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Repercussions

by Hiver

Chapter 57

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A branch came slashing towards my face.

Good news, I managed just in time to stop myself from grabbing it with magic.

Bad news, I also didn’t manage to get out of the way and it smacked me across the face and what’s worse, my horn.

I stumbled and choked out a sound of pain as I felt on the verge of passing out.

“Oh buck!” Dee Dee cursed and quickly ducked back to press her side against mine to keep me from falling, “I’m so sorry!”

“I’m fine,” I choked out, “At least I didn’t try catching it.”

“I’m so sorry! I usually do this alone!”

“I’ll be fine,” I said calmly and squeezed my eyes shut for a long moment, definitely not trying to avoid crying, “...I should have watched where I was going anyway.”

Dee Dee frowned, “Let’s rest for a bit,” she said, “We can spare twenty minutes.”

“I’m fine.”

“If we need to fly, I can’t have you pass out on me. We’re resting for twenty minutes.”

“...Yes, ma’am…” I agreed and sank down onto the ground. If I could just be rid of this accursed headache it wouldn’t be anywhere near as horrible. Also, would make it less likely for me to throw up. Because I was on the brink of it right now.

“Any idea where we’re going yet?” I asked once I dared to open my eyes again to look at her.

The pegasus nodded, “I think so, the ground is going down. If we’re lucky, we’ll find a stream or at least somewhere we can dig up some water.”

“...Sounds good.”

I raised my head and sniffed the air. It just smelled like jungle, something I had gotten progressively more used to since we arrived and especially since we… left the camp.

I slowly turned my ears, “I’m not hearing a stream,” I said after several long minutes and listening.

“Your hearing is better than a pegasus?” Dee Dee asked as she watched me.

“A bit,” I said.

“Well, keep an ear out, any warning we get to something tracking us would be good.”

I glanced around, “You think something might be?”

Dee Dee shrugged her wings, “We’re in the jungle and of the right size for a lot of things to consider dinner… and you’re a lot less ‘all powerful alicorn’ than usual.”

“Alicorns aren’t all powerful,” I said and glanced at her, “We’re simply stronger in a specific way according to our talents. Well, other than having the usual gifts of the other tribes.”

She frowned at me, “Really?”

“Really. Especially me. Sure I’m at the upper range of unicorns normally, but in the real world I’m only about as strong as Cadence. The rest come with experience and the ability to match any of the tribes,” I explained, rubbing my head just beneath my horn.

“So, you’re... Alicorn of Stories, right?”

I chanced a nod, “Yeah. Which so far mostly translates to giving moderately good speeches and being decent at dream magic.”

“And bat wings.”

“And bat wings,” I said and got back onto my hooves, “Let’s get moving.”

Dee Dee nodded, “Still, keep an ear out and get ready to use those earth pony strength legs in case you need to buck something in the nose.”

“Yep. All ready.”

Assuming I could do a movement like that without passing out, that is. I really needed to step up my non magical combat. I should ask Tempest for lessons.

I followed Dee Dee through the jungle, this time a lot more careful to avoid any more sudden branches. To be fair, Dee was a lot more careful in turn with keeping them from slapping in my direction, making sure to keep them to the side with her wing until I ducked under them.

We slowly made our way slightly down the slight downhill before Dee suddenly stopped suddenly enough that I almost ran into her, “What?” I whispered, my ears quickly turning.

“Look at this,” Dee Dee said and shifted to the side to let me look at what she had spotted and motioned what she had put her hoof on.

It was a flat stone at a bit of an angle with wavy lines engraved across the surface of it.

“This is…” I said and then looked at her.

Dee nodded, “Construction,” she confirmed and looked around for a second, “...Come on, this way.”

I moved to follow her but kept my head and ears on a swivel.

It only took a couple of minutes until we found a collapsed structure. Dee gave it a once over before she led the way along and we stepped into a slight clearing that brought us to a break in the tree cover.

Before us was a massive temple built in plateaus, to me it almost looked Aztec… or similar at least in it’s construction. It towered before us, well over thirty meters tall.

“That’s amazing,” I said and looked up towards it.

“I think we found our cover for tonight,” Dee said and spread her wings, “This is an amazing find, this is the first temple ever found this far south!”

“...You sure about that being a good idea?” I asked and finally looked away from the temple to turn to her, “Are these things usually trapped? Or is that just in adventure books?”

“Can be,” she admitted with a sudden smile, “But that’s deeper in, we’d stay by the entrance or by the upper chamber, those are usually clear.”

I eyed her for a second, “You know an awful lot about these things.”

“Hey, I’m an archaeologist,” she said with a smile, “I have seen similar structures before. Now, this thing is a bit different from any I have ever seen before, it has more layers for one thing, but any traps that are out in the open would have malfunctioned by now anyway, going by the style on this thing, I’m estimating… six… six and half thousand years from the style. I mean, look at the weathering on the steps alone, this thing is old. As in, likely pre-celestial.”

I slowly nodded, “So this might be part of what we’re looking for.”

Dee frowned and glanced up against it, “...Maybe. Doesn't look like it’s unicorn-made though. But we can check it out later, we need to find some water and preferably some food.”

“...Yeah, let’s keep going.”

“This is a good sign though,” she said and smiled at me, “If ponies lived here once, that means there is likely to be water somewhere around here. Let’s see if we can find it.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 58 Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 2 Minutes
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