As Cutie as a Button

Chapters

The Mourning
It's a Blue Day for Blue Button
From Bad to Horse
Put Out to Pasture
Into the Breach
The Dark Horse
A House of Cards
The Epiphany
A Cliffside-hanger?

The Mourning

Celestia's golden sun rose and broke confidently through the misty dawn sky. The sleepy ponies across Equestria, from Dodge Junction rooted in the south to Vanhoover located in the north, awoke from their nightly slumber and slowly slunk out of their bedrooms towards the assured breakfast, which they expected to eat every morning. The Unicorn Range was one such region in Equestria which fell into line using this routine. The Unicorns, the Range's namesake, were thus the predominant type of pony inhabiting this area, as the mountains nearby provided them with gemstones which only they had the skills to dig out. They would go to sleep, wake up, eat and work at the most precise times of the day in order to be the most efficient ponies they could be and employ their unique special talents to the fullest. Such an exact routine was the norm here and everypony was expected to follow it as much as ponymanely possible.

A different kind of pony snored into his pillow with the most irregular, un-rhythmic and chaotic inhaling and exhaling. It was not only his manor of sleeping which was unusual for his location, but also his heritage. He was an Earth pony, an oddity, as the Unicorn Range did not have much of an Earth population. The reason for this absence was that the Unicorns had their food provided for them from near-constant importations from other villages in return for the gems and jewels they discovered in the mountains. They were not farmers as no crops could grow high up in the mountain caves, nor was there much Earth pony magic there to even attempt to propagate them in the first place. The Earth pony groaned as he struggled to lift himself out of his bed and onto his four hooves. This was his routine, something which was a normal, everyday occurrence for him.

"Is that the time?" he asked himself, almost as if awaiting an answer from a disapproving parent or a teacher, unhappy with the homework they were given in. He was late for work again. The exhausted, blue-maned stallion made his way to his bathroom, where he splashed his face with water to better wake himself before tentatively plodding in the direction of his wardrobe to put on his best tie for the long day ahead of him. He would work as much as anypony around him, but his occupation as a builder and maintenance worker tired him to his bones. The stallion left his house without partaking in breakfast and anxiously headed for work.

Author's Note

The main character, Blue Button, is an Earth pony stallion who was born in the Unicorn Range. His family once lived there with him, but moved away to a more urban town in search of fame and fortune. He is tired and bored with his seemingly repetitive lifestyle, a lifestyle not suited to him in the slightest.

It's a Blue Day for Blue Button

Now trotting quickly through the streets of his hometown, the stallion could not stop to get a bite to eat, nor could he admire Celestia's beautiful sun like the fillies and colts around him were. He much preferred the moonlight, as he was used to its gentle glow, gleaming through his window and onto his face, which would provide a relaxing and safe slumber from the noisy town on the outside. He found himself trotting faster as time went on, as if he were trying to escape the glaring eyes of the townspeople, who would notice his lack of a horn. The worst aspect of this was the children. The adults would at least be polite and not stare at him. The children, however, did not understand the subtle nuances of high society as of yet, consistently stopping what they were doing and silently following him with their eyes before continuing with their playful shrieking after his disappearance around a sharp corner. He felt as if he had no one to blame but himself for living in a place so taken back by an Earth pony, as he knew there were not many of them around this area, there hadn't been for decades. Who could blame foals for staring? Though it was clear to the young fillies and colts that nopony was better than anypony else and it was obvious to them that the Earth ponies could do things they never could, they would still isolate him because he was different. He represented a different way of living, a way in which the Unicorns of Cliffside were strongly opposed to. They were swift to their jobs, he was late, they were productive, he was not, they possessed talents, he did not.

The stallion had arrived at his usual destination, suddenly possessing an intense desire to enter his workplace instead of linger in the streets where watchful eyes could see him. The imposing iron gates of the town's industrial workshop were present to look down upon him with their usual monotone malignity. The workshop was a massive, dull grey institution situated in the north of the town, closest to the dangerous steep cliffs. He had worked there for a large number of moons, yet he was required to muster up the courage to walk through the boundaries of this uphill battle. The peach-coated pony pushed the gates open slowly, as if to test their resolve, then sheepishly entered.

"MR BLUE BUTTON!" the mare in charge of the institution screamed from the entrance to her office, obviously displeased with his tardiness, which was usual. Madame Urbmane was her name, a dull name for an equally dull pony, perhaps so dull that she could compete with the iron gates for the Most Monotone Awards and win. The strong desire held by the stallion to rush inside the tall building's walls for his duty shift quickly diminished, as if evaporating away from Blue's body in a flash.

"Why must you constantly undermine our establishment with your frequent lateness!?!" she growled. Blue Button thought quickly about what his response to his manager might be. He had used many excuses before. His pet Quetzalcoatl had eaten his mane brush, his alarm clock had been stolen by Parasprites, his tie had been back to front, the list went on. He was out of ideas.

"I am sorry Madame. I have no excuse this time. I apologise." he responded. He had limited his apology to a short sentence in order to not seem as if he was weaving a lie. The purple mare with the teal cutie mark gazed at Blue from his head to his hooves as if studying his body language for a hint to his honesty. She nodded silently as if to hold back any anger and slunk back into her domain, much to his surprise. He may well have got away with it this time, not that it made him any happier.

"Pick up your things!" barked one of Urbmane's subordinates. "We have work to do..." Blue Button obeyed. His work uniform consisted of a purple saddlebag with his cutie mark engraved on it, a gold hard hat, a gold jacket and a lanyard showing off his worker designation number. He had never lost any of these items because he could tell which were his through the stark contrast in colour to the other workers' uniforms, all of which were a consistent dark, dull blue. Blue marched toward the steel lockers located inside the locker room and quickly fetched his hammer, nails and assorted work tools, which were required to be an Equestrian maintenance pony. His co-worker, a Unicorn, was named Tealeaf and he much preferred her company to the presence of his superiors. Tealeaf was more sympathetic of Blue's situation than any other pony he did his job with.

"How are you today, Blue?" she asked in a gentle, quiet tone. She had avoided the topic of why he was late because she knew how much it upset him. She was aware of these deep emotions through years of having known Blue Button, carefully studying his feelings in an understanding way.

"Why, I'm delightful!" chirped Blue Button, sarcastically mimicking Urbmane's cultured, posh, Cliffside accent. He immediately regretted this instinctive outburst, as Tealeaf had only meant well. What a foolish friend he was!

"Sorry..." he said, ashamed of how rude he had just been. Tealeaf rested one hoof on his back in a supportive stance, before quietly walking to the now open gates of the workshop. Blue Button followed her, already dreading the day ahead.

