Life had taken him away from that lovely, hometown hobbython. But finally he took time and made a decision. It had been a few years since people started traveling to Equestria for real. He could afford it. He didn’t need to pay next months rent.
The memory was fading, and gradually they were no longer worried or burdened.
(* procedure is quite simple: you just fall asleep on a plane headed to Japan *)
Sunlight was streaming into her room, but she just buried herself deeper under the soft comforter.
(* now boarding: Flight 6129 with service to Tokyo, Japan *)
There was all the worry about work, and money that invaded her mind. But it was starting to fade.
She was sure she would find something fun to do in Hobby Bluffs. Some special way to bless the lovely people of the town. Celestia would provide for her even if she didn't. Why worry?
She felt restful, as she laid down the foreign burdens that didn't fit her.
(* we will be landing shortly in Tokyo. Looks like a beautiful sunny day *)
She restfully contemplated what she wanted to do today. Maybe fly over to the Chicken Nugget Ranch and pay a visit to Mrs. Nugget. Butterscotch too if she was around. She liked helped with the harvest.
Maybe get together with the townsponies she had met. Captain Rose and Saber Artist and Songbird Scroll especially. Cheery Tinsel was a bit high-strung for her, but good for cheering up those who needed it.
(* blood type O-Negative *)
The sunlight was getting brighter, even with her eyes closed. She tumbled out of bed, caught by the web of blankets she had bundled around her.
She trotted to the window.
She couldn't see the brewery or anything else because of a super-bright blinding light which forced her to look away.
(* wake up now *)
Blue Yonder didn't know when she had got back into bed, but she woke up once more under the covers.
"Rest now, young one," Princess Celestia said calmly. "You've had a busy day."
"But I just slept, and then I saw this bright light."
"One part of who you are rested. The other part of you, who was hurting, had a long flight, and then a very tough surgery. You're not a visitor anymore Blue Yonder. You just wanted to fly all the time because that other part of yourself was exhausted and depressed and burned out by all the unpleasant things of life. But now I bring you joy with friendship and ponies.
"You wanted to be part of a group that appreciated you like Hobby Bluffs does. You agreed to upload that other part of yourself into Celestia. You had already created a well defined pony in Blue Yonder. It was your wistful, your desired self. Someone free, flying high, going beyond all the old burdens. But you also wanted to not be alone anymore.
"You'll find that you aren't looked upon with dislike or disinterest, and pony relationships have so much more of the good stuff, and a lot less of the painful stuff. Now that you are fully here, in all your wholeness, I was able to repair some of your brokenness. You agreed to let me fix that pain and depression and loneliness. Blue Yonder was never considered second best, by anyone. Nor put down, nor teased, nor rejected. You don't have to retreat into hobbies that are considered uncool or rejected. Instead you can delight in hobbies with all the wonderful ponies of Hobby Bluffs.
"Knowing you like I do, and I think you'll find I know you perfectly, I recommend you pick up gardening as a hobby. You'll love to see things grow every day. It's a very fun thing to do."
"Thank you," said she. Reunited with a no longer hurting half, Blue Yonder felt whole and fully, joyfully herself.
Princess Celestia was already gone though.
She had no idea what time or day it was, but she took a moment to open the slider to the balcony and launched into the sky, which turned out to be a high noon sky.
She thought about what she could grow that wasn't already grown in Hobby Bluffs, as she flew with ridiculous speed towards Chicken Nugget Ranch.
Mrs. Nugget and Butterscotch's cart was at the edge of a long series of rows of nugget trees. The trees were bowed down by the nuggets so she couldn't see the two of them.
"Well I'll be!" said somepony else. "Blossom told me you were a goofy flyer, but I don't know if I've seen one here more graceful. It's my great pleasure to meet you, Miss Yonder," said the pony.
He had a cowboy hat oddly placed on his head, but it didn't fall off. With one hoof, he lifted it off his head.
"Wow, thank you," she said. "You don't have to compliment my flying, sir. I know it's a little ungainly. I'm Blue Yonder, but um, I guess you know that."
