• Published 10th Jul 2011
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Antipodes - PK



An epic post-apocolyptic adventure fic surrounding Celestia and Luna's dissapearence.

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Antipodes- Chapter 30

Antipodes

Chapter 30

By PK

(Hey, guys, it sure has been a while! Sorry about that! By popular request, here’s a summary of the events of the last chapter to refresh your memory:

Jigsaw, Tiptoe, and Incendia got back to the caves and fixed the water supply, but the populace wasn’t ready to forgive them and exiled them from their home. Jigsaw found a celestia fragment and suffered a bit of a nervous breakdown.)

Tiptoe extended her wings, soaring over the emerald green carpet spread out below her, wind buffeting her back and forth through the air as she made an unsteady landing on the top of the airship. She trotted over to a small, round hatch on the top of the airship and flipped a lever with her hoof. The door sprung open.

Tiptoe fluttered her wings as she descended into the control room. When she touched down, Incendia glanced up and gave her a curt nod. She sat on the ground in front of a monitor, which flashed blue and displayed a sentence in the language of the old world. A small quill floated in the air before Incendia, sketching the glyphs on a ragged sheet of paper.

"What's going on?" Tiptoe asked, trotting closer.

"No idea," Incendia replied. "The monitor just started flashing a minute ago. I don't know what it says so I thought I ought to write it down and bring it to... well, I thought I ought to write it down."

Tiptoe could feel the name hanging in the air even though it hadn't been said. Her thoughts turned against her will towards the last week.

~~~

Ever since they left the caves, the atmosphere in the airship had been strained. Tiptoe was more shaken than she had thought by what she had seen in the caves. She'd had terrible nightmares the first night back in the airship, and she’d awoken that first night in a cold sweat, tears wet in her eyes. She realized she hadn't even asked what had become of her mother and father.

To make matters worse, Jigsaw hadn't been there. After absorbing the fragment of Celestia, Jigsaw had tuned the ship eastward and locked himself in his cabin without a word to any of them. When Tiptoe came in for the night, she found him already lying in bed, breathing slowly. She gently squeezed in next to him and drifted off.

When she awoke to find him missing, Tiptoe wandered around a corridor, only to find him scribbling idly in the old language at a small desk in a disused barrack.

"What are you writing?" Tiptoe asked cautiously.

"I don't know!" Jigsaw said, slamming the quill on the desk. The ink reservoir at the top shattered and black ink began to run over the words on the parchment. "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's only gotten worse, Tiptoe. I could stand it before, but now it's like they're screaming in my head, only, I can't make out the words!"

Cold dread settled in Tiptoe’s stomach. "You're talking about the fragments? Is that why you weren't in bed?"

"I don't remember leaving bed, but I remember I never fell asleep. All I know is one second I'm trying to drift off, and the next second you’re standing here asking what I'm writing."

Jigsaw's horn ingited and Tiptoe noticed that the magical aura no longer shone bright blue but was tinged with gold. The stained parchment lifted off the table.

"I can't even read this," Jigsaw exlaimed. "I don't know any of these words. I don't know what they want, and I don't know why I'm even fighting it."

All the anger drained out of his voice and his shoulders drooped. Tiptoe tentatively made her way over to him and gently nuzzled his neck.

"You're still you," she assured him, "and I'm sure that they're only doing these things because they're important. We're the good guys, right?"

Jigsaw gave her an angry glare. "Are we? We don't know anything more about Tantalus than we did at the start. We don't know his endgame. We don't even know our own!"

"But the princesses are—"

"But the princesses are good in the stories?” Jigsaw interrupted. “Those are thousands of years old, Tiptoe! We have no idea if the story changed at all over time. They also said the whole world was dead, but we saw the truth of that!”

"But Tantalus has done horrible things!" Tiptoe said. "You've seen him slaughter hundreds! He tried to kill us!"

"And what if he had good reason for doing it?" Jigsaw retorted. "We don't know! We just don't! And we've done terrible things, too! You saw that grave, same as I. We did that."

Tiptoe gasped in horror. "T-that's not fair, we didn't mean to do that."

"We did it all the same!" Jigsaw shouted. "Maybe Tantalus is just trying to make a better world. Maybe the ends justify the means."

"They don't," Tiptoe replied, narrowing her eyes. "They never do."

"And yet the princesses have no problem using me as their puppet!" Jigsaw shouted, shoving the parchment covered in odd runes towards Tiptoe. "They just take control of me and use me. I don't know what they want of me any more than you do. That fragment didn't appear until after we got exiled, Tiptoe. We turned the water back on and they exiled us and we didn't even have to go in there to get the fragment."

Tiptoe was shocked. "Of course we had to! They were dying! They're our family!"

"Were," Jigsaw corrected. "They exiled us, remember? And besides, what we did wasn't any kinder. They have no way to grow food with the arboretum... full. We just traded thirst for starvation. Besides, even if they could eat, they didn't have enough to sustain a viable breeding population. What we did was cruel, Tiptoe. They might last another generation or two, at best, before dying out. We're guilty of genocide just as much as Tantalus is, Tiptoe, and all for these stupid fragments."

Tiptoe was about to bite back at him when their eyes met. His eyes betrayed him as they glistened with barely contained terror.

"Well?" Jigsaw snapped. "Say something!"

"I love you," Tiptoe said, moving closer to him so that her coat brushed against his.

"I’d— what?" Jigsaw sputtered, taken aback.

"I know you're afraid," Tiptoe said. "I can't imagine what it's like for you, but I love you Jigsaw."

Tiptoe pressed her lips against his, feeling the smooth, wet skin of his lips against her own. Jigsaw shuddered and, for an instant, tried to pull away. His resolve didn’t last and after a moment of resistence he gave in and pressed against her, unloading all of his pent-up emotion into one long, passionate kiss. After a long moment, they broke apart.

"I love you too, Tiptoe, I..." Jigsaw swallowed hard, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "I'm so scared, I just..."

"It's okay," Tiptoe said. "It's..."

Jigsaw's pupils dilated, and Tiptoe thought she caught an unfamiliar glimpse of gold inside the eyes she knew so well.

Jigsaw galloped out of the room without saying another word.

