It was the first day of school. Students were chatting noisily, catching up with their friends, talking about what they did over their break, and gossiping in the Ponyville schoolhouse. Miss Cheerilee strolled through the door with her supplies and trotted to the front of the classroom. The students quickly shuffled back to their seats and became silent. “Hello, everypony. I hope all of you had a wonderful summer break! Now who’s ready to learn?” As expected, the response was a loud groan from all the students. Cheerilee chuckled and said, “Alright, alright. Let’s first start by introducing ourselves. Tell us what you did over summer! Diamond Tiara, why don’t you start?”
“Well, Daddy announced at the beginning of summer that we were going to Haywaii! And then we took this train, and it took fooorrrevvver to get there and it was like, super boring. So then I complained to Daddy and told him to make the train go faster. But then he told me he couldn’t and if the train went faster it’d-”
Sweetie Belle had tuned out. She already knew most of the foals in the class from last year. She turned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. She was excited to talk to her. During the summer, Apple Bloom was visiting her cousin, Babs Seed in Manehattan, Scootaloo was exploring Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash, and Sweetie Belle herself was stuck in her parent’s house with Rarity, which didn’t leave any time to do some crusading.
“Psst! What do you want to do after school?” Sweetie whispered, even though school had just started, she had other things on her mind.
“I dunno,” Scootaloo replied.
“Maybe we can as-” Sweetie started.
“Girls, please be quiet!” Cheerilee turned her head towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Please respect your fellow classmates!.”
“Oops. Sorry!” Sweetie scooted her desk back and went back to twirling her pencil on her desk in boredom when an unfamiliar voice caught her attention. She looked up.
“Um...I’m Button Mash. I spent the summer playing video games,” A brown colt with a messy, orange mane said in a quiet, shaky voice. He was an earth pony, and wore a little propeller hat.
“Very interesting. I haven’t seen you around before Button, are you new to Ponyville?” Cheerilee replied.
“Y...yes, I moved here from Fillydelphia this summer.”
Apple Bloom started whispering to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle again. “Hey, he doesn’t have a cutie mark either! Maybe we can get him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
“He seems really shy. I dunno if he’ll want to join us.” Scootaloo responded.
“Yeah. Imagine what happened to him when Pinkie threw her “Welcome to Ponyville” party. The poor colt must’ve fainted,” Sweetie joked.
“Ahm sure once we get to know him he’ll be quite talkative,” responded Apple Bloom
“Are you sure?” Scootaloo said.
“Whatever. Let’s talk to him at recess!” Apple Bloom said.
***
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked into the schoolyard. Most students were playing hoofball, chatting with their friends, or eating a snack. Button, however, was sitting in the shade under a leafy tree, alone, playing with a small, green, object. He seemed to be very concentrated on it, eyes glued to its small screen. The object occasionally made weird beeping and booping noises.
“There he is!” Scootaloo pointed at Button.
“What’s that do-hickey he’s playing with?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo responded with a shrug. Sweetie started walking towards him, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed.
“Hey, Button Mash. My name is Sweetie Belle, and these are my two friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.” Sweetie introduced.
“Yeah. Can’t talk. About to finish this level.” Button didn’t even look up, he was too concentrated on the object. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle took a moment to look at the device. It consisted of a screen and a few buttons at the bottom. Near the screen, it read “JoyBoy”. On the screen, it showed a very pixelated scene, which the trio couldn’t make out.
“He-” Sweetie Belle began to ask a question.
“Yes! Yes! Die dragon! Just a little more HP! No longer will-” There was some violent beeping. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked over again, they saw that the screen read “Game Over”. “No! I knew I should’ve done more level grinding at the swamp. Nooo...now I have to start all over!” Button furiously threw his Joyboy onto the grass. He started sniffling.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon noticed Button’s yelling. “Haha! What a crybaby!” Diamond Tiara teased, loud enough for Button and the three crusaders to hear.
“Yeah! What a crybaby!” Silver Spoon echoed. A tear rolled down Button’s cheek, which shortly turned into full-fledged crying.
“Hey! Leave him alone.” Scootaloo stomped over to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
“Hahaha! Button doesn’t even have a cutie mark either! Blank flank, blank flank. Next thing you know, he’ll be joining the Cutie Mark Lame-saders!” Scootaloo defending Button just caused Diamond Tiara to want to mock him more.
“Haha! Cutie Mark Lame-saders!” Silver Spoon laughed at Diamond Tiara’s terrible play on words.
“So what? Just because he doesn’t have a cutie-” Scootaloo yelled angrily, raising a hoof, ready to stand her ground.
“Crybaby, crybaby, Button Mash is a crybaby!” Diamond Tiara smirked.
Scootaloo shuffled her hooves around furiously and gave Diamond Tiara a piercing glare. Even though she had known Button Mash for less than a day, he couldn’t stand to see anypony being bullied by Diamond Tiara. “Apologize,” Scootaloo was trying to keep calm but was still trembling. “Now. Or you’ll regret it.” Scootaloo still had her hoof raised, ready to punch Diamond Tiara in the face if she responded with another insult.
