//------------------------------// // Chapter One: A Fancy Morning // Story: Fancy Pants In: The Mystery of The Blanks // by TheTeaTurtle //------------------------------// Chapter One:  A Fancy Morning “Oh dear.”  Fancy Pants was primarily a gentlecolt who acted as a sort of influencer for the creme dela creme of Canterlot. While he was of course wealthy and had earned his way to the top, he never once considered himself above any other pony. Recently, however, his life had taken a rather interesting turn. A turn that his mail pony would be complaining about to him for many years to come.  His humble mailbox, usually only containing gifts or thank you letters, was filled to the brim with parchments to the point where they were vomited onto the freshly trimmed grass. He sighed as his horn lit up with a dull orange aura, using his magic to grasp all of the signed and sealed documents in one go “I must say, this is getting rather inconvenient.”  Deep down, Fancy was hoping these letters were all from ponies doing their darndest to butter him up, begging him to squeeze them into his trips to the derby or The Spiced Peach.  But he knew better. No doubt these were more “mysteries” for him to solve after his little foray into solving the mystery of the once mythical “Phantom of Canterlot” one month prior. Needless to say, this tale had simply emboldened his already stellar reputation, despite his misgivings. As he walked toward his abode, his nose was hit with a rather interesting scent. He paused, gazed around, and raised a brow. It almost smelled like… He looked at the floating mass of parchment for a moment before shrugging it off and continuing forward.  Stepping back into his lovely home, he was instantly hit with the marvelous scent of the living area, which consisted of the tantalizing scent of different arrays of herbs and the instantly recognizable aroma of the expensive perfume worn by his lovely wife, Fleur.  “More mysteries, I presume?”  Fancy smiled wearily as he observed his wife coming down from upstairs, her previously tousled pink mane now brushed to perfection “Do I have the most beautiful wife in all of Equestria?”  The white coated mare rolled her eyes and giggled, approaching the stallion to nuzzle his neck as she used her light pink magic to open one of the scrolls “Oh my, it looks like Banana Bliss has lost her contact lenses again and needs the aid of the greatest detective in all of Equestria to find them.” She read with a smirk.   Fancy scoffed, keeping a smile “It is odd how many ponies need some kind of help around here.” He said, opening a scroll himself and reading about how a filly broke her toy and needed help finding a replacement “Rather concerning, to be honest.”  “I suppose when they all heard how the great Fancy Pants managed to solve an ancient mystery, they thought all their small problems wouldn’t be a bother to him.” Fleur commented, disposing of a tea bag that sat in a steaming cup “Really though darling, why haven’t you taken any of them recently? Pip loves solving these little mysteries with you.”  “I’m well aware but the mundanity has worn me down.” He sighed, heading toward his study “The thrill of solving a mystery is measurable only to the stakes involved. I don’t expect ancient conspiracies to fall into my lap, of course, but still.”  “You would love nothing more than another giant shadow stallion to come stomping through Canterlot, I know dear.” Fleur teased, placing a cup of Chamomile tea on Fancy’s desk, noticing him placing the pile of requests beside his desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an empty school desk sitting in front of a black board. A few open scrolls littered the doodle covered desk. “Where is Pip, darling?”  “We were running low on chalk, so I sent him out to acquire some more.” Fancy said, sipping his tea and chuckling after he had taken a seat “The poor boy was dying to get out of the study for a little while, so I found a good excuse. I also needed time to prepare today’s lesson on pony physiology and magical theory, so it was a doubly helpful assignment.”  “Oh, I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear about it when he gets home.” Fleur poked, the gentlecolt giving her a lighthearted eye roll and smile as he telekinetically pulled the relevant books from his shelf. Despite his apparent lack of interest, she noticed Fancy giving the pile of mysteries a few looks as the magic faded from his horn. “Quite! Though I am sure he will be more than happy with the proceeding lesson,” Fancy paused and produced a book from the bottom of the three he had pulled from the shelf. Fleur’s eyes widened as her eyes scanned the cover.  “‘A True Gentlecolt: An Autobiography’ by Brisk Bronco.” She read, smiling warmly “He finally finished it?”  Fancy turned the cover around to examine it himself, smiling sadly at the stoic, aged black and white stallion on the cover “I can hardly believe it myself. I got it just last night, after we had finished up our tea. I tried for hours to convince him to let me sponsor him or even just refer him to a credible, well known publisher but he wouldn’t budge.” Fancy rubbed the cover with his hoof “He said: ‘No pony gives flying hay bail about the art of being a gentlecolt anymore! They just want the glitz and glamour that comes with it! So I will not dare publish my lessons, to spare myself the guilt of enabling a spoiled brat!’” “Glad he’s as stubborn and old fashioned as ever.” Fleur said with a flick of the mane. Fancy chuckled after sipping more tea  “Indeed. But I can’t argue he was an amazing teacher, even if he is rather particular with who learns his lessons.” He said wistfully, placing the book in his drawer as he let his eyes turn to the small desk resting only ten hooves from his own. “I guess I’ll have to be the one to pass the gentlecolt torch, then.”  “And you’ll do better than he ever could, dear.” Fleur cooed, taking a spot at his side and nuzzling his neck. Fancy smiled and returned the gesture.  The loving embrace was interrupted by the hasty sound of a door being kicked open and the clacking of tiny hooves on the marble floor as they rushed through the kitchen toward the study. An exhausted yet chipper sounding voice yelled out “Sorry I’m late, Mr. Fancy!” before a tiny, white, brown spotted Earth Pony colt appeared in the doorway, saddlebags covering his flanks.  “Great to have you back, young master Pip!” Fancy greeted his apprentice before looking down at his pocket watch “You’re just in time, so no worries at all!”  Pip sighed and went to shrug off the saddlebags before a light pink magic enveloped the leather straps, Fleur smiling down at the lad as she nuzzled him lightly on the head “Thank you Mrs. Fleur.” “You’re welcome, darling. Did you-”  “-get the new tea cozies we needed? Yep!” he finished, raising his chin in pride “Rule number four: A gentlecolt always remembers a lady’s request!”  “Always a star pupil.” Fleur grinned and opened the saddlebags, giving a coy look to her husband. She promptly retrieved the bag of fresh chalk and magically placed it on Fancy’s desk “By the way, Pip. Did you know that some new request came in while you were gone?”  The little pony’s eyes widened and he immediately looked at the pile of parchments she gestured to, a toothy grin cutting into his face “Awesome! Are we gonna do more today, Mr. Fancy? Can we? Can we?!”  The young one’s enthusiasm was quite contagious and Fancy couldn’t stop the weary smile from appearing as Fleur left the room, that cheeky grin never leaving her face “First things first, young Pip.” He gestured to the two large books on his desk “We have your lessons to go over. Remember: a gentlecolt places-” “-knowledge before action.” Pip said in sync with the older stallion, looking slightly deflated “I know. Can I please just look at one, though? Just one and I’ll focus entirely on my lesson, I promise!”  Fancy gave the colt a skeptical look. Pip’s eyes widened in response, the large brown pools doing their best to play his heart strings like an Earth Pony fiddle. Finally, the older gentlecolt relented with a sigh “Alright, dear boy.”  “Yay!”  The young colt sauntered over and gave the pile of rolled up paper a once over. The pile was around the same height as he was, making it all the more difficult to choose just one. There had to be at least fifty in this pile alone! Rather than pick one at random, he gave the mass of paper a careful look, rubbing his chin with his small hoof. His eyes suddenly lit up.  “Mr. Fancy! This reminds me of something!”  Fancy, a knowing grin on his face, raised a mock questioning brow “Oh? And what would that be, my boy?”  “A puzzle!” He declared victoriously, turning his attention back to the papers “All of these messages look similar, using standard parchment paper provided nearly everywhere in Equestria. But something tells me one of them sticks out more than the others!”  Fancy nodded along to this, relaxing in his chair and taking another sip of tea “Well, go on! Show me which one you mean.”  The colt was more than happy to. He turned and began to deconstruct the pile. First manually, as he began by rearranging them from their misshapen pile form into something more manageable, being a straight line. It took a few minutes, but Fancy was more than willing to help with his magic. Next he did a more cohesive visual analysis. His eyes scanned not only the color of the ribbon used to bind the scrolls, but also the wear and tear of the paper itself. So far, everything seemed normal, since most of them had minor wear and tear from their journey to Fancy’s house.  Analyzing the wax seals proved fruitless as well, since they all used the typical Sun and Moon seal that was reinstated over a year ago after Princess Luna’s return.  Then he used his nose. It was not uncommon for Canterlot ponies to spritz perfume or another fragrant product onto their message, so as to give extra ‘ownership’ to the letter, something Fancy had taught him in one of his lessons months ago. He looked to his teacher, who simply gave him an encouraging nod. Pip nodded back, smirking as he got to work.  Sniff...sniff...sniff…all typical Canterlot pony products. Mountain flowers, some valley herbs here and there, cherry scent. It was not until he got halfway down the line did he smell something rather out of place. So strange was it, in fact, he announced it immediately.  “Cake frosting?”  Fancy answered him with a nod “I smelt it myself. A rather odd scent for an upper crust pony to wear, don’t you think?”  “Yeah. I think that went out of style a couple months ago, didn’t it?” Pip questioned, earning a proud smile from Fancy.  “Indeed it did! Glad you’ve been paying attention to such things, my boy.” Fancy beckoned for the young pony to approach.  “A gentlecolt is always up to date on social trends, no matter how insignificant!” The young colt beamed and stepped closer, handing the letter to his mentor.  Fancy unfurled the parchment with a small application of magic, his lips parting as he prepared to read its contents aloud. He paused, his mouth closing slowly as he quietly scanned the letter. Pip’s previous bouncy excitement settled upon seeing his teacher’s expression shift, making him tilt his head questioningly  “Mr. Fancy? Is something wrong?”  The moustached gentlecolt was silent for a few moments, re-reading the letter once more before shoving it into his suit pocket. His expression had settled on one of stoic determination, but Pip could sense the anxiety in his eyes as their gazes met.  “Gather your things, young master Pip. It appears your lesson has been cancelled.”