The streets were now empty. Not a sound came from the sweet shop, the overgrown park nor the gazebo, not one peep. The playful foals who had been enjoying Celestia's warm sunrise had all left for school. School was at precisely eight o' clock in the morning and would be attended on the dot by a gaggle of chattering students, waiting for their first lesson at eight thirty. This greatly comforted Blue as he was now able to walk the streets of Cliffside without having to avoid any staring eyes and as such, he adopted a more positive demeanour. Tealeaf would notice this often and would gladly snap up the occasion to begin eagerly questioning Blue about his life.

"So, where does your family live now, didn't you say Manehattan? I've always wanted to visit there, but I've never had the time."

"Yes" Blue noted. "My mother tells me it's very beautiful, especially in the summer. I've never been there myself, of course. I mostly write letters to my parents and they write one back to me. I do the same for my sister now."

"How is your sister? I haven't seen her in years." Tealeaf asked.

"She's well, she is currently in a quaint little town called Ponyville studying the Griffon language. It's not an easy subject of learning."

"Ponyville? Never heard of that town." Tealeaf noted with interest.

"It's a backwater town near the Rambling Rock Gorge." Blue explained. He had heard of the Gorge since his foalhood. He would wonder how Earth ponies would scrape out a living from turning rocks over and rotating them into fields all day. Before he could ponder this enigma of a mystery any longer, the pair had arrived at their first duty of the working day. Their first task was to repair an old, creaky shack which had been damaged in a storm the year before. The town contemplated that a lazy Pegasus Pony weather captain had most likely fallen asleep whilst on duty, with the resulting storm subsiding multiple buildings, causing much distress and innefficiency. Because the building was of a low priority, the building was left until last and its only inhabitants had been a pair of mountainous Quetzalcoatl during the while. The pair of ponies studied the building. Blue, being the stronger of the two, had carried some wooden planks from the workshop in order to replace the rotten wood of the shack, while Tealeaf, being magic, could delicately and gently slide the wood into place before Blue hammered it down.

As always, Tealeaf was much more skilled at repairing than Blue, as any nails he would bolt into the wood would either bend into a stubborn, crooked shape, or escape out of his reach, flying into a pile of hay or even off of one of Cliffside's treacherous cliff sides. On the other hoof, Tealeaf would precisely balance the planks with her magic and slot them into the correct position. It was not only Blue who would notice this pattern, but Tealeaf too. She was saddened by her friend's situation, which one could compare to a parent watching their child leaving home for the last time to combat the wide, wide world of Equestria as an adult.

"Please see if there's anymore nails in the toolbox, will you?" she asked politely. Blue Button then carried the nails from the toolbox to the wooden slots and began to hammer them in with his hooves.

"Alright, now let me just...no not there...careful you'll blunt them!" Tealeaf exclaimed. Her warnings to her colleague were warranted, as the shack, seconds later, came tumbling down in a heap of rubble. Tealeaf scanned the remains of the shack, checked for anypony who may have gotten unfortunately trapped underneath and silently down at her hooves in despair.

"I'll take this one, Blue." she positively offered with a smile on her face. "You sit back and take a break."

All Blue Button could think about was the utter failure he had been at building, how much he failed at being a friend. How could he just sit there as the one and only pony in this graveyard of a town struggled to do the job of two ponies on her own? Was he a good, supportive friend to Tealeaf at all? But Blue also knew his weakness, understanding silently that he could do more harm than good to the situation.

"Okay..." he relented with a defeated tone of voice. He made sure to quell it quickly, however, as he knew Tealeaf would otherwise pick up on it, and he hated to see her worry for him. He was used to relenting, as this was not the first time Tealeaf had asked him to "take a break". In fact, this would happen a rather large amount of the time. After the talented mare had fixed up the shack, the two decided to call it a day. Though the peach-coloured pony did wonder, more than ever, why he had failed at his task, his calling in life. He truly felt crushed under the unmovable force of a life, stuck with a talent, a part of him he wished he didn't have, fighting with unimaginable force against him.

Author's Note

In this chapter of our story, the protagonist is under constant pressure, both from himself and from others to deliver on a task he simply does not have the necessary skills to perform. I wanted to make sure the reader would be able to empathise with Blue Button's struggle, as through our lives, I'm sure we've all gone through a phase where we don't know what our true calling or worth in the world is.

From Bad to Horse

The two ponies slowly made their way back to the workhouse. Through the town the two ambled, past the Cliffside wishing well, through the market, and beyond the great city's central hall. Tealeaf had instinctively noticed the defeat in Blue Button's eyes, similar to how a Wonderbolt trainee would carry them self after receiving a letter of rejection from the elite flying team. But Tealeaf did not care to think of such depressing things. Being the sweet mare she was, she instead began to make small talk in an attempt to connect with her woeful company.

"So, did you see that new employee at the hair salon yet? I hear he's recently moved here from Manehattan, of all places, haha." she slowly asked with an interested yet awkward tone.

"No, but I hear she's really very talented." Blue Button responded with an exasperated, slow and melodramatic huff.

Aware of what was on her co-worker's mind almost instantly, Tealeaf instead quickly turned to the easier and less provocative conversation topic of the recent news that the resident unicorn mineworkers had discovered a large deposit of Foal's Gold within the dark caverns and would be making a noticeable attempt to extract and retrieve it from in amongst the hard rock inside. In fact, a huge amount of the townsfolk were going to take part in hauling the heavy substance back to the city treasury, where it would be melted down and traded for a hefty sum all across Equestria. The only drawback preventing this lucrative concept from becoming a refreshing reality was the revelation that Foal's Gold prevented Unicorn magic users from casting any spells, including levitation. Blue, along with Tealeaf, her brother Arion, as well as several other residents, were tasked by the cold-hearted, cold-minded mayor, Polar Eclipse, to construct the supports to the cave so that the mineworkers may begin their excavation in relative safety from cave-ins. Arion was to meet the pair at the entrance of the caves with the supplies at precisely ten in the morning.

The shoddy, shabby stallion had spared no attention to Tealeaf's appraisal of how many Unicorns it might take to lug the Foal's Gold out of the caves, nor how many bits the valuable heaps would come to when sold to the next town along. His motivation had hit rock bottom, about as far down as it could reach, further still than the steep cliffs and treacherous ravines that flanked and fenced-in the town from the west. However, the only flank the stallion cared for was his own, how covered yet bare it was, the round shape of his cutie mark, his use in Equestria meaning nothing to him in the world. He was empty inside. He was but a shadow of a great pony he knew he could never become. He was crushed.

