Frankenstallion Legacy

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." (William Arthur Ward)

...two weeks later...

"This is ridiculous!" Myt shouted at Spike. "All we were supposed to do was fix the window!"

"We did..." Spike mumbled as the two of them slowly dragged themselves back to the library. They had finished installing the window the previous day, and today they returned to make sure there were no other problems.

"It's not fair!!! I came to work as an assistant librarian! I was supposed to check out books to ponies. NOT run home improvement services for a spoiled diva!"

Spike tried his best to ignore Myt's rants and comments about Rarity. To their dismay, when they reached Rarity's Boutique 'this' morning, they found that the place was in an even worse state. The carpets were torn and stained with red wine, the broken wine bottles from the kitchen were scattered across the carpet. The wallpaper was half stripped and hanging loosely from the walls. And the pièce de résistance was that the window, just left of the one they had fixed, had been shattered.

"I did not sign up for this!"

"ALRIGHT! I get it!" Spike snapped at him. "We're going back to the library; we'll have lunch, run the library till four, and call it a day." Spike turned his head back to the road where the library was just coming into view. "We'll continue work on the house, next week."

"Fine."

Spike pulled his keys out of his tool bag and unlocked the door to the library. He flipped the sign on the front door from closed to open. Spike shoved the door open, tired and hungry. Myt followed behind Spike as they entered the library. But, something was off. There was an extra shine to the floor. Had it been swept? Myt ran his hoof along one of the bookshelves and then looked at it. "Hmmm, the dust is gone."

"Oh no." Spike realized what was going on...a fashionista was loose on a cleaning spree in the library.

Myt had no clue as to what was going on. "What is it?"

"S-she, she cleaned."

"Spike?" Rarity's sing song voice came ringing from the kitchen. She came trotting out with duster, levitated by her magic. A nervous smile stretched across her muzzle. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Y-you cleaned!"

Rarity let out a controlled sigh. "Yes. I cleaned. It was filthy, and I couldn't just leave it like that. What kind of house guest would I be?"

"Well, you didn't have to do that. I would have gotten Myt to do it." Myt darted his eyes at Spike in anger.

"Hey!" Myt didn't appreciate Spike's thoughtless remark.

"Are you getting paid?!" Spike snapped.

"Yes. But-"

"Then shut up." Spike cut Myt off before he could finish. Myt snorted before walking over to a stack of books that needed to be catalogued. Dismissing the large stack, he continued downstairs to his room in the basement. Spike held his hands up to his face as he shook the stress from his head vigorously. Rarity just laughed at the two. She patted Spike on the shoulder. He groggily looked up to her, still frustrated from the discovery at the boutique. Rarity forced a smile trying to look earnest. "Rarity, I'm sorry."

"What is it Spike."

"Rarity...we went back to the boutique to make sure everything was in order but..."

"Yes?"

"Well, someone trashed the lobby, and another window is broken." Spike lowered his head. It wasn't his fault, but he felt responsible in some way. He waited for what he thought would be another fit of fear from Rarity, but what came next was the last thing he expected.

"Oh well that's just too bad, I can't possible go back go back now. I guess I'll have to stay here until this gets sorted out." What? No crying, no yelling, screaming? No WORST POSSIBLE THING? "I hope you don't find me as an inconvenience. Do you Spikey?" She said cooing him. Wait. Did she seriously just call him that? Spike had not heard her call him 'Spikey' since he was little. Something was up.

"You could never be an inconvenience. You're always welcome to stay. Until this is all sorted out." Spike forced his smile, not sure what was going on. She was fine, with everything. Not worried about the fact that her house was trashed and that she had to stay in that musky guest room. Everything was just dandy.

"Oh thank you Spike, I'll be in the kitchen fixing up lunch." With a smile a smile and a wink, she waltzed back into the kitchen. 'Why is she so beautiful?' Spike thought, 'too bad she can never see me as anything more than a friend.' His thoughts were interrupted by a cry from Myt.

"Nooooooooo!!!"

"What now?!" Spike snapped, annoyed by Myt's interruption of his train of thought. He turned to see Myt running up the stairs from the basement whimpering, shaking, and bug eyed.

"She 'organized' MY ROOM!" Seriously? "It's called controlled chaos for a reason!" Spike didn't need this right now. The stress was getting to him. But, he managed to restrain himself from pummeling Myt.

