That Time We Swapped Spit

Chapters

A Meeting of Mouths
An Admission of Feelings
A Fracturing of Trust
A Breaking of Bonds
A Resetting of Self and Ideals
A Chance At Redemption
An Auspicious Visit
A Band-aid to a Battlescar

A Meeting of Mouths

"Bye Rumble!" A trio of fillies squeal as Rumble waves them off. Rumble continues to wave and smile until all three swooning fillies are over the hill and out of sight before turning to his downtrodden looking friend.

"How do you do it Rumble?" Button asks, wistfully rocking in his swing.

"Do what?"

"Y'know, have pretty much every filly in our class falling all over you." Rumble shrugs far too noncommittally for Button's liking.

"To be honest I don't know why they like me so much."

"It's not fair" Button whines. "You've got every filly in our class practically eating out of your hoof and I can't get a filly to look at me let alone talk to me." Button's eyes leave the rivet underneath the swing and meet Rumble's with a longing that makes Rumble uncomfortable. "What's your secret?"

"Secret?" Rumble blinks owlishly; Button frowns.

"There's gotta be something you're doing that I'm not." Rumble looks up thoughtfully for a few moments before coming to a admittedly ham-fisted conclusion.

"I guess there was this one time where I showed Scootaloo what I know about kissing." Button's mouth falls open and his eyes go wide and unbelieving.

"You kissed Scootaloo?"

"Yeah," Rumble scratches the back of his head with a hoof and turns away in hopes of hiding his blush. "She wouldn't leave me alone for like two weeks."

"Like grown up kissing?"

"I don't know if its how the grown ups do it but I think we got close."

"Aww man," Button whines." How am I supposed to compete with that? I don't know how to do anything grown up like that."

"I can show you if you want." It is nearly impossible for Rumble to hide his embarrassment now, even Button is a little flustered at the prospect; so flustered in fact that he cannot will his brain to form a coherent response.

"C'mon," Rumble motions with a hoof, and like a mindless drone with no free will to speak of, Button follows. The duo wedge themselves in the alcove underneath the slide, away from the prying eyes of both classmates and teachers. Rumble briefly pokes his head out to make sure they are truly alone before he lets himself relax.

"Alright," Rumble starts after taking a steadying breath and squaring his shoulders. "I think we're alone."

Something clicks in Button's head and he is subsequently freed from whatever cosmic force is rendering him unable to formulate coherent speech. He opens his mouth to voice his concern but is cut off by Rumble.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" Rumble's voice is serious as the slits of his eyes, and for the first time since they'd retreated to the sanctity of the plastic housing underneath the slide, Button realizes just how uncomfortably close he is to Rumble. Button breathes a stifled "yeah" and rolls his shoulders to loosen them.

"Okay," is all Rumble says before he begins to erase what little distance remains between them.

Button doesn't realize his eyes are closed until they shoot open as Rumble's snout comes into contact with his own. Parts of his brain tell him that he should be putting as much distance between himself and his friend as possible; but other, more incipient, more persuasive parts of his brain wish to revel in the new, exciting feeling.

The alien tingle in his spine and the fluttering of his gut pulling for his attention at the same time give Button a feeling he can't quite place. His open eyes stare unblinking into the face of the colt across from him who looks as though he's practically melting into the kiss and he gets a strange a strange mixture of contentedness he can safely say he's never felt before; almost like he could stay in the exact position he's in forever. However, just as he feels he's getting accustomed to their chaste meeting of snouts, Rumble pulls away, a string of saliva connecting the two that both he and Button make a face at.

"Wow," Rumble pants. "That was way better than kissing Scootaloo." Rumble looks to Button to gauge his reaction but finds his friend too red faced and flustered to say much of anything.

"Sorry," Rumble offers, averting his eyes and folding his ears like a frightened animal.

"It's OK, I actually kind of liked it."

"Really?" Rumble perks up almost immediately, Button spreads his blush out with the smile that creeps onto his face.

"Yeah; it felt kinda weird but I liked it." Rumble's wide, goofy smile persists as a cumbersome silence fills their temporary hideout.

"Button, I gotta tell you something." Almost immediately Rumble's face returns to being serious and contemplative.

"What?" Rumble fills his lungs with air, Button watches the rise and fall of his chest with intrigue.

"Button..."

"Button sweetie!" A strong, matronly voice cuts through the air and effectively cows Rumble into silence. "Where are you, I'm here to pick you up!"

Button pokes his head out from underneath the slide.

"Right here mom!"

Buttons mother smiles warmly at her son. "Hurry up Button, you don't want to be late for lunch."

"OK mom!" Button turns back toward Rumble who looks exceptionally sad.

"What's wrong Rumble, what did you wanna tell me?" Rumble shakes his head slowly.

"It's nothing Button, not important." Button moves to exit the housing, but he stops just short to look back at his friend who is wearing a smile that looks dim even to Button.

"See ya around Rumble."

"Totally." With that, Button steps out of the housing and trots to meet up with his mother. Rumble watches the pair until they disappear over the hill before he retreats back inside and bangs his head against hard plastic.

Way to go Rumble…

An Admission of Feelings

6 years later

The usual sometimes overbearing din or ponies milling about in the halls of the school is nothing more than background noise to Rumble this particular day as he nervously paces back and forth in front of the door to the mechanics lab. The shrill cry of the school bell nearly rips Rumble's hammering heart from his chest, but he is able to regain composure quickly enough so as not to look out of place.

A steady stream of ponies files out of the classroom and Rumble's eyes scan every body for the familiar off-brown coat of his best friend. Much too suddenly for Rumble to react, a hoof is thrown around his neck and he is thrust into a full body hug.

"Hey Rumble!" The voice is far too feminine to be one of his male friends, plus almost overwhelming scent of candy that is assaulting his nose helps him put the pieces together fairly quickly.

"Hey Sweet Tooth" Rumble grins.

"Drat, foiled again."

"You're not exactly inconspicuous, you absolutely reek of candy."

"What can I say," Sweet Tooth mumbles, the stem of a lollipop sticking out of her mouth even as she speaks. "It's my one weaknesses."

"Yeah," Rumble rolls his eyes." That and anything with one of each chromosome."

Sweet Tooth slugs Rumble in the arm and bites down hard on the lollipop in her mouth. "Hey, I'm not the only one who's got it bad for a colt."

There is a hoof pressed firmly to her maw before she can even inhale her next breath, causing her to sputter and choke on the bits of candy in her mouth.

"Celestia Sweet Tooth, do you want everypony in school to know I'm a colt-cuddler?" Sweet Tooth swats his hoof away irritably so she can correct her breathing and swallow the bits of candy threatening to clog her trachea.

"Oh would you relax Rumble, your secret identity is still a secret." Rumble's shoulders relax noticeably.

"Let's just hope it stays that way, forever." Sweet Tooth brandishes another lollipop from her saddlebag and pops it into her mouth.

"So, is today finally the day?" Sweet Tooth can see the stiffness creep up his back and into his upper torso, she grins to herself as she watches him scan the bodies filing out of the classroom like a hawk.

"I don't know" Rumble sighs, finally letting his gaze drop. "I just don't want to lose what we already have, y'know?"

"I know what you mean, this is tough stuff." The way she is casually sucking a lollipop as she converses with him lessens the value of everything she says in Rumble's eyes, he doesn't say anything though.

"I'm sure he'd understand though, you guys have been best friends for like forever." Rumble offers a far away "yeah," that doesn't convince himself nor Sweet Tooth. Sweet Tooth throws a hoof around his shoulders again, this time looking worlds more caring and concerned.

"I know this is hard for you man, but don't beat yourself up over it. If you don't feel ready or you think he'll react badly just hold off until you think you're both ready, OK?" Rumble only nods, but Sweet Tooth is glad she is able to at least get something out of him.

"Hey guys." Rumble recognizes the voice almost instantaneously and all of his features immediately light up.

"Button!" Sweet Tooth bellows, delineating another one of her signature bone crushing hugs to the unprepared colt.

"Can't breathe..." Sweet Tooth releases her grip on Button and he promptly begins to suck air into his needy lungs.

"Sorry" she grins sheepishly, Button waves a her a pardon as he continues to heave.

"What's up nerdlet?" Rumble grins at his panting friend "How was class?"Button-who finally has a sufficient enough supply of air-straightens his beanie on his head and collects his books off the floor and puts them back into his saddle bag.

"It was pretty sweet actually, we learned how to calibrate the fuel intake of an engine and a bunch of cool engine maintenance techniques.

"Sounds interesting" Rumble smiles fallaciously.

"Or in other words, nerdspeak."

"That's all I heard."

"I can see you're in true form today, Rumble."

"Aren't I always?"

"Apparently not on picture day" Sweet Tooth adds which earns her a glare from Rumble.

"I swear, they schedule picture day on the worst days. It's almost like I'm destined to look like a disheveled hooligan every year."

"Isn't that what you are?" Sweet Tooth asks pointedly, Rumble waves a dismissive hoof at her.

"I'd lean closer to stallion among stallions."

“Oh yeah, you're a real charmer alright." Both Sweet Tooth and Button Mash share a giggle at Rumble's expense. Rumble overplays the frown that graces his snout.

"Two against one is it?" There is a challenging inflection in Rumble's voice that ignites a fire in the bellies of both Button Mash and Sweet Tooth.

"I thought you liked challenges Rumble" Sweet Tooth taunts, causing his eyes to narrow further.

"I'm always up for a little friendly competition."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Rumble, struts his way past Sweet Tooth and Button Mash before tearing off down the hallway toward the double doors that lead to the school's courtyard. Sweet Tooth is hot on his heels immediately, with Button bringing up the rear behind them.

The race is close, with Rumble bursting through the doors closely followed by Sweet Tooth. Button staggers out the doors a few seconds later, head hung low and heaving for the second time that day.

"You are the biggest cheater" Sweet Tooth pants playfully, knocking Rumble in the shoulder again.

"More like the biggest winner."

"Biggest wiener seems more appropriate."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Rumble grins salaciously at her, to which she responds by pelting him in the forehead with a lollipop.

"You're disgusting."

"You walked right into that one." Rumble points out while nursing the red spot on his forehead.

"You guys are gonna end up killing me one of these days" Button warns as he trots to catch up to the duo.

"I could never hurt my little Button Boo" She coos at him, reaching for him with her hooves once again. Button is ready for it this time and ducks out of the way just before the hooves have a chance to snare him.

"Like I said," Button reiterates. "You two are gonna end up doing me in one of these days."

"Sweet Tooth did you tell him our master plan?"

"Never master."

"Very funny Rumble."

"I'll be here all week."

"That reminds me" Button stops in place and goes to rummaging around in his saddle bag; Rumble and Sweet Tooth both stop and look back inquisitively at the colt as he rifles through his things. Button emerges with from the depths of his saddlebag with what looks to be a tiny handheld screen of some sorts.

"I finally got the new edition of star fighters five, wanna come over and break it in with me Rumble?" Rumble can feel his heart climbing from its spot in his chest.

"Sure, love to."

