Pushing warily through a curtain of mist, a hapless and unfortunate mare, clad in filthy and ramshackle armor, stepped into a grand, desolate cathedral.
From the far end, a huge figure stared at her silently. Looming and faceless, draped in fancy golden robes, standing atop two feet and holding two swords—the shorter of the two, still longer than any pony.
“Oh no… is he going to come at me?”
“Eventually.”
“Why would you say thaaat?”
The mare idled for a few moments, contemplating the inevitability of despair. Finally she took a few tentative steps forwards.
One of the figure’s swords burst into crackling orange flame, while the other twinkled with purple light.
“Don’t worry, you got this!”
“Easy for you to say!”
“Nah, he’s not so bad.”
“Really?”
Deep breath. The mare broke into a steady trot, a large shield floating by one side and a spear at the other.
***
Pushing warily through a curtain of mist, a hapless and unfortunate mare stepped into a grand, desolate cathedral. From the far end, a huge figure stared at her silently.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get a hit in this time!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“You could also try and parry him.”
“… Parry… which button is that?”
“This one. That first swing he does is a good chance.”
“Okay…”
Imbued with a tiny modicum of confidence, the mare somersaulted forwards.
***
Pushing despondently through a curtain of fog, a hapless and unfortunate mare stepped into a grand, desolate cathedral. An epic battle ensued.
“Why does he have so much health?”
“I told you you should’ve gotten the claymore.”
“That stupid dragon kept killing me! What’s so good about it anyway?”
“It’s an intellectual weapon, for the chosen ones.”
“I don’t think you know what that means.”
“You’re almost dead, by the way.”
“Wha—!”
Neglected by her controller, the mare met a tragic and pointless demise, skewered on the shiny tip of a glowing longsword, and left to expire in agony upon the polished marble floor.
***
By the time Sweetie Belle had finished screaming into a pillow, Button Mash had yet to stop snickering. Glaring at him vengefully, she scuttled on over and flicked his stupid propeller hat off of his dumb, no-good head, to which he responded with a gasp of dismay.
“This game’s dumb,” Sweetie said, thumping down onto her haunches.
“You seemed to be enjoying it before!” Button said as he retrieved his hat. “Ponytiff Sulyvahn gives a lot of ponies a lot of trouble. You’ll get him eventually, though.”
“No, I won’t. Because I’m never playing this game ever again,” Sweetie huffed. Her naughty hoof started scooting for the controller, though, and had to be yanked back quickly. “Why don’t you play it for a bit instead?”
“Wha—me? N-no, that’s fine! I mean, I have it, I can play it any time, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess. There’s no way Rarity would let me play this one.” She’d probably gasp, horrified, and go on some tirade about how it’d turn her into a nasty, unladylike brute that—
“But you can take a break!” Button said loudly, before reining himself in. “It’d probably be good. You play better when you’re not frustrated and stuff, you know?”
That did make sense. “Can I go get a drink, maybe?” It’d be nice, Sweetie thought, to step outside the room for a moment, have some quiet while she got a glass of water or something. Yeah, that sounded—
“A drink?” Button sprang up to his hooves and rushed over to the door. “Sure! C’mon, let’s go!”
That was fine too. He’d had her over before, she knew where the kitchen and all that was. But whatever.
It’d been easier to overlook while they were chatting and playing in Button’s room, but as soon as she set hoof outside she could hear the wind howling. When they went past a window on the way to the kitchen, she paused to peak out. And she saw only cracks of the darkness she’d expect in the nighttime; the rest was just snow.
She’d been expecting to just be over for a couple hours in the morning, when it was clear and dry, not to be spending the night. But now she wasn’t sure the door would even open.
“Nothing to worry about, Sweetie,” Button’s mom had said. “I’m sure the pegasi will have it under control in the morning.” She’d heard this could happen once in a while—a bit of that creepy Everfree weather bleeding into Ponyville—but this was the first time she’d actually seen it happen. Kinda cool, in a scary way. Snow just started falling from the sky in huge chunks out of nowhere, and now it was everywhere.
