A Parody of Light and Dark

by beastyfire

Felix: Tinkering with Emotions

Looking down on the helpless form below her, Mrs. Liebe couldn’t help but feel pity for the little colt wrapped in a dull brown blanket. It seemed that he had been abandoned by his parents, quietly mewling to be fed. Mrs Liebe loved children as it was, so she gathered up the precious bundle and carefully put the baby into her saddle bag. Removing some groceries to make room for the child, she quietly started comforting the colt as he became upset about the sudden movement.

“Shh shh shh. It’s ok. Here.” She handed him one of the carrots she had removed from her bag. He began munching quietly on his newfound sustenance. “There you go sweetie.” She walked the rest of the way down the street.

Through the smog she could see her street, Victory Road. A bit oddly named, but home none the less. It had been the same dismal street she had lived on for the entirety of her life, occupied by rows and rows of tenements with the occasional smoke-spewing factories. One of these buildings was hers, the one branded with the giant number 42 on it's front. She eventually found her destination, a building more worse for wear than the rest, seeing as it was owned by one individual instead of rented out by various tenants. Some windows were boarded, there were some holes in the siding, in truth, it was a shit hole, but it was still the most important building in Mrs. Liebe’s life.

Sighing Mrs Liebe talked to the child. “It’s not much but it is warm and you will always find love here.” The colt giggled not really showing a sign that he understood what she had said. She smiled, glad that the colt wasn’t crying anymore. Then she realized that this little boy hadn’t come with a note or for that matter a name. “Well that just won’t do.” She said looking intently at the boy.

Hmmm.

He had an orange coat and a copper brown mane. In an odd way he reminded Mrs Liebe of her father. Felix. Not a bad name. “Felix. That’s your name ok?” The young colt stared at her still holding half the carrot she had given him. She tried again, pronouncing each syllable. “Fe-lix.”

The colt laughed, and then tried saying the name he had been given, “Fell-iks!” Overjoyed by his attempt at the word he laughed and laughed. Mrs Liebe smiled “That’s right sweetie. Felix…”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

8 Years Later…

“I hate carrots!” Felix refused to eat his lunch...again, “I want oats!”

“Felix, you know better than to ask for those. The mayor has strict ration laws. And you used to love carrots! That was the first thing I gave you when I found you after all.”

Felix grumbled. Mrs Liebe was going to do it again, sharing his whole life story up to this point with the 17 other residents of Liebe's Orphanage. The diaper changing, the schooling, the buying and eventual opening of the orphanage. He was sick of hearing it.

“Katherine, we know what happened.” Felix retorted finally.

Mrs. Liebe glared at him. “Now what have I told you about calling me Katherine?” Her stare wasn’t letting up, Felix had to get out of the room, quick. Reluctantly he grabbed a piece of his carrot between his teeth and marched up to the little room that he owned.

Why does she have to do that? It’s creepy.

Finishing off the carrot, he went over to his cot. There was a pencil and journal waiting there for him. He flopped onto the bed and opened up the journal. There was a very long and extensive list of names. Most of them scratched out.

Felix didn’t like his name and some to the other kids at the orphanage made fun of his “old-timey” name. Saying they had never heard of anyone named Felix, they claimed it to be ancient and therefor lame. So he decided to change it. He had already gone through 273 names and wasn’t happy with any of them. Changing his name was harder than he had expected.

He crossed out 3 more names on his list and got up to tinker with some of the spare gears and sprockets he had. Mrs. Liebe had told him not to pick up metal left in the street but Felix ignored her and did it anyway.

His collection was quite large. It’s amazing how many spare parts he found in the streets of Lower Bitsburg.

Ding-a-ling!

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the orphanage bell above the door. Hoofs stampeded through the hall. The colts and fillies were squealing with excitement. Another pony had come to adopt.

Felix didn't bother anymore. He was never picked anyway. Despite even his best efforts, Felix wasn't ever adopted. He had tried at first but after failing 50 he gave up.

The ponies were always looking for something specific. Something Felix never had. Blue eyes, same mane and tail color, Felix didn't have any of that. He was starting to be called "unwanted" by the other kids in the orphanage.

This just discouraged him further. He no longer wanted to be judged by other ponies so he decided he wouldn't, and he stopped interviewing for adoption.

Believing he had no chance with who ever had walked in he sat back down and began absentmindedly playing with the pieces again. Much to his displeasure, memories from failed attempts at adoption began flooding his conscience.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

I slowly trotted into the room. I was so nervous I felt like I needed to puke. A mare was sitting at a table that had been neatly tucked against the wall. I was hoping she wasn't like the last adoption I had. The last one the lady found me 'incompatible' with her other two children.

I snapped back into reality. The brown coated mare looked like the one ready for this interview. Her blonde mane was pulled tightly back into a bun, and she sat straight up in a way that said “I am proud to be rich”. Yet another reason that proved she was from Upper Bitsburg was that she kept looking out the window in disgust. Why she even wanted a poor street rat I didn't know, but this was the only orphanage in the city, so she had to come here to adopt.

As she heard my hooves on the floor she looked over and mustered a painfully fake smile. "We'll hello deary! I'm Madame Cinnabon. I own a small bakery over the wall!"

‘A bakery?’ I thought, ‘That sounded nice and all but I'm not a baker I'm a builder.’

I now saw the Cinnamon Roll mark on her flank. She looked like she was about to break down, her words came out very strained and a little too happy, to the point where it became creepy. She didn't want a small colt or filly, she wanted a slave.

