Can’t believe I’m adding a second entry… Maybe it’s about time I get this off my chest… But the question is since this is a journal and only I will see it, should I do something artistic such as write my dreams for the future now, or tell my life before telling my dreams? I know both are valuable to discover who I am, but what would be the point in putting a dream in the middle of a story? What if somepony picks this up and judges me for it?
I sound crazy just talking like this… Let’s go with another story, hopefully this one will be more therapeutic than the last…
I was seven years old and it was around the time of the school talent contest. All the other fillies and colts in my class had something they were good at, resembled by their cutie mark… But I didn’t have mine yet... I wasn’t good at much, I was just a small earth pony colt that looked like a mare for Celestia knew why. I did start cutting my mane and tail shorter so I could be seen as more colt like, but the fillies and colts in my class still looked at my short stature instead of my other features.
Nearing the days of the talent contest I saw everypony practicing in class, all having something special about them. I always loved to sing, but I was never good enough at it to be a talent, so I backed out of that position at the contest.
The teacher approached me and asked “Why aren’t you practicing, Mirage?”
I looked up at her and said “I don’t have a talent…”
She shook her head. “You have a talent out there, you just need to find out what it is… Have you tried something simple just for the show?”
“No…” I was too bummed to think of a quick talent I could have used.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something.” She replied. Walking to the bookshelf she pulled a book down and offered it to me. “Try looking at this.”
Looking at the book it was titled ‘What makes me Special’, and I looked at it carefully. “What’s this?”
“It’s a book filled with talents ponies can have.” She replied joyfully. “Try looking at the book and seeing if something catches your eye.”
I nodded and opened it. It was amazing, so many talents I haven’t even thought of. Who would’ve known I could’ve used Creative Writing as a talent, so I knew what I was going to do. I was going to write a short story and read it to everypony, it’d have to be short but amazing, so I got to it.
I still have that story today, written in black ink on a brown piece of paper, based off my great uncle, and it got me in trouble with the school. It’s survived multiple moves, a small house fire, and having a bottle of Tequila spilled all over it. Let me re-write it for you, so you know how young me wrote compared to my stories now.
It was cold at the base, Dusk was trotting up to a medic and asked “How do you cure a snake bite?”
The medic looked at him and said “What?”
“Snake bite, how do you cure it?” Dusk asked again.
“Well,” The medic started, “You’re gonna have to cut near the bite and suck the poison out before it gets into the bloodstream.”
“Oh…” Dusk nodded. “Better go tell Ace the bad news.”
“I told you how to cure it, so go do it.” The medic was too busy with his own work.
“Are you crazy?” Dusk asked. “I’m not sucking on Ace’s ass.”
I know, it was short, but it’s what I wrote as a kid. I even wrote the word ‘ass’ because that’s how my dad always told me the story I based it off of. My dad always swore around me, so did my mom. They swore, drank, and did many things most parents wouldn’t do around me, but I accepted it and soon thought it was the norm.
Anyways, back to the talent contest.
I had finished the story just in time for the talent contest, of course I had wrote multiple stories but thought the one that was true would be the best. I went up on stage and heard something creaking, which I ignored as I told my story. Half way through the story, I heard it again, this time it was a bit louder as I felt the ground shake a bit, must’ve been a train.
As the stage shook, I heard the creaking continue until I heard a click. In a second I felt something hit my head and I fell to the ground, my eyes blurring as somepony ran onto the stage, ponies screaming as I passed out.
I woke up in the hospital. I don’t know how long I’d been passed out, but I was hooked up to some machines. The back of my head hurt as I looked around the room, seeing my mother, father, and grandmother watching me carefully. I suffered head trauma, and I had to stay in the hospital for a month.
During that month I was mostly alone in the hospital, trying to regain my memory from the past few days. I read a lot of books while I was there, and the ponies from school all sent me get well cards… Some of them were mean though… I wasn’t very liked in school, I did nothing to make ponies mad but somehow that was enough for one fourth of the class to hate me… Then again I didn’t talk to many ponies, I was a bit of an outcast, and receiving those mean notes made me hate each and every one of those ponies.
All but one... Sharp Shot. He and I were best friends in school, we were almost like brothers. If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been alone at school.
I think that was good enough for today… Time for lunch...
I never thought I’d actually write one of these things. All my life I would purchase a diary or journal and just throw it away days later or keep it in my desk to be discovered months later. This time I think I’ll keep updating my story, and what better place to start than the beginning? It’s been almost nineteen years since my life began, but I still remember most of my life after I opened my eyes for the first time.
It started as most foals are born, I rather not go into the details since I’m not really a biologist. The first pony to hold me was my grandmother, Topaz, mother of Mirage Duane Mic Senior. Since I was the first born of my mother and father, for my dad to be a senior my name had to be his. Mirage Duane Mic Junior, my birth name, and the name I’ll always have. October third, nineteen ninety five, I was born to Steam Drop and Mirage Duane Mic. I had a light orange coat, a brown mane and tail, and green eyes.
