It's Alive!
Celestia put Twilight’s report down with a sigh. It was as perfect a report as anypony could expect from a filly, or even from a young mare, but Celestia had long since come to expect more from her. That was not to say it lacked any of her usual flairs, including a properly formatted list of references; it merely lacked the same spirit that accompanied everything else.
Turning to another recent report, Celestia chuckled as she recalled its contents. In extreme detail, it explained why it was a very bad idea to use a gravity spell to slide up a staircase in non-emergency situations. Hazards included, but were not limited to: arches, columns, chandeliers, sudden drops, and very scared ponies caught up in the spell.
Fortunately, nopony had been seriously hurt by that little incident, and it remained an amusing anecdote – perhaps something Celestia could tease Twilight with in the years to come.
Snuggling further into her cushion, Celestia return her attention to the problem at hoof.
How do I get Twilight to appreciate the softer works of literature? I thought that new Daring Do series had worked, but Twilight turned in a lengthy report on the Sapphire Stone two weeks later. The last time I showed Twilight a poem, she had to force a smile. Spear Shaker almost held her attention, but Twilight is too precocious for most of his works. Perhaps in a few years…
A knock came at the doors to Celestia’s chambers.
“You may enter!” Celestia called out.
The doors parted for a moment to admit a unicorn mare. She held a large stack of paper which threatened Celestia’s chance at a full night’s rest.
“Good evening, Silver Scroll. What brings you here?”
“Last minute paperwork, I’m afraid.” Silver Scroll dropped the vast majority of her burden onto Celestia’s desk with an ominous thud. “You know how the nobles are. They all want to outdo each other when it comes to throwing parties.”
“More Nightmare Night affairs? Have they not already taken Canterlot as their own?”
“Not quite, Your Majesty. I believe the suburban streets are still free of festivities.” After a moment’s pause, Silver Scroll added, “Except for trick-or-treating, of course.”
“I see. Have there been any problems with the trains?”
“No, not this year. The nobles appear to have stocked up early this time, rather than ordering in bulk at the last second. The trains aren’t having any traffic problems for passengers, and they’re running on time – mostly.”
“Very well then. I shall finish these tonight and return them to you at dawn.” Seeing that Silver Scroll was not leaving, Celestia asked, “Is there anything else?”
Silver Scroll’s face went through a series of contortions, all of which said, “I need to tell the princess what to do, but I do not want to.”
“What is it?” Celestia asked again.
“Well, it’s just…are you going to sit in your room again and be a…” Silver Scroll trailed off, mumbling the last word incoherently.
“Am I going to be a what?”
“A…”
“A what?” asked Celestia, although she was reasonably sure she knew what Silver Scroll wanted to say.
“A…grump.” The second word was whispered just barely at the audible level. Celestia might not have been able to hear it at all if it were not for her keen ears – a benefit of being part pegasus.
Smiling and laughing to herself, Celestia answered, “Yes, I believe I shall. I do not care for this holiday.”
“What if I told you Princess Cadance coer – convinced Twilight to go out with her? Would you at least join the two of them?”
“No.” The word was spoken as if it were a period to the entire topic, brooking no further discussion. “Although I am surprised that Cadance convinced Twilight to leave her books. How did she do it?”
“Um…” Silver Scroll was biting her lip and shuffling on her hooves. “I didn’t actually find out the details.”
“May I take that to mean you wished to have plausible deniability?”
“If – if you wish, Your Majesty.”
Celestia sighed inwardly. “So,” she began, taking a moment to let Silver Scroll relax, “what will those two be doing tonight?”
“Ah, just – just trick-or-treating and then a costume party with Twilight’s relations, I believe.”
I sort of wish I could keep Twilight to myself tonight. Oh well, she does not go home often enough; it shall be good for her to see her parents.
“And what about you?” Celestia asked. “How do you plan to spend the holiday?”
“Well, if you don’t need me, I was going to take my niece out trick-or-treating. Her parents were invited to a party and wanted the night to themselves. Sort of a shame, really. They had this whole Frankenstein family costume…thing they were going to do–”
Frankenstein…
“–but I suppose they can always do it next year. Dreamy isn’t going to turn into a mare in a year, after all.”
It’s science fiction, but from the Romantics. Yes. Yes! It’s perfect!
“Silver Scroll, please feel free to take the rest of the week off.” Seeing Silver Scroll’s perplexed look bordering on horrified, Celestia added, “With pay.”
“T-thank you! But, uh, why? Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but–”
Celestia held up a hoof, and said, “You gave me a good idea. Unintentionally perhaps, but I shall thank you anyway. Besides, you have more than earned your time off. Now go enjoy yourself.” Gesturing toward her latest paperwork with her head, Celestia continued, “I shall figure out what to do with this myself.”
Bowing and uttering one last thanks, Silver Scroll made her exit. Once the doors were closed, Celestia rose to her hooves. As she walked toward her bookshelves, she idly mumbled, “Where did I leave that book?”
