A dark mystery has revealed itself in the grand city of Canterlot. A mystery that can only be solved by a celebrity and a young gentlecolt in training...wait what?
The streets of Canterlot are beautiful and regretfully empty at night. However, when an incident occurs in the ancient city, ponies begin to doubt it is the cold of night that keeps ponies indoors. Mister Fancypants, city renowned gentlecolt and celebrity, and Pip Squeak, an ambitious young gentlecolt in training, go to investigate the mystery. Learning that some pony tales are best left shrouded in the infiniteness of the night.
The moon was shining its brightest in the streets of Canterlot tonight. Its residents already inside their comfy homes to sleep the night away.
Rain had been falling for most of the day, as the smell of wet concrete filled the cold and seemingly empty city. The only light was either the glow of a candle from nearby windows of still awake ponies or, of course, the moon itself. The nip of cold would make sure that ponies stayed in their homes until the morning sun was raised to warm the lovely streets once again.
The streets were not as empty as they seemed, however. Heavy hoofsteps infiltrated the silence and echoed throughout the town as two ponies were making a hasty retreat from somepony or something else.
"Jet honey! We need to split up, it may be the only way to lose him!" Jet Set looked at his wife like she was crazy.
"I will do no such thing!" A blast of magic erupted from the pursuer's apparent horn and blew the two away from each other. Upper Crust was knocked into a dark alleyway while her husband was knocked into the middle of the paved road. Jet Set attempted to get on his hooves in a daze, but before he could do so, he heard an ear piercing scream come from his wife. He recovered upon hearing this and rushed to where he had assumed his wife flew. As soon as he arrived in front of the alley, he was stunned to see that nothing was there.
He frantically searched nearby dumpsters and even some trash cans for any sign of his wife and he eventually found something. The locket his father had given her after their wedding. He lifted it with his magic and seen some ash fall off of it. Fearing the worst, he dropped it and the welled up tears fell from his eyes and he let out a scream that shook the entire city.
***
The morning sun peaked over the horizon and proudly raised to the sky while the moon solemnly sunk, letting the day begin in the ancient city of Canterlot. Ponies began to flood the streets to go to their jobs or go shopping. Never both, of course. In the middle of the flood, a small colt weaved his way through the crowd like an over sized fishing bobber. He let out multiple 'Excuse me' and 'Sorry's as he passed them, earning groans and jeers from the very busy crowd.
After a few minutes, he made it to his destination: A rather modest two story home amongst the multitudes of mansions in this district. It wasn't modest enough to be a shack but it was humble enough to be a common pony home. The little colt pulled a mirror from his saddle bags and put it on the ground to look at himself. He quickly adjusted his hair and made sure he did not have a spot of his breakfast on his cheek. He sighed heavily and quickly knocked on the door.
He heard some majestic hoof steps on the other side and the door swung open. His eyes met a rather sleek, white unicorn mare. Her pink mane flowed in the somewhat chilly breeze and she looked over the young colt with a smile of approval.
"Ah. Young master Pip. How very nice to finally meet you." She bowed in respect.
"Fancy Pants has told me a lot about you." Pip Squeak bowed back in fear of being rude.
"Yes, mister Fancy Pants has told me about you as well miss Fleur." She giggled and rubbed her chin with her hoof.
"He has now, has he?" She smirked a little and stepped aside to let him in.
"I would be quiet, he is hard a work with his usual business."
He bowed once again and sheepishly made his way past the beautiful mare after she hanged his saddlebags near the door. After refusing an offer for something to eat, he walked through the kitchen and into Fancy Pant's study. The stallion was hard at work, levitating check books and numerous other pieces of literature to gloss over as he worked. In order to announce his presence, Pip cleared his throat. Fancy looked up and smiled, placing his quill and books down to greet the colt.
"Ah! Young master Pip! I was beginning to think you would not make it." He adjusted his monocle and cleared some of the books off of his desk, arranging them back on the shelves.
"I'm sorry for interrupting Mr. Fancy Pants, I can leave if I am stopping you from working." Fancy Pants shook his head and levitated a nearby chair in front of his desk.
"Not at all dear boy! Take a seat." Pip nodded and jumped up onto the chair. After doing so, he heard Fleur enter the room with a tea set that she sat down in the middle of them. Fancy Pants rubbed his hooves together and carefully poured himself a cup. He took a sip and sighed happily.
"As grand as always Fleur." She smiled at the comment and made her way out, giving Pip a playful wink that made him blush intensely. He turned back to Fancy Pants and seen a cup levitating in front of his face.
"Do try some, dear boy. You will not regret it." Pip took the cup carefully into his hooves and looked into the cup to see a clear, green liquid. He shrugged and sipped a little. Then he took another. Then he tried to chug it, but was stopped by Fancy Pants with his magic.
"Tea is a drink to be enjoyed, Pip, not gulped. Take your time." Pip nodded quickly and slowly continued to sip. Fancy Pants nodded and cleared his throat.
"So, what brings you here today? More lessons?" Pip nodded eagerly.
"Oh yes! I really want to continue. I was up almost all night studying about the pre-banishment years of manners." Fancy Pants raised his eyebrows in surprise and once again adjusted his monocle.
"Well, that is very good indeed! That means we can move on to the post-banishment years without fault. Can you summarize what you learned?" He brought his hooves together and leaned forward. Pip cleared his throat.
"Before the banishment of Princess Luna, high class ponies in Canterlot tended to talk in something known as the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE!" He yelled and coughed due to the strain. "A lot of common ponies tended to speak normally but, if high class ponies wanted to keep their title, they had speak in that voice when giving speeches, making announcements, speaking their vows on their wedding day, and they even had to yell goodnight to everypony from their windows to let them know that the high class had laid to rest so that the low class could know it was time for bed. Because, according to a book I read last night, the common ponies were to dumb to know it was time for bed so the rich had to tell them it was."
Fancy Pants clapped his hooves together in applause and laughed.
"Fantastic job Pip! But remember, that last part is just opinion." Pip nodded as if it was obvious.
"I do believe there was some bias in those books and they tended to call the common ponies something along the lines of..." Pip tapped his chin in thought until Fancy Pants chimed in.
"Trash that pollutes the very air of Canterlot?" Pip perked up and nodded.
"Yes, that's it!" Fancy Pants and Pip Squeak laughed for a moment before they were interrupted by Fleur, who was holding a letter.
"Letter for you Mr. Fancy Pants, your eyes only." She said and dropped the letter on his desk. Fancy opened it with his letter opener and skimmed over the contents quickly. He gasped in disbelief and immediately got up.
"Fleur, I want you to watch the house and have some tea ready when I get back. Be sure to balance the bits in our account correctly and do not respond to Hayseed Turnip Truck's letters unless it sounds dire." As he was going through these orders, he had gotten up from his desk and put on his black vest, put on his bow-tie, and made his way to the door in a hurry. Pip had followed after him.
"Mister Fancy Pants? What's going on?" Fancy Pants glanced in his direction and focused back to getting ready.
"I'll explain on the way." Pip Squeak gasped and ran in front of Fancy Pants.
"You mean I can come with you?" Fancy nodded and gave a quick kiss to Fleur, seeing this made Pip blush but he was re focused when he felt the weight of his saddlebags on his flanks. Fleur nodded and Pip bowed then he followed after Fancy Pants.
"What's going on, sir?!" Pip yelled after Fancy Pants as he ran down the street a little bit ahead of Pip. Fancy Pants did not look back but he did hand him the letter with his magic.
"But it's for your eyes only!" Pip yelled again. Fancy Pants shook his head.
"It does not matter. That letter can explain it better than I can." They weaved through the sea of ponies while Pip tried to read.
