"Button?" a voice echoes. "He appears to be unconscious."

"What do YOU think, Crash?" another voice says.

"Quick, how many hooves am I holding up?"

"The answer's always one, Scoots!"

The colt suddenly comes to.

"O-One?" he groans.

"See, told ya." AppleBloom says.

"Button, are you alright?" Sweetie Belle asks frantically.

He turns to the worried filly hovering over him, the sun glistening around her form.

"Your heart rate has increased again."

"I-I am now." he says dreamily.

"Oh, great. That was a close one." she sighs in relief. "Come on, let's call it a day."

Sweetie casually trots off.

"Buck..." he thinks.

"Now that that's over with-" Scootaloo says, taking a deep breath. "OMC, that was so COOL Crash, you can FLY!"

"If you are referring to my Heli-Pack and mechanical strength, then yes, it is certainly...awesome, is it?" he says.

The Crusader cart catches the little toy's attention.

"What about your cart?"

"Ah think that's 'nough cart ridin' for now." AppleBloom states putting a detached wheel back on the deathtrap. "We'll try again on another, more...cliff-less hill, next time."

The two Crusaders give the Apple filly a harsh glare.

"Sorry." she chuckles.

The four children push the tattered cart up the hill and through a safe path back to Ponyville. They park the thing under their tire swing set next to the clubhouse.

"Hm, well that was fun while it lasted." Button utters exhausted.

"Eh, just another day for the Cutie Mark Crusaders." Sweetie shrugs. "So, what are you two doing later?"

"Rest my nerves."

"Same." the three fillies say.

"Maybe I'll participate in another Smash Pones sess-"

*CLANK*

Crash's left arm suddenly gives out, dragging on the ground dangling from loose wires in the toy's socket.

"Oh, my." he says.

"Crash, what's wrong?" Button asks.

"My hoof is badly damaged from our previous endeavor."

"This is bad, this is BAD!"

"How come? Didn't you and yur Dad make 'em?" AppleBloom says skeptically.

"What the hay, Lie Detector Jr.?!"

"U-Uh, yeah! It's just...there's a special tool needed to fix him and Dad's the only one who has it."

"Well, what can you do for him?" the worried pegasus asks.

"Whooves!" Sweetie Belle exclaims.

"Say wha?" Button says.

"Doctor Whooves, he'll probably help Crash. He sometimes helps Rarity fix her sewing machine."

"Oh, he's great!" AB says. "Thanks to him, our tractor is workin' twice as good now."

"My scooter wouldn't have been the same without him." Scootaloo adds.

"I guess I'll give him a visit. It was fun hanging with you all." Button says, heading down the path with Crash out of Sweet Apple Acres.

"See ya guys!" they say simultaneously.

"After a while, them speaking in unison can be a little freaky." the colt thinks.

The sun is close to set as the two friends make their way to the kooky doctor's place.

"Are you certain this Mr. Whooves can assist in repairing me?" Crash asks.

"Trust me. I know almost exactly what I'm doing." Button states. "Plus, he can't be THAT bad, remember what the girls said? Guy's a genius."

Out of nowhere, an explosion of black smoke forces its way out of a nearby building.

"That must be it."

"Oh, dear."

"Don't worry, he's a genius." Button unsurely assures.

"One of the other foals at school called you a 'genius', so anything's possible."

"Ouch, too far!"

"Kidding." the cheeky toy chuckles.

Button eventually reaches the inventor's humble abode/workplace. Above the door was a sign:

'Whooves Labs
You tatter it, we tinker it.'

"Here goes nothing, I suppose."

He trots up to the entrance and cautiously taps on the door.

Nothing.

He taps a little louder, still nothing.

"Well, I guess he's not home. Better luck next time, let's go."

The frantic child turns heel to leave when a telescope pokes out the top floor's window, examining the two.

"Greetings there, little one!" a voice echoes through the eyepiece.

"A-Are you Whooves?" he asks nervously.

"That is I. What can I do you for?"

"Um, I have a broken toy in need of repair, sir."

After a moment of ~~science~~ silence, the telescope retreats back inside as the front door automatically opens.

"Oh, by all means, do come in."

Button hesitantly enters the establishment with his damaged comrade.

The door soon slams close, booming throughout the dim lab.

"Interesting. For a laboratory, it does have a very eerie setting." Crash says.

"Apologies. My lab partner, Miss Hooves assumed ALL laboratories should be dark and gloomy."

