Part 2 (Joseph) - Chapter 3
Moriah was still seething by the time they made their way back to their house.
Okay, maybe not house. The tiny town of Paris, Illinois had hundreds of homes. Unfortunately, all of them were set up to require a connection to power, water, and sewage. As they had yet to repair or replace any of these three systems on a universal scale, they would all have to live like nomads for a little while longer.
After having the last city he lived in burned to ash around him, Joseph actually liked it. If the same thing happened here, he could take his home with him this time. Well, he would’ve if he’d known how to drive. He had Moriah for that.
All of them had chosen from among the most expensive and luxurious models available, knowing full well that by the time they wore down they would long since have switched to living in proper homes. There was a subtle irony in the unit Joseph had chosen: it was meant to transport horses. The back third of the vehicle contained enough space for two of the gigantic animals, though it had none of them now. The choice had been made for good reason, though; it was where he kept the servers of the Kimballnet.
The reassuring blue glow from behind the glass divider told him all he needed to know about the current functionality of the system, so he turned his attention to something more pressing: calming Moriah down. He went straight to the wine-cooler, as he generally did whenever somepony got her into one of these moods.
He found what he had been looking for: an expensive bottle he had “liberated” during his visit to St. Louis, and popped the cork with a simple effort of will. He hardly even heard the mare ranting, focusing his attention instead on drawing two crystal glasses from a cabinet and filling them each about a third of the way. He had been with her long enough that acting like he was paying attention had become almost reflexive. Nod here, “I completely agree” there, and the mare was none the wiser!
Or so he told himself.
Joseph took both glasses over to the couch where Moriah sat, offering her one in his glowing pink grip. He was tired enough from having to hold Adrian that he actually noticed the difference when she took it and he had half the weight to hold.
“I’m really going to do it, Joe,” she said, after taking a gentle sip from her glass. “If he mutilates Adrian in his sleep, I’ll kill him.”
Joseph hopped up onto the couch, careful not to agitate it too much. Unlike Moriah, who had to sit strangely in order to give her access to her forelegs to manipulate objects while she sat, Joseph could just sit on his haunches the way the pony body seemed to want to and use his magic for what his hands had once done. He also couldn’t tell the difference between a ten dollar bottle of wine and a five-hundred dollar bottle, but apparently Moriah could, because her first few sips were all it took to make her smile.
“We’ll have to get the rest of this on our next trip; this is amazing.” She swirled the glass around in her hooves, which Joseph personally found just a little amazing. The other ponies in his group could demonstrate some fantastic dexterity, including holding crystal wine glasses without breaking them. Maybe there was another form of magic he just didn’t need to learn.
It was all he could do to keep up with her train of thought. “He won’t do it.” Joseph took another crude sip. “Oliver knows how much you don’t want him to do it without asking Adrian’s permission first.”
Moriah’s face darkened again. “Oliver doesn’t care what I think.”
“No,” he reluctantly agreed. “But he cares what Alex thinks, and Alex wants Alexandria to be peaceful.”
She glowered at her glass, before taking a long swig, wiping the excess away on the back of her leg. It wasn’t a particularly ladylike behavior. Joseph didn’t really care; he wasn’t very ladylike either. “I guess not. It still seems wrong to me she would even consider subjecting another pony to what I felt. Taking something precious away in your sleep like that-”
Her words hit him like a null pointer exception, and made him feel equally stupid. Of course Moriah wouldn’t want Adrian to get a wing amputated while he slept! How had he not realized what she was going on about for so long? Clearly life needed to teach him a little humility. “We could go to the hospital and make sure,” he offered, briefly resting his head on hers. There was enough of a height difference between them that it was easy, even with the difference in the way they were sitting.
“Not yet.” She took another sip of wine. “He’ll have to properly sedate him. Get an x-ray, dig through Equestrian books… we’re safe waiting a few minutes. Just don’t pour me any more of this, okay? I might drink it if you do, and we’ll need to think clearly.”
