//------------------------------// // 11 Part 1: Cutie Mark Crusaders Cave Exploring // Story: Button Mash and Sweetie Belle Love // by Masked_Frenchman //------------------------------// Chapter 11: Part 1: Cutie Mark Crusaders Cave Exploring Button Mash was left alone in the classroom, doing his homework plus extra as punishment. It was too quiet for him. The clock ticking away like it is, moving ever so slowly. The teacher grading the tests of today’s pop quiz at her desk. He sighed heavily, slowly working on the seemingly endless tasks appointed to him. He glanced at the clock and sighed in defeat. “Twenty more minutes. This is taking forever to do!” Button Mash whispered to himself, whinning. He looked back at his homework and started finishing it up, trying to only focus on the task ahead. He glanced outside for a moment to see the sun shining and the other ponies now long gone. With one last sigh he turned back to his work, now completing it. “Button Mash, can you come here with your work,” Cheerilee requested softly. He grabbed his work and walked over to the front desk. He placed the work down in front of her and she glanced over at it, looking down at him. “I’ve never had you do such a thing before. Sure you have a problem focusing in class, but you’ve never bullied before. I hope you have realised what you have done and won’t do it again,” Button Mash nodded to her, a look of pity plain on his face. Cheerilee smiled softly at him, placing the home work aside. “You can go, I think you’ve done enough,” Button Mash smiled cheerfully, nodding to her with a smile.”Thank you, miss Cheerilee!” He ran over, grabbed his saddlebag, and was about to walk out the door until it opened for him. Button Mash looked up to see Cheat Code standing in the open door way, wearing a friendly half smile. “Hey there squirt. Ready to go?” Cheerilee looked over at him and studied him carefully. “Who are you?” Cheat Code looked up to her with a small smile. “I’m Cheat Code, Button Mash’s older brother. His mom is busy so I am here to pick him up instead. I heard I am here to pick up a slip for his mother to sign?” Cheerilee nodded, pulling it out and handed it to him. He walked over and took the slip putting it in his own sack. “That needs to come back tomorrow morning before class,” He nodded back at her. “I’ll make sure it is signed, thank you. Have a good day, ma’am,” Cheerilee smiled back, nodding at him. They left the school but only took a few steps out till he stopped. He looked at the slip carefully and chuckled a bit. “Bullying, huh? Now I know that isn’t like you. What happened?” Button Mash bit his bottom lip nervously but kept his gaze to meet his brother’s eyes. “My friends were being picked on by those two fillies you saw before. I stood up for them and they told on me saying I bullied them or something,” Cheat Code shook his head with a smile. “I’m proud of you, Button. Don’t say anything to mom. Tell her you stayed out later to hang out with your friends and that you had a bunch of fun. I’ll take care of this,” Button Mash looked up at him with a puzzled look. “But how will I turn that in without mom’s signing?” Cheat Code leaned down to Button Mash with a deviant smile. “Don’t worry about that, just know I am one hell of a brother. I’ll get this ready for you,” He winked down at him, making Button Mash smile back. He reached up and hugged him, Cheat Code smiled and hugged him back. “Thank you, Cheat Code!” “Of course, what are brothers for? No matter what, don’t change. Standing up for your friends will make you enemies, but it will show your friends just how much you mean to them,” He patted his head and let go, earning him a confident nod from the young colt. "If you make enemies in life, it means you've stood up to what you believe in," They smiled and chuckled to each other a bit but Cheat Code looked over to see Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo standing by the edge of the school property behind him, smiling cheerfully at them. He smiled back and returned his gaze at his little brother. He messed up his mane with a another chuckle and turned to walk away. “Go hang out with your friends. You got nothing to worry about. I will deliver the message,” He waved him good bye and left. Button Mash watched him for a moment as he passed by his friends. Cheat Code passed them and without stopping he whispered something to them out of Button Mash’s ear shot. “Take good care of my little brother, I know you will,” He winked at them and continued on his marry way. They smiled up at him and met Button Mash half way. “Hey Button Mash! Sorry about the whole detention thing,” Scootaloo stated with a slightly sad expression. Button Mash shook his head with a smile. “It’s fine. It was nothing, really,” They all shared his smile, glad to know he is alright. “Well me and the girls have been talking, and we think that you should join our club!” Button Mash looked at Sweetie Belle with a puzzled expression. “What kind of club is it?” The three fillies standing before him smiled to each other with excited grins before they all turned back to Button Mash. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” They all said at the same time, filled with enthusiasm. Button Mash  studied their faces to see they were really excited about this. “So what exactly do you guys do?” They looked at him with matching poker faces, taken back a bit by the sudden yet innocent question. Applebloom stepped forward to Button Mash with a small smile. “We all try ta think of new ways to get our cutie marks and then go after them!” Button Mash tilted his head slightly to the side to look at her. “But what’s the big deal about cutie marks?” They all gasped in horror at that, taking a step back away from him. They all turned around in a huddle, whispering to one another quietly. “Are you really sure you want him with our club? I mean it looks like he doesn’t actually care about his cutie mark,” “Ah’ve never heard about any pony not excited about getting their cutie mark! Ah mean doesn’t everypony get excited?” “Exactly! Everypony is jumping in excitement when they get their cutie marks,” Both Scootaloo and Applebloom focused their attention on Sweetie Belle, their faces were that of confusion and concern. “Sweetie Belle, why is it that ya’ll thought he would want to join our club?” Sweetie Belle opened her mouth but closed it again, glancing over at Button Mash. He held a look of confusion as he sat on the ground but once he saw her looking at him he smiled and waved. She smiled back and looked to her friends with a kind smile. “Because we are his very first friends! He’s never got the chance to show off what he can do. I bet if he were to hang with us, he will want it. Just because he likes different things as us or doesn’t like the things we like doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask him to join our club. We started this because we were friends with a common goal. It should continue to be like that even if he doesn’t understand what we see,” The other two fillies looked back at her with an equally kind smile and nodded to one another. The three fillies broke their huddle and circled around Button Mash with friendly smiles. He watched them confused and stayed on guard. They gave each other one last glance and returned their focus on him. “You see, Button Mash. As we have learned in class our cutie marks represents who we are and what our special talents is,” Scootaloo explained first, turning to Sweetie Belle. “Our cutie mark is who we are, a special part of us that explains why we are here,” Button Mash looked at them all listening carefully, he almost seemed like he was in a form of trance. Sweetie Belle winked at Button Mash and turned to Applebloom. “We are but a few little ponies who’re tryin to get their cutie marks! We as a group try ta help those who are lost and confused. Fillies and colts alike try to find their cutie marks, and we help guide them and they help us in return through friendship!” Button Mash sat there in the same spot, a little confused but analysing everything that was explained to him just now. “So. . . you guys are trying to find your special talents faster than you are supposed to?” “Exactly!” Scootaloo stated before anyone else could speak. Applebloom glared at her softly for a brief moment before looking back at Button Mash. “What do ya mean ‘faster than you are supposed?’” “Well like class said, we get our cutie marks when the time is ready, when we are ready. You guys are trying to figure it out before you are really ready,” The three fillies stared at him stunned. They never expected him to sound so mature about it and explain it so well. Sweetie Belle winked at her friends and took the lead. “It’s true, but we believe that if we can find our special talents on our own, it will be more special to us because we found them together!” Button Mash nodded at that, standing back up. “Yea. . . that sounds a lot more special,” I don’t think cutie marks are so special, but my friends like it. Maybe I should go out and do this stuff with them. “Well we are glad you see it like us.  We were thinking. . . “ Applebloom hesitated and looked at Sweetie Belle nervously, who smiled and nodded back, taking her place. They circled back around so that they were all standing in front of him again. “We would like it if you would join us!” Her friends nodded in agreement, all wearing the same, kind smile. Button Mash smiled just as kind and nodded right back to them. “I would like to join, but I don’t know much about cutie mark stuff like you guys,” “Ah, don’t sweat it! We’ll show you all the ropes. We are actually planning our next cutie mark quest. We are gonna try Cutie Mark Crusaders Cave Explores!” Scootaloo said with excitement being contained in her voice, trying to look professional. “Did ya wanna join us in explorin’ some caves? All you need ta do is find us a couple of sticks,” Button Mash’s tail flickered with