Reunion
"So, you're saying... there's an Alicorn coming?" Joseph couldn't keep the annoyance from his voice—any time he had to spend away from his research was time he would never get back. It didn't matter that he was practically ageless, didn't matter that he could (and had) devoted centuries to his experiments. Once something broke his concentration, it could take hours to get it back.
Had the pony who interrupted him been anyone else, he might've had to resist the temptation to turn them to stone, or into some small animal that couldn't bother him anymore. Trade Wind was spared his wrath, if only through familiarity.
The pegasus had begun to show some of the same signs of change that he had. Her coat was reflective in the sun, her feathers were one shimmering crystal, sending cascading rainbows of color behind her whenever she flew. It was beautiful, though Joseph had to remind himself how much prettier Cloudy Skies would've looked as she changed into crystal. And it's my fault she didn't. My fault for learning too slowly and not building the university fast enough.
Sitting around feeling guilty was an even greater waste of time than listening to Wind's message. "Yes, that's what I said. Fought off a whole legion of soldiers in the Nameless City. You should hear some of the stories going around. King Obrican already published a decree that anyone who spreads them will spend a month in jail, and it isn't helping."
Joseph laughed. "Idiot never heard of the Streisand effect. Now everyone will know." Joseph turned away, storming down the hallway towards his laboratory. Wind followed him of course, as was proper for an assistant. He could hear one artificial leg touching down with every fourth hoof fall, clicking like glass. It was a good thing the crystal was tougher than it looked, or else either one of them might've shattered a long time ago. "What did you hear about the Alicorn. Did you get a name?"
Wind's voice came from behind him, timid as always. "Y-yeah. Archive."
Joseph stopped walking, so abruptly that he felt Wind crash into him from behind. It sounded like someone knocking two glasses together. "You're mistranslating that. Say it in English."
There weren't many ponies in the world left who knew that language. Joseph had made sure Wind was one of them, even if he ordained to use a translation spell around her to make her more comfortable some of the time. If I could learn it, anyone can.
"I did use English," Wind said, a little annoyance in her tone. "It's a proper noun, Rune. Why does it matter? Do you know her?"
"Yes." Joseph sped his steps into the lab, though he didn't run. Running was a bad idea when a significant portion of your body was made of crystal. The workshop had changed little in the past few centuries, except that his HPI-REP-16 had broken down about twenty years ago and he lacked the parts to replace it. That meant more and more of his drones had to be replaced with thermomechanical parts, and the intricate engravings of his own hooves were taking the places of unibody plastic shells. More setbacks. Alex took her damn time in coming back. Probably she's been hiding on some tropical island all this time teaching the natives how to plant crops or something stupid. For all her leadership, Alex had never understood perspective. Joseph did, which was why he didn't waste his time with ponies anymore. His mind was too valuable a resource to squander.
One of the six workstations in the lab had gone over entirely to his plague research, and was still piled high with the notebooks and diagrams he had used to work out the treatment. The steel drum of the bioreactor he'd used to grow antidote sat idle now, as every trace of the plague had burned itself out a century earlier. Trade Wind no longer had inoculation deliveries to make, even to the most remote parts of the globe.
"What are we going to do?" The pegasus followed him through the lab, though she never stepped within reach and never got in his way. She'd gotten very good at that, staying close enough to be useful if he asked without making herself a nuisance. If she hadn't, I'd have gotten rid of her two hundred years ago. But as more and more of his laboratory’s technological parts broke down, she did more and more of the work to fill the gap.
That had been a mild shock in itself—that living ponies could be almost as useful as machines. Almost. "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind," Joe said, stopping in front of his large equipment shelf, and pulling out a saddlebag filled with portable measuring tools. Dust came off in thick cakes as he did so, wafting through the air in dense clouds. It had been a while since Joe had gone out to do field missions. "Here, put this on.” He levitated the bag toward her, undoing the Velcro. Like everything else in his lab, the objects would be intact, ageless unless they were being interacted with. A pity he used his drones for so much, or else more of them might still be working.