The next morning, Blue Button never made it to work. Why should he? Everyone knew that he was a waste of space and cared little for his way of life. He was a stranger to them, somepony who hadn't ever had a great deal of use other than superior strength for heavy lifting. And why should they need to help him live if he can't even help himself?

The light blue-eyed stallion lay in his bed, defeated, with only his own misery to keep him company like a cold chill or a darkness that would never be broken by a warm beam of sunlight. He had contemplated his cutie mark for many hours that night. The wretched pony's cutie mark was a single large button which filled much of his peach-coloured flank, the cold, wintry sky blue contrasting to the warm, cosiness of his coat. What did this mean? What could a blue button possibly symbolise? What unique talent did the stallion possess, if any? In his colthood, the Earth pony would wonder what such a mark meant to him, he would giggle on with his two foal friends that it obviously meant that he was a constructor of buildings, as a button was the finishing touch to any designer's ensemble, reminiscent of creative flair and a knack for holding things together, as a button would often do. Alas, the personality of the once zesty colt had declined into a depressed, senseless and unresponsive stallion in the midst of an emotional breakdown. This trouble was never hidden from many of the citizens of Cliffside, however, as even they would always skip precious seconds from their busy schedule to notice the stallion with the issues.

A loud rattle on the dusty front door brought Blue Button out of his deep and depressing contemplation. He jumped suddenly and had himself thrust his head into the bedside table. He took a few seconds to recover, dazed, the door still rattling, he peered through the window as he always would. It was Tealeaf and Arion. Taking a while to get to the door, Blue Button stumbled through over toppled furniture and bad feelings. It was eventually answered and the two colleagues were let in.

Tealeaf had seen decay before, at work, whilst mending the crumbling, rotten, old shacks overhanging the east slope of the mountain, but never before like this. The stallion obviously possessed no sense of order or consistency, what a slob! Everypony talked about it in town, though, except for the pure-hearted and pure-minded Tealeaf and her silly, phased-out brother.

"I love what you've done with the place. Especially the way you've made it look like an irredeemable, chaotic hoarder lives here!" he enthusiastically exclaimed. Blue Button glanced awkwardly around what appeared to be the destitute, defunct living room. Tealeaf shoved the nearest of her four hooves into her blabbering younger brother's mouth and hurriedly changed the topic of the now wavering conversation.

"You didn't turn up to our appointment, we waited for what felt like a whole 20 moons, but decided to come get you. Get your things ready, we need to make up for the time we've lost."

Tealeaf had never seen such disparity. She was in shock that a stallion of Blue Button's age was capable of making such a mess of their life. She did not wish to stay at the dreadful dwelling any longer.

"Yeah, what she said, although that rug really tied the room together." noted her bumbling sibling.

Blue Button slowly slunk out of the front door, after which Tealeaf employed her magic to close it behind the trio. The gentle and kind mare was deeply worried at this point for the stallion's wellbeing. However, she was unable to find a way to ask him if he wanted to talk about it. Tealeaf had always cared for others' emotions and was almost always highly aware of those around her. She felt as if she was stuck in between the livelihood of her dear friend and the possibility of offending him should she not approach the situation from the correct angle. The mare was unnerved by this situation, as either way, there was to be trouble brewing down the road for the two.

Author's Note

We are introduced to the character of Arion, who is Tealeaf's younger brother. His special talent is track racing and he talks a great deal at the worst of times. His mother is an Earth pony, but the young Unicorn inherited his father's race instead of his mother's.

Put Out to Pasture

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a pony in possession of a cutie mark, must know of the nature of their special talent. Blue Button, though, was an anomaly in the world, a rogue shadow.

"I know that you're worried about me, Tealeaf. I can tell." Blue spoke in a monotone, flat croak. "I'm sorry for that. I will try and be a better pony as soon as I can, I promise."

Tealeaf could barely manage to squeak out a response due to the shock.

"How did you know I was concerned?" she asked. The exhausted stallion hesitated to respond for a short moment.

"I don't know, I just felt like I knew. I just don't want you to be unhappy because of my attitude. I may be in a bad place right now, in fact I have been for many, many moons, but I won't let it get in the way of our friendship. It's not worth you or anypony else in this town getting so concerned about me. No biggie..." But Tealeaf was now alarmingly concerned.

How had the strange stallion known what was on Tealeaf's mind? Was it that obvious? She had done, at her greatest strength, to keep her worries for him, from him. Had he read her mind? She knew he was insightful about other ponies' relationships with him, but this was strange. She desperatly wished to show him emotion and that she cared for his health, his essence, his very life, but she couldn't. She cared so much about her friend that she was afraid of the unseen consequences of being truthful to him. Tealeaf's thoughts had always been on others before herself, a highly sought-after quality in a good friend, but now, it was that very way of living that was killing her slowly on the inside, leaving her as but a withered shell of who she once used to be. But she couldn't let go, it was not the pony she was, nor the pony she wished and strived every day to be.

The three ponies had arrived at their destination rather quickly. This was, perhaps, due to Tealeaf's impatience to get to the menacing mines that awaited the trio, as a swamp Cragadile would wait for its prey with its mouth open, quietly analyzing the force of the bite required and the way in which it would catch the next tasty morsel. The Unicorn workers had long since departed the caverns which, by now, were shrouded in a foreboding, penetrating darkness that seemed to drain the energy out of everypony for miles around. Blue Button was startled by dim flashes of light which seemed to disrupt his vision for a few moments. Once recovering, confused, he searched around his blind spots for the source of these emanations, his eyes eventually landing on Arion's horn. The clumsy pony's signature light gold magic aura was pulsing with light, slowly, in groups of three. Blue, frightened, called for Tealeaf in order to bring her attention to the anomaly. However, she also did not respond.

"Tealeaf! Your brother's horn is acting weird! Tealeaf?"

After making an abrupt about-turn, the disastrously dishevelled stallion's muzzle began a distinctive downwards curve. He didn't notice of course, for he was far too used to it, as the magic of a special talent in his life had not even been stolen or snatched away, it had never existed in the first place. Tealeaf was under the same strange trance as her brother. Before he could contemplate the same thoughts he had been droning over for many years, he decided to act to assist his friends.

"Is anypony there!" shrieked Blue, but no one answered, which was most disheartening.

