//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Button's plan // Story: Button Rekt: Button's Revenge // by Sunblast X //------------------------------// Rumble was unable to do anything but silently stare at his friend, who was now smiling at the thought of revenge. How did this happen? The two of them lived in Ponyville, there was a crystal castle that housed the Princess of Friendship, whose entire job was to make sure ponies made friends and played nice. It confused Rumble when the next question he asked was, “So… you’re choosing revenge?” Button Mash nodded his head excitedly. “You’re not even going to give this a second thought, are you?” “Nope!” Button happily chirped It was here that Rumble began to scream. However, to spare his friend’s eardrums, Rumble forced himself to scream on the inside. Rumble took a very long a deep breath, slowly calming himself before saying, “Hey, I just remembered my brother wants me home before dark.” Button nodded, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” As he walked out of the house, Rumble let out a small scream of anxiety. He couldn’t help but think about how everything was turning to crap. Why couldn’t Button Mash just let Sweetie Belle’s insult go? Did he really think revenge was going to solve anything? Then again, what could Button Mash do that was so bad? Just then, as if a cruel god wanted to spit in Rumble’s face, a deep voice from Button’s room cried, “FINISH HIM!” followed by a horrified scream that begged for mercy. There was a loud crunching sound and the screams went silent. Rumble took a deep breath as his ears fell to the side of his head. When did everything in his life go so south? Thinking about it, it was probably in preschool, when a colt walked up to him and asked, “Hi, I’m Button Mash. Want to be super best friends?” Rumble knew that Button Mash was usually a nice colt who couldn’t hurt a fly. At the same time, he knew that if pushed over the edge, he was crazy. Not Pinkie Pie crazy, or Screwloose crazy, it was his own special brand of Button Mash crazy. Rumble could recall the time he infested Diamond Tiara’s house with fire ants because she thought games were ‘a waste of time’ especially that new GO game. She also broke his Joyboy, but that was okay as the ‘*NEW* Joyboy 2D-3D XXL Micro’ had just come out, and Diamond Tiara had given him the perfect excuse to buy it. “Hey Rumble!” A raspy voice excitedly called. He looked up to see Scootaloo running towards him with a smile on her face. “Oh, hey there, Scoots,” he waved. The sight of her made his ears perk up, and for some reason, a smile to break as she neared. “So, how’d it go with Button?” she asked. Instantly, his smile fell. “Honestly? It could’ve gone better,” He said, rubbing the back of his head. “What do you mean by better?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Well, you are going to think this funny, just the best joke ever. After I asked him about his plans for revenge, he realized that he could take revenge.” “Rumble, you had one job!” she shouted. “Scootaloo, you try controlling Button for five minutes and get back to me, because I did my best!” Rumble snapped. Letting out a defeated sigh, he continued saying, “Let’s just let wait until school tomorrow. If we pray hard enough, maybe some new game gets announced and Button Mash misses another week of school because he can’t stop watching the trailer.” “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but don’t you think that’s super irresponsible? Like, me trying to get my Cutie Mark irresponsible?” Rumble held his breath for a few moments before answering, “Yeah. I’ll head into school early tomorrow, see what I can do. With any luck, maybe he’ll realize he has no idea what he’s doing and move on to something else.” Button Mash paused his game as a thought occurred to him. How was he going to get revenge? He had no idea what he was doing. He was naturally a kind colt that would never hurt a fly, how was someone like him going to even grasp the concept of revenge? If he was truly going to take revenge, he would need help. He needed somepony cruel, who had little to no regard for the feelings of others. Somepony who had no desire to be likeable or show that they even understood the concept of friendship. “I know, Gibson!” Button Mash cried out. Button stepped over the countless games and handhelds that were scattered about his room, and ran down the hall. He only stopped when he reached a door that had countless signs that said ‘Keep Out’, ‘No Hats Allowed’ followed by a crude drawing of his propeller hat, and a very specific sign that said, ‘Button Mash, STAY OUT’. They didn’t say he couldn’t knock. “Gibson!” Button Mash shrieked as he pounded on the door to his brother’s room. “Gibson, I need help! Gibson!” “Go away!” His brother said in the moodiest, angstiest voice he could muster. “Mom! Gibson won’t help me!” Button Mash called downstairs. “Gibson, help you brother right now, or so help me you are grounded until next year!” Love Tap shouted from the kitchen. The door to Gibson’s room silently swung opened allowing Button Mash entrance. The room was something anyone would expect from a teenager. There was an unmade bed were his brother lay, trash was strewn across the floor, and there was a messy self of magazines with mares in swimsuits on the cover. For some reason, the magazines made Button Mash feel things he couldn’t explain. “Gibson, you’re a heartless beast that has no compassion, do you know how to prank a pony?” From his unmade bed, Gibson glared at his brother for the longest time before asking, “Button, I need to know, do you have twenty bits?” Taking off his propeller cap, Button revealed a small sack of coins. He took them in his hooves and held them up. “Nice. Can I see them?” Shrugging, Button tossed the coins to his brother, who in turn pocketed them. Getting up from his bed, he led Button to an aged beanbag chair that sat in the corner of the room. “I will teach you what I know, Button, but understand