"Ugh," Sweet Tooth scoffs as she turns away from Button. "You guys are such nerds, remind me why I hang out with you again?"

"Because you love us?" Rumble reminds her, to which she smirks.

"You're not my type blue." Sweet Tooth watches Rumble set his jaw in attempts to not grind his teeth.

"I hate it when you call me that!"

"I do it because I care." Sweet Tooth pulls a piece of hard candy out of her saddlebag and feeds it into her mouth before turning and beginning to walk down the path ahead of the two colts.

"I'll catch you nerds later, I've got a date to get ready for." And with that, she is gone, leaving Button and Rumble to each other's company.

"I actually have to get going too, mom says if she has to reschedule my dentist appointment again she going to take away my video games for two weeks.

"For sure Button, take care."

"You still wanna hang out tonight and help me break in star fighters?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The walk to Button's house is a maddening affair for Rumble; partly because of the innumerable amount of times he considers turning back and partly because of the prospect of being alone with Button. He rounds a nearby corner and continues walking until a trio of shrill, feminine voice makes his every muscle tense and his knees lock.

"Hiiiiii Rumble." Rumble turns to toward the source of the noise and sees Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo skipping down the street a few paces behind him.

"Hey guys" Rumble waves, inwardly dreading having come across the three fawning fillies.

"Watcha doin out here this time of night?" Sweetie Belle bounces over, leaning too close for Rumble's liking.

"Going to hang out with Button" His reply is simple and to the point, so it confuses him on more than one level when each of the three fillies grins manically up at him.

"Ooh, you're going to "hang out" with Button?" The emphasis Scootaloo puts on hang out makes Rumble draw back slightly.

"Yeah...He just got a copy of the new Star Fighters game and he wanted me to come break it in with him." Rumble expects his explanation to abate the three's admittedly unsettling grins, instead they just stretch wider.

"Is that the only thing you're gonna be breaking in?" Scootaloo jibes, earning her a slug in the shoulder from Sweetie Belle. Rumble's brow raises in confusion.

"What's up with you guys, you're acting really weird."

"Oh nothing" Sweetie Belle practically sings as she saunters around Rumble, the other two crusaders joining her. "Have fun with Button." The wink in her voice makes Rumble blink in both confusion and unease.

"What do you mean by that?" Rumble calls after the fillies, but its no use, they are already a considerable distance away, their laughter trailing them as they go.

Rumble waits until they are mere dots in the horizon to begin moving again, his pace much slower and more reticent than before. After minutes of tense, nerve wracking shuffling down the street, Rumble comes into view of Button's house, but stops just short of the lawn with the crusaders actions replaying in his head non-stop since he'd run into them.

Did they know?

Did Sweet Tooth blab that he likes colts?

Is he that obvious when he stares at Button?

The onslaught of thoughts stops him dead in his tracks, staring at the door to Button's house wondering if he should just turn back and go home.

"Oh, Rumble, haven't seen you in a while." Rumble nearly jumps out of his feathers as the soothing voice of Button's mother resonates from behind him.

"My goodness Rumble, are you alright? You seem awfully tense." Rumble floats back down to the ground and shakes the stiffness from his wings.

"I'm fine; you just startled me is all."

"Oh, I apologize. Button's been waiting for you to come since before I left for the market, you can go on inside if you like." Rumble can still feel the nervousness in his knees.

"Thanks," It takes quite a bit of effort on Rumble's part not to stutter as he makes his way into the house and toward Button's room. He trots up to Button's door and knocks lightly. After a couple seconds the door creaks open and to reveal a wide smiling Button Mash.

"What's up Rumble?" The two bump hooves and Button ushers Rumble inside and closes the door behind him.

"Check it out dude" Button picks the handheld machine up off his bed and turns the screen toward Rumble. "I already beat level three."

"Sweet dude." Rumble settles down on the bed and they begin their usual routine of switching off every death. About an hour in, Rumble feels the familiar flutter of butterflies in his chest as he watches Button tap away at the keys of his joyboy.

"Button..." He starts awkwardly, not really knowing what exactly it is he is trying to say. "Have you ever had a crush on somepony before?" It takes Button a couple seconds to respond, still taping away at the keys.

"I've thought some fillies looked pretty before, but I don't think I've ever had a full on crush." Rumble winces at the word filly, but persists despite the sting.

"Have you ever felt like telling that pony that you thought they were pretty?" Button continues to stare down at the screen, but answers Rumble's question anyway.

"Not in a million years" Button snorts. "I'm not smooth with the ladies like you are." Rumble winces again as if he's been physically struck. He sucks in a long, heavy breath and exhales it as he falls supine on Button's bed.

"Button, what would you say if I told you I was a colt-cuddler?"

"I'd tell you that’s the best joke you've told all week."

"Button..." The inflection on the word is enough to get Button to pause the game to look over at Rumble, the somber seriousness twinkling in Rumble's eyes makes Button release a heavy sigh of his own.

"I know; I've known for a long time actually." Rumble shoots upright almost immediately, his eyes wider than Button thinks are possible.

"YOU KNEW?!" Button can't help but grin wryly at his friend's outburst.

"Well yeah...Even though you have your pick of pretty much any filly in school, I've never once seen you actually ask any one of them out. But It didn't really click for me until I remembered that one day that you kissed me under the slide after school. Then I sorta just put two and two together."

"Well why didn't you say anything?" Button shrugs, his face still red.

"I didn't want to scare you or anything, I wanted you to tell me yourself." Button sees tears welling up in the corner of Rumble's eyes and a feeling he doesn't recognize washes over him.

"Thanks" Rumble embraces Button in a hug that Button knows is from the bottom of Rumble's heart. After some time, the two separate and Rumble is back to looking reserved and unsure.

"So...do you know-"

"That you have a crush on me? Yeah, I kinda figured that one out too." Button is smiling so wide and goofy that Rumble turns bright red under the weight of it.

"How?" Is all Rumble can manage. Button giggles at the incredulous look on his face.

"I don't know how to explain it really. After I figured out you were...that way, I met up with you at school one day and I guess the way you smiled at me told me everything."

Rumble looks floored at what Button just explained to him, but not so much as to render him mute.

"So...what do you think?" Button smiles a smile that makes Rumble's insides practically melt.

"It's actually really flattering that somepony as handsome as you has a crush on somepony as dorky as me. But as much as it pains me to say it, I'm just not attracted to other colts that way."

Rumble’s heart jumps so far up into his throat he feels like he could choke on it and In an instant, it feels like his entire world is crumbling around him. Button wraps his hooves around Rumble immediately and Rumble breaks down right then and there, crying openly and earnestly into Button's shoulder. Button simply lets him cry for as long as he needs and eventually, once Rumble is a little calmer, the two separate.

"I really am sorry" Button tries, avoiding Rumble's eyes.

"It's fine" Rumble sniffs, wiping his eyes with the back of his hoof. Button bites his lip as he stares at the broken visage of his best friend and then an idea that he is extremely reluctant to entertain comes to him.

"Remember that time you saved me from those bullies on the playground when we were ten and you told me that I owed you a favor?" Rumble nods somberly.

"Well I'm cashing it in right now." That is all the explanation Button gives before he throws himself at Rumble and their snouts connect in an awkward kiss. Rumble is surprised to say the least, but after a few seconds of reeling, his mind simply shuts off enough to let him enjoy the kiss. It lasts far longer than Rumble expects, and when Button does finally break the kiss, Rumble tries fruitlessly to voice his concern only to be cowed into silence by Button practically climbing on top of him.

"Button what-"

"Shut up Rumble" Button's voice is thick with what Rumble surmises is a combination of lust and sympathy. Their snouts meet again and Rumble finds the part of his mind protesting their union slowly fading into the back of his mind. However, a part of him is still confused at Buttons actions following what he'd just explained to Rumble not two minutes prior.

"Button," Rumble starts as their snouts disconnect again. "I thought you said you weren't-"

"I'm not," Button pants. "I owe you a favor remember?" Rumble makes an awkward face as he stares up at Button's own panting form.

"I appreciate you trying to make me feel better Button, but I don't want you to do anything you don't want to." Button responds by pushing Rumble flat on his back again.

"I do want to, it's the least I can do. Besides," Rumble steps over him now so that their faces are aligned. "I owe you one."

Button continues to hungrily attack Rumble's face, However, Rumble is far from uncomfortable. He meets Button's almost predatory advances with a force just as lust-driven and sensual. Rumble disconnects their snouts roughly before he flips Button off of him and rolls on top of the other colt.

"You don't get to have all the fun Button." Rumble growls, traversing the length of Button's body with hungry kisses and licks. Rumble makes it all the way to Button's navel before he stops himself, glancing up at Button who nods his approval. Without missing a beat Rumble's tongue comes out of his maw and trails a slow, savoring lick up the length of Button's erect member before capturing the top half of his friend's erection in his maw.

Button's back arches sharply and he lets out a broken moan as the nerve endings surrounding his penis are stimulated by the wet warmth of Rumble's maw.

"Rumble" Button croaks, eyes closed and chest heaving. "Turn around."

Rumble, still focusing intently on the task at hand, complies and turns so that his back end is looming over Button's head. The next sensation Rumble feels is the heavenly sensation of his length being encompassed by a warm, wet sleeve.

Rumble moans around the meat in his mouth which in turn sends shivers up Button's spine and prompts him to double his own efforts, his tongue exploring further up Rumble's shaft and his hooves kneading and massaging the two orbs hanging just below.

Their session of eager, gratuitous, oral sex continues for naught but another minute before both colts feel the familiar tingle in their shafts and balls. However, neither one has the presence of mind to warn the other, so when both colts eventually do let loose, it is a surprise for both colts.

Button is very well aware what comes at the end of nearly every session of oral, and he also knows that he isn't too keen on getting a gullet full of stallion semen. But when he feels the length in his mouth twitch hard twice and then begin to erupt in his reluctant maw, he surmises that he has no other feasible option than to swallow as much as his throat and stomach will allow. It is impressive indeed that a greenhorn in the field of oral sex like himself could swallow nearly all of the seed gushing into his maw with only a small rivulet running down his cheek, especially with an orgasm of his own practically disrupting all other brain function that the necessary ones.

Rumble on the other hand is almost looking forward to the gift he knows is coming after a job well done, and as the first spurts of seed come rocketing out of Button's member, he graciously sucks them down his throat and into his stomach.

There is a period of time where neither colt has the mental clarity or the physical discipline to move as powerful spasm render them nothing but a shivering, moaning singularity. Rumble gets it together first, pulling off Button's withering member with a content lick of the lips. Button follows suit, letting Rumble's own shrinking member slip out of his mouth as his head falls back and makes contact with the sheets.

"Celestia, that felt so good." Rumble pants as he flops over next to Button, his voice husky and soft.

"Yeah," Button replies simply, sprawled out on his back.

"I thought you said you weren't a colt cuddler."

"I'm not, I just felt like you needed some cheering up."

"I don't know many straight colts that would suck a dick and swallow a load." Rumble snickers and is met with a friendly slug to the shoulder from Button.

