LP:EQO Hobby Bluffs

Butterscotch took me right to the Hobby Bluffs apartments after we left Mrs. Nugget's place.

"Let me know what you end up getting into," Butterscotch said. "Maybe you could be a map maker, help find more locations for orchards and shops around the edges of town? I don't know. I'd like to trade and we can help each other," she said.

With that, the Earth pony waved, and I flung myself off of the cart, doing a little loop de loop which descended right into the entryway of the apartment complex.

Butterscotch puttered off in the cart, and I took in the big entryway / mailroom of the apartments.

There were at least 50 little mailboxes, and a big box that had a hand drawn note: "Overstuffed". With the cutie mark of a stamp pressed against the little square note attached to it.

There was a tack board on the opposite wall.

The biggest thing tacked to the board was the Hobbython details.

HOBBYTHON - Hobby Bluffs own tradition. 
Late Summer schedule

Late Summer week 1 - Butterscotch Candy Store (Upstairs) : Candy making & Word Puzzles
(written below: a brief note: "Quizzly was right, that last one was hard.")


Late Summer week 2 - Knicknack Oddities Store (Basement) : Toy making & Hobbython Settlers
(written below was a note: Went great! I made a barking dog toy!")

Late Summer week 3 - Sweetmuffin's Bakery (Dining Area) : Baking Ideas & Indoor ball games

Late Summer week 4 - Just a Peach's Orchard (Picnic Area) : Gardening & Orchards & Sodaglug's new Capture the Flag variant.


From the notes I guessed tomorrow was the bakery.

Just for fun (and because some games sent you mail at the beginning), I checked my mailbox, number #27.

The box was fully of letters, and a key which had "Oversized" written on it. I decided to wait for the oversized until tomorrow. I was getting tired already.

I grabbed the letters and headed upstairs and down the hall to apartment #27. It was a studio apartment, snug but not so tiny that I couldn't have guests.

It had blue shades decorated like the sky with white clouds interspersed. The shades were closed on the large glass slider door which lead out to a balcony.

The balcony had a pony friendly chair and plenty of area for me to fly off and land. The railing was only three feet high, and perhaps might make some earth ponies nervous.

 I walked back into the studio, closing the sliding door but pulling the shades open.

It was a pretty good view for the middle of an apartment complex. I could see the back of the Hopricot Brewery (Hopricot: Mr. Hoppy and Mrs. Apricot's own concoctions.)

 There were a few empty Kegs, but the back area was shockingly clean for a brewery. I had worked in a craft brewery and restaurants during my 4 years at the University of Colorado. Without an exception the areas that were not public were a mess. No one had time or desire to thoroughly clean the area near the dumpster, but Hopricot's overly small dumpster was polished and closed, and no offensive odors had wafted their way over.

I pondered for a moment, if Butterscotch had helped make a Butterscotch flavored beer. Weird, but I was curious.

 The physical me was tired. Blue Yonder was a mare with a desire to explore. I succumbed to my Grad Student desire to sleep whenever possible.

I had rushed home, leaving half graded papers on the kitchen island as I went into my bedroom and picked up the ponypad, and entered Blue Yonder's apartment.

The shades were closed again, though I had not closed them. Like before, I quickly forgot grad student and became a curious mare again.

It was only a half hour before Hobbython, I realized when I picked up the invitation that slipped under my door.

Being a studio, the bed was just tucked into a corner, slightly isolated with a jutted out section of wall.

My letters were still sitting unopened on the counter, but I read the invite first.


Dear Ms. Yonder,

No invitation is required, but I thought I should specifically invite you to tonight's Hobbython. I understand that as a visitor, you may be extra sleepy at times, so I just wanted to remind you the Hobbython stars in 28 minutes (I put a little spell on the letter so it shows you how long you have to wait.)

Cheery Tinsel, your new neighhhbor.

PS. It's at Sweetmuffin's Bakery, downtown Hobby Bluffs.


I somehow brushed my mane in record time and flew off from the balcony. I would have been lost flying around the downtown area without the sight of three ponies waving their hoofs at me.

I circled and swooped back around and came in for an flashy landing right in front of the bakery.

"Welcome new neighbor!" said the first pony, a unicorn with silver wobbly lines for a cutie mark said. "I'm Cheery Tinsel, this is Songbird Scroll, and Saber Artist here says he met you outside Canterlot."

"Blue Yonder," I responded.

Songbird was a Pegasus like me, Tinsel was a unicorn and Saber Artist, of course, an earth pony.

"This calls for a celebration!" said Cheery Tinsel and as she took a breath, Songbird Scroll interrupted, "Uhh, Hobbython is start. Afterward you can Tinsel it up."

"Hmmph, alright. Come on Blue Yonder, Hobbython is starting."

The bakery had a large dining area as they entered. The warmth of baking bread and the wafting smell of sticky buns assaulted his senses.

From the name and the amount of celebration over it, I thought Hobbython would be big on ceremony. But it was more like a gathering at a civic center. The ponies were sitting on pony friendly chairs arranged in a moon like arc, all pointing towards a central spot where another pony was waiting.

