Ice cream.... mmmmm...
Button's mind was lost in a dream. He bit into a large ice cream mountain and munched, loving how it tasted, peculiarly, of marshmallows. Next thing he knew, a large boulder from the heavens of dreamland landed on his right cheek with a *smack*, teleporting him out and leaving him in the comparatively boring real world, with a burning sensation in his right cheek. He screamed, worried that it might have drawn blood and turned to his left, burying his face in the couch and nursing his pained, reddened cheek.
"Quit screaming, you creeper," groaned Sweetie Belle, as she was lying on the hard wood floor beside the couch after socking Button in the face. She straightened her ruined mane. "Why did you try to eat my hair?"
Button's sleepy eyes widened and he spat out some strands of hair, then vigorously used his hooves to wipe and try to cleanse his tongue.
"Bleugh!"
"You're one weird pony."
"And you're a noob," said Button, dragging his tongue against his hoof. To this, Sweetie Belle merely rose an eyebrow and wore that 'really?' face. Then she took a deep breath and observed her surroundings: Button lying on the couch, a slight pain in her back from falling over that same couch. Which meant one thing...
"Did I sleep... with you last night?" asked Sweetie Belle, though she immediately regretted what she said. It only lead to a path of awkward moments and misconceived notions, especially when talking to a bratty colt like Button.
"Wha.... EW! If I recall, you were the one who suffocated me with your fat flank after playing zomponies.."
"Well, you could've pushed me off!"
"You were really strong..."
"Well, I am a filly and you are a colt."
"I... wha... I... ah...." Button said, clutching at straws as he struggled to find a counter-argument. Just then, a voice called from the dining room, saving Button and Sweetie Belle the trouble of continuing this troublesome argument.
"Kids! It's 12 already! I've got pancakes ready!" came the sweet, sing-song voice of Button's mom. At the word 'pancakes', Button's ears perked up.
"Yay!" cried Button, galloping towards the dining room. Sweetie Belle just shook her head at the childish way he handled arguments, and followed him for breakfast. Then, as she entered the aromatic dining quarters, she realized something.
"Oh no! I've got to go to the clubhouse! The girls want me there by 12!" said Sweetie Belle, facing the exit. Then she remembered something else, too.
"Rarity!" she said, and prepared to rush out of the house. Her sister was probably worried sick by now. However, Button's mom called out to Sweetie Belle, stopping her in her tracks.
"Oh, Sweetie Belle, can't you just stay for breakfast? I already called Rarity and she said it's totally fine that you slept over. And I'm sure the other Cutie Mark Crusaders won't mind if you're late this one time. I mean, what could happen?" Button's mom said. Her voice took a kindly, motherly tone, and her face bore a warm smile. This was definitely a different pony from last night, thought Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle turned tail and looked to the dining table: Button was already licking his chops as his mother poured a large helping of pancakes onto a plate. The thick scent of maple syrup from an open bottle on the table wafted up to her nose, and it exerted a magnetic pull onto the young filly; a rumbling in her stomach only strengthened it. Sweetie Belle smiled and walked towards the table.
"I guess you're right, Mrs. Mash. And these pancakes do look delicious!' she said, and sat herself down on a seat beside Button, and with her teeth picked up a single pancake and placed it on her plate.
"Why thank you Sweetie Belle! Oh, and call me Button's mom," said Button's mom. Sweetie Belle looked at Button's mom and wondered why she would be comfortable being known as the mom of Button. The confused filly just slowly nodded, as she lowered her head just to get a little nibble of a piece of pancake.
"Eating Contest!" shouted Button, and poured out easily half a bottle of syrup on a mountain of 8 pancakes on his plate, then buried his face inside.
"Does he always like burying himself in food? Could be a mental problem," said Sweetie Belle, as she slowly enjoyed her breakfast and watched Button wolf down his food. Button's mom had a look of concern on her face as she watched her son tunnel through his food, which would be an implied 'no' to Sweetie Belle's question. Then, Button's mom smiled.