"You didn't exactly give me much a warning." Rumble blushes sheepishly.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I guess I got caught up in the pleasure."

"It's fine, that was actually really fun; just, please don't tell anyone about this."

"I won't, you did the same for me so it's only fair."

"Thanks." In the beat of silence that follows, Rumble rolls to look over at Button before smirking impishly.

"Hey Button, you got a little somethin on your cheek." Rumble swipes his hoof through the seed on Buttons cheek and wipes it on his lips.

"Eck, Rumble, that's disgusting."

"Disgusting? You swallowed a lot more than that."

"Can you please stop bringing that up?"

"Fair enough."

"Sooo..." Rumble trails off awkwardly. "This isn't gonna make things weird between us is it?"

"Only if one of us makes it weird."

"Let's just keep being best bros for as long as we can alright?" Rumble extends a hoof and Button meets it halfway.

"Deal."

A Fracturing of Trust

Five months later

“Almost….almost.”

Knock knock knock

Rumble pitched backward in his chair, the knock at the door startling him out of his intense concentration. With a groan of pain and a shake of the head, he hoisted himself off the ground and wiped the guts of the sandwich he’d been so carefully constructing off of his face whilst simultaneously cursing whoever it was that had the nerve to come knocking at lunchtime. Throwing the door open a tad more angrily than he meant to, Rumble blinked in surprise when he was met snout to snout with a manically grinning Button Mash.

“She said yes!”

“What are you-” A set of light brown hooves were thrown around his neck and he was subsequently strangled in a hold that felt far more aggressive than it did jovial.

“Shesaidyesshesaidyesshesaidyesshesaidyes-” Rumble tore himself out of his friend’s grip and heaved in a handful of greedy breaths before stopping the recursive blabbering coming from the other colt with a hoof to the maw.

“Button, what the hay are you even talking about?” Button breathed into the hoof covering his maw and flexed the tension out of his limbs.

“Ok, remember like two months ago when I was trying so hard to get a date?”

“How could I forget? You came over to my house like every other day to complain about how badly your dates went.”

“This one’s different.”

“Oh yeah?’

“Yeah. She’s smart, and cute, and she’s got a great sense of humor.”

“Are you sure she isn’t just gonna stand you up like what’s her name?’

“Her name was Cyan Skies. And she didn’t stand me up. She happened to contract the feather flu the next day.”

“So why haven’t you been on a date with her since then?”

“Her sister told me she was still sick.” Rumble rolled his eyes in a way that was impossible for Button to miss.

“Button, that’s what girls tell you when they decide you’re not cool enough to be seen with.” Incredulousness slowly bled into every crevice of Button’s face.

“Are you calling me uncool?”

“No, but that’s probably why she stood you up. Take it from me, girls look for every opportunity they can to make you feel worthless.”

“Are you trying to convert me?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Rumble intoned, making his way back toward the kitchen with Button trailing a few steps behind him.

“So, what’s this lucky mare’s name?”

“Aura.”

“Where did you meet her?’

“I met her in History class. We got paired up to do a project on Equestrian Civil War.”

“Are you sure she even likes you?”

“She actually laughed at my jokes, Rumble. No mare’s ever laughed at one of my jokes before.”

“Yeah, your jokes are pretty terrible.” Button made a face at the backhoofed comment heaved in his direction.

“That has to count for something, right?”

“Any idiot can make a mare laugh, Button.”

“Yeah, but I usually can’t even talk to girls, let alone make one laugh.”

“You must be doing something right…” Rumble sighed just wistfully enough to sound offended.

“You’re kinda being a dick, dude..”

“Well, excuuuuse me if I’m not crying tears of joy for you both.” Button’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared dangerously.

“I thought we were past the whole ‘in love with Button thing.” Rumble reeled in a state of unguarded surprise that ponies who’ve taken an unexpected slap to the face usually wore.

“That’s not even what this is about!”

“Oh please, Rumble. You’re being so transparent it’s ridiculous. Every single time I came to your house complaining about my dates, you were more than happy to comfort me; but now that I finally found someone that actually likes me back, you suddenly turn into a huge dick. What gives?”

“Maybe I’m just sick of hearing you whine every time a girl dumps you.”

“You know, I don’t think that’s it, Rumble. I think you’re scared that whoever I decide to date is going to steal me away from you.” For the barest fraction of a second, Rumble’s face displayed open mouthed disbelief before quickly snapping back to guarded wariness.

“Button, you’re being an idiot.”

“No, you’re being an idiot!” Button snapped. “The whole reason that I even came over here was to because I wanted to take you to Sweetie Belle’s first gig and introduce you to my girlfriend, but i can see that you’d rather be left alone.”

“Button, this is ridiculous.”

“Enjoy spending the day alone.” At that moment, something inside Rumble snapped. The moratorium on his self control torqued like the hinges on a switchblade, and words-sharp and glinting-accosted the light brown earth pony standing in the threshold of his front door with unyielding ferocity.

“Fine, go hang out with your new girlfriend. I bet she’s a huge nerd, just like you!” Button looked back at Rumble with an absolutely scorching fire wreathing the pits of his eyes.

“Buck you.”

“No, buck you!” Rumble slammed the door hard and sunk to the floor behind it, the heated exchange leaving him with a mixture of feelings that threatened to make a roiled mess of the bile in his stomach.

What had he just done?

Rumble slumped down onto his bed as a pervasive wave of nausea seeped into him and stained his very soul a foul, sickly shade of green. Flashes of the fight a few days prior played out in Rumble’s mind almost as if they had been woven by master wordsmiths and lain out with the greatest of care on the most ostentatious of tapestries.

Every harsh, accosting word that left his muzzle with a callousness he wasn’t aware that he even possessed took a firm hold left of center of his chest. And every time he saw hurt flash in the beautiful brown eyes he swore he could lose himself in, it felt as though the gaping crater in the left side of his chest grew deeper and stretched wider.

He could very clearly see himself slamming the door now, unable to recall the number of times the horrific vision had been looping in his head. Only this time, there was a definitive spark of understanding accompanying the scene of himself slumped behind his front door, choking on a hoof sized lump in his throat.

It was the genesis of many different feelings. It was anger. It was hatred toward himself. It was a familiar sickness; but most poignant of all, it was realization. The stark realization that he may have just lost one of the things that he treasured most in his life all because of petty jealousy.

The gravity of the situation seemed to hit him all at once, forcing him further and further into the bedspread and simultaneously trying to wrench his gut in two different directions. He squirmed and writhed as it enveloped him, his eyes quickly becoming wet and irritated again.

“Fuck, I’m so stupid! Why can’t I just get over him?”

Each time he asked himself, the answer seemed more and more unreachable, like a distant memory hedged and walled off by both sorrow and a strong unwillingness to let go.

He felt a dry sob shake him, the truth beginning to taste a little more like the medicine he could not bring himself to swallow as a foal. He couldn’t leave himself to atrophie and wither away like a starving child. he needed to get up. He needed to move on.

Rising to unreliable hooves, he wobbled toward the window and threw it open. The sobering gust of wind that caressed his feathers was like renewal given physical form. He opened his wings with a flourish, the open air between him and the ground like a challenge made to be conquered.

He didn’t think about where he was going or why, he simply threw himself out the window and flexed the muscles in his wings, the air currents shepherding him along as gracefully as a dancer would their partner. There was no urgency or anxiousness in the way that he flew, he simply let himself be carried along the breeze with a carelessness that felt liberating after his extended stint with self loathing and regret.

“Rumble!” The sudden exclamation made him teeter a bit on the wind. A quick glance in both directions confirmed the source of the noise had come from one of the buildings he was now directly above. After a grand stretch of the wings to snag more favorable air current, Rumble looped around to head back toward whoever had called out to him, coming to rest just outside a cafe of sorts.

“Over here!” The waving hoof of Apple Bloom caught his eye. He fought courageously against the apprehension in his legs as he plodded over toward the waving female and her orange pegasus friend.

“Hey, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo.”

“Pop a squat featherbrain.” A hoof connected solidly with Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom threw a corrective glare in her friends direction. “What she meant to say was ‘have a seat.”

Rumble sidled around the fence and into the vacant seat Scootaloo pulled up for him with all of the reticence of a newborn kitten. “Uh, thanks.”

“So,” Scootaloo started. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Rumble shrugged. “Just out for an afternoon flight.”

“Is that so?” Apple Bloom shifted her eyes in a way that made it look like she was thoroughly scrutinizing her scrambled eggs instead of the light blue pegasus colt sitting across from her. However, she hadn’t quite mastered masking skepticism in her voice, a fact that Rumble was quickly picking up on

“Is there a reason you called me over here?” Rumble’s raised eyebrow seemed to be no cause for concern for Apple Bloom.

“Just wanted to talk is all. Nopony’s seen hide or hair of you in a couple days. We was gettin’ worried.” Rumble rolled his eyes and stood from his seat, gesturing to himself with his wings.

“Well, you can clearly see I’m fine.”

“But are you really fine?” Scootaloo interjected pointedly with her fork.

“Yes, Scootaloo,” Rumble flared out his wings and puffed his chest out as far as he could. “Look at me, I’m fine.”

“Rumble…” Apple Bloom’s eye went from shifty and scheming to soft and matronly in the time it took for Rumble’s wings to reach their full span. “We heard about your fight with Button.”

Apple Bloom could only compare the loss of stability the young colt experienced over the next few seconds to the deflating of a balloon.

“Who told you?”

“Sweet Tooth.

“So you know?” The two fillies nodded.

“But before you go an’ get all sore at her, she only came to us because she didn’t know how she could help you with your whole Button problem.” Rumble’s pupils inflated as pieces began to fall into place.

“So that’s why you guys were teasing me that time I was going to Button’s house.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom smiled wryly. “We feel absolutely awful bout’ teasin’ you like that, don’t we Scoots?” A forceful nudge from Apple Bloom prompted Scootaloo into complying.

“Yeah, totally rotten.”

“And we’d be happy to help any way we can.” Scootaloo found her shoulder was getting sore from all the nudging Apple Bloom was doing.

“Totally,” Scootaloo echoed. “You got four open ears right here dude.” Rumble felt a smile split his maw for the first time in he couldn’t remember how long. However, the almost alien curvature was replaced by a noticeably more somber, contemplative evening out of his entire face before any of them remember it even having been there.

“Can we maybe go somewhere more private and talk?”

“Sure.” Apple Bloom agreed, Scoots nodding her head in assent as the trio made their way out of the cafe toward the rolling hills on the outskirts of Ponyville.

A Breaking of Bonds

Three ponies crested the hill in a silent procession that reminded Apple Bloom too much of a funeral. The need to speak was strong, but she understood that this was time meant for listening and understanding. She would get to speak when it was her turn to speak.

“Here’s probably fine.” It was the first time Rumble had spoken since they’d started walking. There was an apple tree crowning the hill that Rumble moved to sit underneath, both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo positioning themselves on either side of their downtrodden pegasus friend. With nothing to spark conversation and no starting point to speak of, the trio simply let the blanket of silence that quickly covered them lay where it fell. The lack of noise was almost deafening.