She wondered if—
“Hey, so!” Button said loudly. “How’re you liking the game?”
“Oh, uh…” Sweetie pursed her lips, shaking her head as she resumed course for the kitchen. “I guess it feels good. So hard, though.”
“I know, right?” Button followed along right by her side. “I could hardly sleep the first time I played it. All I could think about, you know?”
“Wow, really? I don’t get that. But it’s fun. Most of the time.”
Button seemed to falter at that for a moment. But then they reached the kitchen and he went right back to being chatty. “Well, glasses and stuff are over here. Help yourself!” he said, bouncing on over to a cupboard and pulling it open.
“… Yeah, I know. I’ve been here loads of times, remember?”
“Oh. Yeah, right.” Button chuckled nervously.
He was being weird. Maybe he was just disappointed she didn’t like the game as much as he did? That’d totally happened before, though, and it hadn’t seemed to bother him that much.
He chatted about other stuff while she got a glass, filled it up and started drinking. She wasn’t paying much attention, though, just nodding along. He didn’t usually get that talkative, when there wasn’t a game to use as a launching point.
As they walked back to Button’s room, they passed that window again and she took another peak, frowning.
It’d all be cleared up by Hearth’s Warming, right? Tomorrow was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and surely it wouldn’t take two days to—
“So how’re you liking it?” Button suddenly said. They’d gotten back to his room, and he’d opened the door. “The, uh, game. I mean.”
Sweetie frowned harder, and once they were inside she turned to face Button. “You just asked me that. Like a few minutes ago.”
“Oh. Did I?” A peal of nervous laughter spilled out of him as Button shut the door behind them. “My bad, sorry. Well, do you—?”
“You’re being a little weird. Is something up?”
Button tensed up, eyes flitting side-to-side. “What? Weird? No, why would anything be weird? Just another night? R-right?”
“Why would I know that?”
“I dunno.” Button scuttled over to plop down in front of the TV, where he looked meaningfully in Sweetie’s general direction. “Anyway, you wanna keep playing?”
Sweetie shrugged. “I’m kinda tired. Does your mom always let you stay up this late?”
“No, this is just for… um. Y’know. Today.”
“That makes sense. Hearth’s Warming—” when Button flinched at the mention of the holiday, Sweetie arched an eyebrow “—is coming up, right?”
“Is it? I-I mean… it’s still pretty far off, right?”
Sweetie groaned loudly. “Okay, what’s with you tonight? Is something wrong?
It took a while for Button to speak. He shrank back and looked away, his hooves rubbing on the carpet. Sweetie watched quietly, irritation quickly replaced with concern.
Eventually: “It’s supposed to be about family, right? Hearth’s Warming?” Button looked down at his hooves. “Your family, I mean. Mom said the storm might not let up for a while, so I was thinking maybe you wouldn’t…”
It was easy to guess where that was going. “Oh. Yeah, I guess so.”
Button’s chuckle was tight and anxious. “I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t be thinking about that. Especially if I kept you busy with stuff, you know?” He looked up at her, managing a weak smile. “Doesn’t seem like it’s bothering you much, though. Guess I didn’t need to, huh?”
“Well, no, it’s… I hadn’t thought about that, really.” A moment of contemplation lead to a giggle and a smile, drawing a perplexed stare. “Rarity would figure something out. If we didn’t get to spend Hearth’s Warming together. That’s what she does. It’ll suck, but it’ll be okay, you know?”
Button’s face shifted through several phases. A smile, then a frown, and then back to a smile, but a little smaller this time. “That’s good,” he said. “That’s really good.”
Sweetie blinked, then realized what she’d said. “But I'm glad you were thinking about me! And I don’t mind spending it with you!” she blurted. “Friends are important too, right? You care about them, and that’s the part that’s supposed to matter, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.”
“Yeah!” Sweetie shuffled over to sit next to Button. “So I wanna play some more games with you. Any suggestions?”
A big, bright grin took hold of Button’s face. “Yeah, I think we can find something…”