Galloping through the outskirts of the jagged town, looking for anypony to help, the stallion skirted past piles of rocks and barrels, knocking them over and causing the contents to spill out. The orderly conduct of the citizens of the town had been undermined by his clumsiness. The city had been living like this for as long as Blue Button could remember, probably intending to work under the same system of unwritten rules far into the future from now. The Unicorns of Cliffside were known throughout the western kingdom for their sheer efficiency in their principal trade; gems and ore rocks from the mysterious mines that constantly overshadowed the town and everypony willing to take up residence inside its boundaries. The rough, sharp walls of the imposing buildings were second only to the way in which they stood on their foundations, like an army of soldiers marching in a strictly uniform way, being precisely in shape and texture with each other. Blue would frequently feel uncomfortable and threatened when walking from his house to the marketplace. Exiting the forest of buildings would have been a comfort to any other pony, except staring eyes of city-goers would await Blue once he became free of the tough buildings.

After searching for what felt like many moons, Blue Button screeched to a halt. Making a sharp turn around a dark, shadowy corner, he was relieved to find what he was looking for. A lone Unicorn with a dark brown coat, a black and white mane and a cutie mark of three yellow stars inspected a scroll and trotted out of sight. Pursuing the stallion, the shattered Blue wailed at the top of his lungs for his target to halt and turn around to face him. Racing around another corner in this thick end of the city, he gasped in fright after the stallion surprisingly scared him, waiting right out of sight in the shadows before loudly asking what was wrong. It was as if the pony meant to deliberately scare him, knowing he was not as brave as other ponies living here. The thought of his friends quickly took priority in his mind, however, and he jumped into action.

"Excuse him, but this pony does not take kindly to interruptio-"

"I need your help! My friends are under some sort of spell and I can't find anypony else to help me!"

"This stallion is on the hunt for a very rare sample of beezlenut oil and is not in the mood for your flailing about, good sir." He trotted around a corner, and Blue's heart sank, as he was seemingly back to square one.

"Wait!" The stallion's voice echoed from the alley he had escaped to.

"Did you say, a spell?"

"Yes!" Blue said.

"A spell!" Blue felt forced to raise his voice after the Unicorn didn't seem to respond.

"The name's Artemis!" He darted back around the corner and awaited Blue's lead. Not caring about the strange eccentricities of his new assistant, he began swiftly bolting back towards the entrance of the mines. The two ponies hardly spoke to each other on the trip there. Their initial encounter was awkward enough, and this new pony's mannerisms were most unusual to Blue Button.

Author's Note

Artemis is established in this chapter. He is a very smart Unicorn with a great amount of magical knowledge, if slightly arrogant at times about said knowledge. He is enlisted by Blue Button to assist in a magical affair at the mouth of the mines.

Into the Breach

Blue Button and Artemis quickly rushed through the narrow streets and dusty side roads of Cliffside's maze-like layout. Although Blue Button felt slightly intimidated by the initially overpowering personality of this other resident, he was glad to have found at least another pony to share in his panic. As well as many awkward glances shared between the two ponies, the pair exchanged a short conversation.

"So what kind of spell has befallen your two companions, my dear friend?" Artemis asked, in a somewhat curious yet arrogant tone.

"Well...I don't actually know, they seem to be in a trance of some sort and their horns are glowing with magic auras." Blue Button responded. He was barely keeping up with his assistance, who had not shaken off his posh, high class demeanour.

"Well, this Unicorn..." he emphasised "...knows all kinds of mysterious and abominable magic. He cannot live without it."

"But I thought Unicorns were limited in abilities by their..." he paused "...cutie marks."

"They are!" stated Artemis with a knowing tone. "But this pony's talent is in unusual and interesting types of magic."

Blue Button could scarcely believe his luck. A pony whose primary calling in life was to search for brave new frontiers in magical research, and he was about to assist him in solving his strange magic-based conundrum! Perhaps this day, things were looking up for once.

Once arriving at the mouth of the daunting mines, the duo, especially Blue, were confronted with a strange revelation, however this new surprise was not the one they were expecting at all. Tealeaf and Arion were standing at the opening, appearing to be looking for something. Arion was sitting on a nearby supply crate calmly eating a sandwich whilst peering into the dark tunnel, whilst Tealeaf was pacing by the same spot muttering in a concerned tone.

"Oh, where could he have gone? Did he go back home to duck out? Did he enter the cave? We need to find him somewhere." she moaned.

"Calm down sis. He's probably just gone back to sandwich." blurted Arion with a burp.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Tealeaf huffed.

"Oh, there he is! See I told you...something...what did I say again?"

"Ugh!"

"What I mean is, he's back. Look look, and he's even brought a friend. You can relax now."

Tealeaf quickly trotted toward Blue, as she was very worried about his safety. The two had been together since foal school, and had always looked out for each other. Tealeaf even considered him her slightly older brother on occasion, something she was very vocal about. Arion, on the other hand, would inconvenience her on occasion with his witless prattle, hardly the ideal brother for such a mare. Arion, used to his sister's treatment of Blue Button, rolled his eyes.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "We were just going through the normal procedure to have our magic removed when you ran off calling for help. Didn't we brief you on what happens when a Unicorn pony tries to enter the mine?"

"Is THAT what you rushed this intellectual pony all the way here for?" interrupted Artemis. "Any old Unicorn around here is well aware of the effect the mine and its contents has on Unicorn magic." he scoffed. Sensing his acquaintance’s confusion, he slowly explained to Blue in a bored tone.

"The effect of the Foals Gold on the Unicorns...is that their magic skills are temporarily taken away from them once entering this region inside the mountain. It's been baffling pony scientists as to why for a long time..."

"We thought Madame Urbmane warned you all about it." mentioned Tealeaf in a monotone voice.

"I believe your hint has been taken, my fellow ponies. You have in your presence, a Unicorn who lusts for danger and intrigue around every corner of the land! I will assist you in this endeavour to find the precious Foals Gold on your quest." Artemis proudly interjected in a regal fashion.

"What hint?" asked Arion in a confused voice. But by the time he had finished his question, Artemis had already approached the entrance to the mines and began to have his magic taken away from him in order to begin the mission. The removal of the Unicorn magic took a mere ten or fifteen seconds, not as long as Blue had taken the time to be worried about.

"I guess he can come too..." said Tealeaf flatly. "But be careful, these caves are no picnic, be prepared. Unexpected things are gonna happen, so don't try to be a hero."

"Duly noted!" said Artemis proudly.

