Link ventured strong into the Great Forest Treant's mouth, and found himself beset upon by a stench most foul. He and Prism both covered their noses as the odor pelted their olfactory sensors. The latter of them fell used to such smells far quicker than the former, allowing the air to enter her nose and allow her to acclimate. Link however, held on for much longer.

He looked around the place, observing web-like creations all over the walls and floor. And skittering noises echoed through the vast hollow tree. "Spiders," he commented. "Of course it's spiders..."

"Scared?"

"Irritated. Non-intelligent beings have been my only enemy in these things." He looked down at the web in the middle of the room. "Spiders are fast creatures, and only more when they're bigger. 8 legs, fangs, and a ton of eyes."

"Regular ones, sure. What about the parasites in here?" Prism asked. "What about them?"

Link thought. "I'm not sure. Might be the same, might be similar, might be different."

On the far wall, vines covered it from top to bottom. They led to a platform with a walkway above them so he climbed up. Prism followed best as she could. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Nope. But I can't sit still. It feels like I'm being watched." He got to the top of it and helped her up. Another set of vines stretched to the very top of the room, but was covered in white-backed spiders. Link and Prism decided against that route for now, and instead walked to the path. At its end, they saw an opening in the wall that revealed a smallish room with a few bushes scattered about.

The moment Link walked in, a spider as big as he was, fell from the ceiling and forced him to the ground. Biting and writhing on top of him, Link could only hold it back. He saw its fangs drip with a purple liquid. Realizing his situation, Link pressed his hand against the creature's underside, and pulsed fire through the monster's body. It flew back and hit the wall before falling to the floor in a pile of ash. Link stood up and dusted himself off, letting the liquid hit the floor beneath him.

After he dusted himself off, he looked at Prism. "This is why I hate spiders. To think this whole place is full of them is almost enough to make me regret coming in here in the first place..."

"Heheh... Almost?" Prism chuckled. "Come to think of it... Nothing really scares you it seems." She followed him into the next room beyond the shrubs. "So here's a question: What kind of monster would it take to stop you in your tracks?"

Link's mind wandered for a few seconds, before settling on his reoccurring nightmare. He stopped walking the moment said being entered his thoughts. "I can't say for sure... My deepest fear isn't even real." He continued walking.

"Not even real? So it's in your head then? You know what they say: you are your own worst enemy."

"That's more true than you intended." He arrived at a gap in the floor. Far wider than he could jump. Beyond it was a ledge. He saw a small wooden box just barely sticking up from the floor. He was planning on jumping down, but once he saw the floor was covered in at least a hundred eggs, he changed his mind. "Now it gets interesting..." Each egg was about his size, and all of them were wiggling about.

Link reached a barrier over the entire pit and left a small hole near himself. With his free hand, he dropped a single but large fireball into the opening before closing it up.

When it hit the first writhing egg, it exploded, sending flaming egg chunks in all directions. In a matter of seconds, the entire hatchery was ablaze. Some screams broke through his barrier as some newly hatched spiders were caught in the inferno. Once it died down Link withdrew his barrier and hopped down into the pit, landing on a big pile of ash. "That went well."

Prism landed safely beside him. "Of course it did; you roasted her children."

"Better that, than being eaten. Imagine the tombstone. 'Here lies Link. His meat was far too tough to be cooked, so they had to eat him raw.' Not a pretty sight." He climbed up the vines on the opposite wall and got a closer look at the box. It looked like it could be opened. Doing so revealed a branch-like weapon with an elastic band tying two of the stems. Beside the weapon was a bag of ammunition. He tied the bag to his hip and held the weapon firmly.

As if to test his skill, a target was created on the wall above their exit. It formed into what Link recognized as a ladder. With great precision as if he'd done this a thousand times before, he shot the ladder and watched it fall to the floor. "Wow," Prism said, "First try. You're a natural marksman."

Link stowed the weapon for the time being. "Guess that means I have to shoot down the spiders on the wall?" He got to the floor below and picked up the ladder. Carefully, he placed it against the wall and climbed up to the ledge to leave.