***
Dear Mr. Fancy Pants,
Fancy Pants! Oh Celestia! Last night, I was walking down the street with my wife, enjoying the beauty of Luna's moonlight on the city when we are attacked by some...thing! Violence was not our way, so we took off running. The thing simply would not let up! We ran for about twenty minutes before my wife suggested we split up. Me, being the gentlecolt, did not want to abandon her to this danger! However, before we could react, we were hit with a blast that separated us. I flew onto the pavement and my beautiful wife was flung into a nearby alley. I heard her scream and I searched frantically for her but, alas, I could not find her! I only found her locket. But it was covered in ash and...I think you know the rest. Meet me and the Canterlot Royal Guard at the scene of the crime: Horseshoe Lane near house number 345. Please hurry!
The side of Canterlot where the crime had taken place was eerily quiet. Shouts of ponies from the other districts could be heard but not one pony dared to step near Horseshoe lane. It had been no problem getting to the district, ponies who were about to yell at Fancy and Pip for passing them immediately shut up or began to sing Fancy's praises. Pip even got asked to sign someponies checkbook for merely being an acquaintance of Fancy's. After nearing the district, Fancy pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Pip.
"Here you are, my boy." Pip looked at the object that levitated in front of his face. It was a small mirror like object that hang by a tiny chain. He gasped when he realized what it was.
"Sir, do you think I am ready for a monocle? I-I mean I am just a month into my studies!" Fancy chuckled and looked at him.
"Pip, you do not need a degree to be a gentlecolt. I just teach you the ethics, dear boy. Besides, this monocle is very special to me and I do not trust myself to hold onto it." Pip was still confused.
"Then, why do you trust me to hold onto it?" Fancy smiled again.
"Think of it as a test of sorts." At the mention of the word test, Pip lost all cautiousness and applied it to his right eye, to contrast Fancy's monocle. Some more walking later, the two began to hear loud sobbing coming from further down the street and they eventually found who was responsible for it. Jet Set was being questioned by two royal guards and they seemed to be having trouble doing the actual questioning due to the constant flood of tears. Fancy cleared his throat and signaled for Pip to follow him.
***
"Greetings gentlecolts." Fancy announced his presence. Jet stopped sobbing and perked his head up to find the source of the voice. When he found it, he looked like he just struck gemstone.
"Mr. Fancy Pants! Oh thank Celestia! You got my letter right? Surely you will believe me! These ruffians have been questioning me for an hour and they actually suspect me of...killing my own wife!" Jet Set began to tear up a bit at the mention of 'killing'. He then stopped for a second upon seeing Pip.
"Who is this colt?" Fancy adjusted his monocle and gestured toward Pip with his hoof.
"This here, Jet Set, is my ambitious protege, Pip Squeak." Jet Set looked surprised and he bowed in respect and Pip, surprised at the sudden respect, bowed back.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Pip Squeak." Pip then chimed in, albeit a little nervously.
"Just Pip, if you do not mind." Jet Set nodded and turned toward Fancy Pants.
"I'm guessing you know what happened." Fancy nodded and looked a Pip, Pip nodded back and pulled out the letter. He sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness, I didn't think that the new mail mare would be up to the task. But, it looks like I was wrong to doubt." Jet Set pulled out the locket mentioned in the letter and seemed to stare solemnly at it for a moment before handing it to Fancy.
"Here, I could not find any clues on it and those guards will not let me look into the scene any further. Perhaps you can find something out Fancy Pants." Fancy smiled and nodded, giving Jet a pat on the shoulder.
"Don't worry old sport, I am confident that we will find out what transpired last night." Jet smiled and looked longingly at the locket, Pip noticed a chimed in.
"We will make sure nothing happens to the locket, you can count on us." Pip smiled and Jet seemed at ease by this. He was about to walk away until he remembered something.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot! Silly me." He dug into his suit pocket and pulled out two slips of paper. He handed them both to Fancy.
"I am having a formal ball at my domicile this evening. I was planning to cancel but I figured that if you would come then things would go as planned. Would you mind?" Fancy stuck them into his vest pocket and nodded.
"I would not miss it. Be sure to-"
"Have your lime tea ready? Oh Fancy, you underestimate me." They shared a chuckle and he bid them farewell. Fancy turned his attention to the houses around him and turned to Pip.
"I believe we should ask the locals if they noticed anything, don't you agree?" Pip nodded and they made their way to the nearest home, 345, and knocked on the door. After hearing the sound of broken glass the door swung open to reveal a face Fancy knew all to well.
"Ah, Trenderhoof. It is a pleasure meeting you again." Trenderhoof looked distracted by something as he looked back into the house repeatedly until he finally saw Fancy Pants.
"Fancy Pants?! Oh my goodness! I need to clean up in here a bit, be right back!" The door slammed and the two heard the sound of shelves closing, furniture being moved and, for some reason, cats hissing. As this was going on, Pip tapped Fancy on the shoulder.
"What is it, dear boy?" Pip cleared his throat and scuffed his hoof on the ground.
"Um, can you tell me who that pony was. I think I have heard his name once or twice." Pip looked a little embarrassed. Fancy eased his thoughts with a pat on the head.
"Don't worry Pip, he is a blooming writer who travels around Equestria to write in many different magazines. I heard he even brought tourism to Las Pegasus." He once again adjusted his monocle.
"I heard he even wrote an article about me but he never asked for information." Just then, the door swung open to reveal... Trenderhoof wearing a bag over his head and with a strangely deeper voice.
"Who are you and what do you want?" The duo looked at each other in confusion and Fancy cleared his throat, playing along.
"Well, sir, we are investigating an incident that occurred last night near your place of residence. Did you happen to hear anything suspicious?" He seemed to contemplate the question before he spat.
"I did not hear anything last night! No way, no how!" Trenderhoof threw his hooves in the air dramatically and his bag almost flew off before he caught it. Pip sighed in frustration at the act while Fancy remained calm.
"The incident occurred just across the street from where you are. Are you quite certain you did not hear or see anything." He seemed to stammer a bit before stating, with the utmost confidence.
"Well, I suppose I did hear something. How much is it worth to you?" Pip just sighed and stated in frustration.
"You are trying to bribe one of the most important ponies in Canterlot. I don't believe you know how dangerous that is." Trender seemed to recoil and lifted the bag to whisper something.
"Come on guys, I am trying to stay in character. This is my alter ego: Rustic hoof!" Pip became dubious.
"Why would you need an alter ego? As far as mister Fancy Pants has told me, you post your writings with your own name." Trender seemed to squealed with excitement.
"I know! But this is the first time I have been involved in a potential murder case! So, I spent the entirety of this morning reading some detective novels and, from what I have seen, the witness tends to be very cunning and stubborn." Fancy, who had been quiet during the whole scene, chuckled a bit.
"Well, you certainly play the part well." Trenderhoof welled with pride and squealed like a school filly.
"Thank you! I always wanted to become an actor!" Trender spun around and flashed a scarf that he grabbed in the middle of said spin. Pip still felt a little odd about the situation.
"Well, can you tell us what you saw now?" Pip inquired. Trender laughed awkwardly and threw the scarf back in his home. He cleared his throat and began to speak.
"Before I was about to tuck into my luxurious rental bed, I heard a strange sound come from outside. I looked out my window to investigate and seen that pony, Jet Set was it? He was laying on the paved road and I seen a shadow of some kind head into the alley. Then I heard a mare scream, but I was to scared to go out there! Fearing the worst, I hid myself in my room until about 2:00 in the morning." He took a deep breath and a sip of water after such a long winded statement.
"So, you heard a mare scream yet you did nothing to help her." Fancy's words were firm and he had lost his smile. Trender became very nervous and backed up a little and gestured inside to try and change the subject.
"Care to come in?" His voice was a little shaken and he shivered a bit. "You must be tired from standing, so please come in!" Fancy nodded a little and Pip bowed at the gesture then went to sit down on one of the small chairs in the room, knocking over some books on accident.
"Oops, I'm sorry." Pip tried to pick them up but they were covered in a purple aura and levitated them into a neat little pile on a nearby table.
"Oh, that is quite alright!" He sat down across from them on another small chair. Fancy had sit down on a couch next to Pip.
"Look, I feel bad about now helping that mare but, I did not want to put myself in danger so I-"
"So you chose to protect yourself rather than help someone else in need." Fancy's eyes never wavered and his voice was still firm. Trender was now shaking and trying to stammer out a sentence. Pip interrupted them.