"O-okay. Do I need to take off my vest, or..." Trade Wind glanced down at the white fabric of her vest, set as it was with a dozen crystal shards. Each one of them thrummed with an active spell, and would go dark once expended. The harness would charge on its own from the ambient magic, which if she brought it down here would take only minutes. On the surface, spells could take weeks to recharge.
"No, leave it on." He set the saddlebags onto her back, opening the slits that would permit wings. They had been made to be universal, after all. They weren't heavy, but that didn't mean Joseph would carry them. Carrying your stuff was one of the reasons to take an assistant in the first place!
Trade Wind didn't complain as he settled the instruments on her back. "Why do we need all this?" she asked, a little of the annoyance surfacing in her tone again. "Don't you think we should bring armor instead? This pony killed hundreds of soldiers."
"Don't care." Joe turned away again, walking out of the lab as swiftly as he had entered it. "She isn't going to hurt me. I haven't decided what I'm going to do to her."
"What you'll..." Trade Wind hurried to catch up, her voice trailing off into a fearful stammer. Joe didn't listen to what she said after that—it wasn't important. The pegasus would learn soon enough. If nothing else, she'd proven her ability to keep quiet and pay attention.
Joe took them to the newest corner of his compound, though new was somewhat relative. It was centuries old now, as old as his visit to the surface and the plague he had discovered ravaging pony populations there. The room was about fifteen feet across, with a row of polished metal dishes with crystals mounted in each one all pointing at the floor. On the wall was a topographical map of the globe, one that was actually accurate to shape and elevation. The glow of magic was so palpable that his mane stood on end as he entered, buzzing faintly with an almost electric charge.
"You said the Alicorn was in the nameless city, correct?" At her nod, Joseph walked up to the map, removing the metal pin where it had been set into the rock near Singapore and levitating it over to New York. "I wonder what the primitives have done to the place. There aren't any hostile conditions, are there? She didn't nuke the city to get rid of the army? I'm not sure how our bodies would respond to radiation..."
"I don't know what 'nuke' means," Wind said, stopping in the very center of the pad, and shifting uneasily between her hooves. "I don't think she did anything crazy. Just some kind of shield that the army couldn't get through. She killed a lot of blood priests..."
"No, really?" He feigned surprise. "Archive didn't like blood sacrifices, I never would've guessed. I fucking told you there'd be hell to pay from someone sooner or later. Kinda thought it would be Gaia though..." He jammed the pin into Manhattan island, walking back into the center to stand beside Trade Wind. He felt the pony touch lightly to his side, in a way he couldn't be sure was platonic or romantic. He'd never asked, and didn't really care so long as she kept doing her job.
At least that was what he told himself.
There were no controls within the teleportation circle. Joseph meant to add them one day, but always got distracted by other things. It didn't really matter when he was the only one to send Trade Wind anywhere, and when he used it he could just levitate the single lever by the wall. Of course, he should probably also do something about the unshielded magical conduit running there. Using the transport spell just meant bridging the contacts with a platinum conductor and letting the magic flow for a second. The only reason the whole apparatus didn't short out was only because it took constant magical pressure to keep the conductor in place. As soon as he was transported, the spell would end and the length of platinum rod would fall to the floor.
There was a flash like lightning from all around him, and the bright light of a long-range teleport.
Joseph appeared on the broken cement of an ancient city, scattering debris, and charring every nearby plant to a uniform black. Not that he cared much about that—the wild grass growing on the street would only be a nuisance to the ponies who wanted to travel here, anyway. As soon as they landed Wind broke apart from him, pacing around and inspecting the surrounding area for danger. Wind could fight, though of course no violence would be necessary with him around. Anything that attacked them would be in for a very brief, painful surprise.
He'd imagined different sized piles of rubble. After well over a thousand years without maintenance, none of the buildings of this once-great city should still be standing. But instead of finding ruins, the sky all around them was filled with the shape of large structures, plenty of which still had some of their windows. There must be a reason for this. I will have to investigate further.