In the room with all the shrubbery, Link noticed something strange. All of the bushes were around the doorway. Not where they had been before. Link looked questioningly at the bushes, then walked through them. Prism soon after. "Here's hoping you're a perfect shot."

"I should be." He turned around and faced the bushes that had moved once again, blocking the door back to the gap room. "O-kay?" Link walked to one of the bushes and leaned over it. Ruffling it with his hand a little.

Something popped up from the bush, knocking him backward. It spat some huge seed at him. Link drew his sword and split the seed into dust. The creature dipped into the bush again. In irritation Link ran up to the bush and stabbed his sword into it, feeling it hit next to nothing. Then, he felt himself get hit with a seed from a few bushes away.

Link ran to that one and cut it down, and the next one, and the next, until he was left with only one bush. "Nowhere to run, you little pest." He decided to burn the bush. Satisfied with his work, he sheathed his sword and left the room with a smile.

"Feel better?" She chuckled and looked up the wall.

"Sorta. It felt great to finally get that little thing." Link drew his new weapon and held it tight. Quickly, he picked off the three wall spiders, stunning them. He paused, and took out his journal, quickly sketching its likeness on the sixth page with a small descriptor. Then, he stabbed them with his sword. "I have somepony at home who's interested in stuff like this."

Prism commented, "That's sweet of you." She watched him start climbing after he put his things away. She followed soon after.

At the top, he steadied himself on the rickety walkway. Around the top most layer, the two came to another hall off the side filled with nothing but webs. Link walked in and didn't hear anything except the wind outside. "We must be in a branch or something."

"Yeah. We're pretty far up. What do you think this room's for?"

He thought. Then thought some more. "Uhm... Well... I don't know." He raised his hand.

"Wait then. It's where it all started."

"What do you mean?" He lowered his hand.

"So you know what happens to a spider queen's male mate, right? He gets eaten? Well, that happens in what you would call a bedroom. This, would be their bedroom."

"Then I will send a message to the queen." He lit the room with a wave of his hand. "Let her know who she deals with now."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Also the Great Forest Treant must be wondering why his hair's on fire." She chuckled.

Link looked at her with his hands on his hips. "You're awfully calm about me fighting against a bug-like creature."

Prism shrugged. "I guess. I think I know you well enough by now. You're giving me the benefit of the doubt, as you did once before."

"I didn't know what you were the last time. All I had to go on was that you were a traitor as well, and I couldn't believe there were such ponies in the castle." Link walked back to the main room's upper-most walkway.

"And you just trust everypony you meet?"

Link shook his head no. "Not even close. But with you... I don't know. Maybe there's good in you after all. And I'm not one to give up on anypony. Especially when they're trying so hard to make themselves a better pony." He looked down at the webbed hole in the floor. "I vote with climbing down."

At the bottom of their climb, they walked to the webbed hole and watched as Link cut the web with his sword. The two climbed down the vined wall and landed in some shallow water. They swam to one of the floors and shook themselves off. Prism looked around and noticed an abundance of webs, yet lack of spiders. "I think you may need to cut through some more of these webs. Looks like there are rooms beyond them."

Link nodded and set about cutting some of the webs that were close by. Eventually, they came across an opening in the wall. The room they got into was full of water, with a lowering ceiling the further in they went. Realizing he had to swim below the surface, he held his breath and dove in with Prism close behind.

On the other side, Link came up for air first and took a huge breath of it before climbing out of the water. He had to chop through hanging roots to get to the next opening. The room after that was full of vines and webs. "So... Any thoughts on this room? I told you about the breeding grounds for the last one. What do you make of this?"

"Let's see... Plenty of web, but not enough to get in the way... almost random splatters of web on the wall, and claw and bite marks everywhere. And the vines are chewed through in places. I'd say this is the training area. I know battle-wear when I see it."

Prism clapped. "Well done!" She glanced around for an opening. "How big do you think she is?"

"Big enough to choke the life from a huge tree like this. And remember when I said they only get faster as they get bigger? The queen must be crazy fast. Especially in her own lair."

"And are you scared? I mean... Worried, even in the least?"

