Zero Tolerance

by KJMusical

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Romance, Tragedy
Length: 2554

If you were made to keep your real self locked deep inside, forced to live a lie in the real world so that you wouldn't be ridiculed for being yourself, how long will it take for you until you snap from the pain?

How would you react if you found out somebody in your class was a homosexual where everyone else is straight? How would you feel if that person had a romantic interest in you, despite the fact you have a girlfriend or boyfriend? Could you live a lie to keep your lover and keep him / her happy?

Those questions run through Button Mash's mind when he finds out that his dear friend Rumble is a colt cuddler and is attracted to him like a pole on a magnet. Only problem? Button Mash already has a marefriend, Sweetie Belle whilst Rumble is dating Scootaloo to hide the fact he's a colt cuddler. It isn't long until Button Mash begins to question both his own sexuality and why someponies see homosexuality as a bad thing.

Anti-homophobia story.
Shippings: Rumble X Button Mash, Rumble X Scootaloo & Button Mash X Sweetie Belle
Warnings: colt cuddling

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-17 00:36:52 UTC

Introduction

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." - Lev. 20:13

"I can't lie to myself anymore Button Mash! I love you! And nothing's gonna change that!"

Over the loud music and excited fillies chatting, a light grey colt with a dark grey mane, purple eyes and no cutie mark confessed his love for another pony. That colt is named Rumble. Tonight was the Ponyville Schoolhouse dance and the place was packed with fillies, colts and mares all around. A few were struttin' their flanks, as they put it, on the dance floor, others were talking with their friends. Rumble, on the other hand, was sitting at a table talking to somepony. Sitting opposite was the pony of his dreams.

Another colt.

This colt had a dark amber coat, a moderate tangelo mane and moderate amber eyes. He was also wearing a small red, white and yellow striped propeller beanie which had green propellers on it. This colt was also missing a cutie mark. This colt was Button Mash.

"Ya know, ya don't have to shout! I can hear you just fine from here!" Button Mash shouted back over the cluster of noise, causing Rumble to grasp the former's hoof in his and snap back "I don't care! I really don't care! Nothing's gonna change if we fake it or not! It took me until I started my relationship with you to now realise it! There's no other way around it! I'm a colt-cuddler!"

But, as if fate wanted to make his life hell, the music stopped just before his confession. Upon hearing this, everypony turned and looked at Rumble and Button Mash locking hooves together. At first, the place was quiet, nopony saying a word, even the adult ponies were shocked at this sudden revelation, but after a few seconds, there was murmuring among the fillies.

After a few seconds of silence, the mare known to many as Diamond Tiara pointed out her hoof and shouted "Did you guys hear that? Rumble admitted to being a colt-cuddler!"

Almost instantly, the murmurs turned into laughter. Heinous, cruel laughter that plagued Rumble and Button Mash's ears. It seemed everypony in the room was mocking them in one way or another, when in reality, it was only half the room. Realising he had been caught, Rumble let go of Button Mash's hoof and began to run out of the schoolhouse, tears brewing in his eyes.

However, Diamond Tiara tripped him up, causing the laughter to intensify and finally made him break down on the spot, begging the other ponies to stop laughing at him. But his pleas fell onto deaf ears as the laughter blared on and on.

Button Mash looked down at his weak and weeping coltfriend. After looking around, he noticed that everypony that was laughing was making fun of Rumble and not him. Was it because he was the one to confess he was a coltcuddler? Button Mash even noticed the DJ, a white coated, neon blue maned mare with opaque googles. She wasn't laughing at Rumble, but she was beginning to smirk, as if she could burst out laughing at any second. Button Mash looked back at Rumble, who was still crying on the floor. Button Mash then looked up to see his mother and father looking in at them, shock on their faces. After a few seconds, they looked up at their son, concern now replacing shock in their faces.

Button Mash shut his eyes, trying to blur the horrible noise around him and recalling all the events prior to this.

Juste Une Normale Poney

Button Mash was your average everyday filly. A couple of days ago, his mother, Maternity, grounded him for playing video games all night when he should’ve been sleeping so he wouldn’t be tired in the morning when he had to go to school.

Because of that foolish mistake, Button Mash had a lot of trouble staying awake when he went to school. Miss Cheerilee scolded him so many times during that day for dosing off in her lessons. That was 6 days ago. From tomorrow, his grounding time would be over.