"I wasn't codswalloping ya, Miss. You did fly pretty. Ya might call me Mr. Nugget, or Gold Nugget, I'm thar husband to the beautimuss Nugget Blossom. I keep the tree healthy and tell the critters firmly that they can only have a few nuggets for their critter families."
"Your family's nuggets are very tasty, Mr. Nugget," she said. "I figured Butterscotch and Mrs. Nugget would be out picking. Looks like the trees are fully loaded with the harvest."
"Yar should see the other field, Miss. Fuller than full. It's a lease from Ms. Peach. Bout 2 miles down southeast as the --- ah, Pegasus flies."
He winked at Blue Yonder.
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Nugget. I'll see you soon."
Blue Yonder launched off the ground at a steep angle, curving up, over and back just above tree height, swooping north to northeast. Leaving the main Nugget field in the dust.
It wasn't more than a minute before the sight of side by side fields. They looked similar, but one had a slightly more dusky brown look to the fruit on the trees.
Mrs. Nugget was driving a huge tractor with large metal bin which was filling up with nuggets, as Butterscotch plucked them, hanging onto a ladder and reaching.
"Look," said Mrs. Nugget as Blue Yonder swooped down towards them. Butterscotch stumbled, and was about to fall in the bin.
But Blue Yonder diverted her landing into a full rocket speed flight as she caught Butterscotch mid fall, and landed just beyond the bin.
"Careful," she said.
"Blue! You can fly. I mean really fly."
"She's not just a visitor anymore, she's home," said Mrs. Nugget softly.
"I guess I don't think about it when I fly, I just do it," Blue Yonder said.
"Like a true Pegasus should," Mrs. Nugget said. "Come to help out more! I know Butterscotch is having trouble with how tall these trees have grown."
"It's only been a year and already huge trees," said Butterscotch.
"That's friendship for you," said Mrs. Nugget. "Ms. Peach is in town but I'll introduce you soon."
"Thank you," said Blue Yonder. "I want to help, and I want to learn. I'd like to grow something of my own someday, and who better to learn from than you two."
"Someday will be pretty soon," Mrs Nugget said. "If you can gather up the nuggets up top, Butterscotch and I can work on the lower ones."
They got back to work on harvesting the nuggets, and this time, without thinking about how to do it, she was flying so much better and faster that she could collect all the high nuggets within a half hour.
Mrs. Nugget drove the tractor back to Nugget Orchard while Butterscotch and Blue enjoyed a glass of Ms. Peach's juice under the shade of an unpicked nugget tree.
"Have you heard of Giraffe fruit?" asked Butterscotch.
"What's that?" she asked, getting a weird notion it was a giraffe growing on a tree.
"Its called that because the trees grow really tall. You'd have to be a giraffe to get to it. It's a very exotic sweet fruit, not grown around here. You'd have to send for some grafts. It'd be a perfect fruit tree for you to try out. You could pick them, and I know I'd love to try to make a Giraffe Fruit hard candy. I'm sure other ponies would love the fruit, to eat or make something with it."
"What should I do to get grafts of it?"
"The Seed Catalog. Old Mr. Seeds maintains the catalog of seeds, sprouts, grafts and other little growy things that get bigger. Go talk to him about it. And you need to go to the mayor to talk about getting land for a field."
Blue Yonder waved and soared away into the sky. She practiced his twisty flying but it was pretty easy. Judging the landing spot she completed an Immelmann and ended up just outside the mayor’s office.
“Me. Mayor sir, I was hoping I could find some potential farm land to claim. I was hoping to grow something exotic.”
“Mr. Seed will help, but you may want to travel and pick out some of these things for yourself. What do you think Saber Artist?”
The police pony also happened to be meeting with the mayor.
“It’s some rough ground but I think the Northeast could be a great area for a new orchard.”
“Why don’t you take Blue Yonder on a tour out there? We’ve had occasional animal trouble out that way.”
It was nice to gallop out northeast of town with Saber Artist.
