Phantom Syndicate

by BluePhoenyx

Chapter 2: More Questions Than Answers

Author's Note:

Special thanks to Skitter for editing and everyone in fimfiction discord for their help and support. enjoy!

Spirit Glider was the first of the three ponies to wake, which was typical of their little group. He stretched each limb, popping each joint as he did, including his wing joints. He climbed out of his recliner, and then stumbled sleepily into the kitchen, never noticing the letter on the floor even as he stepped on it with his back hoof. Spirit Glider sleepily went to the pantry doors in the kitchen. He raised his left forehoof up to open the doors to the pantry then violently ripped his shoulder away, as if the doors had been on fire. He yelped sharply as he pulled his . Spirit’s shoulder was still heavily bruised, and was even bleeding again. The bleeding wound was swollen, bright red against the blue tinge of ghost toxin, with some yellow pus dripping from the wound. He groaned, then set his hoof down before using his right hoof to open the pantry door instead. Next to the box of oats he had been planning on eating, were some bandages and “Mark Ointment”. Spirit Mirage and Quill were constantly misplacing medical supplies, which were fairly important in their line of work, so their solution was to just keep supplies everywhere.

Spirit Glider stood up on his hind legs to reach the bandages and ointment, then used his wing to squeeze some of the ointment into his hoof. Mark Ointment was medicine created a good fifty years or so go to combat the outdated medicines used before. It was far more effective at stopping minor Marks from spreading. It wasn’t a substitute for seeing a specialist medical pony, but it helped. Spirit Glider was a fairly fast healer though, and minor Marks usually went away after a few ointment treatments and some good food. Once he had the ointment on the wound, which stung horribly, he used his wing to try and hold one end of the bandage while clumsily trying to wrap the other end around his wound. After the third or fourth attempt, and failure, of trying to wrap the wound, he was about to give up. Suddenly, the bandage was covered in a lavender glow, then levitated up and wrapped itself around Spirit’s wound. A piece of fabric tape floated over, then stuck itself to the bandage to ensure said bandages wouldn’t fall off. Spirit watched the bandages move, before looking up to see Mirage standing just inside the kitchen. She was smiling, even though she looked like an absolute wreck. Her wavy mane was a frizzy mess from sleeping on the couch.

“What died on your head?” Spirit asked, grinning at her.

“Your charm.” Mirage shot back, then giggled a little.

She walked over to the kitchen counter, picked up an apple with her magic, then levitated it to her mouth so she could take a hearty bite.

Spirit glanced at her up and down. Her beautiful coat, though a little messy, was soft and bright, and her eyes captivated him. He smiled at her, then went back to trying to grab the oats he had originally been trying to reach out for. Mirage watched him struggle for a moment, then glanced down at the floor briefly. She did a double take when she noticed the letter under Spirit’s hoof.

“Hey,” She said as she let her magic grip the letter and began pulling at it. “Lift your hoof.”

“What?” Spirit Glider asked. He looked down at his hooves and saw the letter. He pulled his hoof upwards, letting the note slip free into Mirage’s magical grasp.

Mirage brought the letter forward, then opened it. Her large purple eyes scanned the page before reading it laloud for Spirit.

“Phantom Syndicate Inc, you are cordially invited to the Canterlot Palace for an urgent meeting for all Ghost Control companies and freelancers. Please bring all employees of your company. Food and drink will be provided, Princess Luna” Mirage read.

Spirit Glider leaped into the air, then did a backflip, using his wings to catch some air as he hit the apex of his loop, then dropped back down onto the floor. He let out a loud, hissing “yes!” as he landed, then he glided over to Mirage and hugged her tight.

“We got a formal invitation from Princess Luna herself!” He cried out. “I wonder what it’s for, she wants all the companies?” He questioned as he trotted around the kitchen.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Mirage mumbled as she turned the letter over, showing the location and date. “She wants to meet midday? But she’s the princess of night, why would she want to hold the meeting at noon?”

“Maybe so we can go back to our duties later?” Spirit suggested.

Mirage simply shrugged and set the letter down on the counter. “Guess we’d better start packing then,” She hummed. “At least we’ll get to see Canterlot, I’ve never been there.” She added with a wide, excited smile.

“You’ll love it. My parents live there.” Spirit Glider said. “We’ll leave tomorrow after we finish helping Mrs. Jennet.”

“Shouldn’t you take it easy?” Mirage asked, concern thick in her voice. “Your shoulder still isn’t completely healed yet.”

