Her house seemed bigger from the inside than from the outside. There were many paintings on the walls, which were drawn in different styles. Majority of them were very accurate portraits of other ponies. They all looked like they were floating around in ecstasy. The ones with the scenery were quite huge and were placed in such a way, so that they made a transition from spring paintings to winter ones.

Her home was one big beautiful gallery and no wonder famous ponies were eager to come here tonight.

Rose entered the living room, followed by Lucky and the ninja. It was rather big and unlike the hallway, that led them here, the room had a tall ceiling. A crystal chandelier was hanging in the center. The walls were painted in mix of violet and white colors, which made smooth rounded figures, just like in the corridor. The floor was covered with expensive carpet. It was colored in pink and purple, giving it a perfect tone with the walls. Three big windows provided a perfect lighting for the room, so that it was always bright.

There were a long, stylish purple sofa and a low glass table on four legs in front of it. The sofa was positioned in a such a way that anypony, who'd sit on it, would look at the huge paintings on the wall, which were hid under white curtains.

The aroma of the room intoxicated Lucky's senses and the soft carpet felt, as if he was walking over clouds. For a moment, the pegasus remember, when he first stepped on a cloud. It was an exciting thing to do and yet little scary. However, the ninja gently bumped him with her hoof and the memory faded away. He needed to stay focused for the duration of their assignment.

Lucky slowly shook his head to clean it of all unnecessary thoughts.

"This is the living room. I left the letter on the table, which as you can see, it is gone." Rose said, when approaching the mass.  

"Putting important stuff in the open like that just beg to be stolen." Lucky slowly moved after her.

She turned her eyes to him and looked at him with little annoyance.

"I know how to manage my things, Mr Lucky. I left the letter here because I was returning from the marketplace and I was full to say the least." Rose stopped just in front of the glass table and turned to face the other two.

"So, you went to put the bags in the kitchen and when you returned the letter was gone, am I right?" Lucky sounded confident in his assumption.

Rose smiled.

"Partially correct. I remembered, I had to go outside again for something I forgot to do. When I returned, the letter was missing."

"Are you absolutely sure, that you didn't put it elsewhere?" Lucky asked with a serious tone.

Rose nodded positively.

"No doubt about it."

"Did you left the door open? Maybe somepony, who knew you went inside and wanted to make a little joke?"

"I always lock the door and the windows, when I leave my house. So no pony can get inside, without breaking the door first."

"Or via pick locking... Maybe the thief used some other way to get inside. Let's see how my "partner" will do her job." Lucky thought.

"Ninja, you start your search with this room and then the rest of the house. Look for clues, which would indicate from where the burglar entered and also for stuff the intruder might have dropped in his stay here." Lucky ordered. He expected to get an angry remind from her, that no pony is a boss of her but nothing like that happened. She quickly began her careful search without a spoken word.

When Lucky's surprise wore off, he turned his attention to Rose.

"The thief didn't take anything else, right?" he asked, as if he didn't want to be heard.

"Yes, everything else is in its place, even my new paintings, which I've prepared for this evening." Rose anxiously looked at the pictures on the wall, which were covered with white curtains. They were different in size but one stood out as twice as big from the rest.    

"So the robber knew what he wanted." Lucky thought out loud. "Ms Rose, how many letters as important as the stolen one have you received?"

The blue unicorn looked uncertain to answer his question.

"A few." she whispered.

"So the thief must have spied on her before making his first move. Now the questions are who did it and what's the motive." he thought.

While the pegasus was occupied with his thoughts on the matter, the ninja checked the windows for signs of broke in but there were none. Then she moved across the room to look for anything interesting but yet again her search was futile one. The ninja double checked, if she missed something and then the black pony silently continued to the next room. Her watchful eyes scanned with absolute precision the surroundings and noting escaped her sight.

"What was the time, when the robbery happened. For how long you were gone from home, when it happened?" Lucky asked with puzzled voice.    

"I don't know the exact time but it was past noon, I am sure of it. I was away for just three or four minutes." Rose sighed sadly. Her curly mane hid her right half of her face. Her left big eye looked at the floor. "How I wish this never happened..."

Lucky understood her pain but there was no time for tears and comforting words. He continued asking her questions about that day, while the ninja was searching the rest of the house. She proceeded through the wide hallway, which was painted the same way as the living room and was filled with decorations and white marble sculptures. It led to the two bedrooms and the atelier.