“Sooooooo,” Scootaloo let the word stretch awkwardly into the nothingness surrounding them. Rumble inhaled sharp and full, the rise and fall of his chest as the breath took its course silencing any words Apple Bloom and Scootaloo might have had ready to attack the oppressive quiet with.

“Button found a girlfriend.” The statement itself was plain, but it was uttered with such a deep and mournful longing that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo immediately understood why it was so painful for him to validate.

“Sorry bud,” Scootaloo offered, sounding genuinely sympathetic. She threw a hoof around Rumble’s shoulder and Apple Bloom’s followed suit. “We know how much you like him.”

“It’s just, even after we agreed to just stay friends, I hoped that there was some way that we could’ve been...I don’t know...together.”

“There are other colts out there besides Button.” Scootaloo reminded him. “In fact-and I’m not saying any names-I know quite a few colts out there who wouldn’t mind a little roll in the hay with somepony as handsome as you.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Rumble shrugged in a noncommittal way that suggested what she said hadn’t quite been the panacea he’d been holding out for.

“Why not just apologize to him?” Apple Bloom suggested. Rumble’s shoulders drew up and fell, the breath coming harsh out of his nose.

“I would, except I’m pretty sure he never wants to talk to me again.”

“Was it really that bad?”

“I called him a nerd Scootaloo.”

“Oh man, you bucked up big time.” Apple Bloom reached around Rumble and delivered a firm hoof to Scootaloo’s already sore shoulder.

“C’mon, you two have been best friends for like forever.”

“Yeah, but we’ve never had a fight before.”

“All friends fight once in a while,” Apple Bloom said matter of factly. “Even me, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle fight sometimes and we’re still friends.”

“But it’s different when you’re in love with the pony you’re fighting with.”

“And you still love him, right?” Apple Bloom bore the countenance of a concerned mother, and the slitted seriousness of her eyes was enough to eke a nod from Rumble. “Then, like I said before, just go apologize to him. Let him know how sorry you are for hurting him.”

“I’m gonna have to agree with Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “It never hurts to let somepony you care about know that you’re sorry.”

“I guess you’re right,” Rumble sighed. “I’m just afraid it’s already too late.”

Apple Bloom ushered the distressed colt to his hooves and.gently urged him onward with the surprisingly strong, always reliable hooves expected of both earth ponies and members of the Apple Family. “You’ll never know if you don’t try,”

Rumble was keen to interject the sudden movements, but Apple Bloom had already maneuvered him halfway down the hill. “Go find out where Button is so you two can kiss and make up.”

Rumble looked back at her, incredulous and flushed. She blushed as well. “Metaphorically speaking of course.”

Rumble took a few unsure steps forward before looking back over his shoulder to meet the starry-eyed nods of encouragement from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo before swallowing thickly around the knot in his throat.

Scootaloo made a shooing motion with her hooves while she mouthed what looked like go on, and with nothing left to be said, Rumble turned and made his way back toward Ponyville so he could rectify the grave injustice he’d committed.

“Do you think he’s gonna be OK?” Scootaloo asked, her smile giving way to gnawing worry.

“He’ll be fine, Scoots. The day those two start hating each other is the day Sweet Apple Acres starts planting orange trees.”

“That’ll be the day,” Scootaloo drawled.

The concert hall smelled faintly of cigar smoke and calgone. Rumble shivered as another couple entered and the brisk night air had another chance to run its icy fingers up and down the backs of his hind legs.

“Alright, Button said that him and his girlfriend were coming here tonight.” The pegasus surreptitiously slunk around the lobby, hoping to catch a glimpse of the familiar multi colored beanie Button always wore. Having no such luck in the lobby, Rumble proceeded to the main concert hall and meekly cracked open the door just as the MC was introducing the next performer.

“Ladies and gentlecolts, put your hooves together for Horsestall Hall’s latest addition and Equestria’s newest musical prodigy, Sasha Belle!” A swell of applause and hoof stomping began as a snow white mare familiar to Rumble pranced out onto the stage, and even as the cacophony of noise crescendoed into an almost deafening sheet, Rumble remained focused and alert.

Spotting his quarry sitting dead center in the middle of the room, Rumble slithered his way down the dimly lit aisles and into an empty seat behind the perpetually spinning beanie, tapping the colt attached to it on the shoulder.

“Psst, Button.” Button glanced backward, and upon seeing who it was that had addressed him, his face took on a sour, displeased look.

“Button, I came to-”

“C’mon, Aura, I can’t see that well, let’s move a couple rows up.”

“Maybe you should cut back on the video games, sailor,” Aura giggled as Button led her farther toward the stage.

“You know I hate it when you call me sailor, Buttercup” Button shot back playfully. Aura stomped her hoof theatrically and put on a face.

“And you know I hate it when you call me buttercup.”

“All’s fair in love and war, buttercup.”

“Oh, is that how we’re gonna play it?” Aura smirked impishly, attacking Button’s maw with her own. Rumbled watched the exchange play out with a particularly deep ache in his chest. The two continued their impromptu spit swapping session all the way down the aisle and into a vacant pair of seats a couple rows down with Rumble hot on their hooves.

“Thank you for coming out tonight, every pony,” Sweetie Belle smiled. “This first song I’m going to sing is actually an old song my mother used to sing to me when I was a foal.” All at once, the lights dimmed and the quiet murmur that had settled around the hall fizzled to near complete silence as Rumble slunk into the seat behind Button.

“Button, would you please talk to me? This is important.” Rumbled whispered, this time grabbing Button’s shoulder firmly. Button shrugged off the hoof planted on his shoulder and shot Rumble the most spiteful look he could muster before he leaned in to besiege his girlfriend with another onslaught of nips and kisses.

“I love you so much.”

“Oh, Button, you’re being awfully affectionate tonight.”

“And you’re being awfully gorgeous tonight.”

“Right back at ya, stud.” Rumble fought against a dire need to empty the contents of his stomach. He could feel his voice becoming thick and cumbersome in his throat as he fumbled clumsily with words he wanted so desperately to get out.

“Button, can you please just talk to me, it’ll take like five seconds.”

“There’s nopony in Equestria I’d rather be with than you right now.” Button gushed as he wrapped the filly next to him in his hooves.

“Where is this coming from, Button?” Aura asked, sounding pleasantly surprised at the sudden show of brio from the normally shy,reserved colt.

“I’m just now realizing how absolutely lucky I am to have you is all.” Aura giggled as a side of Button she hadn’t known existed continued to charm her.

“Who taught you how to be so smooth all of the sudden?”

“Just trying to get inside the mind of a more confident colt is all .”

“Is that the only thing you’re trying to get inside?” Aura asked, smiling toothily at Button who in turn smirked devilishly right back at her-and by extension-Rumble. The sweet lilt of Sweetie Belle’s voice slowly faded out and everyone in the hall stood up from their seats, clapping and cheering, with the exception of Button, who had Aura practically laying on top of him.

“Fine,” Rumble growled just loud enough to make both Button and Aura turn to look at his tear stained scowl. “I hope you’re happy, Button.” Without making eye contact with anypony else in the arena, Rumble cantered up the aisle and out the door, his head hung low and his tail dragging behind him.

“Who was that, Button?” Aura asked as she watched the unnamed stallion make his exit.

“No one important.” Despite the declaration, Button couldn’t help but feel twinges of guilt already prodding at his heart as he watched Rumble disappear through the concert hall doors.

A Resetting of Self and Ideals

Button and Aura filed out of the concert hall amidst a throng of ponies trotting in a tightly coiled mass. The latter practically skipped while her mouth rattled of praise and adoration at a mile a minute, and the former walked dejectedly beside her, his steps slow and aimless.

“Oh my gosh! That was so good, wasn’t it Button?”

“Uh-huh.”

I mean, did you hear her hit those high notes? That was so amazing!”

“Mmhmm.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Mmhmm.” Aura narrowed her eyes skeptically.

“Y’know. A little birdy told me that there was gonna be this huge sale down at the comic book store tomorrow.”

“Yeah, sure.” Aura moved to cut off Button’s path, her nostrils flaring indignantly.

“Button, what in Equestria is your problem?” The slight rise in volume is enough to bring Button back to the land of the living.

“Huh, what?”

“You’ve been like super quiet and distracted ever since the performance, what’s your deal?”

“I’m fine, really. I just..have a lot on my mind right now.”

“This is because of that pegasus from earlier, isn’t it?”

“No, I just have a lot of stuff I’ve been dealing with lately.” Aura looked at Button with genuine concern and worry.

“Really? Because to me it’s pretty obvious that there’s something going on between the two of you.”

“I told you, it’s nothing.”

“Button, ponies don’t make a scene like that over nothing.”

“He’s just some guy that can’t take no for an answer, that’s it.”

“What are you talking about?” Button steeled his nerves and managed to maintain some semblance of calm as he prepared to drop a bomb on his new girlfriend.

“He was kinda, sorta...in love with me.”

“He was in love with you?!” Button felt a chilled fear slip under his skin.

“Yeah.” Button turned his head just in time to see Aura’s eyes narrow skeptically. “But I made it clear that I didn’t swing that way.”

“Looks like it wasn’t clear to him.”

“He probably hates me now.” Aura threw a hoof over Button’s shoulder and corralled him against her side.

“So what if he hates you, forget about him. Let’s just head back to your place like we planned, have a couple drinks and watch some bad movies.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Button’s room was exactly what you would expect, given how the colt carried himself. Posters and trinkets Aura couldn’t make heads or tails of filled every nook and cranny and lined every wall. There was an unspoken tension buzzing in the air like so much static-the heaviness made Button’s steps noticeably slower and more keen.

“Here we are: casa de Button.”

“Looks…” Aura took a moment to take it all in. “Homey.”

“Yeah, it’s...pretty nice I guess.”

“No, really,” Aura went to sit on the bed. “It looks very...comfortable.” There, in the midst of the need to make any sort of noise-anything at all- there was fear. It was fear that was at the back of Button’s mind in nearly every social situation he ever was and ever will have been in. It was silence.

The lack of noise was threatening, like a rolling tide closing in on an island far too small for the both of them to survive. The flow of conversation had to continue. If one was stranded and left to stall, it would surely swallow them up and leave them gasping for breath, praying for oxygen.

“So,” Button drawled in the awkward sort of way that suggested he was too nervous to make the short three-foot jaunt to his collection of movies. “I’m thinking either noir crime drama or gritty slasher flick.”

“Ooh, let’s go with slasher flick. I love me a good slasher flick.”

“Alright then, slasher flick it is.” Button turned off the lights before moving to sit beside his girlfriend on the foot of the bed. As the the title screen stretched the length of the screen and a carefully orchestrated symphony of eerie sounding noises and instruments filled the room, Button could feel himself growing uncomfortable at the close proximity to the beautiful mare wrapped around him like a leech.

