"I hate trains. I prefer flying by myself instead of waiting for a machine to drive me to a wanted destination. But considering our situation, its the fastest and best way to get to Manehatten. Does that cover your question?" Lucky had a lot going in his head and wasn't in a mood for casual talk with anypony, especially with the ninja.

They were heading to the only train station in Canterlot, which was quite the piece of beautiful architecture. It was quite long with big blue windows, which had arc like shapes. The station was painted in bright and dark violet, giving it a exquisite look.

The ninja walked next to the pegasus with another bag over her back, full with juicy apples. Lucky wondered why she needed so many apples. Was it because her body needed a lot of energy to maintain its super strength? Or was it just because his partner was addicted to the fruits? He didn't really know and this wasn't one of his prime things to think about at the moment.

"Let's get back to work! So the runner slammed you with a black magical wall and escaped... that must mean he is very powerful. Attacking him directly would be inadvisable." Lucky thought out loud, then he partially turned his head to her and asked: "Could you remember more about the runaway?"  

"The escapee was mostly covered by the shadows. I managed to see only a white mane and tail, noting else." she calmly said, though her shame still roamed in her body like a disease. Her eyes looked at one distant invisible spot but even then she noticed everything around her. She was ready to react fast, if she had to.

"Only a matter of time, the predator always returns!" the ninja remembered an old saying from her youth.

"Why weren't you able to continue the chase?" Lucky's voice sounded so far away in her extra concentrated ear.

"I was wounded. He could kill me, but for some reason the runner decided to make his escape." her cold voice pierced his soul like a sword. The dark feeling, coming from her, was deep and the pegasus understood her.

"Is it serious? The wound I mean." he tried not to sound sympathetic cause the ex-Guardian still had a grudge against her but he needed to know her current state.

"I'll be fine." she said without slowing her pace.

Silence took over for the duration of their travel to the station. There weren't many ponies waiting for the train's arrival. The big clock in the middle of the station showed exactly ten in the morning, when the steel machine stopped next to the platform. The driver completely pulled up the breaks, making sure it wont move from its place.

The two stepped on the platform, when the doors opened and passengers came out from the train wagons. Soon it became a little crowded but there was still room for a blind pegasus to move without bumping into anypony.

The conductor looked at the clock on the violet wall of the station and then his eyes turned to his round watch on a small chain.

"The train leaves in fifteen minutes! Next stop is Ponyville!" he shouted, after that the grey pony put his watch under his blue jacket and went to the locomotive's window to talk with the driver.

The ninja and the pegasus moved in his direction but were stopped by a group of ponies that appeared in front of them and blocked their way.

"We need to find AJ." the purple unicorn said, when looking at her companions."Rainbow Dash quickly fly over the market place and check for her there. The rest are coming with me to the Castle."  

"I'm on it!" the cyan pegasus sounded spirited. She spread her wings and with one swoop her body was up in the air. From there the pegasus aimed at the center of the Capital and flew over the train station, leaving a colorful trail from her mane and tail.

"I still don't understand why we have to hurry so much. I'm sure that what ever Princess Celestia has to say can wait a little longer." the gorgeous white unicorn complained, which irritated a little the purple pony.

"Princess Celestia has a very good reason for asking us all to come here. So I don't want to disappoint her by being late." the purple one exclaimed.

"U-u, will She tell us where the next Galloping Gala is going to be or will She reveal us a secret. Oh, I like secrets. They are fun! You can ..." the pink earth pony's mouth was shut by a white hoof, silencing it for good.

"He-he, you do remember, we were supposed to be discrete about it, when on the street. You may never know how many ears are pointed at us any given moment." the unicorn glimpsed at the nearby pegasus, who was trying to go around them.

The pink pony removed the hoof from her mouth and said smilingly:

"My lips are sealed."

The purple unicorn looked at the time again and got a little more nervous.

"Come on, girls. The Princess awaits us."