The ninja first went in Rose's bedroom. It was quite fabulous. Its walls were painted in yellow like the outside of the house. Long pink silk curtains were hanging in front of crystal clear windows. Big comfortable bed was in the center, colored in white and blue. A wooden wardrobe stood tall opposite to the bed. On its two doors there were two clean mirrors. A small glass table, with a clock on top of it, was standing in the left side of the bed. The place felt fresh and the amount of free space it had, gave it a feeling of freedom.

Although many ponies would kill to have such a beautiful bedroom, the black pony was not slightly moved by the picture in front of her. She just went inside, looked around and concluded there was noting interesting to see in there.

Before the mare made her way out of the room, the ninja suddenly felt something, she didn't notice, when entering this house. At first, she was bothered by its absence but patiently waited for it to show itself. The ninja stood up on two legs and with her free ones, she made fast signs in the air, which involved some complex geometrical figures. The pony finished the magical art by crossing her front legs in an x. Her orange eyes flashed. She slowly turned around to the bedroom and now she could see the magical traces that floated in the air as transparent yellowish clouds with the size of an apple. The ones, that were brighter, were from recent use of magic.

"Very strange. Why I didn't feel the traces sooner? She is a unicorn, so her home must be filled with them just like this room. Magic cloak? It's a possibility. Will have to check the other rooms to be sure." she thought.      

Then the ninja slowly entered the gorgeous corridor and moved her sight carefully from one end to the other. There were little clouds around the sculptures but they seemed, that they were about to disappear completely, indicating magic was used weeks or months ago.

Noting interested her, so she slowly continued to the next bedroom. The pony went to the door and tried to opened it. Unfortunately, it was locked with a key. She decided not to force her way in and go check the atelier first and ask Rose later for the key.

The parlor's door was at the end of the hallway, which was close to the last bedroom. Luckily for the ninja, the door was not locked and she was able to get inside a large room with four big windows. It was bright. The walls were white and empty of any paintings. In the center of the atelier were a few canvas, on which noting had been drawn. The dyes were carelessly placed in random positions and the dirty brushes were lying on a piece of newspaper.

The pony first checked the windows and after not finding anything again, she looked at the yellowish clouds around the brushes and some of the paints. Somepony had very recently used magic on them. However, noting was painted on the canvas, which puzzled the ninja. She looked at the messy floor and found no traces of fresh dye on it. Then her eyes caught something.

One of the brushes had its end colored in red but the red paint was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly very thin line appeared, which started from the brush.

"Definitely magic cloak. Hm, this trace has an unusual shape, which I've never seen before. It can't be from the unicorn's magic, so it's somepony else's? I should see, where it goes." the ninja thought.

She slowly followed its straight path. Her concentration was entirely on the almost invisible wire and the pony proceeded carefully through the corridor. The ninja was so focused on it because she didn't want to lose sight of the line and failed to notice the little shadow, which moved behind her without a sound. The black shade kept its distance from her, as if it knew she was able to detect it, if it was close to the assassin. It took different shapes, while moving behind her, some of which resembled spears and swords, but it seemed scared to attack the back of the pony.

The magical line led the ninja back to the living room, where Lucky and Rose were sitting on the comfy sofa, in waiting for her return. The pegasus's looked thoughtful but he noticed, when his partner entered the room.

"Did you find anything?" he asked.

She didn't give an answer and kept walking in a straight line. The ninja stopped just in front of the big painting. The thin wire

pointed directly at the picture.

Rose looked worryingly at her and asked with a concerned voice:

"Is something wrong, Ms Ninja? Can I help you with something?"

Suddenly the black suited pony grabbed the white curtain with her hooves and pulled it down. The veil fell down gently, uncovering a portrait of dark alicorn in a threatening pose. The background was painted in blue and purple. She had white evil eyes, that stared directly at the three ponies. Her wings were long spread and black shadows came out from the ends of every feather like flames. The pony didn't wear anything except a red crystal medallion on a golden chain, which had a triangular shape. In its center there was a smaller green gem with a shape of an orb.

She looked powerful and fearsome. What really made the ninja concerned was that the yellow line's end was the green crystal, exactly in its center, which was also the absolute center of the entire painting.

Rose looked surprised by her action, only Lucky wasn't aware of what was happening. The unicorn jumped from hear seat and went to the ninja.

"What are you doing? What's wrong?" she asked.

The ninja only stared at the picture without even breathing. Something in it scared her for the first time in many years. Her hearth began beating uncontrollably, when she saw every sign painted with red in the picture, which she hoped never to see again in her life.    