Joseph nodded. It took more than half a glass of wine for him to feel much of anything; Moriah too. Ponies didn’t have nearly the resistance humans did, though; they just didn’t have the mass. They wouldn’t be any help to Adrian if they were drunk. “How’s the radio coming? I saw all those trucks of stuff you drove to the courthouse…”
Moriah relaxed. “Nobody wants to let other people know we’re here more than I do.” She accepted his touch, leaning against him in a way that was far more friendly than sexual. He was glad for that; he was far too exhausted for anything more than friendship right now. “I’m getting better at the electrician stuff. The problem is energy; the wider the area we cover, the more power we need. You don’t just lay solar panels on the ground and expect them to work, you’ve got to get the angle right, make sure they won’t be shaded, wire them all up correctly so the voltage works right, get them into the inverter without ending up with too little or too much current. Not to mention that depending on solar means we don’t get to send anything at night. Unless you want to have a room full of batteries, which means we would be setting up three battery backups. At some point it would just be easier to get the city’s power on again.”
“You think we have enough ponies to set that up?”
She grunted. “Probably not. But we’d be closer if the ponies we had could use their powers.” She looked up towards her forehead, towards the void. “I feel like trying the prosthetic again. We could practice some levitation together before we go to the hospital. I might need it, if Oliver tries anything.”
Joe felt a chill behind his heart. He really, really didn’t want to do the prosthetic thing tonight. Moriah had a tendency to blow holes in things whenever she wore it. “You sure you wouldn’t rather take me down to the courthouse? We could work on the radio together! We could make the first broadcast! Maybe we could get your antenna to transmit all the way to those other ponies in… wherever they’re at…”
Moriah shoved him, before setting her empty glass down and hopping down onto her hooves. “I’m going to practice again, Joseph. I would prefer you come with me, but I won’t force you.”
If she tried unicorn magic without him, she might set the town on fire, might end up a crater… “Okay!” He hopped onto his hooves, glancing longingly at his 3DS before following Moriah down the steps and out onto the gravel path that led to their door. Moriah led the way to the many pull-out drawers on the side of the RV, gripping one in her mouth and drawing it outward. She didn’t have to take it very far, just far enough to expose a slim wooden box inside it. She carried it in her mouth over to a folding table and chairs, flipping on the exterior lights with a hoof as she went.
The tiny rosewood box was one of the many gifts Alex had brought back from Equestria, apparently one that had been given to her after inquiring about Moriah's condition. Alex hadn’t said much about it, except that they were extremely expensive in Equestria and that there weren’t any more in all the gifts Equestria had given them. Moriah had to treat it like a sacred relic, since they would have to reverse-engineer it one day. A flick with her nose undid the latch, and she delicately lifted the front of the box away with her teeth.
The prosthetic rested on a bed of felt, insulated from any motion by the protection of several little wedges of foam. It consisted of a single piece of carved wood, shaped into an average-looking horn. A chunk of crystal emerged from within, wrapped with thick cloth and attached to a harness meant to wrap around the head. Several little brass straps and clips secured the whole thing in place, though the little charm made the straps take on the color of Moriah’s coat and mane when it was actually worn.
Of course, not having a horn meant getting it on her face was basically impossible without help, but Joseph was equal to that. He undid the buckles one by one, lifted the whole assembly onto Moriah’s head, and tightened each until it was secure. It wouldn’t have been true to say that he couldn’t tell Moriah was wearing a prosthetic, but it looked worlds better than the stump she normally had.
“Don’t try anything!” He set a hoof on her shoulder, firm enough to push her down a little. “Let’s get away from the RVs. That field back there will be perfect! Away from where anyone lives.”
Moriah complied, though he was fairly sure she wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been so insistent. Moriah was like a flame, fit to consume everything if not carefully controlled. That was just fine with him, though. Joe could do fire. Even if he generally preferred peace, war could be fun too.
“What are we doing first?” Moriah asked, eager. “Something awesome, right? Something awesome!”
“Yeah.” It was full on night now, and pony vision just wasn’t good in the dark. The glow of the RV had barely been enough to get this far. So before he could search, he had to make light. Good thing he had been reading about the light charm today. Perfect time to give it a shot.
His horn flickered under his concentration, sparking several times before it finally began to glow, radiating a soft pink like a little lava lamp. Maintaining the glow while levitating over a few rocks for Moriah was trivial after that; neither took very much of his energy. That was a good thing, since he had so little to spare right now. He picked the smallest stones for that reason, making a pile on a clear patch of dirt and dismissing the levitation spell. Once cast, he could keep the glow going effortlessly.