"Button, it's not really you to be so enthusiastic at the dining table. Are you trying to impress somepony?" said Button's mom in a sly tone. When Button stopped eating once he heard her words, Button's mom heartily laughed. "I'm just poking fun at you, silly. And when you're done, wash your face, it's all syrupy and crumbly."
Button didn't bother to enjoy his food; the hot pancake bits on his face sizzled as his cheeks reddened.Button hastily finished while Sweetie Belle continued at her original pace, savoring the taste of Button's mom's pancakes. She really is a good cook, she thought.
When Button was done, he rushed to the bathroom to clean up his face, leaving his mom and Sweetie Belle alone in the dining room.
"So, Sweetie Belle, how was your stay here?" asked Button's mom, as she walked to the kitchen, her son's dirty plate in mouth, and turned on the tap water at the kitchen sink.
"Not as bad as I thought it would. No offense, because well... Button," answered Sweetie Belle. Then she beamed and continued, "But I'd love coming back here. I've only played like, two games here and I found them pretty fun! Especially Minecraft. As for the Zomponies, I'm not really sure on playing it again, it brings out the worst in me, heh."
"Well, I'd love it too if you come here more often. Button needs friends like you. Friends who see him beyond gaming buds," said Button's mom, as she finished washing Button's plate.
"Really? All I did was play games here," said Sweetie Belle.
"Ohhhhhh no, my little pony, the two of you did way more than that," Button's mom said, with a wink. Sweetie Belle suddenly became unnerved, and remembered the evening before; Minecraft, food fight, bathing, and zomponies. It was way more than what normal friends did.
"Does this mean that the two of us are--" Sweetie Belle started.
"Oh no, you don't have to be," said Button's mom hurriedly, "It's really up to your feelings to decide that. No one here's forcing a relationship."
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at how hypocritical Button's mom was; in her drunken stupor the night before, she did anything but make things natural for the two young ponies.
"But if ponies in town see the two of you down the street and suspect some lovey-dovey couply things, I believe the best solution, if you don't want to draw attention, is to laugh with them," said Button's mom with a smile, "After all, denial just makes them try harder."
Sweetie Belle pondered this as she finished her pancakes, while a familiar, scratchy voice came from the door.
"Or we could wear these mustaches!" said Button, as he entered the dining room with a jet black, fake mustache on his now clean muzzle. Sweetie Belle laughed a little at how ridiculous he looked, and in response to that, Button put one on Sweetie Belle's muzzle. Button's mom was about to tell her son off about raiding through his father's things but stopped as she looked at the two ponies, side by side with matching mustaches. She couldn't help but smile.
"Oh gosh, I gotta go, the girls are probably bored to death waiting for me," said Sweetie Belle, and she proceeded to pick up her white saddle bag and leave the house. Before she could even leave the dining room, another interruption came.
"What?!" cried Sweetie Belle, and was faced by Button. Button was taken aback but spoke nonetheless, in a tone that was too soft to seem like his normal voice.
"Uh... Before you go, I have to say that last night was honestly the most fun I ever had at a Games Night," said Button, "I rarely get my buddies over to my place but when I do, they usually, like, quit before any real fun starts. But you... I guess you're not as irritating as you are in school."
"Me? Irritating?" said Sweetie Belle, with a bemused smile, and she socked him in the shoulder playfully, "And don't worry, I'll be back here in no time to kick your flank at all of your games!"
With that, Sweetie Belle trotted over to the front door of the house and left. Button couldn't help but watch Sweetie Belle walk down the pathway to PonyVille, a hint of a smile forming on his face. I really hope she doesn't end up beating me at video games, Button thought. Button's mom liked Sweetie Belle's character, but was genuinely jealous at how young she was when she discovered relationships. Then, Button's mom remembered something.
"Oh Button! I have something great you should see!"
"Cool! What is it?"
"You'll see," said the mare innocently as she whipped out a small camera. She turned it on and let Button see its store of photos. His face grew unnaturally red.