The four signs were drawn like the four corners of the world and they all had one meaning.

"Here I am!" the ninja whispered.

Rose slowly closed her hoof to the black pony's shoulder. The later didn't react at all, as if she was magically stoned.

"You have found a clue, didn't you?" her voice echoed in the ninja's mind.

The assassin carefully turned her head to Rose and looked deeply at her eyes. Rose felt uncomfortable but a smile covered her emotions just perfectly.

"The signs." the ninja whispered and pointed at the red hieroglyphics. The blue unicorn looked up at the painting and saw noting unusual.

"There are no signs. Are you feeling alright?" Rose was a little confused.

"What signs?" Lucky asked concernedly, when he was walking up to them.

"They can't see them, so that wasn't a red paint but a powerful magic. This is a big trap!" she thought.

"She says that there are signs on the portrait. I think they scare her. However, there are none I can see at the moment" Rose answered calmly.

"The ninja feels fear? What is this thing that made her chicken?" Lucky though.

"Could you describe me whats painted on the said picture?" the pegasus asked.

"It's an old project of mine, which I recently finished. The painting is called Shadow Princess. She is the opposite of what Celestia represents as a Goddess of the Sun. My old friend and I loved to discus how a certain pony would look like, if they had a dark version of themselves. That is how this idea was born."

When Rose mention her friend, Lucky was able to notice a change of tone. There was something she tried to hide, which interested the pegasus.

"Reminds me of Nightmare Moon. And who is this friend of yours?"

Rose turned her head from Lucky to the painting. Although Lucky couldn't see her facial expression, the ninja did. However, she was busy dealing with her senses, which were going nuts. Her eyes were constantly checking the surroundings, although there was no evident threat to them.

"A very dear friend, who left me long ago. But I'd rather not talk about it."

"A friend, with whom she had a troublesome past. Why didn't she mention this before? Let's see how deep the story goes." the pegasus thought.

"Ms Rose, you do realize every piece of information can push us one step further to finding out, who stole your letter. Holding it back will make our job a lot more difficult to accomplish. So please, tell me what happened?" Lucky sounded very insistent.

Rose looked at him with a little anger.

"I will not. She has noting to do with this. I can assure you of that, because my friend is the nicest pony I've ever met and she would never do such a terrible crime as this."

The ninja suddenly approached her face to Rose's, who was very surprised to see her iron-like orange eyes so close to hers.

"Little, mister, private detective Lucky asked you a question. Answer it or we call quits on you!" she sounded a little pissed , but the truth was she was quite nervous and didn't like it at all.

Lucky tried to push both away from each other and said with calm voice:

"Stop it. She is our client and if she doesn't want to tell me, fine. Have it her way. And you... why are you so jumpy at the moment?"

The ninja pierced him with her orange eyes. Suddenly she noticed a green flashing, coming from under his coat, when she unexpectedly managed to spot, with her peripheral vision, objects, which were flying directly at them. The ninja pushed him with great force and then in just a fraction of a second turned on her two back hooves to face the three blades. For her the time moved slowly, while the razor edged knifes moved swiftly in the air. She exhaled once,  at the same time, spread her front legs and span very fast in one place. While she did that the blades almost reached her but the ninja managed to grab them by the handles and then she span again. For a split second, her eyes caught a movement near the door. When she was about to finish her second spin, she aimed at the target and then tossed the knifes.

The blades were thrown precisely at the silhouette but somehow the shadowy figure managed to completely dodge them by moving to the side. The knifes made deep holes and struck with such a force, that the paintings on the wall fell down.

For a moment the mysterious pony hesitated, which gave little time for the ninja to charge his position. Everything happened so fast, that Rose and Lucky didn't have a clue of what was going on. The unicorn focused on the dark figure next to the windows. She was astonished, when the painter saw the thing moving through the glass, as if there was no window.

The ninja was surprised to see it too but there was no time for wondering how it happened. She jumped in the air and went through the window, the old fashioned way. Lots of broken glass flew outwards and fortunately for her, she managed to not cut herself.    

When she landed on the street, the ninja did three barrel rolls before fully stopping. The pursuer quickly stood up and galloped after the shadow. It was fast but the ninja was faster and the distance between them was getting shorter and shorter.

The black figure decided to turn right on the corner of a beautiful house with red roof. The ninja followed it without hesitation. She deeply breathed on normal intervals and was fully concentrated on the chase.