Button’s discomfort persisted until they were guts deep into the movie. The angel’s caress of a hoof on his inner thigh made him tense and rigid. He stole a glance at Aura, who was wearing undoubtedly the best poker face he’d ever seen. As the movie progressed, the touches became less genial and more insistent-more hungry. A sudden shift in both density and mass at the gory climax sent Button reeling backward in a state of mild panic. He was on his back now, a bloody red lioness with gleaming fangs staring into the pits of his eyes, her own eyes sharp and salivating.

“Aura, what-” she said nothing as she coiled herself into him. Button couldn’t help but feel as though he was about to be sucked dry and left a husk.

“You’re so adorable.” Aura purred. Button forwent his response in favor of counting the gaps in her teeth as she smiled wolfishly down at him. Her assault on his mouth was fast and relentless. Her tongue lashed out and attacked his in both frenzied, lust-filled swipes and deep, passionate intertwinings that left Button just as breathless as her, despite her having done all the work while he did his level best to keep up.

“Isn’t this more interesting than a movie?” Aura’s body was like an ooze, dripping over every part of him that it could reach and trapping him like a fly on sticky paper. As much as he squirmed and wiggled and as vehemently as he wished it wasn’t happening, she only seemed to spread farther until she’d pervaded every limb and orifice and enveloped him completely.

“Wait,” Button choked out from beneath the suffocating spillage. “Isn’t this kind of sudden?”

Aura blinked as if preparing to liquify and digest innocent colts such as himself was the most innocent thing in the world. “What do you mean?”

“I mean...are you sure you want to do this now? After just one date?”

“Well, why not?”

“Isn’t that...I don’t know, against the rules or something?”

“Button, there are no rules when it comes to love. You just do what your heart tells you feels right.” Aura leaned in and rubbed her muzzle against Button’s, and while the young earth pony was distracted by the sudden contact, she deftly maneuvered her left hind hoof to the space between the young colt’s legs.

Aura’s relentless assault on Button gradually became more intense and passionate, the riled up mare purring lasciviously as she proceeded to overtake him. The friction between their mouths gave way to a serpentine appendage that incessantly prodded at Button’s tightly clenched jaw line, and when it didn’t give way, Aura pulled back and resumed her attack from a different position, all the while Button’s mouth remained tightly sealed and his member, limp and dangling.

“What’s wrong, honey bear? You were being so playful before.”

“I don’t know. I thought maybe we could take it a bit slower.”

“Aww, c’mon, Button.” Aura cooed as she ground her smouldering sex into the space between Button’s legs, practically soaking both their crotches in hot,.liquid need.“I know you want this as much as I do.”

“I don’t know if I’m really ready for something like this just yet, Aura.”

“Let me ask you something, Button.” In what seemed like a split second, all of the lust and need was gone from her voice, replaced by a staid sort of seriousness that reminded Button of his teacher or his mother.

“Do you love me?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to be with me?”

“Of course.”

“Do you find me attractive?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel like this is something I really want to do right now.” The impish smirk that played out across Aura’s maw made Button wholly confused

“I think you just need a bit of convincing is all.” Aura slithered down the length of Button’s body until she was face to face with his most private of parts. Without wasting so much as a beat, she grabbed the appendage in her hooves and began to methodically stroke it from base to tip.

“You like that, sailor?” The lust she was practically drooling earlier was back in full force now, her every word dragging with the thick and sensual tenor that ponies adopted when they were in desperate need of a good rutting and there was a pony able to dish it out squirming beneath their hooves. Button only grunted in response, from pleasure or discomfort Aura wasn’t sure. Nevertheless, she continued to work his shaft, only to be met with less than satisfactory results.

“I don’t understand, Button. I thought you said you liked me.” She sounded understandably cross. Button could barely bring himself to look her in the eye.

“I do, it’s just that…” What had started as an awkward beat of silence had eventually protracted into far too much nothingness for Aura’s liking.

“Just what?”

“I can’t really explain it.”

“I’m just as confused as you are, Button. You were all fine up until-” It was as if pieces of an unfinished puzzle were coming together at long last. As though a blank canvas had suddenly become a full-palleted picture with the face of one light blue pegasus as its tear stained centerpiece.

“Oh, I get it now.” The statement was realization peppered with betrayal and seasoned with tinges of hurt and sprinkles of acceptance; the perfect dish for Button to practically choke on. The pegasus mare said nothing as she lifted herself away from Button and gave the colt his first taste of untainted air in what felt like hours. She wordlessly made her way toward the door, stopping just underneath the threshold to eye the colt who was sitting up in his bed as if he’d been caught in the act of something less than wholesome..

“I don’t appreciate being used as some sort of test, Button Mash. You have no right to play with other ponies’ emotions like that.” That was all she said as her freshly dampened eyes disappeared behind a wall of oaken wood as his bedroom door slammed shut.

A Chance At Redemption

Button woke up the next day in a state of near complete confusion and disarray. The image of Aura standing in his doorway and trying her hardest not to completely break down was practically branded behind his eyelids. No matter what else he tried to think about or what ludicrous imaginings he tried to conjure up to distract his reeling mind with, it all seemed to go back to Aura and her tear streaked face.

Button hoisted his leadened limbs out of his bed and drug himself toward the bathroom. He tried to clear his head with a sobering splash of water in his face, but it did little to clear his head. He looked into the mirror and was taken aback when the reflection he saw didn’t even look like it belonged to him.

“What’s wrong with me?” A knock on his window stole his attention from the frown of his reflection and toward the window opposite of his bathroom. Confused, he went to open the window and was hit in the forehead by a rock.

“Ow, what in Equestria?” It was Scootaloo, and she looked none too happy.

“Downstairs, now!” Scootaloo snarled. Button felt a cold shiver of fear grip him as he watched Scootaloo perch herself in front of his door like some victorian era gargoyle, Apple Bloom and standing resolutely beside her.

Button scaled his stairs as though he were traversing a treacherous rock face and every step could be his last. He stopped at his door to prepare himself both physically and mentally, looking for all the world like he was a condemned prisoner sentenced to be food for the lions.

The barest hints of light caressed his face as he eased open the door before it was forced open the rest of the way by a very angry Scootaloo. Button did his best to abate the onset of fear that raced up his spine like an electric shock, but the speed at which Scootaloo advanced on him was like that of an enraged bull.

“You’ve got some nerve, you pig!” Button had pitched backward from the suddenness and resorted to a panicked scurrying in the opposite direction Scootaloo was charging at him from. “I don’t know what you did to him, but whatever it was, he didn’t deserve it!”

By this point, Button was backed into a corner and had nowhere else to go and no way to contend with the razor sharp teeth and fire from Scootaloo. His only godsend was the tight collar Apple Bloom had on her rampaging friend. Button absently wondered if, after her years of working on a farm, she had developed an acumen for such things.

“Scoots,” Apple Bloom said, and like a well trained dog, Scootaloo switched from a state of aggression to a mere guarded baring of teeth.

“What in the hay happened with you and Rumble yesterday? I thought he came to work it out with ya?” Apple Bloom asked. Even with the snarling animal not two feet from him locked in the ostensibly capable hooves of Apple Bloom, Button couldn’t help giving in to the stale fear gripping his limbs and making them shake and shiver.

An uncomfortable, protracted minute set itself over the scene like fluttering snow. Apple Bloom hardened her eyes.

“I don’t know…” Button offered.

“That’s horse shit and you know it!” Scootaloo pulled at the hooves constricting her. Apple Bloom squared her stance and tightened her grip like she’d done so many a-time before with the more unruly of livestock.

“You better not be lying to me, Button.” Apple Bloom’s tone was stone cold and unforgiving.

“I swear, I don’t know what happened.”

“He was crying, you jerk!” Scootaloo interjected hotly. Button half expected steam to start billowing from her nostrils. Apple Bloom stepped forward, her eyes were hard and hawkish on Button’s supine form.

“Now, I may not have seen what happened between you two yesterday, but I do know that ponies don’t just up an’ run off toward their houses, crying for no good reason.” Apple Bloom waited a long minute for Button to produce a reason for the mess of a pegasus they’d had to walk to his house the night prior. But when-instead of offering a feasible excuse-Button simply averted his eyes, Apple Bloom felt some of the tightly coiled wraps she kept on her self-control slip a little.

“Button…” The exclamation was simple yet firm. Button felt himself buckle under the weight of it.

“I swear I didn't meant to hurt him. I was just trying to get my point across.”

“What did you do to him?” Button breathed out shakily.

“I was with Aura and we-” Button couldn’t bring himself to explain. By the looks on their faces, however, it would seem he wouldn’t have to.

“You were trying to make him jealous,” Apple Bloom’s statement was so pointed in almost hurt.

“I swear I didn’t want any of this to happen.” A violent thrashing followed by a blinding flash of orange and Scootaloo was in his face again, somehow looking more angry than she had minutes prior.

“If Rumble didn’t like you so much, I’d mess your face up something fierce.”

“Scoots, stop it.” Apple Bloom exercised the mysterious power she seemed to have over her cantankerous friend, and just like that, Scootaloo was back to a show of teeth and growls.

“You realize what a rotten thing you did?” Apple Bloom asked. Button nodded like a scorned foal.

“And you realize that you can’t leave things between you two the way they are now?” Button nodded again.

“So you’re gonna fix it, right?” A third nod.

“I’m just not sure how,” Button admitted.

“Sorry would be a heck of a start,” Scootaloo snorted.

“I guess you’re right…” Scootaloo roughly injected herself into Button’s personal space again.

“You guess?!”

“Okay, okay. You are right. I was acting like a total mule.”

“And…?” Scootaloo’s nostrils flared dangerously.

“And Rumble deserves an apology.” Scootaloo nodded her head almost sagely.

“Damn right.” Scootaloo extended a hoof and helped Button up.

“Yeah. Thanks guys,” Button dusted himself off. “I guess I needed a serious kick in the rear.”

“I’ll say,” Scootaloo drawled. Apple Bloom politely nudged Scootaloo back into line again.

“So?” The yellow mare questioned with a raise of her brow. “What are you waiting for? Get going!” With a look of encouragement from Apple Bloom and a threatening glare from Scootaloo, Button meandered past the two fillies toward his best friend’s house while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo watched parentally from the doorway.

“Honestly, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo started as she watched Button’s silhouette shrink in the distance. “We should start charging for this.”

For ponies with stringent work schedules and grueling work days, getting time to relax and unwind was like a sort of rebirth. Most ponies in such a position spent their entire work week-or month, in Thunderlane’s case-planning to squeeze as much nothing as they could out of their time in repose.

“Ah, buck yeah,” Thunderlane sighed as he threw himself into the tender embrace of his couch cushions. “Finally, a bucking day off.”

Shimmying a comfortable groove into the couch and letting out a groan that could only be complete satisfaction, Thunderlane stretched himself along the entire length of the couch until his joints popped in approval. “Time for some much need R&R.”

Knock Knock Knock

“Seriously?” Thunderlane glanced at the door with a shrug of his shoulders. “Probably somepony selling something. All I have to do is ignore them and they’ll go away.”

Knock Knock Knock

“I swear to Celestia, this better be the most important visit of my entire life.” Thunderlane heaved himself off of the couch, drug his limbs toward the door and threw it open with an undignified scowl gracing his maw.

