My time, my words, my life.

by Cadances Paladin

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 3521

Journey through a young colt's life, as he faces self troubles, and learns lessons of life.

Hi, I'm Note Pad, but my friends and family call me Note. I've been through a lot of random moments in my life, even if my life has been your stereotypical pony's life. But you know what? Here's my take on my life.
Welcome to my life

[If you haven't guesses, this story is in the 1st person.]

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-28 23:44:04 UTC

The prologue. (birth-pre school)

Here we are my friends, my listeners. The beginning. It all started on the night of December 31st, 1990, in the Canterlot hospital...

"It's a colt!" The doctor said, after another successful birth was given in the Canterlot hospital. A stallion and mare were in the room, and were happy to see their child born.

"A son, Historia!" the stallion said, holding his wife, who was now holding their son. The stallion was about five-feet and eleven-inches tall, and he had a short brown mane and tail, as well as a blue coat color. His eyes, were a nice hazel, and the stallion's ethnicity: Earth Pony. My dad was working with the military for a while at that point, though I don't remember how long.

"I know Salute! I can't believe we have a son!" The mare, Historia, said to her husband, Steel Salute. Historia was a pale pink mare, with a long blue mane and tail, her eye color being light blue. She held their child, who was wrapped in a towel, in her forelegs, rocking the child back and forth.  "Girls, come see your little brother." My mother said, motioning my sisters to come see sleeping me.

Now, I was wrapped in a towel, and sleeping, but you could make out good parts of me, such as my detailing, or in this case physical features. I, as I should've probably stated, am a dark-ish red unicorn, with pale green eyes, and a purple with blue stripes mane color.

Now, I don't remember much after that, as neither did my parents or sisters. After a couple of days, I was taken home to our place, where, little did I know, I'd be living for the rest of my life, till I moved out. When we entered the house, and I was immediately greeted by family. At first, I met my grandmother on my mom's side, who said "Oh, look at the little foal! He's a cute little fella!"

Needless to say, I felt embarrassed, even though I was just born a couple days ago. I then met my Aunt Viola, who was an pale orange Pegasus mare, with blue eyes, and she was my mom's twin sister. "Oh, Historia, he's adorable!" She said, running her hoof through my purple and dark blue mane while I was being carried in one of those strap-on to your body foal carriers.

"I know Viola, he reminds me of our brother." My mom said, looking at a picture of my Uncle. I don't remember what he looked like, as the picture got destroyed over time. "But never the less, he's always going to be my beautiful son." My mom continued, nuzzling the top of my head. I guess I giggled, because it tickled a bit having my mother's muzzle rub up against my soft head and long mane.

"So, have you a name for him yet?" My aunt asked, rubbing my head. She always was curious as to what was happening. I guess living in a household of a total of now SEVEN ponies always kept her curiosity going.

"Well, me and Salute have been thinking on a name for him." My mom said, putting a foreleg around my dad "We've decided to name him 'Note Pad'!" My mom said, with my dad nodding in agreement.

So, from then on I was, and have always been, Note Pad. Now, let's skip ahead by a couple years, after I turned three...

It was a couple days after I turned three years old, and my mom had taken me out for a walk, saying I needed my saddlebag and some pencils and other stuff. I didn't disobey her, so I took everything I was told to take. Little did I know, while on our walk, I was going to pre-school, some new place and new concept to me. When we arrived there, after ten minutes of walking, I saw many different foals, but there was one that caught my eye. She was a pink filly, very pale pink, and she had a vanilla, pink, and purple striped mane. From what I saw, she had purple eyes as well.

The bell rang for us to go inside, and my mom said "Mommy will be back later to pick you up Sweetheart, don't worry." then gave me a hug and a kiss before leaving.

When I went inside, I met the same filly I saw earlier, and said "Hey. I'm Note Pad."

"Hi!" She said, beaming cheerfully "I'm Cadence! Wanna be friends?" She asked, extending her wings out a bit. I didn't know at first, but she was an Alicorn, or in this case a winged-unicorn, and was also royalty. Me and Cadance we sent to our own areas where we had to talk to some of the older pones and tell them our names, who in turn would tell us which room we had to go to.

