Explaining the Foalhood

by IMNOTHERE889

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Other, Pinkie Pie, Tragedy
Length: 2889

Pinkie Pie asks why Neon Screen always flips out around pegasi she doesn't know.

Pinkie asks Neo why she flips out around other pegasi that aren't her friends, and Neo takes a trip down the alleyways of memory lane to tell her why.

I love tragic backstories so much, idk why. Neo belongs to me.

Published 2015-08-10 14:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-10 14:30:01 UTC

Getting Answers

"NS is a mess! NS is a mess!"
"Look everpony! It's Neon Unclean!" The words ringed in Neon's ears. She shuddered. "What's wrong? Are you cold?" Pinkie said. "No, I'm fine. Just a chill." Neon said.
"Oh. Okay!" Then the pink pony went back to baking her cupcakes.
Neon had just come out of therapy again, but it didn't seem to help. Those memories kept on haunting her.

Neon had never been friends with many pegasus ponies. She was mainly friends with two: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. They seemed to be the only ponies that didn't make fun of her in flight school. So whenever a pegasus that she isn't friends with walks by, or flies over, she usually flips out. When it's not curling into a ball saying "I'm not a mess! I'm not a mess!", it's flying to her house and hiding from everypony.

Other ponies had started to worry, so they had Neo be sent to go get therapy every week. But it didn't help. Neo would still be the same.

"Pinkie..."
"Yeah?"
"There is something... I actually have to tell you."
"What is it, Neo? Ooh! Is it a secret? I'll guard it with my life! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
Neon chuckled. Pinkie Promises always made her smile.
"It's quite private, so, yeah, I guess it is a secret."
Pinkie sat there, waiting for the secret.
Neo took a deep breath, then told her.

"When I was just a filly in flight school, my mom was very sick. I could barely concentrate in flight school because I was thinking about my mom all the time. And then, one day, before a big test. My mother gave me her necklace, see?" Neo took off the necklace around her neck. The earth pony sat there, waiting for the rest.

"'Always believe in yourself, you'll be fine. Just keep control, and believe...' Those were my mom's last words. Then she...." Neo trailed off. She stared at the floor. She had been trying not to remember. "Uhm, Equestria to Neo, are you still there?"

Neon snapped back into the present. "Yes, right, sorry." She cleared her throat.

"When it was time for the big test, I was shaking like there was no tomorrow. Other pegasi said to me, 'hey, nice necklace, where'd you get it, the junkyard?' Those ponies just made me feel worse. When it was time for me to go, I couldn't even open my wings. I was too heartbroken and nervous to do it. Then someone pushed me off the platform. Still couldn't open my wings. I landed on the clouds with a thud, and the other pegasi were making fun of me with this humiliating song..."

Pinkie gasped. "Why would anyone want to make fun of you!? You are probably the best pony I've ever met!"
"Well, they obviously didn't think so. They didn't know what I had just been through. Then something even worse happened. Somepony said, 'hey! Her mother died! That's no way to treat somepony that's just had a loss!'"

"Yeah!" The pink pony said.
"Then somepony else said, 'your mom must've been a weakling to have died this early in her life!' I was so sad that I ran away from my home, away from Cloudsdale. I came down here, to Ponyville."

"OOH! OOH! IS THIS THE BIT WHERE YOU MEET ME!?"
"No, Pinkie. That's not quite yet. I looked everywhere to see if anypony would accept me, but no one would. I was all alone. No one was there to love me, care for me..."

"Wow, Neo.. I knew that you had a rough start here in Ponyville, but I never knew it was THAT rough!"

"I ended up staying at a run down building at the edge of town. The place I now call home."

"So THATS why you get so freaked out around other pegasus ponies! You're afraid that they'll make fun of you!"

"Yup..." The pegasus sighed. Pinkie was probably the best friend she ever had. After all, Pinkie did love to make other ponies smile.

Author's Note

I love tragic backstories so much.
Idk why.
Help me.

Was it Really All True?

Was Neo lying all along? Let's see what actually happened...

It was the day before a big flying test, one that could very well define her future as a flyer, but she was still nervous. Neon Screen had never failed a test before, but now that her mother was sick, she couldn't help but feel this way.
Neo was standing next to her mothers bed, and her mother was gently stroking the young filly's mane.

"My little Neo, my time has come..." Her mother said.
After saying this, Neo burst into tears.

"M-mom! I don't w-want you to l-leave m-me! I don't know h-how to t-take care of myself!" Neo said through sobs.

"Don't worry, my little pony, I just need you to know this..."

"What? What d-do I need to know?" Neo asked as her mother took off the necklace that she always wore and put it around her daughters neck.

"Always believe in yourself, you'll be fine. Just keep control, and believe... Because the power of hope can be very special." Her mother said. She closed her eyes and passed.

