Button's Manehatten Minute

Investigate the Bundle

Button walked over to the bundle of cloth, biting into his cheek as he came closer. He was honestly expecting the worst, but the next moment showed that he wasn’t the only one. A flash of steel caught the flickering street light, before a small, scared set of blue eyes looked at him. Button could also see a few loose strands of an orange mane that escaped the old cloth.

He put his hands up to show he was unarmed, and even took a pace back. The mare’s, or filly from how young she looked to Button, eyes softened in response, though she still held the knife towards him. It shook and quivered in her unsteady hands, and the hand holding it looked like it couldn’t put much power into any sort of thrust towards him.

Button swallowed hard, before extending his hand to her. “My name’s Button, and… are you okay?”

Before the mare could respond, a gurgling sound filled the space, before a pained squeak, and the filly doubled over, as if in pain. This brought Button instinctively closer, before the knife got redirected back at him. He didn’t move back though as he knelt onto the ground. “I don’t want to hurt you, I promise. Just… are you okay?”

The mare paused for a few moments, her hand seemingly continuing to get worse, until the blade fell to the ground. She then shut her eyes, allowing a few tears to fall to the ground as she shook her head. Button frowned, before coming closer, and reaching out to her with his hand. Her own slipped into his, shaking like a leaf.

Button helped her up, grabbing her fallen knife in the process. Before she could properly react to the possible threat, Button extended the handle to her and smiled. Now that he could get a good look of her, he could believe that she’d be pretty cute if it weren’t for the mud and dirt that coated her white fur. That only made him smile more as he tried to gesture for her to take the knife. “I doubt you want to lose this, right?”

She snatched it from his hands, her eyes never leaving a state of paranoia. Ponies like him didn’t just appear. They alway had something wrong with them, some sort of agenda to hurt her. She couldn’t let that happen though.

Button scratched the back of his head as he looked to the ratty, old blanket that had still was on the ground now. “Hey, I know it’s weird, but I have a hotel room-”

The mare’s eyes narrowed, knowing what was to come.

“-so, I can at least give you a warm bed for the night, as long as my mom allows it.”

She stopped at that. Unless his mom was in on the possibility of… but then they would need to be… The mare looked down, confused by how the offer had turned out. How it wasn’t right. She glanced back to him, realizing that he was still waiting for her reply.

She took another long look at Button. He wore a nice, white shirt, like most business stallions, and the slacks only complimented that thought. He also had a hotel room, so he was probably just staying for a few days, and had some amount of money.

Which meant she might get some food tomorrow through him.

“Y-yes, I would like that, a lot.”

Button smiled, happy that the night seemed to be looking up now, before gesturing to the main streets. “It’s a bit of a walk, but we should be able to get there pretty easily... “ He frowned, before looking back to his new companion. “What’s your name?”

She glanced at him, but decided that there was no reason to keep something so insignificant from him. It’s not like it would help him find her tomorrow. “Orange Cream.”

Button smiled at that, before licking his lips. “Sounds delicious!”

Cream just stayed silent to that, not wishing to talk. She had no reason to trust the colt. He seemed plenty innocent, but her time on the streets had shown her that they were usually the most dangerous. The only thing that stopped her from disappearing into an alley was the hunger gnawing at her after three days without a meal.

When they did finally get to the hotel room, she waited outside while Button went to talk to his mom. Every nerve in her was screaming in her to run away, and as fast as possible. They could be doing anything in there, and she had no way of knowing. It would be so easy for it to all go wrong.

And then Love Tap stepped out, and Cream felt her head short circuit. She didn’t know the mare. She was as much a blank slate as Button was to her. But one look into those blue eyes, and the motherly concern in them, and it shook the homeless mare to her core.

Love Tap reached out, touching the side of her face. “Let’s get you cleaned up, alright?”

The touch made her mind scream, with every alarm in her blaring like a million different calamities at once. This mare was dangerous, though she couldn’t place why. If she accepted what the mare said, she wouldn’t be able to harm her. Wouldn’t be able to harm Button. But that also meant continuing to starve…

Insist on just needing some sleep.

Let the nice mare take her to get cleaned up.