Spirit lifted his shoulder up and tried to move it. It was stiff and stung but it wasn’t as bad as before. “I’ll be fine,” he said, waving her off with a wing. “Besides, the princess says she wants everyone, so I have to go, right?” He argued.

Mirage shook her head and smiled. “You’re crazy” She chuckled. “I’m going to wake Quill up then get our bags ready,” she said, then turned to leave the kitchen.

Spirit finished his breakfast just as Quill woke up and joined him in the kitchen. Quill stumbled sleepily into the fridge before opening it and taking out a bottle of juice, then went to the pantry to grab a bag of chips.

“Chips? At ten in the morning?” Spirit teased, grinning at the sleepy pony. “Are you sure you can handle that?”

“Shut up Spirit,” Quill grumbled, then sat down at their kitchen table to eat. “Mirage said you wanted to tell me something?”

Spirit Glider grinned proudly, then scooted the letter across the table. “We’ve been invited to Canterlot” He boasted. “By Princess Luna herself!”

Quill’s sleepiness evaporated instantly as he picked up the letter. “Are you serious?” He asked, then paused. “Wait... does that mean Crimson Iron will be there?” He asked, then groaned before dropped his head onto the table.

“Aw come on Quill, i’m sure your sister doesn’t care that you pretty much left her company for mine.” Spirit said.

“Does your brother forgive you?” Quill shot back. Spirit Glider lost his muster.

Spirit Glider and his brother, Bright Moon, hadn’t spoken in a long time. They had originally started a Ghost Fighting company when they were young after a tragic incident took their parent’s lives away. Spirit was never clear about why, but at some point, he and his brother had a falling out and went their separate ways. Rumor had it, the falling out had been over a ghost mare, but no one was firm on the details. Spirit never talked about it other than the simple “We just had a stupid fight and I left”. That was the most Quill had ever gotten from him anyway.

“I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you,” Spirit mumbled after a moment of awkward silence. Quill adjusted his glasses again.

“Yeah well. I’m sure your brother has missed you too.” Quill said. Spirit nodded in agreement. “So,” Quill continued, “the meeting isn’t until the day after tomorrow, should we figure out how to deal with Mrs. Jennet’s problem?”

Spirit Glider stretched his wings out and worked his injured shoulder a little. “That’s probably a good idea.” He agreed. “Chalk board?”

Quill nodded. They walked upstairs to Quill’s room, which was essentially a library filled with books and research papers, along with various scrolls. In front of Quill’s largely unused bed, there was a large chalkboard covered in chalk dust and doodles. Spirit wiped them away with a quick flick of his wing then picked up a chalk stick with his feathers, writing on the board as he spoke aloud.

“Alright, we didn’t find the Death Spot or the Tether, but we know what it does around the time of the haunt,” Spirit said.

“First, there’s the echo of glass shattering,” Quill recounted and Spirit drew a broken vase in possibly the most cartoonish way possible. “Then it runs down the stairs, and out the door, slamming it behind him.”

Spirit drew a cartoon ghost running down a flight of stairs and out a door. He drew a speech bubble above its head and wrote “Have to run” inside.

“Then it disappears if there isn’t anypony around to try and Mark,” Spirit Glider said. He paused as he tried to think of the events of the night before. He set the piece of chalk down and paced the room. Quill studied the board as if Spirit’s less-than-detailed drawings held some sort of clue.

“Mirage is sure that’s all she heard it say?” Quill affirmed “Have to run?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Spirit answered while he paced. Quill walked over to some old newspapers and took out a stack of them. He set them down on a table on the other side of the room and began searching through them.

“I did some research a few days ago,” Quill said, ignoring Spirit’s muttered ‘you always research’. He found the newspaper he was looking for and found a picture of the stallion the ghost had been when it was alive. “It says Lucky Risk was a wealthy pony that made his fortune in real estate. He was found dead in his summer home ten years ago. Neighbors said they heard running and a loud thud, then a door slam but thought maybe he was just running late to meet a client. They never saw him leave the house.” Quill read.

Spirit wrote the highlights down on the chalkboard then paused. “Wait, a thud? Did we ever hear a thud?”

“No I never heard one.” Quill said. “Mirage didn’t mention one either.

“When a ghost is playing out its actions before death every sound that lead up to that death usually follows it. So how come we never heard a thud?” Spirit asked.

Quill didn’t answer him. He went back to the newspapers as he tried to think of all the possibilities. Suddenly he felt his heart sank as he found another newspaper article with a picture of Lucky Risk at his wedding with a beautiful mare wearing an extravagant wedding gown. “What if he wasn’t the one that made the noise?” Quill asked. He took the paper over to Spirit.