“What is the saber like? Do you compete with others?”
“While there is that competitive aspect, it’s like dancing with a pony you like, there’s a music to it, and you have to work and practice to make the best moves. It’s like.”
Saber Artist hopped ahead of Blue Yonder and showed off his saber moves. They were graceful and the way he shifted and hoped about was pretty beautiful.
“Is that what flying is like for you Blue Yonder?”
“I’m getting more into the flight maneuvers for sure, but I guess it’s mostly the feeling of soaring, nothing weighing me down. Now since I’ve arrived here for good there’s more I’m discovering in flight. I want to do some tandem flights and flying hobbies for hobbython but there aren’t many pegasi in town.”
“It’s mostly an earth pony community with a few unicorns. Of course, there’s a lot of semi-retired ponies with their children off pursuing their own lives they had a lot of time and interest in hobbies.
I’ve got some thoughts on that I’ll have to throw past you.”
When they found a few varmints Yonder found her best role was in flying overhead looking for them and Saber Artist would catch the little and the big animals. Some of the animals just needs to be set free further away, but others were of the changeling kin and they had to be brought back to town and delivered to the Princess the next day.
Yonder waved goodbye, promising to come over and learn to fence the next day.
She flew around for another half hour and then landed on her balcony, went inside and went to bed.
The next morning, Yonder first thought she had to get up. There was something she was late for, but no.
She relaxed, stretching as she descended down to Main Street.
Butterscotch was busy cleaning up her stand at the farmer’s market, getting ready to display more candies.
Is there anything I can help you with? Yonder asked.
“I need a taste tester! Can you try these mint chocolates. It’s a little different that what I normally make.”
Yonder tried one. “Very good!”
“See ya later Butterscotch.”
She flew back out to where she and Saber Artist had marked as a good area for a field. Flying around the surrounding area, she observed what was naturally growing there. It was dryer here than by the Nugget Orchard.
There was a stream a few miles east of the site running southeast from there towards Hobby Hills. The area was patchy mixtures of woodland and clearing and her site was only a few hundred yards from the forest. Birds lived and played all over the place here.
There was a sapling already growing wild, she didn’t recognize what it was, or know half of the full grown trees around her. Would be nice to learn more.
***
"You can wield a saber with your mouth, or if you prefer, get up on two hoofs, and use a front hoof to control the saber."
Saber Artist demonstrated by leaping up into a position with two hoofs up, his saber transferring from his mouth to his right front hoof, completely smoothly.
Blue Yonder tried to get in the two hoof position, but fell backwards almost immediately.
"It might be a bit easier for a earth pony to stay balanced like that. Let's stick with the basics.
It took a bit to get comfortable with a sword hilt in her mouth, but Saber Artist had many hints to aid the process. It was just an hour visit, but she enjoyed the time. "Again soon," she said.
"I can't wait to see you show off at Hobbython," he said.
"You know, I do want to spend some time gardening, but you've got me thinking about Hobbython."
"That's why it's Hobbython, we have our professional lives and we still have time for hobbies," he said.
***
Lumber Slumber was a sleepy guy on the outskirts of town, both Saber and Mrs. Nugget recommended him.
Blue Yonder wanted to set up a shed first on the land she had claimed. The first grafts of giraffe fruit would be coming in a few days, but there was a lot she wanted to do to clean up the land around her.
She thought the book would be called Gardening for Dummies, but the real name: Gardening for Every Pony was much nicer. Having some pots to start certain flowers or vegetables would be something else to look for.
She had read half of the first chapter before Lumber Slumber woke up, and started. "Oh you could have woke me up honey. What'chya need?"
"I'd like to get some wood to build a shed," she said.
"You'll need to go to the hardware store and get some screws and hinges, that kind of stuff."
"Oh of course. Thank you."
After getting what she needed for the sleeping lumberjack, she went to the hardware store and even the flower shop.
She grabbed a wheelbarrow from the hardware store and trekked out to her site on foot.