“Frankenstein, Princess?” Twilight said, holding the book in question in her magic in front of her. She turned it over and opened both flaps, but there was nothing there – no summary, no about the author, no anything. The only text outside the story itself was the title and the author on the cover. “What’s it about?”
“I think you might really enjoy this one, Twilight, and it fits the current mood of the year very well,” Princess Celestia said. “You see, this is a science fiction novel with a dash of horror. In fact, it is one of the very first science fiction novels ever written.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, her head turning back toward the book in surprise. Of course, being among the first meant it likely had a lot of the problems in the genre in full force, but that easily could be forgiven when it was pioneering the best fiction genre ever.
Continuing, Princess Celestia said, “Now I shall not give you any spoilers, but it details the life of a brilliant scientist who becomes consumed by his passion. Let me know when you finish it, and we shall discuss the story in detail.”
Her brain skipping a second, Twilight blinked. “No report?”
“No, not this time, Twilight. I want to discuss this with you in depth and perhaps discuss related works afterward, if you enjoyed this one.”
“I…see… Okay, Princess, I’ll finish it tonight; it’s not very long.”
Twilight caught the slightest hint of a frown overtaking Princess Celestia’s smile for a brief instant.
“No need to rush, Twilight. I know you like to stay up late and to binge read, but do not neglect anything else you usually do or enjoy.”
What else do I have to do beside read? I’ve long since finished my other homework. Oh well. “Okay, Princess. I’ll be sure to…um…do what I usually do.”
Leaning down for a goodbye nuzzle, Princess Celestia said, “Very well. I shall see you soon. Say hello to Spike for me when he wakes up from his nap, if you would.”
“Of course, Princess.”
Once Princess Celestia had left, Twilight galloped out to the balcony and jumped onto her favorite reading cushion. It was a bit cold outside, so she quickly cast a warming enchantment on herself as she cracked open her new book. Judging by the aged look, archaic formatting, and the protective spells on it, this was a first edition from who knew when. Just knowing that sent a shiver down her spine.
Now then, Twilight read. To Mrs. Saville, Equestria…
Huh. This is a weird start and an even weirder way to write a science fiction book. All these letters, and stuff. I’d assume the stranger is the titular Frankenstein, but I don’t really get what his problem is.
There’s barely any magic too. Is this pure mechanical science fiction? That could be interesting, but pretty limiting.
Okay, okay. Lots of exposition. I wonder how much of this is actually important and how much of it is just expected information to have about a pony in the time period.
Ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh my gosh! This is so dated! Oh wow. Science fiction, indeed. Maybe for a couple centuries ago.
Twilight’s laughter wheezed out as her lungs ran out of air, and her face grew too hot to tolerate further.
Okay, okay. Wow. I need to look up the definition for galvanism. That doesn’t ring a bell at all, or rather, it rings too many bells at once.
The next time Cadance bugs me to go out and socialize, I should just ask her to point me at ponies like Frankenstein. He seems nice, and maybe he would appreciate how much I like to learn and read.
Twilight sat engrossed in her book, not even noticing Spike eating straight from the cookie jar and drinking straight from the milk jug just across the balcony. If Frankenstein were a real pony, she considered proposing on the spot.
“What?” Twilight shrieked, probably disturbing most of the castle. At the very least, it was still to early to have woken anypony up. “How could he? I don’t understand! Just – how?”
Chapter five was where it had all gone wrong. Somehow, the wonderful Frankenstein had not so much as glanced at his creation while he was making it, and for all intents and purposes, had said he was a mortal fool who should not dabble in the affairs of Princess Celestia or of nature.
Twilight had kept reading despite her strong and growing urge to toss the book into her fireplace. It was, after all, an assignment, and maybe – just maybe – Frankenstein would realize his error. By the end, the book had whipped Twilight into such a righteous fury that she barely noticed that she of all ponies wanted to destroy it – to destroy a book of all things.
“For Celestia’s sake, he brought somepony to life! Instead of treating that as the scientific breakthrough of…ever, he thinks he’s created a monster! I don’t – did somepony cast a spell on him to suddenly invert his personality?”
Flipping back to the front cover, Twilight glared at the author’s name. She had not recognized it before, and she still did not.
Maybe she was issued a court order to never write again. She certainly deserved one.
Twilight teleported the book near the door to her tower where it would be out of her sight, but regrettably, not out of mind.
Why did Princess Celestia have me read that? Why did she think I’d like it? I must be missing something important. I have to be.
Absentmindedly pacing about the balcony, Twilight let her thoughts roam wildly through the book, still fresh in her mind, looking for anything she could have missed.
There has to be something, some deeper meaning. Maybe there’s something important I missed with the framing device. No, Walton left his scientific quest unfinished. Maybe it was a good idea to turn back at the time considering the circumstances, but he just dropped it and left, never to return.
