"Pip, stay close to me and do not stray." Fancy looked down at him and he nodded. Fancy's horn began to glow once more and they went down the long hallway of crystal and rock. For a while they walked in silence down the seemingly never-ending pathway. Pip started to observe his surroundings in boredom and seen the same thing everywhere he looked: crystals and more crystals. That is, until he looked up.
Above him and Fancy were dozens of sharp and dangerously thin stalactites. He squeaked in terror and poked Fancy's side. Fancy followed his hoof as it pointed up, and his eyes widened. He looked back at him and put his hoof to his mouth, an order to keep quiet. Pip nodded and obeyed without hesitation. After another minute, they reached the end of the path and came upon a large chamber.
The walls, like everything else, was made of rock. The room itself was empty of any life and only contained small chairs and candle holders. The thing that stood out most in the room, which caught Pip's eye immediately, was a stain glass portrait of Princess Luna looming over the entire chamber. The portrait depicted her smiling and dancing during a snowy night with the moon looming over her in the distance.
"Stunning piece of art, is it not?" Fancy said, glancing to see Pip's excited expression. He walked closer to the picture and touched it with his hoof, to see if it was actually real.
"It's so..beautiful." Pip shook his head to regain his composure and turned back to Fancy.
"Enough about that, let's try to find out where to go next." Pip said, walking past him. Fancy adjusted his monocle and began to look around the large chamber. He could hear Pip muttering something to himself and decided to investigate.
"Everything alright, Pip?" Pip kept his focus on looking around the room but answered his question none the less.
"Yeah! I'm fine. Besides, it's like you said. A true gentlecolt never get's distracted on the job." Fancy rubbed his chin in confusion but decided against correcting him.
"Alright then, let's look around to see if anything is amiss." Pip nodded and continued to explore. Fancy powered up his light spell to illuminate the whole room. Besides the knocked over chairs, there was not much else. A saddle bag lay in the corner, looking as if it had been unused for years with holes made in the fabric from sheer stress on the material. He was going to ignore it, if he had not spotted Luna's cutie mark on it.
He walked towards it and dug through the contents, finding some very dusty books, a parchment, an inkwell and...a dagger? He carefully inspected the blade, it was a little rusted and in the shape of the crescent moon with Luna's cutie mark emblazoned on the leather handle. He was quick to put it back before Pip came across it and instead focused on the parchment next.
"They have betrayed us! One of the guards ratted us out to the captain and he is sending all his forces to come down and kick us out! I have alerted the Phantom and he is telling us to wait and let our traps take care of them. If they do not fall for the paths, then the stalactite trap is our last hope, if they make it by that, then we will have to retreat to the main chamber. The Phantom has already taken precautions and sent 'the book' to one our hideouts in Fillydelphia. I hear them coming now, if you are loyal to us, and we don't make it, you must know that the way to the main chamber is-"
Fancy resealed the parchment and sighed. It's never that easy, it seems. He moved to inspect the books but found that their writing was all in the same language as that mysterious book. He put them in his pocket for further elaboration later.
"Mister Fancy! I think I found something!" Fancy turned to see Pip jumping up and down. Upon getting closer, he seen that the tile he was on sank into the floor upon being stepped on. Fancy tested another one and found that it sank in the floor as well.
"Hmm...I think we have yet another puzzle on our hooves, Pip." Pip began to look around for more to step on while Fancy tried to figure out a pattern. After Pip had found them all, he noticed they formed a circle. Fancy began to add up all the clues to find the pattern. They called themselves Children of the Night, they worshiped Luna to the point of calling her 'mother' They even had weapons shaped like her...cutie mark. That was it.
Fancy began to mark them with the ink well he had found and formed a crescent moon with the ink. All they needed was something to hold the pattern to see the result, if he was right. The chairs sitting unused around the room came to mind.
"Pip, help me move these chairs to the places I marked." Pip nodded and moved some chairs with Fancy. Upon setting all the chairs on the designated spots, the chamber began to rumble. They heard some creaking and turned to see the Luna portrait beginning to open like a set of twin doors. They approached the new doorway and seen a long, dark staircase down.
