A (Somewhat) Normal Life

Josh opened his eyes to the sound of his alarm going off on his phone.

“Ugh, alright I’m getting up.” He said as he turned it off.

He got out of the confines of the water bed and went over to the window to pull back the curtains. It was bright out with the sun starting to rise, he saw people walking by on the street, probably heading to school or work. He checked his phone to see what time it was. His phone read 6:00 am.

“Good I can get a shower, eat breakfast and have some time left to myself.” He took off his boxers and socks and went into the bathroom. After cleaning and drying himself off and brushing his teeth, Josh put on some fresh clothes. A navy blue shirt, a white over-shirt and cargo shorts. As he was walking down the stairs, his nose was hit by a sweet scent.

His mouth began to water at the smell. It could only be the smell of his mother’s pancakes. He walked into the kitchen to see his mother by the stove making the pancakes, and his father reading the paper while having a cup a coffee. His aunt was at the table enjoying her breakfast, his father noticed him by the doorway.

”Good morning, Joshua. Wanna have some breakfast before you head to your new school?” He asked.

“Sure, I’ll have some before I head out.” Said Josh as he took a seat at the table. His mother soon put a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice in front of him.

“Here you go Joshua.” She said with a smile.

“Thanks Mom.” Josh said, taking a bite of the delicious pancakes. He hummed in joy as he was chewing down on the pancake. He always loved his mom’s cooking. Sure she would sometimes burn the food, but at least she tried and that’s all that matters. After he finished eating, Josh went upstairs into his room and checked his phone to see what time it was now. It read 6:55 am.

“Well I guess I can have a little time to myself.” Josh said to himself. He sat at the computer desk and opened his laptop. After waiting for it to boot up he decide to listen to music. He always loved rock and roll, metal, some techno and dubstep. After a couple of minutes he checked the time on his laptop, 7:10. Josh closed his laptop, got his book bag and headed out the room. He walked down the stairs and headed for the front door.

“Have fun at school Josh” His father said.

“I will Dad.” He replied.

“We’ll see you when you get back.” His mom added.

“Sure Mom, I’ll see all later.” Josh said as he walked out the door.

Once outside he looked around the neighborhood. He remembered seeing a bus stop nearby while in the car yesterday. He started walking towards the direction of the bus stop. While walking, he passed by some people, some were walking their pets out, while the others were just walking and talking to each other. He soon found the bus stop he was looking for.

He sat down on the bench and waited for the bus. While waiting for the bus, he notice that someone sat next to him. It was a girl with snow white skin, blue hair with light blue streaks, and wearing a pair of purple sun glasses. She was wearing headphones and was slightly banging her head while listing to her music.

Josh didn't bother saying hello to the girl due to her listening to music. The music was so loud even with her headphones on he can somewhat here it. It sounded like techno mixed with dubstep. Josh did like that kind of music, but he wasn't a huge fan of said genre. The girl notice Josh sitting beside her and waved at him. She then returned to banging her head to rhythm of the music. Josh was a little confused, but decided to shrug it off.

Soon the bus came into view and made a full stop in front of Josh The girl with the glasses got up and walked onto the bus. Josh did the same thing and got on the bus. He debated on where to sit, but just decided to walk to the back of the bus since no one really sits in the back of a bus, except for people who want to be alone with their thoughts. Josh sat down on the seat and looked in front of him. There were quite a few people sitting down, most of them looked like high school students.

There was one person that caught his attention. There on the right side of the bus was a girl. She had purple hair with pink streaks and done in a ponytail bun. She had glasses and was wearing what looked like a school uniform. Then it came to him, it was one of the girls he saw walking with each other yesterday. He couldn't see what she was doing, but to his knowledge it looked like she was reading something. Josh stopped looking at the girl and turned his attention to the bus window. He took out his earbuds and started listening to some of his music on his phone.

It took about half an hour before the bus made a full stop in front of the school. Soon everyone that was left on the bus got off their seats and walked out. Josh was the last one to exit the bus. Once he got off the bus, he saw that the front of the school was filled with students. They were talking to one another, chatting about their weekend. He saw the girl with the purple hair walk up to the same group of of girls from yesterday.
They were talking to one another, but Josh didn’t really care what they were talking about.

“They're probably talking about boys, or what clothes to wear that will make them look pretty.” He thought to himself.

After a while, the school bell ringed to get the students attention. Soon all the students started walking inside. Once inside the school, Josh needed to know where the principal’s office was, so he decide to ask one of the students for help. He tapped the nearest student’s shoulder to get their attention.

“Excuse me, but where is the principal’s office?”

The student pointed in the direction of the office “Keep going that way and it’s to your left.” The student said before they started to walk away. Josh walked in the direction until he came across a door that said “Principal Celestia’s Office.” He knocked on the door three times.