"I think we can discuss how selfish he is later Fancy." He stated bluntly. Fancy sighed and smiled a bit at Pip. Trender sighed in relief but became attentive again once he seen Fancy had went back to looking at him.
"So, what do you mean by rental bed? Are you not staying long?" Pip questioned. Trender nodded.
"I am a traveling writer after all, I usually only stay in locations for about a week until I learn something juicy to write about." Trender ran a hoof through his mane.
"However, if a story is really juicy I stay for about three weeks at the most." Fancy nodded and added.
"What time do you usually 'tuck in', so to speak." Trender thought for a moment before answering.
"Usually at about 9:00 sharp. I rarely stay up later than that." Pip raised an eyebrow.
"Did you go to bed at the same time last night?" Trender rubbed his neck a bit nervously.
"I tried to, but I had recently eaten some delicious donuts from Donut Joe's. So, I had a hard time sleeping and holding still in general." He then looked toward an empty box labeled: "Donut Joe's! If it ain't got a hole, it ain't here!" Pip chuckled at the simplistic jingle.
"Well, too much sugar can do that." Fancy said rubbing his chin.
"What time did you hear the scream anyways?" Trender looked at the table clock to try and jog his memory.
"I believe it was a little after midnight." He then shrugged "At least I believe it was." He shook his head. "No, I believe it was after midnight. Because I had just finished another box of donuts around that time." Pip laughed a little.
"I guess the cure for restless nights is more sugar, right mister Fancy?" Fancy chuckled and Trenderhoof laughed nervously.
"Yeah, I guess that was pretty dumb of me." He cleared his throat to change the subject.
"So, can you tell us what you saw go into the alley when Jet Set was dazed?" Fancy asked. Trender halfway nodded and shook his head.
"It just looked like a blur to me, but I think I saw something important." Fancy and Pip gestured for him to continue.
"I believe I saw a horn. So it was a unicorn, I believe. I did not see much else in the split second it went by." Fancy looked a little shocked. Everything was adding up in his head.
"Was it completely black? Like a shadow?" Trender looked around as if he had stated the obvious.
"Well, I said it looked like one did I not?" He chuckled a bit and Fancy slammed his hoof on the table, scaring both Pip and Trender.
"And what time did you see it?" Trender was shaking now.
"A-After midnight." Fancy then got up and started to head for the door. Pip, surprised, jumped up after him. Before leaving the house, Fancy thanked Trender for his time and started to head back to his home. Pip had a hard time keeping up.
"Mister Fancy Pants! What is going on?" Pip asked, gasping for air at this burst of sudden exercise his body was not prepared. Fancy turned around and yelled back.
"I have a hunch Pip! A small one, but a hunch none the less!" Pip caught up to him and was alongside him now.
"What's the hunch?!" He yelled a little too loudly. Fancy kept his focus on the road ahead and almost whispered.
"Have I ever told you about...the Phantom of Canterlot?"
Fancy had burst into his home without so much as a knock and did not pause for breath as he made his way straight to his study. Pip, who had fallen behind, was still in the doorway trying to catch his little breath. Fleur, confused, watched as Fancy passed her in the kitchen and turned to see Pip at the door. He smiled nervously and waved.
"Fleur! I need you to whip up another batch of your exquisite tea!" Fancy yelled as he finished taking off his jacket. Toppling books could be heard hitting the floor as he maneuvered through the study in a rush. Fleur turned her attention back to Pip.
"Did you two find something?" Pip halfway nodded.
"Yes and no. Mister Fancy Pants just said something about The Phantom of Canterlot and when I asked him about it he was just silent." Fleur smirked.
"Well, whenever he finds something out he gives everypony else the silent treatment. He calls it 'concentration' though." She rolled her eyes and smiled at him.
"I think you better go in there and help him while I get the tea ready." Pip nodded and made his way to the study, where Fancy was already hard at work. He was sitting at his desk, levitating numerous books to skim through while he wrote some notes down.
"Um, mister Fancy Pants. Can I be of assistance?" Fancy nodded without looking up and levitated a few books toward him. Each book was about the pre and post banishment years of Luna. He opened the first one and skimmed through some of the things he already knew. Like, how the princess was banished, how she came to be banished, her single night of rule and a resistance force who popped up after she had been banished...wait what?
"Mister Fancy, I found something!" He exclaimed. Fancy looked up as the young colt spit the book onto his desk. The book lay open on the segment about a resistance force that formed after Luna's banishment. Fancy smiled and patted him on the back.
"Splendid job,young master Pip!" Pip blushed at the praise and examined the contents with Fancy. After a few seconds Fancy closed the book and got up to look out the window.
"It's hard to believe that such a thing occurred right after an already tragic event." He stared out the window and adjusted his monocle. Pip saw this and adjusted his own, with less success. He then answered the baited question.
"What do you mean, mister Fancy?" He kept his back to Pip as he explained.
"A week after Luna's banishment, ponies who were admirers of her began to revolt against Celestia's rule, calling her a tyrant for such a craven act against her own sister. After a failed, public attempt they went into hiding and deemed themselves as "The Children of the Night". He paused as he heard Fleur come in with some tea. She poured both of them a cup and left without a word, not wanting to interrupt her husbands train of thought. He levitated the cup and took a sip, then he continued.
"It is unknown where they conducted their secret activities. But, investigations have proved that it was somewhere underneath Canterlot Castle in the Crystal Catacombs." Pip raised his hoof like a student and Fancy turned to see it in time.
"Yes, Pip?" Pip cleared his throat and his thoughts before answering.
"Well, if they held their operations under the castle, how were they not noticed by the guards?" Fancy sat down at his desk again and put his hooves together in thought.
"After such an event, I would say that some of the guards were aware of the resistance but did nothing to stop it due to bribery, I would say." Pip, once again, raised his hoof.
"Yes, Pip?"
"But, what does this have to do with the Phantom of Canterlot?" Fancy put his hooves together in thought.
"A lot, actually." Fancy flipped through some notes he had taken during the investigation and from Trenderhoofs statement. Fancy took another sip of tea and looked at Pip's untouched cup.
Pip saw his cup being stared down and grabbed it, sipping it like he was taught to do. Fancy nodded with approval.
"After a few years of underground acts, such as sabotaging trade routes and spreading false rumors around the continent, they wanted to take more drastic actions. Physical acts, more than just sitting around. Then, they hired somepony known as the Phantom." Pip was on the edge of his seat and chewing on his right forearm in suspense. Fancy paused dramatically for a moment and finished his cup of tea. He poured himself another cup and continued.
"This pony was a master thief and of stealth but above all, he was loyal to Princess Luna. It may seem odd that a thief would be loyal to somepony in authority, is it not? Can you tell me why he would be, Pip?" Pip jumped when he heard the mention of his name and stammered.
"Um, because the night concealed his activities?" Fancy clapped his hooves together and smiled.
"That is right. Anyways, upon hearing of the group, he immediately joined and helped them spread their name all over Equestria. He stole top secret parchments, supplies and he even came close to stealing the royal crown itself." Pip gasped and took another sip of tea, as did Fancy Pants.
"Right off of Celestia's head?" Pip asked. Fancy chuckled.
"No, but I would be surprised if he couldn't!" They chuckled for a minute before calming down. Pip then asked a different question.
"What happened to him?" Fancy closed his eyes and sighed.
"I do not know, some reports have said that he was captured and put to death but such records, from what I have seen, do not exist." He leaned back a little in his chair. For a moment he did nothing but stare at the ceiling. Then he smirked.
"I believe it is time we do some investigating into this matter." Pip perked up immediately.
"D-Do you mean we're going to..."
"Yes Pip, we are going to Canterlot Castle." Pip jumped out of his seat and yelled in excitement. He began to run around Fancy's desk and kept on screaming "Yes!". Fancy grabbed him with his magic and set him back down in his seat.
"Now, now dear boy. Settle down." He chuckled at the young ones excitement and sipped some more tea.