“We’ll try levitation again, since it’s the most important skill. Try not to hit me with anything this time, okay?”
“I will!” She beamed, cheeks a little rosy. No, that had to be his imagination. She had fur, after all! “I read the books you gave me! I can do this!” She focused her attention on the stones. “I can completely do this.”
She completely couldn’t.
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Moriah and the Magic Prosthetic is equal parts adorable and sad.
Oh, that is great.
I've still got my eyes on you Moriah... This chapter might have chipped away some of the ire, but there's enough left. I'm still loving Joe, trying to find the sweet spot between attentive boyfriend (coltfriend?) and personal hobbies.
6237409 Sad mostly for joseph who has to be in the vicinity xD. Also Oliver cares only about what Alex says? It could be nothing at all or it could be he unknowingly likes her or he does know. Either way I don't think we will see Alex hooking up with anypony for sometime or if any X3
6237409
Yeah...
I'd get if there was simply no time to get those type of experts to Earth and/or no volunteers for something that permanent could be found, but I find it rather strange that nothing better than a fake horn was available.
I mean, Equestrias' wizards really thought stuff like wind music and turning things to oranges was more important? When losing the specific limbs of your tribe causes so much psychological suffering, and even outright danger judging from that flare?
Just seems... odd. Especially in combo with that one time RD broke her wing and it took days to be healed.
Is anyone else finding it hard to feel for Moriah considering her apparent complete lack of reticence for what happened with Alex? Even just a mumbled tsundere-ish apology would go a long way IMO. Maybe I glossed over something in the past, but she very nearly wrote our hero(ine) out of existence just because she was in a pissy mood.
6237417 Reminiscent of Douglas Adams ("he hung in the air like a brick doesn't") and of Undocumented Features to an extent ("silence descended like a core dump").
While she doesn't have much sense of nuance, especially when it comes to amputations, Moriah is good for Joe. She forces him out of his comfort zone, which is definitely something that needs to happen on a frequent basis. Meanwhile, he regulates her enough to lessen the danger she poses to herself and others, which is definitely a good thing. It's always nice to see a couple that's more than the sum of its parts.
Hopefully that last sentence was a statement and not a cliffhanger foretelling a potential explosion.
Well, shit.
Joseph transforms into my favorite charakter.
Cqwhat a twist.
Yeah, kill the doctor. That's a good idea.
A prosthetic horn? And Moriah blows things up while wearing it?
Neat.
6237537 No kidding. She's so pissy about body modifications being made without consent, and we haven't heard word one from her about accidentally de-aging Alex.
I have to wonder just how serious Moriah is about killing another pony. You wouldn't think homicide (do we call it "equicide" when there are three distinct subspecies?) would come easily to ponies; are they less peaceable than we think, or is some latent human nature coming through?
6237492 I'm not going to assume that pony magic is some "fix everything" mechanism. We've seen that they have hospitals, that they have (what appeared to be) patients with long-term maladies (like Dash's roommate in Read It and Weep)- it's entirely possible that their magic simply can't mend broken or severed extremities, nor counteract serious illnesses.
6237563 That's a fair point. They're both "bad" in their own ways, but in ways that tend to cancel each other out when they're dealing with each other.
Hmm, well what do you know, lovers see a lot of different sides to one another.
Of course I got that Moriah was projecting her own issues of having lost her horn onto Adrian, I'm still not completely clear on what exactly she hates about Alex... maybe it's the jealousy thing which is frankly WEIRD as all hell. For now we see how their relationship really works, not the perfect couple in a sense, but willing to listen... mostly, and willing to understand.
I think it's weird however that some things were made into comedic effect, such as when Joe decides to go with Moriah to magic training because otherwise she will 'burn down the entire town' and all that, thought it would be nice if he made a kind of funny sort of 'okay, if I must' scene for a more emotional touch, and this is coming from me, a guy who LOVES humor.
Right now, I'm hoping we get an inside look at some of Moriah's thoughts on Riley, maybe more than simple paranoia?
...
I'm not giving her much credit, if it isn't obvious.
An excellent last two chapters. Joesph is growing on me. He has some interesting, if well hidden facets to his character.
Oh my yes, interesting indeed.
I'm even disliking Moriah less
This is not the remark of a bitter, spite ridden unicorn. This is the remark of someone trying to overcome what she considers her cruel fate. There may be hope for her yet...
