//------------------------------// // Chapter 5-Of Crystals and Songs // Story: Fancy Pants and The Phantom of Canterlot // by Mr Monty //------------------------------// The next morning, the streets of Canterlot were ablaze with conversation about the night before. Most of the discussions were veered towards praising Fancy Pant's bravery in such a dire situation. Others were cursing the name of the cult who had ruined their night out. Nonetheless, it was the talk of the town. Fancy, Pip and Fleur had been offered a ride by almost everyone in the ballroom. The refused, except for one instance by Fleur, and took a taxi carriage home. The stallion pulling was bursting with excitement at the opportunity. Fancy and Pip took shelter in Fancy's study half the night, learning all they could about the Phantom and The Children of the Night before their investigation took place the next morning. Pip practiced how he would re-introduce himself to Luna and Fancy had looked at the mysterious book ever closer. He even tried to insert the locket into the slot that awaited its use on the first page, but it did not seem to fit. Fleur had made sure they did not sit up all night. "Pip, have you got everything you need?" Fancy had just put on his coat, adjusted his bow-tie and donned his monocle. Pip was too busy tightening the straps on his saddlebags to answer. While he was doing that, Fancy took a moment to observe the locket. He opened it to see a picture of Jet Set and Upper Crust's kiss on their wedding day. He smiled happily, remembering the tears of joy that were shed by his best friend that day. It's hard to believe it has been five years since that day. "Mister Fancy Pants?" Fancy was snapped back into reality and he looked down at Pip with a smile still on his face. "Yes, Pip?" Pip cocked his head like a confused puppy. "I asked you if you were ready to leave yet and you did not answer me." Fancy looked back at the locket one more time before putting it back in his pocket. "Sorry, I was just reminiscing of times before, Pip." Pip looked at the pocket that held the golden locket and nodded in understanding. "Alright, Pip. Shall we head off?" Pip nodded happily and they stepped outside to see about a dozen carriages parked in front of the house. A mare came out of one of them in a daze, but brightened upon seeing Fancy. "Everypony! He is awake!" Heads began to pop out of the carriages one by one upon hearing the words. They all flooded from the carriages and began to ask multiple questions, mostly for him to take their carriages instead of any others. Some even began to threaten each other over the subject. Fancy and Pip were taken aback by the situation and was about to reluctantly decide who to ride with. Just then, a loud crash was heard. Everypony turned to see another carriage take the scene, however, this one was not like the others. It parked itself rather rudely in front of the others, crushing one of them into a pancake as the stallions piloting it scattered like roaches. The stallion who owned it, reacted accordingly. "FANCY! OVER HERE!" Fancy, his eye already on the carriage, looked to see who was yelling from it. The occupier jumped out to reveal himself as none other than Trenderhoof, who ran a hoof through his mane as a way of saying 'hello'. Fancy apologized to the other ponies and even payed the stallion for his ruined ride, then made his way over, Pip riding at his hooves. "Trenderhoof? What are you doing here?" Pip asked, both confused and excited. Trender rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. "Well, remember when I said a witness is stubborn?" They both nodded and Trender laughed nervously again. "It turns out I was reading the wrong set of novels. I am supposed to be helpful and come to aid you in the last minute!" Trender said, already squealing in excitement. Fancy looked at Pip and motioned toward the carriage. "Well, not what I would call a last minute rescue, but I appreciate it." Fancy said, boarding the carriage. Trender took the reigns and commanded the stallions to move. They did so, after complaining about how they would be payed extra for all of this. *** The ride to the castle was rather uneventful, to Trenderhoofs disappointment. He complained that they would usually be chased by the villains on their way to the potential end of the journey. After an hours worth of complaining, they finally reached their destination: Canterlot Castle. "Thanks for the ride, dear boy." Fancy stepped down from the carriage and Pip jumped down. Trender nodded. "Well, I always wanted to help a hero! Even if it meant just playing a supporting role." Fancy nodded and Trender took off with his carriage, the stallions pulling it complained about the bruises were not worth the pay. Fancy and Pip turned to face Canterlot Castle in all its wonder. The brilliant architectural design having stood for over thousands of