"Are you ready Mr Lucky?" the pink spa pony asked behind the glass door. There was so much smoke in the bathroom, that she couldn't recognize anything inside.

Lucky overused the soap and the hot water and now was swimming in a bathtub, full with thousands of white bubbles. Only his head stayed on top and his eyes looked very serious for a blind pony. Lucky was not happy with what Fancy Pants did for him. Instead of feeling honored, he felt he was looked down with the eyes of pity again and the pegasus really hated that.

"Mr Lucky, are you there?" the spa pony sounded concerned.

"Yes, I'm here." he replied with not very friendly tone.

"When you are ready, please give us a notice. Your next stop will be at the manedrasser's place."

"What!" Lucky shouted in his thoughts. "Manedrasser? I like my mane as it is or was or... ah... Is it that long?"

He felt his mane with his right hoof and for his amusement it really had grown big.

"Strange, why didn't I notice it before? Was it because I was too closed in myself to sense anything at all? Maybe I should ask the spa pony for directions." Lucky thought.  

"Excuse, me. Could you tell me where the manedrasser is?" he tried to sound as polite as he could but there was still a note of uncertainty in his voice. No pony gave him an answer, after waiting for awhile.

"Where is the spa pony? I didn't hear her leaving." the pegasus slowly stood up and immediately big drops of soap water started falling from his body. He opened the glass door and stepped outside. Lucky felt a bit cold, which was strange because in the spa, it was always warm and comfy. He tried to grab his towel but couldn't reach to anything.

"What the? I may be blind but I do remember where I put things." Lucky walked steadily forward, with one hoof in the air to constantly check for hings in front of him. It was rather quiet for this place and Lucky was starting to get the worries. "I don't think I was alone in the bathrooms. Why I don't hear other ponies' showers or noises?"

The pegasus slowly proceeded forward. Only the sound of his steps echoed in the walls of what seemed to be a bigger room. It was quite dark and humid. After few minutes of walking in one general direction, the pegasus came to the conclusion that the room either got bigger and he was going in circles, or Lucky wasn't in the spa anymore.

"That leads to next question: did I drown or hurt my head?"

He took some deep breaths, hit his cheek with a hoof to check, if he was not dreaming or something of this sort.

"Everything seems in place. But then where is everypony?" Lucky froze to listened to the surroundings but not even the slightest sound was made. "This is very strange." he thought confusingly.

Lucky's scout instincts kicked in and he started thinking how to get out of this situation. The pegasus looked rather emotionless but inside him, he desperately was fighting the growing fear.

"Be cool, I'm in the spa center, unless I've stepped in some kind of a portal. I should move backwards, from where I came as silent as possible." the pegasus thought.

On his first step back, the temperature of the room dropped again from cold to ice-cold and his wet body started rapidly losing its warmth. Chills from top to bottom took over his precise silent actions and Lucky found himself not able to move very well. Suddenly a fast wind passed by him, carrying thousands of snowflakes from nowhere, that were hitting his body like needles.

"What magic is this? I need to get out of here fast before I turn into a snow pony!" The only problem was that his body stopped responding to his commands and this made Lucky panic. "What in Celestia's beard! I can't move!"

The frost surrounded him in its icy death grip like a hand of a giant. It suffocated his life force and was slowly killing him. Lucky tried to hold himself alive as much as his little body could. However, the freezing menace was winning without a doubt.

Suddenly, an opening appeared in the storm and a pony figure came close to the pegasus. It grabbed Lucky and lifted him up with its hooves. The ex-Guardian was almost frozen to death, so he barely noticed what was going on. Ice covered his entire body, restricting him to move in the slightest. Only his face stayed uncovered.

"Lucky, the Shadow Princess found us! We must run!" she shouted but the pegasus almost couldn't hear her.

"Who... ar.... youu?" Lucky barely stayed conscious to hear her answer but he gave the little he had to stay awake.

"What do you mean? It's me, Foxy Tail, your wife."