“Whatever it is, I don’t want any.” Thunderlane blinked, entirely nonplussed as he came nose to nose with an admittedly meek looking earth pony with a beanie on his head.

“Is Rumble here?” The earth pony asked.

“Nope, sorry. Just missed em.’”

“Can you tell me where he went?”

“I’d say by now he’s about halfway to Phillydelphia by now.” The statement was like a punch in the gut.

“What?”

“Yup. He took the first train to Phillydelphia this morning.” Button felt his breathing pick up.

“Why?”

“I don’t know the nitty gritty, but he came home yesterday night pretty messed up. We had a long talk and he said he needed to get away from Ponyville for a while. Clear his head, y’know? Took his entire savings with em’ when he left.”

“Did he say when he was coming back?”

“Nope. And considering how many bits he has with him, he could probably stay out there for a while.” Button’s eyes widened and his jaw fell open in shock.

“Aren’t you even worried about him?” Thunderlane shrugged his shoulders.

“Half of me is, but he’s practically an adult. He can do what he wants as far as I’m concerned. But let me ask you something. Why in Equestria are you so worried about him?”

“Because I think I’m the one who made him want to leave.” Thunderlane regarded the earth pony with a look as though he was straining to remember something important.

“Your name isn’t Button Mash, is it?”

“Yeah, why?” Thunderlane wordlessly pushed the door open.

“Come in.” Was all Thunderlane said as he retreated back into the house. Button tried to take a step but he faltered, instead blinking owlishly at the wide open door before finally stepping through and shutting it behind him. A can of something was tossed his way, which he fumbled with for a few seconds before he felt he had a solid hold on it.

“What is-”

“Beer,” Thunderlane cut him off. “Now, pop a squat, dude. I wanna pick your brain for a second.” Button-who was still wholly unsure of the older pegasus’s intentions-awkwardly sidled onto an empty couch cushion, his beer unopened between his fidgeting hooves. Thunderlane sat himself down a second later, stretching his gangly limbs over more than his fair share of couch space.

“So, you’re the Button Mash my brother is absolutely ga-ga about.” Thunderlane’s tone was affirming-almost accusatory. Button felt his insides shifting the longer Thunderlane’s scrutinous gaze lingered on him. The blatant, unabashed vetting continued for what felt like ages until Thunderlane shrugged and took a sip of his own beer. “You seem alright, as far as colts go I guess.”

Button wasn’t sure how deep he should read into what felt like an already cavalier comment to begin with, so instead he just offered an uncomfortable “thanks” and took to absently reading the labels on his beer can in an effort to abate some of the awkwardness.

“Why did you want to see Rumble so bad, anyway?”

“I don’t know. I guess I came to apologize for being so unfair to him.”

“Unfair?”

“Yeah. We sort of had a fight and when he tried to come and apologize to me, I basically ignored him.”

“So, that’s why he was so upset yesterday?” Button’s ears folded flat against his head.

“Yeah, probably.”

“You do realize how much he likes you right?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you not like him back?” Button sighed heavily.

“I don’t know anymore. I thought I didn’t but it’s like...I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“You know what that sounds like to me?”

“That I like him?” Thunderlane nodded and readjusted himself in his seat so that he was sitting up straight.

“Let me ask you something-completely judgement free. How do you feel about Rumble?”

“Well, I think he’s a great friend and he can be one of the sweetest ponies you’ll ever meet-”

“No,” Thunderlane interrupted. “I don’t want to know what you think, I wanna know how you feel.” Button took a moment to let Thunderlane’s statement sink in.

“Well...I guess I prefer his company over anypony else’s.” Thunderlane nodded in a way that made Button feel implored to continue.

“And I guess hanging out with him does make me kind of happy.”

“So how would you feel if he suddenly decided he didn’t want to be around you anymore?”

“I guess I’d feel pretty bad.”

“So don’t you think that Rumble felt the same way?”

“Yeah. But, at the time, I guess I was just so annoyed at him for being so...I dunno, insistent.”

“Let me tell you something, Button. Rumble used to come home every day raving about you like you were the best thing since sliced bread.” Button gave Thunderlane a look rife with disbelief.

“I’m serious. Every day, he would sit there and give me and mom the play by play of whatever stupid thing you two did that day. Then, one day he came home and he looked kinda out of it. I went to his room to ask him what was wrong and he told me he didn’t know why but his stomach felt funny whenever he was around you.”

“Yeah,” Button began, his face bright red. “It took me a while but eventually I figured it out.”

“Yeah. Well, after that little fight you two had the other day, he was absolutely crushed.” Button’s ears perked.

“Really?”

“Yeah, after that I didn’t see hide or hair of him until last night. Kid was holed up in his room like some kinda hermit or somethin.’” Button made a face like he was about to be sick.

Thunderlane stood and took a long swig from his beer can before crushing it against the floor and heaving it into the trash beside the kitchen table. “Whether you like it or not, kid, you have some very significant sway in my little brother’s life and I would prefer you didn’t use it to make him miserable.”

Button shrunk away from the older stallion as if it were his own father scolding him. “I didn’t mean to make him feel so terrible, I swear. I was just confused. I didn’t know what I wanted.”

“Well, hopefully this little talk we had cleared your head up some?” Button nodded.

“Yeah.”

Thunderlane returned from the kitchen with a grocery receipt with a barely legible address scrawled on the back “You said you were going to apologize, yeah?” Button nodded again.

“This is the address he’s staying at. If you’re serious about making it up to him, I suggest you start here.” He handed the slip of paper to Button, who had to squint to make out the writing. “You should probably give him a little time to cool off first. I won’t go into detail, but he said some pretty nasty things about you.”

“Oh Celestia, really?”

“Yeah, whatever you did, it tore him up pretty bad.” Button looked from the hastily scribbled directions to the pegasus sitting across from him.

“You aren’t even mad at me?” Thunderlane laughed, which surprised Button Mash so much that he actually jumped a little in his seat.

“To be honest, if you hadn’t told me you were planning on apologizing I’d have probably beaten you up already.” At that, Button felt a pressing need to exit the room as quickly as possible.

“Alright, well, I think I’m gonna head home now. Thanks for helping me get my head on straight and everything, Thunderlane.” Button could feel the stallion’s eyes following him with surprisingly strict attention as he traversed the length of the room and moved to open the door.

“Anytime, I guess.” Thunderlane waved from his seat, not bothering to turn as Button opened the door. “Oh, and Button.”

“Yeah?” Button stopped halfway out the door.

“If you hurt him again, you can be sure I’ll pay you back tenfold. Deal?” Button felt the cold hand of fear sneak up and grab him by the throat.

“Yeah, got it.”

“Good.” Thunderlane said as he turned to watch the colt leave and close the door behind him.

“Now,” Thunderlane sighed as he sunk into the couch. “Where were we?”

An Auspicious Visit

2 Years later

Button trotted quickly down the road toward the train station, his pace slowing noticeably when it finally came into view. The young colt faltered more than once before thickly swallowing his inhibitions and asking the attendee manning the station for one ticket to Phillydelphia.

The brown earth pony colt bounced nervously from hoof to hoof as he waited for the train to come. He shook his coin purse to confirm that he had it was still with him and steeled his nerves as the blaring horns of the train rang in his ears. As the train rounded the corner and barreled down the tracks toward the station, Button could feel his resolve ebbing away.

“No,” He shook his head. “Not this time. I’ve waited way too long already.” The train stopped in front of him and opened its doors like some great mechanical beast. Ponies filed out of the train and engulfed him in the mass of moving bodies. Button stared at the open train doors with a stomach on the verge of rebellion.

“Hey, move it kid!” A quick tip of his equilibrium was all it took to force Button onto the train, and before his brain could communicate the need to escape to the rest of his body, the doors closed behind him with a loud, pneumatic whirr. Button was effectively trapped.

“Alright, no backing out this time,” Button thought to himself as he looked out the window at the ground moving below his hooves. He let himself into the very next car, which was basically empty, save for two other ponies, both of whom looked to be fast asleep. He took a seat in the middle row and took to staring out the window again.

“Do you have a ticket, sir?” Button glanced up at a train conductor wearing a hat that looked far too small with a silver casing of bits on his hip. Button gave the stallion his ticket, who punched a hole in it before returning it to him and making his way down the train car.

“Excuse me, sir?” The stallion turned to Button, who looked surprisingly nervous for somepony as mature as he seemed. “How long is the train ride to Phillydelphia?”

“Couple hours I’d say. Why?” Button shifted in his seat.

“Just wondering is all.”

“Well, enjoy the ride.” With that, the conductor made his way down the aisle and out the door. Button’s eyes found the window again and he stared out at the seemingly endless rocky landscape for what felt like hours.

It’s been so long. I wonder if he was ever planning on coming back at all.

“Hey, mind if I sit here?” Button turned his head from the coal black stallion in front of him to all the other empty seats in the car.

“No, go ahead.” Button sat up straight and scooted as far as he could to one end of the seat.

“Thanks, mac. My hooves are killin me.” Button twiddled his hooves nervously as the other stallion settled himself beside him.

“Long morning?” Button asked. The stallion stretched and yawned.

“The longest.” Button’s eyes darted nervously back and forth between the stallion sitting next to him and the floor.

“So…” he started, still twiddling his hooves and shifting awkwardly. “Where’re you headed?”

“Next town over. Going to visit some friends out there. Yourself?”

“Phillydelphia.”

“You going to visit a friend, too?”

“Sort of.”

“You guys not on the best of terms right now?” Button gave his guest a look of open mouthed incredulity that made his guest laugh. “It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out. You’ve had that same sad look in your eyes ever since you came in here.”

“Wait. Were you watching me all this time?” Button’s guest grinned.

“Ah, caught me red-hoofed.” Button’s demeanor became more tense and drawn in all at once. The other stallion took notice almost immediately. “I don’t mean to be creepy or anything. You just looked like you needed some cheering up is all.”

“Well, thanks I guess.”

“No problem.” Button chanced a glance toward his newfound companion.

“Do you do this sort of thing a lot?”

“Wassat?”

“You know. Cheer up other ponies?”

“Not too often, really. There’s just something about you, though. You seem like a decent enough guy.” Button laughed wryly.

“You’d be the first pony to tell me that all week.”

“Things not going your way back at home?” Button scoffed.

“Hardly.”

“You feel like sharing?” Button squirmed in his seat as if he were suddenly uncomfortable where he sat.

“I guess I’m just sorta lonely. I mean, I’ve been on more dates than I can count, but I’ve never really found anypony that I can really relate to, y’know?”

“Is that why you’re going to meet this pony?”

“I guess you could say that.” Button’s companion smiled toothily.

“A special lady friend?” Button felt a suffuse heat invade his cheeks.

“Not exactly.”

“A colt, then?” Button looked over at his companion with a worried sort of shimmer in his eyes.

“Hey, that’s fine dude. I don’t judge.” Button remained quiet, his eyes downcast. The other stallion gave him a look out of the corner of his eye.