“Come in.” A muffled voice said from inside the room. Now that he had permission, Josh opened the door and walked in. There he saw a women sorting through papers on her desk until her attention turned to him.

“Why hello, what can I do for you?” She asked with a smile on her face.

“Hello, um. I’m Joshua Tanner and I’ve just moved into town. Since this is where I’ll be attending from now on, I was wandering what classes I’ll be taking?”

“Well your parents already informed me you were attending here, and they asked me to make a list on what classes you’ll be taking.” She said as she handed him a list of his classes. “ Oh, and one more thing. Before you go I need you to signed this, that way you’ll be an official student here at Canterlot High.”

She gave him a paper to sign. After signing it and giving it back to her, he picked up his book bag and started heading out the door, but was stopped by Celestia getting his attention.

“Oh, and another thing Mr. Tanner, you may have heard about some strange things happening here, but I assure you there is nothing to fear.” Celestia said with a comforting smile on her face.

“I’ll keep that in mind, and you can call me Josh if you want Principal Celestia.” He said as he left and closed the door behind him. As he walked away from the office, he looked at the list to see what classes he has.

Art
Science
Social Studies
Lunch
Math
Music
English
Gym

He looked at the list for a little bit before putting it in his pocket, “Math, I fucking hate math. All the other classes are okay, but why I do have to get math well? This is starting out to be a great first day.” Josh said as he walked to his first class.

After the first three classes it was time for lunch. Josh always liked going to lunch because he can eat and listen to his music and hang out with his friends. But after what his friends did he found it was much better to just be alone. Once in the lunch room, everyone was seating at a table eating or talking to friends. Josh saw the seven girls at one table talking to one another. They looked so happy being with each other.

While he was savoring the moment, he didn’t notice a certain pink hair girl skipping up to him. Once he opened eyes, he notice a pair of blue eyes looking at him. The surprise almost made him choke. He swallowed the piece of burger and he looked at the pink hair girl.

“What do you want?” He asked. “Can’t you see I’m eating here?” He pointed to the burger that was still in his hand.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I was wondering are you new here!?” Pinkie asked as she sat down across the table from Josh. “Because I know everyone here, but I don’t know you so that means your new here. And that means you don’t have any friends, so I was wondering would you like be my friend? Because I’m friends with everybody,"

Before Josh could even answer. The girl with the fire like hair came up behind Pinkie. “Pinkie,” She said while picking her up from the chair and onto her feet. "You know it's not nice to interrupt people while their eating."

“Oh, sorry. But I just love to see a new face at school," Pinkie said with a frown on her face.

“That's okay.” She said to Pinkie before turning her head towards the still confused boy. “I’m sorry about my friend here, she just likes to make new friends that’s all.” She then extend her arm. “My name is Sunset Shimmer, and your name is?”

“Joshua Tanner, but you can call me Josh if you want.” He introduced himself as he shook Sunset’s hand. “But if you don’t mind, I would like to finish my food before lunch is over, okay?”

“Oh, okay. Well it was nice meeting you Josh and welcome to Canterlot High. Come on Pinkie.” Sunset took Pinkie’s arm and took her away from the table. Josh continued to eat his burger, but before he could finish the bell ringed. He let out a low groan and put his burger on his tray.

“Fuck.” He muttered under his breath.

After the last four classes, the school day was coming to an end. Everyone was heading home, some were walking home, others were getting into their cars and driving home. Josh decided to get on the bus with other students. He took a seat in the back of the bus again and looked out the window.

While looking out the window, he started to think about the things that happened today. From time to time most of the classes he was in, some of the students looked at him with suspicion in their eyes. They would sometimes talk quietly to each other about him, thinking he was some sort of a monster trying to take over the world again. But he didn’t care what the students thought of him, he didn’t do anything bad in his life, he was just trying to help people. Trying to make the world a better place. But some people found it wrong in their eyes.

When his parents found out, it took them awhile for them to accept it, but they were still worried about their son's safety. He told them to not worry too much, that he can take care of himself. When his friends found out, they didn’t take it too well and they told him to stop what he was doing and that it was dangerous. But he didn’t listen and kept on doing it. So his friends left him. They said that they couldn't be friends with a person who would put his life in danger. At first he didn't take his friends leaving him too nicely, but over time he got over it.

When the bus came to a stop, Josh got off the bus and walked home.
When he arrived home, he took off his shoes and shut the door. The sound got his parents and his aunt’s attention.

“So how was school son?” His mother asked.

“It was good Mom, really good.” He replied with a fake smile. He didn’t want to tell his parents what happen at school, all he wanted was to head off to bed.

“Well that’s good to hear, you want to watch a movie with us?” His father asked.

Josh shook his head. “No that’s okay Dad, I got some homework to do. Maybe some other time okay?”

“Okay, I understand. Well goodnight son.”

“Goodnight.” He waved to everybody before heading to bed.