~~~

"I'm sorry," Incendia said softly. "I know things are rough between you two right now. I'll bring it to him later."

Tiptoe nodded. "Thank you."

"Did you see anything out scouting?" Incendia asked quickly, changing the subject.

"There's nothing but a grove of trees to the northeast. We really need to resupply if we can."

Incendia nodded and trotted over to the dusty chair in the center of the room. Her horn glowed orange and a small wheel and navigator’s compass rose out of the floor. She spun it with her mouth and a low hum came from deep within the airship. The world outside the window wall tilted and turned as the airship rotated until it faced a far-off patch of green that was the orchard.

"I think I'm going to take a nap," Tiptoe said. "All that flying tired me out."

"Alright," Incendia said. "You know where to find me."

Tiptoe shuffled her hooves awkwardly, but she thanked the coal black unicorn and headed out of the room.

Incendia felt her heart flutter as Tiptoe turned her back to her to leave, and then immediately felt a stab of shame. She knew she shouldn't be watching. She knew she shouldn't feel happy that Tiptoe and Jigsaw were having issues in their relationship, especially since Jigsaw's life—or his sanity, at the very least—was at stake.

Incendia gave her head a quick shake to clear it and grabbed the paper she had been writing with. She doubled checked the symbols against the screen and then trotted out of the control room.

She stopped at the third landing, and the metal door slid aside for her with a soft electric hum. As it opened Incendia found herself greeted by the clanging of pistons, the strange quavering hum of the ship’s power lines, and a keening high-pitched sound she knew as the whine of a crystal under strain. Jigsaw was standing over a bright console near the door with his mane frayed and unkempt, and the bags below his eyes quite startlingly pronounced, though he didn’t seem to notice her.

“Jigsaw?” Incendia askedhesitantly.

Much to her relief, his ears perked up at the sound of her voice and he turned away from the console.

“Incendia,” he said, “Haven’t seen you in over a day. Is—”

“She’s asleep,” Incendia said.

“Oh,” Jigsaw said, the corners of his mouth falling slightly. “What did you want?”

“A monitor in the control room started sounding an alarm and I didn’t recognize the words. Here’s what it said,” Incendia replied, floating the parchment slip towards the unicorn.

“A power coupling came undone,” Jigsaw said. “They’re always coming loose. I must have missed this one,” Jigsaw said, leading Incendia along a series of tubes mounted on the wall.

“Jigsaw, she’s worried about you,” Incendia said, “and so am I. Have you slept at all this last week?”

