It had started snowing yesterday. Not so much that one could not get anywhere, and not so little that one would not be able to tell anything had happened - no, it was just the right amount.
And as a result, although there really was not enough snow to constitute it, the decision was made that school was to be cancelled for all of the little fillies and gentlecolts across Ponyville, and everyone rejoiced. Ms. Cheerilee could finally sit down devote some time to herself after a busy semester of seemingly non-stop work. Parents could spend a fun day with their children, perhaps making snow angels or throwing snowballs. And, for a few stray kids here and there across town, they could simply blow off everything else in their lives and go hang out with their friends.
Well, at least that was what Button Mash and Sweetie Belle decided to do.
They did not start off alone though. For at least an hour or so, Rumble the Pegasus, one of Button's closest friends, hung around, though he did not really say much in Sweetie Belle's presence. However, in complete contrast, Sweetie Belle herself had invited along Applebloom and Scootaloo, the remaining two Cutie Mark Crusaders, who did not seem to take even a second to breathe before resuming talking at break-neck speed. To be completely honest, it was what eventually drove off Rumble (though he would never say anything), and it kind of annoyed Button Mash, but it was nothing that he had not already heard a thousand times before. After all, he had been sharing a class with the three girls for the past fifteen years or so.
Eventually though, both of Sweetie's friends left, too - Applebloom to go help with some chore down on her family’s farm, and Scootaloo to go hang out with Rainbow Dash - leaving only the young Unicorn and Earth Pony. For at least a minute, they stood around the spot where Scootaloo departed from, neither saying anything to the other, both simply listening to the wind blow, carrying with it the cry of some young child off way in the distance. At one point, Sweetie cleared her throat, and Button thought she might have said something, but quickly shut back up when it turned out she had not.
After that, the two began to wander aimlessly, calmly making their way through usually bustling scenes, such as Town Square, or the local market. It was very nice, especially with just about every other pony deciding to remain shut up in their houses, making things even quieter than they already were. If you had asked Button Mash, he would have said that it was almost as if everyone else had simply vanished, and Sweetie Belle and himself were the only two of their kind left. If you had asked her though, she would have given the much more grounded response where everyone was simply enjoying a nice day in without too much responsibility.
No matter what the two of them thought of the day though, something they would both be able to agree upon was that they greatly enjoyed one another's company. It helped that Button Mash had been harboring a pretty large and incredibly secret crush on Sweetie Belle for the majority of the past two years, and that he would jump at any chance to spend even a little bit of time with her. Every now and then, when he felt absolutely certain she was not looking, he would glance over at her, taking a moment to continue committing every minute, subtle detail of her face to memory, or just watch the way her two-toned mane bounced slightly with every step she took. Meanwhile, she would cast her own glances over at him, usually just as he looked back away from her, and try and figure out what he was thinking about. Unfortunately, most of her attempts ended in failure, save for the time she was certain that she somehow accidentally probed his brain for a few brief seconds during lunch.
That was something she never wanted to talk about. Ever.
As they rounded a corner, a sudden and particularly strong gust of wind came crashing down upon the friends, causing Button to stumble right into Sweetie. Luckily though, she was not the frail little thing she used to be, and remained practically rooted to her spot, which helped him recover faster.
"Thanks for that," he said, the pair resuming their aimless journey.
"Don't mention it, dude."
'And there's that word again,' Button Mash thought to himself. The fact that she said it - as well as others just like it - did not bother him in any way, he just liked to keep a mental list of how frequently she used the various terminology. It was actually somewhat funny to him, seeing someone who used to be much more eloquent, much more like her older sister, slowly evolve in to... well, whatever one wanted to call her now. That was also one of the things he liked so much about her: her ability to surprise him.
They carried on, making it all the way to Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle, the sight of which had everyone in town still adjusting to, even weeks after its sudden appearance. It was there that Sweetie suggested turning back before it got too late. Button wanted to keep pushing on, but knew that she was right. After all, if he missed curfew one more time, his mom would probably beat him.
And so it was that they began the return journey, the heavy clouds that hung over Ponyville blocking the sun as it began to set over the mountains.
For the first minute or two, it seemed as if things were going to carry on in much the same fashion as they had been the rest of the day, which both ponies were perfectly fine with, but then something began to eat at Button Mash. It was quick and intense, consuming him. His gut knotted several times over. One half of his brain was screaming at the other. Yet, on the outside, he was absolutely, one-hundred percent normal, with nothing out of place anywhere on his body.
He looked over at Sweetie Belle, not caring if she saw, and debated on whether or not he should ask her what was wrong with himself, but he already knew the answer. In an instant, two years of being in relatively close proximity to someone he cared very much for, never telling her the things he really wanted to, never acting at the "right moments", and never trying to change anything about how he felt for this girl had finally caught up to him in one swift motion, and now it was all threatening to crush him if he neglected this near-perfect moment life had given him to finally act. Some part of him just knew, deep down, that if he did not make any kind of move right now, then he would never have another shot at being able to get out everything that he wanted - needed - to.
He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and gave the reigns to his feelings.
"Hey, so, Sweetie Belle?"
She hummed a reply, looking over at him.
"I've been thinking lately about... a lot of things."
"Oh yeah?" she asked.
Sweetie came to a stop, but Button continued walking ahead a few extra steps. He did not want to stop - he wanted to keep moving, to let his thought process walk with his legs, but he knew he was going to stop anyway. When he finally looked back at her, everything seemed to freeze, his entire day, the past two years of his life, all captured in a single snapshot of perfection. Directly in front of him was the apple of his eye, Sweetie Belle, framed by houses on either side, fresh snow below, and gray clouds up above. Off in the distance, there stood Twilight’s impressive castle, its majesty second only to Sweetie.