"My wife?" Lucky loudly exclaimed. Suddenly the icy storm disappeared like it came in the first place. The silhouette of the pony became unclear and blurry and soon after ceased to exist. Lucky fell hard on the floor, shacking uncontrollably. The temperature raised to its normal values and the ice on his body melted away and left his entire fur wet.

"Mr Lucky, are you alright?" a mare voice sounded in front of him.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You are lying on the floor, in the bathrooms. I think, you might have hit your head, while you were trying to get out of the bathtub. A pony, who was having a bath here, heard you falling and immediately informed us."  

Suddenly his head ached around the back. It pained him a lot but it wasn't something, Lucky would worry about.

"So the storm and the pony were just my imagination? It felt pretty real to me. Better be careful next time." he thought, while trying to get up. The entire ground around him was covered with soap water and that made it difficult for him to stand up.

"Let me help you." the brown pony, with the dark brown mane, said. He was the one, who heard Lucky falling and then tried to wake him but that failed/ Then earth pony galloped as fast as he could to tell the spa ponies what happened.

"I can manage on my own!" the pegasus sounded very serious and insistent.  

The other two ponies looked at each other confusingly but didn't say a word because only their expressions were enough. Lucky successfully stood up but the pain became more annoying in his head.

"I'll have to deal with that later. Let's just carry on for now." he thought. Then Lucky turned to the spa pony.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"For about 3 minutes and 37 seconds." the brown pony answered.

"Oh, then I'm sorry for taking your time with me." Lucky turned around to face him but yet again he missed.

"Not a problem. Actually, it was exciting to find out how much time you needed to wake up. By the way, I'm over here."

Lucky did another turn and finally faced him properly.

"Hate it, when this happens." the pegasus thought with dislike, though he managed to cover it up with a small smile.

"Sorry about that." after his apology, Lucky turned at the spa pony. "I think, I'm ready. Let's go to the manedrasser."

"Are you sure you are completely alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm totally fine."

"Okay, then. Follow me, sir." the pink pony helped Lucky to get his towel and then together left the bathrooms. The brown pony returned to his bathtub. He failed to notice the small snowflake that fell from the ceiling. The little ice crystal gracefully flew down and when it touched the ground, It instantly turned to another little drop of water in the bigger pool.

The next few minutes were a painful adventure for Lucky, not in the sense of body pain but he had to constantly defend himself against the spa ponies' offerings, despite his next stop being at the manedressing salon. It went like this:

"Would like to take a mud bath?"  they offered.

"No, I just cleaned myself!" he answered.

"Would you like your hooves to be polished?"

"Do I look like a mare? I'm a stallion!"

"Would you like to have a bath in jacuzzi?"

"Hm, that's sound fun but I only need my mane cut and be on my way!"

"Would you like your feathers colored?"

"No and no! I want to get out of here as quickly as possible!"

"Why don't they listen?"

"Because we're the spa ponies!"

"We are here to make you look better, smell better, feel better!"

"And we'll not stop until we've finished with you!"

"Oh, Celestia, why!"

Lucky barely managed to escape those two and found himself sitting in a chair in a very bright room. Pink and white were the main colors. It was filled with mirrors and ponies waiting for their manecut. A yellow unicorn with a big smile came to him. He had purple stylish mane that was divided in several rolls of hair.  

"What do we have here? A mane that was not cared for?" he sounded very delightful for some unknown reason.

"Not you, too! Uh... Just cut it a little bit." Lucky said with a bit scared voice.

"Oh, I'll do even more. Prepare to be amazed." the manedresser started cutting and forming the pegasus's mane. His actions were precise and fluid. The magically held scissors and comb gracefully flew over Lucky's head. It looked more like spectacle rather than a simple manecut. In just over a few minutes the yellow unicorn managed to cut Lucky's long mane and actually do a pretty neat manestyle that perfectly suited the pegasus. It was shorter than what the length usually was on other stallions. The front part was shaped into five sharp angles, that made a half rainbow-like dive downwards and the back was cut to the neck but it almost remained its natural form.