“So, what’s the story with you two, then?” Button sighed heavily.

“I don’t know if I feel like talking about it.” The other stallion put his hooves up defensively.

“Hey, just trying to help.” Button sighed again.

“We just had a fight. We both said some things we shouldn’t have said. I did some things I shouldn’t have done…”

“And now you feel guilty so you’re going to make amends?”

“Mmhmm.”

Well, it’s good that you’re pony enough to do that.”

“Yeah, two years too late.”

“Why wait so long?”

I dunno. I guess got scared.”

“Of what?”

“I guess of what our friendship has become.”

“And what you have the potential to lose?” The stallion offered sagely.

“Yeah, that.”

“Well, if I could give you a word of advice, kid: it sounds to me like you’re focusing way too much on the bad things that MIGHT happen, and not enough on the good things that CAN happen.”

“What?”

“I’m saying, don’t worry too much about things that you don’t even know will happen. Just do what you know is right and I guarantee things’ll work out for you in the long run.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m still kinda worried, though.”

“Don’t be. I’ve been exactly where you’re sitting more than once. I know what it’s like to not be one hundred percent on something. Just trust me when I say that putting it off any longer isn’t gonna help at all.”

“That IS why I’m here.” Button chuckled nervously.

“Hey, you got bigger balls than most stallions I know.” The stallion gave Button a pat on the back. “I commend you for that.”

“Thanks.”

Next stop. Wild Oats Station

“Oh, that’s my stop.” The unnamed stallion got up and shook the soreness out of his limbs. “Did I at least help a little bit?”

“Yeah. Somehow, talking to him after all this time doesn’t really feel so intimidating anymore.”

“Glad I could be of some use.” The stallion begins to make his way toward the door at the end of the train car. “Good luck to ya, kid.”

“Thanks again, Mr…”

“Just call me Brandy.”

“Alright. Thanks again Mr. Brandy.”

“No problem. Cya around, kid.” And with that, the stallion exited the train car and left Button with his thoughts.

Button walked through the lobby of the seedy Phillydelphia apartment complex with his more primal instincts driving him forward. He alternated between glancing down at the receipt Thunderlane had given him and sidestepping the hotel's less than reputable clientele as he meandered through the halls.

His mother had always told him to be careful in these kinds of places-the kinds of places where ponies left their morality and dignity at the door. However, he’d never truly taken her words to heart until he’d had to not only scurry past an open door spewing what looked to be newly bought kitchenware and obscenities at a fleeing stallion, but also dodge the reaching hooves of a diseased husk begging for spare bits.

“301...301.” Button recited the series of digits as if it were the most righteous of maxims, his hooves scuttling a little faster with each floor he traversed. Finally reaching the three hundreds, Button stepped through the door and took a few curt steps before stopping in front of the door marked 301.

The mere sight of the door was more intimidating than the hardest boss in any video game he’d ever played. Suddenly, he the surge of confidence that stranger on the train had given him vanished all at once. He felt depleted, low of hearts, out of potions, and in desperate need of a save point.

“I can’t do this,” he said in but a whisper, already poised to turn tail and run.

“Button?” The sudden utterance of his name caused a momentary lapse in motor function and Button was sent skittering on his hooves. He was eventually able to right himself, turning to face a confused looking Rumble, practically bleeding supplication as Rumble stared at him from the hallway. “What are you doing here?”

“I...came here to talk to you.” Rumble dropped the grocery bags he was carrying and straightened himself out.

“How did you even find out where I was?”

“Thunderlane…”

“Oh.” Button took a step toward Rumble, who in turn took an instinctive step backward.

“Why did you leave Ponyville? Everypony’s worried sick about you.” Rumble’s face gave way to a weary frown.

“I just needed to get out of there.” Button tentatively advanced. Rumble retreated in kind.

“Were you ever planning on coming back?” Rumble looked away.

“I don’t know…”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? I know I’m the one that made you leave.”

“Button, it’s fine-”

“No, I was being an absolute foal and a jerk. You didn’t deserve any of what I did to you.” A thunder of hooves rumbled in the distance, but neither Rumble nor Button paid the noise much mind.

“To be fair, I was being kind of a dick, too.” The furious stomping of hooves grew louder.

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have used Aura to hurt you like I did. It was stupid and immature of me.” Eventually, what had started out as a mere droning in the background grew to a volume neither colt could ignore.

“What is that?” Button asked not a second before the same stallion he’d passed in the hallway came charging up the stairs. Rumble and Button scurried out of the way as the stallion raced past, a frying pan clattering dangerously at his hooves.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST COME BACK HERE AND START ACTING LIKE A FATHER AFTER ALL THIS TIME?!?!” Possibly the angriest mare either of the two had ever seen came bounding up the stairs after the stallion, waving a kitchen ladle in the air emphatically. “GET BACK HERE YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HUSBAND BEFORE I FILLET THE SKIN OFF YOUR HIDE WITH THE KNIFE YOU BOUGHT ME!”

Rumble and Button stared at each other in varying states of surprise. Button was the first to break the silence that had settled after the two quarreling lovers were down the hall and around the corner, their shouting growing more distant again. “Do you think we could go somewhere private and talk?”

Rumble looked from his grocery bags to the door of his apartment, practically chewing on his maw. “Now?”

“Well, I mean if you’re busy I can come back-”

“What in Equestria?” An admittedly gorgeous mare with a slightly rounded belly stuck her head out the door of Rumble’s apartment. “Who’s making all that noise?” Upon noticing Rumble, the mare’s demeanor livened considerably.

“Oh, Rumble, you’re back already?”

“Yeah,” Rumble went to retrieve the grocery bags from the middle of the hallway. “I only had to get a few things. I told you it wouldn’t take that long.” The mare turned her attention from Rumble to the coffee brown earth pony standing beside him.

“And who is this? A friend of yours?”

“Yeah, a friend from Ponyville.”

“Oh, neat. Have you two known each other long?” Rumble and Button shared nervous glances.

“Yep, since foalhood basically,” Rumble answered.

“Well that’s neat.” The mare extended a hoof in Buttons direction. “It’s nice to meet you…”

“Button Mash.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Button Mash.” The two shook hooves curtly.

“Likewise.” The vanilla mare turned toward Rumble, letting out a yawn and stretching her back and forehooves.

“I don’t know about you, but all this grocery shopping’s got me starving. You guys wanna go get some breakfast or something?” Button watched out of the corner of his eye as Rumble shuffled nervously from hoof to hoof.

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Button said.

“I guess…” Rumble relented.

“Great, I’m gonna grab my coin purse from inside. I’ll be out in just a sec, alright?” With that, she dashed into the apartment, leaving Rumble and Button to each other’s company once again.

“She seems cool,” Button admitted. “If I ever get an apartment, I’d want a roommate like her.”

“Yeah,” Rumble agreed, sounding more plaintive than he’d meant to. “She’s really something.”

“What’s her name?”

“Vanilla Swirl.”

“Where’d you meet her?”

“The marketplace. We both happened to like the same kind of sunflower seeds and there was only one bag left.”

“The hot ones?” A ghost of a smile turned up the corners of Rumble’s mouth.

“Yeah.” Button laughed.

“Dude, you used to eat those things like they were candy.” Rumble laughed along with him.

“Yeah, I could go through a whole bag of those things in a day.”

“Oh; remember the time Ms. Cherilee caught you eating those while she was teaching?”

“Yeah, she was so mad.”

“Right? I literally thought she was gonna kill you!” Button straightened his posture and put on his best feminine voice.

“Rumble, if you don’t put those away this instant I’ll have no choice but to send you to the principal’s office, is that clear?” Rumble laughed heartily from his chest as he watched Button prance around the hallway doing his best impression of their grade school teacher.

“But that wasn’t half as bad as the time she caught you playing with your joyboy after that big math test.”

“That test was easy. I don’t know why everypony else was stressing so much over it.”

“Hey, we can’t all be geniuses like you.” Button scoffed.

“I’m not a genius. I just have this secret tactic I like to use called studying. It’s actually really helpful.”

“Sounds lame.” Button snickered.

“How in Equestria did you even pass grade school?”

“I don’t know to be completely honest. I think the teachers just liked me”

“How much did you pay them?”

“Enough.” The pair of colts continued to laugh and playfully rib one another until Vanilla Swirl returned from the recesses of the apartment, clutching an off red coin purse between her teeth. Button saw a noticeable dimming in his friend’s eyes as she locked the door behind her and turned to them.

“Alright, let’s go get some eats, I’m starving.” With their path set, the three started off down the stairs and toward the lobby of the apartment complex, Vanilla Swirl leading the way while Rumble and Button trailed a considerable distance behind her.

“So, what did you want to tell me earlier?” Rumble’s voice came out in a hushed whisper. Button turned to him, looking as though he’d been pulled back down to Equestria from some far off place.

“I need to ask you something important.” Button fought as hard as he could to keep his ears from folding against his head.

“Shoot.” Button sucked in a breath, but was cut off by a giggle from Vanilla Swirl.

“Are you two gossiping about me back there?” Vanilla Swirl smiled back at them toothily and both colts smiled crookedly back at her. The way they were walking huddled so close together made the white mare chuckle through the bag in her teeth. “Aww, you two look so adorable together.”

The two shared a strained half laugh and Vanilla Swirl turned and continued walking, looking pleased with herself. The trio continued their walk in near complete silence, scaling the stairs and exiting the hotel, winding around the block until they’d come upon a little hole in the wall stand selling hay burgers and hay fries.

“Ooh, I could go for a hayburger right about now. What about you guys?”

“Sure,” Rumble said. “That alright with you, Button?”

“Yeah, it’s fine with me.”

“Sweet, be back in two shakes.” With that, Vanilla Swirl trotted off, both Rumble and Button watching her until she’d almost disappeared into the line of ponies already waiting to get their orders taken before commandeering themselves seats at one of the nearby lounge tables.

“Alright,” Rumble prompted. “What’d you wanna ask me?” Button sucked in a breath and let it out noisily.

“Would you maybe wanna...I don’t know...give this whole ‘us’ thing another try?” Rumble regarded Button’s words for a long moment, suddenly unwilling to meet the brown colt’s eye.

“I don’t think now’s really a good time.”

“What do you mean? I thought you wanted to…”

“I do, believe me. It’s just…” Button waited patiently for Rumble to say what he was trying to say, but it seemed the pair were destined to be unable to have an uninterrupted conversation.

“Woo, you would not believe how long it takes some ponies to put an order in. I mean Celestia, you would think some of these ponies have never heard of common courtesy.” Both Rumble and Button looked to Vanilla Swirl, who had deposited the tray she’d been carrying onto the table.

“You weren’t really gone that long.” Rumble commented, his ambivalence all but gone.

“I guess not. But these guys are good at what they do. Trust me when I say they know how to pump out food fast.” Vanilla Swirl shimmied the trays she had on her back onto the table and took a seat next to Rumble, picking up her own burger and digging in.

“What happened to hay burgers?” Rumble asked as he eyed the long, droopy carrot hanging out of each end of the bun.