Neo couldn't take it.
"Mom? M-mom? MOM! MOOOOOOM!!!" She shouted while sobbing. She crawled up onto the bed and sobbed into her mothers chest. She didn't want to believe that her mother was dead. She eventually cried herself to sleep.

She woke up on the floor, and the memories from the night flooded back into her head. She sighed and walked out of the room, and out of the house. She walked to her flight school, and made it just before the test started. She got into line and waited for her turn. Other foals made fun of her necklace. They said things like, "where'd you get your necklace? The junkyard?" And "nice necklace, does it come in fashionable?"

They just made Neo feel worse. When it was her turn to fly, she couldn't do it. Her wings were firmly stuck to her sides. Neo gulped. She couldn't do it. Then, somepony pushed her off the platform. Her wings still wouldn't dislodge them from her sides. She hit the ground with a thud.

Other fillies and colts surrounded her and started laughing. They started making fun of her.
"NS is a mess! NS is a mess!"
"Hey, look everypony, it's Neon Unclean!"
Neo felt like crawling into a ball and dying. Or, better yet, disappearing.

Then somepony in the crowd of foals shouted, "hey! Don't make fun of her! Her mother died last night, and she's obviously taking her death roughly!"
They just turned that into a way of making fun of her.
"Well, her mom must've been pretty weak to have gone this early in her life!"

That made Neo burst into tears. She ran off, and flew away from Cloudsdale. She flew to the ground. She made her way to Ponyville. She went into town, and asked literally every and anypony to take her in. But, she failed. She walked sadly through town, and bumped into something hard. After rubbing her muzzle, which was kinda sore from the sudden contact, she looked at what she had just hit. It was a building, and it looked abandoned. Neo walked inside. Yep, abandoned.

Neo made her way to the bedroom and plopped onto the bed. She cried herself to sleep once again.

How Did She Find Her Special Talent?

"Cooommmeeee. Ooooonnn! Just tell usssss!!!" Scootaloo whined.
"Why do you want to know so badly!?" Neo asked, not trying very hard to hide the anger in her voice.
"Well, first of all, we've asked every other pony in town, and you're last on our list. Second of all, your one has the name of a world-famous company!" Sweetie Belle answered.
"Uggghhhh, fiiiiinnne. It's not like I have a gaming marathon I wanted to do or anything...." Neo said.
"It'll only be for a few minutes! After ya tell us, we'll be outta ya mane!" Apple Bloom said.

"Alright, I got mine when I was your age. DUH. So, let me begin." Neo started her story. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Also known as the CMC, was asking a certain gaming pony about how she got her cutie mark.

Flashback mode, activate.

Filly Neo was wandering through the new town on the ground, trying to find anypony that would take her in. The town felt so big to her, she felt so tiny. So tiny that she wanted to crawl into a ball and disappear. She missed her old friends; Allan Berry, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. She wished that she was back in Cloudsdale, and that her mother was still alive, feeling as good as whatever feels good.

She was wandering around, head low, until she bumped into another pony. It was a young colt, about the same age as her, but he was an earth pony. Not unusual in this town, Neo had noticed. Most of the population was earth. She had only seen a couple unicorns, and about a dozen pegasi. Everypony else was earth. The colt stared at her, almost with no emotion showing in his face at all.
Neo also stared.

Eventually, the colt spoke.
"Hey, want a newspaper? It's free." He said.
"U-uh sure..." Neo said. The colt passed her a newspaper, and she took it. Deciding that she would have no luck with finding a proper home, she set back to the abandoned building which she stayed in. She jumped on a couch, and began to flip through the newspaper.

Everything she saw was boring. But a small article on the last page caught her eye.
"NeighStation!? That's come out!? IT CAME OUT A WEEK AGO!?" Neo said, while letting a small squee, okay, a BIG squee, escape her lips. She scraped up all of her bits (she had quite a few, because her mom gave Neo all her bits before she died) and zoomed out of the house as fast as she could. She ran all the way to the nearest technology shop. She zoomed inside, grabbed an NS, grabbed a game, dropped the right amount of bits on the counter where the shop dude was sitting, and zoomed out before anypony could even breathe, leaving a purple trail with a light purple streak behind. She zoomed—I'm using that word too much, aren't I? Eh, whatever—back into her house and plugged the NS into the TV. She pulled out the video game she had chosen: Saw Neck the Ponyhog.

She then noticed how much her lungs hurt from all that running. She collapsed, greedily taking in gulps of air. After about five minutes of that, she pulled the plastic off of the game, allowing her to open the case. She opened it and pulled out the disc. She opened the NS and put the disc inside. She turned on the TV, and turned on the NS. I have no idea how she was doing this without magic, but let's just roll with it. She grabbed a game controller and sat on the couch.

