And so, it was with a heavy heart that I attended my next session of Mazes and Magi. “Hey guys, this is the new player I was telling you about. Her name’s Musette, and she’ll be running Sir Noble Braveheart from now on.”
I solemnly handed his character sheet and my matching dice over to her, whispering. “Remember the house rules: no fey bargains at the game table.”
She chuckled and nodded. “Of course. We are in your home, and I am your guest. It is only proper I abide by your wishes.” Hospitality and guest rights are another one of those things fey make a big deal over. With a smirk she amended, “Also, as I am your guest I will help pay for the pizza and soda, as is the custom. I do receive minimal pay while performing my community service.”
Thanks to the deal we’d cut to get rid of her bargain with Vinyl, the law had gone reasonably easy on Musette. Well, that and the fact that locking her up for too long risked causing trouble with all her sisters. Thankfully, they seemed to regard several thousand hours of community service as a reasonable punishment for Musette letting herself get caught. Mom had hired half a dozen lawyers to write up and review the terms of Musette’s sentence with a fine-toothed comb, so we were as sure as we could be that it was loophole-free and would keep her from causing any more problems.
Maybe it wasn’t a perfect solution, but it worked for me. And certainly none of the guys in my game group were complaining about the smoking hot fey who’d joined our table. Especially since Musette turned out to be one hay of a good player too, though I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she was so good at the artistic side of the game.
Once game night was done and the guys all went home, it was just me and Musette. “So, I guess you have to head back to jail now?”
Musette shrugged, glancing down at the bracelet around one of her legs. “Technically it’s just house arrest rather than an actual jail. And as long as I go straight back there from here, I doubt they’ll get too annoyed if I stay for a few more minutes.”
“Right.” I was a little surprised none of the other guys in the group had commented on Musette’s tracking bracelet. Maybe they hadn’t noticed it, or maybe they just didn’t care. “So ... how did you like Sir Braveheart?”
“He’s ... interesting.”
I couldn’t help grinning a bit. “So, I guess that means I get to add my name to the list of ponies who managed to outsmart a fey. I traded a Mazes and Magi character for a living, breathing pony. Pretty good deal.”
She smirked at me. “You’re right, it was. You gave me piece of art, something you created with your heart and soul. And now it belongs to me. That’s worth far more than a life.”
I blinked in surprise. “It is?”
She chuckled in a way that seemed distinctly ominous. “Stars, I adore mortals.” She leaned over and pecked me on the cheek, then headed for the door. “See you at next week’s game, Shining.”
I watched her go, wondering if I’d made a terrible mistake. Mom caught me watching and immediately leapt to the wrong conclusion. “Looks like Cadance has some competition.”
“Mooom!” I groaned.
She smirked at me. “What? She is a very nice-looking fey. Obviously you’d need to be very careful about getting involved with her, but you seem to be holding your own so far...”
I buried my face in my hooves.
She ruffled my mane playfully. “Look at my little colt, all grown up and chasing after fey and alicorns. You’ve certainly set your sights high, Shiny.”
“Can we not have this conversation?” I begged.
“Though speaking of fey...” Mom continued despite my wishes, “that does remind me of this one time with a hippocampus—mind you, this was years before I met your father...”
I slammed my hooves over my ears. “I don’t need to hear this!”
Mom snickered and trotted off, leaving me to be tormented by the part of my brain that was capable of forming mental images. “Urgh. I go to all this trouble just to do a favor for Mom and this is how she repays me?”
Sure, I’d saved Vinyl, cleared Octavia’s name, and maybe started Musette down the path to reforming, but I guess that just proved the old saying right. No good deed goes unpunished.