The brown unicorn went upstairs and through the long hallway. His friend was working for five hours straight and that wasn't very healthy for him. He only wanted to check on him and remind him, that it was time for a break.

Volts stopped just outside the door in the middle. He used a blue spell, which magically unlocked it. The pony grabbed the handle, pulled and then entered in the bright laboratory. It had a lot of free space. Closets and tables were put next to the white walls. The shelves were full with scientific and magic books. Tubes with green and red liquid were lined on the smooth surfaces of the masses. Scientific instruments were carefully placed next to the big beakers, which some of them were clean but others were filled with blue and yellow substances.  

On the other side of the room, there was another door, that was left wide open. His friend should be in the lower section of the laboratory. Volts hoofsteps sounded on the white tiles. Behind the door there was a metal caracole. The unicorn began climbing down. He entered in a bigger two story room. It was filled with many wondrous mechanical creations. An aerodynamic machine with long metal wings was hanging from the ceiling, a bulky iron beast on tracks was sitting silently in the center. The two faced an enormous door, which was firmly closed with three big padlocks.

There were machines with a rectangular shape at the back, that had many colorful buttons. Metal rods were coming from their small bodies like trees. They ended with black pointed arrows. Next to them, there were two tables, which were crowded with instruments and little gadgets. An old lamp stuck out above the mess.

Right from them, a white pegasus was hanging on the red wall. His legs were chained. He looked like his body was put through a very painful torture. Metal Eye seemed lifeless. Next to him, a little pony was imprisoned in a silver cell. The purple filly was frightened by the monstrosity, who was in front of the shelves.

"What have you done?" Volts asked with disgust. He slowly approached him. His green eyes didn't sway from his dark figure and only confusion was readable from them.

The yellow unicorn was silent and continued searching for a part to modify his electric gun. It had a shape of a bracelet, that was gripping onto his right leg. Two capacitors were connected to the sides and in the middle, there was a black painted metal stick, that ended with a copper ball.

"Phoenix!" Volts stood behind him. He was really worried and little scared.

The unicorn slowly turned his head to him. Only his right blue eye stared back at Volts. There was only insanity coming from it. His brown friend felt, as if something inside Phoenix had taken his body.

"Phoenix, what's wrong?! What happened to you?" the mustached pony stepped closer to him.

A very dark smile appeared on his yellow face.

"I tested my latest creation. It works as intended!" his voice was like a sword that pierced Volt's heart.

The brown unicorn looked at the tormented pegasus. His white coat had multiple black spots, probably that's, where Phoenix used his new weapon. His green eyes turned to the filly, who was shaking out of fear.

"He will be fine. I have more interesting ideas, that I can experiment on him, so I need him alive for now." Phoenix sounded like a demon.

"Are you mad?" his green eyes couldn't believe, what he was seeing. "He may be a spy, but that doesn't mean you can treat him like a soulless object."

Phoenix turned around. The left half of his face was hidden behind the red straight mane. There were no signs of his previous sanity, only madness.

"The experiment was a great success, my dear Volts. I learned, that it takes only ten powerful electrical shocks for a pony to faint. That's not enough, so I need to tweak it a bit to make them fifteen."

"What's wrong with you!" Volts placed his hooves on his shoulders and stared at his little blue insane eye.

"I've also learned, that I enjoyed every moment from the test. I was swimming in ecstasy! It was so good!" he said, while smiling insanely.

Volts had enough of this and tried not to listen to his fiendish crazy words. He began shaking him.

"Phoenix, wake up! That's not you!"

The yellow pony didn't resist the strong shaking. The devil inside him only laughed, though it was time for it to return the control to the real pony. Suddenly, the darkness disappear from his eyes the way it came in the first place. Phoenix blinked twice and now noticed, where he was.

"Stop shaking me! Uh, my head." the unicorn closed a hoof to his forehead. Then he saw the attached gun on it. "What is this?"

His confused eyes carefully moved from detail to detail of his newest creation. Volts removed his legs from him and looked at him suspiciously.

"You don't remember?" he asked disbelievingly.

The headache was getting bigger by the second and it was very hard for him to concentrate.

"I-I don't... How I got here?" he looked very anxious. "I was going back to bed but now I'm here..."

He looked frantically around, noticing some instruments laying on the ground and the unconscious pegsus. His blue mane with purple strips was sadly hanging down. The young pony in the silver cage was staring him, as if he was some kind of a ghost.