Nice to know even the apocalypse can't change some things.
Where's the prosthetic from again?
6237548
That's probably the first mention of UF I've seen in this whole fandom.
6238615 It was my first exposure to reading and enjoying fan fiction, way back ages ago when it was first being written (I came in on it in Chapter 5 of the first Core story). I even wrote a few unauthorized spinoffs/self-inserts and that's what got me into writing.
I'm honestly not surprised. After all...
gameshowgarbage.com/Pictures/Tooncrap/BB08.jpg
If Tweedle Dumbass is able to cast that spell, I'd think any unicorn could.
Moriah, really angry, slightly tipsy and with a bout of massive magical disability frustration incoming and Joseph too exhausted to control anything more than a light spell... this will end well.
Apart from that, Joseph has turned out to be an amazingly complex character. Extremely enjoyable to read.
6237492
6237930 Alex actually asked about healing/regrowing Moriah's horn when she was in Equestria. She got the answer that it couldn't grow back on its own and that it sadly couldn't be done magically either, since it itself was a magic focus (why that would prevent it wasn't elaborated, but I'll take the word of a Princess). She'd still be able to learn magic though, even without the prosthetic, just much, much slower.
6237537 Hadn't thought about that... but yes. That horn amputation saved Moriah's life. Her magic flare amputated seven years of Alex' age and easily could have killed her... talk about massive bodily alterations without consent. Alex just isn't the type for exploding into someone's face.
6237548 Totally "hung in the air like a brick doesn't" moment. Good stuff.
6232906
I think it really speaks to the spell as to just how well it managed to modify people. Joseph stayed behind right away, so that means he had to be a very good match with his new form. I've tried to illustrate that with all the characters, though we're still left to guess about some (like Moriah or even Alex to some small degree), who feel like they're now strangers in their own bodies.
6232967
I think how much they tell Riley will be a good measure of how much they trust her. After all, Alex could only tell her the things she wants to. Did Alex tell her about those powers, even though they could make Riley a danger to the group later on? I think we know whether Moriah or Sky would've, but what about Alex? How honest is she? This is a test.
6233232
Yeah, I think that seems pretty evident from his behavior. I don't think it came up during his chapter, but I'm guessing he's had some sort of negative experience with them in the past that's causing him to feel the way he does now.
6233602
People are really like that! To be fair though, Joseph did have his survival figured out when he was alone. If eating the same meal every day and playing Skyrim every night can be considered thought-out. He did survive, though. Was it living? That's another question.
6233625
Thanks! I was kinda bummed to have an earth pony protagonist in the last story, since I didn't get to talk about magic much. Being able to now... I've been looking forward to it. I would feel like I'd done the story a disservice if magic didn't focus heavily in Joseph's sections.
6233660
Which has always been one of the themes I like to explore: How much like ponies are humans, and vice-versa? Other authors have their views, but... so do I. Joe is one of those ponies whose new form seems to fit him perfectly. Guess the spell didn't always make mistakes.
6233673
If you think I'm messing with you now, just wait until I get to the Moriah section!
6234001
I think the thing I like best about this format is something you'd never see with just Alex. With just her writing the story you might think there are bad ponies and good ones. In reality, everypony views him/herself as the hero of their own story. Joseph/Moriah/Cloudy included, even if they can be more difficult at times. When this story, I hope to leave everyone feeling at least sympathy for each of these characters. If I will have done this, then I will have succeeded. We'll see if I can actually make it happen, though...
6234228
Oliver seems to agree!
6234366
I think the fact they're able to move without flopping uselessly on the floor and trying to move their limbs the wrong way, heck, even that their heart and lungs and digestive systems still work, is some evidence that at least minor changes to the brain have taken place. I think we see different degrees of "ponyitude" with each character. Moriah seems to be on one end of the spectrum, and Cloudy Skies on the other.
6234543
I think that's Oliver's attitude. "Even if he hates me and he's unhappy for months or years, at least he'll be alive to feel those things."
6235908
Thanks! I really enjoyed the magic sections. I just wish Alex got to feel things like that more. Other than growing plants though, she doesn't really get magic. And even then, that's always seemed a largely innate process, not something that earth ponies consciously will. But I dunno.
