Stressful Nights

by silvermoon15000

Chapter 1: Surprise

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Huh...what," Buttonmash lifted his head up, his fur pushed into his face from sleeping on his keyboard,

"C...COMING!" He called out as the knocking continued.

He jumped out of his chair and stepped over a half eaten hayburger and a book on romance before slipping on a bottle of ketchup and hitting his head on the wall. He groaned and opened the door that led to his living room and quickly but clumsily made it to the front door,

"Hello?" He asked as he opened the door and rubbed his head with the other hoof.

Rarity, a hoof on her nose, sat there with a smile,

"Good Morning," she said in a sing song tune.

He looked at his hoof for blood before placing it on the ground,

"Morning," he replied with a weak smile, a yawn followed afterwards,

"You really should get some sleep, Button, but that's beside the point-" she said as Button shrugged,

"-you must get cleaned up and quickly," she added,

"Why," was all Button could manage,

"Because my sister is coming home for a few weeks to spend some vacation time before heading to Saddle Arabia for her next concert," she said, trying to maintain her cool,

"S...Sweetiebelle is coming home," his eyes widened as Rarity nodded,

"Isn't it wonderful," she said excitingly, but to her dismay Button remained silent, his expression changed from surprised to that of sadness,

"Good for her," he replied.

Button and Sweetiebelle hadn't been on good terms when she left, because of an argument between the two that ended up with him not even saying goodbye when she left. He doubted she wanted to see him now and plus he was too busy to get involved with her again or regain any kind of crush on her. Rarity on the other hoof looked confused,

"I thought you would have been happy to hear-"

"You thought wrong," he said quietly, Rarity didn't take the hint,

"But-"

"Just go Rarity," he closed the door, not giving her another chance to speak.

Button sighed and let go of the knob, trotted back to his office, this time avoiding the ketchup, and sat back down in his chair. He relaxed his head against the headrest and stared at the wallpaper of computer, it was a photo of him and Sweetiebelle on the day of their graduation, the last photo they had ever taken together. He remembered that day, it was the day he chickened out of asking her out on a date, he would then try again on the day she left where he didn't get to ask her because she was too excited to leave Ponyville. He leaned forward and placed a hoof on the mouse, his mind in debate, did he turn off the computer and get cleaned up, or did he continue on the game. He had a similar debate like this every day and would always choose work over whatever option he had, but the consequences were worse for the new option. On one hoof, he could make up with Sweetiebelle and maybe respark some other friendships with the consequence of losing time to work. On the other hoof, he could continue working, but he would never get another chance like the one he had now. His cursor stayed in the center of the screen, moving back and forth between the power off icon and the game file.

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The train whistle blew, hinting that it was about to arrive at its next stop, Ponyville. Sweetiebelle, a smile on her face, signed a little filly's scrap book before passing the quill back to her manager,

"Isn't it great," Vanillabliss said excitedly, taking the quill back with her light orange magic,

"What?" Sweetiebelle asked, confused

"I have been everywhere in Equestria except Ponyville, this is a whole new place for me," the mare said hopping up and down in her seat,

"You've never been to Ponyville?" The mare nodded,

"haven't had the time, you may be my first real celebrity, but I had been on the hunt for one when we met in Trottingham, so yes this is first trip to Ponyville," it was a rather lame excuse to Sweetie, but she shrugged it off.

"I hope you enjoy it then," Sweetiebelle said.

She looked at her friend, her fur was a light vanilla color, as her name implied, and her mane was a swirl of orange and white that reminded Sweetie of Mrs Cake's mane, but longer. Sweetie felt the train start to slow down as the whistle blew once more and the conductor's voice boom through the speakers above,

"Attention to all ponies, we have reached our next stop, please remain seated until we stop and if this is your stop, gather your belongings and please leave your cabin in an orderly fashion, thank you," Sweetiebelle and Vanillabliss smiled at each other,

"Ready to be attacked by all of your fans here," Bliss said,

"I think my friends and family will be the ones attacking me this time," Sweetie replied with a smirk.

