Speff glanced up at the bright and colorful sign reading 'Welcome to Ponyville!' that overlooked the equally bright and colorful town it represented. It's nice to finally start fresh, he thought with a smile. Speff was a cyan blue earth pony with a short yet scraggly brown mane. He had just moved from Los Pegasis, hoping to escape the big city hype to a quaint little town like Ponyville. He carried his belongings behind him in a small wagon. There wasn't much to bring with him from Los Pegasis, just a few family relics and memories. Oh, and his video recording equipment. His camera, laptop, recording tools, and his special "creative ideas" notebook. Why?
Speff, AKA "The Amazing Speff", is a YouTuber.
He gripped his wagon of treasures and continued trotting forward on the path leading into town.
DramCam, a leather jacket-clad, dark blue earth pony with a slicked pompadour, sat uncomfortably in a cramped carriage that was heading for Ponyville. The lack of space was only made worse by his luggage that rested atop his lap. He couldn't complain, however. It was a wonder his parents were able to afford the carriage fare to send him here, anyway. He was finally old enough to live on his own, and was eager to move out of the tiny Manehattan apartment he had shared with his parents, armed and ready with the money he'd been saving for four years now, from part-time jobs and art commissions.
The carriage that held him hostage had finally come to a stop. DramCam paid the driver the neccessary bits, and got the hay out of that prison on wheels. He hadn't realized how long he'd been in there, and squinted at the sudden flash of sunlight. His eyes got used to the light and he continued into the town that stood before him.
"Ivy!" a voice shouted, breaking the concentration of a mint-green pegasis who was intently texting away on her cell phone. She blew a lock of scarlet hair out of her face.
"Yeah?" she responded in a slightly annoyed tone.
"We're here. You going or not?" asked her cousin Jessie, who looked back at her from the front seat of the carriage. Ivy had found it pointless to ride in it, for she could have just flew here, but then the next question at hoof would be what to do about her possessions she was taking with her
"Um-- yeah. Right, sorry." Ivy saved the text as a draft to continue later, and returned the phone to her bag. "Bye, guys. Thanks for everything," she said to her mom and cousin with a smile, and exited the carriage. She retrieved the four bags of luggage she had brought with her, and waited on the grassy field guarding the entrance to Ponyville, watching her family drive away, back to her home in Baltimare.
She turned around and took in everything: the colorful little buildings that sat humbly around town, the fillies laughing and chasing each other in the streets, the sweet smell of freshly-baked pastries that came from an adorable cupcake-shaped bakery. It had an air of friendliness and welcome that you just couldn't find in Baltimare. Things were too busy and rough there. This place, however, seemed like a place where everypony is friends with everypony else. Ivy beamed at the thought of this.
"Welcome home," she said to herself.
"Dammit!" Logey Bear exclaimed, fighting for his life against a horde of axe-wielding skeleton monsters. He brandished his broadsword at their demonic faces. Swinging wildly and repetitively, he slayed each and every one of them.
"LEVEL UP!" the game cheered at him. A list of stats improved by his leveling up appeared on the screen.
"YES!" Logey said triumphantly with a thrust of his hoof in the air. His horn emitted a soft glow of orange as a large container of soda hovered in front of him, and he took a swig of the bubbly drink. His magic returned it to the side of the coffee table on which it previously rested, and Logey continued playing.
A voice from downstairs called up to Logey Bear, who was currently sitting at his desk, contently playing his game. "Logey, we're out of milk. Would you mind running to the store and getting more? I have things to do so I can't."
Logey's cheering subsided. "Sure, mom," he answered, and got up from his desk, grabbed some bits from a cup on his window sill, and exited his room and went downstairs. He opened the door, again using his magic that just yesterday he finally figured out how to use without breaking things in the process. He then left his house and walked through the Ponyville streets towards the market. It's amazing that he had lived here his whole life and he barely knew anyone. Well, he did know people, they just didn't know him. Well that changes today! If I can make friends online, I can make friends out here, he thought to himself. How hard can it be?
He found the market and bought a gallon of milk from the clerk. Logey paid him some bits and silently went on his way. Well, so much for making conversation, he thought glumly, and trotted in the direction of home.
Speff strolled through the streets of Ponyville, thinking to himself how lucky he'd been to snag a little apartment in an area as quaint and lovely as this. He periodically checked his map of Ponyville that guided him to the apartment complex in which he now lived. He folded it back up and continued walking, but was almost trampled by three wide-eyed fillies who were exclaiming something about cutie marks. He couldn't help but smile at this and then went on his way.