Not only would Button Mash be able to go and hang out with his friends again, but he can also spend more time with his marefriend Sweetie Belle, who he hadn’t spent time with due to him being grounded.

At this moment in time, Button Mash was looking bored, trying to focus on Miss Cheerilee’s class. Although, for a colt like him, it was difficult to keep focus in class, knowing that once you were finished, you had to go back to the prison that’s your room once you go back home. He could just spend some time outside of home, but he knew it would only prolong his prison sentence in his room, doing nothing, only allowed to leave the room to have dinner or have a shower.

His thoughts were interrupted when a scrunched up piece of paper landed on his desk, startling him out of his daze. Lucky his desk is in the right corner furthest from the front of the class. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the chance to notice it since Cheerilee would’ve took it immediately off him. With concern, he looked around the class to see who threw the paper at him. Everypony seemed to be as still as a statue, all focused on the front of the class where Cheerilee was, lecturing her students.

Curious, he opened up the paper and had a look at it. It was a note of some kind. The writing on it looked scruffy, as if whoever wrote it was in a hurry for something. He quickly gazed over it. It was a short poem. Before he could start reading it, the bell suddenly rang. Fearing Ms. Cheerilee seeing it, he quickly hid the paper under his propeller cap.

Once the bell ceased to ring, many of the fillies darted out of the door to move onto their personal lives. Personal lives that Button Mash had been cursed to live without the rest of the day. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more he began to think that his normal life wasn’t so different compared to when he was grounded.

Button Mash trotted out of the classroom along with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo & Sweetie Belle. "Hey girls! Ah think ah finally know how we're gonna get our cutie marks!" Apple Bloom said, perking up Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo excitedly responded with "Well, how?"

Apple Bloom explained excitedly "Well, when ah was playin' around Sweet Apple Acres, ah found this cave and ah thought there might be hidden treasure inside it. Maybe we can get our archeology cutie marks in that cave!" Sweetie Belle replied with "That's perfect! We can look around the treehouse to see if we can use anything as tools."

Scootaloo then turned around to face Button Mash. "You wanna come with us, Button?" she asked him. Button Mash looked up, opening his mouth smiling as if about to say something, but then frowned and shut it. "Sorry girls, I can't come with you. I'm grounded until tomorrow."

Scootaloo looked disappointed. "Well, that sucks. That's okay Button. we'll see you tomorrow?" Button Mash looked up and said "Yeah, sure. Maybe I'll come with you after school." Apple Bloom already took off down the road to Sweet Apple Acres. "Come on guys!" she called to her two friends.

"Apple Bloom! Wait up!" Scootaloo called, running after her. Sweetie Belle turned to face her coltfriend and pecked his lips. "See you tomorrow Button." she said before running off after her friends.

When the 3 fillies were out of his eye sight, Button Mash took out the piece of paper from his hat and sat down underneath an apple tree. He then opened up the paper, which had scrunched back into a ball when he put it into his hat, and now, with no distractions, he could read this poem in peace.

The first thing that surprised him was what the poem itself was about. It wasn't just a normal poem, it was a love note. Did Sweetie Belle somehow pass it back to his desk when he wasn't paying attention? After getting over the surprise, he began to read.

Brown coat with a heart of gold, as courageous as the knights of old.

When I see your face, I slip into a dream, and you speak, in glee I wish I could scream.

Other ponies may see you as a Ponyfolk civilian, but to me, out of all, you're one in a million.

There's so much to say, but I'll be frank. Your flank may be blank, but you've got a heart like a tank.

Your propeller hat's funny, always spinning like it's loose, with you, even Cupid's arrows would be of little use.

All of this is true, coming straight from my heart, Your personality? A pure work of art.

You fly around my heart like a dove, an angel from above. In closing, with all my heart, I give you my love.

Well, that was quite the poem. Button Mash couldn't help but smile. He didn't realise Sweetie Belle was a poet. He shut his eyes and held the paper close to his chest, right where his heart was. He had never been so moved by such beautiful literature. And it was about him! Things like these were why Button Mash choose Sweetie Belle over other mares for his marefriend. He couldn't wait to show his to his mother. Oh how she would-.

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh Celestia! Mom will kill me if I'm not back immediately after school!" he thought. Immediately, he placed the paper back into his hat, got up and ran down the street to his home.

