtful of him to ask if he could get anyt- wait, Button was going out with Sweetie Belle today? Did Button tell her earlier and she forgot, or was this last minute? If it is, why is it that he didn't tell her that he was going out sooner, or maybe he did and she really did forget. How could she forget something like that? Those two make such a cute-
"Mom, you're spacing out again." Button Mash stated in yet another attempt to bring his mother back down to Equestria. Button's mom, having snapped back into reality yet again, shook her lightly.
"No sweetie I don't think we need anything." she said.
"Okay Mom," Button said as he took his plate to the sink. A short while later, Button Mash said goodbye to his mother as he trotted off to go meet Sweetie Belle. After Button left, she sunk back into the sofa, wondering what she would do. Well, she could clean the hou- no wait, she did that yesterday before she left for work, and Button helped her with that. She could do the crossword puzzle in the newsp- no, Button already did it in this week's issue. Maybe she could go and play video games with- no, Button wasn't here, he was out with Sweetie Belle.
Button.
"I need some fresh air, yes, I-i'll go take a walk, yes," she said said to herself as she grabbed her jacket and went out the door. Meanwhile, Button Mash and Sweetie Belle were enjoying the scenery as they walked through the down together. Truth be told, the two didn't have a specific destination in mind at moment, they just enjoyed each other's company. However, as they were walking, Button had something on his mind, and his staring off into the vastness of the blue sky was proof of that.
"Button?"
"Hm, yeah Sweetie Belle?"
"Are you alright?" she asked with concern. "You've been spacing out a little. Do you want to go somewhere?"
"I-i'm alright Sweetie, really, I just have something on my mind, it's nothing really," Button Mash said blushing. Darn those big green eyes of her's.
"Won't you tell me?" she said holding onto Button's right fore hoof.
"Must resist..." Button told to himself.
"Pwease?" she said in her cute voice.
"Don't look at the eyes, don't look at the eyes!"
"Pwetty Pwease?"
"Don't turn your head Button, we're already in the danger zone! Don't do it!" Button cautiously turned his head, only to be met by Sweetie Belle's big, cute, green eyes. Button sighed in defeat. Although he could have sworn he heard somepony yelling something about a snake in the distance, but that would be getting off topic.
"I'm thinking about my mom," Button said looking at the ground. Sweetie Belle slightly frowned seeing Button's expression, so she quickly came up with something to lift his spirits. Conveniently, there was a certain milkshake bar just up ahead. Taking Button by the hoof, she rushed to the shop, quickly sitting them both down at their usual table. Yes, that same table where Button Mash vowed never to have another milkshake race again.
"Jan! One vanilla and one chocolate! Extra whip cream!"
"Coming right up!" the stallion behind the counter said. A minute later, two milkshakes lay out on the table as Button looked down at the table itself.
"Now are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked rubbing Button's back. Button Mash sighed once again and looked at Sweetie Belle. She gave a slight smile. "That's better."
"It's just that, she's been so busy lately, and we really haven't done that much together, besides helping her clean and stuff. I mean, whenever I come home from school, she always really tired. So activity of the past, like, two months has been nothing but either going out with friends, or playing video games. Plus she's really been spacing out a lot," Button said followed by taking a sip of his milkshake. Sweetie Belle rubbed his back again.
"I know how you feel, but it isn't as bad as you think," Button looked at Sweetie Belle curiously. "By that, I mean it's just you caring about your mom. I mean, you should how many times Rarity gets frustrated over the smallest little things. Sometimes, she can get really wrapped up in her work, and when she does, I just do something else. But you know what doesn't change no matter what?" Sweetie Belle said with a smile.
"What's that?" Button asked curiously.
"Well duh, we're always sister of course! I mean, sure, I got older, and I have more time to myself than when I was younger, but that doesn't mean that we can't hang out together, and when Rarity goes into one of her 'fashion fits' I'm always there to help her out."
Button Mash thought about it for a minute, before he smiled back at Sweetie Belle. "Thanks Sweetie, that helped a lot. Oh, and-" Button kissed her on the cheek, causing her to blush heavily. "I guess being grown up does have some pretty big ups." he snickered.
"Shut up," Sweetie Belle playfully shoved him. The two hugged, although in the corner of Button's eye, he thought he saw an almost camouflage colored pony with a headband waving at him.
Meanwhile, upon deciding that she needed some fresh, Button's mother had decided upon taking a walk through Ponyville park. Her hooves trotted along the cobblestone path, as she took a deep breath in. The breeze made it slightly cool, but with her white jacket on she felt right as rain. At least, physically. She still stared at her own hooves, trotting along the ground. That's when she heard giggling coming from her left, with curiosity getting the best of her, she looked over. It was that orange mare, Apple Jack, she lived at Sweet Apple Acres, and looking over to her left she saw who she believed to be her younger sister, Apple Bloom. Yes, now she remembered, she always goes to her apple stand in the market. Watching as the two played together, brought back memories of how her and Button used to come to the park all the time when he was really little.
"Well howdy there missy," she heard a voice call to her. Looking forward, she saw Ms.Granny Smith sitting on a bench. "Y'all look like ya have somethin' on yer mind." She blinked, trying to process what Ms.Smith had just said without spacing out again.
"Good evening to you to Ms.Smith," she said as she approached her.
"Don't ya be given out any fake smiles missy. Ah know the look of a worried pony when ah see one." Button's mother sighed in defeat as Granny Smith had saw right through her. "Naw, tell ol' Granny Smith what's been troublin' ya darlin."
Button's mom went on to tell her of how she felt that she had been so busy late, and that she felt that whenever it came to home, she always needed help from her son with something, the two actually hadn't done anything fun together in quite a while.
"I just don't know what to do," Button's mom said sitting down on her haunches. Granny Smith slightly chuckled.
"Darlin, all it is, is you're having trouble seein' him growin' up," She looked up from her hooves to look at Granny Smith. "Sure, one day they're small and adorable," she pointed to Apple Bloom throwing the frisbee. "The next, they're all grown up, beautiful or handsome." she said pointing to Apple Jack catching the frisbee with her mouth. "Being around the block a few times or so, ah know what it's like," Granny Smith said looking back at her. "But it doesn't matter when ya realize the most important thing darlin'."
"W-what's the most important thing?" Button's mom asked, now desperate to know.
"It's that no matter how old either of ya get, he's still gonna be yer little sugarcube." Granny Smith said with a smile.
Button's mom had returned home a short while later, soon followed by Button. Seeing each other's smiles only made them smile more as they began to prepare dinner. The two of then, although mostly silent during dinner, just enjoyed each other's company. Much later into the night, after eating dinner Button Mash and his mother had decided to have a game night for the rest of the night. The pair played video games, board games, even hide and seek, and laughed together almost like mad ponies. After three hours worth of their own personal party, the two had settled down on the sofa.
"I remember that night," Button's mom thought to herself as they both laid on the sofa. "You were so worried about me, even when you were so young." she thought back to that night over two years ago.
"I remember that night," Button Mash thought to himself. "You told me that I shouldn't be worrying." he thought to that night over two year ago.
"But no matter how old you get,"
"No matter how young I am,"
"I'll never stop caring." the two thought in unison. As Luna's moon gently showered it's majestic glow in the sky, the two of them fell asleep together on the sofa, knowing that their love will always be there. But even so, there's no time like the present, to make it grow.