Maybe I missed something in the creation process? No, not at all. Frankenstein had to have known what he was doing. If it really bothered him, he could have taken the time to pretty up his creation. Maybe buy it a nice dress suit; or make it female; or just make it so different, it falls outside the idea of pony beauty.
Yes. Everything that went wrong in that book was because of that exact moment. If he would have just stayed and raised his creation like the newborn colt that it was, everything would have been fine. He could have even changed his mind later after coming to his senses, but he persisted in his irrational hatred of the creation.
Ugh! I don’t get it. Maybe there’s some reason outside the book. Maybe Princess Celestia wanted me to learn from a bad example. Maybe she wanted me to do…better…
The words rang with a strange sort of truth. It was a terrible book, but it was a book; books should be a fount of wisdom. And yet at the same time, Twilight knew she could do better. There was, in fact, a certain spell she had learned some time ago.
I can vindicate the real Frankenstein! I can do it right!
Twilight teleported toward the Canterlot branch of the weather factory.
Twilight appeared just past the front gate of one of the weather factory’s storage warehouses, her saddlebags on her back. Spotting a pegasus with a uniform on, she teleported directly in front of him. The stallion yelped in surprise and dropped his clipboard directly onto the tip of her horn.
“Ow…” Twilight moaned, rubbing her horn with a hoof.
“I’m so sorry! I – how did you get in here? This is no place for fillies.”
Mumbling, Twilight replied, “I teleported.”
The stallion put a wing over her and said, “Of course you did. Now can you tell me what your parents look like?”
“Huh?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, but answered anyway. “Um…my mom looks just like me, but bigger and gray. My dad’s blue with a dark blue mane.”
“Well let’s see if we can find them.” The stallion lead Twilight away from the warehouse and toward an office building. “Do you know where you saw them last?”
“In the castle a couple days ago, but I’m not lo–”
Completely ignoring Twilight, much to her consternation, the stallion said, “I see. We’ll just have to call the guard then and see if they can find your parents.”
“I’m not–”
“I’ll see if we have something sweet to eat. It must have been scary if you’ve been on your own for so long.”
“I wasn’t on my own.”
“Oh? Oh, are you staying with a relative then? That makes sense.”
Twilight sighed. This is why I don’t like other ponies…
The stallion led Twilight inside the office building. It was a small place, but large enough for a massive archive, if Twilight’s initial impression was worth judging the rest of the building by. There were so many filing cabinets, they had to be stacked on top of each other straight up to the ceiling to fit. Even Princess Celestia would have trouble using the lower half of them, and the upper other half was completely out of reach, even for her.
“Hey, Boss!” the stallion called out, his head tilted upward.
Twilight followed his gaze and found a pegasus mare hovering in place above them, rifling through a one of those cabinets Twilight had hastily judged to be out of reach. She tried reasonably successfully to hide her blush at her mistake.
Once the yellow coated mare was looking downward, the stallion said, “I found her wandering the area. Does she look familiar to you?”
“Not that I can think…” The mare trailed off, closed the filing cabinet, and awkwardly fly to the side a few hooves. “Well, I’ll be” The mare let herself float to the ground, fluttering her wings at the very end to make her landing gentle. “I’ll take care of her for you.”
Nodding, the stallion made his goodbyes and left. Once the door was closed, the mare said, “Before I make a fool of myself, you are Twilight Sparkle, right?”
“Um…yeah. I’m sorry, but…um, do I know you?”
“No, no. My name’s Spitfire; no reason to know me yet. But you’re pretty famous. Everypony knows at least the name Twilight Sparkle.”
“I – thank you?” I’m not sure I want to know what I’m famous for…
“You’re welcome, I guess. But anyway, whatcha doing here?”
“I just need to…er…borrow some storm clouds. If I can.”
“Sure, although I won’t be expecting them to come back. How many do you need?”
Twilight took a few seconds to properly understand Spitfire’s response. “Wait, really? I can just have them? Do I owe you anything? Do I need to replace them? Do I–”
Putting a hoof over Twilight’s mouth, Spitfire said, “I’ll take care of all that stuff. I’ll send a bill to the castle if necessary, but I doubt anypony’ll begrudge Princess Celestia’s protégé a cloud or two. So how many do you need?”
“Um… I don’t actually know. I was just going to take a few at a time. Twenty is probably enough if it’s not too much.”
Spitfire made a single, loud laugh. “Please, twenty clouds is like a drop of water in an ocean. We’ve got tens of thousands at the very least. Where do you want us to deliver them?”
“You don’t have to–” Seeing Spitfire’s half-glare, half-eye roll, Twilight said, “Just above my tower’s balcony would be fine.”
“No problem. We’ll have them over within the hour before we close up for the night.” Spitfire ruffled Twilight’s mane and took wing out the door, already shouting orders at ponies.
I guess I can thank her later.