"My son recently left home, and I still want to raise a child. You look like a...strong little colt! What's your name deary?"

I didn't want to respond. Even as she was talking her eyes were darting across me, spotting every slight imperfection and I could sense her silently judging me.

"What are you mute? What. Is. Your. Name?" I smiled, amused that she thought I was stupid.

"Ugh! I'm getting nowhere with you.” Her demeanor suddenly changed, ”Katherine! This one will certainly not do!" Her ugly side was showing now.

"I think this one is brain dead!" Ok now she crossed the line.

"Well I think your a bitch!" I screamed, "Why do you even want a child? All you're gonna do is neglect and abuse ‘em! You stupid fucking whore!!" Her mouth dropped open.

"Why you little-" She didn't have the chance to finish as Mrs. Liebe came in.

"Felix! That's enough out of you! Go to your room!" I didn't argue, I was sick of that lady's yammering and attitude.

As I was going up the steps I could hear ‘Madame’ Cinnabon yelling, I smirked slightly. Mrs. Liebe was telling her she had no idea where I'd learned those words and that I didn't know what I was saying.

"What a bitch..." I said, shutting my door and lying down on my cot.

I rolled over and looked at the wall at the head of my bed. Scratch on the wall there were 27 tally marks. I added another for the 28th failed adoption. Sighing I closed my eyes and waited for Mrs. Liebe to come in and lecture me.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Felix came out of his trance. He looked at the clock on the wall a few hours had gone by. Oh well, it's not like he had anything to do anyway. Subconsciously, he had managed to build a little clapping robot with a small crank. Sighing, he walked over to the desk in the room. Opening a large drawer, he tossed the small machine amongst the other countless creations and trinkets of his. He heard hoofs outside his door.

“Oh great…” He didn't finish his thought as the door flung open.

“Hey loser!” It was Pounder the local orphan asshole. He was the same age as Felix, but he was almost twice as big giving him the advantage of intimidation and strength. In tow were the neon maned Pegasus twins. Both being six, Striker and Flash were easily persuaded (aka bullied) into working for Pounder.

“What do you want Jackoff?” Felix stood at the desk, glancing down onto the top he saw a rusted pair of scissors. Tetanus in physical form. He began reaching for them, wary of the coming storm. Then he stopped himself.

No, only if it gets too out of hand.

Felix had already tussled with Pounder before. Bones had been broken, blood shed. There was no telling what would happen. Having the security of the scissors did kind of give him a slight feeling of confidence.

"Call me that again, I dare you!" Felix had obviously gotten to him.

“Ok. Jackoff.”

“You little-” He didn’t finish. Pounder charged at Felix yelling in fury. Striker and Flash moved to shut and block the door.

Felix sighed, this was going to be a complete waste of time and he knew it. It would end as it always did, with the both of them on the floor beaten and bloody. He hardly noticed when Pounder tripped over one of Felix's many gadgets and face planted onto the floor.

Felix burst out laughing. Had that really just happened? The universe appeared to have more humor than Felix gave it credit for. After his bout of laughter, he walked up to the twins to try and persuade them to leave, but before he could get a word out, Pounder was back up on his hooves and was again charging blindly.

What is he doing? If he misses he will plow into the brick wall! If I dodge he'll be screwed, so the only option at this point is to-

Felix didn't get to finish his thought. Pounder hit him full speed in the side, Felix was sure he heard a couple of ribs crack.

The two of them ended up at opposite sides of the room. They began to circle one another, sizing each other up. Felix was hiding his hurt side and Pounder was limping from a twisted leg. Felix let his mind search for a quick and easy way out of this. He couldn't find one.

Suddenly the both of them charged at each other, surprising them both. They played a game of chicken, trying to see who would change direction first, neither one did. The two of them collided head on with a loud thunk.

Neither one moved, they simply stared into each other’s eyes, searching for weakness, for a flaw they could exploit. Felix watched as blood flowed from the impact point and over Pounder’s eyes, temporarily blinding him. Felix took his chance and spun on a dime, landing a full force buck to the colt’s face sending him flying into the desk. The desk broke from the impact as Felix spotted the scissors spiraling in the air. Grabbing them with his teeth, but making sure not to touch the rusty tool with his tongue, he rushed towards the downed bully and plunged them into his shoulder all the way to the handle.

Felix backed away to look at the situation. His room was an absolute mess, blood poured over the part of the wooden floor that wasn’t littered with his shattered desk. At least his bed was untouched, but all of his little tinkerings and creations he had spent so much of his free time on were destroyed. Not like he cared all too much, but he still felt a slight sense of sadness knowing that he could never recreate those productions of an idle brain. Felix sighed as he walked over to the bleeding bully, putting a forehoof on the handle of the scissors, pushing slightly, causing the colt to bellow in pain.

He leaned in close, “Shut up and listen, I’m willing to fix this as long as you leave me alone and never bother me again. Deal?” Whispered Felix menacingly, getting only a grunt and a nod as he set off to work. Sighing he began to pick up his machines and bits of the desk from the floor.

Author's Note:

Please post what you guys thought of the first chapter, my co-author Wulfbane and I would really appreciate it. You should also go check his other writings. I'm a bit newer to the MLP community, but he had a couple stories under his belt so he's writing with me. Also you should note this story is in the future beyond the TV series and it ties very little into cannon with it. We use a lot of OC's because we wanted a whole new environment to toy with, so please don't yell at us for not being cannon.

-beastyfire

Comments

[Sturleght Glommar]

I like it.