When she turned right, the pursued was gone from the wet streets. The ninja quickly looked up and saw a pony that somehow could gallop on vertical walls. She also managed to spot that the shadows, which covered its the entire body, were starting to disappear, uncovering a pony whit a white mane.

The ninja didn't knew why the pony was transforming and it only fueled her urge to find out. So she began galloping even faster. The pursued noticed that and with its remaining shadowy tentacles the pony threw another knifes at its pursuer. The ninja anticipated that move and successfully dodged his attacks without dropping her speed. She tried to guess his next step and prepared for the next attack.

The few ponies that were on the street watched in shock the action that unraveled before them.

The pursued pony suddenly went for the roofs, when he saw the ninja considerably catching on to her. Another pair of knifes flew in the ninja's direction but they all missed again. The black suited pony made a powerful jump and landed on a second floor balcony of a smaller house. Then she jumped again and found herself on the roof. The distance now was greater between them but she galloped double hard to compensate for the swift change in course.

The runner tried to escape as fast as he could. His chance smiled on him, when the pursued pony saw the end of the building line. There was a wide street, which only pegasuses could actually jump and safely get to the other side. With his remaining strength, the runner made a powerful leap forward in the air. He flew fast upwards above the unsuspecting ponies and almost didn't land successfully on the roof of the building.

The pursued continued running to the left. He turned his head to check, if his pursuer decided to cease the chase. For his horror, the runner saw how the ninja made even mightier jump and landed on his side. The pursuit continued but it wouldn't be long cause the runner was beginning to slow.

"Those shadows must be the source of his strength. Good thing they are fading away." she thought, while quickly closing on his position.

The runner saw he had no chance to outrun the ninja, so he decided to face her. He stopped in one place, then turned his face to her. The ninja saw an opportunity to catch him for good and was ready to jump on him. The pursued waited for the perfect moment and when it came tens of shadows flied to her. She tried to dodge them all but they were too many. The black tentacles slammed into her like a wall and hurled her backwards.

The ninja flew nine meters and barely landed on her legs. Her eyes pointed again at the pursued. The runner looked at them and found no emotion. As if her stare didn't came from her but from hell. Suddenly, a blood drop fell from her forehead and splat on the white roof. Then another one followed and fell, leaving a small trail of blood.

Her vision got a little blurry but she was still holding. The pursued smiled but he was quickly reminded, why he was trying to escape her. More of the shadows disappeared and the time was running out. The runner then jumped from the building in a lonely alley and vanished.

The ninja stood and looked at the direction, her pray escaped. She failed in her task and only shame roamed in her soul. When her vision normalized, she barely noticed the small piece of paper on the roof. She slowly took it from the ground. An address was the only thing written on it. The ninja hid it under her clothing, then turned around and went back to Rose's house.

Lucky and Rose found her on the street walking with the pace of a snail. She had a pissed look, which was quite unusual for her. The unicorn was unsure, if she wanted to ask her how it went, although the answer was obvious. The black pony went to Lucky, grabbed his hoof and then she gave him the piece of paper.

"This a visit card. It fell from runner, when I was chasing him. I didn't manage to see the pony's face." she said with low voice, which was untypical for her. Then the ninja bowed down in front of him. Her head almost touched the ground and her eyes gazed the wet earth, as if it was the most beautiful thing. "I failed my task. By my code, I'll have to be punished for my unsuccess. Do it as you see fit!"

Lucky was astounded by her request. However, a dark feeling raised from the deeps of his soul. The feeling of revenge grew big from just a spark to a forest fire. Yes, the pegasus found a chance to humiliate her, the way she did in the past days.

His breathing slowed down. He lifted his right hoof. The pegasus looked like he was about to strike her but instead his hoof gently touched her shoulder. The ninja didn't look up to see his mixed expression, indicating the battle between his mind and feelings.

Then Lucky said with a little angry voice:

"I'm not a punisher, but I'm your partner. And as one I don't see justice to cause you pain. However, I can use this moment, which may never happen again, to have my vengeance on you." there was a small pause, in which everypony was silent. Rose was looking at the pegasus, wondering what he  would do next. The answer came shortly and unexpectedly. "Get up! Your shame, if you have one, is enough of a punishment."

The ninja complied and quickly raised her body. She looked at the pegasus and then silently moved away from the two. She sat on the nearest bench and looked at the wonderful green scenery.

"I do not know what happened between you too but weren't you too harsh?" Rose asked.