Twilight appeared in the Canterlot Archives, increasingly eager to finish collecting her supplies. The spellbook she was looking for was only a little ways off. Searching through the shelves with a practiced eye, her gaze fell upon the light-green book she sought. Using her magic, Twilight pulled The Book of Animation Spells off of the shelf. It was not exactly the same as what Frankenstein had done, but it was a close substitute.
Making her way to the front desk, Twilight went through the checkout process, sparing no time for any of the usual small talk with the archivist.
Twilight’s final stop was her own room. Arriving in the usual burst of magic, Twilight’s opened her mostly empty wardrobe and pulled her lab coat from its hanger. As she donned it, she cracked open her book to page one-hundred-sixty-two, a number she had memorized. On that page, the come-to-life spell was recorded in detail.
Skimming the section, Twilight’s eyes fell onto the one piece of information she currently needed: the duration.
Lasts for a day at the recommended level of magical empowering, which is – Twilight flipped the book back two pages – very reasonable. Turning the pages back, Twilight continued reading. Can be refreshed by reapplication of the spell. Okay, I can keep this up as long as I want.
Snapping the book shut, Twilight twirled as dramatically as she could in her lab coat, letting it billow out behind her.
“Come, Miss Smartypants!” Twilight yelled in her dramatic voice, her magic reaching out to her doll, already rather ragged and patched from use over the years. “We have Science to do!”
Twilight’s horn glowed as she burst from her bedroom. She held few illusions about what lightning would really do to Miss Smartypants, so she cast a protective spell on her doll. And she cast it on herself too – as an afterthought.
To add even more dramatic flair, Twilight dimmed all of the lights as she dashed down the staircase to the first floor. The moon had already risen, its light the only left to see by.
Aside from the warm glow of Canterlot at night, but that did not count.
Cantering onto her balcony, Twilight placed Miss Smartypants on her back on top of a table. At the same time, Twilight cleared a wide berth around the table as she relocated it to the middle of the balcony.
Looking up, Twilight found her storm clouds ready and waiting for her.
Finally, carefully standing up on just her hindlegs, Twilight rubbed her forehooves together. A simple wind spell made her cloak billow outward, her mane dancing in along with it. “Good. Good. It’s all coming together.”
Twilight reached up and experimentally prodded a storm cloud with her magic. If she did it just right, it would–
“Eep!”
Twilight jumped back from where a lightning bolt had touched down near her. Standard storm regulations required non-lethal levels of electricity, and she had a protective spell on her, but it would probably still hurt to be hit.
Not that that would deter her.
Remembering what she had done to trigger the last lightning bolt, Twilight said, “Yes. Yes, I’ll show them. I’ll show them all! They all said it couldn’t be done! That it’d be wrong! That it was evil!”
Muttering under her breath, Twilight said, “Or at least Merry Shell did.”
“But tonight, I’ll prove them wrong!” Twilight triggered a lightning strike. “Muahahahahaha!”
Using her magic, Twilight lifted the table skyward – or at least cloudward. At the same time, she rattled a few tiny chains she had found in her tower’s kitchenette. It lacked the strong, booming rattle she had wanted, but she could pretend.
Another lightning strike, then another.
Twilight teleported a small piece of metal up next to Miss Smartypants to act as a makeshift lightning rod.
“Arise, my creation!” A bolt of lightning struck the table dead center, setting it on fire.
Oops.
First dowsing the fire, Twilight cast a repair spell on the table followed by a protection spell of its own.
“Okay, second try. Arise, my creation!” A bolt of lightning struck the table dead center, this time not setting it on fire.
Twilight thought she heard a knock at the door, but dismissed it as her imagination.
“Arise! Arise! Arise!” Each word was punctuated by a bolt of lightning striking the table, and finally, Twilight cast the come-to-life spell, her thirst for a proper, dramatic reenactment satisfied.
Slowly, Twilight set the table back down onto the floor, rattling the chains again. She thought about spinning it halfway around, but decided against it; that wasn’t in the spirit of chains.
Twilight bit her lip as she waited with bated breath. Nothing seemed to be happening.
But then at last, Miss Smartypants arose!
“Yes! She’s alive! She’s alive! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Twilight,” said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Princess Celestia.
Twilight gulped when she saw a white hoof fall upon her shoulder, making it much easier to keep her dramatic – and now slightly embarrassing – upright posture.
Princess Celestia sighed – sighed! “We need to talk.”
“T-thank you, Miss Smartypants,” Twilight said under the glare of Princess Celestia. To be fair, it was not really a glare, but it might as well have been. They were having a talk. Miss Smartypants nodded in appreciation as she walked off with the sugar spoon to the opposite side of the table. Next up for her sweet attention was Princess Celestia’s tea.
“Thank you,” Princess Celestia said once her tea had sugar. “For reference, Twilight, the come-to-life spell does not bestow personhood upon something. That is, it does not really bring the target to life; it merely animates it and feeds off of your expectations for it.”
“Oh.” That’s pretty disappointing.
Twilight chanced a glance at Miss Smartypants, who despite her button eyes, managed to look absolutely crushed by this revelation.
“Are you sure, Princess?” Twilight asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
“Quite sure.” After a moment, Princess Celestia added, “It is sad, but true. I confess I have done something similar, except it was a…nevermind.”
“Princess? What’s wrong?” The hurt in Princess Celestia’s eyes would be obvious to anypony, not just to those close to her.
“My apologies, Twilight, but I do not wish to speak of it. I should not have brought it up. Anyway, may I assume Miss Smartypants’s recent animation means you have finished Frankenstein?”
Twilight silently nodded.
“Well then, please tell me what you thought of the book.”
Her eyes falling to the floor, Twilight said, “I…really liked young Frankenstein. The mares were surprisingly…passive. I felt really bad for Frankenstein’s colt.”
“Colt?”
“I meant monster. Frankenstein’s monster.”
Princess Celestia’s smile fell a little. “Twilight, please be honest. I would much rather hear what you think than what you think I want to hear.”
Cringing at the gentle rebuke, Twilight whispered, “I hated it. Chapter five made no sense. I mean, I don’t suddenly hate Miss Smartypants or find her revolting.” The doll in question trotted over and nuzzled Twilight from atop the table, a gesture which Twilight happily returned. “I just don’t understand what message I was supposed to take from the story. Am I supposed to judge ponies by their appearance? By their origins? By their species?”
“Of course not, Twilight. Do you remember what you said before?”
Twilight looked up, her head cocked to the side.
“You said you felt really bad for the monster.”
“So?”
“Almost nopony who reads the story does not feel sympathy for the monster. After all, he only became a monster at the end because nopony could see him as anything but.”
So the lesson is be what everypony else thinks you are? Shaking her head, Twilight said, “I still don’t get it. I mean, I can at least understand why everypony was scared of the…monster, but that doesn’t mean he had to become a monster. That was still wrong, even if Frankenstein deserved everything that happened to him for abandoning his colt. I know it wasn’t in the normal sense, but they were family, and he just abandoned the monster. How could he do that? It’s…it’s… Princess, are you okay?”
Princess Celestia took a slow, clearly measured breath. “Yes, Twilight, I am just fine.”
“Are you sure? I’m sorry if this is your favorite book, or if the author was your friend, or–” Twilight gasped. “You’re not the author…are you?”
“Oh no. I never knew Merry Shell” – Twilight let out a sigh of relief – “at least not directly. I did have a brief acquaintance with a few of her friends, but no more. Anyway, did you notice the symbolism at the end of the book when Walton abandoned his own quest.”
She’s dropping the subject? Does she agree with me? Hmm… Abandoning the previous topic herself, Twilight turned her attention to Princess Celestia’s question. “I did, but I don’t really understand Walton any better than any of the other characters. He just doesn’t seem believable. I understood the parallelism of turning back when Frankenstein wouldn’t, but ponies don’t just give up on their dreams like that, especially when it’s just traveling to the top of the planet where there’s no nemesises…nemesii…”
“Nemeses,” Princess Celestia said.
“Thank you,” Twilight said, turning away to hide her blush. “I sort of get what the author was saying with meddling in things you aren’t supposed to, although she picked a really silly topic to suggest we shouldn’t meddle in. I mean, where would we draw the line? Would the study of medicine be wrong? Would healing spells be wrong? Would any magic be wrong?”
Princess Celestia’s horn glowed for a moment, and a thick book appeared in front of her. She placed it on the table just in front of Twilight and said, “I would like you to read this book next, and please take your time with it.”
Staring at the book’s cover for a moment, Twilight opened it to the first page. Maybe there it would have a title or an author. Unfortunately, the first page was a blank as the cover. The back and spine were blank too. The tome, whatever it was about, offered no clues as to its subject matter – aside from simply reading it.
“Princess, what is this?”
“I cannot say for certain anymore, but I believe that book was called The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Sadly, it was the only book on the subject that survived The Great Fire of 261. It details the history of, as you might suspect, dark magic.”
Twilight unconsciously shuffled a bit backward on her cushion.
“Do not let the name distract you, Twilight. Please read it as unbiasedly as you can, and we can discuss the idea of dangerous knowledge again in the future.”
Trying very hard not to let Princess Celestia see her gulp, Twilight nodded but left the book in place untouched.
“Now, as for Miss Smartypants–”
All at once, Twilight said, “Please don’t make me get rid of her! I know she’s not really alive, but I really like her. I mean, I already liked her – she’s my doll – but I like her even more like this. Please, oh please!”
Miss Smartypants helped out by silently begging for her life at Twilight’s side, her sugar spoon carelessly discarded at her side.
Chuckling, Princess Celestia said, “Of course, Twilight. I would never separate a little filly from her dolly.”
While Miss Smartypants jumped onto Twilight in a hug, Twilight turned away from Princess Celestia with a burning blush. “Thank you, Princess,” Twilight whispered, finally returning Miss Smartypants’s hug.
“The only thing I ask,” Princess Celestia began, “is that you promise me not to become too invested in her emotionally, or to let her distract you from Spike.”
Without missing a beat, Twilight said, “I promise.”
Princess Celestia nodded. “Oh. I would also ask you to refrain from such…dramatics in the future when practicing your magic. Or at least I would ask you to go about it quieter.”
“Sorry…” Twilight mumbled, hiding her face behind a squirming Miss Smartypants suspended in her magic.
A silence descended while Princess Celestia drank her tea and while Twilight attempted to regain control of all her blood vessels.
Finally, Twilight asked, “Princess, why did you think I’d like Frankenstein?”
Princess Celestia let out a small sigh. “I suppose it was just wishful thinking on my part. Still, it is an important part of Equestrian history, so it was not a waste to read it anyway.”
“I guess…”
“However, I shall try to make my future reading selections for you more to your liking.”
Twilight let Miss Smartypants fall grumpily back onto the table and smiled at Princess Celestia. “Thanks, but I’m sure whatever you come up with will be wonderful.”
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Note! Praise intermixed with corrections. The tone of this comment is rather schizophrenic as a result.
Urk.
Creation?
Oh... oh dear. Whipped.
Oh, nothing wrong with this line, I just wanted you to know it was at this point my smile cracked - shattered really - and devolved into a wretched guffaw that rattled the windows. Oh dear indeed.
Again, the opposite of something wrong here. A very short, simple line so heavy with meaning and purpose, beautiful.
Science is, of course, a proper noun. It being a regular noun would be, well, just silly.
Worthy of a certain TVTropes page
The ending was... nice. A little unfulfilling, but nice.
It's certainly not the strongest story in the series so far, but it's still well and truly above and beyond most anyone's capability. It's worth me dropping whatever I was doing to read, at the very least.
Well, that was fun.
"at his creating"
"creation"?
Nice. :)
It took me a bit, but I am detecting an uncomfortable parallel between the book and some event or events in Celestia's life, which is what prompted her reactions. I motion that this is the fact of the matter.
Do I hear a second?
I enjoyed it, but I felt that the ending was a bit weak. Twilight doesn't seem to understand the message at all, and whatever goals Celestia had in their conversation sort of dried up when Twilight unknowingly shoved her horn into old scars. The discussion of the morality of magic was pushed offscreen (or perhaps to be covered in a later story?) and the way it wrapped up overall felt... hollow.
The ending seems a tad flimsy, but never mind, I enjoyed it. What this needs now is a twin story starring dear old Bram Stoker's masterpiece, Dracula. Of course, I dare say that in equestria that might fall under the heading of politically incorrect literature.
You know, I've never read Frankenstien, or seen any movie of it either, but I have heard the basic story. I've also seen a couple of slips of movies. I have to agree with Twilight, pretty much right after he brings life to his creation he declares he's made a big mistake, why? It's what he was toward! "Oh no, it moves, it's actually alive! What have I done?! What a failure!" (I know he didn't say that, but he may as well have) It just makes no sense.
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That's fair. It was a bit of a struggle to get this finished before Halloween ended due to a week long sickness. I'll see about touching up the ending sometime in the next couple days/when I can summon up the energy to do so. The real problem was when I actually got to the end, I thought, "Oh, right. Frankenstein was a horrible book that made me want to burn it. How do I make Celestia have a non-strawman argument." Yeah, the dark magic scene is something I need to add, but I didn't have time before for a well thought out discussion of it before (I submitted the story with ~1hr of Halloween left). And I think I'm rambling now, so I'm going to go back to sleep. I hope this still makes sense when I next wake up.
Here we go...
Great little story. Makes me want to go out & read the classic.
I am now feeling more fluffy on the inside. Thank you!
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To be fair? It was incredibly vindicating to have you hate Frankenstein as much as I do. Celestia's response must have been challenging, as a result.
It's one of the most ridiculously overrated stories of all time and it needs to be forgotten in terms of everything but historical significance.
Uh oh.
Nice theatrical setup, Twilight, that really made this so much more dramatic.
I think that in the end, Celestia's argument falls apart because there really wasn't a lesson intended for Twilight, just an attempt to get her to read some fiction that goes mildly south because of Twilight being Twilight (Not that it went that far south since the end result was her receiving permission to semi-permanently have Smartypants around as a come-to-life golem).
Another wonderful story about filly Twilight, but the ending left me a little confused. Why did Twilight's analysis of the book trouble Celestia? It seemed spot on to me. My best guess is that Celestia once tried to resurrect somepony a long time ago (maybe in this universe the book is based on her?) and it didn't go very well. If this series had more continuity I would expect to find out the answer in a later chapter, but unfortunately for my curiosity these stories are mostly unrelated, so I may never know.