But just now, he had more important things to look for. "Come over here," he called, opening the satchel with his magic and removing a long metal rod from within. The crystal on the end began to flash and glow once it was in his grip, and he began pacing in a slow circle with it, until he found the direction its glow was most intense. Then he set off, setting a brisk pace through the broken city.
"You have an Alicorn-finding spell?" Wind asked from just above him, drifting through the air as he walked. She always flew when they were on missions like this—apparently the ground was harder on her crystal hooves than it was on his.
"No, I have a magic-finding spell. There won't be any source of power in the city stronger than an Alicorn." He wanted to make the trip a series of precise teleports, but unfortunately, he hadn't ever visited the city before. It would be a terrible waste of energy to transport places he hadn't seen before. It would be particularly annoying if he accidentally teleported himself into an object and shattered all over the floor.
They walked for a long time—Joe couldn't say just how long—before he started noticing signs of life. The streets abruptly ended, replaced with wide fields of dark brown soil. Joe recognized the smell of wheat, though of course it had been some time since last he'd tasted it. She had to be an idiot and get herself killed all the time. Nopony else was better at keeping the lights on. Joseph would demand compensation for all the years he had worked on her behalf without her even being alive to give him recognition for it.
Yet life was never easy. He didn't walk through an empty city without meeting a single pony until they encountered the Alicorn. Rather, they made it a few hundred meters into the field before they found several farmers tending to the crops. As usual, the ponies stopped to stare, pointing and whispering. "It isn't that strange!" he called, not slowing his approach. He lowered his voice to a quiet mutter. "Please don't waste my time..."
Of course, they did. A tall earth pony stallion with a dark coat reached out with a pitchfork, barring the way forward. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, his tone gruff and suspicious. He seemed to be trying to protect the ponies behind him, a female, and a child. His family, maybe? "This is my field, get out." It was English though, which was a good sign. Pre-Event English.
Joe didn't even answer. He just looked up, gesturing expectantly at the pegasus.
Trade Wind landed a second later, and smiled awkwardly at the pony. "We're sorry to bother you," she said. "We're just looking for the princess."
"Oh." The earth pony relaxed. "I guess... guess it makes sense strange-lookin' folk would be coming to speak to her. Last I heard she was doing construction on the east side." He pointed with one hoof, down another field to their left where the buildings started to thin. Most importantly, it did not seem to be in the direction of his detection tool.
"Thank you," Trade Wind said, nudging Joseph in the indicated direction. "We'll get out of your mane, then."
They did, though the wand started to dim a little, indicating they were no longer headed in the correct direction. "He's wrong," Joe said, before they were even completely out of earshot. "She's not this way."
"Yeah," Wind whispered, her voice low. "He was lying. I don't know why, though."
They soon found out. At the end of the alley was a large fortification built across the street, packed in with rubble and broken automobiles and lined with weapon embankments. There were a dozen soldiers there, identifiable only from their primitive armor and gun harnesses. No sooner had they been spotted than one of them started ringing a bell. Shouts rang out around them, and ponies poured down off the wall.
Joseph swore under his breath, his horn glowing slightly as he projected a bubble of force around the both of them. A few of the soldiers poked and prodded at the edge of the bubble, but none attacked it with vigor. Joseph held still as they were surrounded, entirely unimpressed with the quality of Alex's troops. Mostly they seemed clumsy and untrained, like refugees who hadn't had new bodies for more than a year. Maybe they are. How many refugees have been 'banished' here?
"Explain yourselves!” Somepony shouted. Joe didn't get a good look at who, and he didn't really care.
"We're here to see the princess," he said, making his voice echo and carry through the bubble with a spell. The magic was enough that some of the nearby buildings started to shake, so maybe he'd overdone it just a tad.
"The princess is busy," said one of the guards. "She has no time for visitors like you. You'll have to come back later." There was no disguising the fear in his tone.
