(This was originally was going to be uploaded on Christmas Eve, but I didn’t finish in time. Anyways, enjoy my belated Christmas LtC review.)
With Christmas just around the corner, People always have some kind of plans whether it is Traveling to Family or having family come over. Occasionally though, sometimes these plans don’t go over very well (Especially if you’re from the Griswold family.) With such things happening, it could be due to many different reasons, and one such thing happens between a member of the CMC and a Gamer Pony in a fanfic I’m here to talk about called The Gift of the Mash.
Button Mash and Sweetie Belle are both eager for Hearth’s Warming m. Button is mainly happy for all the games he could get and Sweetie is looking forward to a trip to Manehattan with Rarity for the Manehattan Hearth’s Warming Show. Later that night, A fire breaks out and burns down Carousel Boutique (After Sweetie Belle & Rarity get out) which leaves Sweetie Belle in a saddened state.
Button Mash and the CMC try to cheer her up, but they have no luck. So, Button Mash decides to cheer her up by getting her new tickets for the show and decides to sell his most prized possession, a Neo Geo game, in order to afford the tickets. He then gets them for her and her family, but decides to give them anonymously.
After they come back from the show, Rarity wonders about who the donator is while Sweetie Belle goes to Button’s house to give him his gift from her. Rarity assumes it’s Twilight due to the fact she’s royalty and can get them with ease, but she just came back from Canterlot and only just now heard about the Boutique been burnt down. (Oddly for a brief moment, my OTP crawled in here.)
Sweetie Belle then visits Button and they briefly talk about their different Christmas’ they had. Sweetie Belle, obviously, had a great time; While Button got to be with his family and only got Clothes instead of the Video Games he wanted. She then comes to the conclusion that Button is the one who gave them the tickets (He kept the Game in a Glass Box and when she arrived it was empty.) So she then thanks him immensely and, conveniently being under Mistletoe, she kisses him and then it ends.
Obviously, the Story is based on the Gift of the Magi.
While I vaguely remember the Gift of the Magi, I do know where they differ and share similarities such Button giving up one of his prized possessions to make her happy…Even though Sweetie Belle didn’t really give up anything for Button’s gift in the story since we never know what she got him. Regardless, I thought it was a pretty good take on the story.
As I expected, the Story does develop the relationship of the two. It covers some of the basics through flashbacks like how they meet, how they eventually become friends, and it shows that Sweetie cares about him in a bit of a romantic way. Button, on the other hand, doesn’t seem interested in anything other than his games most of the time. Although, he may not show it, he does care about her.
(The fanfic even uses the milkshake scene from Button’s Adventures as one of the flashbacks.)
The Story does a great job of giving Button Mash a personality.
It depicts him the same way as the JanAnimation videos do but it tells of what he’s gone through in the past such as being a child whose family is constantly moving due to his father’s job (Possibly a Royal Guard) and how he plays the games due to the fact he’s never really made any true friends (until Sweetie Belle of course.) It also tells of how he is different from the CMC since he doesn’t worry about what his Cutie Mark will be and how he will make video games, regardless of his Cutie Mark. (He’s very similar to Rarity in that aspect.) Plus it hints that his brother is Flash Sentry (Button mentions how his brother is dating “That Sparkler Girlâ€.)
Overall, I really liked this fanfic. It was a great character study for Button Mash’s personality and his relationship with Sweetie Belle, it faired over well as an adaptation/ponification of the Gift of the Magi, and it ended up being a great Hearth’s Warming story…Even though this is the only one I’ve read about the holiday. It’s definitely worth reading, whether it be for Christmas or not.
Title Card by Kane Flecther: jarvisrama99.deviantart.com
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