"Do you think I will be able to meet Princess Luna?!" His smile could have touched the ceiling if it were not attached to his small body. Fancy smiled at him.
"I would say so, after all, we need permission from Princess Celestia herself if we hope to get in the Crystal Catacombs at all." Pip jumped in excitement again and ran to the door to the study.
"I am going to pack my things!" When Pip left to go and get his saddlebags, Fancy pulled out the locket and looked at it with curiosity. He studied it for a while and set it down on his desk.
"No sign of burn marks, nor did it go with Upper Crust herself." Fancy began to ponder this and looked at the clock. It was 6:07. He gasped and pulled out the two invitations to Jet's formal ball.
Congratulations!
You are either well known enough, or lucky enough to have your hooves on this invitation. If you stole it, then I would have to say that you just stole something as priceless as the Princess's crown itself! Be both proud and ashamed of yourself, please.
The Formal Ball begins at 6:30 Pm. Please wear formal attire or you will be denied entrance.
Why? Because this is a formal ball! Not some backwater "hoedown". I look forward to seeing you there, or not, if you stole this, some happy guards will be wanting to see you.
Ta, Ta!
*Special Note: Colts and fillies get in free, if with their guardian or parents, of course.
"Oh dear! I completely forgot!" Fancy put on his jacket, tie, readjusted his monocle again and headed for the door. Fancy was about to yell for Pip, until he saw him already conveniently dressed in formal attire.
"You really shouldn't read out loud." He turned to see his wife already in a beautiful, black gown with her cutie mark emblazoned on the chest. Fancy was both stunned, and confused.
"How did you get all of this done within two minutes?" Fleur giggled and kissed him on the cheek.
"Fancy, you should know of all the things I can do in just a span of two minutes." Fancy blushed and chuckled to himself as Pip's face was redder than any apple ever put on Equestria. Fancy cleared his throat and made his way to the door.
"Shall we milady?" Fleur smirked and made her way out the door and he turned to Pip, who looked confused.
"I thought we were going to the castle tonight?" Fancy sighed and looked down at him.
"I completely forgot about the ball, dear boy. We can go tomorrow though. Don't worry." He said with a smile. Pip looked sad at first but cheered up.
"Alright then. Lead the way, mister Fancy Pants." Pip charged outside and met with Fleur, who was waiting ever so patiently.
***
After calling a taxi, who stopped the entire line of traffic behind him just to pick them up, they rode to the mansion where the ball would take place. Just as said on the invitation, Jet Set was at the door greeting all of the guest who came in. His face lit up when he seen Fancy had arrived.
"Fancy Pants! You made it just in time!" Fancy looked at his watch and smirked when he seen that they had actually arrived at 6:30 exactly.
"Well, we were doing a bit of research before we arrived but it was no trouble getting here." Jet nodded as he helped Fleur off of the carriage taxi. Fancy paid for the ride and made sure Pip was still at his side as they entered.
The ball took place in a large, appropriately named, ball room and it was filled to the brim with high-class ponies. Some of them nearly spilled their drink or cheered when they seen Fancy Pants arrive. He simply waved and smiled in response. They began to hurl compliments or offers at him.
"Mister Fancy! Can I get you a drink?"
"Fancy Pants! You look splendid as always!"
"May I have this dance?"
"Will you marry me?!"
"I have never seen such a handsome stallion!"
Fancy Pants had gotten used to the way ponies had treated him, and this was no different than any other day. Smiling and waving was all he could do. If he answered them, then he would anger somepony else for not answering their compliment or request.
Pip, meanwhile, was busy admiring the room itself. Noting the giant chandelier that hang over their heads first. He seen several tables scattered over the room that held wine tasting and punch bowls. An ice sculpture of Celestia sat in the middle of the room on a golden pedestal, along with the band who was playing a slow song for the ponies already dancing on the floor around the statue.
"The decor is brilliant, is it not?" Pip nearly jumped through the ceiling when he heard the voice, he turned to see a pony wearing a dark blue suit with a purple tie standing next to him. His mane was light brown while his coat was dark grey and he was a unicorn, just like almost everypony else. However, he was wearing strange reflective glasses to cover his eyes. He was smiling as he looked over the room with Pip.
After Pip had stopped his heart from bursting from his chest, he managed to say something after clearing his throat and adjusting his monocle back onto his face.
"Yes, the decorations are very nice." He smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. He turned back to see if he was still there. He found an empty space where the pony had been standing.
Pip jumped again and looked around cautiously. All he seen were ponies enjoying their night out and sometimes saying weird things and strange words. Pip went to find his mentor in a fright. Just then, the lights dimmed and all focus was turned to the middle of the room. The statue's pedestal, that held the band had been cleared to allow Jet Set to stand by himself.
"Attention everypony! It is my pleasure to welcome you all here tonight! I know that some of you have heard of an event involving...my wife. However! She would not want me to hold up an event as important as this one for her so...I think it would be best for us to throw it in her honor tonight." The crowd began to clap their hooves on the marble floors and a few cheers were thrown in.
"However, this ball would not have been tonight without the help of one of my best friends. I want you all to applaud the most important pony in Canterlot, excluding the princesses of course, Fancy Pants!" The room burst with applause and whistles towards Fancy Pants, wherever he was. Pip still cheered non the less.
"Now, I would like to give a big thank you to-" The room went black. Pip began to scream along with the rest of the crowd at the sudden darkness. However, the lights kicked on to reveal Jet Set on stage. But he had company.
The pony that Pip had seen earlier was holding Jet Set's neck on the edge of a sword that he held in his hoof. Everypony gasped and began to panic. However, their panicking was brought to a halt when ponies in cloaks had covered the exits and a whistle had been blown.
"I'm sorry to disturb your wonderful night, everypony. However, this pony has been a bad stallion and did a little to much digging into things he should not know about." Jet Set attempted to scream but he was stopped by the stallions other hoof, which now covered his mouth.
"One of you to rich for pants ponies in here has an item that belongs to us. A locket that this fools wife stole. I would recommend handing it over, before I have to ruin this beautiful pedestal with a splash of red." Ponies began to whisper among themselves in a panic.
"I believe that will not be necessary."
Everypony had quieted down upon seeing which pony had uttered the phrase. Fancy Pants. He approached the stage and met the pony face to face, who still had his grip on Jet Set. Jet Set's muffled screams were brought to a silence by a little pressure on the blade.
"Well, well. If it isn't the pony everypony should know. Fancy Pants is it?" Fancy Pants ignored him and pulled out something from the inside of his coat pocket. The golden locket floated in his orange magic aura. The stallions cocky smile vanished upon seeing it.
Silence filled the room for a whole minute, until the stallion began to speak.
"So, the gentlecolt of Canterlot has our most prized locket, eh?" He took the blade away from Jet's neck and played around with it.
"That is right, I demand that you let him go. I will return your locket and you may leave. No tricks or cheats." The stallion laughed.
"I am afraid it is not that simple. You have laid hoof on the locket without being in our clan and therefore, you will not be leaving here tonight. I'm sorry, but that is our code." The room grew colder by the second. Pip was struggling to get to the front of the crowd without being noticed by the hooded villains so that he could help him.
"Very well then. How about a duel of sorts? That will settle this fairly." Fancy suggested. The pony recoiled in surprise. He laughed once again.
"Not only are you rich, but you are brave as well." He poked his chin with the tip softly as he considered the offer.
"Very well. I accept your challenge. If you win, I will let him go and we will leave. If I win, then I will take the locket and his life." Jet Set screamed once again, but it was muffled by the mysterious stallions hoof.
"Very well." The stallion released Jet Set from his grasp but he grabbed him with his magic. He waited for more of his clan to come and tie him up against the Celestia ice statue. After they did so, he clacked his hooves on the ground and another one of his clan members magically gave him a sword.
After tossing it to Fancy, and he caught it with his magic, they got into fighting stances. The stallion seemed jumpy and eager but Fancy remained calm as the sound of his magic echoed in the still room. Fancy only said two words. And those two words started the duel for both his and Jet Set's life.