Spirit looked at the picture and the article, then noticed the unmistakable gold chain of a necklace around her neck. The pendant was under her dress but it triggered a memory in Spirit.

“Locket” Spirit whispered and slammed his hoof on the picture. “Locket! The ghost yelled out Locket before it vanished last time!”

“Locket?” Quill asked. “What’s a locket have to do with anything?”

“Mrs Jennet said the ghost didn’t start causing problems until she was cleaning out the attic and she found a box of old things. I bet that mare’s locket is in the box and he’s Tethered to it!” Spirit excitedly called out. He began drawing like a mad-pony on the chalkboard, doodling various ponies and events.

“Mrs. Jennet cleans out her attic, finds the locket, and somehow touching it triggers his ghost to come back and start haunting,” Spirit rambled quickly. “Okay. So on the night of his death, his wife is at the house when he dies and leaves that locket for some reason. And nopony saw her leave?”

“Article said she claimed she wasn’t there that night, she was visiting family in Trottingham.” Quill said. “But how could she have been there if she was at Risky’s summer home too?”

“I don’t know... Quill, go to the archives and see if you can find any information on their relationship or possible suitors, anything you can get your hooves on.” Spirit said. “Mirage and I are going to see if any of his old friends that are still in town that can answer this.”

“But why?” Quill asked. “We know what and where the Tether is why don’t we just go and Bind it?”

“Because Quill, if he wasn’t alone the night he died, and his wife claims she wasn’t there, but her locket was still there, then I think he was murdered and if he was, then that means we can solve a murder case as well as a ghost case” Spirit replied excitedly.
Quill adjusted his glasses again. He was never one to turn down some research, it was a favorite pastime of his, but sometimes he wondered if Spirit Glider’s ambition to constantly find out every detail of a ghost was the reason they were lucky to get a case a month.

“Alright Spirit,” Quill sighed. “Try not to get arrested again, I can’t afford the bail.”

“Of course you can’t” Spirit laughed “I don’t pay you enough.” With that, Spirit was out the door in search of Mirage to explain the situation.

Quill shook his head. He packed a few things in his saddlebags, then made his way outside and to the local library to go through their archives.

Mirage trotted happily under Spirit Glider as he floated above her. She loved the brisk chill of the autumn air and wearing her favorite scarf and cape. It wasn’t as cold as the night before so she kept the cape open. She looked up at Spirit Glider, who never seemed to get cold as he dipped and rolled in the air. She always loved watching him fly around. Spirit looked so carefree when he was flying.
“Alright, so who are we going to see first?” Mirage asked as she looked around the town.

Bridle Falls wasn’t a small town, but it wasn’t a big town either. It had originally started as a pitstop along the river bank for boats traveling around the mountains nearby. Then, the settler ponies began building roads through the mountains and around them. Mirage had grown up there, whereas Spirit Glider and Quill moved there a few years ago. Even though the town wasn’t huge, Mirage hadn’t met Spirit and Quill until last year, when she was looking for a new company to work for. It wasn’t like she had many options in Bridle Falls, there were only 5 Ghost Fighting companies in town not including Spirit Glider’s. She ended up getting offers from all the companies, but chose Spirit’s, because there was only two other ponies so complications with supervisors and co-workers were probably going to be minimal.

She liked her town, and the surrounding area. It had a large shopping center, a huge library and even a few hotels. Tourists liked to hike the surrounding mountains and Bridle Falls, the waterfall for which the town was named, was just outside of town and a huge tourist destination.

Yes Mirage loved her town, but she couldn’t help but feel that maybe it was getting a little predictable. Mirage had a strong sense wanderlust, an urge to get out and explore, so she was probably the most excited out of the three about the trip to Canterlot.

Spirit Glider landed beside her and trotted at her pace. “Lucky Risk’s sister Sapphire Crown still lives here,” Spirit answered Mirage’s question. “If anyone knows anything about his death, she will.”

“Are you sure about this Spirit? Maybe Quill is right and we should just Find and Bind,” Mirage said, using a common saying in the Ghost Fighting business.

“Where’s the fun in that Mirage?” Spirit asked. Mirage rolled her eyes.