I was assigned to room 25, and I found out once I entered, so was Cadance, and two other ponies she met. "Hey, Note Pad!" She said to me, waving a hoof towards me, signaling she wanted me to head over to her. I didn't take any hesitation, and trotted over to where she was, and she then introduced me to two white unicorns, both with blue striped manes. She pointed over to the Unicorn on her left. "This is Shining Armor!" She said, pointing at a Unicorn colt that had white fur over a dark blue skin color. He had a blue striped mane, but his was more flat then the other unicorn's. He also has blue eyes that said a lot of things about him.

She then pointed to the Unicorn on her right, and said "This is Vinyl Scratch!" The unicorn was white as well, and her mane looked the same color scheme, but although it was flat, it was spiked at the ends, tail included. Her eyes were also different, to that of Shining Armor's. "Hey!" Vinyl said, her voice was cute back then, really cute for me.

We all didn't know it, but we each became fast friends. The rest of our day went by pretty normal. We learned about shapes, numbers, letters, all the basic stuff we needed to know at our age. Eventually, when lunch came, we all sat down and talked to each other, our high pitched voices coinciding with the other high pitched voices. "Hi, my name's Note Pad." I said to the other two unicorn foals, while eating a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich, my favorite food when I was that young.

"I'm Shining Armor, and I'm gonna be captain of the royal guard one day!" The unicorn colt, Shining Armor, said, looking over at Cadance. I didn't see it at first, but apparently Shining Armor had blushed.

"I'm Vinyl Scratch, I'm the best musician in Equestria!" Vinyl said, raising a hoof in the air, making herself more boastful by the minute. I guess I couldn't help it, but I snickered a bit, to which Vinyl heard me, and said "Hey, whadda you laughing at?!"

I stopped before she could continue on, and said "But you're too young to be a musician. Heck, I'm pretty sure that you don't have anything to play!" which made Vinyl's face turn crimson red. "Sorry, please don't hit me!" I quickly apologized as I saw Vinyl ready to punch me.

The school bell rang after that, and it was the last one, saying we could head home when our parents picked us up. It took a bit, but my mom had arrived, and I said goodbye to my three new friends. On my way home, my mom was talking with me "So honey, how was school today?" She asked, as we got closer to our street.

"It was great mommy!" I replied, my young mind trying to remember all the details of the following day. "I learned about color, and the alphabet, and numbers, and I even made three new friends!" I informed my mother, not stopping for a single breath.

My mom giggled at my enthusiasm towards school, and said "That's great Bud!" she usually called me "Bud" as my nickname at home, other then being called "Note" to shorten my name. "I also did notice you speaking with three other foals. Who were they sweetie?" My mom asked, as we got on our street, which was relatively short.

"Their names are Shining Armor, Cadance, and Vinyl Scratch!" I told my mother, as we got close to our house. "Shining Armor's a colt like me, but Cadance and Vinyl are fillies." I said my mom, as we got closer to the front door of our two story house.

My mom put the key in the first lock, twisting the lock to the left to unlock the door. She then replied to me, saying "Well, isn't my son the player like his father! Which one is your marefriend?" Her teasing made me felt embarrassed, even though we were the only ones home at that point.

"MOM!" I replied to my mother, holding the word out longer then needed, as my cheeks turned a shade of crimson red.

To be continued...

Chapter 1: Elementray school: Part 1.

I don't remember much of my young life, or kindergarten. So, I'll tell you what's happened mainly in my elementary school...

I arrived at my new elementary school: Canterlot Elementary. I guess the city didn't have great names for their schools some times. I was walking into my new school, heading for my classroom. I was in the first grade, still a young colt, 'bot six years old now. My fourth and fifth birthdays were normal, in my case of normal, and now I was six, the brand new age of size years of living! Somepony, bust out the champagne! Anyways, I trotted to my new classroom, and I got to see some familiar faces: My three best friends! And i also saw a new face, a Unicorn colt, pure white, blue mane. Just like Shining and Vinyl, is what I first thought when I saw him. Oddly enough, he had blue eyes as well.