"No, I was too soft in comparison with the little hell she gave me this day." Lucky sighed. "Let's get back on tracks. Can you look at this visit card and tell me, if the address sounds familiar."

Lucky then turned to the lonely ninja and earnestly said:

"Come here, I'll need a detailed report of what happened, when you chased the killer-wannabe."

"I recognize this address. It is the home of my friend. But why would the pony have her allocution?" she said worryingly.

"Is there a connection with this fail attempt of murder and the theft? Why would anypony want to kill Rose? What is the motive here?" Lucky thought. "What is the place of her friend in the picture?"

Lucky closed a little to Rose. He looked quite serious, cause he wanted answers immediately.

"Ms Rose, I need to know what happened between you and the friend of yours. Please, for the sake of this investigation, you'll have to answer me."

Rose looked at Lucky with insecure eyes, then back at the little piece of paper. There was no escape from the truth, so she gave up on hiding from it.

"Her name is Rain Paint. She is also an artist like me and we shared common view on how we draw our paintings. We've been close friends since young fillies. She is the quiet type of ponies, the ones that don't seek fame. Most of the time, I used to represent her drawings and arts by her behave and she was okay with it. We lived happily together until the worst moment in my life.

An year ago, something changed in her. Her personality became more aggressive and it showed on her paintings. I tried to find the cause of her change of behavior but I failed. Then we had an awful hassle, which made her to permanently leave me and start living in Manehatten. I haven't heard from her since that painful day."

"So another artist. Maybe we are onto something here." Lucky thought.

"Ms Rose, I'll need the rest of the promised bits because we are going in Manehatten." the pegasus said. "I bet our little ghost has something to do with your friend."

"Are you actually thinking Rain Paint is behind all this? She is one of the friendliest ponies. Even if she has problems, my friend would never try to do these terrible things."  Rose sounded scared because she didn't want to harm her relationship with her friend even more by sending the two at her door step.

"I'm not accusing her for being involved with the robbery and the attempt at murder. Your friend may prove useful in finding the pony, who did those. Trust me, we'll catch the nag responsible for the crimes." Lucky sounded pretty confident, which gave Rose slightly more hope for the future.

"Okay. I will go and get the sum. Wait me here. Fortunately for us, there are not anyponies around." Rose said.

"Will wait." the ninja said. The blue unicorn nodded and then quickly went back to her home. When she disappeared around the corner, the black pony whispered to Lucky: "Those knifes were not aimed at the fancy pony, but only at you."

Lucky didn't move, when he heard her words.

"Me?" he asked surprisingly. He was getting little sweaty.

"There is also something you should know about the pursued pony. It used dark magic, which is beyond this world." the ninja looked directly at him with her two big orange eyes.

Lucky turned his head to her. He could feel her serious sight piercing him like a blade.

"Black Magic? So another unicorn... What did I get into?" Lucky asked himself. His face darkened. The pegasus had little to none experience dealing with magical creatures, which had the intends to kill others. The Royal Guards never prepared him for such a thing. However, he had to stay strong and proceed with caution.

"Then let's hope it doesn't hurt much." Lucky smiled. "Thanks for saving my life."

The ninja didn't say anything and only turned her sight to the green scenery, which unraveled before them. She could see in the distance a small town, surrounded by forests and colorful fields. There was no wind. The grey clouds were still  on top of the Capital, but somehow they had spread over more land.

They waited for a few minutes in total silence, when Rose returned to them with the promised bits.

"Here, take this wallet. The visit card is inside it." the unicorn gave it to Lucky, who immediately then put it inside his only pocket.

"Will contact you as soon as we have have more information. For your own safety, you'd better cancel the meeting."

"Don't worry about me. I'll figure a reason, why I broke the window. As one famous pony said, the show must go on." Rose said smilingly.

"What's his name?" the ninja asked.

"Free Mercury, from the band Princess." Lucky answered. Then he turned to Rose. "I think we are ready, unless I've forgot something. We'll get the train to Manehatten because it's faster than on hoof."

"I'll need more apples." the ninja reminded him with serious voice. Lucky nodded.

"We'd better get going. Good-Bye, Ms Rose. Stay safe."

Then the two began walking in the direction of the marketplace.

"On Goddess speed." Rose said, while looking at the receding ponies. When they were far away, she went back to her home with a smile. Her disguise was perfect and no pony, she met on the street, noticed anything wrong with her. Next Chapter: Chapter 9: Trains, Everypony Likes Trains Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 5 Minutes