Birthday Bios: Carpet Burn · 8:46am Jan 10th, 2016
Do I dare put upon expansion of one of Tommy's former friends? Sure, why not?
Born to cheapskates Shag Carpeting and Tassel Belle, Carpet Burn was introduced to his parents' cynical world. Being a witness to his father complaining about the ponies he had to do flooring for, his mother laughing about how stupid some of her customers at the pawn shop she worked at were, and his cranky old grandpa complaining about the noise, he quickly developed a snide and sarcastic personality. Much of his home life consisted of trying to interpret what his often insincere parents were talking about, and being conditioned not to be soft, since "bullies go after the weak."
By the time he started school, he was already a pretty hard colt. His first day had him witnessing several of his classmates cry from being separated from their parents, which got on his nerves. After all, those ponies were clearly weak, why should he associate with them? Of course, one recess had him shedding tears when he was rammed into by a hyperactive and careless colt named Tomato Sandwich and hit his head on a rock. The teacher was quick to stop the bleeding, and he was soon taken to the doctor to get stitches.
Carpet Burn was embarrassed. He felt weak for letting himself cry like that, even though he had been in pain and the teacher said it was okay if he cried when hurt. Tomato was apologetic, and tried to make it up to him by sharing treats and toys any chance he got. While Carpet was bitter for a while, he was unable to refuse any of Tommy's invites to play with him and his friends, and he ended up being that reluctant friend in Tomato's rather large circle.
Carpet Burn had always been the blunt member of the group, ready to casually insult anyone that he deemed stupid. Since his family members often casually said snide things to each other, he didn't quite realize that it wasn't as welcome in his social circle. He was once literally tossed across the schoolyard by Bluejinx when he remarked that Blue's dad must have "done something bad, because karma killed him."
The teacher often told him that his words were not very nice, and that he should say sorry to his friends. Of course, the apologies always came out forced and insincere, and he always looped back to making snide remarks about everypony. Whether it'd be about Squirt's bravado, Jumbo Thumbo's weight, Bluejinx's more reluctant nature, or Tomato's ever-grating worship of his shy and nerdy older brother, Cheese. Since his parents didn't really care to curb that habit of his, and he only got a slap on the wrist for it at school, he thought it wasn't a big deal.
While Tomato Sandwich had been tough enough to withstand anything that came out of Carpet Burn's mouth (or he was just really good at hiding the ones that made him want to cry), when Cheese ran away, his happiness crumbled. Carpet Burn was unsure of what to think about the usually happy goofball being emotionally compromised like that. As usual, Carpet stuck to his insincere nature, which Tomato did not appreciate.
It came to a head when Tomato broke down into tears one day. While at first shocked at seeing this, Carpet soon had to laugh at how pitifully weak Tommy was being. While there had been some part of him that felt bad for doing that for a colt he had played with for a long time, the sense of embarrassment of being near a crybaby overtook that.
It was to his shock that when he told his parents about the incident that he received a spanking, as they told him he had crossed a line. After all, you don't make fun of someone who had lost a family member. Sensing the inconsistency with what happened when they learned about the Bluejinx thing (they had only said that he deserved to get tossed like that) and the Tomato thing, it didn't quite stick with him.
Throughout their adolescence, he and Tomato would occasionally bump into each other, and often saying something rather snide to each other. Ponies would remark that they ended up acting rather similar, since Tomato had ended up developing a grumpy and sarcastic streak himself for some reason.
He was a late bloomer in gaining his cutie mark, so he was bullied for a time for being a blank flank. It served to make him more grumpy, though he did eventually earn it when the living room carpet was torn up by their new dog and he quickly fixed it.
He hung out with Squirt and Jumbo Thumbo in adolescence, since he really had no other friends, and they still considered him a tough guy that provides sick burns and couldn't be affected by an insult, no matter what. He never wanted them to know that he was always afraid of being soft, since he was sure that'd end up killing him in the end. They went their separate ways in order to pursue the fields of their talents (though Carpet has asked Squirt about the hot dog stand. He got mustard squirted on him for that).
As an adult, he sews, weaves, and mends rugs and carpets. He always mentions that it's a living, though he doesn't like how stupid other ponies are. So far, he hasn't made many new friends, and it's much harder for him to get a girlfriend. He still doesn't quite get why.
Sounds like a jerk -- but one who might have some good qualities, buried deep within. Really deep within. Like something you've lost under a really thick carpet.
His main problem is that he probably blames everypony else for not really liking him, when the truth is that he drives them away with his attitude.
Tragic, but I get the feeling that if I actually knew him, I'd be a lot less sympathetic.