that my own training was never complete.” “You had to train to pull pranks?” Button asked as he navigated through the wasteland of unwashed laundry, empty bags of chips, bottles of soda, and dried, crispy rags he assumed were from a very stuffy nose. Gibson nodded. “Yes, I learned from a great master of pranks. She’s that mare that works on the weather team. Unfortunately, we had a falling out before I could finish.” “Did you break a rule of some kind? Did you prank that nice animal caretaker?” “No,” Gibson admitted. “Like my gender studies course, I was kicked out because I had an opinion. Apparently it’s wrong to think that a ninja could totally take on a pirate, but only if he had the element of surprise.” “How’s it wrong to think that?! How would the pirate dodge the throwing star if he can’t see it coming? Plus, the sneak bonus the ninja has is probably at 8x!” “That’s what I said! Anyway, Button, have a seat.” Gibson took the bean bag chair and motioned for Button to sit in a nearby swivel chair. Button hopped on the seat, only to instantly jump off as he let out a small yelp. “What the heck?!” “Lesson one, Button, be the catalyst for your prank,” Gibson said. He stood from the beanbag chair and walked to the swivel chair. He picked up a small object, and revealed a tack that had been facing upwards. “Tell me, would you have sat down by yourself?” Button shook his head. “I would have taken the beanbag chair, or the bed!” “Exactly, but when offered, you took the seat and sat on the tack, which looking at it now, is kinda rusty. Button we may need to take you to that hospital later.” “But that’ll be the fourth time this week!” Letting out an irritated grunt. “If that’s the case, I’m getting a soda.” There was one thing Button loved about Gibson’s room and that was the fact that he had a mini-fridge next to his bed. He opened the door and took out a can of soda. The moment he popped the tab though, he was drenched with a long stream of cola. Button Mash looked towards his brother who was now beginning to laugh. “Opening a shaken can of soda,” Gibson chortled. “How do you feel right now?” “I-I feel bad,” Button Mash answered. “My flank stings, I feel sticky, and my insides hurt. Hearing you laugh at me, it makes me feel horrible, like you’re crushing my heart with your bare hooves. I had no idea that pranking others makes them bad on the outside and inside. Imagine if this happened during class, it would be this feeling time a bazillion!” With wide pleading eyes, eyes that were filled with tears, Button cried, “Gibson, teach me your ways!” “Very well,” Gibson agreed with a smile. He reached out his hoof. “Shake on it.” Button grabbed his brother’s hoof, and as he did, he felt several volts of electricity course through his body. “Hoof-buzzer! Button come on, how do you keep falling for this stuff? How do you feel now?” “I feel very stiff, and it feels like every muscle in my body hurts.” Gibson looked at the tack that Button Mash sat on. Looking at it again, it wasn’t kinda rusty, it was extremely rusty. “Mom, Button Mash needs to go to the hospital again!” Gibson shouted. “I’ve already called Dr. Stable, he’s on his way,” his mother responded. The next day started out like any other. Rumble landed in the school yard, before the sun had a chance to climb into the sky. There was still about an hour and a half before school really started, but he normally got to class early to check over his homework before he would give it to Scootaloo to copy. However, today was all about Button Mash, at least making sure that Button Mash didn’t do anything they’d both regret. As he entered the classroom, he instantly noticed that something was very wrong. Cheerilee looked shaken, not tired like she normally was at this hour. Her cup of black coffee trembled in her hoof as she looked to the back of the classroom. Following her gaze, Rumble found the cause of her fear. There, in the back of the room, sat Button Mash. Rumble’s eyes went wide as he tried to comprehend the mere thought of Button arriving at school as early as he did. Normally Button Mash arrived at least a minute before the bell rang. If he was lucky, he’d get to class at least five minutes early. But more than an hour early? It was something that a madpony would think of. Quickly taking his seat, Rumble leaned over to Button. “Dude, what are you doing here so early?” Button mouth twisted into some semblance of a smile. “Oh, Rumble. Sweet, innocent, naive Rumble. Didn’t we talk about this yesterday?” Rumble was almost afraid. Revenge, he’d actually decided to go through with revenge. There was a lot Button would do when his mind was set on something, but to truly gage where his intentions were at, Rumble had to ask one question. “How many hours did you spend playing games last night?” “After you left, I didn’t play any video games,” Button Mash smirked. “Dr. Stable had to come over. He injected me with something, stamped my mom’s medical card, next emergency is free, and then mom invited him for dinner.” Thank goodness. As far as Rumble was concerned, having the doctor come over wasn’t out of the ordinary. In fact, the fire department would probably be over Button’s house later today to help his Dad get his head out of the banister again. “Wait, if Dr. Stable came over and had dinner, then what did you do after he left?” “I didn’t touch a single video game.” Rumble reared back and almost fell out of his seat. His stomach turned as he felt a chill run up his spine. He was no longer talking to Button Mash. Whoever was in front of him was something else. “Button Mash, what are you planning?” “Rumble, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would I?” Button Mash smiled before chuckling softly. Soon he was laughing, but at the same time trying to stifle it. Finally, he let out a maniacal laugh. Surprise? Rumble’s heart nearly stopped at the thought of a surprise. Surprise normally meant poorly thought out, it meant mass hysteria, and it also meant average Tuesday for Button Mash.