excitement and he did a couple excited hopes. “Ok, I’ll rush right over!” And like that, he took off. They watched as he started running, waving good bye at him. Once he was out of sight, the three fillies sighed. “He just might make it, you know girls?” Scootaloo asked her friends with an optimistic smile. “He may not be really smart or tough, but he is our friend! I’m sure he will be just fine. . . “ Silence fell onto them and the slowly lower their hooves back to the ground. “. . . . No one told him where to meet up with us. . . did they?” More silence spread to each of them, now out of embarrassment. “I’ll get him! I’ll meet you girls there,” Sweetie Belle took off, waving at her friends good bye and took off sprinting to catch up with Button Mash. Scootaloo and Applebloom were left at the front gate of the school. They then started walking on over to the meeting spot. “So I think that Sweetie Belle has a ‘thing’ for Button Mash,” Applebloom raised an eyebrow in question at that. “What? No way! They're just friends,” “Not like that though. I think she likes him!” Scootaloo snickered a bit at the idea, Applebloom starred unimpressed back at her. “She is friends with a colt for the first time, like us. It’s a little different, ah’ll admit. Just give her time, she’ll get back into the groove of things,” she explained calmly. Scootaloo was not convinced, rolling her eyes. “Suuuuurrrre. I’ll bet you that they will be hooking up!” Applebloom hid a glare but narrowed her eyes at her, raising a hoof up to her. “You’re on! Twelve bits say they will be friends and only friends by next month is over!” Scootaloo smirked at her, giving her hoof a bump. “You are so on!” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “Mom! I’m home!” Button Mash called out from the hallway by the front door. Button’s mom was cleaning the windows in the living room but he could also hear water running and the clatter of dishes in the kitchen. “Hello, dear. Did you have fun with your friends?” Button Mash remembered that Cheat Code was gonna fix the slip thing for him. He looked over and saw Cheat Code playing video games in the living room, he glanced over and winked at him with a smile. Button Mash smiled back and nodded. “I had fun, thanks. I’m actually gonna go hang out with them, uhhh, again. Is that ok?” Button’s mom smiled over proudly at him. “Of course, dear. I think that would be wonderful!” “When do we get to meet these friends of yours?” Asked a firm but curious voice from the kitchen. Button Mash walked around the corner and found the owner of the sudden voice. “Oh, hi dad, I forgot that you are here now,” He walked up and gave his father a hug, who gave it back. Rage Quit forgot about the dishes and got soap in Button Mash’s fur, which he tried to clean it up with a dish rag. “Sorry Button, I forgot. When will they be here?” “Well I am going to go meet up with them. I think they said we are gonna go do cutie mark stuff,” “Well that's great! Sounds like loads of fun, I’m kinda jealous. When will we get to meet these wonderful friends of yours?” Button Mash scratched the back of his head nervously. “Well, I’m not sure. Maybe I can ask them-” There was a knock at the door. “It’s ok, hunny Rage, I got it!” Rage Quit lifted his head towards Button’s mom. “Thank you dear! Now I don’t mean to make you nervous or make you feel like you have to show them off. I just heard about these friends of yours and I am just glad to hear that you managed to make some new friends. You’ve been having such a hard time since our first leave,” Button Mash lowered his head and ears in a gloomy expression. “I know, dad. It’s ok. I don’t know when I can bring them over,” Button’s mom walked on over to the door and answered it. “I like these new friends, they make me feel pretty good. I’ve only hung out with them a few times but we stood up for each other,” Rage Quit messed with his mane. “That’s my Button Mash! I knew you had it in you! So what are their names? Do they go to-” “Button Mash, you have a visitor,” Rage Quit smiled and nodded to him, returning his focus on the dishes. He walked past his dad and to the door, seeing a panting Sweetie Belle. She seemed to have been running after him. “She says she is your friend,” The whole room behind Button Mash went dead quiet. The video games stopped and the water stopped running in the kitchen sink. It almost got eerie feeling this sudden silence. Button’s mom smiled kindly and left the two young ponies alone at the door. “Hey Sweetie Belle, whatcha doing here?” Sweetie Belle caught onto her breath and smiled weakly at him. “Hey, I just wanted to make sure you knew where to go. You kinda left before we could tell you. At this rate though I think I’ll just take you there if you are allowed to come hang out,” It was confirmed, Button Mash knew his whole family is listening in on him and his conversation. He could hear very faint whispers from his family, hearing his own name once or twice. Button Mash tried