An alternate take on Frankenstein in the Ponyverse
"I only saw my mother for a few seconds after I woke up, when my first breath entered my lungs. My eyes took in the soft light, and there I saw her, staring into my eyes. Her first words to me...The only words she spoke were 'I'm sorry...'. She vanished behind the crimson lights as everything fell around me.
I need to find her....I need to know...why is she sorry?"
How long had I been asleep for? I do not remember ever going to sleep, nor do I remember a bed or even a night-time. The first thing I ever knew was a cool, soft breeze flowing inside of my body. My chest had risen, then fallen for what felt like the first time in ages. I felt so stiff, did I sleep for too long?
"No...no no, this is all wrong.." A purple alicorn asked as she looked over at the creature lying on the table. The monstrosity, created by a moment of weakness and acts of depravity. The being that lay on its side, stirring as it opened its eyes for the first time. The left eye was as blue as a sapphire, the left as green as grass. Its azure right wing and butter left wing stretched slowly. Opening its mouth, the creature let out a very soft, almost inaudible yawn. With a silky mane, colored more than any rainbow, and pearl while horn peeking from underneath.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was driven by grief as she did the unthinkable; she had taken the corpses of her long-passed friends, and through a combination of science and magic, attempted to bring them back to life. Necromancy was heavily frowned upon in Equestria, and what Twilight did was no exception. She could only be thankful to Celestia that the creature did not have the combined minds of her friends. What would they think of her? Their best friend having stooped so low and lumped them all together like this? The Princess did not wish to think about such things, but her chest burned so long as she stared at her own creation.
What have I done? What have I done? I have to set things right! Set them right.. Princess Twilight Sparkle approached her creation, staring down into its hetero-chromatic eyes. A trembling hoof on its cheek, the alicorn was nearly in tears.This thing...why did I make it? It is only an insult...one big insult...
"Mo...ther?" the creature asked, stunning Twilight, who stared silently for what felt like an eternity to the two of them. An eternity for Princess Twilight to ponder. Pinkie Pie...Applejack...Rainbow Dash....Rarity...Fluttershy...please forgive me...I am such a fool..
I can't...I can't let this thing live...I can not let this insult to my friends stand...I will destroy it...and this entire place....I must erase all knowledge of this being's existence... The Princess began to justify one of the most difficult decisions of her life. Her horn began to glow, a single tear flowing down her face.
"I'm sorry..." were the only words the creature heard as she brought a hoof to the creature's eyes, slowly closing the lids. The crackling of flames stirred it from its second slumber, the strange pony opening its eyes as it looked around. Falling flat onto its belly, the creature's eyes remained wide open. Everything was on fire. Its heart began to beat faster and faster as the creature tried everything within its power to stand up. In-front of it lay a heart shaped locket. It picked it up, holding the chain in its mouth. It was compelled to hold onto it, and the creature looked at the golden heart.
Is this...Mother's? it asked itself without speaking, slipping the locket around its neck with feeble magic. What's happening? it wanted to ask, but it could not speak properly in the inferno as its wobbly legs began to support it. It flinched the moment some of the flames licked its cheek. An unwelcome kiss, something it could not comprehend. Its shambles turned into a slight stumble as it worked its way across the room. The stumbling stopped the moment it reached the door. Grabbing the knob proved to be the worst idea it had so far, flinching as it blew on the burnt hoof.
This...is a door...isn't it? it wondered, pressing its unharmed hoof against the wood. The wood itself was hot, but it was not yet consumed by the flames. It would not just be pushed open, and he couldn't grab the door knob. With a grunt, it began slamming on the door with its hoof, blinking when the door was knocked clean off its hinges, providing the creature an escape from the inferno. It was now or never! The conglomerate rushed out of the burning shack, only looking back as the glow of the flames accentuated the stitches on its body. Bringing a hoof to the heart-locket, the creature stared at the heart once more. Dual-colored eyes fixated on the locket, the creature sighed softly.