Jigsaw stopped and turned to look at her., and though his eyes shone bright, the rest of his face was etched with weariness. “Not once, Incendia. I’ve tried. I’m so tired, I feel like I’m about to pass out on the spot, but they want something from me. They keep trying to take control, but they’re broken; not whole, so they can’t do it properly.”

Incendia’s eyes widened with surprise. “You haven’t slept once? This whole week? And you never told us?”

“I didn’t feel like it was important. So long as I can keep myself busy fixing the airship, I can think. But when I stop…”

Jigsaw’s eyes were glowing. Incendia felt that they were look through her and into her soul.

“Something’s gone wrong. Something they know but can’t tell us. We have to hurry!” Jigsaw shouted.

Incendia took a step back.

Jigsaw blinked, and suddenly, his eyes were back to normal: bloodshot, tired, and blue.

“I’m sorry, Incendia, it’s the goddesses. They’re upset at our pace. I can’t control when they come out.” He smiled weakly. “At least they’re not trying to kill me. When Tiptoe and I escaped Stalliongrad, they teleported us out of a dangerous situation and I felt like I was being torn apart. I don’t think they’re going to let me die of sleep deprivation.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Incendia asked.

“I’m hardy sure of anything anymore, Incendia,” Jigsaw answered.

Incendia opened her mouth to respond, but Jigsaw cut her off.

“Why hasn’t Tiptoe come to visit me?” he asked.

Incendia shuffled uncomfortably. “I think she’s afraid. You’ve been… so strange this last week.”

Jigsaw snorted derisively. “Yeah, thanks for telling me. I wasn’t aware. I’ll just turn off the ancient goddesses in my head, then.”

“Not funny,” Incendia replied.

“I know,” Jigsaw said, his voice falling once more. “I don’t know what I would tell her. That night I ran out on her— I can’t imagine what that must have looked like to her. I don’t even know what they wanted me to do." He sighed. "I'm so tired."

Before Incendia could respond, the airship gave a shudder and the engines began to cycle down.

"What's going on?" Jigsaw asked, turning to face the nearest console. "Why are we descending?"

"There's a huge forest nearby. We're running low on food and water. We're touching down to reload."