"MOM!!!"
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Sweetie Belle galloped to Carousel Boutique first, to drop off her saddle bag and check on her sister. Once she was there, she found out that Rarity wasn't on the first floor, nor was she in her room. When Sweetie Belle opened the door to her own room, she found Rarity, balancing on a chair that was leaning against Sweetie Belle's wardrobe and stretching her hooves around the wardrobe's top.
"Rarity! What are you doing?" said Sweetie Belle, quite confused by now. Rarity's concentration was broken and she tumbled to the ground, uttering a surprised yelp. Rarity stood back up quickly on all fours and put on a nervous smile.
"Was.. looking... for a troublesome roll of fabric of mine!" finished Rarity nervously, "These things really can't stay in one place all the time."
"Yeah, fine, just don't snoop through my stuff, you know I hate that," said Sweetie Belle, as she placed her saddle bag down at the foot of her bed.
"Yes... About that," said Rarity slowly, immediately awash with guilt; she had told some ponies, namely the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, about Sweetie Belle's time at the Mash household. She couldn't resist it; when they came to visit, asking for where Sweetie Belle was, she had to let it out and tell it to somepony else. Come on, Rarity, no need to act embarrassed, it was but two ponies, what could possibly happen? she thought to herself. Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, was looking at her in confusion.
"About what?" the filly asked.
"Err... Wouldn't dream of doing any snooping, my dear sister," said Rarity quickly with a smile. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh yes, I am done making your Nightmare Night costume. And I did follow your advice, thank you, on not adding any jewels, though it was lacking in glamour so much that I considered disobeying you."
"Oh my gosh! Nightmare Night's tomorrow!" cried Sweetie Belle. Her memory was off, having woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Or rather, couch. She brushed the thought away and rushed to the ground floor to grab her costume. It was on a filly mannequin and consisted of a black cloak and mask; she requested something batpony-like but not anything like Mare Do-well, since Mare Do-well costumes were always popular during Nightmare Night. And she asked Rarity to keep it simple, which the fashionista loathed but complied to anyway. Still, Rarity couldn't resist leaving the attire pitch black and added some red silk to embroider the border of the cloak, and it was an intricately woven border at that. For the mask, Rarity even added batpony wings that poked out at were the wearer's ears should be, and a small hollow cone at the forehead to house Sweetie Belle's horn. Having grabbed the costume, Sweetie Belle dashed out of the Boutique, saying a quick 'good-bye' to Rarity and shutting the door with a loud thud as she kicked it with a hoof.
Rarity let out a sigh of relief and went back into her room. She ignored the unfinished clothing on her mannequins and decided to take a break, sitting herself down on a chair and flipping open a romance novel, while levitating her favourite pair of orange coloured glasses to her face. . She let out a squeal of delight as she was on an especially thrilling passage but had trouble imagining the mare and stallion; thus, she resorted to referring to certain photos that she took the night before at the Mash household.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Button! Do you have anything else to do?"
Button's mom had an angered look on her face as she barged into Button's room after hearing the young colt shout a vulgarity at somepony on Xbox Live. Button's concentration didn't falter, and he continued playing Modern Warmare; His mother had other ideas, and took matters into her own hooves by ripping out the power cord. Button's demeanor quickly shifted.
"Mom! I was about to get a tact nuke and win the game!" Button said, though he was clearly 24 hard-to-earn kills behind it. Button's mom shook her head and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Button, but don't you think that your life is a bit more than video games?" said Button's mom, "Don't try to hide it, young stallion. You enjoyed yourself last night."
"Bu-- But it's the weekend!" cried Button, trying desperately to steer the conversation away from what his mother was suggesting.
"So? It means much more time to spend with your friends. Or should I say, with your only friend," said his mother. Button rolled his eyes and saw where she was going.
"Sweets isn't my only friend, alright? I have Rumble," said Button.
"True, but you don't seem to have as much fun with him, as you do with... Sweets. You admitted it to her yourself," said Button's mom, hearing that he referred to the filly with a nickname.