Phoenix slowly removed the bracelet from his hoof. The weapon fell down on the cold floor, the sound of the impact echoed in the big room. The pain in his head increased again. He was beginning to feel dizzy and not very well.  

"You don't look so good. Maybe we should postpone the presentation until you get better."

"No, we mustn't! I'll get to bed early. Would you help me get there?" Phoenix looked at his partner with innocent eyes.

"Yes, of course." Volts grabbed his hoof and helped him move to the stairway.

Suddenly, his ill friend stopped. His gaze was directed at the showcase, where the red crystal medallion was. It was calling for him. Volts looked at his partner's hypnotized face and then at the shiny medallion.

"Would you bring it to me?" Phoenix quietly asked.

"You don't need it. You'd better rest and not think about anything else."

"Please, Volts." he sounded so weak, which worried his friend a lot.

The brown unicorn was not fond of this idea but he would do anything to make him feel better. They began climbing the stairs under the watchful eyes of the young pony. He heard and saw everything.

Near the Guards Office...

There was a snap from the lock and the door opened. They entered inside in what looked like a big apartment. It was very well furnished. The living room was painted in bright orange. The floor was colored in bright brown. It had a good view of the city because of the four big windows. A short wooden table was placed in front of the yellow sofa. There were shelves with books on each wall. Most of them were detective stories, though there were a few romantic ones. A round clock was facing the windows from the opposite side.

The two checked the entire flat and discovered that one room was closed, probably Nose's bedroom. The kitchen was quite wide and had enough fresh food for three days. The bathroom had a nice bathtub and like the rest of this place was kept clean and orderly. The only guest room had one bed and a small closet.

"That's small? My apartment is the definition of small!" Lucky admired the feeling of freedom, this place gave him.

The ninja put the package on the bed and took out the two apples from her hidden pocket. She pulled down her mouth mask, sat down on the bed and began taking bites of the delicious fruits.

Lucky lay down next to her, facing the pink chandelier. The bed was very comfortable. His back was tired from the rough ground, on which they slept for the duration of their trip back to Manehatten and the softness of the bunk was something, he almost forgot.

"So, are you gonna tell me, what you saw in the picture?"

She swallowed and then looked at him.  

"I saw a medallion similar to the one, we recently had."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You mean the red locket?" he sounded a little worried.

"Yep."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. Lucky had an insight, which didn't make him very cheerful.

"So, that's why Princess Celestia wants us in this mission. Does it mean, that the prophecy is not fulfilled yet?"

This question stuck in his head like bitter honey. Its answer was shrouded by the darkness, that was still plotting against this peaceful world. Lucky had a feeling, that their fates will cross again with the Black Princess. He felt very uneasy by the thought of it.

"Didn't the shade tell you exactly the opposite?" Foxy became suspicious.

"Yeah, even the Princess congratulated me on saving the world. Maybe this was just a step in fulfilling the prophecy? If that's so, we are still in grave danger!"

Lucky reluctantly jumped off the bed in the direction of the door. He had a look of a pony, who had a job to finish and would not rest until its completion.  

"I hope, you are not going on a personal mission." Foxy said behind him, before taking another awesome bite. She seemed so carefree but inside her, the skilful ninja was worried about the future.  

"I'm going on a personal mission to clean myself from the dirt." his sounded a bit serious.  

"Do you know the way or do you need a guide?" she asked, when he was at the door.

"I've memorized the entire apartment, so I'll be fine." then Lucky entered the living room, turned right and went to the bathroom. This flat was quite in his liking. There was a lot more room and it had everything a pony would need, unlike his unkempt one.

The bathroom walls and floor were beautifully tiled with pink and green plates, that gave the feeling of freshness. To the left of the door was the elegant porcelain sink, on the right was the clean toilet. The bathtub was lying in the center of the room. With steady steps, he approached it. His right hoof touched the faucets for the hot and cold water. The crystal clean stream began filling the empty volume with the warm mix. The pegasus silently waited a few minutes, before closing the taps. The water level was satisfactory, so he carefully went in the bathtub.

His head was sticking out over the warm surface. His green tail playfully floated in the water like seagrass. His tired hooves and shoulders finally got the break, they deserved. All his senses were pleased. It felt so relaxing, that he quickly forgot about the rest of the world.

"Nothing like a peaceful bath!" Lucky calmly noted and gave himself completely to the moment.

Out of a sudden, the galloping hooves sounded near but before the pegasus could react, a pony jumped on his tail. The ponyball perfused the walls and Lucky's face with warm water.  