I walked up to my friends, and asked "Hey guys! Who's this?" tilting my head to the right a bit, to show my true curiosity.

The colt introduced himself. "My name is Fancypants, good sir!" The colt told me, extending a hoof for a hoof shake. "What's your name good fellow?" He asked, trying to stay as formal as possible. I didn't know why he insisted on staying formal, which was starting to bug me a bit.

I denied the hoof shake, and said "I'm sorry, but I don't do hoof shakes. My name's Note Pad, call me Note!" then I turned to Cadance. Cadance had already had her cutie mark, even since when I first met her. I looked over at my other two friends, they were blank flanks like me still. i looked back at Cadance, and said "How was your summer? "

"It was boring without you guys!" Cadance replied, looking sad a bit, but she quickly cheered up. "But that was the past!" She finished, looking happy now.

"Mine was filled with some music." vinyl said, looking defeated. "I still haven't found the kind of music that I like." She said, finishing her statement by making a scrunchy face.

Shining, Fancypants, and I laughed a bit at Vinyl's face. Shining stopped his laughter after a couple seconds, and said "My summer was pretty good, I've got a new baby sister named Twilight!" which surprised us all.

"Awww! I wonder if I can foalsit for her when she's older." Cadance said, smiling at hearing the news. "How was yours Note?" She asked me, making me blush a bit in embarrassment.

"I went to a mother-son dance with my mom, and went to the store with my aunt viola to get new school supplies, where she embarrassed me a bit." I told them, as I never lied to my friends, and not telling them the truth would hurt me inside a bit. I had received some laughter from Vinyl after words, and said "Of course you'd be the one to laugh Vinyl." while laughing a bit myself.

Soon, the teacher said to find a seat. She was kind of old, her mane was in the verge of being white, or blonde. She was a rather funny looking teacher too, she wore bright colored scarves, a bright colored hat, and even a brightly colored pair of glasses. I tried my best not to laugh, but in the end I burst out laughing, causing the teacher to give me a scowl. "You shouldn't laugh at others' appearances Mister..." she told me, waiting for me to tell her my name.

"I'm sorry Ms. Wide rule." I told her, after I stopped laughing and recovered from it. "My name's Note Pad." I told her once more, waiting for her to respond.

"Well, Mr. Note Pad, you can stay inside for recess for laughing at one's appearance, which is a rather rude thing to do." She told me, much to my young mind's demise. I sighed at what I heard, and walked to my desk as the teacher called out each of our desks. I sat a couple desks from the right of Cadance, two desks in front on Shining, one to the left of Vinyl, and three behind Fancypants.

"Today, we're going to practice some vocab, but first let's introduces ourselves to your classmates!" Ms. Wide Rule told us, making me groan a bit.

After some of the other foals introduced themselves, including Vinyl, Shining, Cadance, and Fancypants, it was my turn to step up. I walked up to the front of the classroom slowly, and kept my head a bit low, afraid of what the other foals would think of me. As soon as I got up to the front, and faced the class, my teacher said "Go on Note Pad, introduce yourself!"

"Uh... Hi." I began. Great start right? "I'm Note Pad. I live with my mom, dad, older twin sisters, aunt, and my Grandma.... Umm... I also have some friends here, and um..." I said, as I became a bit scared at this point, I had never done any kind of public speaking before so I got really nervous, really quick. It seemed that the others could do and make it seem so easy though, what did they do to keep themselves calm?

Needless to say, the other foals laughed at me, which kind of made me sad. I walked back to my desk, my head hung low with the hang of shame and sadness.

I don't remember much of the rest of that day, other than when I went home my second older sister, Reed Note, got accepted into the Canterlot school for the musically gifted... Now, it's time for third grade, because that's where more important things happened...

It was Friday, October 30th, 1998, and I was seven years old now. I was sitting in my room, waiting for dinner to start, and I was writing a sort story as a gift for this filly I had a crush on, not gonna say who though. Anyways, I was writing a short story, while waiting for dinner, and my parents were fighting over Dad not working long enough at work, and Mom not being able to spend time with the family because of how long SHE worked while at work, usually a good ten hours a work day, she works overtime for the pay. A knock came at my door, and I opened the door with my magic and continued to write my short story.