Then she began walking fast to the stairs of the platform, followed by the white unicorn, the energetic pink pony and the silent yellow pegasus.

"Who were these ponies? Friends to Her Majesty? They sounded like ones. I wonder what the Princess is going to show them. Could it be somehow connected with the awful weather?" Lucky thought.

The two ponies went to the conductor, who was in a middle of a conversation with the driver.

"... no clouds in Manehatten yet. However, some ponies speculate that it's just a matter of time, when the pegasus lose control over the weather there." the yellow pony said from the window of the locomotive. He had taken off his white hat with vertical blue strips, showing a short brown mane.

"Very interesting." the conductor nodded.

The ninja stopped right behind him and knocked on his back.

"We want tickets to Manehatten." she said.

The conductor slowly turned around to face them. He looked them carefully.

"I suppose, two tickets?"

"Yes." Lucky replied.

"That would be ten bits each." grey pony calmly said.

The pegasus raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me. Isn't that too high for just a ticket?"

"Nope." he shook his head in a negative manner. "So, what it would be?"

Lucky had no choice but to get the bits from his wallet and give them to the conductor. Suddenly the ninja took the wallet from his hoof and quickly pulled out a bigger sum.

"Here. Also take this bonus. You've never seen us here, got it?" she sounded threatening.

The conductor and the driver looked at each other. The grey pony uncertainly took the bits from her hoof and gave her the two tickets.

"I do not promise anything, mam. But thank you for the bonus." he said, when putting the money in a safe place.

The ninja didn't like his answer, so she stared at his eyes. The conductor did the same. He was not about to turn his back on somepony, who showed grudge against him. However, her deep gaze changed his mind, when the conductor felt fear to his deepest corners of his soul. He looked away from the big orange eyes, a little shaking.

"Oh sorry, pal. It was just the wind..." he said with insecure voice and turned to his friend on the window.

The ninja secretly smiled under her mask, when she saw her magic working as intended. She turned to the white pegasus, who was not looking happy.

"Did you have to this?"

Though he was blind, he knew exactly what happened in front of him.

"It's for our own safety." she said with unusual happy voice. Then the ninja gave him his wallet and went to the third wagon. Lucky was slightly behind, when she entered inside it. He was about to pass through the door, when the pegasus heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Lucky Eight, stop!" an white unicorn shouted, while galloping in full armor. The blind pony patiently waited for the Guardian to come. The unicorn quickly arrived in front of him, almost without a breath.

"You forgot that you couldn't leave, didn't you? I've been looking for you for the past half an hour to deliver you a message from Quarter Key. Good thing I saw Ms Rose and she helped me in locating you." Diamond Rod said with tired voice. He clearly wasn't used to run in full armor, despite his strong body.

"Something happened?" Lucky asked concernedly.

"Kind of. Key wont be able to make it for your meeting, so do you, it seems. He explicitly asked me to find you and give you this." Rod handed over a closed letter. "One more thing, I need to know where you are going. In a few days, we may need your presence in the Castle to tell us more about what happened last night with the recruits."

"I'm going to Manehatten for a day or two. Then I'll come back." Lucky said kind of uncertain cause his almost entire attention was on the piece of paper, he held in his hoof.    

"Alright, then. See you later in the Castle." the unicorn then began galloping again in the direction of the Palace. It seemed, there were a lot of things going on in there cause he hurried like there was no tomorrow.

The pegasus hid the letter in his pocket and slowly got passed the door and wondered which direction should he take.

"Over here!" the ninja said and Lucky turned to the left. She chose the rear seats, where they wouldn't get any attention from the other passengers. Lucky with careful steps went to the back of the empty wagon and sat next to her. She was looking outside the window, as if the ninja was expecting something to happen.

"You need to know something." she whispered. He listen carefully to what she was about to say. "Shadow Sun is the name of the magical art, the pony, I chased, was using. Its very powerful and alone I can't defeat its user."