"Foxy, what the heck?!" the pegasus looked quite annoyed by her act. His mane stuck to his head like an octopus, covering a big portion of his face and giving him a very funny look.  

"I want to take a bath too and your time is up!" she grabbed him and lifted him up in the air without much trouble. Water was falling down onto her from his wet fur like a waterfall. Foxy had an evil look, coming from her eyes.

"Hey, hey! I've just entered." Lucky protested and waved his wet hooves in the air.  

"Too bad for you!" then Foxy threw him on the tiled floor. He fell on his plot, which softened the impact. The pegasus was able to quickly get on his hooves and return to the bathtub.

The ninja lay down in the warm water and closed her eyes. It felt really good. When Lucky approached her, Foxy lifted her left hoof in front of his face to stop him.

"Get out, I was first!" his angry voice didn't scare her a bit. Tail took a deep breath and relaxed. The water moved through the clothing, as if it didn't existed and somehow, her outfit stayed dry. Foxy happily began losing herself in this heavenly bath.

"Who said so? Yeah, the blind pony." she smiled under her black mask.

"So, we are going this far?" he smiled too but in an dark kind of way. "Are you having a bath with your cloths still on you? It would be interesting to see how you are going to use the soap to clean yourself." Lucky tried to sound as much provocative as he could.

"Exactly, you will not see it and my outfit is magical, so no problems here." she sounded like the absolute ruler of the bathtub and no matter how many attacks the pegasus would send, there was no way of getting her out of the pleasant water.

Lucky needed a change of strategy. He couldn't beat her with brute force, so it was time for some acting.

The pegasus backed away from her hoof's reach and suddenly looked sadly at the pink-green floor.

"Alright, I'll let you be first. You know, cause we are friends, right?" then Lucky slowly lifted up his moist head and his brown dead eyes stared at her. Foxy leisurely turned her sight to him. She seemed not affected by his cute face, although the little feeling was again tickled her heart.

"Mind tricks don't work on me." she said coldly.

Lucky sighed and then began turning around, when Foxy friendly said:

"There's enough space for two, so you can come."

Lucky brightened and quickly went back to the bathtub. Although he hesitated a little before jumping inside it, the pegasus was soon in the warm water. They were silently facing each other from the opposite ends. Their tails intertwined in the middle like their dark fates. Then they slowly began fully enjoying the bathing and each other's company. They looked like two fillies, who played innocently in the water, unaware of the deep feelings, that were growing with each moment. The two needed some care and love, cause both were children of pain.

Meanwhile...

The three ponies got close to the secret camp. Blue Circle could see the smoke, coming from the campfires, when they were met by two ninjas, who stood on their way. They seemed more experience than the two brothers.

"White Shadow." the one on the right said. He was wearing an eyepatch on the left eye. Multiple kunais were hanging from his blue outfit, making him look very threatening.

"You were told to never contact us again." the left pony had a big sword on his back. His pink eyes were cold and had seen a lot of fights. These guardians were not afraid to fight or die.

Blue Circle pushed the brothers forward and they went behind their comrades like two little sad puppies.

"I bring evidence, which will tip the balance of the ninja world. One of the other leaders has committed a crime against one of our sacred laws." his voice was serious, though his eyes had the spark of insanity. The two ninja looked thoughtful for a few moments.

"Where is the evidence?" the pony on the right asked. His only green eye watched the shadow ninja's every move, preparing for an expected strike. They knew that he was capable of nasty tricks and they had to be cautious with him.  

Circle carefully took out a letter from his hidden pocket. He handed it with no unnecessary movement, cause the two warriors needed only little provocation to cut his throat in a split second. However, the master ninja was still on guard and constantly scanned for hidden dangers.

"Give it to me!" the two-eyed pony ordered. He didn't remove his sight from the calm white ninja. Madness was still readable on those blue eyes and the guardian knew better to always expect the worst from pony like him. The letter was in his hoof and then his eyes began moving on the text. It took him ten seconds flat to read through all of it and by the end, the ninja was looking quite shocked.

"What is it?" his partner asked with little note of concern in his voice.

"How in the names of the first warriors did we miss all that?!" the blue ninja carefully hid the letter under his outfit and stepped aside. "White Shadow, come with us. Our leader will talk with you."

Circle nodded and silently went forward in the direction of the camp. The other ponies moved alongside him in a defensive formation.