Without further delay, the four ponies slowly stepped into the cave's entrance one by one. Artemis, being the adventurous one, raised his head into a proud stance and regally entered the darkness, followed by Arion, then Tealeaf, who gaze back from time to time in order to make sure Blue Button was keeping up. The sudden pitch black void, only lit by the soft, faint glow of a lantern was immediately unwelcome to the stallion, almost as unwanted as the cold chill of the rushing wind, and the distant, ominous screeching of the cave's native Cliffside Long-Eared Bat. The cave's removal of the Unicorn's magical power had done nothing to dampen their high spirits, however. Artemis was telling tales of his adventures of Maretonia, Stalliongrad and Hollow Shades to an eagerly interested Arion, who was carrying the supplies for the group in his saddlebags, which were packed to the brim with energy bars and hay biscuits. The group encountered a fork in the passageway before long, which Tealeaf remembered it was required to take a right at, and the group carried on walking from that point at a slow pace.

"You know..." whispered Arion with a smirk on his face. "I have a spooky story to pass the time, if everypony is brave enough to hear it..."

"Really Arion...really..." bemoaned Tealeaf with a tone somewhat between anger and frustrated boredom.

"Okay. So here goes. This tale is not for the faint-hearted. It is the dark story of a group of ponies who dared to enter a mysterious and scary mine. When they stayed there for the night, in search of gemstones, they were hunted down...one by one...by the dreaded Moaning Monster of the Mountain!"

Tealeaf simply gave the terrified Blue a wink and a reassuring glance. Blue, on the other hoof, had to endure the unnerving ordeal, however, for the next half hour. He was truly alone. Although Tealeaf intently checked in on him every once in a while, he was drained of his energy, as if the cave's magical dampening field had also affected his strength and ability also.

"And they were never seen, ever again! Muahahaha!" Arion barely finished his story before Artemis butted in, as he had impatiently intended to from the story's introduction.

"That makes no sense. How in Equestria did the Pegasus hurt her wing in a cave? And whatever happened to that monstrosity of a third act? You rushed that story terribly, and it possessed no suspense in the slightest."

"It's a fantasy story, those details don't matter!"

"Argh!"

A rumbling of the ground. Quick hoofsteps in any direction. The walls seem to vibrate and contort, canvassed in darkness. A quick flash. A frightened glance from a long lost sibling. All distant in plain sight. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness...

Author's Note

The Cliffside Mines present an unusual problem to the Unicorn residents of the region, as any Unicorn magic is temporarily stripped from the user once they have entered the cave system. I wanted the unicorn members of the cast to be as disconnected from their talents as Blue Button is, and also to prevent any magical intervention if any problems arrise. The caves have been mapped by Unicorn explorers before, and are rumored to be the home of Bat ponies and many lost treasures over the ages.

The Dark Horse

Blue Button awoke from his slumber with a headache. Unlike the other long sleep periods he had, this one was not intentional in the least. A light in the distance seemed to draw his attention. It was of a faint yellow colour, dimmer than usual. Was he dreaming? Was he seeing things? His aching body refused to move for a moment, and his willpower did not resist for a while. He gazed at the beacon, sitting alone in the darkness, the empty space. The light grew dimmer and dimmer, and as it receded, so did his consciousness, until the light burned out. So did he. Blue was a light in the dark, alone in the cold, the only company to him being his remorse, his failure to be a pony with a unique destiny. Tealeaf and the others had probably left him behind, seeing no use in him, sharing jokes and tales of their exploits together, sharing lunch, sharing the fact they truly possessed talents that actually worked. Blue Button slept once again, quietly.

His dreams were no gentle solace to him either, as the stallion was haunted by the nightmare of the day he apparently "earned" his cutie mark. It was a glorious event in the main courtyard of the town of Cliffside. The day of the Summer Sun Celebration was being enjoyed greatly by the town's residents, especially Blue Button. The little colt had been popular among the other foals, for he was widely known to be considerate and easy to get along with. If a young foal had a problem, big or small, he would be the pony to come to. He was honest, open and gentle with a soft, sweet voice that could melt even the cold hearts of the adult ponies. Tealeaf was unfortunate enough to share this fateful day with him, Arion too. The two had been bickering over who was the more gifted in ancient Equestrian history of them, and such sparring between the two was not uncommon.

"Oh come on, you know it must be me Tealeaf. Mage Meadowbrook is one of my best fields of study. I even got top in the class for it!"

"That's not true and you know it!"

"Oh yeah? Says who?"

"Me, you great big dolt!"

"I can't even believe you passed that exam on modern spell casting..."

Blue Button noticed how the intensity of these fights were increasing as the two became older. Tealeaf would even think of Blue Button as a sibling over her own real brother at times. Blue's heart would ache in pain when his best friend would say that in plain sight or earshot of Arion, as it was tearing him apart. So he hatched a plan, a devious yet masterfully brilliant plan. Once he had collected up the supplies he needed from Mr Trimmer, the local merchant, he set them up in the courtyard and waited for the two bickering siblings to arrive at the allotted time.

Once they had come, he started building a great design he had made of a gazebo on the land in the middle of the town courtyard. The two siblings would wonder why he asked them to help him, and when they did, he would place plank in Arion's hoof, and nails in Tealeaf's, and would ask them to help him build the great project he had been planning on. Whenever they would express boredom, he would tell them "You'll see it when we have finished." over and over. The ordeal lasted until sunset, and Luna's moon had almost been raised into the misty night sky by the time they had climbed down and stood back to admire their combined work.
The pale glow of the moon rested gently onto the collective toils of the ponies. And at this point, Blue Button would tell his friends the words that he would remember to this day.

"You're my family, and each other's family. If we work together, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. Anything...If we help each other, love each other, trust in each other and be true to each other, we're more powerful and more happy than ever before. We live forever, together."

At that moment, after placing Arion's and Tealeaf's hoofs together, after their heartfelt hug and their gentle tears of joy and forgiveness, a mark, a blue button, became his destiny forever, and a light brighter than Celestia's warming sun or Luna's shimmering moon on his once bare flank, for a second, just a second, was the most happy experience of his life, or so he thought.

That's where the problems began, and never ended. The colt's cutie mark was his life, his very being, so much so that he was even named after his destiny. His fate was tied to the mark. For many, many moons, the colt attempted to be talented. He would build a building on his own, but it would never stand, collapsing on top of him. Every time he would see a project crumble, his destiny would fall with it, into a black, foreboding abyss. He had even dyed a streak his hair the same colour as the image in order to further attempt to be closer to his destiny, to own it, to show it was a part of him, out of childish delusion or wishful thinking, but this, like any other attempt, also failed.

From past to present, this is where the agonising journey of the false mark had taken him. He was alone, in the dark, inside a mountain haunted by creatures surrounded by the population of a society based upon talents and spreading your gifts throughout all of ponykind. Truly, this was the end of Blue's miserable existence as a pony with nothing special about him other than a frequent lateness to work and an utter absence of a destiny.