years against time and the elements. Fancy adjusted his monocle and looked down at Pip, who was in awe of the mighty castle. "I'm guessing this is the first time you have been here." Pip nodded slowly and shook his head to regain his focus. "Let's go mister Fancy! I can't wait any longer!" Fancy nodded and smiled as he saw his protege gallop toward the castle doors, being stopped by the guards only momentarily before they seen Fancy following behind. "He is with me, sirs." The guards nodded and withdrew their spears from blocking the door. Pip stormed in and was in awe once again. The door had lead them to a brilliant staircase that branched off at the end to somewhere above them. Alongside the massive staircase were a set of doors that lead to different rooms. Fancy walked ahead of Pip towards the stairs. "Come now Pip, we don't want to keep them waiting." Pip nodded and made haste to follow. After going up another set of stairs and down some hallways, they eventually got to two massive doors that lead to the throne room. The guards were hesitant to let Fancy through at first, but relaxed when he told them that the royal sisters were expecting him. They opened the doors to a longer hallway. However, the walls of this one were lined with stain glass windows, some of them depicting events. One was the defeat of Nightmare Moon by the elements of harmony, the other one was the elements of harmony resealing Discord once again. Fancy noticed that Rarity was depicted on both of them, along with her five unique friends, he smiled upon seeing them but kept to himself about what he was thinking. "Ah, it is good to see you again, Fancy Pants." Fancy and Pip turned their attention away from the windows to see Princess Celestia, who was just finishing writing something on a parchment. She enveloped it in her magic and it disappeared to its intended destination. Fancy and Pip bowed in her presence. "It is good to see you again as well, Princess." She giggled a bit and rose to her hooves. "No need for formality, Fancy Pants. I get enough of that from my guards as it is." She turned to look at her two guards, standing ready at her throne and they coughed in embarrassment. She turned back to Fancy and Pip, who were standing up straight again. "I believe you received my request, did you not?" Fancy inquired. She nodded and pulled out another parchment, to read over to remind herself. "Yes, I was a bit shocked that somepony wanted to investigate such a place as old and potentially dangerous as that. But, then I remembered it was you who asked, Fancy Pants." Fancy chuckled and adjusted his monocle with a blush. "You know me all to well, Princess." She laughed and whistled. One of her guards came running immediately. She cleared her throat to give the order. "I want you to escort these two gentlecolts to the entrance of the Crystal Catacombs." The guard nodded. "Yes, my Princess." He turned and began to walk to the exit. Fancy and Pip began to follow but as they were about to leave, Pip remembered something and stopped, Fancy stopping with him. "Wait! Princess Celestia!" She halted her walk to the throne and faced him with a smile. "What is it, young one?" Pip searched for his words and stumbled upon his sentences. "Where is Princess Luna? I really want to see her!" Celestia did not miss a beat. "She is sleeping in her private chambers, awaiting her duty to raise the moon tonight." She then frowned. "I'm sorry, Fancy told me you you wanted to see her but I don't want to disturb her." Pip looked disappointed, but nodded. "I understand. Maybe I can come back tonight?" Celestia nodded with another smile. "That would be just fine, I'll tell her you are coming when she wakes." He nodded and turned to leave. "And Pip." He turned back to face her, she was smiling even wider now. "I believe she will be very happy to see you." He contemplated her words for a moment and smiled once again, adjusting his own monocle in pride. He turned to leave with Fancy in order to catch up with the guard leading them. *** After a long walk down a lot of stairs, the guard stopped at a big, rusty door whose lock lay on the ground in front of it. "The Princess had it unlocked before you arrived." Fancy nodded and inspected the door before entering, noting that it had some scratches on it and what looked to be a small hole. "Thank you, we will take it from here, sir." The guard nodded and walked up the stairs again. Pip rubbed his hoof on the door and regretted it instantly upon seeing the rust on his hooves. He frantically waved it until the rust came off. "Looks like this door has not been opened in a long time." Pip said. Fancy nodded and looked closer at the scratches. "Let's get it open." The two of them pushed hard and the hinges creaked loudly, announcing their presence to whatever lay on the other side of the door. After some strain, the door finally opened all the