Lucky sat still with a thoughtful look.

"What are you suggesting?" Lucky asked.

The ninja slowly turned her eyes at him and smiled.

"I'm not gonna eat apples."

Lucky got confused but he guessed it had a coded meaning to it.

"A plan?" he asked.

"Kind of."

"Will you share it with me?"

"In due time." she then turned her orange eyes back to the outside world. The sky was grey and the structures below had their shining look forcefully taken by something out of this world. She didn't give two bits about them but old duty of hers finally caught up with her. There was no denying it now, she had to finish the job once and for all.

After some time ponies entered the train wagon and took the front and middle seats of the two sides. It became a bit noisy and soon they heard the conductor's yell, telling everypony that the train was about to leave. Then the siren sounded very loud and the pinky locomotive started turning its steel wheels. The colorful train slowly moved forward, gaining more speed with each passing moment and leaving only a trail of smoke.

Somewhere in a cave...

The shadowy pony took deep breaths. The fugitive was suffocating and painful seizures passed its body like sea waves. Darkness surrounded the runners entire world, quite dangerous not to bring some lights in this wet and slippery place. However, the pony didn't need the warming beams of the sun or the light bulb in that matter. The runaway actually was hiding from the bright day because it burned him and destroyed his body.

The blackness was good. It regenerated the shadows and his power grew really fast. Soon the pony felt like a God again, though not fully recovered. The sable tentacles were covering the body completely and they started shaking independently from one another. Then they settled down in a synchronized fluid movement. The shadows sensed something. The two little ponies were traveling fast to a city, they shouldn't be yet.

They had to be stopped.

Suddenly every shadow, coming from the pony's body, got out in a very violent way. Great pain went through him and the fugitive fell hard on the ground. He didn't produce any sound. The shadows combined into one and quickly disappeared in a small crack on the wall, leaving a lifeless body of a pegasus, the last victim of the hungry demon. Too bad his love may never know what happened to him.    

On the railway...

The train was traveling with a moderate speed. It was the only thing moving in the open green fields. The skies were blue and the sun was happily shining, giving free energy to the flora and warming light to the animals. Hills, forests and tall mountains composed the beautiful scenery. The nature was full with colors and life but not everypony looked outside the windows to admire this wonderful place.

The black pony meditated and Lucky was counting the time. At one moment, he gave up and sighed. The pegasus leaned back on his seat and started thinking of what happened today.

"Rose's letter must contain quite the powerful information, if it's worth killing for it. At least, I have the ninja but to what limit can I trust her to save my life in future troubles? I get the feeling she is holding something from me. She sounds, as if her past was tied with the runaway. But then, why hiding it from me? So many question and no visible answers."

He sighed again. Then Lucky gently put his hoof in his pocket and slowly pulled out the small letter.

"Should I ask her to read it for me? Hope she doesn't throw it out of the window."

"Hey, can you read this out loud. It's something important." he said, when hanging over the letter.

The ninja slowly opened her eyes and grudgingly took it from him. She opened it and glimpsed at the written content.

"Hm, a love poem, by somepony called Quarter Key. Oh, the words are strong and passionate but I've seen better." then the ninja crumpled the paper and tossed it at an unicorn's head, who then picked it up from the wooden floor.  

"I hate you!" Lucky said quietly.

The ninja smiled.

"I'm bored, so let's play a little game. You go fetch it and bring the letter to me. Then I'll read it for you. I'll give you a hint: third."

"Sure..." Lucky reluctantly got off his seat and steadily went forward. He got to the third roll, where the violet unicorn was reading the little piece of paper.      

"Excuse me, have you seen a crumpled letter around here?"

"Oh, yes. It's very interesting." the horny pony said delightfully.

The pegasus was little annoyed but tried to sound polite:

"Would you give it to me? It's from a friend of mine."

"Of cour... wait a second. You'll need to apologize first."

"I'm sorry!" Lucky sounded impatient and barely held himself to not hit something.