He finally reached his destination... according to the map, at least. But in reality it led him to a clothing store labeled Carousel Boutique. Speff was certain he read the map wrong and checked again, but sure enough, this is exactly where the apartments are on the map. This doesn't make any sense! Speff looked around, hoping to find someone who can help, and contrary to the last time he paid attention to those around him, the streets now appeared empty. Then to his relief, he noticed a red unicorn sullenly trudging home, levitating a jug of milk along with him. Left with no other options, Speff called out to him. "Excuse me, do you think you could give me some directions?"
The unicorn gave no response. Either he couldn't hear Speff or he just assumed Speff was calling to somepony else.
Speff rushed over to him. "Hey, can I get some directions?" he asked in a shorter, less cordial tone.
The unicorn was startled. He looked up and said "Oh, uh.. sure. Where do you need to get to?"
Speff showed him the area on the map. The unicorn stared intently at it, obviously just as confused as Speff was. He suddenly seemed to reach a conclusion, however. "Oh, those apartments were moved to the other side of town a few years ago to make way for the Boutique," the unicorn then gave Speff the directions to the new location.
"Thanks," Speff replied in satisfaction. "I just moved to Ponyville today and I was a bit afraid I came here just to find out I'm homeless." he stifled a laugh.
"No problem," the unicorn told him. He paused for a minute. "I'm Logan. But everybody calls me Logey Bear."
Speff smiled at this, resisting the urge to laugh. "Interesting name! Mine's Speff."
Logey froze. Of course! How had he not seen it before? The face, the inflections of his voice, the trademark YouTube [>] Play button cutie mark. This guy's The Amazing Speff!
"I... think I've heard of you." Logey Bear finally said.
"Cool. Probably online, right?" Speff inquired.
"Yeah."
"Alright! Always nice to meet a fan." he said, beaming.
Logey then remembered the milk that he had set down and was probably losing its cold temperature in the fall evening weather. "Well, I should go. See you around!"
"Alright dude, see ya later!" With that, Speff once again headed for the true location of his house, the protest of his muscles overpowered by his joy. I made a friend! This is awesome!
After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the apartment complex that fell just a bit short of Sweet Apple Acres. Speff gazed up in satisfaction at the sign that labeled his new home.
Applewood Apts
I guess this area's more fitting for a name like that anyway, he thought, and reached his apartment. He pulled the keys out of a compartment of his wagon, and unlocked the door. He pulled the wagon inside and eagerly set to work on setting up his new ho--
He fell asleep immediately on the floor, exhausted.
DramCam woke up in his new apartment, on the surpsingly comfortable carpet, next to his empty suitcase. He had spent the night setting up his new home, deciding that if he didn't do it then, he may never do it. Afterwards he slept at first awkwardly but eventually comfortably on the floor. Maybe it was something he was used to.
Still, he would eventually need to buy a real bed, or at lease a mattress. He would make sure to go out and find one today. Until then he was starving and decided to go out to eat, to explore the town a bit. DramCam got ready ("ready" consisted of a shower, and fixing his slicked hair), donned his trademark leather jacket and sunglasses, and headed out.
DramCam walked through the streets, happily observing the passerbys of the town. They all seemed so cheerful. He wondered why, it was strange to not see one person look bored or upset or have any negative emotion whatsoever.
Three seconds later, he found out why. He was ambushed by a blur of pink, tackled to the ground in a rather humorous Whinnie-The-Pooh-like fashion. DramCam, however, did not find this as funny as it may have appeared. He was about to snap at the culprit, until their face appeared in his vision. Bright, sparkling blue eyes surrounded by a grinning pink face stared at him in joy. Her pink, curly mane bounced as she spoke with unending energy. "HI! Never seen you before around here! My name's Pinkie Pie! What's yours? Wait, I bet I can guess it! John? Ned? Tom? Frank? Sam? Mike? Weeeeell??? You gonna tell me or not??"
"Um.." DramCam was completely lost for words. He'd never seen such insane levels of energy in anypony before. Unable to think of anything else to say, he simply answered her question. "My name is DramCam."
"WOW! That's a funny name! Never heard one like that before! Well DramCam, I'm so glad I met you because now we can be best friends! Do you like parties??"