The unicorn backed a little and looked at his newest creation with a very big smile. He then gently moved Lucky's chair closer to the big ellipse mirror, so that the pegasus could see in more detail his new manecut.

"What do you think? Its fabulous, isn't it?" the manedrasser sounded rather excited for the opinion of his customer.

"Sorry to brake it to you, but I can't see. Although thanks for the manecut."

Lucky lifted his hoof to his head to check his new manestyle but his action was stop by the unicorn, who now looked as if he saw a ghost.

"Don't touch the mane! You'll ruin it!" he said with a serious tone.

"What? This is not fair!" Lucky sounded surprised by the manedrasser's actions. "How am I supposed to know how it's shaped?"

"Deal with it! At least other ponies will admire on your mane. Now excuse me, I have another desperate client waiting! Good-bye and have a pleasant day!" then the unicorn turned around and went with a fast paced to the next pony.

Lucky unhappily got off the chair, when one of the spa ponies passed him by. She looked worried for some reason but the mare tried her best to look cheerful.

"Hey, could you tell me where the reception is?" he asked.

"I'm going there, just follow me." she replied. The two left the manedresser's place that was starting to get a bit overcrowded because of lack of additional manedressers.

"Where are my pegasi colleagues? They are quite late and I can't keep up with this stream of ponies!" the yellow unicorn complained in his mind, while forming his client's mane.

At the reception Lucky got his pink silk towel, which he then put on his head again.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay here, Mr Lucky." the blue earth pony said behind the glass desk. "And be careful outside."

"Thanks, I may come here more often." Lucky nodded and went for the exit. He opened the door, which ringed and left silently.

"I'm never coming to this place again!" he thought, when the pegasus was outside. "Next stop, the Royal Guards Office. If I remember correctly, I should turn right and go straight until the next crossing and then turn left. It should be just around the corner, unless they moved it but I doubt it. Metal Eye would have mentioned it. I should get going."

Lucky started slowly walking, when suddenly something didn't feel right. He froze in one place and listened carefully. There were no ponies around him or on the near street. The long queue had somehow vanished without a trace. What he also heard were the lightnings that struck in the distance, which made no sense to him.

"Before I entered the spa center, it was a sunny day. Now it seems, it's going to rain. Did the pegasi change their weather plans or something? Maybe that's the reason ponies are not waiting in the queue?" he sighed." Why do I even care? I'm just wasting time."

Lucky proceeded to the garden's exit and turned right. Although he couldn't see, where he was going, the pegasus made a map in his head based on his memories.  As a scout, Lucky had to know his surroundings even in the most dire situation. The pegasus now solely relied on his hearing, touch and smell to successfully get to the Office. On his every step, Lucky carefully analyzed his positioning and direction. A mistake would cost him a lot of time and there were no ponies that could help him in his little journey.

The streets were empty of any life. It didn't feel like Canterlot at all. More like a ghost town that was abandoned long ago. Not even the buildings made any sounds, as if no one lived there.

Dark clouds were blocking the sky and the sun, to where the eyes could see . The Capital's shining appearance was forcefully taken over by the grim one and it felt like something was very wrong.

Lucky precisely followed his mind map and soon he arrived at the Royal Guards Office. The pegasus was surprised to find out the entrance of the building not guarded by anypony. There were always two pegasi or two unicorns that stood like statues, in their golden armors, in the sides of the Office's door.

"Maybe I've made a mistake somewhere? No, I can't have. I should be right in front of the Office. Let's see, if I can get some answers inside." Lucky thought. With his left hoof, the pegasus located the tall door and pushed it back with little force. Lucky got inside in the Office's reception, which was a medium sized room with a lot of chairs that were put in the sides. The floor was made of a well preserved wooden material. The walls were painted in red and yellow and the ceiling in white. On the walls, portraits of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were magnificently painted and put to each other. They were smiling, as if they were trying to cheer anypony, who would look at them.

