//------------------------------// // Trouble just had to follow... // Story: New School Year // by Farcicalponiez //------------------------------// Upon reaching the boutique, Sweetie Belle was met with Rarity, her older sister, who had been worried sick about where she had been. "What ever in Equestria have you been doing, Sweetie Belle. You normally arrive home before dark." "I uhm... I was at Sugarcube corner with Button Mash and I guess I kinda, lost track of time?" she replied sheepishly. "You were at Sugarcube? With Button? For how long?" Rarity could hardly contain her excitement. She stood up on her hind legs and placed her forelegs against her chest. Before you ask, yes, like she always does. "Rarity..." Her voice trailed off, ears drooping down. "That's quite alright, Sweetie. Just make sure you tell me next time." She suppressed a giggle after planting her legs back on the floor. "Oh, that reminds me. Button invited me over for tomorrow after school," she said with both a smile and a faint blush appearing through her white coat. "Did he now?" Rarity asked curiously. "Yeah, he said he felt bad about today not going so well so-" "No, no, no, no, no. You should never have a bad first date." "Rarity!" she squeaked, "It wasn't a date." "Of course it wasn't," she tried to muffle another giggle, "Why don't you tell me all about it darling. Then I will be the one to decide on that." ******************************************** Button had returned home after his day out with Sweetie Belle at Sugarcube, only to find his mother waiting for him at the door. "Where have you been, Button?" "I was at Sugarcube." "For this long? What were you doing up there?" she questioned. "I uh... I was talking with Sweetie Belle, mom," he answered. "Sweetie Belle?" she asked confused. She had never met Sweetie Belle nor had she heard the name before. "Yes, and if it's alright with you, I invited her over for tomorrow." "That's nice of you, Button. I would also like to meet this new friend of yours," she said with a smile. "So it's okay if she comes over?" "Of course, Button," she said with a smile. She was curious as to what Button's new friend was like. Button doesn't usually make many friends. Probably because he has, well none. "Yay! Thanks, mom!" Button ran up the stairs and towards his room. She had never seen Button so happy to be around somepony else his age before. Not to mention that his new friend was a filly. She was wondering how this would turn out, either Button would be too overexcited to notice he might end up hurting this young filly's feelings (Not that this sounded at all like the Button we all know), or it would all go really well and they might end up really liking each other. The thought of the latter brought a smile to her face. "Just make sure you get some sleep tonight," she yelled up to him. "Okay, mom," he answered back. ******************************************** The next morning, Button awoke to his alarm clock making a loud, annoying beeping that it probably thought was what his kin actually wanted to wake up to. "Stop with the torturous noises, you foul sleep depriving demon." Button swung his hoof a couple of times before he hit the wondrous button (puns) that stopped the 'demon' from getting between him and his sleep. "Button, it's time to get ready for school," his mother called, as if reading his mind and not wanting to give him what he wished for. "Ok, mom," he called back. "Great, school. I hope I'm not late today." He raised his eyes towards the alarm clock. "At least you can provide something positive out of this. It's only 7:00am." Button Mash dropped out of bed and walked out of his room to prepare for school. "Mom!" "Yes, Button?" She was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. "Do you know where my JoyBoy is?" "You really should take more care with your things. It should be on the bedside table in my room." "Thanks, mom." Button found his JoyBoy exactly where his mother said it would be. It was tempting to turn it on and start playing it right now seeing as it was roughly 7:30am by now. He would have enough time to catch at least another 20 Ponymon® he hadn't already captured. After mulling it over to himself for a good 5 minutes, he decided against it and instead put it in his saddlebag in case nopony else shows up before him. He left his mothers room and started to walk out the door. "Have fun at school today with Sweetie Belle," his mother said with a giggle. "Bye, mom," Button replied, ignoring what she was implying to him. ******************************************** Button approached the school and noticed that there was absolutely nopony around. After a quick look around the area surrounding him to make sure that there really was nopony around, he sat down at a nearby tree and pulled out his JoyBoy. "What was I doing last time I saved? Oh that's right, the game didn't save after a rival battle." Button Mash was moving his virtual character around the virtual world in his virtual game device as virtual things happened in a virtual world (I think they got the idea now). Anyway, it took him ten minutes to figure out where he was meant to go in order to continue the story line in his game. He finally found his rival, Harry, who he was looking for after buying all the necessary items at a nearby store. "Hello, Harry," he said in a menacing voice (Yes, you know which one I mean). Sweetie Belle arrived shortly afterwards. Having noticed that nopony besides Button was around, she decided to walk over to him to see what he was doing. "Good morning, Button," she greeted him with a smile. "Oh uh..." he looked up from his game to see who was speaking, "Hi Sweetie Belle. I wasn't expecting you to be so early." "I guess I could say the same to you." A faint blush showed upon her face. "So why are you here so early?" he asked curiously. "Oh, well..." the red on her face became even more obvious, "Rarity made me leave early, she didn't tell me why." "Hmm... what could have made her do such a thing?" he wondered. "I have no idea," she replied, trying to sound as if she didn't. In fact the real reason she was pushed out the door was because Rarity wanted her to be early to see if she got the chance to hang around Button before