"Please, Myt...just attend to anyone who comes in. I don't need your crap right-" Spike paused catching a set of red hoof prints where Rarity had just been standing, "-now. Uh, what is this?" Myt looked down at the hoof prints squinting his eyes. He carefully walked up to them. He pulled a magnifying glass from seemingly nowhere. Myt examined the red substance that made up the hoof prints. Unexpectedly he licked it up into his mouth.

"Pbbbbtt...YUCK!"

"What?! What is it?"

"It tastes of alcohol, expire grape juice, and...my goodness it's WINE! I just tasted wine!! Gaahk!!!" Myt yanked off his bow tie and used it to wipe off his tongue. He began to roll in the floor as the taste spread in his mouth. Spike rolled his eyes and looked back to the hoof prints which lead to the kitchen. They were Rarity's hoof prints. Spike could tell. But he didn't understand, why was Rarity trailing wine?

"Myt! Clean up this mess." Spike walked towards the kitchen door.

Still wiping his tongue Myt mumbled, "Wiff pwleasure, ehh!"

*****

Rarity did not notice Spike sneak in through the kitchen door. She was happily humming away as she continued to chop up carrots for a salad. Spike crept carefully behind her. He watched as she went about making the salad, then he saw. There was a trace amount of red wine splotched around the edges of her hooves.  She stopped with the knife then, with her magic, lifted the carrots into the bowl of assorted leafy greens.

Spike stepped a little closer. His eye caught something that hung from her tail. It was an offset color that was almost unnoticeable. Trying to remain as stealth as he could, he plucked the object from Rarity's tail, but his claw had snagged one of her tail hairs drawing her attention. She turned to see who was violating her tail. "Spike! What are you-"

She went silent as Spike stood there with the object he had just snatched up. It was a piece of wallpaper, from the Carrousel Boutique, Rarity's home. "What is this?" Spike stood there, baffled by the evidence he discovered. Rarity was biting her lower lip, realizing she had been caught. "Why do you..." He tried to put the pieces together, "...you trashed your own house?" Rarity looked down and nodded her head, a frown creeping up on the corners of her mouth. "Why?!" Spike barked. Needles to say, he was angry. "I spent all that time, building a new window for you, from SCRATCH!" Rarity's heart sunk at this. "They don't make windows like that; I had to set, panel by panel, every piece of glass. Why?! Do you just like making me work!? Do you enjoy me working my FLANK off for YOU?!!!"

"No..." She mumbled.

"Then WHY? Why did you do this? Why do you do this to me?!" A tear escaped the corner of his eye.

Rarity realized that she had gone too far. It finally came, one of her worst fears. She never wanted to see Spike like this; she never wanted to hurt him. She just wanted to be closer. "I'm sorry, I just-"

"What?! You 'just' wanted to see how much I would do for you? I'm tired of this...all the time, every time I run errands for you, you never really appreciate what I did, and all that I try to do. But now this? I don't know what to say..." Spike could feel the anger growing inside of him. A sickness began to spread, wrapping around his heart. An evil notion of hurting Rarity dared to cross his mind, he fought it with one last question bellowing off of his lips. "WHY!"

...

He hadn't noticed yet that Rarity was cowering on the floor, crying with her eyes held shut. She sat on the floor with her hooves to her mouth. Spike felt ashamed of himself. The one thing he never wanted to happen, he had hurt Rarity, with his words. He turned away leaning against the wall, letting his own warm tears cascade out of his eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry Rarity."

There was nothing but silence. Myt stood outside the kitchen door listening, but he thought it best not to say anything. He went back to cleaning the wine stains on the floor.

Rarity opened her eyes. Her mascara had begun to run down her cheeks. "Spike...I didn't want to leave..."

"What?" Spike didn't understand this. What did she mean?

"I wanted to stay here, with you. I didn't want to be alone. I'm not afraid of some, ruffian, who comes and threatens my home. I just saw it as an excuse to..." She stopped there. Rarity's eyes began to tear up again as her head drooped to the ground. Spike placed his hand on Rarity's shoulder, trying to comfort her, and soon he was met with a hug. Rarity was hugging him? Yes, she was, she was actually hugging him, openly. This was the first time she's ever...it seemed so, unreal.

Spike returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her, followed by his wings...creating a comforting barrier around her.

Yes, she was hugging him...but this was different than other hugs, this was warm, this was comforting, and Spike almost dared in his mind to think, “Is this what love feels like?" However, he had accidentally spoken out loud. His eyes had bugged out realizing what he had just said.