"Here you go." the unicorn smilingly gave him the letter and the pegasus quickly grabbed it from his hoof.

He got back on his seat and again handed over the paper.

"Please, read it!" he sounded earnest.

The ninja crumpled it again and before she could hurl it in a general direction, Lucky jumped on her, preventing the letter to become another fail plane. The pegasus had a pissed face and with all his strength tried to stop her from moving. The ninja just smiled and easily pushed him to his seat.

"You get pleasure from this, don't you?" Lucky angrily asked, while trying to keep low voice. He didn't want to bring unwanted attention to them because of her.

"How many times are you gonna ask me this. It's so obvious!" she giggled in her dark manner. The ninja opened the crumpled letter and whispered: "As I promised, I'll read it now:

Lucky, news from Metal Eye arrived. He is caught

            in a bigger thing than he expected. Eye wont be able to

            see you in the incoming months. However, you can see

            each other, if you are willing to travel to Manehatten. When

            I'm done here, we can both go and check on him. It would

            be a pleasure to help you get to him.

            I know these times are hard for you, so this is the least I can do for you.

            Hope to see you soon

            Quarter Key"

Then the ninja gave the letter to Lucky. The later put it in his pocket.

"Is this Metal Eye your lover?" she provoked him with her dark voice and looked at him in an ironical fashion.

Lucky was on a bring to place his hoof into her face but he knew that the ninja'd probably dodge his attack. He calmed a little and said:

"No, he is the pony, who knocked you out on the ground." the pegasus looked serious. The lines on the pink towel disappeared and soon his appearance turned to its normal form.  

Her smile still stayed on.

"Good, toughen up slightly more and I'll leave you be." she said to herself. The ninja returned to her previous meditating pose and closed her eyes. Lucky made himself comfortable on the seat and tried to sleep at least for an hour.

The driver checked some pressure indicators and the speed of the machine. For just a moment he looked outside the front window and for his horror, the engineer saw a large hole, where the railway used to be. Suddenly the machinist pulled the breaks and the train immediately began slowing down with loud creak from the wheels.

Lucky almost fell from his seat and barely could hold on his place. Briefcases and baskets were rolling on the floor in a total chaos. The other passengers looked freaked out from the unexpected fast change in speed. Only the ninja maintained her calm pose and she seemed unaware of what was happening.

The machinist was holding the handle for the breaks with his entire strength. The distance between the gap and the pink train was getting shorter with each passing second. The machine gradually went into a full stop just a few meters from the railway's end.

The driver quickly jumped from his place and went to see the situation from outside. Everypony was on edge and barely moved from their seats, though there were a few exceptions. Three passengers opened a window and leaned out to see why the train stopped.

"The railway is gone!" one of them exclaimed.

"How could this happen?" a blue earth pony asked.

So everypony burst into nervous talks about the situation, they all were stuck in.

The ninja got up from her seat and silently went for the exit. Lucky noticed her leaving but he decided to stay in the wagon and wait for her there. She swiftly opened the door and jumped on the green ground and from there the black pony galloped in the direction of the locomotive. A lot of ponies saw her and carefully watched how she went to the edge of the big gap.

The ninja was astonished by the size of it. Only extremely powerful forces could make such an hole on the ground for very short time. She looked down but couldn't see its bottom, then she looked up and saw a little cloud high in the sky. It was the only one in the blue dome and the ninja suspected, who had done it.

She returned to the wagon, making her way through the crowd of ponies, who were trying to leave and see from up close the deep pit. The ninja went to Lucky and swiftly pulled him from his seat.  

"Hey, what are you doing?" he looked surprised by her action and tried to escape her grab.

"We are going air-born!" she answered, while taking her bag with apples with her and pushing the pegasus to the direction of the exit.

"What? Oh, no! You are not thinking about using me as a means of transport, right?" the pegasus sounded a little scared from the idea.