Author's Note

This chapter of our hero's story further details his past, and the events in which he was disappointed with who he was, and who he was meant to be. Make sure you read between the lines of this chapter, as the secret of the cutie mark is hidden in the subtext, waiting to be found.

A House of Cards

"Blue! Blue! Wake up ol' buddy!" demanded a panicked voice. A brightly-lit lantern was shining into the his eyes, obscuring his vision from whoever was attempting to communicate with him. He could quickly tell by the voice and the temperament that it was Arion who had come to his rescue.

"Arion? What are you doing here? I thought I was dreaming...am I still dreaming?"

"That boulder must've hit you harder than I thought...Listen, there was a super duper violent cave-in. Tealeaf and I got separated. I think Artemis is with her, but I can't be sure. Can you walk? How do your legs feel?" Arion's questions didn't register with Blue Button at first, nor could Blue register himself anymore. He knew he was in pain, but not quite where or how. The Earth pony was in a miserable world of his own, a world where only he dwelled, where he mainly existed throughout the long, drawn-out ravenous days and the heavy, blanketed and sleepless nights.

"I'll stand I think, but let's keep it slow, please..."

The two began to walk. At first, the pace was very, very slow, but after a short while Blue Button detected that his highly excitable companion had accelerated the once patient, tentative amble into a fast and wilful trot. Blue, not wishing to damage nor disrupt the present company's resolve, resigned his doubts and began to actively find a way to distract himself from the pulsing pain in his front left hoof. The only obvious way to do this, to his own taste, was to inspect the cave wall with his lantern's subtle light yellow glow. The defined cracks in the now unstable rock face and the dusty, sharp indentations etched onto the cold surface weren't interesting enough for him to carry out his will. He glumly continued this futile venture, however, as he would rather have been alone than talk to Arion about how much danger they were in, or who was coming to save them, or if his friend Shaneighneigh had remembered to deliver the blueberry fruitcakes he'd ordered to his address on time.

"I mean, can you imagine if we never got back to my place? They'd get so stale and yucky!"

Blue let out an exasperated huff, almost acting on instinct and continued to scour the nearest cave wall for signs of life. His interest was waning for a long while until the faint structure of an intelligent form presented itself to his tired eyes. It was small and very vague, almost as if it had been living on the wall for a long, long time

"Hey, Arion...I think I found something?" he asked, not being able to even guess what he had come across.

"What's this..." he paused for a long while, giving Blue time to notice that his company seemed to know a little about Equestrian archaeology.

"It appears to be a cave painting of some kind. These look like ancient ponies, you can see amazing amount of detail in the body."

"That's odd. I've heard legends, but I never knew ponies made it this far into the mines." Blue noted, surprised. Although he had found this surprise discovery interesting, it was far less enthralling than Arion had seemed to display.

"They appear to be carrying some kind of treasure that way." Arion pointed to a vague direction before continuing with his analysis. "Yes yes, it looks to be this way. That's the unexplored region of the mountain, we can't head down that passage, we have no idea what's down there. That's a big shame."

"Hey how come you know all this cave stuff?" the confused Blue asked.

"Oh I listened in Doctor Atlas's Equestrian history class!" he said with a proud grin. "He made it sound so interesting. Some ponies, including my silly sister, feel as though I need constant help with almost anything, but I can get by. I was always known as the clumsy and random pony in town, which can really hurt your future career opportunities 'round these parts."

Blue Button was rather resentful of himself from then on. Arion had turned out to be a rather smart pony after all. Why couldn't Blue see this before? He had missed so much about his friend's life because he was too worried about his own, after such a thought he decided to make a silent pledge to himself that he'd spend more time with Arion and get to know him better, that is, if they could escape this dark, awful place.

"There's a map of the general area pointing to where they may have headed with the treasure. It's in the unexplored regions."

The two decided to keep walking quickly, further into the tunnel where Arion theorised Tealeaf and Artemis may have bolted down. Arion would insist that Blue pick up the pace every now and then and would give him some rations of hay biscuits to keep his strength up once in a while. A faint echo could be heard every now and then from a place the two could not precisely pinpoint due to the chaotic nature of the winding cave system. Arion would attribute the powerful sound to the wind, surmising that there must be an entrance nearby to explain where the air currents must be coming from. The closer they would get to the sound, the higher their morale boosted to. Tealeaf and Artemis must have reached the outside, most likely waiting for Arion and Blue Button to make the same easy trip. The echo became louder and louder, as if a mighty flugelhorn was waiting in the other side to greet them, the townspeople cheering loudly, anxiously waiting to hear of their adventures into the unknown pit of despair. Voices, high pitched and strong, were embedded into the sound. They were close now. Closer than ever before. The voices were distinctively Tealeaf's and Artemis's, with the former's being engrained with passion and defiance. One more turn left, they were just around the corner, what appeared to be daylight was emanating from this entrance in the wall. Horray!
Darkness. Endless, endless darkness.

"That's not a fair response Ms. Tealeaf, I was only trying to help you!"

Tealeaf exploded. She had bottled up her anxiety long enough. Her smooth, gentle demeanour had been blasted away, along with her patience. She was guilty, guilty of all that she had not told Blue and the others. She had wanted to help, she couldn't. Her true feelings were now appearing as raw energy. Her worries about her friend, her stress at being a true, true person who cared about other's feelings were overtaking her, and she was done with it. Blue's heart sank. The light of the cave "exit" had merely been Tealeaf's bright lantern. It was a dead end. They were trapped, as the way Arion and himself had come from was caved in.

"You CAN'T use magic in here, brainiac!" she shouted, violently.

"I KNOW!" he responded. "I was just making sure! You should be calmer towards me and enjoy our adventure we're having!"

"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Range!" screamed Arion. "He's insane!"

"It is not my fault I am here with you ruffians!" retorted Artemis, staring at Blue Button. He pointed with his hoof to the degraded stallion.

"Don't you dare blame him! He was only trying to help us when he thought we were stuck outside!" shouted Tealeaf.

"We weren't really 'stuck', it was more of a...transition." Arion stated firmly, rolling his eyes.

"Oh shut up you stupid mule! All you do is bumble around when you know full well that it bothers me! At least Blue doesn't do that!" she angrily wailed, shoving her hoof into Arion's mouth.

"Maybe we should all calm d-" Blue could barely finish.

"You see, right there! You never treat me with any respect! It's always 'never mind him' or 'oh what a burden I have with him'. Why can't you treat me like a brother for once instead of a child!"

"Blue would make a better brother to me than you ever were..."

"...Now Tealeaf, you know that's not tr-" Blue was interrupted again.

"That's it! You're not my sister anymore!"

"Fine!" she agreed.