These parts of the woods were ancient and cold. They were in the middle of the mountain. Only grass and pine trees grew in this high places.The sun was seemingly closer but its beams weren't cuddlier. The camp was located near a big cave. There were a lot of grey tents, placed in sections. The ones, closer to the center, were the resting places of the more experienced ninjas and veterans. The old war ponies needed to be near, when they had to protect their leader, who's tent was in the middle of the camp.

When they entered the bearing, at first, it seemed deserted but the closer they got to the middle, the more ninjas appeared. They all were sitting around the campfires, the ponies were gloomy and grumpy. The young ones, who noticed the new guest, immediately tried to stand up, but they were stopped by their older comrades. Circle saw a lot of pain in their eyes and sensed the little flame of revenge, that was burning Inside their souls. Everything was oddly quiet, no pony was telling interesting stories or joked to relief the stress. They were like ghosts, whose bodies still remained in the realm of the living.

The last time Circle was here, the Guardians of the Portal were one big friendly family, which consisted of ninjas from all the clans. They were carefully chosen to be the next Guardians, who do not partake in the constant rivalry and in the occasional wars their clans had. They'd forever stay neutral and guard the only entrance to the Clans' island.    

Although they were taken in youthful age by the Guardians, the fillies quickly found friends in the camp and became attached to this new environment. Young and old lived together, getting experience from one another and turning this group into an united living force, that had no equal.

They arrived in front of the leader's tent, which was the same as the other ones. Three pink ponies were sitting next to a campfire outside it. They looked quite old. One of them had white hairs, the others still maintained their black manes. Their dark cloths had gold strips, that showed respect to the pony, who was waring it. On each shoulder, they had the marks of the Guardians. Its shape was a white shield, from which two black eyes stared.

The pony in the middle turned his brown eyes to the new guest and greeted:

"Good-Day, White Shadow. I was hoping to see you someday, before my final breath in this world."

"May the spirits of the warriors guide you through your journey!" Circle answered in a ceremonial way. "The last time we saw each other, you claimed that you never wanted to see me again, what changed? Why is the camp so... dead?"

"Disaster happened." his brown eyes became colder. "The Guardians of the Portal took a big hit in the plot."

"Somepony attacked you? Who?" Circle was surprised. In the long history of these protectors, there wasn't a single moment, in which they were defeated. All the clans respected their duty and didn't think of them as another faction. However, there were some individuals, who wanted to test their might against them or only use the passage, which was forbidden.

"He came out from the shadows. In my long years, I haven't seen such precise movement. He was one with his Shadow Sun techniques." his voice was deep.

"He is one of my own? When this happened?" Circle came closer and sat against the old ninja. Their eyes met above the hot fire. The flames played like fillies over the blackened woods.  

"No, he wasn't one of yours. I sensed only emptiness in his soul. He was a ghost, whose rage we felt on our heads. We fought him hard, we fought him well but in the end he walked away without a scratch. This happened four days ago."

"I know about many ponies, who came at your doorsteps to challenge you. They all made their names as losers, who now sing the dead songs. Didn't he tell his second name?" Circle was very intrigued by this mysterious attacker.

"He was a silent ghost, he needed no names. So many of us perished, young and experienced, they all did their best but the shadow was unstoppable. The most painful thing was to see my disciples doing one of the most fascinating attacks and actually hitting his black coat. However, their attempts were futile because no blood came from those cuts. The weapons moved through him, as if his body was made out of air. My warriors perished knowing that they failed for reasons, that I still don't understand."

When the teacher spoke about the tragedy, his voice was feeling so heavy. His eye bags were darkening with each image of the lost battle. The fallen ones were a big part of the family, which his ancestors created centuries ago. Everypony in the camp lost friends and they all felt the sorrow in the old master's heart.

"Shadow pony, who can't be killed by ordinary weapons. Hm, sounds very familiar. Why would the Jester almost destroy the keepers? What's his purpose of coming here?" Circle asked himself.

"Master Triple Spirit, I think, I know who did this to you." everypony around him was astonished by the claim, except the old pony, who remained calm. "You know him as the Jester of Flame. Somehow his spirit lives on and he is connected with the Shadow Sun Prophecy."

"Darkness surrounds the green, nowhere to turn. The sun will shine on the dead, cyan feathers will blow the wind. Disasters and chaos await for Her powerful hooves. No escape from death, we know our hour has come, when the white pegasus appears from the clouds. Everything turns around, the hunter becomes the hunted, the victims become the killers. The white demon will save us in the name of the greatest pain, though he himself will become the slave." Triple Spirit perfectly quoted with closed eyes. Then he looked straight at Circle. "There are a lot of prophecies and most of them are just fairy tales."