way. Upon making sure it would not close on them, they looked over the darkness on the other side, the only light coming from the way they came. Fancy's horn began to glow and slowly illuminate the room in orange light. The place, as stated in the name, was home to giant and jagged crystals of all sorts of colors, blue being the most prominent. Upon his magic light touching them, some of crystals reacted and absorbed some of the light. One by one, they began to light up and illuminate some of the catacomb. Fancy adjusted his monocle and looked ahead. There were two paths, each seeming to be guarded by the crystals. Fancy ignored the paths and focused on the line of crystals on the wall that lay between the path. Pip walked toward one of them and touched one of them, emitting a sound that sounded melodic in tone, almost like music. Upon being touched, however, the light faded from it and the sound died. "Mister Fancy, what do you make of this?" Pip turned to see Fancy deep in thought. He then looked from the crystals blocking the paths, to the crystals on the wall. He adjusted his monocle and looked down at Pip. "Pip, hand me that mysterious book I gave you." Pip nodded and dug into his saddle bags to pull out the red book. Fancy levitated it in front of his face and flipped to the first page. He looked at the slot on the bottom of the page and perked up. "This reminds me of...a puzzle." Fancy said and looked at the many crystals. Pip was confused. "A puzzle? Mister Fancy, what do you mean?" Fancy remained silent as he walked over to one of the many crystals and used his magic to tear a piece off. He opened the strange book to the first page and then inserted it into the slot below and it fit perfectly. The book glowed once again and another lock broke on the book, letting Fancy turn the page. Fancy then showed the book to Pip. "What do you see, Pip?" Pip looked confused at first but then seen something through his monocle. Words and musical notes began to appear on the page slowly in a light blue glow. Pip fell on his haunches in surprise. "Fancy! Did you see that?!" Fancy nodded and pulled out another one of his monocles to look for himself. He then smiled upon realization. "It appears all we have to do is follow the song." Fancy lit up his horn again the crystals glowed once again, their colors being red, green, blue, orange, and purple. Fancy looked at the book and noticed that the notes were colored to match some of the crystals. "Pip, I want you to touch each crystal I tell you to, alright?" Pip nodded and stood beside them. Fancy told the order of the notes and, after they were done playing, the song echoed in the chamber and a faint singing could be heard. Come Little Children The Time's Come To Play Here In My Garden Of Shadows. The crystals blocking the paths began to vibrate and sink into the ground as the song ended and the wall which the crystals rested against let out a small vibration as well. Pip began to cheer and jump around. "We did it, mister Fancy!" Fancy nodded and patted him on the head. "I could not have done it without your help." Pip nodded and eagerly began to dance between the paths, thinking of which one to take. "Should we go right, or left mister Fancy?" Fancy rubbed his chin in thought and looked down in each one, considering his options. He then remembered something else from the book, a verse the irked him somewhat. The Phantom, neither legend nor myth. Fancy looked down the paths again and applied the words to the paths that lay before him. "Legend...nor myth." Pip, once again, was confused. "What do you mean Fancy?" Fancy walked around the fork in the road and looked back to the musical crystals. "I believe these are not our only options, Pip." Pip walked up beside him. "Did I tell you about the first verse on the page of this book?" He asked, levitating it. Pip nodded and began to tap his chin with his hoof. "You did, I believe it said something about the Phantom." Fancy nodded and moved in between the musical crystals, with Pip following behind. "That is right, and it said "The Phantom, neither legend nor myth." Pip began to catch on. "Are you saying that these paths represent that phrase and are just red herrings?" Fancy nodded. "Yes, and I do believe that the real path is somewhere..." Fancy blew some dust from the wall and seen an indent on the wall, resembling a rectangle. "Right here." The indent then revealed itself fully upon being uncovered and became a place to insert something. Fancy had a good idea what it was and levitated the book into its place. The wall began to rumble and shake until it started to sink into the floor, revealing an entirely new path to the duo. "I believe our investigation is just getting started." Fancy adjusted his monocle and Pip did as well, and they began to walk down the new path, unaware that somepony else was on their tail, following silently in the shadows.