The sound of metal on metal clanged out loudly as Fast grunted in effort. Her lance had caught the descending blade and trembled even as she did, both struggling with effort.
Maud suddenly jumped up onto Fast's shoulders and rebounded off to catch the sharp blade. With her momentum, she and the blade swung back away from Fast, giving them all a moment to dash beneath them and past the trap. As it swung back down, Maud hopped free to the ground and ran past before it could swing back towards her.
Together and panting, they quickly checked one another. They had come through it alright despite the many blades involved. Tree shook her head. "Little dude's really improved. If he wasn't trying to hurt us, I'd say he was pretty radical."
Fast snorted softly. "I suppose it's good to see the merit in your opponents, but make no mistake, he is our foe at this time."
Flint swung his torch around in a sweep of the area. "Let's focus on what's ahead of us."
Maud quietly strode to the fore, with Tree trailing just behind. They came soon to the four way intersection they had come across once before.
Fast looked around, to the stairs heading down and the hallways branching outwards. Maud pointed down one. "I'm pretty sure we came down this one the first time. Do you think there's something that could get us back to Equestria?"
Tree shook her head. "I didn't see anything last time, unless you think something changed?"
Paul shrugged. "If somethin' did change, will you be goin' home now?"
A tense silence descended on the party a moment. Maud nodded. "If I can, I will."
Tree Hugger reached for Maud, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "We promised... We should see Fast through to the end before we bounce, at least here in this gnarly hole. Why don't we look on our way out?"
Maud gazed at Tree a moment. "My sisters are waiting for me. My farm is waiting for me. Do you have family?"
Fast shook her head quickly. "Be at peace. If you can return home, I won't hold it against you."
Tree raised a hoof to her own face, feeling where the transition from Equestrian to Everglow pony had continued. "Can I? I'm all totally freakish now."
Fast snorted gently. "I'm not that ugly."
"Sorry."
Maud turned away and offered no answers a moment before she looked back at Tree Hugger. "Is granite carved into a shape not granite?"
Flint was quick to agree with the answer. "She's right. Yer still a pony, be it one kind or anotha."
Tree put a hoof behind her back, rubbing lightly. "I know that, but I don't feel that, you dig?"
Fast sat before Tree Hugger. "I appreciate your help, and would like to have you two at my side for as long as I'm able, but not if it means you giving up on your home, your real home. You must have someone waiting for you? You're too nice to be entirely alone."
The answer came to Tree Hugger, thinking of the other lovers of nature she'd gathered with to witness the splendors of Equestrian life. One of them had tried to help her, to at least reach her... "Flutters. We should still see Fast and our human friends to safety before we bail."
Maud relented without a word, and turned to the stairs descending deeper into the earth. As she lead the way, she asked over her shoulder, "What does it look like?"
Fast made a non-committal noise before a better answer could come. "Our best guess is a crown, one that'd rest solely on the right pony's brow."
Tree Hugger frowned a little. "Are you going to have everyone try it on until you find the right one?"
"If I have to." Fast let out a small sigh. "Ponies need a real leader. We're drifting apart, lost on the tides of fate. Maybe if we'd listened better when the gods were whispering before, we wouldn't be in this situation, but we're here, and I'm trying to do what I can to put it back to right."
Flint squinted into the darkness they descended into. "Couldn't say much for th' will of any gods or nothing, but they say a man has to rely on himself first, family after that, and gods get a third if they're lucky."
Paul asked curiously, "Who said that?"
"I did."
"Oh."
Flint ribbed Paul roughly. "You know you count as family, right?" That brought a smile to him.
Maud held up a hoof for a stop, then took a slow step forward, her eyes darting around. "Skip this one." She took a large forward march forward, skipping one step entirely. Hugger saw what she was avoiding. The step was a pressure plate, and who knew what it might have unleashed on them, so she stepped over it as well.
As they pushed further into the dark, a voice began to drift up towards them, two voices.
One was much higher pitched, though distorted over distance. "Just stop them! I'll give a huge reward."
"Squish you and take reward."
"It's not even with me! You squish, you get nothing. Stop them, get big reward. That simple enough for you?"
"You insulting little man. Reward better be big, or squish you anyway."
"Yeah yeah, you know I deliver."
The voices went quiet, but they had said more than enough to give hints as to what awaited them. Tree moved in closer to Maud and tapped her. "Spirits of green, watch over my sister of stone." A carpet of bark swept over Maud's form then sank in, giving her another layer of safety.
