# Ponyfinder: Roots of Stone

## by David Silver

### 7 - Preparing for the Bout

Tree Hugger stared after Maud as she practiced kicks, slow movements, and even bipedal katas. It was quiet, nearly silent. Maud needed no sound to practice.

A little frown spread over Tree Hugger's face. "I won't let you do it."

Maud paused after she thrust a hoof. "Let me do what?"

Tree Hugger shook her head. "Fight alone. I've been, like, letting you carry all the weight. This is bad karma. I have to help..."

Maud fell to all fours and turned to Tree Hugger, staring at her a moment before she pointed to the ground in front of herself. "Come here." When Tree Hugger approached, Maud bounced up to two legs. "Can you fight?"

Tree Hugger hopped up, imitating Maud's stance, though it lacked the grace. It lacked the wariness. It lacked... She raised her forehooves as Maud had done. "If I have to... You don't--"

She was cut off as Maud fell flat to the floor and spun with one leg extended. Tree Hugger slammed to the ground, her legs knocked out from beneath her. "Ooof! Hey... I wasn't ready..."

Maud smoothly took to all fours. "Let's try how we usually stand."

"Alright, sure." Tree Hugger rolled up to her hooves. She took a soft breath. "Forces of green, help me out here." She let out the breath slowly, fogging in a faint green as if it were cold in the hut.

Maud tilted her head faintly. "You can go first this time."

Tree Hugger suddenly struck out with a hoof. As it came towards Maud, large wooden spikes jutted free of it with tiny sparks of green. Her magic was working.

It wasn't working well enough to make up for her lack of skill. Maud ducked aside the first flail, under the second, and shoved Tree Hugger back the third time. "Just attacking isn't good enough."

Tree Hugger stomped the ground in frustration. "What is good enough? I'm trying my best..."

Maud circled Tree Hugger, then reached out and poked her in the flank. "You're an earth pony, like me. Being grounded comes naturally."

Tree Hugger tilted her head. "Grounded?"

Maud paused a moment. "Like your meditation, but for a fight."

Tree Hugger blinked softly. "How do you meditate if you're fighting somepony?"

Maud circled back in front of Hugger and sat on her haunches. "When things are serious, I am meditating. Everything is calm. I am calm. I have to be. If I'm not calm, it could go wrong."

Tree Hugger listened to the flat words of her companion, nodding slowly. "That is one crazy mind game... Is there really an Om to fighting?"

Maud tilted her head. "My way may not be your way. You like trees, right?" Tree Hugger nodded swiftly. Maud nodded back. "Then... think of that, instead of rocks. You call me a warden of stone."

Tree Hugger sat on her haunches and tapped her hooves together. "And I'm a sister of trees... I'll try... Be the tree. Yeah, that makes so much sense. Thank you for the primo advice. I'll put it to work, beside you."

Maud shook her head. "Let me."

Tree Hugger frowned a little. "No way! Enough. Stone sister, you're not alone."

The door opened suddenly. Paul and Flint wandered in, looking more nervous than before. Flint nudged Paul roughly and got a scowl for it, but Paul did approach. "Right, thanks, for what you did before. That much money's enough to keep us comfy for a while. I'm tryin' ta be smart 'bout it, not spend it all at once..."

"The important part," said Flint with a frown.

Tree Hugger looked between the two humans, curious. "Lay it on us, man."

Paul nodded quickly. "Right! Right, so, uh... The lord's got himself a new beast..."

Maud raised a brow. "Is it that bad?"

Paul wrang his fingers. "Well, bad's not exactly the word..."

Flint lost patience. With a fling of a hand, he shouted. "It's a damn pony."

Maud and Hugger blinked in slow simultaneous fashion. Maud pointed at herself. "Like us?"

Hugger tilted her head. "You didn't know what a pony even was, man, how does he have another?"

Paul shrugged. "Don't know on both counts, but he was, uh, lordin' it up at lunch time. He's real eager to see a 'true battle'."

Maud went silent and still a moment. "We have to go."

Hugger nodded. "It was bad enough thinking of facing some random beast that didn't deserve this, but another pony? No way! Let's go."

Maud held up a hoof. "Not that way. We have to fight."

Hugger threw out her hooves wide. "But why?!"

Maud put the hoof down. "Think about it. If we left, he'll probably get rid of his pony. They're only useful for a fight, against us. We have to fight, or we kill them, by proxy."

Hugger trembled softly. "But if we fight, we might kill them, in person... I don't think anypony here is putting us on. This is real. Real serious!"

