A Day in The Life of Josh Hooves
As was always the case with Ponyville the rooster crowed to announce the start of a new day. Any citizens of the town that had until moments ago had still been asleep weren't asleep anymore.
Before long as the sun rose over the horizon the town of Ponyville came to life. Citizens of the town went about their daily rounds as they always did. Various stands opened up in the center of town, selling anything from foods to trinkets.
It was another fine day in Ponyville. Or at least that's what a certain somepony thought. That pony was Josh Hooves. He was an earth pony stallion with a hot pink coat, a navy blue mane and tail, and brown eyes complimented by yellow glasses (without them he could barely seen anything due to his nearsighted vision). He was about 18 years old, give or take a month.
Now Josh Hooves was a little bit unique among earth ponies, due to him not being as strong most fully grown stallions. But he made up for it with a rather uncanny ability to learn new skills and perform them fairly well, though not good enough to be considered an expert. This was reflected in his cutie mark, which was an open book. Reflecting his love of knowledge.
Josh Hooves was a bit on the socially akward side, but he always tried his best to be friendly. As a result of this, and because of his incredible intellect he did not have a permanent job. Instead he ran his own oddjobs shop, known as "Helping Hooves", and took on whatever job requests arrived at his doorstep. This brought him into contact with just about every resident of Ponyville, pony or non. But he never really spent time getting to know them fully. And that was fine by him, so long as he had a few beings he could consider "friends" he was happy. Plus, although he'd never say it outloud he thought just about everyone in town was crazy.
That wasn't to say he didn't like them. Far from it in fact, but it seemed like every day there was something unsual going on. And not surprisingly it seemed that everypony or at least most ponies ended up getting involved in them. Josh never got involved in those sort of situations, simply because he viewed them as none of his business.
"Well first things first, I'd better see what's on the board for today." Josh thought to himself and made his way downstairs. His house was rather large despite only having two stories, but that was to be expected when one ran their own business in the same place they lived in. In fact the first floor of the house had more of an office vibe to it, in no small part due to the job board and mahogany desk.
Josh glanced at the job board, there was only one job posting for today. Removing the tacked up note from the board Josh read over it.
Job Requester: Time Turner
Job: Temporary Assistant
Period of Employment: Today only
Request: I need someone to help me conduct an inspection of Ponyville's clocks. Will pay standard wage for total hours spent. No prior experience needed.
Time and Location: The inspection begins at 1:00 P.M. Standard Equestrian Time at Town Hall, please don't be late.
Josh simply smiled as he stuffed the note into his saddle bag. He would drop it off at town hall where Time Turner worked. But that could wait, first came mail, and breakfast. Without further ado Josh trotted out to his mailbox. Stopping for just a second to marvel at the still fairly quiet Ponyville just after sunrise.
Opening up the mailbox Josh found that there were a few letters, he picked them and closed the mailbox again. Then he noticed something he hadn't noticed before, crumbs.
"I'ts just like Derpy to be eating on the job." he thought to himself as he went back inside. Like everypony else in town he knew of the wall eyed mail pony who seemed to have a "thing" for muffins. In fact it seemed like at least once a week he and Derpy would accidentally run into each other. Derpy did seem to be a bit on the clumsy side, not that anyone blamed her for it. And she was actually a pretty compotent mail pony, after all she was the only pony in Ponyville aside from the Mayor who hadn't yet requested help from Josh.
Josh's thoughts shifted away from Derpy as he prepared breakfast. All the stallions in town, with the exception of Mr. Cake had fun of him for taking those cooking classes. Well considering that before those classes the best he could do was cereal and waffles he'd certainly prooved them wrong. Hay pancakes always hit the spot.
After pouring himself a glass of orange juice Josh sat down to eat breakfast. As he did he took the liberty of opening up the letters he'd received. Most of them were just junk mail, random advertisements that could be discarded without a second thought. But the last letter was an exception. It was from his family, more specifically his mother.
Hi there Josh,
Hope you're enjoying life in Ponyville, I hear it's pretty nice this time of year.
How's your business doing? Are you making lots of money?
Life in Canterlot is quite nice, I really wish you still lived here so I could visit you more often.
Sorry, getting a little off track here.
Anyway please come back soon. It's been such a long time since your last visit and your father and I miss you very much.
Love,
Cynthia Hooves
Josh sighed as he read over the letter. His family hadn't exactly been very approving of his decision to move to Ponyville. He'd spent his whole life in Canterlot, and even attended school there along with his two brothers. But the hustle and bustle of Canterlot life just wasn't for him, and he had opted instead for the quiet little town of Ponyville, now the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
His father, as stubborn as most earth pony stallions were, had almost refused to let him leave. Thankfully his mom, a unicorn, had "convinced" her husband to let Josh leave. His pegasus brothers had been overjoyed to learn they'd have his room and most of his stuff all to themselves. He knew his mom missed him, but he was fairly certain that the same couldn't be said for his father and his brothers. Sure they still kept in touch, but they pretty much just agreed to disagree.