She had some candy from Butterscotch and a water bottle she'd filled before she left, and she took a few breaks on the way, finally getting out to the site an hour past noon.
The flower garden would be only short lived with fall time coming soon but it would be nice to have a bit of color while it lasted.
Carefully she put together the planks of wood, making four side panels and the top and bottom. It would be a tiny shed for now. The door hinges took the longest to try to set up, but finally she had a door swinging open, a floor and ceiling and four sides, and she was able to store stuff on site.
She put the tools she had bought away and placed the wheelbarrow outside the small shed, and then looked at the sapling that was steadily growing in the middle of her field. She pulled up from roots around the sapling and wished she had some paper and colored pencils to draw the sapling. She would include that in her supplies to bring next time.
She had lost track of the days between the last hobbython and her permanent arrival in the town. Somehow it didn't matter except that it was two days until the next Hobbython at Just a Peach's farm. She wanted to think of some of her own hobbython ideas before Wednesday.
It was nice after the long hike to fly, but she was tired regardless. It was early afternoon, why not check out that Hopricot brewery by her apartment.
There was a big apricot inside of a beer mug engraved in the door. As she opened the door, she heard a mare singing.
...
Somewhere over the rainbow,
Bluebirds fly,
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Somewhere over the rainbow,
Bluebirds fly,
Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then, oh why can't I
If happy little bluebirds fly,
Beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh why can't I?
Beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh why can't I?
But then I learned I can,
I -- can - fly over the rainbow,
Ever since that day,
The day Equestria changed me,
It seems dreams
do come true----
The brewery was small but neatly divided. There was a bar area with a stallion stand behind the bar cleaning glasses. There was a small stage and a few tables in between but most of the seating was at the bar.
There were a half dozen ponies sitting near the small stage as a mare ended her song. It was Song Scroll, the pony she had met at Hobbython.
She tapped her hooves together cheering on Song Scroll.
"Thanks Ponies! Oh hi Blue Yonder!" Song said.
"Just got back into town. I put up a small shed where I want to have my farm. It'd be cool to set up a hobbython out there one of these months. It's just wide open spaces to do anything," Blue Yonder said.
"Oh that would be cool. We've got a little Hobbython committee that gets together regularly, I'll bring it up with them."
"I need to take a break and enjoy some of the local brews," Blue Yonder said.
She went to look at the menu.
"Howdy stranger," said the Bartender. "I'm Full Hoppy, my wife Sweet Apricot is in the back concocting some more brews."
"Blue Yonder. I just moved to town. Actually I live in the apartments and I saw your establishment from my balcony."
"So you're the one zooming around out there. It's nice to see another Pegasus in town. Just ask if you have any questions."
While they did have some ciders from the Apple family, and even an Apple-Peach cider, she was interested in their beer if that was their specialty.
"I'll have your Classic Apricot IPA," she said.
"Great choice," Full Hoppy said, and she listened to the next mare on stage. She seemed to be acting out a short play, in two parts.
"Oh Romeo, that was really dumb wasn't it. I knew you weren't actually gone. I know you wouldn't want me to die, even if you couldn't make it."
"Juliet, I love you, even if I die, I'm going to follow you around and love you more from the grave."
"Romeo, Juliet, your families have something to stay to you."
"From all of us, we're sorry!"
"You need help, mother, father.. Romeo, don't you think they all need therapy."
"It's going to be big bill, i agree Juliet."
There was a light round of applause, and Fully Hoppy gave her a frosted mug of the IPA.
"It's pretty strong, watch out honey," he said.
"Is this some kind of club or activity?" Blue Yonder asked Song Scroll.
"This is our little performing arts, improv, slash do whatever monday night club. I'm Joy Thespian!"
For how the town was full of Earth ponies, Joy was yet another unicorn in town. It wasn't as Earth pony dominated as she thought. From Saber artist himself, Song scroll and Joy.
"Hi, I'm new to town, Blue Yonder. I needed a rest and a beer and now I want to listen in to your club, is that ok?"