“Ooh, says the filly who can’t fly.” Diamond Tiara mocked.
“What the hay di-” Sweetie Belle pushed Scootaloo away from the fight before she had an opportunity to punch Diamond Tiara.
“Listen, Scootaloo. You can’t pick any more fights with Diamond Tiara. I know you have this grudge against her and all, Last time you got in trouble, Cheerilee said you might get expelled!”
“You heard Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon making fun of Button. I can’t stand to see anypony bullied by those two. And remember last time?” Scootaloo pointed out the time when Diamond Tiara had bullied her.
“Ah think Sweetie’s got a point. Mah big sis told me if ya respond to a bully, that’ll just make them wanna bully ya even more.” Appplebloom said.
“What are you talking about over there, blank flanks?” Silver Spoon asked.
“None of yer business. Go away!” Apple Bloom said.
“Blank flanks, blank flanks,” the two sing-songed as they skipped away.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked up to Button.
“Are you okay?” Scootaloo asked.
The brown colt sniffed and attempted to stop crying, but a few tears still streamed down his face, and was still hiccupping. “Y...yeah. Thanks for defending me against those two.”
“No problem.”
“Back in Fillydelphia, these three colts bullied me a lot. They called me a nerd because I always played on my Joyboy. I didn’t have any friends back there either.”
“Didn’t anypony try to stand up for you?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“No.”
Shortly after Button’s response, the bell rang. Button and the Cutie Mark Crusaders got up and headed off back to the schoolhouse.
“Aw man, we didn’t even get to ask him if he’d like to join us.” Scootaloo said.
“Let’s just ask him after school.” Sweetie Belle said.
Author's Note
First time writing a fanfic, hopefully this is at least somewhat decent. The next chapters will be longer, this is just kind of experimental to see what feedback I get. Not 100% sure where I'm going with this story, but it's probably going to turn out as a Button Belle ship, I dunno. I know Button Mash might seem kind of out of character, since he's really shy, but I picture him to be shy around new ponies but be a lot more outgoing to ponies he's friends with/knows.
If anyone could be my editor/proofreader that would be amazing. Crtisicm is appreciated, just keep in mind that this is my first fanfic.
Also I know the title sucks, not creative enough to come up with something original.
Button set down his book bag. He still wasn't used to his new home in Ponyville. The small cottage was a lot more homely and cozy than his family's apartment in the bustling city of Fillydelphia.
"How was school today, Button?" his mom asked.
"It was okay, I guess." Button decided not to tell his mom about the two fillies that had teased him. He didn't want her to worry.
"Did Miss Cherry assign any homework?"
"No Mom, it's the first day of school. And her name is Miss Cheerilee."
"Well, remember to keep your grades up. Try to get at least a B this year, okay Button? And I want you to try and make some friends. It's not healthy playing those video games all day."
Button rolled his eyes. "Fiiinne," he whined. "Can I go now?"
"Alright, Button."
"Yaaay!" Button headed off into his room. He turned on the TV and his brand-new Playstation 4, and grabbed the controller. "Time to pwn some zompony flank!" He exclaimed, getting comfortable in his beanbag chair and putting on his headset, only to be interrupted as he heard knocking coming from the door.
“Probably just that mail mare, Derpy.” Button thought, shrugging it off, only to be interrupted again by his mother calling him.
"Button, some nice fillies are here to see you! Come here!" his mom called.
Button groaned, set down his controller and headset, and walked to the door. He saw the three fillies and recognized them as the ponies that defended him at recess. He was slightly concerned at how they found out where he lived.
"Hi Button!" greeted Sweetie Belle.
"H...how'd you find where I live? STALK-" Button cried, before quickly shutting up as he realized that his mother was still next to him.
"We just asked Pinkie Pie. She knows just about everypony in town," Sweetie replied cheerfully.
"Oh, oh yeah..." Button recalled the overly-enthusiastic pony that had welcomed them with a huge party.
"So anyway, we three are part of this group we formed, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And we were wondering if you’d like to join us. "
“Yeah, it’s really fun and we do all these really cool things to get our cutie marks. One time we even went skydiving with the best racer around, Rainbow Dash! You know, since you don’t have a cutie mark and all,” added Scootaloo.
“Oh...well I dunno…” Button took a step back, trying to think of a good excuse not to join. He remembered how nice these three were to him at school, but all he really wanted to do was play video games. The last foal that he could even call his friend backstabbed him in the end. “I mean...uh...I’m kind of...bus-”
“Button would love to join!” Button’s mom nudged him closer to the three fillies, seeing a fantastic opportunity to force her son into making friends.
“I don’t th-” Button started to protest.
“You told me you would try harder to make friends this year, Button. Come on!”
“Bu-bu-but-” muttered Button, lowering his head, still hesitant.
“Please! You won’t regret it. We have this super duper awesome clubhouse that we have our meetings in! It’s so fun!” Sweetie Belle said, flashing a pleading look at Button.