"That will be about ten bits sir!" Fancy reached into his pocket and gave the taxi pony every bit he asked for.
"Have a nice night mister Fancy!" Fancy thanked him for the ride and approached his humble abode.
He opened the door and, after removing his jacket and tie, he noticed something that made him smile. The lit candles at the dinner table signaled that Fleur had beat him home. He sighed and made his way to his seat and waited for her to come out.
"It's not a surprise anymore Fleur. You can come out now, my dear." He turned to see some covers shifting on the couch and her head peeped out. Upon seeing that they had made eye contact she giggled and revealed herself.
"Why do you always have to spoil my fun?" Fancy observed her as she made her way to the table.
"You can't hide your beauty Fleur, no matter how hard you try." She, once again, giggled and waved her hoof as she levitated a tea set from the kitchen.
"You and your corny lines, Fancy." Fancy chuckled and adjusted his monocle.
"Well, being a poet never was one of my strong points." He watched as she poured his favorite lime and lemon tea. After doing so, she changed her expression to one of worry.
"I heard about what happened at the garden party, Fancy. It must have been so embarrassing."
"Not at all! Rarity and her delightful group of friends turned that party into something deserving praise, not scorn." He took a sip and sighed happily. Fleur looked at him, confused by his words.
"Fancy, why don't you ever get mad at somepony? You always forgive and forget, it seems rather odd." Fancy waved his hoof at her, as if telling a foal something important.
"A gentlecolt never holds a grudge, nor does he ever anger unless his friends, loved ones, or innocents are harmed." She playfully rolled her eyes and smiled at him.
"I forgot, your gentlecolt code." She took a sip of her tea and then her eyes widened in remembrance. She peaked under the table and her horn lit up. Her light pink magic was lifting a small, foal sized box. She set it down next to the tea set in the center of the table.
"A package arrived for you the moment you left the house. The mail pony made it explicitly clear to not open it until you came home." Fancy looked at the box in curiosity and pulled it in front of him. After he cut the tape he slowly opened the box in order to build tension. Fleur sighed and quickly opened it with her magic. Fancy smirked at her.
"Look who is ruining who's fun." Fleur simply smirked back and Fancy pulled out a book. He raised an eyebrow. The cover was dark red and it's corners and spine were laced with bronze. Fancy began to rotate the book to what he believed was the cover, but to his surprise, there was not a title, an author or any way to identify the book. Fancy rubbed his chin in thought.
"Fleur, can you go to my study and bring me that monocle case. It should be next to my book on the pre-banishment years of manners." She nodded and left the table. As she did, Fancy observed the book and tried to open it but, to his surprise once again, the book refused to cooperate.
Fleur set down the case without a word and moved her chair next to Fancy. He opened the case to reveal a unique monocle. Unique to him, anyways. It looked like just another one of his collection, except with an additional eye piece for further magnification.
"Fleur, can you do me a favor and please put out those candles." Fleur sighed and did so, quickly squeezing the life out of the flames with her magic. He applied the monocle and looked at the book with his other eye covered with a hoof. Just as he suspected, light blue and shiny words revealed themselves to him. Fleur leaned on his back and tried to look through as well.
"Hmm..I recognize these symbols." He muttered to himself. He got up from his seat and went into his study. After setting the book down, he looked over his book shelf that resided behind his desk. He skimmed the shelf until he found the one he was looking for.
"Page number 215.." He murmured as he flicked through the pages. He stopped immediately when he got to 214 and simply turned the page with his hoof instead of magic. The page revealed numerous hieroglyphics and a translation into common pony language.
After a few minutes of translating, Fancy seen that it had translated into a mess of letters, not a single audible word was formed.
"PLr WiarhTmaoT. ane rroun heht
"Hmm...this reminds me of...a puzzle of sorts." He was about to request some more tea but he seen that Fleur had already entered with the set at the ready. He smiled at her in relief.
"What would I do without you, my dear?" She laughed and winked at him.
"Probably go into a tea-less insanity." Fancy took a sip and re focused on the paper. He carefully began to reorganize the jumbled mess of letters until, after an hour or two and lots of tea, he formed an understandable title for the cover.
"The Phantom. The Lunar Warrior"
After reading it aloud, the book glowed for a moment before an invisible lock, only visible through the monocle, appeared and unlocked itself. Fancy, his curiosity peaked, opened the book and seen a slot at the bottom of a page. It did not seem to have a purpose at the moment, so Fancy focused on the newly formed words at the top of the page.
"The Phantom, neither legend nor myth. Not safe, shall the ponies be upon his return. A locket, gold and drenched in the sins of the past, shall be required for his revival. So says the moon at the strike of midnight."
Fancy sat there and read the phrase over and over again, trying to figure out what it meant. After another hour of doing so, he closed the book and left the room. Looking back only once to blow out the candle that kept the room alive with light.
***
The pony dropped all hesitations and immediately jumped to strike at Fancy. Fancy was quick to draw up his guard and their blades connected. Fancy grunted as he was trying his hardest to keep his magic up. The orange aura around his sword grew with intensity and focus as he pushed forward. The pony jumped back to get into position again. He did not pause for breath and he lunged again, catching Fancy off guard.
Fancy jumped to the left and turned to counter and, as he suspected, the stallion recovered from the failed stab and crossed blades once again with him. The stallion grinned as he seen Fancy's strained expression.
"What's the matter old goat? Can't stop playing defense?" Fancy countered with his own smirk as he managed to focus enough to counter the cross and force the pony to step back, gaining a bit of ground.
"Defense is an important part of swordplay, dear boy. If you simply rely on offense, you will leave yourself wide open." Fancy managed to hold onto his smirk as he positioned himself again. "May I?"
"Be my guest." The stallion prepared himself. Fancy was quicker than he looked, as he charged toward the stallion and tried to swing at his head. The pony responded with a duck and dodged the rest of Fancy's swings with ease. Their fighting looked choreographic as they danced circles around the other and countered the swings of the other perfectly. Some ponies in the audience even began to cheer, believing it to be staged.
Pip, meanwhile, was still struggling to get to the head of the crowd. His progress was halted by either ponies who believed him to be cutting or just general jerks. After a few more tries he gave up and left the crowd. He looked toward the stage to see Fancy holding his own just fine against this villain. Pip felt like he was useless at the moment and looked around for an idea.
The two combatants had stopped fighting and were catching their breath. Fancy had halted the use of his magic and was now holding the sword in his teeth. The other stallion had resulted to using magic and was panting from exhaustion. None of them had a scratch.
"You fight well, Fancy Pants. I did not expect a 'to rich for pants' pony to be a worthy opponent." Fancy, through gasp, smiled back and picked up the sword with his magic again.
"Well, you are not to bad yourself chum. Though, your form is a bit reckless." The stallion chuckled and looked over his sword in contemplation.
"I guess you can say that. A quick victory was what I was hoping for." He sliced the air "But I can now say that was a foolish thought." He began to charge once again and Fancy got ready to counter in response. Before their blows connected, Fancy had a trick up his sleeve. He slightly tilted his blade without the pony noticing and sliced upward just before they connected, knocking the sword from the ponies magical grip.
He turned to see his sword stab into the ground. He then turned to see Fancy, his blade pointing at his muzzle. They did not move for the longest time, nopony spoke or move until Fancy finally said something.
"You have lost." The words hit the stallion like a brick covered in hornets. He thought of the many things he could say back to the gentlecolt. But, only two of them managed to champion the rest of his insults.
"Very well." The stallion turned to pick up his blade, his pride shattered. He turned one last time to see Fancy's unwavering blank expression. He said, through gritted teeth.
"We will certainly meet again." Fancy smiled and lowered his own blade.
"I will look forward to it." He had not expected that. That one sentence made him do something he could not have imagined he would have done, even through his shattered pride. He genuinely, without mock or taunt, smiled back. He whistled for his clan as a signal to leave and, before running out with them. He made a vow to himself. He would not lose again.
After they left, Fancy turned to the crowd and waited for a reaction. The ball room exploded in applause and cheers. All of them praising Fancy's name. He smiled and bowed, scanning the crowd for Pip.