"How about this," he said, sounding bored. "The most powerful wizard in the world is standing in front of you, and he's upset that you are wasting his time. Either escort us to your princess, or I'll get you all out of our way and find her myself."
They considered that a moment. A few hefted their weapons threateningly, though by then they must have realized no sword or low-grade firearm would put a scratch on the shield.
"You don't have to be so mean about it," Wind said from beside him, sounding a little annoyed. "They're not going to hurt us."
"No, they aren't," he said. "But they are wasting my time. That's an injury in itself."
"We'll take you to her," the same soldier who had spoken before said, very loudly. "But don't try anything, or—"
"You'll nothing," he interrupted. "Don't bother, whoever you are. There isn't a pony in the world who could get through this shield. Well... maybe one, but she isn't on this island. How about you don't waste either of our time and we just get straight into the walking."
The soldier grumbled, but didn't argue. Soon enough they were walking again, this time along a dense gravel road that passed through fields and living spaces alike. It was easier to see the lived-in land now that they were making their way past the empty city all around it. There were many more ponies to watch them as well—civilians of all three tribes and a handful of other races. Joseph didn't care that they were staring, though a part of him was still a little uncomfortable to be out in such a public place.
They passed what must've been a central part of the city, a single city block of densely lived-in buildings. Thousands of ponies moved about here, gathering in from similar roads that all reached this point like the spokes in a wheel. But they didn't go through to this central building, instead continuing down one of the roads into a strangely flat section of the city. Here the wreckage of ancient buildings was absent, and there were only clear fields. How did they tear out the steel and concrete foundations without heavy machinery?
Joseph wouldn't be getting an answer to that today. As they walked, more and more soldiers joined the crowd, word apparently spreading of their task and the dangerous ponies they escorted. Joseph didn't make the shield any larger, and it hardly took any concentration to resist the pressure their bodies made on it. They were not being attacked, and it wouldn't have mattered if they were.
"I hope seeing this Alicorn is worth it," Trade Wind said as they walked. "Ponies are usually much kinder to me when I visit. But I at least try to look and act normal when I talk to them."
Joe shrugged. "I stopped caring about normal before the world ended, Wind. I'm not going to start now."
The pegasus shrugged dismissively. "I know, but if you can at least pretend, most ponies will ignore how weird we look. I figured that out a long time ago."
They were slowing down. At first Joseph couldn't tell why, and he wondered if maybe they were going to try fighting them. But no—the crowd in front of them was clearing, where the road ended. The little magical rod Joe was carrying had gotten about as bright as it could, indicating they had reached the near proximity of whatever destination they had been traveling towards.
He saw a wall first, a wall twenty feet tall and made of every kind of debris. Bricks, chunks of concrete, piles of loose gravel and stone. The walls seemed to be rising around the edge of the island, overlooking the bay. They also didn't look like loose piles, but had somehow been assembled into densely strong fortifications at least twenty feet tall. Nearby he could see several more piles, one filled with bits of glass sometimes inches thick, while the other had different lengths of metal in various shapes and sizes. Most of them looked like they'd been cars. More importantly, Joe saw what had happened to all the structures.
Far away from anypony else, far away from the crew of twenty or thirty unicorns that seemed to be following her close behind at any one time, he could see the pony he'd come to see. The Alicorn was taller than he'd imagined, though many of her other features had somehow survived the intervening years without much change. Her expression was quite serene as she focused on a pile of detritus so large it could've come from an entire building.
As Joe approached, he found fewer and fewer of the soldiers dared to follow. Only Trade Wind kept pace with him, though her steps came more slowly and she stared openly at the Alicorn whose power was on display.
Archive wasn't a child anymore, but she also wasn't a towering adult like Sunset had become. Yet just because she wasn't very large didn't mean she couldn't apparently wield the magic of a dozen common unicorns. As she levitated the debris, different materials of different types sorted themselves out into her piles, with only the stone and rock-based materials continuing to fill in her next section of wall. Stone sorted itself by size, fitting together without mortar into a wall that could've been at home in any ancient Incan city.