Rarity looked up to Spike who had blushed and turned his head away in embarrassment. Smiling, Rarity pulled Spike to face her pondering on what he just said, 'Is this what love feels like?' She pulled herself to respond, "I hope it is...it feels wonderful." Rarity embraced Spike even more having told him the truth, but since her words were subtle Spike didn't catch on right away.

"Uh, Rarity?"

"Yes, Spikey?" She whispered.

"What did you mean by that exactly?"

Rarity blushed as now she realized she had to direct in her words. She lifted her eyes, to be met by his, those emerald pools. 'Green really is a nice color,' she thought. "Spike, I-I-," here it comes, "I love you."

...

"Spike?"

...

"Spike?! Did you hear what I sa-" she was cut off by one of Spike's fingers. It was warm against her lips...much like the rest of him.

"I heard you, but now I must ask you a question."

"And what would that be?"

"Do I have your permission to express how I feel, milady?"

Rarity smiled at Spike asking for permission to express his feelings. He always was a gentledrake. "Spike, well of course you can- op" she was cut off again. However, this time she was not cut off by his finger, she was cut off by his lips pressed against hers.

It was a rather bold move on Spike's part, or so he thought himself. Much to his surprise, Rarity wasn't resisting. He half expected her to yank herself away and smack him, but she didn't. Instead she pulled in closer, intensifying the heat between their lips. Spike pulled his mouth from Rarity's, from shock, and for air.

"Spike...that was beautiful." Rarity managed to say, still gasping for breath.

"How long?"

"'How long' what?"

Spike looked down at the mare of his dreams. "How long have you had feelings for me?" He was afraid to hear the answer, but he still wanted to know.

A small tear fell from the corner of Rarity's eye. "Ever since the day you left with Twilight to go back to Canterlot. I wanted to tell you, but, I was afraid, of what others would say about...us."

"You know our friends, they would never judge us. If anything they would support us. Our friends' opinions are all that matter. And besides, you'll always have me."

With a smile Rarity nuzzled up against Spike's neck, taking pleasure in the warmth it provided. She held him tighter, as he wrapped his wings closer around her. This was the first moment they shared together when they both knew. "I love you, my Spikey Wikey."

*****

Myt had been listening the whole time through the door. "Ah yes, love. Why couldn't it have waited till after lunch was made?" Having done the best he could to try and clean up the wine prints on the floor, he trotted over to the closet to put away the cleaning supplies. After this he went back over to the uncatalogued books. Just before he began his work he noticed...his bare neck. A glow came from his horn and in a bright flash, a new bow tie appeared around his neck. "Much better."

Right as he was about to begin cataloguing the books, Myt noticed the bell on the door entry way ring. He looked up to see that a certain zebra had walked in through the door. It was Zecora.

"I am looking for a book, and I am sure this is the place to look."

Myt was not about question the zebra too much, about her accent or her stripes. He had seen ponies made out of crystal, chocolate rain, and long list of other things out of the 'norm'. "Is there a particular subject or genre you were looking for?"

Zecora stood silent a bit before answering, "Bringing life back to the dead."

"Okay so fiction..."

"No!"

"Wow, you're serious aren't you?" Myt turned his head to the bookshelf. He browsed through the titles until he found what he was looking for. "Well, this is the closest thing you'll ever find to what you're looking for." Myt levitated a brown, leather bound book off of the shelf and set it down in front of Zecora.

She could barely make out the title from the gold leaf letters which decorated the cover, "'GALVANISM'. What is that?"

"Well, nowadays, most 'scientists' refer to it as electrophysiology.’Galvanism' is more of a historical term. The idea was that electricity could bring dead things back to life. Although, nopony really had too much success. The most that anyone had done so far was make muscles twitch and nothing more. That's not to say that it can't be done though. Hospitals do it all the time with a defibrillator. If your heart stops they can use the electric current from a defibrillator to restart it, but only within a given amount of time."

"But still, you have not yet said, is it possible to bring life to the dead?"

Myt tried to choose his next words carefully. "It's not so much 'impossible' as it is, 'unethical'."

"Unethical?"

"Let's say...not advisable."

Zecora looked down at the book that Myt pulled out earlier. The leather cover was worn and old. The corners were bent, and the pages had yellowed. With her hoof she opened the book to a random page. The ink was slightly faded, but not overly so.

As she skimmed through the pages, she examined the many sketches, notes, and photographs that were laced throughout the book. Most of the sketches were diagrams of electrical circuits hooked up to various "specimens". These drawings were followed by their descriptive notes, explaining their purpose and development.

