“Well this is it,” Darcy said. “Benni, let’s go.”

Darcy and Benni entered the woods. They scanned the ground looking for any signs that they were getting close to finding a portal. After an hour had passed, Darcy poked Benni.

“Look, hoof prints!” She exclaimed.

The two of the began to follow the hoof prints. The led away from the marked trail they had been following. Darcy and Benni followed them through the trees until they arrived at a stream. After coming to a stream the hoof prints appeared to stop. However, standing on the other side of the stream was a grey pony.

“That pony, something about it… It’s not an ordinary pony.” Benni whispered, worried about spooking the pony.

As Darcy and Benni approached they saw that the pony was near a set of stepping stones. They walked to them and carefully crossed the stream. Once Darcy and Benni had finished crossing, the pony looked and them and then took off deeper into the woods, trotting with purpose. 

The pony led them on a winding path. They went up hills and stepped cautiously on narrow trails. The forest then gave way to a clearing. In the center were grey leafless trees in a circle. 

The grey pony trotted through a small gap in the trees. Darcy and Benni followed her through the trees and gasped at what they saw. In the middle of the clearing was a narrow stone path that appeared to vanish into the ground. As they got closer they saw that in the center of the clearing where the path appeared to vanish was a circle of shiny obsidian stones.

The pony trotted with confidence into the middle of the circle and whinnied. Somehow a indigo light blazed from the obsidian, surrounding the pony. The light blinded Darcy and Benni. Upon fading, the pony had vanished.

They approached the obsidian circle, and noticed that in the center of the circle glimmered a deep blue sapphire. The sapphire had a rune engraved on it in the shape of a budding lily. Upon further inspection, it appeared that the gem was a button of sorts.

“Should we press it and see if it works?” Benni tentatively suggested.

“We have to. Benni, that pony must be from Akiyama. This portal should take us there and we can find the professor! This is exactly what we’ve been looking for. Let’s go!” Darcy took a step toward the portal.

“Darcy, wait. I wasn’t expecting to actually find a portal. Maybe we shouldn’t mess with it after all.” Benni allowed his nerves to get the better of him. 

Darcy grabbed Benni’s arm and dragged him to the portal. “This is something we need to do. It’s now or never!” She shouted as she tapped the rune on the sapphire with her foot.

The gemstone sunk down as it activated. The rune began to glow and a indigo light rushed from the sapphire to the obsidian. The light then blazed upward, enveloping the pair in its brilliance. They were blinded momentarily by it.