"Mo..ther..." it barely spoke before nodding to itself as it glanced to its side. There was a town just barely visible from where it was standing. A few images flashed in the eyes of the pony, if it could even be called that. Its wings folded closed as it held its head, teeth clenched for a few moments. "What...was..?" it asked, although no pony was around. It mattered not to the creature, who slowly walked towards the dirt-beaten path, glancing at the far-off town in the moonlight. "I'll go..there.." it reasoned with itself as it began to walk. At the creature's slow pace, it would take quite some time to get to its destination.
The town it had its sights on was Ponyville, which had been home to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends for almost their whole lives. It was a town that would spell out the beginning of the story of a facsimile, a by-product of the grief of a single mare. The story of a creature that wanted nothing more than to find its mother, to find an answer to a single, compelling question.
Soft, slow hoof-steps on the dirt path, the conglomerate wandered towards the town. Its wings flapped, ears flicked, and horn sparked. It was frustrated, frustrated that it seemed that no matter how long it was walking, it would never reach the place. Indeed, it was slow, lumbering, unfamiliar with its body. Along its slow path, it began to wonder about everything around it. It knew what a door was, and it knew that the fire in the shack was a danger to it. But it didn't know much else. All the conglomerate really knew was that Mother would have the answers, or at least would know more than it did.
THUNK! it stopped, dual-colored eyes blinking as it stared down at a hunk of wood that had smacked it on the barrel. Putting pressure on its unused joints, the creature knelt down, prodding it with a pearl hoof.THUNK! another one smacked it, this time on the horn. It flinched, a sudden surge coursing through its spine. It looked up, seeing no less than three ponies. They were somewhat shorter than it as it stood back up, tilting its head.
"S-Stay back!" a mint-green one shouted at it, causing it to blink once more. It didn't move from its spot. A moment of silence, the creature turned around, to see if anything was behind it. They couldn't be talking to it, could they? The conglomerate shrugged and stepped over the two pieces of wood, only for a much larger one to be chucked, knocking it off its hoofs, causing its face to smack dead-center in the dirt.
What? it wondered, pushing itself back up, stepping back. One...one...and one more time.. it recounted, pointing at each hunk of wood on the ground. Every single one of which had been aimed at and hit him dead center. Stepping backwards, the creature's heartbeat got a little faster. It wasn't very fast to begin with, but the conglomerate was able to feel the increased tremors, putting a hoof to its breast in confusion.
It...got fast.... the creature pondered, stepping back once more before turning around. This was met with a fourth hunk of wood striking its right foreleg, causing it to lose balance and flop onto the ground once more after a soft ripping and a thud, the sound of galloping growing fainter and fainter. It tried to push itself up once more and... something wasn't right. It felt the ground on one hoof, but the other it was absent. A slight chill brushed on its barrel, as it glimpsed a white...thing..It looked like it had been torn off to it and...
"Is...this...mine?" it asked itself, using its free hoof to pull the white object closer. It was cool to the touch, a little heavy and...yet unsettling. Eyes traveled to where its leg should be, and that was when the conglomerate flinched. "It came...off? On...go on..." it murmured to itself, trying to reattach its torn leg. Pressing on it didn't work. Maybe if it propped it up and tried to walk with it as if it was still there? No, the creature only fell back down, rolling down a slope to its right. For its dear unlife, it clung to the disembodied leg, not caring how it tumbled down the slope.
The rolling slowed down, and soon stopped as the creature let out a soft sigh, but its face contorted in confusion when it felt something in its mane...it was soft...warm. Trying to roll itself over to be on its belly only resulted in its face pressing into it. Arching its neck to take its face out, it stared at a rippling...something. It was bluish...mostly clear. The ripples slowed as the creature wondered. After several seconds, it finally came to a conclusion. Water...this is water... the creature's rainbow mane dripped, but the hetero-chrome eyes widened upon the sight of the reflection. It pushed itself back, away from the lake in a panic...and then it returned to face what it had seen before.