"Looks like everypony is here. Glad you all made it. So, um, Hobbython, Late Summer week 3. I'm your hostess Frosting Sweetmuffin, baker and jolly pony of the community. I know most of you, of course, but we have a new pony here so I thought I'd make an introduction. For the Hostess event, I will be showing you how to make your own bakery confection.

"Whether it's bread, muffins (my favorite), cherry turnovers or creme-filled long-johns, I'll help you prepare and bake your confection. For the less craftsy pony, we have a game room filled with several whimsical game ideas using balls.

"From dodgeball to rainbow sparkle hot potato there's a lot of hobby fun. And there's always impromptu connections, food, friendship and fun!"

Saber Artist (with his saber on a canvas cutie-mark), spoke up, "Anyone interested in some funny games with bouncing balls of all sizes, follow me upstairs."

"Follow me if you want to bake something of your own," said Frosting Sweetmuffin.

Others stuck around at the dining room, congregating over their favorite topics and eating delicious bread, turnovers and tarts.

"We're going to follow Saber," Tinsel said and Scroll nodded.

I followed Tinsel and Scroll, who were following Saber Artist with a few other ponies. They climbed up a spiral of steps to Sweetmuffin's home, which had a sign saying, "Hobbythoners Welcome! Come on in!"

"This was Frosting's guest bedroom yesterday. The largest room in the loft, of course. All the bedrooms gone, and Hobbython here," said Tinsel.

Saber Artist spoke up, as he looked down at the multi-colored beach ball bumping against his leg.

 "Let's all introduce ourselves in the Hobbython style, for our new neighbor. I'm Saber Artist, an artistic minded policeman from a family of guard ponies in Shield Bay. I teach sword based martial arts on the side, and sometimes MC Hobbython activities like this one."

"I'm Carmel Apple, Granny Apple's eldest grand-daughter. Normally I love new craftsy stuff, but I needed a break from all the time I've spent making my new apple bounce. I like to play the flute too."

Carmel Apple was an earthpony with an apple on a stick as her cutie mark.

"I'm Captain Rose, I'm Princess Celestia's military attache to Hobby Bluffs. While Saber Artist walks the near path, keeping an eye on lost travelers and miscreants alike, I scout out the wider reaches around Hobby Bluffs, between us and our neighboring villages to the east, northwest hills and southwest plains. I watch for threats against Equestria as a whole.

"Prompt reaction to a threat occurring in one place, before it has a chance to spread, is a key part of us Bounders, we are extra eyes for Celestia to see who may be disrupting our peaceful kingdom. Oh and I ramble I guess. Um, I make weapons, just for fun and target practice. Ms. Doodle keeps reminding me to give them the humor they need. I don't want Celestia to ask me to stop because I'm terrifying the people of Hobby Bluffs. My latest one shoots sparkles."

"I'm Songbird Scroll. I come from a family of unicorns who focus on magic and sometimes music, but I wanted to fly, so I got Celestia to change me to a Pegasus. I kept the Scroll family name, but I'm Songbird now. I give singing lessons, and advanced flying lessons too, and still use the family scrolls, though now its for transcribing my favorite songs."

 Songbird winked as she ended her intro.

"I'm Cheery Tinsel. I love making tinsel, streamers, any kind of celebratory decoration that moves. I'm the town cheerpony, self-declared of course, I like to cheer up anypony that's having a bad day. I also enjoy greeting anyone new moving into the Hobby Bluff apartments."

Cheery smiled.

They all turned to me now.

"Uh. Hi! I'm Blue Yonder, I'm visiting Hobby Bluffs, hopefully staying here for good. I love to fly, but I'm still learning my skills. I don't know what sort of hobby I'll find here, but I'm willing to try it all, because I love to explore, new places and new ideas."

"Hi Blue!" they all said.  "We'll find your Hobby, I promise," Cheery assured.

"OK, well for Blue Yonder's benefit, I'll go over the game. This is kinda chaotic, and off we go, improv ball games. You do something, and you tell others what you're doing. One word only!"

They backed up to give more room between everyone, balls gonging, and tinking around.

Cheery picked up a big red and white beach ball and kicked it up with a hoof. "Potato!"

It bashed me right in the snout, ricocheting back towards Cheery, who pushed it over to Songbird.

At the same time Saber Artist tossed a small heavier ball into the air. "Float!"

He juggled the ball with his whole body, leaping up into the air off of his hind legs.

I got into the fun, after tossing back the Potato ball and tapping the Float ball back into the air with the top of my mane, I rolled the heavy ball, which landed with a thunk.

I froze: "Pin!" I said. Wasn't sure if pinball was counted as one word.

The others got it, and rousing game of pony pinball got going, while other balls flew through the air. Each pony was a flipper, and I was the last flipper before the heavy ball rolled out the door.

I was getting used to being a pony, as a I laid down on my side and used my whole back as the flipper. It was silly.

"Usually the group finds the game they like and we meld into playing that. We haven't played pinball, well since last year, Cheery?"

"Mudwinter last year. Week 1," she said as she slid on the floor as a flipper.

"What kind of Seasons do you have around here," I asked as I prevented the ball from rolling out the door ago.