For once, Joseph was too stunned to interrupt her. He waited in silence a dozen feet away, watching as she finished with the massive pile of rubble. Only then did her horn stop glowing, though a thin trail of steam seemed to be rising from it. "Is it time for a break already, Nancy? I'm not done with the market district yet..." She turned, eyes widening as she saw Joseph standing there. She met his eyes, the same brown that he remembered, though far older. The eyes of a pony who hadn't spent the centuries cloistered in a lab.
She blinked, wiping a few drops of moisture away from her eyes. "J-Joe?"
"Alex," he responded, dismissing his shield. It faded from around them, and with it any protection should the soldiers decide to attack. None did—none had dared approach the Alicorn this closely. He couldn't blame them. "I'm not happy about how hard it was to find you," he said, collecting himself. "The water in my lab stopped working three centuries ago. That's no way to run a civi—" He didn't finish, because at that moment his words were strangled in an embrace.
Joe blushed, his ears flattening, and he wanted to pull away. Wanted to, but didn't have the strength to resist this mare who was as tall and lean as he was, but as sturdy as an earth pony. He began to gasp, struggling to breathe a little under the assault. Yet all he could hear was her crying. "I-I... c-can't... h-how are you still alive, Joe? H-how... how did..." And he couldn't make sense of the rest, it was all incoherent sobbing.
"Weren't you male at one point?" he croaked, his voice barely audible. "You should be more emotionally stable, Alex. Ponies are watching."
That got her to let go, though she was glaring at him now. That didn't mean she'd stopped crying, her eyes red and swollen. It was a strange look from a pony who'd just been moving an entire building with her will. "F-first Mom, now you..." She looked to the side, seeming to notice Trade Wind standing there for the first time. "And you, you must be..." She hesitated just a second. "Joseph's... mate?" She stared down at her wings, eyes questioning.
"Trade Wind," the pegasus supplied, extending a hoof in greeting. She didn't correct Archive, or seem half as afraid as the ponies all around them. "I know he doesn't look it, but Joe was really excited to see you. You two must've been really good friends."
"Yeah." Archive wiped away the last few tears from her face, smiling at him. "You could say that."
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Wanted to see a little more, but ending it here worked too. Crystal Joe's awesome.
After all this time, Joseph hasn't changed a bit. Mentally, that is. Stubborn old cuss, he is. Must have learned that from Artie...
Looking forward to finding out what happens next.
Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from Crystal-eyed Joe?
But wow, that was a nice reunion. Nice to see Alex in action with her new powers. I can only imagine how awesome it must be...
Hah, finally. Been looking forward to seeing that reunion!
Geeze, Joe. You haven't seen Alex in over a thousand years and it takes all of a couple of seconds to be a jerk again...
8414557
Let's be honest, we'd all be disappointed if it was any other way
Also, cute as fuck. Wanna see the scolding she'll give him, though. You know, for taking that long to see her, make her believe he was dead, that stuff.
Using a levitated conducting bar as a switch must be within his safety factors, but he has only sent others out before when using it, or always had himself or another back at base to retrigger it for return? Or is the return method already tied in on his end for easy triggering?
Thres a lot of resources in a city if you can get it Alicorn seperated. Save you centuaries of ewdoing deep level mining, ore extraction, refining etc.
Man this got a couple good chuckles out of me.
Joe's a gem, a bit of a Jerk, but a gem none the less.
I like Trade Wind, looking forward to hear more of her
8415069
I want the BOTH of them upset at each other. Joe for making Archive bothering him and not doing her damn job. Archive for Joe not coming to see her sooner, and making her think he was dead
This was certainly a long time coming, and well worth the wait.
Hmm
Finally they meet each other again
I can't wait to know how they catch up. There's gonna be some shouting, though.
Got to get tough, eh, Joe?
Im really happy to see i was wrong when i commented earlier that i didn't think Joe would live to see Alex again...
And that meeting went exactly as i expected it too go
So adorable!