Josh walked up the stairs to his room, he took off his over shirt and dropped his book bag. After doing his homework he looked out the window and saw that it was night time, before he went to bed he opened the window and pulled the computer chair and put it by the window. He sat there and watched the night time sky.He liked doing this sometimes at home, watching the clear night sky with the moon bright and out. After a while he got undress and crawled into bed

“Tomorrow is another day,” he told himself as he closed his eyes to get ready for the next day.

SOMEWHERE ELSE, LATER THAT NIGHT

“No please, don’t do this, I’ll give you anything you want just don’t kill me!” A man shouted and begged with fear in his eyes as three men were robbing the store. One was taking the cash, another one was stealing stuff off the shelves and putting it into the bag on his back and the last one was pointing a Colt 1911 pistol at the man’s head against a wall.

“If you keep your fucking mouth shut and do what we say, I won’t have to put a bullet in your fucking skull!” The robber said, still pointing his pistol at the man’s face. He looked at the others guys who were taking their time with what they were doing. “How long are you guys going to take? I’m getting tired hearing this asshole whine.”

“Were going as fast as we can, get off our backs.” The guy taking the cash replied, not taking kindly to his how asshole partner is acting. "You're the one who suggested we come here, so fuck off!"

“Yeah, why don’t you do something useful huh?” Said the guy stealing the items on shelves. The guy having the store clerk hostage was not liking the way his partners were acting. “I’m keeping this guy from calling the cops on us, isn't that useful enough?” He replied back to them.

“Please! I won’t call the cops I swear, just let me go!" The clerk said with tears in his eyes. The man holding the pistol turned his head back at the clerk. “Well we can do that, but we’re not taking any chances.” He said, getting ready to kill him.

“Please don’t-"

But before he could pull the trigger, the sound of a bell ringing caught the attention of the three criminals and the store clerk. There in the doorway, was a figure. They were wearing a black zipped-up jacket, jeans, a clown mask and holding a baseball bat. The criminal holding the gun, walked up to the mask person.

"Hey! asshole," He said as he pointed the gun at figure's chest. "You better turn around and forget what you saw here before I put a bullet in you. Got it!?" The figure only replied with silence. Which made the robber angrier. "Do you have a problem with hearing dumb-ass? I said get the fuck out!" But the masked figure didn't do anything except stand there.

"Alright then," He said as loaded his pistol.

"Have it you way!"

But before he could pull the trigger, the figure grabbed the criminals arm and pulled it side ways. The pistol's bullet went off, hitting the wall. They then swing the bat, making contact with the guy's head and knocking him on his back, rendering him unconscious. They then threw the bat at one of the robbers, hitting him in the forehead, knocking him out. The last guy started to run at the masked figure.

"You just picked the wrong place, you son of a bitch!" He said as he swung his wrench, but the figure dodge it at the last second, giving them enough time to counter. They grabbed the man's arm and threw him at one of the glass freezer doors, shattering it. He got back on his feet, looking at the masked figure with anger in his eyes.

"That's it!" He then pulled out an Uzi "Now you're going to get it you son of a bitch!" He said as he fired the gun.

The figure ran for cover, dodging the flying bullets from the Uzi. The bullets started to hit the stuff on the shelves, creating a massive mess of food, drinks and other things. The figure slowly moved to the other side to see if they can flank him He looked out of cover to see the Uzi wielding man looking around.

"You're gonna regret stepping foot into this store dipshit!" Before he could turn around, the figure came out with a beer bottle, hitting him on the head and making him fall to the floor. Before he could get up, the figure connected a powerful punch to the guys face. Knocking him out cold.

Silence filled the store, the figure then got a drink and a snack. They walked up to the counter and paid with a five dollar bill. The store clerk, still in shock from what he saw, slowly walked over to the counter and took the money. He opened the cash register to give the figure their change back, but before he could. The figure lifted their hand.

"No, keep the change." The figure told the store clerk. They then walked up to the guy that they knocked out with their baseball bat and picked it back up. They also walked over to the guy that was holding the Colt 1911, took it and put it in their pocket. Along with an extra clip from said pistol. They then grabbed their stuff, put it in a plastic bag and looked at the store clerk.

"I would call the cops if I were you." They looked at the unconscious store robbers. "Before they wake up from their beauty sleep." They then walked out of the store and into the night. The clerk looked at the door where his savior had left and then looked back at the mess that was his store.

"I'm not cleaning this up." He said as he dialed 911. "I wasn't even supposed to be here today."

Outside, the figure removed their mask to reveal a young man with brown messy hair. He rubbed the sweat from his forehead after the fight. He took out his phone and started dialing a number. Once done, he put it up to his ear.

"Hey, it's me. Just got done taking care of some of Jericho's men. Listen, I'm going to head home for some shuteye. The cops are going to be coming anytime soon to take them away. Alright, we'll talk later, goodbye." He soon hung up and started to walk in the direction of his home.