"How would you know? I've only spent one day," said an irritated Button, eyeing the Joyboy on his bedside table hungrily. He knew that his mom would just swipe it away from him if he played it mid-conversation.
"Come on, Button. Just another day. Go to her clubhouse. Spend a day with her friends... What were they called? The Cutie Mark Crusaders? I hear they go for loads of adventures, doesn't that sound fun?" said Button's mom.
"No. All that those three fillies do all day is roll around in the mud and tree sap."
"And you're any better, stuck in your room? At least they get their exercise," said Button's mom, and she triumphantly smiled as she got the response she wanted. Button was lost for words; clearly, he didn't forget his lack of strength to push Sweetie Belle off of him.
"Fine! But you owe me," said Button as he trudged out of his room, trying his best to look angry. Button's mom loved it when she won their little verbal skirmishes; it gave her a sense of parental authority. She smiled as Button stomped his way to the door, then crashed it behind him. Button's mom looked out of the window; her son was galloping as fast as his legs could carry him towards PonyVille. With a chuckle, she shook her head and went back to doing house chores.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Alright girls! What's the agenda for today?" panted Sweetie Belle, having run from the Boutique to the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. The two other fillies were busy, with Scootaloo tapping a hoof against her forehead in thought at the map of PonyVille while Applebloom was eyeing Scootaloo's Nightmare Night costume, a gentleman's apparel of a tuxedo and a monocle. Neither of them looked up when Sweetie Belle came in.
"Crusading in the afternoon, early Nightmare Nighting at night. But I have no idea what to do for crusading!" said Scootaloo, tapping some points on the map as she continued, "We've already tried Cutie Mark Crusaders sheep herders, check balancers, rock drummers, kazoo players, paragliders, parkour stunt artists, and nuclear scientists. Only the day before! Urghhh!"
"And Scoots' costume looks really dumb," said Applebloom, placing her hoof at her chin, while attempting to straighten the tie of the tux with her other hoof.
"It's supposed to be scary, Applebloom. Monocles are scary," said Scootaloo, "And it gives me class!"
"Ah think swag would be better," said Applebloom, holding up a pile of toilet paper rolls. "Mah mummy costume is swag incarnate!"
"Woah, woah, hold up girls! Slow down," said Sweetie Belle, concern in her voice, "I've been thinking for some time, and... don't you think that this early Nightmare Night candy collecting idea is gonna bust? I mean, nopony's gonna have candy ready."
The other two fillies stared at Sweetie Belle, finally looking up at her.
"We've been planning this for a week!" said Scootaloo, "Don't you chicken out on us! 'Sides, if this idea flies, we'd get a lot more candy than everypony else."
"Heh, you'd know about... Chickens an' flyin'," teased Applebloom, causing Scootaloo to groan irritatedly. Sweetie Belle's eyes brightened up and she smiled.
"I guess it can't hurt to be out at Nightmare Night's eve. I know some places always have candy. Like Sugarcube Corner!" said Sweetie Belle, with a squeak. Then Scootaloo's own eyes lit up.
"That's it! We should do something at Sugarcube corner this afternoon. We haven't been there for Crusading for like, 3 days. That's some sort of record, right?" said Scootaloo. Then she eyed the map of PonyVille and the notes scribbled on it. "We've done cookie eating, muffin eating, cake eating, cupcake eating, tea brewing, taffy making, pastry baking, plate spinning, foal sitting, fourth wall breaking..."
"What?" said Applebloom.
"Remember Pinkie Pie's talk on portals and dimension crossing?" said Sweetie Belle.
"Ohhhh," replied Applebloom.
"So now what should we do at Sugarcube corner?" asked Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders descended deep into thought.
"Well, I am quite thirsty for milkshakes," said Sweetie Belle, breaking the silence.
"Milkshakes it is!" shouted Scootaloo suddenly. She scribbled a note with a pencil at the picture on the map representing Sugarcube Corner, reading "Milkshake drinkers". "Now that that's out of the way, how was your sleepover with Button?"