The train stopped, letting out some steam as the cabin doors opened. Sweetiebelle and Vanillabliss grabbed their luggage, which was only three to four bags, the crew had stayed in Manehattan so there wouldn't be any issues, plus it was vacation time being used, so they had no reason to attend, nonetheless Sweetie and Bliss stepped off of the train and set their bags down to check everything,

"I think we're set," Bliss grinned,

"Looks like it, I guess we-"

"Sweetiebelle?" A voice questioned from in front of them,

Sweetiebelle looked up to see a bright orange, pegasus mare, her long, magenta mane spiked up at the top while the bottom straightened out, a cast covering her left forehoof,

"Scootaloo?" Sweetiebelle said tearing up,

"In the flesh," the mare replied with a smirk.

Sweetiebelle trotted up to her slowly,

"You look so different, and you lost your raspy...news," she said with wide eyes,

"What am I the big bad timber wolf give your friend a hoofbump," Scootaloo said, holding up her good hoof.

Sweetiebelle held up her hoof and collided it with Scootaloo's,

"It's been awhile," Sweetiebelle exclaimed,

"Too long of awhile," Scootaloo said,

"Yeah...sorry," Sweetie said as Vanillabliss coughed,

"Oh, this is my manger and friend, Vanillabliss," she said as Bliss held up a hoof,

Scootaloo took her hoof and shook it,

"Sweet, mind if I call ya V.B." Scootaloo asked dropping her hoof.

Bliss shrugged,

"Nope, kinda has a nice ring to it," she said happily,

"Good because I would have called you it anyway," Scootaloo replied with a chuckle,

Sweetiebelle shook her head,

"Anyways come on I'll walk ya to Rarity's," the orange mare finished and turned away, nodding her head to follow.

"Is she one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders you tell me about," Vanillabliss whispered as they started to trot after Scootaloo.

Sweetiebelle nodded,

"Yep, minus the cast, speaking of which, what happened to your leg," Scootaloo looked back,

"Stunt gone wrong, should heal up in no time," she replied

"Oh ok, is Applebloom around,"

"Yeah, she may be busy though, she has been trying to get a family a new home here, but they're strict on what they want, which is impossible," Scootaloo explained as they started to pass through a rather busy market.

Vanillabliss kept tensing up,

"Why isn't anypony trying to surround us, you'd expect a lot of fans to swarm us by now," she questioned.

"Everypony here knows me, they may be fans, but they have proof that they know me in some way, so its going to be peaceful here," Sweetiebelle said, waving at a few ponies who waved back.

"In other words, relax and enjoy your time here V.B." Scootaloo added with a wink.

Vanillabliss took a deep breath and smiled relaxing her body a bit more,

"There ya go," Sweetiebelle commented as they continued to her sister's home and boutique.

The rest of the way was talkative with Sweetiebelle asking about everypony, the last pony being Buttonmash, which stopped Scootaloo in her tracks,

"Buttonmash? Ummm...he's, different," Scootaloo stammered,

"Like a good difference," Sweetiebelle asked,

"Well...he's working on a new game," she chuckled nervously,

"Uhuh," Vanillabliss butted in,

"That doesn't sound promising Scootaloo," Sweetiebelle acknowledged.

"Look it doesn't matter, lets just get to Rarity's," Scootaloo said sternly.

Sweetiebelle sighed but followed as Scootaloo kept moving. It wasn't long until they approached the boutique, Scootaloo's walk was turning into a limp and her body tensed every time she stepped forward, but before Sweetie could ask if she was ok they were at the door,

"This is your stop," Scootaloo announced before knocking.

"COME IN!" A muffled voice called out on the other side.

Scootaloo opened the door and stepped inside, Sweetiebelle and Vanillabliss followed into the dark building. Sweetiebelle opened her mouth to say something, but the lights turning on and a lot of ponies appearing out of nowhere yelling

"SURPRISE," as loud as they could cut her off and made her jump.

"Welcome home Sweetiebelle," Rarity said with outstretched hooves.

Sweetiebelle, with half terrified half happy tears, hugged her sister,

"Good to be home," she replied,

"But, Celestia sis you didn't have to throw a party," she whispered,

"Oh why not, everypony was anxious to see you, plus it gave Twilight's daughter a chance to practice a cloaking spell," she said happily.