They walked through the marketplace, glancing at the wares the sales ponies had to offer. Most of the jewelry was iron or silver these days, and lavender was a popular accent; It was commonly turned into fibers and sewn into clothing. Doing so weakened the power of the lavender against ghosts, but it still offered some minor protection, and was mentally reassuring. Lavender was also a new popular food flavoring and seasoning. It hadn’t really been proven to guard against Ghost Marks, but it had medicinal benefits, which made healthy ponies that much harder to kill. A healthy pony could survive a good two or even three hours of being Marked by a level 1 or 2 Ghost with no treatment around. That was typically enough time to get to help at least.

Spirit watched her look at the jewelry. He had never seen Mirage wear Jewelry, her only form of accessorizing was wrapping stalks of lavender around her horn or her cape. She was a very practical unicorn and Spirit liked that. He noticed her gaze linger a little longer than usual on a particularly fancy brooch a pony was selling. It was a beautiful golden brooch with purple and green gems in the shape of lavender stalks against a black metal circle. The brooch was actually a container with a hole drilled through the center allowing for fresh lavender to be threaded through.

“You go on ahead Mirage, it’s just up the road and it’s the big house on the left.” Spirit said.

‘Where are you going?” Mirage asked, raising her brow suspiciously.

“I gotta check on something.” Spirit said and flew up into the sky without another word, hiding among some low hanging clouds.
Mirage sighed, flicked her forelock out of her face, then trotted on towards the house.

Sapphire Crown’s house was the largest in the whole town. Mirage had gone by this house before but hadn’t really paid much attention to it. She looked around for Spirit Glider briefly before knocking on the door. A butler answered and looked down at her and her garb.

“May I help you?” He asked in a bored, dead tone.

Mirage cleared her throat and stood a little straighter. “Yes, I’d like to speak to miss Sapphire Crown please. It’s an urgent matter,” She said as politely as possible.

The butler looked down at her and raised her brow. “Madam Crown is very busy, if you’d like an audience with her, please make an appointment.”

“Sir, this is very important business” Mirage said. She used her magic to lift her cape up to show him her cutie mark. It was of a bright blue, gaseous, smoky orb with a large tendril of wispy smoke trailing off. The orb had a swirl of magical aura behind it to show Mirages particular talent in using her magic against ghosts. The orb was a typical representation of a soul called a will-o-wisp. Will-o-wisps were what Ghost Fighters nicknamed “ghost beacons”. They hung around areas where lots of deaths occurred or some type of huge tragedy happened. They also liked to hang around where a ghost was staying so they were typically considered the first sign. Regular ponies could see them occasionally as faint lights, so they made great calling cards. Most Ghost Fighters had a depiction of a will-o-wisp in some form or another and in a large range of colors, usually correlating to their specific talent in catching ghosts, as their cutie mark.

The butler saw the cutie mark and he went a little pale as his eyes widened. “Please... Come in miss..?” He asked, trailing off slightly.

“Mirage.” She answered and lifted her head up in pride. She let the cape drop then trotted into the house.

Quill sat at a desk in the public library. He had a good four foot pile of old, dusty scrolls and newspaper articles. He was digging through them and scanning their words, looking for anything that could give him any clues.

“Hello Quill.” A pony said quietly. She was an older mare, a nice cream color with her brown mane tied back in a bun. She had sharp, red glasses on and wool knit shirt on to help with the cold. Quill looked up at her and smiled.

“Oh, hello Book Worm.” He said happily while he adjusted his glasses. “How are you today?”

“I’m doing great,” Book Worm smiled. “On another case?” She asked. Quill nodded.

“Do you know anything about Lucky Risk and his wife?” He asked. “We’re trying to contain his ghost.”

“Lucky Risk’s ghost?” Book Worm asked in surprise. She quickly sat down across the table from him. “I can’t believe he’d become a ghost after all these years. He liked everyone and never had any enemies. He prided himself in always keeping good relationships with everyone.”

“That’s all I’m finding too.” Quill sighed. “I can’t find anything, not even anything on his wife” He said. “Who was she anyway?”

“I don’t really remember her much, just that her name was Crystal Blossom and that they got married overseas.” Book Worm said.
“No one here ever met her, and we only saw her in pictures, but they made a cute couple in those pictures. You can’t tell because most of the pictures in the newspapers were in black and white at the time, but when I went to Lucky Risk’s home he had pictures of her everywhere, they had the same colored mane and tail, and even the same coat color too. And it was clear she was remodeling the place too.” Book Worm rambled.

“No one ever met her? Did she never go out?” Quill asked, raising his brow at the unusual information.

Book Worm paused, bring a hoof to her chin as she thought. “No, no one ever saw her in person.” She said.