to ignore them the best he could and refocused on Sweetie Belle. “My mom says yes, thanks. Let’s go get some sticks then,” She nodded at him with a smile. Button Mash turned his head towards the inside of the house. “I’m leaving now, mom. See you at dinner!” “Have fun, sweetie! Be safe!” Button Mash rolled his eyes and followed Sweetie Belle to the meet up spot. Cheat Code watched from Button Mash’s bedroom window with a smirk on his face. He looked away and focused his mind. “Hey, he’s left. Give Princess Twilight Sparkle the letter now,” There was no reply, he knew that one wasn’t needed. He knew that his commander was at the ready all day, now it was the time to move. Once Button Mash was out of sight, he climbed out of the window and started following Button Mash from the rooftops. He stayed out of sight and out of earshot the whole trip through. He didn’t need to try to hide, he could have stayed in the crowd and Button Mash still wouldn’t have noticed. The only reason why he stuck to the rooftops was because if a certain pony where to spot him like this, he would have been compromised. His ex mare friend who they are now simply just friends. She loved to talk to him for some unknown reason and she was known for popping up at random times at random places when he really- “Hey Cheat Code, whatcha doing?!” He jumped a mile off the ground and came back down hard. She was the only pony who could get a scare out of him, and she loved doing it. Cheat Code slowly got up to see the pink, bouncing pony who stood before him. “Pinkie Pie! What are you doing?! How did you find me?!” Pinkie Pie giggled down at him, offering a hoof to him. “Well I saw you jumping from the roof tops and I thought ‘That looks like fun! I wanna try’ so I tried following you but you were pretty slow so it was easy. Now that I realized it, I haven’t thrown you a ‘Welcome back to Ponyville from the royal guard’ party for you yet! We should totally plan that!” Cheat Code slowly got up thanks to Pinkie Pie and he dusted himself off. “Look that all sounds great and all, it really does, but I am busy right now, doing a little practice at the-” “What kind of practice? Is it one of those training drills that your boss makes you do?” Cheat Code was about to say no but an idea popped up in his mind. “Yes, that is exactly what is happening right now! I am running a test right now and I can’t have that be broken of my focus so I need to get back to it, alright? We’ll catch up later,” Pinkie Pie frowned to herself. It did not last long, for she went right back to her usual happy self almost instantaniously. “Ok! Pinkie Promise?” Cheat Code rolled his eyes at her. “Come on, I don’t have time to do that, please you know how I feel about YOUR promise. It’s a little too girly for me,” “Come on, it’s not so bad! Pinkie Promise?” He sighed in defeat and admitted to himself that there is no quick way to avoid it. “I cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There, happy?” She smiled brightly at him, jumping in place again. “Yup, thanks. Have fun spying on your little brother,” He rolled his hoof at her, not listening fully. “Yeah yeah, thanks,” Cheat Code peered over the edge but stopped and pulled back with a face of shock. “Wait, how did-” He looked around and Pinkie Pie was gone. “That mare is the strangest thing I have ever met, yet I’m still hooked on her,” He chuckled to himself, shaking away the nostalgia. “Never mind that, back to work!” He looked past the roof tops and Button Mash and Sweetie Belle were completely out of sight. “Well buck me!” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “It’s almost there, just a little more!” Sweetie Belle continued to lead Button Mash through the woods. It wasn’t very thick yet,but far enough to hide them. Button Mash kept his eyes open for any signs of a cave. Not five minutes after he started thinking about going back, they stood in front of a cave that was old and very dark. Scootaloo and Applebloom were already there, wearing hard hats. “Hey Applebloom, Scootaloo!” Button Mash called out. They both looked back at him and smiled, waving at the two coming up. They gathered together and got their torches and hard hats ready. Sweetie Belle’s hard hat was too big for her and moved around a lot. “So what exactly are we doing here?” Button Mash asked bluntly to his friends. “Well this cave is unexplored so we are going to explore it!” Button Mash looked at the cave and gulped down nervously. He could hear water dripping from deep in the darkness. A couple cave bats flew into the black void. He looked back at his friends and they ignited the two sticks he brought over. They gave it a couple swings and they smiled proudly. Button Mash turned back to the cave and continued to get himself more and more nervous. He noted a few wooden beams holding up the entrance, cracks noticable within the wood and dust coming down from the ceiling. “Is this safe? I mean it looks like we aren’t supposed to go in here,” He could hear Scootaloo laughing. “And what gives you that crazy idea?!” Button Mash moved some brushes over to reveal a sign that read in bold, red letters:DO NOT ENTER!!!! CEILING FALLING!!!  