I didn't know who to expect, one of my sisters, my father, my lazy cousin who was staying with us. When my door opened, I found out it was my Aunt Viola. "Hey there Kiddo, you okay?" She asked, as she walked into my room. I don't remember when, but my Aunt Viola had called me "Kiddo" for a long time.

I didn't reply, but instead I put my blanket over my shoulders with my magic, as I sat on my bed. I knew how to use levitation magic pretty good around my age. "So I take it you don't wanna talk about it?" My aunt asked, to which I replied with a nod. "Oh come on Kiddo, you can tell me." She said to me, hoping I'd come around and talk to her.

I was actually pretty upset, but didn't wanna talk about it. It wasn't just my parents fighting, but also my sisters. One I was over shadowed by, as my parents paid more attention to her then they did me or my other sister. My second older sister was the other problem, who caused me some emotional pain. It happened a couple weeks before now, my grandma died in her bed at our house. She had been dying for a while, and her last words to me were "Note Pad, never forget who you are, and more importantly.... Always find the love in family and friends, and your wife one day..." My grandmother then died after a minute of silence. I cried at her funeral.

After her funeral, when we were at home, I couldn't stop crying, and my second older sister, Goal Keep, told me "Why are you crying? You only knew her for seven years, I've known her for sixteen! Besides, ponies die all the time, so why should you cry?!" Those were her exact words, and it seriously hurt me. After that I took a vow of silence, and I didn't speak a word about anything since then, not even to my friends.

I eventually replied to my aunt. "Mom and Dad fighting, Reed Note overshadowing me, what Goal Keep told me, and Gram dying!" I told her, as some tears fell down my face. For six weeks I didn't say a word, and for six weeks I kept my emotions hidden behind my mane, and behind my face. For six weeks, six straight weeks, I didn't even tell some of the closest ponies I knew about why I wouldn't speak. And i just broke my vow, surprising my aunt.

My aunt pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry Kiddo, I truly am." She said to me, brushing my mane with her hoof. I could feel some tears forming in my eyes, and then fall down my face. Heck, I even felt tears go down my back, which I guess were my aunt's. "I miss my mom too, and it pains me to see your parents fight. I'm sorry that your older sister is overshadowing you, and I'm sorry your other older sister said what she said to you."

My aunt then noticed the story I was writing, and picked it up and looked at it. "This is actually a really good story, Note Pad!" she told me, which made me blush a lot. My aunt, probably trying to get me out of the blanket shell I put on, pushed my blanket off of me, and set it aside.

I quickly took it back, hiding it from my aunt. "Aunt Viola, this is for a filly I like!" I told her, which only made me blush even more. I mentally facehoofed. Why did I tell her that? To this day, I still don't know. "I know it's good, I'm a great writer! Besides, I don't want my stories being seen by other ponies!" I told my aunt, without realizing the flash on my rear end.  It happened then and there, that something, literally, life changing happened.

My aunt smiled at me, and said "Okay Note Pad. Hope you enjoy your story, and your cutie mark." as she hugged me again, giggling a bit as I gave her a confused look. I wish I knew it immediately on why she said that, but I was seven, so my thought process was still processing what she meant.

"Cutie mark, what're you talking abouuu-" I said, stopping mid-sentence as I looked down at my flank, seeing a note pad and a pencil. My smile grew wide, wider then I thought it could go, and I eventually said "YEAH! I got my cutie mark before Shining! Guess he owes me twenty bits!"

My aunt giggled, as her hug became tighter. She smiled, then looked down to me with her eyes and said "Come on Kiddo, you wanna go get some ice cream?" She let me go, then got off my bed, waiting for my answer.

As a young foal, my natural answer to going to get ice cream was "Yes! Can we go now?" as I ran off my bed to go find my red fedora, a birthday present I got from last year. My aunt nodded a yes, as her reply, and after I got my red fedora, we went out to the ice cream parlor over in downtown.

To be continued...