Maud nodded before she made the final turn into view of whatever had spoken. The large bipedal figure had crooked tusks and a clenched fists. They saw each other at once and he sprang to his feet from where he had been reclining. "Ah ha! The prize is mine!" Without delay he lunged for Maud, fist coming straight for her neutral face. She reared up onto hindlegs and grabbed for the hand, just to swing under it and come in closer to the giant.
Fast came charging down the stairs as best she could and drove her lance into the beast from her superior height, jabbing it through the shoulder as it roared in fury. She twisted her neck to direct her shield, catching the first swing of the beast, though the second caught her across the ribs, knocking her against the wall with a grunt of pain, though she still stood.
Flint took a little peek around the corner, watching as Maud delivered a stunning blow to where no male should be subjected to violence. He winced in sympathy, but his eyes homed in on something more compelling. Hanging from the beast's belt were a variety of swords and axes, sized for a human, or pony. Stolen perhaps? "Paul, we're in luck."
A meaty fist smashed into Maud, forcing her to roll with it instead of being crushed by it. Fast thought it was a chance and drove her lance forward only to have to abort the attack to parry his other fist with her shield.
"Go on," urged Tree Hugger, looking up at Bright, who seemed to refuse to enter the melee. "They need our help. Don't be bogus about this. Unable to talk him into motion, she moved herself. Circling into sight, she cringed as Maud fell awkwardly to the floor. With a sharp call to the natural forces, a ball of fire burst into being just before the creature and rammed into its massive front, bringing the smell of charring flesh.
Maud spun up to her hooves as a huge fist came down dangerously close to her. His fists were not aimed at her, at least not directly, instead grabbing the ball of fire with a new hiss of broiling flesh before he hurled it down the hallway out of sight.
Flint ducked in quickly and grabbed a sword free of the giant's belt and spun it around to a ready position. He hadn't looked at which blade he went for, but found it to be a wickedly curved blade. "Servicable. Watch." He gave a sharp flick of his wrist and carved into the flesh of the ogre.
Roaring in fury, the ogre snatched up Fast and used her as a club against Flint even as he tried to dive aside. They both crashed to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and groans of pain.
Maud took a slow breath before driving her hooves into the giant's ribs. He swung a fist, intercepting one of her swings and knocking her back a few steps, just in time for the flaming ball to return from the darkness. Tree threw her hooves in a wide gesture towards the ogre, bringing the fireball to crash against his back. With a roar of fury, he staggered to a knee.
Flint drove his sword into the giant's lowered head, still pinned under Fast. The blow was true, and his roars and grunts turned into a gurgled and wet noise of drowning. The giant fell to the ground, pinning the sword and Flint's hand.
They had won.
Fast stepped off of Flint, giving him some space. "That was quite brave and proficient on your part. I confess, I had thought you were more of a trapper than a true ranger, Flint. Your lucky shot on the lord not withstanding."
Flint got up with Maud's help peeling the giant off of him. "Ha! It gets better! Paul, get yer ass over here." He yanked his blade free and pointed to the dangling weapons. "Pick your blade, or a nice maul or a mace if you prefer crushing things."
Paul emerged from the stairwell, looking between his allies and the fallen giant. "That was a little crazy, Flint. Didn't ya just finish tellin' me not to do things just like that?"
Flint clapped him on the shoulder. "It's all about time and place. Look at this." He raised his new blade into view. "No rust, sharp edge? Whoever lost it probably had a messy end, but we can't do jack about that, now can we? We can make their blades sing against creatures that put them under in the first place."
Paul moved to the fallen form and reached out uncertainly before hefting up a heavy mace. He swung it around, feeling its heft and weight. "Is this good? Would a sword be better? Knights use swords don't they?"
"Pfft, as if either of us are knights. To hel with that idea. You use whatever feels good in your hand, and we survive."
Fast nodded softly at them. "Take the one that feels best in your hand, and get familiar with it. None of the weapons here are masterpieces, but they'll defend you far better than a rotten stick, I can promise that."
Maud returned quietly to Tree Hugger, who looked excited and conflicted. "Did you see that? I... I used the song of trees to attack it. Was that right? Was that righteous, or totally bogus?"
Maud tilted her head at Tree. "You saved me." She turned away and began looking down the halls away from the intersection the giant had guarded.
Tree frowned a little. That didn't really answer the moral question. Or maybe it did?