Let's talk a bit about some pony occupations, shall we?



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One of the things I've noticed in a lot of ponyfics is a general lack of tradesponies. Typically, stories tend to feature the Mane 6 and farmers, as if there aren't any other jobs to be had in Ponyville.

Now, y'all know that I tend to do my research, and while I won't say I'm an expert on ponies or the show in general, or 1870s technology, it's possible that I know a little bit more than your average bear.

Today at work the manager and I were having an actual intelligent conversation . . . and one where it turned out that we both agreed. And it was sort of political. Yeah, it was a weird day.

But I got to thinking . . . one of the things he was talking about was that his daughter just graduated from college and is getting a job in California, and his son is thinking about going to college but he isn't sure how he's going to afford it. And we got talking about education and the trades and stuff like that, and about how things were different for his grandfather than they were now.

I've blogged here and there about how I think the education system in rural Equestria works, so there's no need to tread over that ground again.

What I haven't really covered in a blog post is what kind of hands hooves on jobs ponies might have.

Sure, there have been a few mentions here and there, either in stories or in the associated blog post.

Well, I decided that right now I'm going to give you a list of presumable pony occupations. Right after a brief words from our sponsors!



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This will make sense when you get to the end.

Before we begin, we're making a few assumptions. We're assuming 1870s levels of tech, and we're assuming that Ponyville is largely self-sufficient. Obviously, you can shift around the tech era as needed, but know that some of these jobs either disappeared or were swallowed up by megacorps as civilization advanced. These are mostly based on actual human occupations, and--again, depending on your headcanon--might not be necessary jobs in Equestria.

And I'm also going to say that this isn't an exhaustive list, by any means. I've got a bunch of stuff that I could use to research and could probably come up with a second and third list just using the books I've got around.



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Cooper: A cooper makes barrels and crates. For barrels, especially, there was an art to it, because depending on what the barrel was to be used for, it had to be waterproof without lining the inside with sealant (since at the time, a lot of sealants would be things like pitch, and most people don't like pitch in their beer).

Tinker: A tinker is one who makes things out of tin, or repairs things made out of tin. Back in the day, a lot of tinkers were travelling repairmen, who would go from house to house and town to town repairing things like kitchen utensils. The simplest way to think of them compared to blacksmiths is a blacksmith typically works hot iron, whereas a tinker generally works cold metal. Sometimes people differentiate between tinkers being repairmen and tinsmiths being creators, other times tinker applies to all.

Blacksmith: Most of the tools and ironwork in town would be made by a blacksmith. If horseshoes aren't imported from an industrial production center, the blacksmith would probably be the one forming them, although not the one putting them on.

Farrier: A farrier fits horseshoes. If ponies use nailed-on horseshoes, a farrier in town is a must.

Cobbler: If ponies don't use nailed-on horseshoes, than they'd have a cobbler, which is someone who makes shoes, and presumably could also make hoof boots.

Thatcher: A thatcher installs thatched roofs. Most of the houses we see in Ponyville tend to have them, and while they're actually surprisingly low maintenance when installed correctly, they do occasionally need work, and of course just like a conventional roof, they wear out eventually and have to be replaced. Not to mention Ponyville has lots of monster attacks.



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I personally tend to think that most blue-collar (for lack of a better term) ponies in Ponyville are earth ponies, but a thatcher is one obvious exception. An earth pony (or unicorn) would have to invest in ladders and scaffolding; a pegasus just needs her four hooves, and maybe a cloud for temporary storage.

Gong Farmer: People love their euphemisms. A gong farmer empties outhouses, privies, septic tanks, and so forth. In some cities (such as London), they were required to work at night. While Ponyville proper does appear to have plumbing, it's unlikely that the outlying farms do. I believe we've seen an outhouse at Sweet Apple Acres, and of course there was the one in Dodge Junction.

Miller: All those bags of flour that Pinkie Pie bakes with (and dumps over her head) have to come from somewhere. While I can't say for sure how it works in Equestria, on Earth you've got to grind grain to get flour, and that requires a mill of some sort. Historically, mills were often powered by water or wind; it's possible that the windmill we've seen in Ponyville is . . . well, a windmill. (Seriously, that's what wind mill means.) Flour mills were also historically called grist mills.

Glass Blower: Things that don't go in crates and barrels go in bottles and jars. This one might be a bit of a stretch for Ponyville; it would really depend on how much the town produces that needs to go in bottles or jars and how far they've industrialized the process (Mason jars were in commercial production by 1860 or so, and replaced earlier designs).

Cheesemaker: Even pasteurized and refrigerated, milk doesn't keep forever. Even if the ponies have magically irradiated box milk, we know that they make butter, so why not cheese? Especially since we don't really know from canon what the Apple family does with all the milk that the cows must produce. They can't drink all of it.

Wheelwright and Cartwright: We commonly see wooden-wheeled carts around Ponyville. Those would be built by a cartwright (the body of the cart) and a wheelwright (the wheels). Of course, it could be the same pony; there's no rule that you can't do both. I would personally assume that there is a small shop in town that builds wagons and wheels to customer specifications.

Basketmaking: For all the times where a barrel or crate is too heavy, and a jar or bottle is too small, the basketmaker has the answer. Odds are she'd also tend to her own reed field, since she's got to grow the reeds to make the baskets. Besides the rather obvious picnic baskets, things like laundry baskets, bee skeps, birdcages, fisherman's creels, various fish traps, and furniture was all made out of wicker. Also I should say right now that probably there was some specialization in wickerwork, and one pony might not do all the things.



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Magitech mechanic: This one isn't historical as far as I know, but it stands to reason that if there is any sort of magitech in Ponyville, it could break or malfunction, and need repair. If there are power crystals of some sort, they might need to be recharged or replaced; spells might need to be renewed, etc.

Well, there you go. About a dozen different occupations to add variety to Ponyville.

Oh yeah, and that advertisement? I didn't sell out to Big Corn, if that's what you're thinking.

I happened to be test driving a car and I noticed a Golden Harvest sign alongside a cornfield. 'Cause that's a variety of corn, you see, and lots of farmers put signs showing what kind of corn they're growing (I assume that they're contractually obligated to).

And I laughed at it, and thought about how it should be a carrot field and not a cornfield (or else we've been wrong all along about what, exactly, Carrot Top grows on her farm). Then it hit me like a bolt out of the blue: I'm always trying to come up with clever names for ponies, and seed names would be a good one for farming ponies.

Here's a link to request a Burpee seed catalog.