Sweetiebelle looked around, almost everypony was there, minus the few that moved and a certain brown stallion, everypony was there. As the party started, ponies fanned out, talking in groups or eating. Sweetiebelle decided to go to her group of friends first, which consisted of Scootaloo and Applebloom. Applebloom, was in a red dress which matched her mane that was put into a professional ponytail while a smaller pink bow held together what was loose,

"You made it," she greeted the mare loudly, giving her a hug,

"Glad Ah could, jus' finished up fer the day, the family Ah was helpin was extremely picky an' Ah ran outta houses ta show, so Ah gave 'em today and tamarraw ta decide on a home," she replied, returning the hug.

Sweetiebelle took note on how her accent had hardened over the years. She was only able to speak to them for a minute before her sister told her she had more ponies to talk to and that she could hang out with them later. She trotted up to her sister who was talking to her friends and their husbands,

"You obviously remember these ponies," Rarity said.

Sweetiebelle smirked and pointed at Rainbow Dash,

"Yeah, that's Fluttershy," she moved her hoof to Applejack,

"That's Pinkie pie," she then moved it to Twilight,

"That's Applejack," her hoof moved to Fluttershy,

"That's Rainbow Dash," she finally pointed at Pinkie Pie,

"And that's Twilight," she laughed as Rarity rolled her eyes.

She heard a cough behind her and looked at Vanillabliss,

"I'm getting there," she replied and used her magic to make her voice sound louder,

"Attention everypony, although it was nice to see you all I have somepony you should all meet-" she looked at her friend,

"-this is my manager and friend, Vanillabliss, I would appreciate it if you would all get to know her, otherwise carry on," she stopped the spell,

"There...you happy," Vanillabliss blushed on response.

Sweetiebelle sighed and continued to talk to her sister and her friends.

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Buttonmash huffed and puffed as he ran, something he hadn't done in awhile, he was late, but hopefully not too late. He was hoping he could catch Sweetiebelle before she left, the party had ended about thirty minutes ago, something he had found out from Pinkie when he was getting ready to head to Rarity's to at least say something. He had lost track of time and wasn't too happy about it, he was going to try to kill two birds with one stone, something he shouldn't have tried in the first place. Finally, he made it to the boutique, his heart racing from both exhausten and anxiety, what if she didn't want to see him again, what if she was mad because he missed the party, there were so many cons that he couldn't point out the pros. As he approached the door he took a deep breath, and tried to calm down some.

Rarity was pushing one of her poniquins back into place when the door opened and the bell sounded,

"Sorry we're..." She looked up and froze when she saw a panting Buttonmash,

"Button darling are you alright," she asked as she studied him.

He looked and smelled cleaner, the bags under his eyes were less noticeable and his mane wasn't as thrown about, which meant he had tried to clean up a little at least,

"Am...I...too late?" he asked in between each pant.

She sighed and nodded, feeling bad for him. He muttered something that she couldn't make out and stamped the ground, hard,

"No reason to be upset, dear, she should be back soon, until then how about you help me finish putting everything back where it goes," she said, placing a scarf around the plastic figure.

He sighed and obeyed, putting poniquins back where they went while Rarity placed the right clothing on them. She took this time to ask some questions that had some needed answers,

"So...how is the game coming along," she asked placing a hat on another poniquin.

"Its going alright," he answered quickly.

"Uhuh..." She thought for a moment and decided to ask about something she needed to know about,

"What was the argument about," Button froze,

"Argument?" He questioned,

"Don't play foolish with me Buttonmash, I speak to my sister and your mother," she pointed a hoof at him,

"It's...It's none of your concern Rarity...it's in the past," he replied,

"Yes, because slamming a door in my face the moment I mention her obviously means it's in the past," she retorted.

He opened his muzzle to argue but decided against it, letting him think for a second before replying,

"I just don't-" he was cut off by the sound of the bell,

"I'm home Rari-" Sweetiebelle's voice called out before stopping,

"Buttonmash?" She asked, trying to get a look at him. He tensed and turned to face his ex-crush,

"Hi...Sweetiebelle,"

Author's Note:

And that's a wrap for Chapter 1, sorry that it took me awhile, been busy. I have no idea when Chapter 2 will be out, but hopefully, maybe, soon, I don't really know. Anyways I just want to say thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it, really I do. I am trying to edit and work on my skill more, but it takes time. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope you will stick around for the next one, I promise this story gets better. Anyways...this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT!