Frankenstallion Legacy

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

The storm that loomed over Canterlot was still raging on. Everypony was asleep, or trying to. The rain continued to beat down on the simple glass frames of the small houses that scattered the landscape. This was a different Canterlot, an old one. It was not so bright and cheery as the city most ponies know of today.

Many were still plagued by memories of Discord's rule which resulted in the deaths of countless colts. Even the young Celestia had received heartache. After Discord was defeated, Luna attempted to overthrow Celestia. Nopony knows why, but it haunted Celestia that she had to banish her own sister. She would have to live with that for a thousand years.

After the chaos had ended, Canterlot had only just begun to be rebuilt. During this time an unknown stallion went on a killing spree throughout all the towns. Eventually he was caught, but this still set back the progress of rebuilding Canterlot. On top of all this, plagues began to break out all across Equestria.

There was a race for all the apothecaries to find cures. Many died from the exposure from their patients while treating them. When the apothecaries were failing, a new group of radicals rose to the challenge. Scientists, which were for the most part frowned upon, claimed that they could produce the cures that were needed so desperately.

They succeeded.

The pony scientists cured the plagues that had infected the lands. They had gained a new found respect. Science became a new power that received praise and rejoice. The good it had brought, however, blinded the ponies all over Equestria. They never imagined it could bring about monsters.

*****

The old abandoned stone windmill sat a little ways from Canterlot on a hill. The old sails had long since been gone, and the old cobblestone road was decayed and covered by moss. The old mill hadn't been used for some thirty years now. The previous owner was believed to be dead.

A pony by the name of Victor Frankenstallion was once the owner until he died thirty years ago. He was brilliant scientist whose studies and works were most unethical. Victor obsessed over the creation of life and bringing life back from the dead. He was successful in one case.

He brought life to a body made with dead parts from other ponies that had been stitched together. It was a towering creature that stood twice the height of anypony. Victor made the mistake of letting it escape. The creature was exposed to a world of hate and rejection. He only learned to talk by listening to conversations while he hid in the shadows. The creature was smart, so smart, that he himself had gone insane dwelling on the curse of his existence. He blamed Victor for making him hideous. He wanted to make Victor Frankenstallion suffer.

The creature did just that. All of the Frankenstallions, except Victor, had been murdered by the creature, but none found a trace from the creature, except Victor. Victor knew he had to hunt down the creature himself.

Victor disappeared, and was believed to be dead.

Now some thirty years later, his old windmill, which had served as his laboratory, was once again alight. The stone windows shown with blue light. The stormy night masked any and all of the electrical sounds that roared through the mill. Nopony was aware of what was happening, except for the monster.

The monster that Victor had created those many years ago was still alive. It now made it's way up the cobble stone path which lead up to mill, his birth place. He effortlessly pushed open the heavy wooded door which was infested with termites. As the creature stepped inside he saw that the other side of the door had been reinforced by steel plating. He began to walk up the long winding staircase. Wires and machines of all sorts lined the stone walls. These were new machines that the monster did not recognize. When he reached the main room of the mill, he couldn't believe what he saw.

All around the room were the bodies of ponies floating in tubes and vats of a luminescent blue liquid. Ranging from embryos to being full grown, the bodies were all connected to machines through a sort of mechanical umbilical cord which fed the bodies with nutrients and maintained their vital organs. The bodies were all different in color, but they were pale for the most part. Each one twitched a little in their tubes with the occasional kick of the leg. The monster himself almost couldn't bare the sight of it.

As he continued up the stairs he could see the shadow of a stallion he all too well recognized. It was Victor Frankenstallion, still alive and hardly aged at all. The monster stood half way behind a beam watching him. He watched Victor activate a mechanical arm which rotated around the room to pick up a specific tube. The arm lowered the tube onto a large metal table. After the arm left the tube and retracted to its original position, Victor hooked up some stray piping to the tube which drained it of the blue liquid. The monster watched as Victor pulled the body out and detached the umbilical cord. He pushed a button which reactivated the mechanical arm as to carry the empty tube off to the side. The monster was curious and began to approach Victor.

"I see you've learned some new tricks since you made me," the monster's deep voice came like a boom, that startled Victor, a bit. The monster stood at twice the height of his creator. The thick black stitches that held his face together was enough to make Celestia scream. Patches of different colored fur made up his face, and a greasy black mane drooped over the sides of his yellow eyes. Victor, was wearing his same old lab coat, his coal black mane was short and contrasted his brown fur. The unicorn smiled at the monster.

"So you have found me. Why, are you here? Back to torment me I presume!"

"No, I've already had my revenge on you, but I find it wise to check up on one's past enemies. I have decided to make a truce with you."

"HA!" Victor cackled. "A truce, really, that's it, you think you can just come back like this after killing my family, and ask for a truce!? You must be joking!"

"As you well know, I suffered as well. It's because of you that everypony runs and cowers in fear at the sight of my face. Don't you even dare talk to me about family, I never even had one. Remember that you're dealing with a double edge knife Victor. If we continue to fight over this, we'll both still get hurt."

"Hmm, and I suppose, it's not like either of us is going to die anytime soon."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The monster was confused, but Victor went on to explain how, by the power of science he was able to stop his biological clock and augment his body to preserve it. Age and injury was no longer a problem for Victor. He was just as immortal as the monster was. They both would endure long and possibly miserable lives in Equestria.

"So my 'father' has found a way to match my status," the monster chuckled, "so might I ask how you are doing, and as a matter of fact, what are you doing?" Victor frowned at the monster's question. "That is a rather complicated subject." The ageless scientist fell into a feeling of depression. Nevertheless, he thought it would be best if he told the creature his unfortunate and complicated situation.

"I tried to start a new life, but to no prevail. I changed my name to hide my identity. I used an old alias I had used during the rule of Discord. I called myself Wolfenstein, but most ponies just called me Doctor Wolf. I put my medical skills to use as a doctor in any hospital that would offer me a job. For a short time I even worked in the royal palace, but Celestia herself kicked me out for apparently eavesdropping. I did learn secrets, secrets that should never be spoken, and I had no intention of telling anypony else. After that I was on the road again, trying to help people. But..."

A small tear escaped Victor's eye.

"I noticed my luck was not what it once was. Every time I had the chance to save somepony, they always seemed to die regardless of all my efforts. I was kicked out of hospitals. No one wanted me around. I was considered a bad omen. I knew that I was cursed for my sins. I was not allowed to save people. Then I came back here, to the mill. I started again. I learned how to create bodies without using parts from dead ponies. I have perfected my process. I can grow bodies from scratch. They really are my creations. I will teach them everything I know, all about how they came to be, how to create life, and how to save it. They will not be cursed, for they have not yet sinned like I have. They will have a fresh start. They'll never know hate, they'll never know fear, and they will never have to face death by age. This is my plan. I want to repay the ponies I've done wrong to, and this is how I'll do it. A secret army, of ponies, bred to save and protect lives.

"Here lies the first, he will lead them, he will lead my children on the path of good." Victor came back to the table where his new creation lay. Victor pulled over a cart and attached electrodes to the body. The monster looked at the body that lay there, "Is that, an alicorn?" The pale body had a curved horn that poked through it's wet mane. The wings however were not quite normal at all. They were a bit larger than normal, and they were webbed like dragon wings. Victor lifted open one of the eyelids of the body. The monster was shocked when he saw a reptilian slit shaped pupil stared back at him. Victor closed the eyelid.

"What is he?" the monster managed to say still dumbfounded. Victor explained, "He is a mix of many things, but not completely made from scratch. He and his mother died, while he was still an embryo no bigger than a hoof. I harvested him, so to speak, I augmented him with new traits and alternating strands of genetic material." The monster didn't understand. This form of science was not known to him. When he asked Victor, the only answer he got was that it would change the future. Victor pulled a crank that opened the roof.

A large network of wires and machines were turned on. The monster could see through the rain, which began to pour through the roof, as three lightning rods extended towards the sky. The rain began to wash the body which still lay lifeless on the table. Victor finished the final setup stages for the machines. He approached the table. On the side was a switch.

The monster knew he was about to witness the birth of a new creature, a new race even. He watched as Victor pulled the switch down with a great force. The electricity sparked on the contacts of the switch. The electricity now began to pulse throughout the body that lay on the table. It twitched and made sharp jagged movements with all it's limbs. The body's back arched almost unnaturally. The monster sat there as this went on for solid five minutes. They would be the longest minutes of his life as he wondered, 'Is this what it looked like, when I was born?'

Victor disconnected the switch. He closed the roof, retracted the lightning rods, and shut down the machines. The monster stepped closer to the body, "It, it's breathing!" Victor pulled out a stethoscope and began to scan the body's chest for a heart beat. Victor stopped as he heard it, beating, loud and clear. The body twitched slightly again. Then it, or, 'he' opened his eyes. The colt's golden yellow eyes almost glowed through the dark. Victor began to laugh to himself as the monster stepped away from the new colt which now stood up, spreading his large webbed wings. The monster looked up and then over to Victor who was crying in laughter, "It's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!!!" A loud sound came from the new colt as it cried in the dark and presence of the laughing Victor Frankenstallion.