When the game started up, she was amazed at the graphics. She almost instantly learned the controls, as if she was uncovering an old memory that she forgot about. Playing the game gave her a new feeling... A feeling she was unfamiliar with. She had no idea what it was called. Oh, that's right... It's called hope. The game made her forget about what was happening in the world around her, it made her forget about the heartache she was suffering from. She was zooming through the levels, and before she knew it, she found herself on the final boss.

Just seconds before she beat the boss, a gigantic BOOM! was heard. She jumped a bit, causing her to mash a button on the controller. The sound somehow caused a window to break. The button Neo mashed was the 'action' button, and it caused her to kill the boss, thus beating the level and the game. Neo took no notice. Neo ran to the window, and saw the most beautiful thing ever. A rainbow, but it wasn't like the rainbows she had ever seen. It was round, and going in all directions in the sky. For the first time in two days, she had a huge grin on her face.

Neo had felt something strange when she had beaten the game, almost like a magical energy had zoomed through her body. It was a feelings he couldn't describe. She looked down to her flank, and her grin grew even wider. She had gotten her cutie mark! It was a video game controller, with the world famous company's name on it; Pony. A very simple name, yet very awesome things come from that company. That company had helped her get her cutie mark. She was happy for the rest of the following week, no matter what had happened.

"So..." Neo began, "that's the end of my story."
"Wow! I can't believe that Rainbow Dash's rain boom had helped you get your cutie mark TOO!" Scootaloo said, filled with excitement.
"Ehehe, yeah. Now, what did one of you say about being out of my mane?" Neo said, a hint of slyness in her voice.
"Oh, right!" The three of them said in unison. They both ran off, giggling and stuff.

Neo just shook her head a smiled.
"Those fillies will get theirs soon enough."

Author's Note

Cutie Mark Chronicles thing. Why? Because it made the most sense.

Finding a Friend For Life

But what about Pinkie Pie? How did she come into the picture?

Pinkie was wandering through the town she now called home. She wanted to explore one end of the town, the end with an abandoned building. She was happily bouncing along with a very big smile that seemed like it would never leave her face. She greeted everypony she saw, and they always greeted back. Before she knew it, Pinkie found herself in front of the abandoned building. She entered through the unlocked door.

She walked slowly through the building, taking in every single part of it. She saw cobwebs, dust, and a large amount of candy wrappers. Wait, candy wrappers? That doesn't make sense...
Pinkie heard noises coming from the living room, strange noises. Sounds of delight, and the sounds of a TV. She made her way to the living room and stopped when she saw a filly pegasus sitting on a couch with a controller in her hooves. Well, not exactly her hooves, but her feathers were pressing the buttons and moving the analog stick and stuff.

The pegasus didn't notice Pinkie watching her play a game, so Pinkie decided to speak.
"Hi there! How ya doin'?" Pinkie said, and also slightly surprising the pegasus. The Pegasus looked over to Pinkie, the latter flashing the former a smile. The pegasus paused her game and got off the couch.

"Uhm, hi. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" The Pegasus asked.
"My name's Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie answered.
"My name's Neon Screen, but you can just call me Neo." The pony called Neon Screen said.
"Wanna be friends?" Pinkie said out of nowhere.
"WOULD I!" Neo said with a sudden increase in volume.
"Great!" Pinkie said, not at all fazed by Neo's sudden outburst.

The two sat down on the couch and started chatting. They went from one topic to another; life in Cloudsdale to life on a Rock Farm, Gaming to Partying, and to the subject of how they got their cutie marks.

The two met up everyday after that, doing whatever they thought would be fun. This was the beginning of a friendship that was sure to last forever.

Neo was just playing some Gasket & Clop when somepony spoke.
"Hi there! How ya doin'?" The pony asked. Not noticing this pony until she spoke gave Neo a bit of a fright, and she turned her head to see who spoke. When her eyes landed on a pink earth pony, she paused her game. The pink pony flashed Neo a smile.

"Uhm, hi. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" Neo asked.
"My name's Pinkie Pie!" The pony named Pinkie answered.
"My name's Neon Screen, but you can just call me Neo." Neo said.
"Wanna be friends?" Pinkie said out of nowhere.
"WOULD I!" Neo said with a sudden increase in volume. She really needed friends, especially since her friends were up in Cloudsdale, and she was all alone.
"Great!" Pinkie said, not at all fazed by Neo's sudden outburst.

They both sat on the couch and started chatting about different stuff, changing the topic every so often. They went from Cloudsdale to Rock Farms, Gaming to Partying, and then they got into the subject of how they got their cutie marks.

Ever since that day, they both met up everyday and did what they thought would be fun. This was the beginning of a friendship that was going to last forever.

Author's Note

Saw Neck the Ponyhog.
Gasket & Clop.
How bad can these game name parodies get?