Button's Manehatten Minute

Pick Up The Rifle

Button rolled his eyes at his own hesitation as the end results screen for the dark blue mare, and slid the token into the second player slot. He then pulled the second rifle out of its holster, and fired at the screen to show he was in. It cleared the stats screen, and he frowned for a moment, having meant to look at her scores before moving on. Not that he hadn’t seen her skill firsthand.

He checked the tracking on the game, moving his aim quickly, keeping the rifle at his hip and going purely by where the tracker showed the rifle as pointing. A soft whistle escaped him as it kept up perfectly. “You don’t usually find cabinets this good.”

The other player swiped her silver mane behind ear as the ‘story’ to the silly game played. Her voice still had the same edge to it, but from how her features seemed to have softened, Button wondered if it was simply ingrained into her vocal cords. “I wouldn’t play if it weren’t.”

He grinned as the last few pieces of dialogue played out, and he smacked the bottom of the rifle, wondering if he looked anything like Hoof Nukem like this. Then again, Hoof was more of a boomstick user than a riflecolt. “Ah, so you’re a quality gamer. I’ll admit that sometimes it’s actually more fun to play against the limitations of a game, especially if you want goofy stories.”

“Get Shootin’!”

Button had been looking at the mare as the words were said, and watched as the rifle came up, sighted, and fired, all in one fluid motion. Her whole body was rigid now, but her eyes relaxed. Half closed, they looked tired, but he watched as they swiveled free, never staying in a single spot for more than a few milliseconds. It was… terrifying.

As her second round rang off, he was reminded that they were still playing a game, and Button turned back to it. “I’ll take the left, you take the right!” He fired on one on his side, forcing him to cover, and exposing the poor jerk behind him. Another round saw him gone. A round from her got rid of the guy behind cover, who only had a hand showing, and it progressed them forward.

He was certain now that she was better, and while intimidating, it was also kind of hot. “Um, so my name’s Button Mash. Yours?”

Silence came from the other side, as the mare didn’t even budge from her position. He thought he could see a frown on her lips, and a pang of guilt ran through him. She had four kills to his one, and he could hear her words echoing in his mind. If he wanted her to talk, he would need to really focus, and stop being an idiot.

The next screen did indeed go better as he paid attention solely to the game. Anyone watching would probably think they were evenly matched, but Button could hear it. A second before him, she would already be ready, having her target picked, sighted, and shot. It almost drove him crazy, and each screen was like this.

And with each screen, he fell behind. It wasn’t the same deficit, but he was always down by another kill or two, and he couldn’t figure out how. Maybe it was her technique? But she was a lot more limited in her mobility. It just didn’t make sense to him.

Button only let the storm brew in the back of his mind, instead deciding to keep firing. He was still doing well, and hopefully she didn’t actually expect him to keep up with her. He mentally shrugged with the condolence as he aimed at the last enemy, her cursor on its way. He sighted up, hers fell onto the target, and fired, with her following one second after.

“Miss!”

What Button didn’t see was the mare’s eyes widening as her hand went down to her hip, patting something no one could see. Another, purple hand fell onto her blue one, and the mare looked into the eyes of another. The second one raised a quick eyebrow, and Button finally looked over as the sniper let out a deep breath.

The second mare, a purple earth pony with a black mane coming around and extending a hand to Button. “Hey there! Not every night I meet a stallion who can get my galpal here so riled up.”

The one at the gun glared at the second, but otherwise said nothing. To be fair to her, Button thought, she definitely didn’t act riled up. “Umm, are you sure? Because I feel like I’ve been messing up all night, and I just was hoping to make a new friend.”

The purple mare smiled, her low cut, light blue shirt showing off a large amount of cleavage as she slouched. “Ahh, isn’t he precious? I would even possibly say he’s even more innocent than you, Si.”

Button’s ears perked up at that, and he turned to the quiet mare. “Si? Is that your name, or is it short for something?”

“You aren’t going to get an answer out of her. She doesn’t really do-”

“It’s Silence. Not what I was born with, but it fits my talents, and my usual choice of tool.” Silence lowered her gun into its holster, her eyes glancing down at her wrist where a thin watch laid. “Arcade is about to close. Me and Bruise have work to do anyways, but if Bruise really wants someone there to chat with, you can tag along.”

Bruise’s mouth hung open at the invitation, before she turned to Button and then back at her friend, her hands gesturing wildly as she tried to figure out what in Equestria was going on. “Silence!”

The pegasus looked back, an eyebrow raised as she held up a set of keys. “You can come with us, or we can drop you off somewhere. I don’t really care which.”

Bruiser scratched her head before looking at Button, who looked just about as confused. “Umm, I actually could use someone to talk to, I guess, so it’s up to you.”

Go with the two.

Have them drive you back to the hotel.