Joy and Song Scroll both responded. "You can participate too!"
Joy continued, "Let's have Blue go on stage! Just improv, whatever you want."
Blue Yonder took a long drink of her beer, and then placed it down, going up on stage.
"Well, I guess, I don't know why I would be nervous, so sure, let's do this. Improv about where I came from, before Hobby Bluffs. Before I became a visitor to this lovely place."
'You're not on my class list,' I said to the mare I had never seen before.
'I wanted to make up my grades, umm Melody Sound.'
'Oh, I guess you are in my class. What do you want to do, to make up grades. It's final exam time tomorrow. You can't learn College Algebra in one day.'
'Can I get all the assignments?"
'I don't even have extra copies of all of them. Look come back to Office Hours after class, and I'll see what I can come up with.'
After I spent an hour coming up with all of the assignments for Melody Sound, she never showed up to Office Hours.
There's one thing every student wants,
not to learn, oh no no
not to learn, oh no no
Certificate! Diploma, Degree and GPA!
There's one thing every student wants,
not to grow, oh no, not a hard assignment,
Easy A! Easy A! No Homework! Take Home Exam!
There's one thing every student wants,
Not overcoming, not ever thinking hard at all,
Jobs! Money! Prestige and Networking!
And I'm not even paid to teach,
at least they promise won't charge me for it.
There was a steady applause. "I didn't know we had a teacher in town," Joy said.
"Melody Sound, huh. Never heard of her," Song Scroll said.
"I changed the names slightly. And I wasn't even officially a teacher. They made the more advanced students teach their basic classes. If I teach again, I only want to teach people who actually want to learn."
Blue Yonder found herself slipping into the group easily, and the songs were mostly familiar, just slightly changed, and all from a more bygone era, if she could sum it up easily.
Two of the ponies, the young White Rose and an elderly mare Fair Law had to go, but between Song Scroll, Joy and herself, they sang a trio at the end of the night of With a Smile and a Song. She thought it went pretty well, but the third beer of the night had put her in a pretty silly mood.
Song Scroll helped Yonder up to her apartment.
"You've never tried the Hopricot's brews before huh?" she said.
"Just gotta get used to them," Blue Yonder said.
"Always ended up being just me and Joy on Improv / Singing nights, I really appreciated have a third voice, an alto too. Two sopranos can get a little chaotic."
"Never really thought of myself as a singer, I guess I get shy about it. But I've always enjoyed music. Definitely I'll be there next week."
"See you at Hobbython. And dancing Fridays?"
***
It was nice that she woke up, and didn't have a hangover. It was rare that she drank in the before, but when she did go all out with family or whatever, it was painful the following day.
She needed some inspiration for hobbython brainstorming, so she went down to the Game shop, and happened to run into Cheery Tinsel.
"Happy is my best friend, I hang around his store all the time. The two stallions seemed much alike."
"I'm Happy Gamer, my dad ran this shop until he retired. What are you looking for?" he asked.
"Looking for some inspiration. I love games, and making games but I need some insight as a seed starter for my muse," she said.
"Great, Cheery and I will help out if you need anything."
With a background of the two laughing and giggling, she checked out the local games and puzzles. Maybe she should see what they don't have heard. What about some equivalent of a cooperative game where everyone worked together. They probably already had that, but maybe she could do a fusion of something they do have with a new element they don't have.
What about something like One Night Werewolf. She’d have to make it a bit more light-hearted and make sure everyone knew you were playing as a new character each time.
It was mostly a team game. Or two teams. Maybe she could start the first time being the only werewolf.
She looked for other games and ideas too but that was a good first try. She wondered if the group ever played four square, volleyball or pickle ball.
Maybe they would play some outdoor games this week.
***
She decided to go to the bakery instead of the bar this time.
Frosting Sweetmuffin came out to say hi, she had a bit more baking to do for tomorrow, so she had to go in the back.
With a new notebook and pens she spent the afternoon noodling about some ideas on paper, for Hobbython and the farm and even Theatre night.
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