"Haven't these ponies heard of lamps?" Pip asked, annoyed at the constant darkness. Fancy laughed
"Well, they call themselves The Children of the Night, after all." Pip laughed as well and Fancy beckoned him to follow. They began their descent into the newly opened passage way.
***
Pip knew it was going to be a long time before they got down the stairs and reached into his saddlebags to try to find something for entertainment. Books, books, more books and..something cold and round. Pip pulled out the item to see that it was none other than his lucky pocket watch. The gold object bore the pirate symbol of the skull and crossbones. It had been a gift from his father after he returned from his sailing trip. He had told Pip that he won a cider drinking contest against a pirate and that was the prize he claimed, just for him.
"You miss your father, don't you Pip?" The question made Pip jump and put the watch back where it came from.
"What do you mean? Of course I don't!" Pip exclaimed and looked away from his teacher. Fancy put his hoof on Pip's shoulder.
"A true gentlecolt is always honest Pip." The young colt fought back the urge to say something rude and let out a sigh. Looking down at the stairs regretfully.
"I'm sorry, mister Fancy. It's just that...I don't want to talk about it." Fancy nodded understandably and looked ahead.
"If you ever want to talk about it, let me know. I will listen." Pip wanted to cry at those words but he held it in. Keeping the lesson Fancy taught him to heart: A gentlecolt stays strong, through all adversity.
"I will, don't worry Fancy." He looked up and smiled at him. Fancy nodded and added some more strength into the light spell, in order to see further ahead. After a long climb down, Fancy and Pip came upon a door. Th
The walls and floors, instead of being made of rock, were constructed from white marble. The room was empty, except for an intimidating statue in the center. The statue showed a pony like figure, cloaked in black with Luna's cutie mark embedded on the hood. In his right hoof, he wielded a dagger, looking remarkably like the one Fancy saw earlier and in his left he held a bag of bits. On his flanks, his cutie mark appeared to be a pair of eyes surrounded by a mist of sorts.
"Fancy! Look over there!" Pip had gone ahead without Fancy noticing and was beside the statue, pointing behind it. Fancy caught up and looked to what he was pointing at and jumped in surprise. Behind the statue, tied up on back leg of the statue of the pony, was Upper Crust. Her body looked unharmed and her eyes were closed, indicating either unconsciousness or sleep.
Fancy rushed over to her and put a hoof to her neck, feeling a pulse. He sighed in relief and begun to undo her ropes.
"Is she alright, Fancy?" Pip asked, his voice shaking a little. Fancy nodded.
"She is just asleep Pip, do not worry." Fancy crouched down and used some of his magic to lift her, straining himself. Pip saw this and helped him put her on his back. He felt his head pulse from the overuse of magic and rose to his hooves.
"Come on, let's get her out of here." Fancy and Pip went around the statue to see a familiar face locking the door behind him, along with three other ponies who wore familiar looking cloaks. He turned around to face them and clapped his hooves together, slowly.
"Well done, mister Fancy. You have rescued the damsel in distress." He stopped applauding and withdrew his sword from his scabbard that rested on his back.
"To bad we are not in a romance novel or else you might have got away." Fancy and Pip stepped back but stopped when they bumped into more of his cult group. They were a fly caught in a web.
"Well, I have to say that we walked into this one." Pip said, spinning around to keep an eye on the surrounding ponies. Fancy kept his eyes on the leader.
"I never caught your name, would it be impolite to ask right now?" The pony laughed and waved a hoof, as if to excuse his rudeness.
"I apologize. I was to caught up in the competition to say. Please forgive me." Fancy nodded, noting the sarcasm that was dripping from his voice.
"My name is Waning Gibbous. As given to me by The Children of the Night upon my birth." He bowed, adjusting his glasses.
"I was given these glasses by the forefathers of the clan, a gift to reflect the sun from my eyes and let the moon shine brighter at night." Fancy nodded, adjusting his monocle to match. Waning was upright again, observing Upper Crust on Fancy's back.
"I am afraid that the mare will be staying with us, as will the locket you posses." Fancy shook his head and went into deep thought for a moment. He added up all the possibilities and the facts he knew about the locket. He then asked a question to confirm his suspicions.
"What exactly do you need Upper Crust for?" Gibbous sliced the air and smirked.
"We need her blood to resurrect the Phantom. Why? Her great, great, great, great, great, etc. grandfather is the one who killed him. With her blood mixed with the Phantoms ashes, he shall be resurrected and get his revenge on Celestia and this city for its ignorance." Fancy furrowed his brow. His expression changing from curiosity to one of calm anger.
"Where does the locket fit in?" Pip added. He looked at the colt as if he was stupid and giggled to himself.
"Well, since I told you the first part, I might as well spill the rest, huh?" He looked somewhat solemn before going on.
"That locket was a gift from Princess Luna herself. He always wore it around his neck as a symbol of his loyalty towards her highness." His expression turned to anger as his magic grip grew tighter on the blade.
"I will not let it stay in the hooves of some rich snobs who can't do anything better than spend bits on worthless possessions."
"Hold it right there!" Fancy was pointing his hoof at Waning, his expression now calculating.
"I am afraid there is a flaw in your explanation." Waning shrank back upon hearing this and Pip gasped. Fancy adjusted his monocle and continued.
"That locket does not belong to the Phantom nor did it belong to Luna, quite the opposite actually. It belongs to Jet Set's father." Waning and his crew had stopped their approach and he dropped his blade in shock, Fancy went on.
"This locket is nothing more than a memento of times past. There is no way that this is the locket described in the book and by you." He rubbed his chin and levitated it out of his pocket.
"In fact, I believe that this locket is nothing more than another red herring laid out by the Phantom in order to waste our time. I will go as far to say that a locket is not what he is after." Fancy paused dramatically and turned his back on Waning.
"And when I say 'he' I am referring to the true culprit of this mystery, and he..." He turned slowly and let his hoof point straight at...Waning himself.
"Is you!" The room went completely silent and not a word was spoken for minutes as Fancy's hoof maintained it's pointing position. An awkward cough from one of Waning's crew put a stop to the silence. Then, a building laugh was heard coming from the stallion himself.
"Very well done Fancy." Fancy's expression did not change and he dropped his hoof back to the ground. Waning started to clap sincerely this time as he smirked.
"I knew sending you that book was the right thing to do." Pip recoiled at this and looked at Fancy, who still maintained his cold stare. Waning began to pace around.
"For so long I wanted to emulate the Phantom. I wanted to bring back the glory of The Children. To do that, I searched this city far and wide for a great thinker in order to solve the mystery and clear up any doubt that the Phantom did exist. The Royal Sisters were obviously out of the question and Celestia's prized student lives in Ponyville. Then, a few months ago I heard about you. I heard all about your exploits around Equestria. Some of interest and some of pointlessness." He paused to catch his breath.
"I doubted that the Phantom ever existed and I needed somepony to prove it. I knew about the hideout and everything but I needed to know about the locket. That is why I left it behind at the scene, so that you would draw a connection from the book and apply it to the Phantom." He walked towards the statue and bowed before it, laying an urn upon the alter that lay before it.
"For that, I thank you." He then motioned for his crew to rush at Fancy and Pip. They tried to fight back but were restrained by some extra rope. Waning now looming over Fancy, gloating.
"All I need now is to let my blood run through his ashes and cast the spell needed to revive him." He pulled the book from Fancy's pocket, who tried to grab it back with his horn but was stopped by a hoof to the head.
"I am afraid you will not be escaping this time, Fancy Pants." The cloaked ponies made sure to hold him and Pip down, letting Upper Crust rest in the corner of the room.
"Oh look, the spell is finally here. It must have revealed it's shy self when you solved the mystery." He walked toward the urn and Fancy and Pip struggled hard to break the ropes as they seen Waning cut his hoof above the ashes. His blood dripped into the urn as he chanted the spell written in the book and the candles and lamps began were put out by the stirring dark magic.
"ARISE PHANTOM! ARISE AND BREATH THE CHILDREN'S WORD BACK INTO EQUESTRIA!" He yelled and began to cackle as the ashes began to rise with the blood mix. The urn shattered and the ashes began to morph into...a shadow of sorts. It's yellow eyes revealed themselves as it observed the pony before it, judging if it was a worthy vessel or not.
It then covered Waning in its presence. The entire room went black as the laughs of Waning became deeper and more disturbing. In the total darkness, a large figure stomped on the marble floors, shattering the tiles beneath it.
"The Phantom...has returned."