Maud looked at Hugger a moment. "I am fully serious."

Tree Hugger sighed softly. Maud didn't sound serious, or not serious. She just sounded like Maud. "Please tell me you have a plan."

Maud shook her head. "I won't lie."

There would be no plan.

Flint shrugged. "We should head to the arena. I'm sure he'll give a big speech if he's planning somethin' special."

Tree Hugger looked around quickly and moved to pick up a sickle that fit in her mouth easily. "May I borrow this, in case?"

Paul nodded. "Sure, we'll get it back after this is over. We'll need it for harvest season."

They exited the hut and walked towards one of the larger buildings in town. It was in some ways like walking towards their execution, with the humans beside them as dour as any executioner needed to be.

Tree Hugger's eyes wandered and settled on another building that competed for largest. "What's that crib?"

Paul looked where she was looking. "What? Tha church? Alright place, I guess. The lord's big on 'valor' and 'battle' 'n stuff so you can guess what god gets top billing."

Tree Hugger couldn't, but nodded despite it. A people that worshipped war, but didn't want it to visit them, ruled by a person that had more than the rest combined several times over. "This is all so far out..."

Maud looked aside at Hugger as she walked. "Last chance. You don't have to fight. You should let me."

Tree Hugger snorted gently. "We've been over this, stone sister. I'm right beside you."

"Are you a tree sister?"

Tree Hugger smiled brightly. "I would be totally honored to be your tree sister."

Maud nodded. "Tree sister it is. Whatever we face, let me be in front."

They arrived at a small entrance beside the much larger entrance to the ampitheatre. The guards there looked down at the ponies and nodded. "We've been expecting you."

They opened the door and stepped aside for Maud and Tree to go inside, but when Paul and Flint tried to join them, they were barred. "The lord's requested you watch from the usual place."

Paul shook a fist in agitation. "They're ours. Since when is a person not allowed to be with their beasts to battle."

The guard on the right got a powerful smirk. "They ain't no beasts. The lord ain't an idiot, and you'll wait in the same basic place if you don't want us to get violent here before the match even starts."

Flint put a four-fingered hand on Paul's shoulder. "Come on... Good luck in there." He flipped a wave with his free hand, and led Paul away.

The two guards nodded, then looked to the ponies. "Go on. You'll come up soon. Glad those two idiots know how to get you here on time."

Tree and Maud turned away from the guards and their friends, losing sight of either as they traversed the strone tunnel. "This was quarried near a river," commented Maud as she examined the stones in passing.

Tree glanced at it, then up ahead to where they were coming into a small room. A loud thump drew their attention.

There was a sizable box with heavy chains and heavier looking locks on those chains. "Let me out!"

It sounded female? "Damn humans. Let me go!"

Tree approached the box curiously. "Are you the pony?"

The struggling died down a moment. "That another human, come to taunt me? I'll rip off one of those stupid legs of yours!"

Her accent sounded different than the humans. There was a bit of a lyrical sing-song to her words, tiny as it was behind her obvious fury. She spoke clearly. A soft thump came from within the box. "Let me out!"

Maud looked up as a booted man entered. He scowled at the box and the ponies. "That ain't supposed to be right here." He put his sizable hand on the heavy iron ring on one side of the box and leaned the whole thing to the side. They could hear the contents thump lightly before he began wheeling it away.

Tree thrust up a hoof. "Hey, wait a moment, man. Can't you hear her?"

"All I hear is the sound ah my hide being tanned." He quickly fled with the box, with the ponies following, but a door snapped shut behind him, and proved to be locked.

Maud tilted her head at the door. "Should I break it?"

Tree slowly shook her head. "This wood's very strong."

Maud turned her head slightly to look at the stone it was set in. "The stone is too. Next time." She turned away from the door and they went ahead until they entered a small room with a man seated in a chair.

The man's brow went up as they came in. "'Ey? Good. Lord'd throw a fit if you didn't show in time. You know how this works?" Both shook their heads lightly. "'Course not, figures. Look, all you got to do is stand in the mark there." He waved a finger to a clear square'sh mark on the ground. "They'll raise you up, you do the fight er whatever, then you come back, lower you down. Done."

Tree could see the man was idling the time whittling something, and had a plate, an actual plate, with the remains of a meal on it. Something greasy. She turned to witness Maud had already assumed her position on the platform. "One moment." She trotted over beside Maud and looked around again. "Are we doing the right thing?"

Maud looked up to the disinterested human, then aside at Tree Hugger. "We're doing what we can."