"Fine!"

"If I can get up there..." Artemis pointed to a high ledge "I might be able to use my magi-"

"SHUT! UP!" the now non-siblings attacked in unison.

Blue was far away from the drama in the cavern now, for he was galloping at the fastest speed his legs could carry him back the way Arion and himself had come. He wanted to escape the cave before his life and his friends decayed and crumbled down with it. A good few minutes of fast running followed, of agony for Blue, as he was broken inside. Past the painting on the wall, past the lantern on the floor.

Eventually he had made it back to the caved-in section he had started at. He wasted no time in pounding on the loose, heavy rocks. Using all his strength, the devastated stallion pushed against the wall with his back. When this failed, he tried bucking it with his now tired hooves. Eventually, a few small rocks quickly fell away from the pile with a clatter, revealing a tiny hole in the cave-in. He peered through it. The fresh air from the now open peep hole brushed his mane and face with a gentle, cool force.

Something in the distance, shrouded by the dark, eerie, gloomy blackness seemed to move slowly away from him with a smooth yet hurried motion. He slowly squinted his exhausted eyes. It was gone. Hallucinations were the most likely cause, as there was a limited supply of air in the caves and the water deprivation, coupled with Blue's emotional state seemed to agree with that conclusion. He attempted to think otherwise, however the circumstances did not make this event an important one. He tried to buck and pound and hit the immense pile of rubble down, but to no avail, he couldn't do it on his own.

Author's Note

Here we reach the climax of Blue's story, all of his companions can't or won't help each other and he's struggling to find a way out on his own.

The Epiphany

The stallion needed to help his friends, and fast. It was a dire emergency and they couldn't last for long on the limited rations they had brought into the mines, little more than a few days at most. He cared deeply for all of them, even Artemis, as he had lept to help Blue in a time of crisis. He had reunited his friends when he was a colt by showing them teamwork, and his gazebo building worked then. Why couldn't it NOW!?!

Blue slid down the rock face and wept into his hooves. He wept for himself. He wept for his pointless life. He wept for his situation. Most of all, he wept for his friends because they meant more to him than anything else in Equestria. At that moment, a sudden thought came to his mind. What does a button even mean? He knew he had got it when he created a gazebo along with his friends. Why did it take his friends to help him earn his cutie mark? A little voice inside his head preached that it was because he was useless. The voice was ignored. Again it screamed to him that he had no destiny. It was ignored again. What do buttons do? They hold clothes together, they're strong, they're the centrepiece of the outfit. Without a button, the whole thing falls apart. His friends were apart then and they were also apart now as well. Connections were established in his mind. The voice made one last ditch effort to convince him he was mistaken. It was obliterated. He helped his friends out when they were fighting and he was always the pony to turn to for help, until he had started to deny he had a talent at all. Maybe this was it! He knew what he needed to do.

Blue leapt from the dusty and cold cave floor and speeded back down the tunnel to where his family were. He smashed through any doubts he may have had the moment he sat down and began to believe he was mistaken as a colt. The dark voice was gone from his head now, never to come back ever again. Any Pegasus pony flying at full power could not outmatch his determination or speed, for he was renewed in his passion. He had been dormant for a such a long time that his friends and himself had deteriorated from their once happy selves and he was going to fix it. There was not a moment to lose.

The three Unicorn ponies were sat, defeated by each other, on opposite ends of the cavern, not wishing to even look at the others let alone talk with them. Arion was silently crying whilst Artemis was continually attempting to use his magic, to no avail. His horn would spark with a magic aura, but would buzz, contort and then give out like a candle's light being blown away by a thunderous tempest in the distance. In the distance, they could hear a trotting sound. It first started as a faint echo from far away. Then, it was an intense sound before long.

Blue slid through the entrance to the towering cavern and skidded to a halt. Tealeaf immediately raised her head to view him. He was regal-looking. His once hunched back and drooping head was now straight, towering and majestic. The very air around him seemed to vibrate with utter excitement and drive. She had not seen him like this since her fillyhood. He hesitated for a second, then darted towards Arion, who was still weeping in a small, dark corner. He picked Arion up and gave him a heartfelt hug.

"Are you okay?" Blue asked in a gentle voice. Arion first stuttered to get any words out of his mouth.

"Take your time, it's okay." Blue added. Arion wiped the floods of tears from his eyes quickly, more followed and he did the same thing again until he was ready to respond.

"I-I'm alright, really...*sniff*...thanks Blue."

Blue Button then proceeded to walk slowly in the direction of Tealeaf. He couldn't make it the whole way because Arion was clinging to him tightly, weighing him down. Tealeaf hesitated and appeared to be thinking about what was going on. She eventually started moving to the two, looking away from them in shame.

"Listen Tealeaf, we're family and that's a fact. You're always there for me and you always were, even when I was difficult. All this time I was hurting you and everypony else with my anxiety. I still have a lot to learn, but we'll fight through it together."

"Together forever..." she said. She proceeded to hug Arion and Blue at the same time.

"I'm sorry Arion. It wasn't fair for me to say those things to you. I know now that both you and Blue Button are my best siblings ever..."
she croaked with a remorseful voice. Arion nodded.

"We may fight sometimes, but we're family, and family always stick together in times of crisis. I promise I'll never do that to you again. Need a hug?" she said, as her eyes were also beginning to water.

"I know." Arion stated firmly yet softly. The two siblings reunited with a hug. Tealeaf didn't let go of Arion for a long while, not that Arion minded of course. He'd always wanted a friendship with her, and had desired deeply to impress his sister from a young age. Blue Button remembered that there was a fourth pony in this situation. He looked around in the dark for Artemis and found him sitting back, respectfully watching their embrace from a distance. He motioned for Artemis to join them. He did so, tentatively.

"I'm glad you're good with magic, really I am. I'm just not sure that's going to do the trick this time." Blue noted.

"Back there, I almost broke through the rubble by myself. We don't have Unicorn magic, but if we work together, we might be able to get out of this horrible place. I for one don't want to be in here for much longer." he added. Artemis approvingly agreed with a nod.

"Then let's go! We've got a mine to escape!" Blue triumphantly declared. However Tealeaf and the others had not done hugging yet. "...Or whenever you're ready, we can wait I guess...yeah, we can do that..."

When they were finished, the four ponies galloped out of the terrible cavern and ran at full speed after Blue Button with the same determination he had employed to return to them. As they were on their journey out of the abyss, Blue's attention was taken up by what appeared to be the glow of Arion's lantern out of the corner of his eye. He quickly looked back to see it was coming from his flank. His cutie mark shimmered brighter than anything he'd ever seen before, with a light blue aura, before dying down back into its resting state. He'd never expected it to happen in his life again and the joy it brought to him was monumental. Looking around to get confirmation that what he'd seen wasn't a hallucination, his gaze fell on Tealeaf, running behind him. She was smiling a very approving smile. He'd seen it alright, for real this time.