At the end of the room, two opposite corridors led to the other areas of the building and between them stood a small wooden desk, behind of which the only pony in the room was writing stuff. The old grey unicorn, turned his attention away from his duties and felt surprised by the sight of Lucky.

"Well, what do you know? It's Lucky-the-Eight, in flesh and blood. You look surprisingly good , sonny."  the old one greeted him with his western accent.

"Hi, Quarter Key. Long time no see or hear..." Lucky replied, while he closed the distance between them.

"I heard from Metal Eye that you were in a very bad shape. What happened, Lucky?" the unicorn looked anxious. He was one of the oldest in the Guards Office and many considered him like an older brother, who they could talk to, when they had problems, no matter the sort.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Lucky turned his head to the left, as if he didn't want to look at the unicorn's blue eyes. It was an old habit, he couldn't escape from. "I came to speak with Metal Eye about a thing. Is he here?"

"Nope. He was ordered to travel to Manehatten few days ago and I do not know why." the old pony answered.

"Why didn't Metal Eye tell me, that he was leaving Canterlot?" Lucky thought and then sighed. "What am I going to do now? Wait for him?... No! If I wait for him, it will only mean that I'm weak. And I do not want that."

"Lucky, are you alright? You seem upset. Is there something I can do?" Quarter Key suggested with a smile.

"Never mind me." Lucky answered. He then turned his head, now facing the unicorn. The pegasus washed himself from his previous thoughts and now he wanted to change the subject of their conversation. "Isn't it quiet in here? Why there aren't any guards at the entrance?"

"Princess Celestia declared a state of emergency. It seems the clouds over our heads are uncontrollable and dangerous to anypony on the ground. Every capable pegasi and unicorns, serving in Canterlot, were called to help in dealing with this problem. Only I and a few other older Guardians were ordered to stay here in case somepony needs help with something."

"So that's way everypony was missing on the streets. Interesting, the last state of emergency was declared, when the changelings attacked the capital. I wonder what might have caused the rogue clouds." Lucky thought.

Suddenly a big noise came from the left corridor. Lucky's immediately turned his head at the direction of the sound. The old unicorn didn't even move, as if he expected it.

"What was that?" Lucky asked with a scared voice.

Quarter Key looked unhappy and somewhat unwilling to talk about it:

"Our newest addition in the cells. She claims to be a "Ninja", not that I know what it means. She was recently caught, when trying to steal a cart, full with apples. A tough pony as I heard. She managed to fight off five of our guards until Metal Eye somehow got behind her and knocked her out. Quite the arsenal we got from her: a sword, some knifes and star-shaped things. As if she was going for war or something."

"And what is this pony doing in the cells?" Lucky sounded confused.

"What do you think? Eating muffins? No, that bloody pony tries to escape by hitting the magic barriers. In my days, all ponies, who were caught, admitted their fault and did their stay in the jail peacefully. But this one is different, she not only denies stealing those apples but also claims we're are the ones, who are committing the crime. This pony just has no respect for the authorities and it bothers me a lot." now the unicorn looked a little grumpy.

Lucky understood why Quarter Key was upset. The old pony believed in honor and justice and throughout his entire career, he served the community by his principals. Although he was a strong spirited, he couldn't stay indifferent to such insults. Lucky felt sympathetic and decided to help him.

"Would you like me to talk with the pony?"

"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but talking ain't gonna help in this case. My colleagues tried to reason with her without any success. She'll keep doing her attempts to escape, no matter what."

"Then I'll not talk. Can you still make a protective bubbles around ponies?" Lucky looked very confident in what he was planning to do.

"What is in your mind, Lucky?" then Quarter Key's eyes became bigger from the single thought. "You are not planning to go in the cell, when she is still there?"

"That's my plan. If she uses all her energy on me, she may become more resilient to talks." Lucky replied with a smile.

"What are you doing, Lucky? What are you trying to prove?" he asked himself.

"Are you mad? She will beat you like a hurricane. I can't let a blind pony in the cells, even if there were ponies to back you up." the unicorn shouted.

Lucky froze like stone, when he heard the last sentence. The familiar angry feeling raised from the deeps of his soul but he desperately tried to fight it. "So what? Because I'm blind, I can't do dangerous stuff? I'll show him.... Ah.... must control myself."

Quarter Key looked at Lucky and tried to see what was going in his mind.

"Lucky, are you sure you are feeling alright?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes." Lucky answered. He almost let the uncontrollable feeling out but managed to keep it inside himself. "Look, I can do this just, trust me."

"I don't like the sound of this." the grey pony negatively shook his head.

"Alright, then let's make it like this. I'll stay in the barrier and just dodge her every attack by moving on the safe side. What would you say about it?"

"Sounds to risky. But If I levitate you quickly enough and use you like a puppet, it may actually work." Quarter thought out loud. "Okay, then. Let's try it. But if things get hot, we'll stop immediately. Understand?"  

"Yes, sir!" Lucky answered with a smile.

"Lucky, why are you doing this? Ah, talking to myself, I must be mad now." he thought.

"Follow me." Quarter Key ordered and jumped from his chair. He went for the left corridor, followed by Lucky. The cells were in the basement. They were made by magical crystals that formed spheres of a thick magic barriers. The crystals were carefully placed on the walls, so that they split the room into four separate cells. Only the ponies that knew the numerical combination of each crystal could move freely around this theurgic prison.

The basement had an yellowish radiance that came form the barriers. When the two ponies appeared from the stairway, the yellow color disappeared and the entire room turned into red. Quarter Key looked carefully at the cells and saw the ninja, who stood still. She was wearing a dark clothing that covered her entire body. Only two big orange eyes stared back at the unicorn. Quarter Key got the chills on his back, when their eyes met on the same plain.

"I forgot to mention, we didn't manage to remove her clothing and see the pony behind it." he said with uncertain voice.

"Didn't you say Metal Eye knocked her out? So you had like a lot of time to remove it."

"Yes, but there are padlocks that prevent it. We were about to call a key maker, when she woke up and nopony dared to get near, except Metal Eye but he was unsuccessful."

"I see. So, are you ready?"

"I should be the one asking you this question. Just give me a sec." the grey pony closed his eyes and targeted his horn at Lucky. It flashed with a bright light and a grey beam flew from the horn, hitting Lucky. Suddenly around the pegasus appeared a pink bubble, which grew for a few moments. When it formed perfectly, Quarter Key stop using his horn and the beam disappeared.

"Now for the hard part!" the elder said. He looked a little tired because using magic drained a lot of his energy. "This is going to be tricky, so hold on."  

"To what exactly?" Lucky was beginning to regret his decision but he had to do this for some untold reason.

"Let's hope, I survive this in one piece." he thought.

Quarter Key closed his eyes again and concentrated harder on lifting up the pegasus. He gave his best and after some moments Lucky flew through the barriers and landed just on the boundary of the two cells. Their colors changed from red to blue, indicating that somepony was passing through them.

While the two ponies were doing their plan, the ninja just kept watching them without even blinking once. She analyzed their every move and word they said and based on those, the mare was devising an escape plan.

When Lucky landed carefully on the ground, he immediately tried to locate the prisoner with his hearing. The ninja didn't move and was completely silent, which made Lucky's job very difficult. The pegasus didn't ask the old unicorn because he didn't want him losing his concentration. If what the elder said was true, the ninja was highly skillful and shouldn't be underestimated. Lucky waited for her to make the first move. Noting happened in the next fifteen seconds. Her big eyes were motionless and even felt very lifeless, as if there was no soul in the ninja's body. Lucky, on the other hand, tried to make himself look as much annoyingly as possible. He stretched his hooves in front of him, yawned couple of times and even checked his mane with his hoof.  

Her attack came without a warning and so fast, Lucky was almost hit in the face by her flying kick. Quarter Key managed to pull him behind the barrier just in time. The ninja hit the magical wall with a lot of force. The loud sound echoed in the basement.

Her hoof hurt but she wasn't going to be fooled again. The ninja silently returned to her previous position and sat down.