Button Mash turned back and pointed at the sign, she waved her hoof at it. “That’s nothing to worry about. Some ponies are just too up tight and too boring to see the excitement in things,” “But what about the sign?” “Just forget about it, we’ll be just fine! Are you gonna come in or what?” Button Mash looked at the dark, never ending darkness from within the cave and turned back to his friends slowly. “Yea I guess,” He grabbed a torch and carried it, lighting up the front of the group. The inside of the cave wasn’t so bad, but he saw a couple bones every now and then, although they looked too small to be pony bones. “Wow! Look at all of this. Pointy things coming from the ceiling, the water dripping down, the darkness and silence, this is awesome!!” Applebloom turned sharply and ‘shhh’ed her. “Quiet! We don’t know what is in this here cave. There could be anything in here! A bear, or maybe even a dragon!” Scootaloo became a bit more cautious by the  mention of a dragon. “But come on, there wouldn’t be a REAL dragon in here. . . right?” Button Mash was quiet the whole time. He tried to keep an eye on everything since he was ‘leading’ the group. Rats running around, water still dripping, then he could hear a faint squeaking up ahead, but had no idea what it was. Sweetie Belle watched him closely, seeing him tensing up. “Hey Button Mash, are you ok?” Applebloom and Scootaloo stopped their debate on what could be living in the cave till they saw what exactly it was Button Mash stopped everyone for and what they were all staring at. “A dead end? Are you serious?!” Scootaloo called out! Button mash held out a hoof back to them. Indeed the cave ended with what appeared to be a cave in, blocking the rest of the cave. “Hush! Something is in here with us!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all but held their breaths as they followed Button Mash’s directions. He had played too many video games to not know about caves. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he just could not figure it out. “What is it, Button?” Applebloom asked a little timid. Button Mash scanned the area of darkness that surrounds them. “Bats?” He whispered to himself quietly. “What did you say, Button Mash?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously, taking a step forward. Button Mash slowly looked up to the ceiling and saw he was dead on his mark. many dozens of bats were hung upside down, sleeping. “Bats!” He screamed in alarm and fear. The three fillies following him looked up as well and saw the bats hanging up above them. All of the bats had awoken and started flying out of the cave. Button Mash was the first to run out, torch still carried with him. Sweetie Belle and her friends turned tail and fled as well. Fortunately for them, the cave wasn’t all that deep. Unfortunately, they didn’t watch where they were going. Button Mash accidentally rammed into one wooden beam and cracked it. He dropped the torch and allowed it to roll to the side. Applebloom got her tail stuck to the same wooden beam. She got caught on it but tugged it free, breaking the board. Scootaloo and Applebloom dashed out of the cave, but the ceiling was breaking. bed his head from the pain. He felt his tears building up in his eyes. Not knowing what had been done, he felt the ground shaking and heard a rumbling, cracking noise above him. He slowly got up from the ground and looked forward for a moment. “Look out!!” Before Button Mash could react, he felt a sharp tug come from behind him and replaced at his original sitting spot landed a large boulder that cracked in half, followed by a bunch of rubble. He looked behind him and saw Sweetie Belle pulling on him. She had a strong and determined look burning in her eyes as she pulled him away to safety. He was shocked to see it, and then back to scared when he saw another large rock fall near him. After a few more minutes of the rockslide, it stopped, covering the area in smoke and dust. Applebloom and Scootaloo coughed and heaved while on the ground. Applebloom slowly got up, scanning the area while covering her mouth with her front hoof. “Ah don’t see them! Do ya think they made it?” “Of course they. . . did. They totally got out of there,” Scootaloo explained, getting up herself at the same speed. They both looked around sharply and sadly noticed that there was no trace of Button Mash or Sweetie Belle. Applebloom glared over at Scootaloo angry. She looked back to see her friend's gaze and backed down a bit with a nervous smile. “Well, maybe they went out a back way?” Applebloom rolled her eyes and grabbed her pegasus friend. “Come on, we have to get Twilight! She’ll know what to do!” Scootaloo nodded and got on her four hooves to follow her, the two of them now leaving their friends to their unknown fate.