That was okay by Josh though, the citizens of Ponyville were in a way the only family he needed. Besides he was his own stallion, and he could make his own decisions.
After finshing breakfast Josh washed the dirty dishes and put them into the dishwasher to dry. Then he looked at the clock. He had a few hours, after he turned in the job request he'd just hang out, perhaps even do a little bit of shopping if he felt up for it. And today seemed like a lovely day to be out and about.
The trot to town hall didn't take very long, Josh knew the root like the back of his hoof. In only a few minutes he had dropped off the request, along with his reply. He stayed until he was certain Time Turner had recieved it, then he left town hall. Sometimes the mayor would ask him to stay so they discuss something, which usually involved Josh's property. But today was not one of those days.
By now all of Ponyville was wide awake and the various stalls and stands were up and running. And so it was no surprise to Josh that the instant he stepped hoof outside he was almost overwhelmed by a crowd of ponies. Some of them he knew by name, like Bon-Bon the mare of a thousand voices, or Vinyl Scratch the hard rocking DJ known to some by her stage name DJ PON-3, or even Berry Punch her name said it all. He called out to all of them, and even stopped to talk with them briefly, just to see if they had any jobs that they planned to get his help with.
After that Josh felt like heading down to the Ponyville Golden Oaks Library. Just to see if perhaps there were any new books he was intrested in.
The Ponyville Golden Oaks Library didn't seem to be a very popular location as Josh approached it. As he knocked on the door he glanced a quick look over at the clock tower. He just wanted to be sure he hadn't somehow lost track of time and was late. That would never do.
Princess Twilight greated him when the door was opened. "Hey Josh. I didn't send in any job requests." she said.
"I know." Josh said "Just thought I'd stop by and see if there were any new books. I could do with something a little more exciting."
"Well come on in and have a look around." Twilight said "See if anything catches your eye."
Thanks to his impressive memory Josh easily remembered the layout of the library. Almost as if though he lived in it. He spent quite a bit of time looking for books that he knew he hadn't read, when he found one he believed he was intrested in he did a quick scan through of a few pages, just to see if he liked what was written.
Sometime later he had checked out a biography of the founder of Fillydelphia, and a book about weather systems in the Everfree Forest, a topic that never ceased to fascinate him. The clock struck the hour as he did so.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for lunch?" Twilight asked as he departed "I'm pretty sure I could whip something up for the two of us."
"Thanks but no thanks." Josh replied, trotting out the door "I wouldn't want to impose. Besides it's a beautiful day, hardly one to waste sitting around indoors." And with that he left.
A quick trot through town and he found himself at his usual lunch spot. A small cafe in a more quiet part of town, far away from the hustle and bustle of town square, just the way he liked it. Sometimes if he was lucky a familar face would call out to him and invite him over to a table. But today was not one of those days, he sat in his usual spot and placed his order of hay fries and daisy sandwich.
As he ate his meal in silence he thought back on how much things had changed for him in only a matter of months. He could still remember when he'd first arrived in Ponyville, distancing himself from his family. He was on his own, and although he was very confident in his abilites he had been rather concerned about failing. His fears were forgotten when upon settling in he'd become the host of a "Welcome to Ponyville Party". Courtesy of Ponyville's (and perhpas Equestria's) greatest party pony, Pinkie PIe.
He recalled how at first he could barely stand her, finding her rather odd and loud. But as time passed and he got to know her and every pony of intrest she'd grown on him. As a friend though, for the time being he wasn't intrested in a mate. He had more important things to worry about. Still whenever he was bored or in a bad mood he knew he could always count on Pinkie Pie to make him feel better.
When he finished his lunch and had payed for his meal Josh departed, and after observing the time made his way over to town hall. He knew Time Turner was a stickler for being punctual. "Small wonder why he calls himself 'The Master of Time'." Josh thought to himself, chuckling slightly. Although he couldn't quite put his hoof on it but something seemed off about Time Turner. He'd heard stories about the so called 'Clock Maker", some of them more absurd then others. The most absurd one of all came from Lyra Heartstrings. She claimed that Time Turner was actually a human being that traveled through time in a bue police box, fighting against evil creatures like Daleks and Cybermen. The whole thing sounded like something out of a science fiction novel, almost like "Daring Doo".
"Glad to see you showed up on time." Time Turner said, standing outside the entrance to town hall. "Time bends for nopony after all."