A few days passed, my mother and I were able to return home. We lived in a small house in Trottingham. It was me, my mom, my dad, and my grandma. I was quick to grow, and quick to learn. Smart and tall, something I’ve always been, mostly for the better, sometimes for the worse.
There were a few ponies who came over to see my family after I was born.
My cousin Jade Mage was one of my best friends as a foal. She was sixteen when I was young, but she was motherly and would do anything for me.
Another of my friends was another cousin, Blaze Moonlight. She was born a few months after I was, and we did act a bit like sibling rivals, but we’d do anything for each other.
Then came Autumn Dusk and his sister Icy Night, who were born a few years before me. I’ll always remember them both, even though we haven’t written or talked in years.
But if there was anypony I wish I could write to, it would have to be Tinker Star. She was the first pony to visit me after I came home from the hospital, she was my next door neighbor, and my best friend for years.
That covers who I knew at a young age, but how did I act? I was never rebellious, never tried my parents like most foals do. They gave me all I wanted, which surprisingly wasn’t much. I loved books and music. My mother sang to me every night.
“You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You’ll never know boo,
How much I love you,
Please don’t take,
My sunshine,
Away.”
I’d hear that song every night, it always calmed me down, it brought a smile to my face as I slowly drifted to sleep. If I were sad, mom would sing it. If I were tired, mom would sing it. If I were scared, mom would sing it. Those lyrics are burnt into my memory, and they always will be.
Life was simple as a foal, if only it remained like that…
But why dwell on sadness before it is told? A day in the life should prove better than a synopsis.
I was five years old. I was a young colt in Trottingham, where life was simple. I woke up to the sound of a hoof knocking on the door. I was always a light sleeper, so it was easy to wake me up. I got up and went to my bedroom door, heading out into the hall and seeing my good friend Tinker Star at the door. She had a beautiful blonde mane and tail, a light grey coat, green eyes, and her cutie mark was a set of gears; though I never knew why.
I looked to my mom who was walking in from the kitchen and asked “Can I play with Tinker today?” I asked her. My mom always let Tinker and I play, I even skipped breakfast plenty time because she woke me up.
My mom nodded at me and told me “Be safe!” And I ran out the door excitedly and hugged Tinker, my best --and only-- friend.
She smiled at me and said “How’d you sleep, kiddo?”
I looked to her, she was five years older than me but we were almost at eye level. “I slept good,” I replied, “How about you?”
“I slept really well.” She hugged me back and as we broke the hug she motioned her hoof to say ‘This way’ and we walked casually to the house next door where she had set up a huge tub of soapy liquid and a rope. “I think you’ll like this!” She used her unicorn magic to levitate the rope and shape it into a circle, dipping it in the soapy tub.
The suds soaked into the rope as I watched curiously, not sure what she was doing just yet. “Why are you doing that?” I asked.
“Watch this,” she replied as she lifted the rope from the tub, a thin sudzy film trailing from one edge of the rope to the other. I wasn’t impressed just yet as I just caught on to what she was doing, thinking it was going to pop, but to my surprise it did not as quickly as I assumed it would. She then looked at me and said “Go stand on that X over there.” I saw an X made of chalk in the road so I stepped onto it, noticing it was slippery as she moved the giant bubbly rope towards me. “Ready?” She asked.
I nodded in reply. “What are you gonna do?” Without saying a word she moved the wand fast enough for a bubble to start forming, slowly descending it to my head. She lowered it and as the rope made contact with the road she pulled it away and the bubble formed around me. I was in a bubble, and it was amazing as I saw the world outside distorted, but I knew if I spoke a word the bubble would pop so I stood in there with a wide smile on my face, looking around at the world. Seconds passed and the bubble popped, soapy water splashing onto me as I giggled, though it was different than my usual giggle..
Tinker laughed at my giggle and said “You sound like a school filly!” She laughed hard and I couldn’t help but blush.
I did look a bit more like a filly than I should have so it was a bit of a sensitive topic for me. I was thin, not much muscle, small, and had a long mane and tail. Some of the foals at my preschool teased me about it, but I grew used to it. I never did anything feminine though, so it was just looks.
“Don’t feel bad, kiddo.” She looked at me apologetically. “You’re gonna be a big and strong stallion one day, just gotta wait a bit.” She always knew what to say, always made me smile. She cared for me unlike any other pony I knew, other than my family.
That was just one day in the life of young Mirage Mic Jr. Tinker Star and I had plenty of days and nights like that. We pretended to be pirates, or Appleoosan Cow Wranglers, and sometimes we even acted as soldiers in the recent griffon wars. We caught fireflies in summer nights and chased butterflies on spring days. We played pranks, jokes, and other random foal things. Life made sense back then.
But then reality hit me.
One day I went over to see her and she wasn’t there. I thought she was just at a friends house, so I was okay with waiting a day. But then the next day she was gone. And the next. And the next.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and I heard no word from Tinker Star. I didn’t see her for what felt like forever, and I was worried sick. But foals move on, that’s one of the things I envy of my younger self, being able to make new friends at the drop of a hat.
I'll always miss those days...
