That Time We Swapped Spit

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.”