"Yeah, yeah I know." Josh said. This wasn't the first time he'd worked with Time Turner and by now he'd gotten more then an ear full of statements about time. Needless to say he'd heard about as much as he could stand.
"Sorry." Time Turner apologized "Can't help it, time is my passion."
"Obviously." Josh chuckled "Anyway I'm here now so what do you need me to do?"
"It's simple really." Time Turner said "We're just going to trot around town and make sure all the clocks are in working order. We'll tighten any loose bolts, oil any rusty cogs or gears, and do any necessary repairs."
"That doesn't sound too hard." Josh said "You didn't list a tool kit on your job request, so I assume you're going to be carrying the tools right?"
"Right." Time Turner said "And we'll start our inspection with the master clock inside town hall. Follow me." Josh did so and the inspection got under way. Nothing needed to be done to the master clock so Josh and Time Turner set off after checking to make sure it was set to the right time.
For a small town Ponyville had a lot of clocks. This was a fact that Josh was learning the hard way as the inspection continued. A few clocks had cogs or gears that were starting to rust up, and one even had several screws that were about to pop off when Josh and Time Turner arrived. On top of that the trot between the clocks was rather long.
At long last, after what seemed like hours the inspection was completed. "Thanks for your help." Time Turner said "For your first inspection you did pretty good."
"You think so huh?" Josh asked as he hoofed Time Turner's favorite screwdriver over to him. He called it "The Sonic Screwdriver" but he refused to say why. Which was rather odd considering that was just like every other screwdriver, and there was nothing sonic about it. Josh assumed it was probably just a joke tied into the rumors about him.
"Yeah." Time Turner said "I'll likely hire you again when the next inspection rolls around. So I guess you could consider me a repeat customer."
"Sounds good to me!" Josh said excitedly "And guess what?! You're my first repeat customer!"
"I am?" Time Turner asked.
"Uh-huh!" Josh said "It's just another step forward for me and my business."
"Glad to hear it." Time Turner said "As for your paycheck, well you it'll be in the same place it was last time. So drop by tomorrow and pick it up."
"Will do." Josh said, and set off for home. The sun was beginning to set as he did. Trotting back to his home took a long time, but he was so happy about getting his first repeat customer, and doing a great job, that he forgot to be tired. Even as his hooves grew weary.
As he neared his home his thoughts turned to how he hoped to spend the rest of the evening. He was looking forward to a relaxing hot bath, and then probably curling up on the couch to read one of the books from the library. Those plans were soon put on hold however when he opened the door.
"Surprise!" came a chorus of voices. Everypony (and many nonponies) in Ponyville was there to great him.
"What's going on here?" Josh asked.
"You should know silly." a familiar hyperactive voiced called out "After all you're the guest of honor. And here's a hint it's not your birthday." The pink earth pony it belonged to soon bounced into view.
Josh racked his brain in response to Pinkie Pie's question. At first he couldn't figure out what the reason for the celebration was. Then suddenly it dawned on him, now he remembered. "How could I have forgotten that today is my 100th day in business?" he said.
"That's alright silly." Pinkie Pie said with a smile "It's all part of being a super duper party thrower!"
"Thanks for remembering Pinkie." Josh said "And thank you everyone else for coming."
"Well you know what they say. There ain't no party like a Pinkie Pie party, cause a Pinkie Pie party don't stop!" Applejack said.
"And what good is a party without a cake?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"A boring one, thats what!" Rainbow Dash stated. She'd heard Pinkie Pie pull this routine several times before, needless to say she'd started to wisen up a bit.
"A cake? For me?" Josh asked. Pinkie Pie nodded. "You shouldn't have, really." Josh said.
"It was no problem" Pinkie Pie said "Mr. and Mrs. Cake have taught me well." She then presented a chocolate ice cream cake, topped with whipped cream. "Congratulations on 100 days of 'Helping Hooves'!" was written in pink icing. And to everyone's surprise there was actually 100 candles placed all over it.
"You guys are the best!" Josh said "I'm glad I've gotten the chance to get to know you all. I hope I've done a good job helping you all out with whatever problems you may have had. With customers like you the future looks bright."
"Well what are you waiting for silly?" Pinkie PIe asked "Go ahead and blow out the candles already!" Josh took a deep breath, and blew as hard as his lungs would let him. A few repeats and he had managed to blow out all the candles.
"Now let's get this party started!" Pinkie Pie said "Take it away Vinyl Scratch!"
A few hours later Josh climbed into bed, and dosed off happily as he reflected on the fond memories he had of the party. "If only my family could be here to see this." he thought to himself just prior to nodding off. Perhaps he would visit them again after all. It had been a very long time, and family was still family.