6235922
Levitation might be for beginners, but look how hard it seems to be for young ponies just starting out to pick it up. (like Sweetie Belle). If she struggles to lift a broom at first, I have to imagine Joseph might struggle to hold down a fully-grown, actively struggling stallion.
6237417
My earlier draft had more stupid programming jokes, but they made it feel too campy. I kept that one, though. Seems like Joseph's narrator would slip a few in there...
6237436
The real test: Can you keep disliking Moriah through her chapter next week? I hope not.
6237492
This has been said, but Alex explicitly asked about regenerating the horn when she was in Equestria, and she was told it couldn't be done. Of course, that might've just been because no specialists were willing to sacrifice their entire futures in Equestria to come with her. It might be that doing a procedure like that requires a whole "infrastructure" of magical "technology" that just couldn't be brought to earth in time. It might've been different for Moriah if she'd been brought to Equestria. The story doesn't tell us, so I suspect we won't ever know.
6237537
It's possible she's apologized between this story and the last! It's not a journal, so we can't be sure we haven't missed things. Of course, there's no evidence she has...
6237563
Mastering their chemistry has been tricky so far. I hope it keeps feeling like this through the story... since it seems to be working.
6237846
FOR NOW! Four more characters to go, after all. Somepony else might win you over by the end. MIGHT. We'll just have to see how well they end up written.
6237883
It's hard to tell if Moriah really means she's going to kill him, or she's just blowing smoke. If this was her chapter, we'd known. We might never know, though... unless Oliver does some amputating >.>
6237930
Hah, just said this, but it could be she's just blowing steam. We just don't know.
6238418
We'll get a good look at Moriah next chapter. Until then, we'll just have to wonder.
6238485
I'm glad Joseph is working out. He's one of my favorite characters to write, so I'd feel like I failed pretty bad if people didn't like him after all the work to get him here.
6238615
It was one of the many gifts Alex received from the ponies of Equestria, the ones that filled the second "room" of the saddlebags. I expect it came from the princesses personally, when they learned she had a friend who had lost her horn.
6239902
I'll tell you what, make me sorry for Moriah of all ponies, and you've succeeded.
6239907 libbylayla1984.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/8ffd8b1e292d97550b50da36ed9c1068261ac8dcdf3fb7445755f7418401d30f.jpg
6237537
Alex probably wouldn't want one, anyway, since it might mean revisiting what she did to provoke Moriah into trying to use magic at all.
Aww! That's a lovely thing that Joseph is doing for Moriah! I'm not sure if it's workable as it stands.
My guess is that the material used is everything. You can't just slap something horn-shaped on top of Moriah's carbuncle and expect it to work. They've got to find the right conductive material; lacking bone and keratin (which is what a real horn is made of), I suspect that they need to go to a hardware/construction materials depot and have Joe experiment with different materials to see which provides the best focus/conductivity effects. That would be a fairly major endeavour but I'm sure that they could spin it to Alex on the grounds of two fully- or nearly-fully-functional unicorns are a lot better than one.
Maybe... Is Changeling sap magically conductive? Riley might be able to help out here.
6240065 Crystals are magically conductive, as is silver and blood. Blood is probably a bad idea though. Changeling sap is in fact, magically insulative. Changelings use it to seal ponies inside it, so it would need to be.
Huh, Moirah has actually made herself kinda sympathetic.... Almost
*quietly removes a few points off the douchebag scale*
And you continue to make joe be my somewhat favorite character in the story so far
And this can only end in tears
“I read the books you gave me! I can do this!”
I see Moriah's problem isn't just her lack of a functioning horn. While I would never suggest that she'd just blow up her horn all on her own if the plane crash hadn't done it, the reasoning for that is more along the lines of not wanting to be eviscerated by Moriah than actually adhering to the honest truth.
O.k. so Moriah is a pissed off sociopathic bomb waiting to go off and she wants to use her horn for destructive magic as opposed to anything helpful to the ones who saved her life. Way to be a bitch, cunt.
I feel bad for her, hopefully she gets the hang of her magic.
6260933 Ah, now I see a pattern to your comments. Very well, carry on. Clearly nobody is going to have much luck stopping you with a few gentle pixels.
I will say one thing. Joseph is unpleasant. I love it! More!
The relationship between moriah and joseph reminds me of that one season of the office where michael was in a relationship with his former boss. It was... unhealthy.