It was the photograph a few more pages in that caught her attention. It had to be at least a hundred or so years old. Maybe even older. It was a picture of a group of nobles, scientists, and writers. Most of them were well dressed, all in their own unique styles and family decorations. A strange one stood in the back with an hourglass cutie mark with a ridiculously long scarf wrapped over his neck twice. Another stallion was adorned with medals, awards, and age. In the center of the group were three distinguished figures.

The two on the left appeared to be husband and wife. He wore a light suit with a rather frilly shirt. His wife wore a more simple and conservative black dress. Although, the photograph was in black and white, so there was no definite way to distinguish color. But, it was the face to their left, it was unmistakable, but how could it be him?

"Impossible..." Zecora deathly whispered to herself. It was him. Why was he there? Is it really impossible? How could he still be alive to this day? Zecora looked at the description which read, "The Board of International Equestrian Science". And at the bottom of the picture there was writing in cursive...

Mr. & Mrs. Shelly with their good friend Doctor Wolfenstein

"Miss?" Zecora looked up at Myt who was holding another book. "I know this is a fiction book, but it may answer any ethical questions you might have regarding the subject." He set the book down next to the first book.

It was a paperback book, not as old as the first. On the cover there was a pencil sketch of an old castle with lightning striking the roof. Yellow letters spelled out "Frankenstallion: A Modern Ponetheus". Zecora scrolled her eyes down to the bottom of the cover where the author's name was. "Mare E. Shelly".

'Shelly? The same Shelly in the book? And Wolf, he knew her and her husband.' She wondered how much the book had to do with Wolf.

Zecora opened the book to the first page and began to read...

*****

Wolf came up out of the basement. He heaved the metal door in the entry way shut and locked it. He had been down there all day, but was finally done with his business. He pulled himself to walk up the spiral staircase into his makeshift lab. He wasn't alone.

Another figure, tall and broad stood by the table. "I heard you got another one..." His gruff roar of a voice echoed through the empty room. "...or two." His face and body were littered with scars from where old stitches used to be. His dim yellow eyes concentrated on Wolf.

"Well, well, well...haven't seen you in a while. What brings you here my brother." Wolf proceeded towards the tall stallion.

"Since when did you ever consider me you brother?" He brushed his greasy black hair out of his face. "Just like Victor, you even referred to me as the monster."

"I never knew your name, if you ever had one."

"Mountain Tail. That's what my friend calls me." He actually smiled on that line.

"So, Mountain Tail, you've made a friend? Another blind pony, or another freak like us?"

Mountain Tail looked angry, but he had learned to control his temper through the centuries. "She is a Griffon, but yes, she is blind. I found her wandering in the Everfree forest. She was lost."

"Lost...funny. It's funny that all good things we find were once lost in some way or another. So, you like her?" Wolf looked up at Mountain Tail who was blushing but frowning at the same time. He was blushing because of the fact that he had grown fond of the griffon, but his frown displayed the bad news of the matter.

"She can't live as long as me though. It won't last."

Wolf gave a moment of silence for his friend before he spoke again. "I am sorry... You know I could always-"

"NO!!! I will not have you turn her into one of us! I could never ask that of her..."

"That is why I respect you, a bit more than Victor. He never weighed consequences. But, at least you found some to be close with." With his head low Wolf marched himself over to the cart full of syringes and electrodes.

"What about that zebra mare I've seen you about with? Is she, 'not' close?"

Wolf laughed. "If she knew who I really was, if she saw the real me...she would run away from me as if I were you. And like you said, we're not like them. They can never be like us."

"I understand that Victor did not give you the cleaner cut looks of your other brothers and sisters. And, I am sorry about what happened to them by the way."

"Why? It wasn't your fault. If anything it was mine, it was mine. This...I did this. If it weren't for me I wouldn't have to run, from town to town, kidnapping ponies."

"You only have three more-"

"I know!" Wolf snapped at the monster. "I know. I was lucky with the recent one, the wonder bolt. I was rather concerned with finding him, but he came ever so conveniently in the right circumstances. Perhaps Faust is smiling on me. I've already got the earth pony from Ponyville. Now I just need the pegasus, the 'unicorn', and the last one I know...is a royal guard somewhere in Canterlot." Wolf began to breathe heavily. He was tired, stressed, and ready to die...again.

"You've managed to get the first twenty spies without getting caught..." Mountain Tail stood by Wolf who was deep in thought. Wolf waited till he was able to control his breathing.

"Let's hope Chrysalis doesn't catch me snagging her last three spies."