“Where was she from?” Quill urged. Maybe he had a lead here.
Book Worm thought for a moment.

“You know Quill, I don’t think we were ever told” She answered.

Quill sighed in defeat. He laid his head on the table and let his eyes drift across the articles. His eyes rested on the picture of Lucky Risk and his wife. He looked at the mare’s beautiful dressed that covered everything on her body. She was wearing make up, a lot of it by the looks of it, especially around the cheekbones. He looked at the locket again as it rested around her neck. He glanced over at Lucky Risk. He was dressed in a fancy tuxedo and had a flower in his lapel. He noticed a mark on the photo at Lucky Risk’s neck but ignored it. Suddenly, he stiffened and stared at the photo for a long time. He suddenly pushed some books over, scaring Book Worm, and dragged a large magnifying glass over. He aimed it down at the picture and studied it for a good long while before crying out in joy.

“That’s it!” He yelled, breaking the silence of the library. “I figured it out!” He jumped down from his chair, snagging the newspaper off the table on his way down. “I’m taking this Book Worm!” He called as he ran out of the library as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Book Worm watched him run off with her jaw hanging down.

Mirage waited patiently in Sapphire Crown’s foyer. She had been given a glass of cider to drink, which she sipped at politely. The front door opened and she heard the butler talking to someone. A few moments later, Spirit Glider came trotting inside.

“There you are.” Mirage scolded. “Where were you-?” She was cut off when Spirit Glider took the basic clasp off and replaced it with the lavender brooch she had been looking at in the market place. Mirage blushed brightly as she looked down at it. “Spirit..”

“I saw you looking at it, and you did save my life yesterday.” Spirit beamed. He blushed a little at the awkward silence and kicked his hoof a little to look busy.

Mirage smiled. “It’s perfect Spirit, thank you.” she said happily. Spirit beamed at her then looked up as Sapphire Crown came walking down the stairs. She was a light blue color with a white and blue mane.

“Good afternoon ponies,” Sapphire said politely. “How may I help you today?”

“We were wondering if you could answer some questions about your brother.” Mirage said. “We’re working on a case and-”

“And it's his ghost?” Sapphire asked with a sigh. She walked over to an old globe on a stand and opened it, revealing a small bar on the inside with some more ‘adult’ ciders inside. She poured herself a glass then started drinking.

“Uh, yes. I’m sorry, I know that the news can be a little unsettling.” Mirage said.

“It’s quite alright. Lucky had his demons, I assumed he’d become a ghost eventually.” Sapphire replied as she stepped lightly across the tile floor to a table.

“Demons?” Spirit and Mirage asked in unison.

“Oh yes,” Sapphire answered. She set her glass down and sighed. “It was a well kept secret, but Lucky had some.. problems.” She stained. “He would disappear for days at a time, then come back and act like nothing had ever happened. It was like he had no idea he’d been gone at all.”

“Really? That’s odd. How come?” Spirit asked. Sapphire shrugged.

“We never knew,” She replied. “But when he met that wife of his it got worse. He’d be gone for months instead of days.”

Spirit and Mirage looked at each other in confusion. “What can you tell us about his wife?”

“I never met her,” Sapphire answered, waving a hoof as if to shoo the question away. “I didn’t even get invited to the wedding. Lucky and I had a fight about that. He claimed he didn’t even remember the wedding but I think it was because she wanted to keep it private.”

“Why do you say that?” Mirage asked.

“Why else would he not invite his sister?” Sapphire asked. “Anyway, that’s all I know,” she said.

“Well, we appreciate your time.” Spirit said. “Thank you, we’ll do everything we can to put his spirit at rest.”

Sapphire nodded. “Thank you,” she said and smiled faintly at them as they left.

“Well now I’m even more confused.” Mirage sighed, but smiled as she looked at her new brooch.

“Yeah, me too,” Spirit sighed he looked up as he saw Quill, galloping desperately towards them and trying hard to keep the newspaper in his mouth from flying off.

“I gof if! I gof if!” Quill cried out as he ran. His glasses were starting to fly off but he stumbled to keep them on.

Quill fell down in front of them, holding up the newspaper to keep it from falling. Mirage picked it up with her magic.

“What, Quill?” She asked and looked at the article. “We’ve seen this already.”

“Look at the picture. Closely,” Quill said. “Look at their necks.”

Spirit and Mirage leaned in together and squinted as they looked at the picture. They were both quiet for a moment, then...

Something clicked in their minds.

They nearly dropped the paper as the three ponies looked at each other, two of their jaws hanging open at the sudden realization...