“While I was ordering,I realized I can’t be eating hay burgers all the time. I am eating for two now after all..”

“Eating for two?” Button asked.

“Yup, I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, congratulations. Who’s the lucky stallion?” Vanilla Swirl leaned her head on Rumble’s shoulder.

“This sexy hunk of a stallion right here.” Button adopted a look so stricken and surprised that Vanilla Swirl’s own face deflated some.

“You mean you two are…?”

“Rumble didn’t tell you? We’re getting married in a couple months.”

“No, he didn’t.” Button gave the two a lopsided smile. “Congratulations, though.” Suddenly, the freshly cooked hay burger on the tray in front of him looked entirely unappetizing to his agitated stomach. Button’s eyes flicked toward Rumble’s for an uncomfortable second, Rumble offered him boundless apologies with his eyes.

“Thanks,” Vanilla Swirl said. “I’m kinda nervous about the whole wedding and everything, but I’m also really excited.”

“Yeah,” Button absently played with the bun on his plate. “I bet.”

“But, it’ll all be worth it when the three of us are finally a family, right babe?” Rumble’s eyes were still locked somberly on Button.

“Yeah.” Button suddenly got up from his seat, making a show of stretching and yawning.

“I should probably go. The train ride back to Ponyville is long and I’ve got a lot of studying to do for school on Monday.” Rumble moved to get up after him but only succeeded in making it halfway out of his seat.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna hang out a little bit or something?”

“No, I’m fine. Besides, I don’t want to overstay my welcome, it sounds like you two have a lot of stuff to get ready for.”

“It’s not really a problem, right, honey?” Rumble turned to Vanilla Swirl, who shrugged her shoulders and continued to eat.

“I don’t mind.” Button gave one last look back at the two and smiled. Although his smile was not without glints of regret and longing that only Rumble seemed to pick up on.

“It’s cool, really. My mom’s gonna kick my ass if I end up coming back a day later anyway.” Button began to somberly walk away into the throng of ponies milling about before turning around and waving at Rumble with a smile.

“See ya around, dude.” The engines driving Rumble’s limbs burned with an intense, intrinsic need to chase after his friend, but a glancing look to his side into the bewildered face of his mate and soon to be child kept him firmly planted in his seat.

“See ya around.” He echoed as he watched Button’s beanie disappear into the crowd.

“What was all that about?” Vanilla Swirl asked.

“Nothing.” Rumble spent another handful of moments staring into the crowd before turning to his mate. “We should probably get back to the apartment. That crib isn’t gonna build itself.” Vanilla Swirl seemed to forget all about the worrying scene she’d just witnessed at the prospect of building their first child’s very own crib.

“Can we still paint it pink like I wanted?” Rumble laughed playfully and nuzzled his mate’s side, Button’s chocolate brown coat replacing the silky white of her own.

“We don’t even know what gender it is yet.”

“Oh, I hope it’s a filly.”

“Why? So you can coddle her?” Vanilla Swirl gave Rumble a playful swat to the flank.

“No, so I can teach her how to be a proper mare when she grows up.”

“And if it’s not a filly?”

“Then you’ve got to teach him how to be a perfect gentlecolt. Deal?” Rumble leaned over and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek

“Deal.”

A Band-aid to a Battlescar

“How could I have been so stupid?” Button growled in frustration as he tried to maneuver the pixelated pony on the screen around all of the traps and enemies trying to kill him. “After everything I did to him it’s no wonder he’s moved on.”

Button wildly jerked the joystick, too frustrated to actually focus on the game. “If I had just gone to talk to him sooner then maybe we could’ve...” A particularly tough segment in the level caught Button off guard, and despite his calculated joystick movement and expert button pressing, his pixelated hero soon found himself at the bottom of yet another pitfall.

“Horsefeathers!” Button yelled, dropping his controller in disbelief. A quick moment of seething and the anger bled right out of him and he deflated backward onto the floor near his bed.

“What in Equestria is wrong with me?” There was a quick, fluttery knock at his window. Button’s heart nearly skipped a beat in his chest. There was only one pony that knocked on his window like that…

The earth pony jumped to his hooves, peeling back the blinds to find the one thing he didn’t believe he’d see.

“Rumble?” Button asked as he cracked open the window, thanking Celestia herself that his mother hadn’t had the chance to replace it due to his disaster area of a room. “What in Equestria are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” Button said, opening the window so that Rumble could get inside. The pegasus floated into the room seamlessly, landing squarely in the middle of his friend’s room and taking a quick moment to collect himself while Button shut the window.

“Why’d you come back?” Button asked, clearly both confused and surprised. Rumble sighed.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened earlier today.” Rumble explained, moving to sit on the end of his friend’s bed as he did so. “I came here hoping maybe we could talk. Just the two of us.”

“How did you get here so fast?” Button asked, joining his friend in the open spot next to him.

“I boarded the train right after yours.”

“You wanted to talk to me that badly?”

“Of course I did. Did you think I was happy with the way that went?”

“You seemed pretty content with Ice Cream Swirl or whatever her name is.”

“Vanilla Swirl,” Rumble corrected.

“Whatever. Why don’t you just go talk to her if you’re in such a talkative mood?” Rumble sighed again, louder this time. “Because I don’t wanna talk to her.”Button said nothing. Instead, he took to staring at the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Rumble breathed, getting up from the edge of the bed and moving toward the window. “It was stupid of me to come here, I should just go.” Rumble pushed open the window, the hinges as rebellious as ever.

“Rumble, wait.” Button waited for Rumble to turn back toward him. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Button, what-”

“I was the one being an ass. I messed around with your feelings and even used other ponies just so I could make you feel miserable.” Rumble pulled his head back into the room, turning toward his friend.

“You’re not the only one at fault here y’know.”

“Yeah, but that was no reason for me to do what I did.”

“I don’t even care about that stuff anymore, I just want to move past this whole shit show and be friends again.”

“Honestly, Rumble, nothing would make me happier.” smiled warmly at one another before Rumble moved completely inside the room again. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” The two friends stood in an awkward sort of tongue tied silence until a breeze from the window Rumble had so carelessly left open blew in and knocked a photo right off of Button’s bedside dresser.

“Oh, horsefeathers,” Button gasped as the picture frame shattered on the floor. The earth pony scrambled toward his desk, sweeping away the bits of broken glass to inspect the photo in the frame.

“Isn’t that your dad?” Rumble asked from over his shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s one of the only picture I have of him.” There was a long moment of silence as Button picked up the pieces of glass with his hoof and deposited them into the trashbin.

“Sorry,” Rumble said under his breath, to his surprise, Button chuckled.

“It’s fine, I don’t even really remember him.” Rumble’s tiny smile sagged downward. “And from what my mom tells me about him he wasn’t that nice of a stallion anyway.”

“You don’t have any memories of him at all.”

“Nope, not even the day this photo was taken. It might as well have been like he wasn’t even there.” Rumble moved to stand beside Button.

“I know what it’s like. I didn’t exactly have the best relationship with my dad.”

“Is that why it’s always been just you and Thunderlane?”

“Pretty much. My dad left when we were both pretty little. My mom was pretty torn up about it but after a while we all just kinda forgot about him.”

“Do you still think about him? Like, do you think about what it would be like if he was still around?”

“It’s like you said. He’s been gone for so long he might as well have not even been there at all.”

“Yeah…” There was a heavy, drawn out moment of silence before Button finally decided to put the picture back on the dresser where it belonged. “Let’s stop talking about this, okay. It’s kind of a downer.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Rumble said, flopping supine on his friend’s bed. Button took a little extra time to make sure the picture was secure in the now broken frame before going back to idly sitting next to his friend.

“How’s your wife doing?”

“She’s...good.” Rumble replied solemnly, almost as if the words pained him to say.

“Everything okay with the baby?” Button pressed.

“Yeah, the baby’s fine…”

“Are you fine?” Rumble sat up to look his friend in the eyes, the sadness and regret displayed there spoke volumes louder and more clearly than anything Rumble could have said to him.

I dunno, I just….I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Rumble took a few breaths in preparation to speak and all at once Button noticed just how sad and exhausted he looked.

“Do you know what it’s like-to wake up every day and realize you’ve made the biggest mistake of your entire life and nothing you can ever do or say can fix it.”

Button’s gaze drifted toward the floor.

“Do you even love her, Rumble?”

Rumble threw himself back onto the bed.

“Honestly?” Rumble looked up toward Button who nodded. “No.”

“So then why did you have sex with her?” Button let Rumble have a long minute to think about his response.

“I dunno. I guess for me, it wasn’t even about the sex. She made me feel like she wanted me there. Like I was important…” There was an extended minute of silence and then Button spoke up.

“...I’m sorry that I made you feel like you weren’t important.”

Rumble grabbed Button by the neck and pulled him into a friendly noogie. “I already said I forgive you, you butt.”

“Stop. “Button laughed. “You’re gonna mess up my mane.” The earth pony colt managed to wiggle his way out of his friend’s girp and put some distance between them. However, Rumble was by far faster than him and before Button could even get off the bed he was tackled and pinned underneath Rumble.

“I’m gonna mess up more than your mane,” Rumble growled, attacking Button’s lips with his own. The two colts began a session of impassioned kissing that may have been their sloppiest and most lust filled yet. In fact, their session of face sucking was so intense that somewhere along the line, an errant limb from one of the colts jostled Button’s bedside dresser and knocked the picture positioned on top of it to the floor again.

Initially, Button paid it no mind, as he was so lost in the throes of their kiss; but a sudden and shocking realization kicked Button’s brain back to its senses.

“Rumble, stop.” Button panted as he broke the kiss. “We can’t do this.”

“What? Why?”

Button wrestled his way out from underneath Rumble to a sitting position. “You have a family and everything now. It wouldn’t be right.”

“But I wanna be with you.”

Button sighed. “I know. I wanna be with you too, but you have a kid on the way, Rumble. Do you want them to grow without a father like we did?” Rumble tried but for the life of him could not come up with a suitable reply to such a question. Button got up from the bed and picked the photo up, placing it neatly back on his dresser.

“She doesn’t have to know…” Rumble whispered.

Button frowned. “Rumble, c’mon.”

“I’m serious, Button. I mean, we both want the same thing, what’s the big deal? It’s not like I’m just gonna leave them or something.”

“Because it wouldn’t be fair to her or to me.” Button took up a post next to the window, offering Rumble a sympathetic half smile. “I think you should just take some time to think about what’s best for your family. ”

Rumble gawked openly at his friend. “Come on, there has to be some way…”

Button turned his eyes toward the floor and chewed his bottom lip, choosing to remain stubbornly obstinate. Rumble took this as his cue to leave, peeling himself off the bed and lumbering toward the window. The pegasus opened the window and gave a sad, sidelong glance toward his friend.

“Can you at least promise me you’ll think about it?”

Button refused to meet his eye. “I don’t know…”

Rumble turned toward the open window. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you later?”

“Sure…” With an awkward shuffle of his hooves and a flex of his wings, Rumble flew out the window and into the star kissed night.