Jigsaw nodded. "That sounds nice. Maybe going outside for a while will help me calm down."

~~~

Tiptoe, Incendia, and Jigsaw stood side by side, saddlebags slung over their backs, as the stairs lowered from the base of the airship to the ground. Incendia glanced to her sides. Tiptoe hadn't spoken a word to Jigsaw since he had shown up in the lobby to disembark.

The door to the airship began to sink into the floor, shining a narrow shaft of light directly into the eyes of the assembled ponies below. Incendia blinked and squinted, temporarily blinded as her eyes adjusted, and gasped when they had.

The forest had looked so small from the sky, but now that she had landed, she could see that had just been an illusion. These were no ordinary trees: they towered towards the sky, thick branches laden with huge fruits in every color of the rainbow. The bark of the trees was a strange blue-green Incendia had never seen before.

"What are they?" Tiptoe asked, her eyes wide with wonder.

"I don't know," Jigsaw responded. "The fruits look like huge apples, almost. What could have caused them to get so large?"

Tiptoe's stomach twisted at the sound of Jigsaw's voice. She knew she shouldn't be upset— Jigsaw wasn't fully in control of his actions— but she still couldn't help it. Her gut twisted when she thought of him.

Incendia glanced around the airship as the silence stretched on relentlessly. Realizing the stalemate her companions were in, she cleared her throat. "Should we head out?”

Tiptoe nodded curtly and set off down the stairs, Incendia and Jigsaw following closely behind.

The air outside the airship was cool, moist, and wonderfully fresh. A few yards away from the edge of the stairs, the river rushed by, the water running white as it flowed around a row of upthrust rocks.

"How are we supposed to get over that?" Incendia asked. "I mean, Tiptoe can just fly, but…"

"Those rocks in the river," Jigsaw responded. "They're small but they're not that far apart. I think we can use them as stepping stones."

Incendia eyed the rushing rapids wearily. "If you say so. Tiptoe, you'll be there to catch us if we fall, right?"

"Of course I'll catch you, Incendia," Tiptoe said.

Jigsaw’s mouth hung open in shock. He took a breath to respond but thought better of it, stung.

He wordlessly turned and trotted toward the rocks. It looked as they had once been smooth and flat, but time and the constant rush of water had dulled them down to rounded spikes, spaced a few feet apart and spanning the length of the river. He gingerly placed a hoof on the first one, but found to his relief that the rock was gritty and gripped his hoof well.

He began to slowly move between the spire, making sure that each hoof was balanced before he reached out. After several tense minutes, his hooves found the soft, moist dirt of the opposite bank. Jigsaw turned to face the other side and saw Incendia standing at the edge of the river, staring intently at the first stone. To his relief, Tiptoe had taken off and was hovering downstream, ready to pull anypony who fell from the rushing water.

"It's okay!" Jigsaw called over the roar of the water. "The rocks aren't nearly as slippery as they look."

Incendia reached out a hoof and pressed it carefully against the rock and began to make her way slowly across the series of stones. After several shaky moments, Incendia hopped off the final rock and landed next to Jigsaw, and with a soft flutter, Tiptoe landed beside her.

"I'm not looking forward to doing that again," Incendia said shakily. "So what are we trying to get? Can we eat those fruits?"

"I don't know, but I think I can find out. Come on," Jigsaw prompted.

Together, the trio trotted towards the towering trees. As they walked, the grass around their feet slowly gave way to thick shrubbery.

Tiptoe's wing brushed against one of the thick, thorned branches of a nearby bush and a feather yanked free, causing her to shout in surprise and pain.

"What happened?" Jigsaw said, whipping around to face her.

"I'm fine," she said. "I just got caught on a thorn from one these bushes."

Jigsaw glanced towards the tree line. "The woods look like they're full of them," Jigsaw said. "Try and be careful— we don't want anyone getting caught in one of those."

"I could burn them, maybe," Incendia offered.

"No," Jigsaw said quickly. "Too dangerous. We can't risk a forest fire."

They soon reached the edge of the forest and got their first up-close look at the strange, twisted trees. From their base, each tree was so full of thick branches that the trio couldn't see the top. The thick, rainbow fruits hung heavily from each limb, dangling ominously over the assembled ponies.

"What are these trees?" Incendia wondered aloud. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Look at the ground," Jigsaw said, pawing at a small patch of dirt with a forehoof. The dirt was strangely colored— greenish-blue, like the bark of the trees, and it glowed with a faint luminescence.

Incendia leaned in to get a closer look and recoiled when she felt a strange tingling in the tip of her horn. "What is that?"

"The ground here is saturated with magic. That explains why the trees are so large and strangely colored," Jigsaw explained.

"Does that mean it's safe to eat the fruits?" Incendia asked.

In answer, Jigsaw touched the tip of his horn against the tree. His horn began to glow with a soft blue light and the tree responded in kind, taking on the same dim luminescence as the dirt below them had. The limbs rustled as though in a breeze.

After several seconds, Jigsaw pulled away.

"What just happened? Incendia asked.

"The fruits are safe," Jigsaw said. "I don't know what they are, but they're not poisonous, I think. Be sure to rub them on your lips before eating one and if you feel a sting, or any sort of numbness, don't eat it."

"What happened to make them this way?" Incendia inquired.

"I have no idea," Jigsaw responded, "but we should probably be careful in there if we're going to gather these. I have no idea what this might have done to other forest life. Incendia, do you mind taking point? I need to stay behind for a moment."

Incendia was about to protest when she saw Jigsaw glance towards Tiptoe. Silently, she nodded and trotted off into the forest.

"Should I harvest from up above, then?" Tiptoe's eyes didn't meet Jigsaw's.

"Tiptoe, I know that you're mad at me. I know that I haven't come to see you after I ran off that night. Can I just—"

Jigsaw was cut off when he saw the tears forming in Tiptoe's eyes.

"Mad? Jigsaw, I'm not mad, I'm— I'm scared!" Tiptoe stamped her hooves on the forest floor.

"Scared?" asked Jigsaw, perplexed.

"Of course I'm scared!" Tiptoe shouted back. "I thought you were losing your mind! After you ran off like that…" she trailed off.

"Then why didn't you come to see me?" Jigsaw said.

"For the same reason you didn't come to see me!" Tiptoe shot back. She stared at him intensely for a moment before sighing. "Okay. Maybe I was angry, too. I don't think anypony can blame me for that."

"Tiptoe, I'm sorry. I never meant to do that. Can I just explain for a moment?"

Tiptoe wanted to scream at him, but she swallowed her anger and nodded stiffly.

"You remember after Tantalus attacked us outside that castle? When you… he almost killed you? And I called on the power of the goddesses to heal you?"

Tiptoe nodded.

"Well, I don't think they're fully under my control. Not like they were then. Or maybe they never were, and our goals just coincided.” Jigsaw paced as he spoke. “Either way, right now they're stronger than I am. They're each almost complete and they know that we're close to finishing. They want something out me but they can't communicate what, and they can't use most of their power because I couldn't handle it. That's what I've been putting up with for the last week. It's like having two feral animals in your head both fighting over the same piece of meat."

"I already knew that," Tiptoe said, her eyes resolutely aimed at the ground.

"I haven't ever just sat you down and explained what it feels like, have I? It's hard, Tiptoe. And confusing. I just… I didn't want to see you because I was afraid I might hurt you. I don't know what I'm capable of like this."

Tiptoe tilted her head back, and her eyes met Jigsaw's. "What about right now?" she said. "Aren't you worried now?"

Jigsaw smiled the saddest smile the pegasus had ever seen. "Tiptoe, I haven't stopped worrying since the day they assigned you as my apprentice."

Tiptoe stared into his eyes, waiting for the flash of gold that would signify an abrupt end to the conversation. Instead, all she saw were the same brilliantly blue eyes she'd known for so long.

She took a hesitant step forward. Every muscle in her body is tense, screaming for her to turn away, but before she knew it, she found herself pressing her lips against Jigsaw's for the first time in a long time, and her anger seemed far away.

The seconds stretched on as their kiss intensified. Jigsaw pressed his mouth tighter against hers, relishing the feel of her lips against his. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't afraid.

After what felt like ages, they finally broke apart, breathing heavily.

"I love you," Tiptoe said breathlessly.

"I love you too," Jigsaw said breathily, smiling.

A sudden scream and an orange glint from somewhere deeper in the forest broke them out of their reverie.

"Incendia!" Jigsaw and Tiptoe shouted together. As one, they galloped off into the grove of trees, heading towards the dimming orange light.