Pip was cheering as he made his way to the side of the stage and tried to climb up, getting some unexpected help from the crowd. He ran to Fancy's side and he acknowledged him with a pat on the head and Pip responded with a hug to his foreleg.
Fleur, who shoved half the crowd out the way, ran on stage and planted the biggest smooch on Fancy's lips. The crowd cheered even more upon seeing this and Pip bowed towards the crowd.
"A little help here!" The trio turned to see Jet Set looking agitated, trying to wiggle free. Fancy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and undid his restraints.
"I apologize Jet, I just got caught up in the moment, it seems." Jet Set waved it off and shook Fancy's hoof with both of his own.
"I could not care less! You did amazing! I did not know you could do swordplay Fancy!" Pip chimed in as well.
"Yeah mister Fancy! Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked jumping up and down in excitement. Fancy looked at Fleur, who winked back at him and he grinned.
"Let's just say that I dabble in it, that's all." Jet Set could not have smiled wider.
"Well, your dabbling just saved my life! How could I ever repay you?" Fancy waved his hoof.
"No thanks are necessary old friend, just doing what any gentlecolt would do." Jet Set continued to squeal, that is until he remembered something.
"Fancy, what do you think that cult wanted with Upper Crust's locket?" Fancy rubbed his chin in thought.
"I have a hunch. However, I believe further investigation is in order before I can say for sure." Pip's expression brightened and he yelled.
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.
"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 figure, seemingly made of pure darkness, loomed over the room and glanced in the direction of the crew Waning left behind. They shrank in fear but tried to stand their ground as the looming giant got closer and closer. One of them shrieked and dropped their weapon, the others following suit and rushing up the long stair case. The Phantom did not pay any attention to Fancy and Pip as he crashed through the doorway, barely fitting into the space as it made its way up, destroying the architecture along with its exit.
Fancy focused as hard as he could on one of the swords, but could not manage the magical strength needed to lift it. The area began to crumble around them as the Phantoms hoofsteps caused a miniature earthquake with each step. Pip screamed as he seen a piece of the ceiling barely miss him and land directly next to him and Fancy tried to focus harder, managing to finally lift the sword over to them, cutting the ropes and setting them free.
Upon being free, he ran over to Upper Crust and Pip assisted him in putting her on his back.
"Come on Pip! We must make haste!" Pip nodded and did not waste anytime following Fancy. Upon getting to the stairs, they seen that the stairs had completely collapsed and left a big gap between them and wherever the stairs were not collapsed. Fancy looked all around, the shakes getting worse by the minute.
"Fancy! What do we do?!" Pip asked, shaking as the room behind them was about to cave in. Fancy blocked everything else and began to think. A crazy idea entered his mind, a little hesitant at first but it eventually busted down the doors of his brain and took up space on the sofa, giving him an idea.
"Pip, we got to jump down." Pip recoiled and began to tremble.
"B-But mister Fancy! What if we-!" Fancy shook his head and looked forward, determined.
"I'm sorry Pip, but we don't have time to lose!" Fancy used his magic to keep a grip on Upper Crust, who was stirring a little, about to be awakened. He took a few steps back, galloped and jumped down the massive hole. Pip, very cautiously, followed suit, screaming all the way down.
***
Upper Crust's eyes began to open, slowly, as she looked around to observe her surroundings. She had a strange feeling as if she was falling. She then looked down, and began to scream in horror, grabbing onto the nearest object for comfort, it just so happening to be Fancy's neck. She turned to look at him, gasping in the middle of her screams.
"Fancy Pants?! Where in Celestia's name are we?!" Fancy could not answer back, due to being strangled at the moment. Pip was still screaming as he crashed into Fancy, grabbing hold of his back for comfort. Upper Crust stopped squeezing so hard, letting Fancy finally yell back.
"Upper Crust! I need you to use your levitation spell in tandem with mine! Focus on our bodies!" Upper Crust began to stutter in fear.
"B-But I can't! I am not that-"
"Please try!" Fancy said as his horn began to light up and covering their bodies in his orange aura. Upper Crust began to focus as well, her green aura mixing with his to create a muddy brown aura, slowing their fall down a bit as the ground neared their hooves. A few more seconds of panic induced focusing and their fall eventually slowed down to a crawl, letting them land softly on the ground with a small thud.
Fancy and Upper Crust were exhausted, gasping for air as their heads pounded from the overuse of magic. Pip was still holding onto Fancy's back, shaking like a leaf as he whimpered. After a minute, they began to hear more shakes above them as some rocks began to fall from above. Fancy stood to his hooves and helped Upper Crust up. Pip began to calm down after a few words of encouragement from Fancy. The trio had landed into the mining part of the catacombs, an empty mine cart sit quietly on the somewhat rusted tracks. Some pick axes, that have been unused for years, lay against the crystal covered walls.
"Fancy, I want you to take a second and tell me what is going on!" Upper Crust managed to yell out, still gasping for air. Fancy turned around, after observing the mine cart for a minute and looked back at her
"I am afraid explanations will have to wait." Fancy adjusted his monocle, it miraculously not having a scratch on it from the events that took place. Upper Crust sighed in frustration and pulled out a mirror, adjusting her mane.
"I am sorry, but we have to keep moving. There is no telling what that creature is going to do if it gets outside." Fancy galloped to the mine cart and began to observe it. The wheels looked to be in fine condition and the cart itself was a little rusty and aged but it should be able to hold there weight. Fancy hopped in a beckoned them to follow suit. Pip, after a deep breath, jumped on the cart with him, making it rock forward a little. Upper Crust looked at the cart with hesitation and looked around.
"Can't we take another way? I am sure one of these walls hides a secret entrance or something." She continued to look around, desperate to find another way that did not involve any risk. Fancy cleared his throat and held his hoof out, waiting to guide her onto the cart. She sighed, once again, and took his hoof, climbing into the mine cart next to Pip, who smiled at her.
"Don't worry Upper Crust, I am sure mister Fancy knows what he is doing." She smiled back a little and nodded, hoping inside that he was right. Fancy looked down to see where the tracks lead but seen nothing but darkness below. He took a deep breath and gave the cart a little push with his magic.
"Hold on everypony!" He yelled and grabbed onto the edges as the cart reached the tipping point. Gravity took over and the cart began its descent into the awaiting darkness. Pip began to scream in excitement at the speed while Upper Crust just screamed. The cart took sharp turns and made sparks fly on some of the tighter corners. Fancy had to readjust his monocle several times to keep it from flying off of his face. Eventually the cart started to go down a spiral, nearly making them fall off but thanks to some quick telekinesis by Fancy they held strong as the carts blazing speed took them for the ride of their lives.
Then, they seen a break in the railing up ahead.
"Oh dear." Fancy said and Upper Crust embraced Pipsqueak in terror, who then responded with his own screams and hugged tighter. Fancy enveloped the cart in some more magic to keep them from falling out as it jumped the broken rails. Fancy's magic kept them in the cart as it soared through the air and eventually landed on another set of rails with a crash, Fancy's magic being the only thing keeping them in at this point.
The cart, having to much inertia from the previous stunt, could not be stopped as it headed for a dead end. Fancy was quick to pull on a conveniently placed emergency brake and the wheels began to spark in its attempt to stop the mad cart. After a few seconds, the cart slowed down but still hit the wall with some force, almost flinging them from the cart.
Fancy rubbed his head and adjusted his monocle once again, turning to check on Pip and Upper Crust.
"Is everypony alright?" Pip and Upper Crust were still hugging each other from fright and slowly nodded. Fancy stepped out of the cart and took Upper Crust's shaky hoof to lead her out. Pip jumped out, still breathing rather fast.
"That..was so FUN!" Pip yelled and began to jump around the cart, cheering. He turned back to Fancy.
"Can we do it again?" Fancy walked over to pat him on the head while Upper Crust shook herself to try and recover from the experience.