"Are you alright, kid?" the unicorn asked.

"Yes, I am." Lucky replied. He was amazed by her speed and power and oddly he enjoyed himself. "She hit the barrier really hard, maybe she will talk now?" he wondered.

The pegasus moved in her cell with a smile on his face.

"So, are you willing to talk?" Lucky friendly asked. The ninja gave him no answer and just kept glazing at him with her orange eyes. "I see you are not one of the talkative ponies."

"How can a blind pony see?" Her question came like a hammer to Lucky. He really wasn't expecting her to talk at all so soon.

"That's just an expression." he replied with a more serious tone. "I heard you were making trouble in here."

"Trouble with your vision?" she deliberately attacked his problem to see. Lucky noticed it and tried to barricade himself from her words.

"You were caught stealing apples, which is a crime." Lucky was looking for breaches in her defenses, so that he could stop the aggression inside her.

"Do you want to see those apples?" her voice was rid of any emotion. Her questions were thrown like sharp knifes, that stuck deeply in the body.

"By the way, why did you need so much? Were you so hungry?" Lucky asked. The ninja was tougher than he expected and the pegasus was running out of options to get inside her thoughts.

"Would you like to see the truth from a closer distance?"

Lucky got the shivers by the thought of him being near the dangerous pony.

"It's a trap! She'll probably try to grab me and force her way out of the cells. But If I win in her own game, maybe she will stop her futile attempts to escape and may acknowledge her fault. From now on, I must proceed with more caution." Lucky thought.

"What's the matter? Afraid of being the mouse? The little one, the nopony? I pity you!"

Lucky froze in one place, which was an indication she touched a soft spot on him. She smiled invisibly for the others and prepared her next move.

"A blind pegasus, alone in the dark land of regret and sorrow. How are the wings you have there? Using them as intended?"

The anger was too much for Lucky to hold. He really wanted to punch her in the face but if he charged her, he would certainly lose against the ninja. His body started to shake and Quarter Key saw it as a bad sign.

"Lucky, don't listen to her! She is manipulating you!" he shouted but it was too late. The pegasus couldn't control himself anymore and he furiously jumped towards the ninja. "Just as planed." she thought, when she saw him flying to her in rampage mode. She quickly dodged his incoming hoof and counter attacked from his right. Quarter Key used his magical horn to levitate Lucky out of there but he needed time to get him to safety. Meanwhile, the ninja hit the protection bubble with fast kicks and strikes. Just before Lucky was levitated behind the barrier, his bubble broke and she managed to badly hit the pegasus in the cheek. Lucky bit his lip and some blood flew out from his mouth.

Quarter Key pulled the pegasus back to him. He looked really worried.

"Are you badly hurt?" He looked closely at Lucky, trying to find any injury on him.

"I'm okay. It's just my lips." the pegasus said before wiping the blood trail from his mouth. He was very angry. No one had the right to call him like that and Lucky would never forget this insult.

Quarter Key finished with his examination and he felt relieved, when there were no serious injuries to Lucky's body.

"By my black mane, you are one lucky pony." he said with a small smile. "I'm sorry for this. I shouldn't have been so careless in putting you in there."

"The one at fault is me. I let her know my weakness." Lucky lowered his head and ears to the ground.

"What were you thinking?" he shouted to himself in his mind. "Ponies before you couldn't do it. Am I trying to prove I'm worth something? Argg... I've got to stop talking to myself like that."  

"Lucky, let's go upstairs, I'll treat you with a hot chocolate milk. Your favorite one." Lucky silently nodded and slowly started climbing the stairs. There was noting to do here and he wanted to be far away from the ninja. Quarter Key unhappily glimpsed back at the prisoner and she looked at him with her emotionless eyes. "Bloody ninja!" he thought, then the unicorn turned around and followed his ex-colleague.

The room brought back its previous yellowish color. The ninja was again alone in the magical prison, which she utterly hated. Next Chapter: Chapter 3: The Job Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 6 Minutes