She cracked a smile, her eyes focused solely on him, and he hoped that she was thinking the same things about him. Snow continued to fall, but they were both left untouched.
He blinked and shook his head, forcing himself to look away, lest he stand there and never think to leave. It really was getting down to being a “now or never” situation. Button had to finish what he was thinking and get it out there, or he was never going to say it to anybody. He pushed on.
“And a few of those things involve people I know, you know?”
She nodded once again.
He watched her face to gauge a reaction, but she was not giving him anything to work with. Being an Earth Pony, he did not know what it felt like to be a Pegasus, to soar high in the sky, but he was now certain he knew exactly how it felt to fly completely blind.
“Basically, Sweetie, can I ask you a question?”
She tilted her head slightly. “Yeah, Button, anything.”
He doubted that she would actually let him ask anything, but hoped that what he was about to drop would at least fall in to the “acceptable” category. There was only one sure way to find out, though.
"Well, it's kind of a touchy subject, but... you know, Sweetie Belle, we've known each other for a pretty long time, and I've been feeling something for a while, and, basically, can I take you out somewhere this weekend?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Button felt as if he had dropped dead. As one knot came undone in his gut, another one instantly took its place. His face burned brighter than any fire he had ever experienced before. And all the while, Sweetie Belle just stood there, mere feet away from him, quiet as a mouse. If somehow he really had not been killed by asking the question, then it was the waiting for a reply that would surely do him in.
'Is she angry? Did she even hear me? Oh, how can I play this off as, like, a joke?'
Thoughts raced within his mind at supersonic speeds, bouncing off the walls of his skull so hard that they threatened to break through the bone. The young Earth Pony now wanted nothing more than to look away from his friend, but something inside of him told him not to. For whatever reason, he felt he had to keep an eye on how she was reacting.
First, a blush spread across her face, turning Sweetie's white coat a deep crimson. She focused solely on Button Mash, their eyes locking with one another, and a wide smile spread across her face. The moment was short-lived, however, as the smile quickly composed itself and became something much more somber. These actions only served to make Button more anxious to hear her reply.
Slowly, Sweetie began to walk, though it was now Button who was rooted in place. She passed him, and he only moved once she was completely behind him, turning to catch back up.
As they walked, the only things Button Mash could hear were the sound of his own breathing, the soft crunch of fresh snow beneath their hooves with every step, and the wind. He felt he needed to say something to break the silence, to diffuse the situation, but he simply could not think of any way to escape the hole he had dug.
'Why did I have to complicate things? Why couldn't I just - '
"I'm so sorry, Button."
His thoughts had been stopped short by Sweetie Belle finally speaking up. Almost every part of him went on lockdown, and everything that was not now focused solely on Sweetie Belle and this conversation.
"Sorry for what?"
"I just can't go out with you this weekend."
"Well, hey, there's no reason to be so sad about it. It's just a friend's thing, y'know?"
That comment hurt him a little bit to say. Fortunately, Sweetie understood his real meaning.
"No, it's not, and we both know it."
"Even so, there's still nothing to be too torn up about."
Button Mash looked up, noting that the Market was not too far away from himself and Sweetie. Almost instantly, he knew that that meant Carousel Boutique was not too far off, which had the potential to cut their conversation short. There was a part of him wanted her to just say what she was going to say (though he was half-sure she already had anyway), and another part that wanted this moment, horrible feelings and all, to never end.
"There is something to be torn up about, and it's the fact that I just can't date you. I don't want to mess up whatever it is we've got by doing something like that."
The Earth Pony had a reply locked and loaded before Sweetie had even started talking again, but everything changed with her latest comment. It should have come to no surprise, but it stills hit him harder than he thought it would - he had just been friendzoned by the girl of his dreams. The one thing he had been expecting from the start had just occurred, and he was no more prepared now than he was then.
Sweetie Belle must have realized what she said, too, and quickly attempted some damage control.
"I'm sorry, Button, that's not what I meant. It's just, you know..."
She trailed off, perhaps thinking Button would just instantly knew what she meant. But he did not. He honestly did not really know what to say in response. Various replies floated around his head, but none seemed suitable for the current situation.
Luckily though, he would soon be given plenty of time to ponder what all of this meant, as the pair finally strolled up to Carousel Boutique's front door. Button was down about the results, but still somewhat happy that he at least finally said something.
They exchanged rather quiet goodbyes, then Button turned to leave, but before he got too far, Sweetie called his name. He turned around to see her standing in the open doorway, the lights inside casting a much taller shadow and partially concealing a portion of her face. He was the first to speak though, for better or worse.
"Listen, Sweetie, it's okay. We can still be just friends, and I'll be alright with it."
She took a second, looking like she was considering something, but then carried on.
"No, I was just going to say that, yes, we should still be friends, but you need to know something first."
And after that, she stopped. Button assumed that she was waiting for him to ask just what it was he needed to know, but he was really just looking to go home and try erasing certain parts of the night from his memory. Still, though, he figured that's what had made it this far, so he might as well see the rest of things through.
"What do I need to know, Sweetie Belle?"
"I've got feelings for you, too, Button Mash, I just don't know if I'm ready to act on them yet."
That single comment re-ignited his interest in the night's activities, but before he could say anything else, Sweetie had already said another quick goodbye and closed the door. He wanted to go up and ask for more, but figured that now would not be the time to press for answers and more information regarding a topic he was already anxious enough talking about with himself, let alone another living pony. Instead, he simply turned and began the walk home, knowing that, no matter what may have happened over the past night, it would be nothing in comparison to what would happen tomorrow.
Author's Note
Thank you very much for reading, everyone! If any of you have any comments or criticisms, please leave them in the comment section below.
Also, if anyone would like to give this story a once-over in the proofreading department, that would be very much obliged. Thank you very much again.