It didn't know what to make of it...two colored eyes...a face that looked like it was lumped together, although it was effeminate. Wet multi-colored mane, pearl white horn. The creature was amazed that such a thing was looking at it, and even more so when it placed its severed leg beside it, using its free leg to try to touch the creature...only to see the water ripple again. There was no hoof-on-hoof contact...no utterance of any form. Swishing the dipped hoof around, the creature slowed down as its eyes began to well up with tears. Slowly, it began to realize that this...thing...this monstrosity that was staring back at it...was none other than the conglomerate itself. Craning its neck, it saw the patchwork body and was even more distraught. Scooping up its severed leg, it lowered itself back down, not wanting to look at the water nor itself. Eyes shut, face buried in its legs, the conglomerate cried silently.
The mind of the Conglomerate did not want to bear the fear and confusion its appearance brought it, thus vivid images began to play in its head. Images of a time long lost... Through closed eyes, the conglomerate was able to watch the picture show. It was in a rather beautiful place. All sorts of mirrors, stationary marble colored ponies, and garments. It did not recognize the place, but it felt more comfortable. It felt safer, warmer. It could see its hooves, and a slight glow around a small silver stick with a loose black line. Its heart twisted a little at the sight...or at least, what it thought it was doing. The black thread was used to join together two black sheets, to blend them so perfectly that the Conglomerate envied the image. At least the cloth looked right. But what was this? The series of black sheets took on a shape, and through its shut dual-colored eyes, the Conglomerate watched as a it draped the marble pony, covering up the blank slate with what seemed like magic.
Opening its eyes, the Conglomerate took one reluctant look back at the now moon-lit reflection...if it could get some of those sheets...if it could hide the patchwork. Maybe the other ponies would not mind it? Trying to stand, the patchwork pony forgot one of its legs had been detached, and it fell flat on its face once more. The pony tried to prop itself up, sitting upright. Holding its detatched limb, it stared at the hunk of flesh, bone and...what's this? Bringing the limb closer to its eyes, the Conglomerate saw what looked like little grey lines. They were rigid...but looked like they could move a little bit. The Conglomerate had an idea, but it didn't have a silver stick! Where could it get one of those? The path it went down before was not safe. The wood throwers might still be there, it did not want to deal with them again. It brought the grey lines to its shoulder, pressing it against them slightly. It felt its own skin give way, it was softer than the strings.
Looking back at the watery reflection, the conglomerate prodded its horn. "May...be..." it told itself, taking a breath and...thought really hard. It thought about seeing if it could use the glow to pull on the strings. All the thinking did was give it a headache, and it didn't feel any sign of magic coming out.
-Click...click...clack-
The pony's eyes opened as it saw a pony, or what it thought was another mare, standing nearby. Its citrine eyes stared at the patchwork pony, who blinked and stared at it in return. It was different than the wood-chucking ponies it saw. It had a shine to its body. It looked solid, with two lines going down its face from the bottom if its eyes. Unlike the contortions of the previous ones, the Conglomerate could not see any such signs in this new one. It stepped closer with a slight rattle, more clicking to its joints. The patchwork pony was...worried. Why would this pony want to come closer when others wanted to get away? It would have tried to move, tried to make the gap between them larger, but it learned one too many times it could not move properly.
The clicking pony stopped a few inches away, kneeling down to look into its dual-colored eyes. There were some small, curved...things coming out of slits in its hooves. The Conglomerate watched as the strange pony pulled the severed leg free from its grasp, and instinctively let out a whine, trying to take it back. The clicking pony stared for a moment before it held the attached stump, pressing it against the place where it used to be. To the Conglomerate's amazement, the clicking pony used the curved bits on its hooves to pull at the grey strings. The strings seemed to be able to come out quite a bit, as if from a spool, and the citrine-eyed mare began to work. The patchwork pony watched as the strings were being used to rejoin the leg to its body, and with one final tug, the job was done. The strange mare stood back up, waiting for something.
Hesitating, the Conglomerate began to stand up, and eventually began to put pressure on the newly mended leg. It felt stronger...and it was easier to move it. It blinked, looking at its legs, looking around it as if trying to find something stuck, before looking to the nice mare. It dug through its drowsy mind...a mind that had not been working for so long. All to find the right words.