"Same seasons as everywhere else," said Carmel Apple. "But oh, I guess you are a visitor, so I'll tell you. There's Early Summer and Midsummer and Late Summer. Harvest Fall and Spooky Fall and Thankful Fall. Holly Winter, and Midwinter and Mudwinter. Lastly there's Springfrost, Rainy Spring and Flower Spring"

"Jump", said Captain Rose. The Stallion launched one of the softer balls into the air and leapt up at the ball in mid air, hitting it.

They all started hopping like a bunch of fools.

I started flying, running into balls. Songbird Scroll ran into some more of them, and then Saber Artist drew out a soft plastic sword (from who knows where), batting the balls around by directing the hilt which was between his teeth.

In mid sword swipe, I collided into the same ball Saber Artist was hitting and tumbled a few feet to the ground, sliding towards the stallion on my back.

"Oops," said Saber Artist.

"We need big puffy bats too," I said, getting into the fun as I spun around onto my four legs.

"Bop" said Cheery and everyone threw balls at each other until they were worn out.

"Is this what Hobbython is like every week?" I asked.

"There's crafts, puzzlers and board game fanatics, chefs and wacky games like these, and even some sports-fanatics. We do one Hobbython a month outside, usually at one of the farms. Let's get some of those baked goods, maybe we can even try what our fellow Hobbyists have made," said Saber Artist.

They picked up the balls and put them all in a great big bin, which they left in the room.  Saber Artist said, "Ms. Sweetmuffin insisted we don't have to worry about returning these, she'll get them to Knicknack tommorrow. He's just down the street."

When they got back downstairs, a few tables were filled with pony's talking excitedly, some playing cards or board games, and others trying baked goods.

There were a few bigger tables, and they grabbed one themselves. Frosting Sweetmuffin was busy teaching the craftsy ponys how to make baked goods of their own, so Cheery promised to go get some sweets for the group. Songbird insisted on going with her.

"Cheery would bring just the sweetest stuff. I know Saber likes the more subtle flavors, and what about Blue?" Songbird said.

They came back with a collection of breads, donuts and the proprietor's special, muffins with hand applied frosting on them. The muffin frosting spelled out Hobbython in tiny letters.

Turned out, I liked sweet stuff, but the most over-sweet stuff was only loved by Cheery. I wasn't into the nutty flavors that Saber liked, but I appreciated that he had a connoisseur's taste. He chose the walnut bread with only the lightest hint of sweet coating.

Songbird liked fruit flavors, especially the cherry turnover. Captain Rose liked the sweet breads and Carmel Apple liked pastries with a cream or fruit filling, something that went with something else. Which made a lot of sense, because she made apples with other flavors added.

I didn't recognize a lot of the group's jokes, but neither did I feel excluded.

"How much have you explored so far," Saber Artist asked.

"Well it was a bit cloudy when I flew from Canterlot. I loved flying above the clouds but I wasn't sure where I was until I descended and spotted Chicken Nugget Orchard. I met Nugget Blossom and Butterscotch. And I helped out on the farm. They needed some Pegasi help. Then Butterscotch drove me into town on the Orchard's cart. That was last night."

"You slept all day?" Cheery asked, and Songbird tried to whisper, "don't ask that."

"I love to fly, but flying that far wore me out," I said.

"Well once you get settled in, go to Mayor Hobbypony and register. I know you've been set up with an apartment, but the Mayor will help you to find what you'd like to do around town. A lot of cooperative work with the people of Hobby Bluffs is listed on the board in the Mayor's office," Songbird Scroll said.

"I know I could use a Pegasi from the sky to scout the bounds of Hobby Bluff. There's a lot of behavioral observation I do on foot, but after some training you might be able to help with that, if you find it interesting, Blue," Captain said.

"I'm sure the PD could use a set of Sky Eyes too," Saber Artist said.

"Well I know Butterscotch and Mrs. Nugget appreciated my help picking the nuggets high up on the trees. I'd like to help them during harvest, but both of your ideas are interesting. Maybe I should stop by the Mayor's office first just to make it official." I said.

"Don't let go of your own special dream," Carmel Apple said. "We love helping out around here, but we all have our passion projects! I help out with mom and dad's orchard all the time, but I still love making my favorite apple concoctions as much as I can."

I said, "I don't know exactly what my dream is, but I'm going to chase it!"

It was a good fun afternoon, but it was time to head home, I'd go to the Mayor's office tommorrow and spend some time noodling with ideas of what I wanted to do."

I said my goodbyes, promised Saber Artist and Captain Rose I'd work with some on a collab or two, and returned to the apartment complex.

I enjoyed my social time, feeling part of a group that was interested in me, even if I wasn't one of them quite yet. But my favorite thing still had to be flying, so I leapt off of my balcony, and flew around town, practicing climbing high into the sky, dive bombing towards the park in the center of town, stumbling and falling as I made a clumsy landing, swooping and spinning, and I made a long slow loop around the outskirts of town, finding nothing but beautiful farms, craftspony's workshops and nature in impossible cleanliness and perfection.

It was late both in Hobby Bluffs and in real life, when I landed back on my balcony.