I love these little slice of life moments with young Twilight. Adorable and amusing as always!
5212947 Worst of all is that the 'monster' itself was actually sentient. It could speak, and feel emotions, observe and understand. One thing that always pained me when reading the original was how when the monster was telling its story to Frankenstein, he described his first moments and the happiness, then confusion he felt upon discovering and being promptly abandoned by his creator.
5216806 Smegging heck, it sounds worse than I thought, no wonder Twilight hated it.
It's kind of funny. I've read Frankenstein a few times, and the only reason it didn't get more of a like from me is the writing style.
Twilight, you have just created an abberation of desecrated corpses and unnatural life-power in the eyes of god. go to hell, you worthless abomination.
5216984 honestly i enjoyed it. I saw it as a story of decisions. The' monster' made its way through a world that hated it just for existing, something he didn't even chooseto do ;but through all his pain he managed to retain a sense of humanity far better than the actual humans themselves. There at the end he even told Frankenstein that all he wanted was someone he could love and he would never bother humanity again. And when Frankenstein denied him even that He ranted and raved but never actually harmed his creator. In the end the elements did in Frankenstein, and his 'monster' carried away his corpse very gently.
I would recommend reading it if you're keeping in mind that the story has no true villain.
Wait, WHAT.
5218418 She did not. She used magic to animate Smarty Pants. She substituted the doll for the cadaverous assemblage. NO desecration of the dead occurred. The lightening was for dramatic flair.
One little thing. Would Twilight be averse to Dark Magic? Her talent is for all magic, therefore Dark Magic is a subset of that. She might have moral objections to using it for certain purposes, but the magic itself may be innocent in her eyes. Any magic could be used for good or ill when used with creativity.
For example:
Using necromancy to keep a pony alive when they are an inch from death so that they survive long enough to receive medical attention.
Using love magic to force a pony into cheating on their significant other to destroy the relationship.
Both are inversions of the assumed 'morality' of a field of magic.
5224553 Perhaps. But this is a filly. I think most unicorn fillies would have at least been told about how EVIL 'Dark Magic' is, and have some trepidation.
Let's pick something not evil ... say, a shotgun. People have these, even in non-US areas, as a sporting or hunting piece. But a shotgun owner with any sense will make sure his or her children know that it is NOT A TOY. And I think a normal 5 to 8 year old would be at least hesitant to pick up a shotgun, even if they grew up around them.
Dark Magic is not a toy, Twilight
5226046 True. Teaching her the ways that Dark Magic can cause suffering is important. That way, she will be able to avoid using it for those purposes. I just wonder what percent of Twilight's mind is pulling away from the Dark Arts because of years of being told 'no'.
I just like thinking about how morality is subjective, especially around entities like Twilight and Discord. Both of them can have some twisted senses of morality compared to modern sensibilities if they are written that way.
Awesome!
Ooooo! She should read War of the Worlds, now! Then she can... how did she put it? "Vindicate" Wells. She can do it right.
Also she needs to find something to do with those thunderclouds. There is simply too much galvanic potential there to be wasted.
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You do have to keep in mind though, it's over 200 years old, so the writing style is going to be quite different. Some people in one of my English classes(my Creative writing one iirc) did a project on the book and that was their criticism of it.
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It bugs me so much that this is always forgotten in adaptations of the story. At least any time you see the creature on screen it's depicted as a mindless brute, or at least like a giant toddler. The books paints it in a much more sympathetic light. If you think about it, it's a really sad story. If memory serves, the creature even asks/wonders at one point, why do these people fear him/treat him like a monster when he hasn't done anything.
How old is Twilight here? And it'd be adorable to have Celestia find out about Twilight's wish [for a second mom / AuntLestia], as well as Twilight easing that sadness in Tia. Adorable season, good characterizations in the Season 0 so far.
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Eh, generic filly age. I generally aim for the eleven to thirteen range with these short stories. Writing filly Twilight as clearly age X is rather difficult, as she is incredibly well-developed in some areas but very childish in many others. I'm more or less leaving it up to the reader here to place an age they feel comfortable with on Twilight. If they want a specific age, that is.
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Ah, cool.
i can't stop liking your stories
5228960 He did. The story made me very sad when I read it since the creature never got the happy ending he should have.
So, after trying to parse it a few times, I'm still kind of uncertain as to what Celestia wanted Twilight to get out of it. The obvious is the 'Hey, maybe I shouldn't recklessly pursue magic without pondering the consequences', but things seemed deeper than that, like Luna is playing into it somehow.
Any chance of enlightening on what the goal was? I do love these stories, but this one I think travels a little far in the disorientation direction
Love this little series.
Hope to see Episode 5 soon! 