"Thank...you." the Conglomerate smiled, but noticed the mare get closer. Swiftly, it adjusted the strings already keeping it together, and the patchwork pony found it much easier to move all of its legs. It was amazed, and not even 'thank you' would suffice in the conglomerate's mind. But its eyes said it all, and even the clicking pony could see it. A heavy thud barely caused the Conglomerate to flinch, but a snapping sound caused it to step back.
The clicking mare had fallen onto its side, and although it could not speak, it wanted to scream. Its leg had been smashed inwards by what looked like a red block to the patchwork pony.
"Damn it!" a voice exclaimed. "How did you miss, you idiot!?" "I don't know!"
All the while, the patchwork pony tried to fix the mangled leg of the mare. It didn't know what to do, but it had to try. There were pointy shards rather than grey lines, it couldn't imitate the mare! Another thud caught its attention as it looked at a second red block that had missed...a burning sensation began to well up in its chest.
"Wai...t" it told the clicking pony, who stared at the two bickering ponies. They were earth ponies who simply relied on trial and error with their brick throwing, and there were several more with them. The Conglomerate picked up the first brick, the one that mangled its friend's leg, and looked between the two ponies and the group behind them. The brick sounded heavy, but the patchwork pony didn't even feel the weight.
"What's that thing doing?" one of the two; a dark blue mare, asked her partner, who shrugged.
"That thing? It's probably going to eat it or something, sure as hell doesn't even know what a brick is!" the green colt decided to throw a third brick at them, and although it struck the creature in the chest, it did not flinch. Its eyes began to reflect the burning feeling in its heart.
"Whatever! We need to drive that thing out of here!" "Do away with the monster!"
A...monster...I'm I monster? it wondered, but shook its head. That wasn't important to it now, these ponies had broken the clicking pony's leg! The burning in its chest grew more intense, it felt just like what happened at Mother's home. For a brief moment, it wanted to get even...it wanted to see what they thought of having things thrown at them!
"Go...Away!" The Conglomerate roared at the two, and it wound up for the pitch. Only the brick never left its hoof, instead, its foreleg was caught in the grasp of the clicking pony's left hoof. Glancing over at the silent mare, the patchwork pony stayed silent before finally relenting, dropping the brick. But it wouldn't stop these ponies from going after them. One...two...three...ten...the Conglomerate's head hurt from trying to count them all. With the lake behind them, and the mob of ponies blocking them off...where else could they go? Kneeling down, the patchwork pony scooped up the clicking mare and her leg, only to have a rock thrown into the side of its face. It did not flinch from the impact, only glaring at the mob of ponies....there was a forest a ways behind them, maybe they mob won't follow them there.
That...does it...These ponies...need to go! it thought, it's newly granted mobility assisting the patchwork pony as it approached the ones attacking them. They did not move, remaining as a wall, and one even trying to punch the patchwork pony, only to recoil itself as the impact seemed to hurt the green colt.
"Move...it..." it hooked its right foreleg on the side of the green colt's neck, suddenly flinging it behind them. The colt yelped in a panic as it flew several yards, falling into the center of the lake. It...feels... it thought, trying to find the word.. Lashing back at the green colt, causing it to freak out, somehow satisfied the creature. Cathartic... Several ponies in the mob stared in disbelief, though they soon found themselves being shoved one by one until the mob began to panic, running off and shrieking as the monstrosity didn't show any signs of wanting to slow down. All but the dark blue mare, who stared up at the Conglomerate, whimpering with tears in her eyes. Her fear had paralyzed her as the creature stared back. Its eyes shrank a little, recognizing the mare as one of the brick throwers.
The clicking mare gripped onto the patchwork pony, as if trying to signal it. It found it harder and harder to resist the temptation. It closed its eyes, taking a breath, before simply walking past the mare, before picking up the pace with with the clicking pony on its back. The forest...all of those trees...it would hide them.