"Shadow Sun is real. I saw fraction of Her power unleashed on the Equestrian towns. I learned that the Jester used to be under Her will but somehow escaped from Her shackles. Now he is working against Her, but for what reasons, I do not know." then Circle turned to the pony with the huge sword and ordered: "Show him the letter."

The blue ninja quickly stepped forward and handed it. Master Triple took a look at it and his brown eyes didn't like the things, that were written in the letter.

"Clan Dragon Claw was busy for the past few years and they've broken one of the most important rules: to never seek a foreign help. They never used the portal to get on this mainland."

"By sea?" the one-eyed ninja suggested.

"We would have spot their harbor and the ship. The island is far in the ocean, so they'll need a big vessel, which is very tough to hide." the blue ninja said.

The old master looked at the fire and thought.

"By air." Blue Circle said quietly. "They must have constructed some sort of air balloon, that is capable of crossing huge distances. In the day, they can hide it inside a building and in the night, they can prepare it for flight fairly quickly and without anypony noticing."

"Hm, I never expected the Dragon clan to be so keen on technology, though I don't see how this is connected with the Prophecy. What does terraforming even mean?"

"In the message they say that they monitor the events in the Equestrian Kingdom and they mention about a mystical shadow, that they tried to make contact with. That means, that they know about the arrival of the Dark Princess. While I was in Equestria, I learned a lot about their magic and technologies. Terraforming is a term used for deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of an hostile environment to our needs. The two inventors, that are mentioned, are asked to create machines, that can terraform entire islands in matter of days."

"Can these machines change entire ecosystem in a bad way?" the old one look questioningly at Circle.

"Yes."

Triple frowned from this answer. Not only did the Clan Dragon Claw committed crime against their highest laws, they also were going to destroy their rivals in unfair fight.

"The two Equestrian inventors were also asked to create magical necklaces, which give them control over a shadow, that is capable of killing and dealing huge damage. The range of the spell is quite big and the pony, who uses it, can stay in a safe place, while the minion is doing all the work. I've seen it in action against one of the best ninjas and the picture was not pleasant."

The master's brown eyes looked at the sword, he was holding in his scabbard. He immediately recognized, to whom it belonged to and made him wonder, if Blue had taken it from her dead body.

"Was this ninja called Dragon Born?" he asked in a serious manner.

"Yes." Circle calmly said. "Although, I didn't kill her to take her sword, nor did I steal it from her. Foxy and a pegasus are destined to stop Shadow Sun and I'd never get in their way. They were the ones, who fought the shadow, that was controlled by Number One. They almost died by its tentacles."

"Then from where you got her sword?"

"From the Jester, who stole it from the Equestrian authorities. Look, the danger of Shadow Sun is very real and I'm certain that the leader of the Dragon Claw is aware of it. His actions speak for themselves. He is going to destroy the other clans and from there, he may bring the flames of war to the other kingdoms, who are unaware of our little conflict. I firmly believe, that he is corrupted by Her. Think about the Great War and this letter. It's a master plan in motion and its only goal is chaos and destruction."

"Interesting story but this is just a speculation on your part." the sensei said with disbelieve in his voice. He was looking very earnest. "I do not believe in the Prophecy but Clan Dragon Claw has to be punished for their cowardly actions. If those machines are to be used for harming others, hundreds of thousands of ponies will die without a chance. Until I'm alive, I'll never let such a thing to happen!"

Then his watchful sight turned to the blue ninja, who was standing behind Circle.

"Razor, notify the others, that were are going to the other side of the portal. Leave everything behind, except weapons, some food and water. We have to be swift, if we want to stop this madness." Triple ordered with a strong voice. "It's time to knock on the Dragon's door."

"Yes, sensei." the pony with the huge sword bowed and then went to the other campfires. His shouts sounded through the camp, awakening the sleeping warriors.

"Aren't you rushing it?" Circle calmly asked. "How many are left from the attack?"

"Less than the half of our previous strength."

The master of the Guardians stood up and the other two did the same. Then they moved inside him like spirits. His eyes, which had seen a lot of combat, were ready for the next portion.

"That will make less than twenty five. That's a certain suicide to go after an entire clan, which also happens to be the biggest." Circle stood on his legs and moved closer to the old pony. "You'll need help from the other clans. I can even ask warriors from mine to join in your ranks."

Triple shook his head.  