“F-f-fine.” murmured Button, knowing that if he didn’t go that his mom would probably never get him that game he wanted.
“Yay!” said Sweetie. “See, I told you this would work.” Sweetie quickly whispered to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
“Alright, you four kids have fun! Be back by six!” Button’s mom grinned and abruptly shoved Button out of the house. She shut the door, glad to have more time to relax without hearing Button screaming at his games every few minutes.
“Well, that was interestin.” muttered Apple Bloom.
“So, we’re heading to the clubhouse?” asked Scootaloo.
‘Yup.” Apple Bloom responded.
“So Button, our clubhouse is in a really top secret location. We plan ways to get our cutie marks there, but you can’t tell anypony where it is, okay?” Scootaloo said.
“Sure.” replied Button.
“Pinkie Promise?”
“Excuse me?”
“Like this. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. OW!” Sweetie did the motions for each part of the promise and made the classic mistake of putting her hoof in her open eye. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom giggled.
“I guess…” Button slowly did the attempted to repeat Sweetie's motions, taking care not to make the same mistake she did.
“Alright! Remember, no breaking a Pinkie Promise!” said Sweetie.
“Doing so is the quickest way to lose a friend…” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared, rising from a bush. “FOREVER!” She glared at Button, waving her hooves around before going back underneath the bush.
“A...alright.” Button flinched. He was deeply concerned for the fact that the pink pony had been listening in on their conversation.
“Don’t worry, that’s just Pinkie bein Pinkie,” said Apple Bloom.
The four started walking to the clubhouse. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began explaining more about their club and asking questions to Button, and he tried his best to listen to their rambling and pay attention.
“So uh, what was that JoyBoy thingy you were playing with at recess?” asked Sweetie.
“Oh! That’s called a video game.” said Button.
“Video game?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Have you been living under a rock? They’re the best thing that’s ever happened to ponykind! And I have like a zillion more games, and also a ton of consoles. My JoyBoy isn’t all that good, but it’s a decent handheld console I guess. See, I got a Playstation 4 as a back to school gift, and it’s really cool and soo much better than the last one. I’ve been playing this game where you’re this octopus and you have to do stuff, but it’s really hard because you have to grab on to things with your slimy tentacles instead of hooves.” A few ponies stared at Button as they heard parts of that sentence.
“Also, there’s this game called Minecraft, and I when I first saw it I thought the graphics were really bad, but it turns out it’s like that on purpose which is weird, like it’s supposed to be voxel-based or something, but it’s like still a good game.” Button rambled on, glad to be talking about his passion.
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo didn’t understand a thing he was talking about but were glad Button actually sounded excited for once, so they decided to not interrupt. Button continued to talk about video games until they reached Sweet Apple Acres.
“Hey girls,” Applejack said, noticing the crusaders. “Heading on over to the clubhouse?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “We’ve gotten a new member, Button Mash!”
“Hey Button, I’m Apple Bloom’s sister, Applejack. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi.” Button gave a shy wave.
“Alright, you foals have fun!” Applejack waved goodbye and returned to bucking apple trees.
“Right, so there’s this secret path to the clubhouse that we made. Just follow us, Button,” said Scootaloo.
The three began weaving through the forest of apple trees and Button attempted to follow. The path they were taking seemed to be made in the most roundabout way possible, and when Button finally saw a treehouse, situated on a particularly large tree. It actually looked pretty cool. It seemed like they could’ve gotten here a lot faster if they had just walked straight, though.
“Here it is! Is it awesome or what?” said Scootaloo, before eagerly galloping up the steps with the other crusaders. Button hesitated a little, still taking in the view of the clubhouse.
“Come on, Button Mash!” the Cutie Mark Crusaders cried out from the building.
Author's Note
ALRIGHT~ I've decided to update this!
So. Thank you guys so much for the support on this weird little fanfiction chapter that I wrote over a year and half ago, it's pretty awesome that 57 people read this and decided it was good enough to click the like button(and for those who didn't like it, but still read it, thank you so much also!). And the people who commented to show their support of this fic are awesome too!
I'm guessing most of the people who read this aren't interested anymore, but for those who are and stuck around to read this: Sorry for not posting an update at all for a year and a half. The thing is, I'm not really in this fandom anymore (I haven't been watching season 5 at all except for the first few episodes).
So why did I even decide to update this now? Well, I found the mostly-finished second chapter from a year ago that I was writing and decided from all the comments and support I've seen that'd I finish it. It's kind of boring, I know. I'm probably not going to finish this beyond the second chapter, sorry. I had a lot of plans for this fic, but, like I said, I'm not in the fandom anymore.
I have no idea if my editors are even active here anymore so I kind of just finished writing it and didn't really edit it because I'm kind of bored and tired right now. So feel free to point out errors or any inconsistencies or whatever.
Comment if you want to, I appreciate feedback.
~~also, i realized reading this that the way i characterized button in this makes him too much like twilight in the first episodes in the show which i kind of don't like but whatever~~