"This is my task. I don't have time to be scared, or worried. That tie is better spent analyzing and planning ahead." He saw a hole beyond some vines and cut through. "But, I've been wrong before. So I guess we'll see."

Just as he found his way through, he heard movement from the ceiling. Link stopped and readied his sword. Three of the spiders fell from the ceiling and attacked. One by one, he fought them off, sustaining very minor injury, turning them to ash upon their deaths.

The room after was the same first room they arrived in when they got to the floor. But on a higher rise than earlier, with yet another hole in the ground. All webbed and vined through. Without the need to climb, Link jumped down, making sure to break his fall against every web and vine he could grab. When he and Prism hit the floor, they stood in about 3 inches of water.

"Prism- No... Torren," he corrected. She looked at him and shook off some of the webs. "This... This is my fight. Not yours. Whatever happens, I don't want you getting in the way."

"Of you?" she questioned.

"No. Of her." He looked over at her. "She's deadly, and I'm going to make her focus on me from the moment I walk in the lair. Your job is to stay hidden."

"And if you need help? I'm supposed to sit on my hooves and let you get beat up?"

"Yes." He nodded. "You have been the support I needed. The rest is on me. I may never have another chance to get the last stone I need." He started walking toward the small earthy opening. "The only support I need from you now is the belief I can do this alone."

Prism sighed and followed him anyway. Fly on the wall...

Loud scurrying was heard on the ceiling above. Link looked up and saw a singular yellow eye attached to six legs and two armored legs. He drew his sword and shield, readying for battle.

It scurried all around the ceiling before falling down on him. Link hopped back and slid to a stop. The floor was covered in at least an inch of sloshy mud and rocks. The parasite kept up with him easily and pushed him hard against the wall behind him, snapping its mouth and baring its fangs at him. Link barely had the physical strength to keep his shield up against such bombardment. With no progress on its attack, it pushed Link up against the wall, and ran him against it to the ceiling.

The rocks of the wall were felt through his tunic, but didn't hurt him much due to its durability. Link used the first opportunity he saw to push off of the wall and over the spider, who followed his move with its eye. He slashed his sword at the creature's eye and sent a beam at it, hitting just before the armored legs could block. All at once, the spider's limbs flailed, the creature fell, and it screamed rather loudly.

Link stuck his sword into one of the many columns in the huge room and watched it fight to regain itself. He focused a little magic into his sword and cut down the column, landing safely on the floor. As soon as Link looked at the creature again, he was plowed through the same column so hard, he hit the opposite wall of the room near the base. Dazed, he got to his feet and watched the creature approaching fast, weaving through the columns like it was nothing.

But that wasn't all. Link's arm was bleeding. Seems the impact was just hard enough to cut him where his sleeve ended. His sword arm hung down in pain. As he stowed his shield, he took out a flash seed and gripped it. Only get one chance at this. Gotta make it quick before I lose too much blood. When it got close enough, it swung one of its forelegs at Link. He jumped forward and leapt off of the armored leg. With a turn, he threw the seed with a yell and broke it open on the armor, surrounding the room in a momentarily bright light.

The beast was stunned, wobbling around like it was conked over the head. Its singular eye was looking all around. Link landed on the creature and stabbed the sword through the eye socket. Through the eye of the monster.

It writhed, and squirmed, and ran Link through a few columns before coming to rest near the wall. Link held on through it all, and with one last push, the sword found its way as far in as it could go. Finally still, the creature erupted into flames and burned to ash.

Link stood atop the pile, victorious. Prism walked over to him and looked at the ash. "Link? Is it... Is it over?"

He stood up and held his sword arm, trying to slow the bleeding. "Yeah. It's over. For both of them..."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"The parasite only got this big because it took in enough life from the tree's roots. The Great Forest Treant was already almost dead when we got here. Hard to think it can come back from this..."

"Bundle of optimism, you are..."

"Calling it like I see it." He sheathed his sword and made for the exit. At long last... the third stone is mine.

I'm sorry this took a while. Wasn't too sure how close to the original I should make it. Hope y'all enjoy it~