//------------------------------//
// Chapter 71 
// Story: Repercussions 
// by Hiver 
//------------------------------//

The level below the one with the skulls destined for the throne didn't have nearly as much headroom. But there was enough for even taller ponies to move around even if perhaps Luna would need to duck not to hit her horn.

What more, it seemed to have been set up for living space once. Now it was full of scuttling things and debri however. What remained was some urns and tools, any wood and fabric long since rotted away.

It must have been the living quarters for the priests or whomever ran this... monstrocity.

Now, it was more of an above ground cellar with creepy crawlies in it.

"Well, don't seem to be anything dangerous in here," I finally said as we reached the last of the small chambers, "Just not very pleasant."

"Not too bad," Dee said and looked around, "It's mostly for emergencies anyway, ponies won't be staying in here. But as soon as the main group arrives we have ponies to throw at the problem to clean it out."

I nodded and touched a large urn with the hoof of my hurt leg and peered inside. Nothing much there, it was empty.

Then again, with it being open and this place having been here for this long, what did I expect?

It was impressive as hell that it was even still standing.

I turned away and started back towards the exit through the small maze of rooms, "...What do you think of this place?" I finally asked.

Dee shifted her wings, moving along next to me on three legs, holding a touch with her left forehoof, "I think this was an important place to the ponies that inhabited these lands in the past," she said, "likely their main ritual site, a place of power. Going by the statue... we might have found the place we were looking for."

"More or less," I said and shook my head, "The story says the thestrals were pegasi that was cursed to look like they... like we do. But this doesn't match that in my mind."

Dee shook her head, "It doesn't track for me either," she admitted, "Where do we go from 'curse' to 'alicorn statue'? And pony sacrifice?"

I nodded, thinking about the statue on the level above us, "She almost looked like she encompassed the room," I said, "looming over the skulls. They were an offering to her."

"Him."

I blinked at her, "Him?"

Dee nodded, "I think so," she said, "Did you look at the proportions of the wings and the neck? And the shape of the jawbone? Unless the sculptor made some mistakes, that's a he."

I stopped at that and frowned as I raised my wings.

A thestral unicorn stallion overlooking a pile of pony skulls in a temple set up for pony sacrifice. In a region we were investigating for thestral origins. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.

What if this just made things worse? What if ponies learning about this put three and three together, got five and decided that thestrals were all monsters out to...

I wanted to help, but I could have made things impossibly worse.

I slowly sank down to sit with a sigh. Damn it. What did I do wrong here? What does everything I touch turn into roadapples? Was it some sort of karmic balance for my happiness with Luna and Sunset or was it just me being too crap to do anything major right?

We should just leave this place to the jungle and return home when the rescue team gets here.

...Assuming any of us are still alive by then. What if the rexosaurus found the other group? What if they were all...

"Hey?" Dee asked as she moved up next to me, touching my back with her wing, "Are you okay?"

"No," I answered quietly, "I'm not sure I am. Everything about this entire expedition had gone wrong and possibly made things worse for just the ponies I tried to help. Ponies has already died."

Dee shook her head and frowned up at me, "They have. But they all knew what they were doing was dangerous, but they wanted to come anyway."

"Unless they were ordered. Or it was their job. Or if they didn't realize how dangerous it was. I didn't."

"I'm not sure anypony did," Dee admitted, "None of us knew things like that roamed these jungles. Not even I did and I had worked here before, if not as far south."

I stomped my hoof in frustration, trying not to flinch when I did it with my injured leg, "I just..." I said and then I sighed, "I should just go back and write adventure books instead. I think that would just be better for everypony involved."

Twack!

I almost fell over from surprise as Dee smacked me over the back of my head with her wing, just barely missing brushing my horn,

"Don't you dare!" she said firmly, rounding on me, "You searched the truth for those ponies. Do you have any idea how important that is? Thestrals had no idea this place even existed, no idea what happened here, no idea what their heritage really is! We don't know, but we have somewhere to start digging! Somewhere to start looking to find their history, their past!"

"It wouldn't help anypony if they found out about this, if anything it could further dama-"

"Don't give me that!" Dee almost snarled at me, tossing the torch to the side to poke me firmly in the chest, almost driving me back a hoof, "The history of this place is important! It could mean Thestrals aren't a group of cursed pegasi! What if they were their own ancient tribe to begin with!?"

I flicked my ear and looked down at her, "But the precep-"

"I don't give a crap! I found enough proof to know that the Princesses hide some of our uglier history. Well, not this time!" Dee said firmly, stomping her hoof against the stone floor with a slight echo, "Don't you understand what this could be!?"

"...Apparently not."

"No, you don't," she said and her wings raised as she poked me again for emphasis, "You’re not thinking, you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself! This could be the origin, the homeland of a fifth pony tribe! A real one! It could be a rallying cry for all thestrals, something to encourage, something to give them a heritage to unite them!"

I blinked down at her in surprise for a long moment before I sighed and shook my head, "...No," I finally said, "That doesn't make sense, I'm sorry Dee. Pegasi get pegasi, but also unicorn and earth pony children, there has been so much cross breeding between the tribes. Same for unicorns and earth ponies. Thestrals mostly get pegasus children. I don't have the numbers exactly, but it's something like one foal in three from a thestral is a thestral... or become one. That doesn't track with them being a fifth tribe, that looks like a blood curse to me."

Dee nodded, "Yes it does," she agreed and looked up at me, shadows from the fallen torch playing across her, "What if it has nothing to do with them being thestrals?"

I looked down at her for a long moment as it clicked. What if it has nothing to do with them being thestrals. What if it was separate.

What if thestrals were natural and everything else...

Oh.

Oh shit.