"I am afraid Mrs. Crust would not like that." He said, smiling down at him. Upper Crust, who was now taking deep breaths to calm her nerves, nodded towards him. Fancy then began to look around. They appeared to have went deeper into the mine section and their exit was yet another dark and dreary hall.
"I believe I found our exit." Fancy announced, signaling the others to follow him. His light spell was rather dim and had to have Upper Crust assist him in lighting the place. After a long trek through the hall and another crash from above, signaling that time was of the essence, they came across a polished, wooden door. The gilded doorknob looked like it had been untouched for ages, dust had taken up residence on the once beautiful piece of art.
Fancy blew the dust off and turned the doorknob. On the other side was a hall lined with a red carpet with gold lace on the edges. Statues of Canterlot guards were on either side of the hall with lit torches that burned with blue fire. At the end of the hall was another door that looked like an exact copy of the last one.
"Fancy, where are we?" Upper Crust asked, admiring the sudden decor improvement. Fancy looked around as well, surprised by the change but he had a good idea where they were, remembering the parchment from earlier.
"This must be The Children of the Night's section of the castle." He said, stopping his light spell upon entering. Pip went to touch one of the statues but regretted it upon seeing the insane amount of dust that touched his hoof. Fancy and Crust were making their way down the hall and Pip caught up with them, looking at the door.
Fancy opened it and what lay on the other side was nothing short of weird. The room was cube in shape and was rather small, looking to be only for a single pony. The room was rife with portraits of Princess Luna, each one hanging on the walls and some even on the floor. A fire place was lit and still burning with another picture of Luna above it. Another door was on the left side of the room, next to the fireplace. A single chair was all that sat in the room that could be described as furniture and a table was next to it.
They made their way inside to look around at the sparingly decorated room. Fancy got closer to the table and seen something that looked awfully familiar. A golden locket lay untouched by the passing of time on the wooden table. Fancy picked it up and opened it. What he saw turned this entire mystery on its head.
Inside the locket was a picture of Princess Luna standing next to a grey unicorn. His expression one of pure joy as the Princess smiled sheepishly at the pony taking the picture. On the small picture was a heart and a small sentence that made Fancy's heart stop momentary and force him to collect his thoughts.
"I hope you can forgive me someday. Love: The Phantom."
Fancy dropped the locket in shock and a spark went off in his mind. This spark lit the fire of knowledge and his brain fanned the flames until it was ablaze with an realization.
The Phantom...was in love with the Princess.
"Eureka!" Fancy yelled. Upper Crust and Pip jumped in fright at Fancy's sudden shout. Fancy picked up the locket and tucked it into his coat. He then turned around to face Pip and Upper Crust, who looked curious.
"We need to go and find the Phantom." Pip and Crust still looked confused as Fancy rushed through the other door, which lead to another set of stairs. He was smiling the whole way up as Pip and Crust barely managed to keep up.
"What did you find out mister Fancy?!" Pip yelled up after him. Fancy turned to look at him and Crust, not letting his smile fade.
"Something that will stop this chaos." He said and kept going. The stairs stopped at a dead end of sorts but when Fancy touched it, it was revealed to be a picture. The trio moved the picture and jumped into the lobby to see it in shambles. Hoofsteps bigger than a pony ruined the once beautiful marble floors and lead to what used to be the front door.
"He must be this way!" Fancy yelled and followed the prints. Upon exiting, they seen the Phantom stomping through the city, causing chaos everywhere as it destroyed buildings and shot magic from its horn. Princess Celestia could be seen flying around and shooting the specter, but her shots proved to be ineffective as they went right through it. It tried to swat at her but she nimbly dodged the attacks.
Fancy looked back to address Pip and Upper Crust.
"Pip, I want you to come with me. Upper Crust, I want you to stay here where you will be safe." Crust looked hesitant but did what she was told. Pip nodded and caught up to Fancy, who was now speeding towards the giant specter pony.
***
The ponies of the city had been evacuated to the garden of the castle before The Phantom even got out of the castle. Fancy encountered some of them, each one telling him that it was too dangerous to go any further into the city and he was going to get himself hurt. He let them know that he had a plan to stop the beast and they let him and Pip go on ahead into the dangerous city.
Celestia was still trying her best to hurt the creature, tossing every spell she could at it, but each one proved to be ineffective as the specter continued its rampage across the city. Fancy and Pip had finally entered the city and were on their way to confront The Phantom, when they encountered a familiar face sitting on his carriage taking pictures of the attack.
"Trenderhoof! Why aren't you in the gardens with everypony else?" Pip yelled out. Trender turned to look at them and was almost ready to faint from squealing so much.
"I can't believe this is really happening! A monster is attacking Canterlot and I am in the middle of it. This has to be the greatest trip I have ever taken! I can't wait to write about this in my paper!" He turned to continue snapping pictures but, as Fancy and Pip was about to run by him,he yelled out at them to stop.
"Wait! Are you going to go and stop it?" They nodded quickly and Trender hopped off the carriage and tied himself to the reigns of his vehicle.
"Then I guess I will get more than a supporting role after all!" Fancy was about to interject when he heard the specter roar loudly and smash another building.
"Alright, get us as close as you can!" Fancy yelled and jumped on it, helping Pip up. Trender nodded and took off, pulling the cart at a surprisingly fast speed towards the Phantom.
After a few minutes of getting rather close to the creature, Fancy stopped him and jumped off along with Pip as they made their way towards him. Celestia was still pestering the creature with her magic and it was getting more furious by the minute. Fancy ran around its huge hooves, trying his best not to get to close in order to be stomped. Pip was bouncing with almost every step the creature took and was losing his balance. Once he was finally in front of the creature, Fancy yelled out.
"PHANTOM! STOP RIGHT THERE!" The Phantom halted in his tracks, looking down at Fancy with it's emotionless yellow eyes. Fancy felt a tang of fear take hold in his chest but he kept himself together as he began to yell at him. Celestia looked down at Fancy with pure shock and surprise
"Once upon a time, a tragic event occurred in this city. An event that sparked a secret rebellion lead with the intent of degrading Princess Celestia after the banishment of her own sister, Princess Luna. The rebellion was an act of love towards Luna and did small things to aid in their cause. However, that all changed when you came along." The Phantom remained motionless, the aura of it's magically held together body pulsing every once in a while. Its eyes did not move as Fancy adjusted his monocle to continue.
"You took charge of the group and made them do more drastic actions. You even had a plan to steal Celestia's own crown. However, the more you did these things, the more the guilt tore you apart. Before Luna's banishment, you used to be real close to the Princess and secretly admired her." The Phantom let out a small gasp of sorts, its gaze intensifying on Fancy.
"I believe that on the day Luna was banished, you were going to confess to her. But that all changed when you learned of her banishment. I believe the pain and anger tore you up inside and you learned of the group known as The Children of the Night, a group made to remember the fair Princess. You took the opportunity to take charge and get your revenge on the ponies who you believed caused her to feel unwanted and inferior." Fancy looked to Pip who nodded at him, smiling as he stared up at the pony.
"However, like I said, the more you did this, the more you felt like you was betraying her ideals. You knew she would not love you for being a thief and a looter. How did I come to learn this?" Fancy dug into his coat and pulled out the locket and upon presenting it, The Phantom's eyes shrunk and took a step back, causing Pip to fall over and hit his face. Fancy then opened the locket, levitating the picture to let him see it for himself. All was still as The Phantom looked at the picture. Then, something happened.
The Phantom let out a wail of sorrow and smashed a building next to it. Then it looked at Fancy, rage filling its eyes as it raised a hoof and prepared to stomp him with all of the hatred left in its soul. Pip ran to his side and prepared to yell, but somepony else beat him to it.
"STOP!" The Phantom froze, his hoof a foot above Fancy and Pip. He slowly turned his head and seen something that nearly made his heart explode. Princess Luna herself was gliding over to the scene and was looking at The Phantom.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it Star Note." The Phantom turned around completely and leaned down to get a closer look at Luna, to see if she was real or not. She closed her eyes in remembrance.