"Alerting the other clans of the danger, will cause another Great War and we are not soldiers but ninjas. The letter clearly states that the machines will be transported in three days from now and the road to the Dragon's Capital is exactly a day and an half from the portal. We'll use the cover of the night to get inside and quickly deal with the problem. If their warriors still respect us, they wont fight us."

"In this case..." Circle bowed down. "I'd like to be accepted in the Guardians of the Portal. I wish my previous actions against you to be forgiven. I'm sorry, that I stole your outfit, which I have worn for the last years."

His eyes changed. Their previous insane look was gone. He was completely sincere.

"We are honored to have a leader in our ranks." he smiled. "Apology accepted. Now let's join the others."

The small group joined the other ninjas near the cave, who had arranged in two rows. The mark of the Guardians were on every right shoulder. Every ninja was physically ready, but their spirits weren't exactly eager for this new mission. They needed some motivation, some beautiful words to ignite the warrior fire inside them.

Triple turned to Circle and whispered in his ear.

"Would you join me in front?"

The shadow pony nodded. They stood together in front of the rows, showing might and grandeur. They were one of the best ninjas and that created some sparks in the souls of the remaining veterans. Everypony was all ears and eyes for the upcoming speech. The old master felt young again. His eyes moved from pony to pony and was proud to see that they've endured the great pain.  

"We are the Guardians of the Portal. We protect the others from the external and internal influences, that can break the balance of power. We monitor the compliance with the ancient laws and traditions. This task was given to us by the first warriors, who discovered this magical place. We predate the clans, which ruined the land of ninja. They've grown in power and we know, that power corrupts even the best of us. Clan Dragon Claw have broken our laws and seeks to destroy everything our fathers worked for and died for but we are going to stop this cycle of killing by bringing their leader to justice or by cutting the serpent's head."

"Why do I get the feeling, that we are not going to make it?" the shorter brother said quietly.

"Don't worry, bro. I have your back!" the other one sounded a little unsure.

"The laws and the traditions are stupid!" suddenly an young white pegasus shouted. Everypony turned their eyes at him. "They are too old and don't support the change, which is inevitable!"

Triple and Circle carefully looked at him. The pegasus was from clan Diamond Shuriken. He was wearing a white mask, from which two blue eyes angrily stared at them. Several belts were wrapped around his chest, that were holding a lot of kunais and little metal stars. He was experienced in throwing them with his wings, typical for the ponies from his clan.

"Yes, you are right." the old pony calmly agreed. "They are quite old and when the change comes, they will become just some words in a book. However, without them we loose who we are. They were made to conserve our ninja societies for thousands of years but they were never intended to last forever. Change will come but it has to be in a peace time or it will bring only more wars."

The pegasus looked away from them and remained silent through the rest of the second speech. The youngster reminded Circle of when he was young and rebellious. After becoming a leader, Blue understood the importance of the old ways, that kept the little ninja world from falling apart.  

Triple invited Circle to speak, though he was not sure what to tell them. In their minds, he was an outsider and very similar to the murderer of their friends. His blue eyes impaled everypony, one by one, trying to find something, on which he could grab.

"Keepers of the Portal, we are living in dark times, from which not many will escape. Our destiny is uncertain but our actions will sound through the centuries." Circle paused cause he couldn't think of any other pretty words. The ninjas uncertainly stared at him in complete silence. Suddenly, this new fire inside him took control and the words came out on their own. "We are running out of time. Our world is on a crossroad. We either go to the same old path, filled with suffering or we go to the new one. Personally I'm tired of going the same way, so who is coming with me?"

Everypony shouted positively with a force, which made the sky spirits tremble from fear. It felt just like, when he used to lead his ponies to battle. Circle felt like a leader again.

"Then get your plots into the portal! Move it!" the white ninja ordered. Every ninja charged the entrance of the small cave. Inside it, they lined up in two columns and passed through the blue portal on the wall. It had a round shape and its surface was made from mystical, crystal clean water. Its glow illuminated the cave and the ponies in blue. They fearlessly went inside it.

Circle and Triple were the last ones to enter the cavern. They walked slowly towards the portal.

"It will get dark soon, we can use the night for our advantage. You did good for motivating them. Maybe, someday you can become their master."

Circle turned his eyes to him, which were beginning to return to their mad look.

"What? Are you planning to leave?" he sounded a little surprised.

"I plan to die like a warrior." Triple said before moving inside the watery surface. Circle didn't like the sound of that. Was the old unicorn condemning them on a mission without a good end? Next Chapter: Chapter 19: The Night Was Young Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 5 Minutes