I think i may be jumping to wrong conclusion here but... If you consider that Celestia wanted a child and that she try to create one in a fit of madness when she was young, maybe just maybe she is the writer of Frankenstein, and at first when she wanted Twilight to read something that will make her more passionate and she thought her own book will be perfect without thinking why did she write the book in the first place.
cue Twilight Zone Music:
Celestia have obviously have a past with creating life and when Twilight talk about how she couldn't understand how Dr Frankenstein abandoned her colt... Well it fits and don't forget how Twilight thinks Frankenstein as a similar person (pony) like herself. It is canon Luna sees Twilight as a young Celestia. It seems Celestia had a similar character when she was Twilight's age. That fits too and we all know a Frankenstein monster who have mismatched body parts in Equestria Discord
So ending was not that weak Celestia was just trying to stop Twi from taking the same path as her. But also she can see if Twilight takes a similar path she may do better than herself too. She understand while She and Twilight have many similarities there is differences too like how she did see her creation as a monster while Twilight is adamantly against this way of thinking. So she is teaching her Dark Magic and letting Twi decide where is the line.
Edit: Thinking it over Celestia probably didn't write the book. Most likely she omitted some parts and tell her acquaintances and her acquaintances connected the writer.
Hmm, so Celestia used the duplication spell and the animation spell when she was young? So she must've been interested in magic like Twilight. I'm interested in how the rest of the series will go....
more episodes now. I mean now.
5317156 I thought it was just the general "Abandoning Family" which reminded her of Luna.
While Twilight was reading the book, a part of me thought she was going to do what Bradley Cooper did to A Farewell to Arms from the movie Silver Linings Playbook (my favorite movie of 2012).
Wouldn't the Equestrian equivalent of Frankenstein be something like Frankenhoof?
Twilight Sparkle's mind in this story is a bit odd. It's perfectly in character for her to expect to be learning a lesson, even when Celestia's just trying to get her to enjoy herself, but some of her conclusions are make strange jumps. The oddest being when Celestia says "the monster was only a monster because people made him one"-- here the logical lesson, if you must have one, is "don't force people to be monsters" not "be what people make you out to be". Twilight's sympathy for the monster should make it a natural conclusion, she was, after all railing against Frankenstein for reacting the way he did.
Although I do agree that the titular Frankenstein is frustrating. It's a weird turn of events when the 1931 film adaption feels more nuanced than the original novel (Universal did an excellent job with that one, the monster means well and he's mostly just reacting to abuse and threats, but he's also legitimately dangerous and flawed in ways the book one isn't). This makes it actually serve better as an exploration of the dangers of artificial life than the novel, while still retaining the sympathetic nature of the monster. He's not malicious, just poorly made and poorly treated. Accidentally creating something hazardous can be done without creating something cartoonishly evil (as is usually the case in these stories). The book's monster on the other hand is so human that Frankenstein's revulsion seems pure prejudice.
Once again. I agree with Twilight Sparkle. I really should stop doing this, but...well...I FREAKING HATED THAT BOOK! For the reasons that Twilight Sparkle hated it even! I'm ashamed.
When will be the next Lesson Zero episode? I liked this little stories very much...
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No idea. I have a few more ideas mulling around in my head, but I have too many other things to get done right now.
This paragraph pushed this fic from "good" to "great" for me. I'd completely missed the parallel to Celestia's interactions with and banishment of her newly-monstrous sister, but this shines a spotlight on all of the emotional baggage involved. Well done.
That might actually have been considered normal and right, at the time the book was written. The idea that racial prejudice is bad is new (and probably a minority viewpoint even now, globally). The past is a scary place.
I find it a little odd that Twilight understood the book in the exact same way I did (other than how Twilight overthinks what Celestia's purpose was in lending it to her) but she hated it while I liked it. (Granted, I didn't like it enough to ever re-read it, but that doesn't make it bad.) For me it was a tragic tale about a being born into a world too full fear and prejudiced to accept it, with Dr. Frankenstein himself the true monster for turning on his own creation just because he didn't realize how physically ugly it was until after he brought it to life. The morals of the story (as I saw it) were don't judge by appearances, and don't create a life you're not prepared to love.
Granted, I too was pretty upset when Frankenstein turned his back on his creation (and the fact that his disgust didn't set in until after the creature came to life feels like a plot hole), but it didn't take me long after that to mentally label him as the villain and start rooting for the "Monster". (Although I seem to remember wondering when I finished the book whether Mary Shelly would have agreed with me that Dr. Frankenstein's death was a "happy ending"...)
Was this series put on indefinite hiatus?
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I haven't been motivated to work on it lately, so more or less, I suppose.
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Aw, rest in pieces.
I'll keep my eyes open, though. :)
:edit:
Oh, and also, if you ever need an editor, my doors are open. I've been trying to enter the world of editing and although it seems to me that you more or less have it down, well, yeah
Oh, ouch. I don't think you could have twisted that knife any harder if you tried, Twi.