"I remember the last time we talked. You told me that no matter how hard it got, no matter how far away you went, I would always have a place in your heart." She looked at Fancy and nodded. He nodded back, adjusting his monocle. She turned away from him.
"It seems like just yesterday that you said that to me." She closed her eyes once again, still not facing him as disappointment began to fill her voice.
"But to hear that you became a thief and made implications of possibly murdering somepony, just to avenge me." She faced him, her stare cold.
"I have never been more disappointed in anypony in my life." The Phantom recoiled hard and gasped, his eyes shrinking in size. Luna turned and began to walk away. The Phantom could not allow her to do so.
"WAIT! LUNA, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" The Phantom's voice echoed throughout the entire city as she stopped in her tracks. The Phantom's dark and powerful form began to degrade until Wanings body was tossed out onto the street, unconscious. After all of the dark magic cleared, a grey unicorn surrounded by white aura, looking like a spirit of sorts, ran to her in a panic.
"I know what I done was wrong! I know it was stupid of me to think revenge was the best course of action! I am as dumb as I ever was. Please, don't leave me being angry at me." His voice was rough and he sounded as if he was going to burst into tears at any moment. Luna had stopped walking away and was still, listening to him.
"I left this world hoping that you would someday forgive me for my actions. I can see now that I was wrong and I am so sorry for everything I have done." His head hung low, staring at the ground in sorrow as tears began to leave his eyes and drop to the ground. Luna turned to face him and lifted his chin to face her.
"I may not be able to forgive you fully for what you did, but at least you are sorry for it." She smiled at him. "And that is what really matters to me." Upon hearing this, his face brightened and he wiped the tears from his eyes. He then quickly hugged her, nuzzling her shoulder as he began to cry into her. She nuzzled him back, tearing up a bit as well. His body began to glow and he pulled out of the hug.
"It looks like my time has come." He drew in a breath and looked her in the eyes one last time, smiling at her.
"After all these years, I can rest. Thank you for your forgiveness Luna." She nodded, letting some tears leave her eyes. He smiled one last time as his body began to fade and eventually disappear. Two, rather simple words echoed in the city as he left the world of Equestria and into anew.
"Thank you..."
After that, he was gone. Luna stared into the night sky as a single tear fell from her face and hit the broken pavement. Celestia landed next to her sister to try and comfort her, hoping to get the rest of the story later. Fancy released a breath he did not realize he was holding and looked down to Pip, who was looking to the night sky with a smile on his face. He turned to Fancy and then his smile fell when he looked to Luna, who was now crying freely into her sisters shoulder.
"No....."
Pip and Fancy turned to see Waning, finally to his hooves looking to the stars, his glasses now resting on the pavement to reveal his purple eyes. Those eyes held sorrow, then fear, then fury as he turned to look at the stallion responsible for crushing his dreams of fame and power. Fancy Pants.
"FANCY PANTS!!" He rushed at Fancy,drawing his blade with his magic as he was beginning to froth at the mouth. Fancy simply waited for him and prepared his own magic, until he was stopped by a powerful, gold and pure aura. His limbs failed to move an inch as his captor stepped in front of him.
"I think you have done enough on this night." Celestia said, her glare burning holes into him. He only response was a pained grunt. Luna stepped forward as well, looking calm but inwardly furious.
"You are lucky that the rules forbade me from killing you." Luna simply said and walked by him, letting her sister deal with the rest Celestia sighed and walked toward Fancy and Pip. She nodded towards them.
"You once again surprise everypony Fancy Pants. I'll have to hire you as royal detective if this keeps up." She said, smirking. Fancy simply bowed in respect, then remembered formalities and rose to his hooves, adjusting his monocle.
"Just doing what any gentlecolt would do, Princess." Fancy said as Pip dug through his saddlebags to pull out the mysterious book that had helped them on their journey. Celestia looked at it and grabbed it with her magic to observe it closer.
"I've never seen this book before." She said as her eyes scanned the cover and the few pages she could open. Fancy gestured towards it.
"We were hoping you could get some of the royal scholars to look it over and try to find out its secrets. If you do not mind that is, your highness." Fancy said, bowing. Celestia looked at the book again and nodded with a smile.
"I'll get right on that." Fancy nodded and signaled that it was time for them to go home. Pip nodded but quickly asked.
"What are you going to do with Waning, Princess?" She looked toward him as his glare and teeth still showed.
"Well, our dungeons have been empty for a while. I am sure they could be put to use once again." Waning's glare moved to Fancy, who simply looked at him in disappointment as Celestia carried him and the book away towards the castle as Pip and Fancy began to leave for their nice and comfy beds.
"Oh, and Fancy?" Fancy turned back to look at her now smirking face.
"I would prepare for a lot of mail." Fancy's expression went dire for a moment as he adjusted his monocle, his face changing back to his usual smile. He and Pip made their way home to a good nights sleep, as the cheers of the Canterlot ponies followed right behind him.
~One week later~
Pip was concentrating hard on a piece of paper. He repeatedly looked back and forth between the paper and a book he had sitting next to him. He chewed on the eraser in frustration as he pondered the final answer to the question. After a minute or so, he marked down what he thought was right and spit out the pencil. He carried the paper to Fancy's desk, who was in the middle of sipping some tea.
"Finished, mister Fancy!" Fancy set down his tea cup and smiled at him.
"Finished so soon?" He asked and picked it up, looking over the answers as Pip stood proud.
"Yep! I bet I aced it!" Fancy chuckled and went over the ten questions twice, then marked an answer wrong, causing Pip's pride to sink and he picked it up to look which one he got wrong.
"The last one!" He yelled and laid it down in front of Fancy. "Can you tell me why I got it wrong though?" Fancy nodded and adjusted his monocle and Pip went around his desk to look as well.
"You see Pip, the question ask 'Why did the Canterlot Elite use the Royal Canterlot Voice to announce it was time for bed to the lower class?' and you put 'Because they believe they were to ignorant to know.' " Before Pip could interject, he began to explain.
"But I told you two days ago that it was because they were actually warning the lower class of The Phantoms presence." He set the paper down and looked at Pip with a raised eyebrow.
"Can you tell me why you missed it?" Pip looked around nervously and bowed to apologize.
"I am sorry mister Fancy! I am so sorry for not studying or listening properly!" He raised up and ran to the door.
"I'll be sure to skip my dinner as punishment and study for the rest of the day!" Before Fancy could say anything, Pip took off, cheering all the way. Fleur came in right after he left and smiled at Fancy.
"Did he fail a test?" Fancy shook his head and set the test to the side, sipping his tea again.
"No, but it is good to see him taking such initiative is it not?" Fancy asked, adjusting his monocle and smiling back at her. She giggled.
"You and your strange ways Fancy." She walked over to him and brushed her tail against his chest, causing him to blush a bit and clear his throat. She winked at him and sat down in Pip's seat.
"Well, any more letters from the Royal Sisters as of late?" He shook his head and went through the pile of parchments and letters again to check.
"No, but I have gotten a lot of request for investigations." She raised her hoof like a student, causing Fancy to chuckle and point at her.
"Yes, my dear?" She tilted her head, looking as innocent as possible while her eyes sparkled in the sunlight coming through the window.
"Why don't you take them Mr. Fancy? You solved that Phantom case a week ago just fine." He chuckled at her act and sipped some more tea.
"Because I am not a detective. I am simply a gentlecolt. Nothing more, nothing less." She sighed and got up to leave.
"Well, it seemed like you were having fun with it and I am sure Pip would love to do it again." Fancy began to contemplate her words as he adjusted his monocle again. He looked back on the case he solved a week ago with the Phantom. He did have fun, solving puzzles, finding secret entrances and exits, escaping places of danger. It seemed like something out of an adventure novel. He looked up to see that Fleur had left and looked through the letters again.
He found one that caught his eye and looked it over for the longest time. He looked around his study to see how average his life seemed compared to what he had done a week ago. He picked up the letter once again to look over its words for a while.
He then smirked, finished his tea and adjusted his monocle once again as he turned his chair to look out of the window to see the setting of the sun. He poured himself another cup of tea, sipped it and sighed happily.
