Chapter 3: The Earth trembles from the Darkness

        We've been traveling the forest for two weeks now. We survived on the small fiends that we had sacrificed. I was still just a basic dark arm user. I guess I could say I’ve gotten better since I had entered this place. It just came to me that she still hadn’t told me her name after all the time we have been partners. Or are we?...

“I could see it!” the mare cried. She galloped even faster, and I was struggling to keep up with her.

“See what?” I asked with a frown.

“I could see the end of the forest! We must not be far off!” the mare said.

The area was still filled with flesh like trees and plants, and the earth still pulsed. We’ve been traveling for so long that I started to think we were in some giant maze that we couldn’t escape from. Sometimes I thought of the idea of going back only to have it thrown away because how far we already were into this never ending forest.

I felt an odd presence ahead, and just then we had come across a large tree. It divided the path before us. The mare had predicted that we both should take the left path. I didn’t like the feeling of the path and my arm started to burn in agreement.

“Are you coming?” the mare asked as she watched me search my saddlebag like a mad pony.

“Umm, where is my pact that was burned?”

“Oh, that pact,” she said as she dropped down her saddlebag. After she opened the bag, she then pulled out the pact and held it up with her magic “You mean this one?”

My breathing came to a halt, my eyes were fixed on the perfectly clean pact. I started trembling when I looked closely at the printed name written at the bottom “Forest Heart...?”

“Yes, that is my name,” she said as she lowered the scroll.

"Does that mean... that you were my partner this whole time and that you weren't some wandering sorcerer?" I scowled as my eyes narrowed thin.

"Yes, I was always your partner. Did you think you could escape the watchful eyes of Panadon? You're not clever at all for making such a foolish attempt." She took up her saddlebag and continued further down the path.

"You're not gonna take me hostage. I refuse to go any further with you," I said as took a step back.

"I'm afraid you can't."

"Why not?" I retorted. My eyes solely fixed on that double crossing Witch. I didn't stop looking into those green eyes of deception, not for one moment.

Forest’s eyes narrowed with a devious smile. If anyone could pull off that smile better than she did, it would have to be one who was cunning with lies.

"You made an agreement to take the advance pact. Once a sorcerer makes an advance pact with Panadon, you are to complete its task for them to acknowledge you as a true sorcerer.

My heart started pounding madly. I gazed down at the ground.  My body started to heat up like a furnace. I didn't know the administrators of Panadon were this good at keeping a sorcerer under a pact. And I'm angry to have underestimated such devotion.

"Let's go. We can't stand here for long. We must reach the forest’s end."

I followed her down the suggested path and didn't ask why. I wanted to see her true motives even though she already tricked me. Then again I should only expect that from a sorcerer that wanted to be recognized by Panadon.

*****

After traveling for a few hours, the sun started to set and gave the forest its tan color. My legs were sore from the traveling.

We rested there a bit only to be met by a group of mutated cats.

I wanted to heave up all that was within me; but then I would have to feed my arm twice as much, which was even more annoying.

"Don't just stand there. Let's kill them," Forest said as she glared at them. Her eyes solely focused on the monsters, her tongue hung and a bit of saliva drooled from the tip.

She craved for their souls. And so we charged at them.

I had summoned up an earth wall to knock back all that stood in the way.

Forest came from behind and pushed me aside, and I watched as she tore all the monsters limb to limb and began sacrificing them.

"Wow. Never seen you this aggressive for souls before. You know, there's plenty to go around," I said as I put my hoof on top my head.

I was very wrong in saying such words to her. She turned and faced me with such vengeance. Her eyes glared at me like a monster would its prey just as it's about to devour its defeated victim.

She rushed at me with such speed. I didn't have the time to react, much less to see that she was in front of me, before she began tossing me into trees and rocks.

After a few minutes of roughing about the forest— I was beaten half to death by that point— she put her hoof on top my head.

"If I hear one more dirty joke from you, you'll be the last cake I eat in a long time."

"Heh heh, good joke," I mumbled before she stomped on my face with her hoof.

"Clean yourself up and let's get a move on. The night is close, so let's get a fire started," she said as she trotted off to find some wood.

"Oh my Ceromulus, she's strong," I mumbled as I started to heal myself. With every few minutes that went by, a sharp pain would jolt through my body, generally when a fractured bone had been healed.

It took an hour to be able to move. By then she had long started the fire and it was pitch black all around. The pulsing of the trees made me shiver quite a bit.

Despite my injuries, I made it over to the fire and sat down across from Forest. We sat that way for a while and stared at the fire. Then she had broke the silence and said, "I'm going to sleep. You blow out the fire when you're ready."

"Yeah, will do," I replied as I walked up to the fire. My sides and back still pained me from earlier. As I covered the fire with some earth, sharp pain came from my right hoof, and I couldn't figure out why.

"Goodnight, Forest," I said as I laid on my left side and closed my eyes.