"Sleepover? How'd yo-- wha-- I didn't have a sleepover," lied Sweetie Belle. How could she had possible known?
"Stop lyin', Sweets! If it was meant ta be a secret, your sis wasn't good at keepin' it," said Applebloom, giggling a little. "'Sides, we got kinda worried when ya were late."
Sweetie Belle looked at her friends' widening eyes and smiles. Sometimes, she couldn't believe how big her sister's mouth could get. She was cornered, but remembered Button's mom's advice.
"Heh, yeah, I had a sleepover. Was pretty fun," said Sweetie Belle, "played a few games, dinner was a food fight. That's about all that was interesting."
"Ohhh, but that shouldn't be all that happened!" said Scootaloo, and the two of them started laughing and made 'ooooh' sounds and kissy noises. Sweetie Belle laughed with them, and sure enough, the teasing died down and everypony was silent, a happy atmosphere hanging over them all.
"It was that fun, huh?" said Applebloom.
"Wasn't bad. Hey look, it's 1 o'clock already! Day's about to be over soon! We can't just drink milkshakes today," said Sweetie Belle, and the three fillies sat around the map and proceeded to brainstorm Crusading ideas.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Button had been rushing all around town, trying to find directions to the clubhouse. He asked everypony on the street that he bumped into, but none of them seemed to have a clue. Then, he chanced upon two very deplorable ponies, one a grey coated filly and another a pink coated one, and both of them carried malignant smiles as they trotted over to Button.
"Oh, hey, it's that gamer colt in class who has the hots for Sweetie Belle," taunted Diamond Tiara, "The two of you make a good couple, since both of you are blank flanks after all."
"Meh, I don't really care about my cutie mark. And I'm cool with Sweets, though she's a total noob," said Button, brushing off the comments. "And speaking of her, do you two lame-os know where the clubhouse is? You know the one owned by the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
The two fillies were a little taken aback by how Diamond Tiara's insults were not very effective... Diamond Tiara regained her high and mighty composure and prepared for another one.
"Oh, you want to cuddle with her some more? Don't you know that word's been spreading around town?" Diamond Tiara jabbed at Button's chest with a hoof, and Silver Spoon guffawed at her comments. Button's face turned a huge beet red in embarrassment, but that escalated quickly into anger. Without a word, he pushed the two fillies into a pool of mud that was right behind them. See, there's always a pool of mud that magically situates itself behind Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, it's just that nopony ever has the guts to push them into it. Nopony except an exceedingly flustered Button Mash.
"It's super effective!" cried a satisfied Button, and he trotted off to find more ponies to interrogate, not wanting to waste anymore time on the bullies. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, on the other hand, laid in the mud, quite consternated from their second roll in the dirt in the history of their decadent lives.
"D. T., what was that?" said Silver Spoon, quite flabbergasted from being tackled by a gamer pony who obviously had trouble expressing his own feelings verbally or talking out arguments. A pig's snort replied to Silver Spoon's question; a joyous pig had replaced Diamond Tiara in the mud.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"See here! We've got ukulele playin', peanut butter an' jelly sandwich makin', DJ-in', hockey, swimmin' in jars o' jelly, mud wrestlin', auctionin' an' milkshake drinkin'! How's that for a schedule?" said Applebloom, reading from the fresh notes that were scribbled by Scootaloo on the map.
"Cool! Let's go out and get those Cutie Marks!" cried Sweetie Belle, enthusiastic at the thought of more adventure.
"I don't know... could use a little more cannons and/or catapults," said Scootaloo, looking at the list of activities, "The only thing that seems mildly interesting is mud wrestl--"
"Ponies get their teeth knocked out during hockey!" said Sweetie Belle with a toothy grin
"Yes! What are we waiting for, then?" said Scootaloo, and the three fillies clapped their hooves together.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders: Pre-Nightmare Nighting Crusade Operation is a-go!"