"Trust me, I'm a ninja." then she pushed him off the wagon and Lucky almost landed on his face. He smelled the fresh scent of grass and flowers, which made him feel good for a moment until a hoof grabbed his coat and forced him to move fast after the ninja.

"Where are we going?" Lucky didn't like to be pushed like a puppet, at least he wanted a clear answer.

"Somewhere far from their eyes." she said, when glimpsing back at the colorful crowd near the edge. The two were running away from the train composition and moments later they made quite the distance from it. The ninja stopped behind a bush and hurled the pegasus in front of her, as if he was luggage.

"Will ya stop tossing me like that!" he said angrily. He barely stood up, when she precisely touched a point on his back and his wings almost instantly spread. His coat now covered only his back and the green medallion hanged down vertically from his neck. Lucky groaned because of the pain, he got from her action but the ninja wasn't finished yet. She did another combination of air-figures with her front legs. Her eyes flashed and then she jumped over Lucky's back. For a moment, he thought, that he would fall on the ground because of her weight but noting like that happened.

Actually she didn't weigh at all and barely noticed her on his back.

"What magic is this?" he was astonished.

"Ninja magic! Now, hear me carefully. You are going to flap your wings and I'll guide you. Got it?" she sounded impatient, which worried the pegasus.  

"Are you crazy? I'm not gonna fly with a pony on my back. And I haven't used my wings for an year. So get off me!" he was not amused.

Lucky tried to get rid of her by kicking in the air with his two rear legs but she stuck on him like glue. The ninja touched another spot on his neck and suddenly the rampaging pony calmed and stopped in one place. The ninja closed her mouth to his right ear and said to him with very dark voice:

"Quiet now my little detective. The hole in front of the train was made by Shadow magic. Guess who, utilized the same art to kill you today. My senses tell me we are in danger, while standing here like dump ducks and we are losing time. The fugitive tried to kill you again but not only that. Innocents could have died too, so we know how far his murderous intentions can go. I bet, he is somewhere near, so don't be stupid."

Lucky lowered his head to the grass. The ninja had a point and he understood it now. The pegasus shook his head and then lifted it up.

"You know the direction, right?"

"Yes."

Lucky frowned but there was no other way. He took a deep breath and prepared for take off.

"Be cool. You are a pegasus, you were born to fly!" she encouraged him with a friendlier voice. The last thing the ninja wanted was Lucky to feel fear of flight and of not knowing his surroundings.

He stood silently for the moment of truth. Suddenly Lucky began walking forward and gradually increased his speed. Seconds later he was galloping in the green sea, while flapping his wings. Then the leap of fate came and after that there was only the flight. Lucky used his instincts and very quickly gained altitude. Although his movement looked uncertain, the ninja knew they wouldn't fall to their deaths.

"See, it wasn't so hard." she smiled. The ninja looked down below, searching for the pony, who caused the crater on the ground. However, she was unsuccessful. The evildoer was good in hiding himself from her bird eye view.

"I barely keep my balance and the last thing I want to hear is you complimenting me."

The pegasus leaned a little to the sides but it wasn't something to be afraid of. The ninja understood him, so she didn't continue her tease.

"Slightly to the left. Perfect. Now keep a straight course and will be there in no time."

When the pegasus changed his flight direction, the ninja fully touched her body to his, so that she wouldn't make it difficult for him to fly. She leaned her head to his neck and looked with a relief at the blue sky. Some hair from his green mane was getting into the view but she didn't mind it at all.

The pegasus was doing his best to stay on course, which proved to be almost impossible. He was zigzagging in the air, at least it felt good to be far from the ground, where he was meant to be. Again Lucky could feel the winds passing through his fur and feathers. It cleaned him from all thoughts and left him to soar in absolute peace. He smiled and with new strength he began flapping his white wings, aiming at the distant horizon. Next Chapter: Chapter 10: The Meaning Of Flight Is To Land Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 47 Minutes