The mare didn't respond at all. It was as though she really hated me. I as sorcerer undergoing an ordeal knew we weren't allowed to have any feelings towards each other, but I never felt so uncared for before. The thought of being uncared for was rather new to me.

After a while of looking out into the pitch black, I grew tired and my eyelids closed...

******

My eyes shot open and I breathed in the early morning breeze of the forest. I turned behind me only to see that Forest was not in the spot she had slept from last night. I rose to my hooves and started to feel a little nervous.

Without thinking any further I continued on in search for her.

“Forest!” I shouted loudly as trotted the forest. I stopped and saw an opening area down a lone path. I raced down to the opening and found a wide lake. What I found amazing was that there were beautiful flowers and the trees, and even though were pulsing with flesh, they were natural.

My eyes froze as I watched Forest bath in the lake. The sun shone down on her making her appear more beautiful than ever before. I blushed and started back from whence I came, when she called to me.

“Cake, where are you going?”

“Uh, back to where we slept. I’ll wait for you there. Really sorry I-”

“I what?” the beige mare responded as she hopped out of the water and walked closer to me.

“I invaded your privacy,” I said as I slowly walked off.

She quickly placed a hoof on my shoulder before I went too far. I stopped for a sec but then continued on until she tugged harder at my side.

“Stop,” she said as she walked up besides me. She then looked into my brown eyes and placed her hoof under my chin.

“I didn’t mean to do what I did to you yesterday. I just… I just don’t like being made fun off,” Forest said as she walked off towards the pool. I followed for I was intrigued to find out more about her.

“If only you could forgive me, I know we’re sorcerers, but I hate being mean to my partners and especially my one and only friend,” She said turning back to meet my eyes. “You.”

I was at a loss for words. I walked closer to her.

“I could always forgive a friend.”

Forest walked up to me and took off my cape. She took my hoof and pulled me, and we walked towards the middle of the lake where the sun shone down on us both. I looked into her beautiful green eyes as she smiled and blushed staring into mine.

Our faces came closer to each other, and our muzzles met. We wrapped each others tongues. She grabbed on my mane as we continued kissing, and my hoof held her black mane.

It was such an intimate moment.

Immediately after, I suddenly withdrew myself from her and walked out of the water.

“What happened?”

“We cannot continue this,” I said as my head dropped down. “We are sorcerers.”

“But I want to be your lover.”

“But the pact.”

“You mean the one you had?”

“What do you mean I had?” I asked as I turned to her in confusion.

“I burned it.”

“What?”

“I burned it up. I wanted us to escape together,” the mare explained as she walked out of the water and closer to me.

“I wanted to bring back the world we once knew. I wanted to bring back Equestria. I couldn’t do it if we completed our ordeal.”

I was surprised to know that somepony other than myself was interested in changing the world back to the way it was before. I actually thought that I was the only pony.

"Wow, that was my purpose in leaving Panadon."

I was completely filled with joy to know that my partner had the same interest as mine.

"We should start moving now then my love. The evening will catch us still here if we don't go now," she said as trotted passed me in the forest.

I followed her with an ever so light heart. My adventure turned out not to be so bad or tough after all.

We made haste and continued down the path of a forest filled with trees of flesh. We were traveling fine until are sharp eruption sent us off our hooves and into a boulder.

With our faces in the earth, we slowly mounted up on our hooves and looked around for what beast had been lurking for our souls.

I looked to one side while Forest had looked to the other. We both offered up our parts. I turned mine into a giant hoof while hers had turned into a giant horn. There was not one sound but all was too quiet for us to have kept on moving. Whatever that fiend was, it had to be dealt with immediately.

"Once the beast comes out we slay it," Forest moved her eyes in many directions, expecting the worst.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I looked about my part. I started to shiver for never have I seen a fiend wait so long to attack unless it's what I feared. That we might have come into contact with an arch fiend.

"If what I feel is true, then we will need to fight with our lives."

"What's true?"

"That we are actually facing an arch fiend for the first time."

"Then your feelings must cause you some real depression at times because I didn't get that sense at all."

"Well, I always had a weird but strong mind sense."

Dark shadows danced out of sight in the forest as tremors shook the earth. The sheer force of the quakes began to uproot nearby flesh trees, causing blood to flow like a river toward us. Whatever was causing those tremors was moving right at us.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready," Forest responded

I reeled back my right hoof a good way for a solid impact. She took stance what launched up from the ground would plunge right into her horn.

As it came very near to us, it had stopped and stood still for a few moments. I became slightly  bored, and my offering quickly ran out turning back into my regular right hoof.

Just at that moment, lightning came down from the skies and something popped up from the ground.

We both stood still when and eye shot open and glared straight at us.

We were still in shock as we watched the staff rise up from the ground with so many eyes.

But we then moved our focus to the giant fleshy hoof that came up afterwards...