school. Obviously, things turned out exactly as Rarity had hoped. "So uh... whatcha doin'?" she asked, sitting down and looking over his shoulder to see his game. All she could see was a black and white coloured screen with two odd creatures, one in the top right and one in the middle left. There was a small white box in the bottom right with some text in it. "This? I'm just in the middle of smashing my rival with my overpowered team." He thrust one hoof into the air for added effect. He placed his hoof back onto the side of the device and input some commands, "Watch this." The two creatures on the screen began to fight. "I feel kinda sorry for them, having to fight like that." "It's only a game, they're not actually getting hurt. Besides, they only feint when they lose a battle." (That's what they all say, kid). ******************************************** Scootaloo and Applebloom were making their way towards the school. It was a lovely sunny, peaceful day in Ponyville. "Ah hope we're not late." "Of course we aren't, Applebloom, I'm guessing Sweetie Belle just had a good reason to be at school early," she laughed. "Maybe. Rarity did seem a tad bit excited about it though. I guess we'll find out soon enou-" "There she is!" Scootaloo cut in. She dragged her friend into a nearby bush and motioned for her to be quiet. "We don't want to disturb them." "I dunno about this. It feels an awful lot like we're spyin' on them." Applebloom said with a worried tone in her voice. "Sweetie wouldn't mind. Unless she was lying to us yesterday of course," she said with a smug look. She continued to listen to their conversation. ******************************************** "I did it!" Button Mash exclaimed in triumph. "I thought you said you already beat this guy before," Sweetie Belle said, confused. "Yeah, but the game didn't save that time. This means I can continue the quest line." His wide grin was clearly showing he was proud of himself. "Well, I suppose that's enough before school. Is there anything you wanted to talk about, Sweetie Belle?" His face changed from proud to curious. "Uh, not anything in particular," she lied. Button took a moment to think. "Are you still able to come over after school?" "Of course, Button," Sweetie Belle's voice squeaked with surprise. "I don't see why you would even need to ask that." "What about Rarity? What did she say? Did you tell her?" Sweetie Belle felt embarrassed at the thought of the conversation she and Rarity had the day before. ******************************************** "He ran off after school and my friends started teasing me about Button choosing to sit next to me in class... We accidentally met up at Sugarcube Corner, got milkshakes and just... talked." "What was it the two of you talked about dearie?" "It wasn't much of a conversation. We introduced ourselves, I asked him how his day went-" "And what did he reply with?" "He just said 'I guess' and asked me how mine was." "As much as I can assume, he was just unsure of himself, darling. He does seem to care about you though, at least just a little bit." "Do you think?" "Of course he does, Sweetie Belle. Did he say anything else?" "Well, after that he invited me over so we could talk some more since he felt bad, but I already told you that." ******************************************** "Sweetie Belle?" Button waved a hoof in her face. "Are you alright, Sweetie Belle?" She was startled when she awoke from her daydream she was having. "Yeah, I'm fine." "So, what was that? Your face just went blank and you were staring straight ahead." Button became slightly worried. "Is everything okay, Sweetie Belle?" "Yeah, Sweetie Belle. Is everything alright between you and your coltfriend?" It was Diamond Tiara. She had finally arrived and was not going to pass up an opportunity to tease an unsuspecting filly. "What is she talking about?" Button asked. "Wow, now isn't this just precious. He is so dumb he doesn't even know how to read a pony's face," Diamond Tiara laughed. "I-I just..." Sweetie Belle began but couldn't find the words to say. Being teased like this about Button shouldn't be affecting her like this. It shouldn't have this level of impact. All she had done was walk up to Button seeing as they were the only two foals at school at the time. "Just, what? It's kind of obvious, Sweetie Belle. Everyone saw what was happening yesterday. Everyone saw you run off after him to Sugarcube. Everyone knew there was something going on. You have a crush on him, but he doesn't like you back." Her words were bitter and she knew they had caused pain to Sweetie Belle. Tears began to well up in Sweetie Belle's eyes. She didn't understand why Diamond Tiara was doing this. On instinct, Sweetie began to quickly run away from the scene, all the while bawling her eyes out. ******************************************** Applebloom couldn't stand this any longer. She jumped out of the bush and ran straight over towards Button and Diamond Tiara. "What in the hay would you do that for? She didn't do anything to you and you know she didn't. So why don't you just grow up like the rest of us have an' be more mature towards everypony else?" Applebloom practically yelled it in her face. Her eyes pierced through Diamond Tiara's gaze. "Whatever, as if a blank flank like you can tell me to grow up," she laughed as she walked away. "It's ponies like her that make me wonder what parents are doing," Applebloom muttered to herself. She turned around to see Button, sitting in the exact same place, head down and crying. "What's wrong, Button? She was only insulting Sweetie Belle," she said, confused. "I know, b-but..." He continued crying. Applebloom sat down next to Button. "It's alright. If you're worried about Sweetie Belle, ah sent Scootaloo to go see if she can make her feel any better," she said trying to comfort him. After a few moments he finally calmed down enough to speak. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "What do yah mean, Button?" she thought for a second. "I'm sure she can handle it." "Alright." "So are yah gonna tell me why you're so upset?" she said in the same confused tone. "I guess it's because what Diamond Tiara said isn't really true..." his voice trailed off. "What do yah mean?" "Well..."