After quite some running, he managed to make it back home. He hid the paper into his hat and walked through the door. Almost immediately after he walked through the door, he heard "Hello Button. How was your day at school?" from Maternity, his mother. He sighed before answering "Fine mom. Another boring day like usual."

Maternity smiled at this. "Well, if you wait until tomorrow, you'll be able to go out with your friends. Maybe even spend more time with a mare you like. What's her name? Sweetie Belle?" to which Button Mash blushed and quickly replied "Yes that's her name, but she's not my marefriend! She's only my friend! I swear!" Everytime this occurs, she would giggle at her son's obvious attempt at lying. She knew too damn well that Sweetie Belle was her son's  marefriend and when he denied it, she would always play along with it. But inside, she knew the truth. Of course, this wasn't a problem for Maternity. In fact, she found it wonderful that her son was in a relationship.

As for Button Mash, he went to his room to do some homework that Ms. Cheerilee set for the class tomorrow. After a couple of hours of homework followed by doing nothing (since Maternity took his games consoles and toys out of his room when he went to school the day he was grounded), Button Mash was called down to dinner.

And so there he was, eating dinner with his mother, father and brother. His father, Rusty Nail, was a dark grey colt with a beige mane and a cutie mark of a hammer and nail, showing he has a talent for crafting and woodwork. As for Button Mash's brother, Dusk Flash, he was the polar opposite of his brother's colour scheme. He had a moderate tangelo coat and a dark amber mane. Like his brother, he had no cutie mark either.

Anyway, after a couple of minutes of silence between them, Rusty Nail asked Button Mash to remove his hat at the table because according to him, nopony can focus on their dinner with his propeller spinning constantly. Reluctantly, he took it off and the piece of paper he hid under it fell out. He silently cursed at himself for not remembering it. He hoped nopony had seen it.

"What was that piece of paper that just landed on the table?"

Maternity did however. Before Button Mash could quickly reach over and grab it, Dusk Flash picked it up. Button Mash went red in the face as Dusk Flash opened it up and read it. After he was finished, he burst out laughing.

"Oh man! Mom! Ya gotta see this! Button Mash got a cute little love letter from Sweetie Belle!" Dusk Flash said through his laughter.

"Dusk! Sweetie Belle is just a friend!" Button Mash whined as Dusk handed the note to Maternity. "It's nothing to be ashamed of sweetie. I think it's wonderful you're such 'friends' with Sweetie-." she said before stopping abruptly, shock on her face. Everypony looked towards her, wondering why she stopped. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"Button....." she began. Button Mash perked up at his name being mentioned. Maternity looked like she couldn't find the words to explain this, but she then said "Sweetie Belle, didn't write this." Everypony at the table was confused. Sweetie Belle didn't write that poem? Why would Maternity say that? Button Mash then asked "What? How would you know mom?"

Quickly, she left the dining room and came back a few seconds later with a bunch of papers. She placed them besides Button Mash's plate. All the papers were little drawings and writing. "Two reasons Button. One, the handwriting on the poem doesn't match Sweetie Bell's handwriting at all. And two, the pen she uses to write and draw, although the plastic used on the pen itself is blue, uses phlox purple ink. The ink on this is dark blue."

Button was still not convinced.

"Well, maybe she had to borrow another pen for some reason." he said before replied "Well, if Sweetie Belle borrowed a pen, why would she change her handwriting?" Button Mash couldn't answer that. He just tried to go back to his dinner.

A couple of hours passed and the question of who wrote that poem still rang in Button Mash's head. He thought about it whilst he was in the shower and whilst he was brushing his teeth and washing his face. He thought some sleep would ease the stress of this mystery.

However, he lay in bed for nearly an hour and that question still burned in his mind. He didn't want to believe some other filly wrote that poem, but he couldn't argue with the proof that his mother showed him.

The drawings and the writing all had Sweetie Belle's purple ink. He quickly looked back at the love poem as he pondered who in his class had a pen that had dark blue ink. Nopony came to mind. He sighed before putting the note down and falling asleep.

But he had a burning feeling that not even sleep would erase this mysterious conclusion. The question repeatedly echoed in his head.

If Sweetie Belle didn't write that love note, then by Luna's horn, who in Equestria did?