We’re All Mad Here

Screwball had always been a rather chaotic mare, with an eccentric personality and love for doing things and living in an atypical way. A comedian by trade, Screwball lived to make others laugh and think about perspective’s other than their own. After Discord’s escape from his stone prison and short-lived reign of Ponyville, Screwy was one of the many to be toyed with and altered as chaos turned the town upside-down. Without much surprise, Discord favored the ponies aligned to his element. Before he was defeated, Screwball was able to levitate, speak backwards fluently, and melt her facial features, among other things. Even after Discord was reimprisoned, and later rehabilitated, Screwball was never back to her “usual” self. She tended to talk to herself, stare out into nothing and look through others, and even tried to see if she was able to fly after Ponyville had returned to the way it was meant to be. Others found her quite batty, especially when they would look into her eyes and see her iconic spiraled pupils, a physical after-effect of Discord’s magic.

She saw no reason to be discouraged by the ways others looked at her as she went about her life. The ponies who came to her comedy shows still found her hilarious, she found herself to be perfectly fine company, and she was able to slowly make new friends. Ditzy Doo seemed one of the few who was completely undeterred by her odd behavior, the two becoming fast friends and Ditzy introducing her to everyone in the post office, which is how Screwball ended up meeting her future husband.

Chain Letter, one of the mailponies that balanced his work evenly between Ponyville and Cloudsdale, was more than happy to meet the friend that Ditzy Doo was always talking about. He found Screwball quite as batty as everyone else did, but loved her positivity and wit. The three started hanging out regularly, but eventually Ditzy kept making up reasons why she wouldn’t be able to meet up with them when they made plans, successfully leaving Chain Letter and Screwball with a chance to get to know each other without Ditzy Doo having to create conversation and shipping them silently. Chain Letter planned to take things slowly, in case she wasn’t looking for a relationship, but the two ended up falling head-over-heels in love and jumping into a relationship faster than they both expected. They adored each other completely, but Chain Letter’s mother and father didn’t seem as keen on Screwball as their son was. Chain Letter’s parents found his girlfriend loud, obnoxious, and far too odd, but Letter paid no mind, especially since his sisters Cotton Sky and Powder Puff seemed to like her just fine.

Without his parent’s approval, Chain Letter and Screwball got married after a year or so of dating. They got to family planning right away, both happily anticipating a house filled with children. It wasn’t long before Screwy was pregnant and Piccolo was born. When their daughter was old enough to travel without wailing and crying the entire time, the family took a vacation on a luxury airship. Unfortunately, Screwball got ill halfway through the trip, having to stay in the cabin for the rest of their vacation. After they got back home and Screwy went to the doctor to see what was wrong, they learned that she was pregnant with their second child. This round of pregnancy seemed to hit the mare harder than when she was carrying Piccolo, usually causing intense mood swings, aggressive food cravings, and a forever need to be cuddled while also not wanting to be touched because of hot flashes. Just before Vertigo was born, Screwball got the news that Chain Letter, having been working an extra shift to save up money for future hospital bills, had been caught in a bad storm and struck down. He didn’t even make it to the hospital before passing, leaving Screwy to grieve for her late-husband and go through labor without him.

After Chain Letter passed, Screwball struggled to take care of her children. With both a toddler and a newborn both demanding her attention at every moment, and without the support of a partner, Screwball came to the heartbreaking decision that Piccolo and Vertigo’s best chance was with other guardians. Chain Letter’s parents were more than happy to claim Piccolo as a member of their household, but swiftly rejected taking care of baby Vertigo along with their sister. Vertigo took after Screwball heavily when it came to their chaos alignment, and Screwball’s in-laws said that the baby would be too much to handle. Without seeing any choice, Piccolo went to live with her grandparents and Vertigo eventually got adopted by old friends of Screwball and Chain Letter. Power Chord and Limelight has been trying for a baby of their own and failing to conceive at every turn, and once they learned of Vertigo needing a home, they took them in without any care about their intense chaotic nature, promising Screwball that she was welcome to visit any time.
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