~~~

Incendia leapt to the side, flames trailing behind her, as the strange creature lashed out at her again. Her glow intensified as she sent a shimmering strand of flame flying through the air at the strange, green mouth.

Incendia slowly made her way through the thick undergrowth, trying not to focus on what Jigsaw and Tiptoe were engaging in behind her, when a plant unlike any growing around it caught her eye. It appeared to be a gaping blue-green maw on a stem, with shining dark brown teeth. As she approached, the plant had lashed out at her with that strange mouth, slicing a deep gash in her flank and causing her to cry out in pain and surprise.

The flame whip struck the top of the creature's head and sizzled there, burning a deep gouge into its flesh, but it didn't even seem to feel it. The thing lashed out at her again and Incendia brought her flames roaring as high as she dared and the creature recoiled.

A rustling sound behind her caused her to whip her head around. From out of a thick bramble, Tiptoe and Jigsaw came racing. Jigsaw's horn was lit.

"What's going on?" Jigsaw shouted.

"That plant is attacking me!" Incendia shouted back. "I can't get away from it!"

Jigsaw glanced at the top of the plant and saw the deep gouges Incendia's flames had left in it.

"I have an idea!" Jigsaw yelled. "Tiptoe! Can you fly above it and create a distraction?"

"Yeah!" Tiptoe shouted back. She flapped her wings and took to the air, soaring in tight circles above the plant. It thrashed this way and that, striking at her, teeth bared like a snake.

"Okay, Incendia, wrap flames around the base of the plant and apply as much heat as you can!" Jigsaw said, eyes trained on Tiptoe.

Incendia wrapped another flaming rope around the base of the plant. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the fire. She could feel the flames licking up the side of her body, extending out through her horn into the fiery whip, and reached into her magic reserves.

The flames grew hotter, the orange giving way to white, and then to blue only moments later.

The plant's mouth stopped biting and shuddered as it turned to Incendia. It gave one last feeble attempt at a lunge before the flames cut through the stem, causing the carnivorous plant to collapse at her hooves.

Incendia gasped for air and the flames covering her began to fade until her coat returned to a solid black. Tiptoe touched down gently, the flutter of her wings displacing a coating of dead leaves and moss that coated the forest floor. "What in Celestia's name was that?" she said.

"I have no idea," Jigsaw said, "but I think we had better get out of here. Even the plants are trying to kill us."

"Good idea," Incendia said. "But, uh… does anybody know which way we came?"