They reached the rubble of the cave-in very quickly. The first action Blue took was to slam himself into the rock with all his might and energy. The others stood back and watched as he did this. He slid down the side again, but before he could give up hope, Artemis had joined him in ramming the wall with his hooves. His willpower grew as Arion did the same, frantically digging into the rubble and scooping huge chunks out with delicacy. Tealeaf hung back for a short moment. She was unsure it would work because of the density of the rocks involved in their struggle. However the cool air coming from the hole Blue had made prior powerfully blew her mane and face, and restored her confidence again. She retreated back a few hoofsteps, taking a deep breath. Tealeaf charged, with a determined look on her face and attacked the pile of black death with a well-timed buck of the hooves. Blue Button did the same, matching her technique and the wall began to quake with a groan, as if it had accepted its fate to be defeated by the group.

“Hold on to your flanks!” screeched Arion with an excitedly cautious tone.

"Stand back, everypony!" shouted Tealeaf.

The ponies quickly found cover anywhere they could, Tealeaf behind a rock along with Blue and Arion heading into a small, round tunnel with Artemis quickly following behind. Within seconds, the rubble had collapsed, boulders violently smashing as they headed down the way of the cavern to do their deed of destruction. Only Blue Button looked back to see it, however, as his companions had already began to charge their way out of the caves.

"Come on Blue! Not far now! I can see sunlight, sweet, sweet sunlight!" Arion called back, playfully sticking out his tongue like a dog.

"I'm comin'!" Blue responded with a joyful smile.

The stallion started making his way after the trio of refreshed ponies, seeing Artemis's tail exiting the cave system and out into the light. He could have sworn he'd seen something in the rubble when it was crashing down into the cavern's tunnel. It was distinct in shape, about the size of him, perhaps a little larger. It seemed to move with precision speed, dodging the tumbling rocks and boulders that would seek to harm it. He shrugged it off as a trick of the light, like before and made his way out of the cave.

“Now that’s how friends do it!” Blue proudly said, exiting the mine's entrance.

The Unicorns were again as mute and still as statues. Blue didn't panic this time, however, as he knew they were merely receiving their magical powers back from the greedy cave. He sat silently and waited for the transaction to be completed.

A Cliffside-hanger?

The sunset was glowing brightly, the Unicorns' magic was finally restored and Artemis was overjoyed.

"This is utterly stupendous! Finally!" he happily cheered. His joy was short-lived, however, as a distinct purple pony was making her way toward them, marching her hooves in a precise tempo. It was Madame Urbmane, and she was not at all pleased to see them late, not to mention out of the cave and empty-hoofed. She had expected the Foal's Gold to be delivered to her at the most efficient time possible.

"Well, well, well." she said with an authoritative and arrogant voice. "Look who's back."

She was not alone, as behind her was a large crowd of mineworker ponies and other citizens of Cliffside, who had clearly been arguing with her based on the way they kept themselves around the mare.

"Just 'cause we do things in an orderly fashion 'round these parts, doesn't mean we leave them for dead!" one pony in the crowd shouted.

"I agree with that!" shouted another.

"Oh for Celestia's sake, we're in the hands of engineers." Arion stated with a frown.

"They were trapped! It would have been a waste of resources to help them! They're expendable!" Urbmane shouted to the crowd whilst pointing to Blue Button.

"No we are not. We learned something today, that everypony will find their calling in life eventually. They just need to give it some time and thought! Everyone is valuable here. No one is expendable!" shouted Tealeaf with a passion.

"Oh please..." Urbmane huffed. "That stallion? He's utterly useless!"

"That's a lie!" Arion retorted as he addressed the crowd. "If it hadn't been for him, we'd still be stuck down in that dark, miserable, abominable place! I'd rather have been in Tartarus with the evil creatures!"

"Listen up everypony! I'm sorry for how I've been this awful long time. It just took me a while to figure out what my super special talent really is. I know it's rather strange to ask but, I hope you can all trust me and respect me like you once all did when I was a colt. I can help you again, I'm motivated and I know what I'm doing with my life now. I respectfully resign from my job, Urbmane." Blue had spoken up proudly.

The crowd was agreeable and they didn't hesitate to form a circle around the stallion and his friends, excitedly anxious to hear of their adventures into the dreaded Cliffside mines and of Blue's newly discovered passion in life. Urbmane, on the other hoof, was shocked that everypony had agreed with an expendable worker. She huffed, stared at Blue Button and walked off, her head held so high in arrogance that her neck may have broken if she had raised it but an inch more. The stuck up mare proceeded to amble back to her office in disgust, disappearing behind the giant gates, which seemed to protect her from the outside world.

Meanwhile, Blue Button was about to tell his new tale to the crowd when he caught a glimpse of a small, sad-looking filly sitting on a bench staring at her hooves. She did not look to be very happy at all. He paused for a while before Artemis brought his attention back to the story which needed to be told.

"Artemis, why don't you tell the story for now?" he asked with a smile.

"Of course my good chum!" He jumped up and began to speak. "It was with but a corner and a dark alley that this stallion found these ponies. He obviously led the whole venture due to his magical intuition and skill-" Artemis's excited voice slowly faded away as Blue Button trotted in the direction of the miserable filly. His legs seemed to perform the action without his command or knowledge. He beamed slowly as he walked through the streets, out of the inner city and into the distance, further than the naked eye could make out. To Arion and Tealeaf, he was now a single blue and peach dot on the horizon.

"I'll go after him!" stated Arion, but Tealeaf held her hoof out to detain him with a smile.

"I think he's doing what he needs to do. It's his gift to Equestria." she said. "We have a lot to do too. Do you wanna have a picnic under the gazebo later with me?"

"Can Artemis come?" Arion asked.

"Sure, once he's eventually finished with his story, but that might be a while." They both rolled their eyes, chuckled and sat down with the crowd.

Blue Button is running to the filly now. He will help her. He will run over the great mountains of the Unicorn Range to reach the foal, and all of the unstable cliffs and treacherous slopes in his way will stand aside and bow to him in respect, for he has won. Luna's soft moonlight begins to break through the clouds and soften his heart for he is now a complete pony, together forever.

Author's Note

I might make a sequal or a prequal. I left a lot of plot points open to such a thing should people like this story, and I hope that they do. Thanks for reading my story everypony! :P