DramCam smiled, trying to respond at Pinkie's pace. "I sure do."
"That's GREAT! Because I LOVE parties! You should come to a party I'm throwing this afternoon! Here's an invitation." Pinkie Pie swiftly grabbed a colorful piece of paper from... somewhere... I dunno... and gave it to DramCam. He took the invitation and stored it safely in his jacket pocket.
Pinkie Pie continued talking faster than sunlight could reach equestria. "I can't wait to see you there. I can't wait to tell all my friends that I made a NEW friend!" the pink mare paused for exactly one millisecond. "Hey, are you hungry?"
DramCam remembered the whole reason he was out and about was to find a place to eat breakfast. "Yeah, actually."
"GREAT! Come with me! I work at the best bakery in town!"
DramCam then reluctantly followed the crazy earth pony towards th--"Oh come ON already, Narrator!"
But Pinkie, I need to tell them what happens next!
"They KNOW! Ahem. DrammyCammy came with me to Sugarcube Corner and ate some delicious shortcake for breakfast and he loved it and he ate it 'til he was stuffed and then he said he's gonna visit my bakery every day! And we talked and talked and got to know each other and now we're best friends! THE END!"
Um...
What she said.
Ivy woke up, dazed and disoriented and confused, unsure at first of where she was. It took a moment for her to remember, Oh yeah, I moved. She wasn't sure what made her so tired last night, but she was grateful that at least she made it to her awesome new apartment instead of falling asleep in some ditch. She lazily got up from the mattress she brought with her and swaggered into the bathroom to get ready to start the day. Today she would go exploring and meet her new neighbors.
She finished up, more awake now, and took off for the skies through the open window, heading for the town. She zoomed through the sky at a speed that may rival Pinkie Pie talking. So... pretty dang fast.
She flew over the city, slowing down to absorb more of it. A small group of fillies rushed through the streets towards Sweet Apple Acres, wearing strange capes that had the letters CMC sewn on them. A white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane and funky purple sunglasses was rolling a large cart of music equipment into a studio. A stallion that resembles a 1950's greaser was leaving a bakery looking quite satisfied. A cyan blue stallion was walking the streets talking to a camera lens... Wait, what?
Out of all the strange things Ivy saw in the past minute and a half, somehow this was what grabs her attention. She flew lower to get a closer look, and overheard the conversation being held between a stallion and his camera.
"...ell guys, the moment is finally here. I've moved to Ponyville!" The strange pony with a "play button" cutie mark swung the camera around to capture the busy streets of Ponyville. "Nice, right? Anyway, this is where I'll be doing all my new videos. I think it's a better choice anyway. Los Pegasis was too noisy and crowded, y'know?" he paused. "Alright guys. Subscribe and I'll love ya forever. I'm The Amazing Speff..." the stallion held a hoof to his temple in salute. "...and I'll see you next time!"
The "Amazing Speff" powered down his camera and continued walking with it strapped safely to his foreleg. Ivy, dying of curiosity, swooped in before he got too far. "Hey!" she shouted.
Speff jumped a bit at the suddden exclamation. "Who...?" he turned around to see the mint green, red-maned pegasis floating above him. "Oh. Hi there!"
"Hey, so what's up with you talking to the camera? If you don't mind me asking." Ivy laughed.
"Oh, that?" Speff laughed in reply. "I was just vlogging."
"Vlogging?" Ivy inquired.
"Video blogging. For YouTube."
"Ohhhhhhh! Okay, I get it. Cool." Ivy smiled. "So you're name is the 'Amazing Speff'?"
"Well, on YouTube, yeah. But it's just Speff in real life."
"Okay. I'm Ivysaur." Ivy said with a grin.
Speff couldn't help but laugh. "Like the Pokém--?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know," obviously Ivysaur has had this conversation before. "just call me Ivy."
"Alright. Nice to meet you, Ivy." Speff stuck his hoof out. Ivy, rather than giving a hoofshake, instead gave the stallion a hoof-bump. Speff had a look of vague suprise for hald a second, but it disappeared and was replaced with a grin of his own. He found it strange how all these ponies he kept meeting had such odd names.
"Well, see you around, Ivy."
"Later, Speff!" Ivy shot into the air and flew off.
I'm doing pretty good with this whole friends thing, Speff thought to himself, and headed home. He had some unpacking to to.