The two turn to see the nutty professor emerge from upstairs wearing a pair of safety goggles.

"And I still stand by it!"

Suddenly, the clumsy, soot-covered grey pegasus pops out from the basement entangled in a jungle of wires.

Whooves flips a switch on the wall, turning on the lights.

Adjusting to the brightness, the little two fully view the vast lab. There, he sees an abundance of wacky creations and mechanisms, clicking gears and marble rails galore.

"Impressive, eh?" the stallion asks confidently.

They, especially Crash, were at a loss for words.

"I-It's incredible!" Button exclaims.

"Truly stunning." Crash admits.

"Who said that?" Derpy asks.

The skittish colt places Crash on a tabletop labeled 'Tinker Table'.

"Alrighty, let's see what we've got 'ere." Whooves says, pulling down a large magnifying glass over the inanimate object. "Now, what seems to be the issue?"

"I seem to have put to a lot of strain on my [nerd words]." Crash says casually.

"Oh, that does look a bit ghastly." the doctor murmurs to himself, analyzing the toy's torn socket.

Soon, he sees the sentient plaything in motion.

"I'm Crash, nice to meet you." he greets, hoof extended.

"Oh, he's learning! I'm so proud!" Button squees on the inside.

"Great giddly gadgets! Where'd you get this kind of contraption, lad?" he exclaims.

Button begins the tale of his encounter with the living intelligent toy and the ~~torment~~ good times they've had. Occasionally, Derpy would show to hear the toy story before having to rush downstairs to tend to a beeping contraption in the basement.

That was a sign that he needed to get out of there.

"So...can you fix him, Doc?" he asks hopefully.

"Don't fret, young lad. Whooves assures. "By tomorrow, I'll have him up, and running in a jiffy Mister-"

"Button Mash. And the toy whose stomach you're prodding at is Crash."

"That's champion, that is. What're you comprised of?"

The amount of science lingo and nerd jargon beats the simple colt's mind into submission.

"Ugh, I'll see you soon, bud."

"Oh, my brain hurts."

As Button leaves the lab he notices the sun is close to setting and all the salesponies are closing up shop.

"OMC, it's getting late!"

He jumps into a swift sprint down the road to home, bumping his way past busy ponies.

"Oh, I'm gonna be in so much- excuse me, sorry pardon me!- trouble!"

Button begins taking shortcut after shortcut through the streets, leaping over obstacles Cheerio style.

"Oof!"

And failing miserably.

Eventually, he reaches the house moments before Princess Celestia sets the sun with her magic.

"Okay, all I need to do is sneak upstairs and-"

When he opens the door, he finds himself staring dead center at a furious Cream Heart.

"Button '8-Bit' Mash!" she bellows.

"Oh, the full name again!"

"Where have you been? I was so worried!"

"I-I was hanging out with the Crusaders, Mom. Things kinda gotten out of hoof with one of my friends." he states shakened up.

"That's the understatement of the day."

She prepares to protest until her eyes widen after hearing 'friends'.

"You hung out...with other foals? That's great!"

"Say what now?" he utters.

"It's nice to know my little masher has friends to see after school." she squeaks cheerfully.

"Oookay, then?"

"So, what's her name?"

"M-Mom, it's not like that!" he stammers trotting inside. "It's a guy."

Cream's eyes widen once more.

"I-It's not like that either! Just a friend of mine, he's at the doctors."

"Oh." she says in relief. "What happened to him?"

"Pulled a hoof. He's fine, though." he assures. "Was a real drag for him."

At Whooves Labs

"Have you calibrated the [nerd word]?" Crash asks.

"Positive." Whooves says.

"Did you carry the one? I tend to repetitively make that error."

The doctor pauses.

"One moment, if you will."

He rushes behind his desk and rapidly doodles on a sheet of graph paper before making changes to the gizmo he and the toy are working on. Whooves flips the switch and the machine spurs to life.

"Success!" he exclaims.

On cue, the machine expels a steaming brown liquid in a mug.

"No more coffee runs for us, Miss Hooves!"

The bubbly pegasus does a celebratory hoof pump, causing her to fall off the ladder she was on into a box of nuts and bolts.

Crash holds out his broken hoof for a slap only for the doctor to high-one it across the room.

"Oops, I-I can fix that, ol' chap."

Author's Note

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

(I may or may not feel a little forgotten, folks...)