Surviving His Muse
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.
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This is superb. Do you know what this reminds me most of though? The Dresden Files. Magic, private investigation, fey, D&D, nerdiness, but most of all as they are the purest expression of your closing sentence. Truely, no good deed goes unpunished.
Oh my hahahah
HA! I love it! A good story with drama, some fun, and an actual, decent twist at the end! Plus Shining Armor being clever!
10/10, fav'd & saved. Have a star and a like.
7397279
Well you'll be delighted to know that Chen's a big fan of the Dresden series, so a lot of his work is often inspired by it.
In fact, he's written a few crossovers with the Dresdenverse, so I strongly recommend you look those up too!
This was really well written, good job!
Well, that was cute! Thanks for another fun little story, Chengar.
Funny thought: if Mazes and Magi is Equestria's DnD, I'd love to see what Cards Against Equinity would be like...
As usual, great story, Chengar. You appeal to every kind of reader from across the board with your clever and unique blend of humor, romance, and drama. Keep the good fics coming!
technicaly he could have easily overpowered the muse by seeking out a more powerful fey, leprechaun, fairy, hobgoblin, hell if he'd taken the matter before titania herself she'd have easily labeled the deal as unfair and terminated it without cause, (even if she is a fey it's notable the fairy queen did not appreciate her underlings making deals with mortals who where not in there right mind as dieties sometimes take offense to this and interfere, and gods have more power then fairies)
7397782 Or brought it up with any of the other feylords.
Quite a good story.
Still... I can't help but wonder if this particular outcome was exactly what Musette wanted. I found her first 'Mazes and Magi' comment quite suspicious.
7397782 7397849
Perhaps, but getting help from another fey who outranked Musette would mean getting more deeply entangled with the fey and would risk putting himself in an even worse position. After all, that conversation could easily end with Shining being told "Of course I'll do you the favor of helping resolve this situation. And you, of course, will do me a favor in turn when the time comes."
This one was a lot of fun, and I quite liked Shining Armor's point of view throughout. I do have to wonder if Chrysalis is at all related to Musette. Shining does seem to draw the attentions of some rather extraordinary women, although admittedly less of Cadance's attention than he would like, so far. I wonder if Musette could help with that...
Fantastic work, I enjoyed the whole thing
Really interesting. You combined a lot of things really well.
7398071
Interesting idea. Maybe Chrysalis heard about Shining though the fay network from Musette. Although Winningverse Changlings don't seem to be fay creatures.
This was a nice, short and sweet story, that didn't turn out quite like I'd thought. I'm glad there was a happy ending for everyone except for Shiny
, and the twist at the end was really lovely. A piece of art, huh. Very clever.
I do wonder how much of the situation they explained to Vinyl, as it seems Musette was still living with her at the end but had the tracking bracelet, which had to be explained in some way.
Thanks Chengar, I quite enjoyed this one.
I find it funny that before I started reading this I pondered if there was any news about Butcher's next book. And now I'm sitting here and went "You know, that's something Harry would think of. If he was actually smart." Why must things I want take time to make.
...and once again, RPGs save the day.
I rather liked this. Issues with Fey creatures indeed.
Chengar, I have to say you are the most reliably excellent author on this site.
Great story, not sure if he things you said about fey are true or turned kid friendly for mlp, but still great story.
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Ha, she wishes, vinyl probably isn't much above level 10, she just lucked out with her basic stats.
This was a really interesting little short. I hope we visit these characters again, the presence of a fey in the group would create some neat interplay.
A very nice little short story. Would be interesting to see a '2 years later' chapter as like a bonus to see how everything turned out.
Awesome story, very entertaining. Though the ending seemed a tad... Open ended. Is there room for a sequel? A story with Shining struggling between Cadence and Musette sounds great.
Yeah, that's about what I figured.
So in the end it really isn't a bad deal for either party, nice.
Hahaha!
Fun story, and a really interesting addition to the 'verse. Definitely makes me wonder if it's partly intended to set up some character development and world-building for future use. Shining and potentially other members of his family having a friendly association with a muse is kind of a major thing, though it really might just be par for the course for them.
The Sparkle Family seems to exist as a focus for the Ancient Chinese Curse: 'May You Live In Interesting Times'.
Omg it's been years since I first pointed it out but even after all this time you still haven't fixed your avatar
anyways brb reading this
but if I come back to see that your avatar is still stretched vertically, you and I are going to have averyserious talk, young manEdit: I just noticed that even the typography in your cover art is stretched
DO YOU LIVE TO TORMENT ME SIR OR MADAM
Seriously I would sacrifice my second born daughter for the chance to go in and redo the typography in all your cover art
... Man now I realllly want to read the story from Musettes perspective, of the Muse who accidentally befriended someone who she has made a deal to kill, and her desperation to find a way to get out of it... Manipulating the situation to make everyone happy.
7397849 Actually, dealing with any of the High Fey (even the "good" ones like Titania) is risking digging your own grave. They don't really think like we do, they operate very heavily on the "Let The Buyer Beware" principal, they take offense easily, and they are very fond of disproportionate retribution.
Hah, well that was certainly a pretty good read.
The moment Shining shining made his offer though I knew it was a fictional character. Still, it was amusing.
And hey, a 'monster' which turned out not to be a monster at all, but actually a decent being. Even though the circumstances were pretty unfortunate.
Still, all went better than expected. And Musette did have a point that what she got had a higher value to her than an actual of someone else.
7402397 Depends on the type of fey though.. A monaciello is a mischievous yet kind fey that pulls pranks on the rich and snobbish, and provides treasure to those in need, while a redcap is well... A redcap. So yeah..
Took me until the epilogue to twig what he'd done.
Nice, Shiny, nice.
Clearly, though, one of the Things That Need To Be Done at somepoint is for somepony to go and Have A Word with the whoever-is-in-charge of the ey and tell them to, no, seriously, knock it off, we mean it or we will go right out and fetch Derpy, bring her to the centre of your realm and tell her to try not to break anything.
And fifteen minutes, later, we'll be waiting for you to see reason, miladdo/milasse.
I just finished reading Study of a Winning Pony and this is next on my list. So this is gonna be a lil wierd to start, because I'm gonna keep remembering Vi as his bastard half sister. Fun times!
Edit:
Oh. Still winning in this one, i see. Let me just add spoiler tags up above...well at least I don't have to worry about keeping separate storylines separated in my head anymore!
So, why M&M? Which, if I recall, also stands for the game Mutants and Masterminds. We had Ogres and Oubliettes. Mind, I hate people considering comics as canon, but it's useful for dredging ideas out of.
That said, another CQ story to file into Favorites. It just keeps happening.
7398071
They say romance is an art form...
This makes me wonder what Shinings reaction was when he learned who Vinyls father is.
I also wonder how long he played that character...
You should continúe this story, shinning armor as a pseudo harry dresden investigator is just to much of a good idea,have a fave you mad genius
i'd love your take on a slice of life like story using these characters.
also like and fav
I wonder if the muse attended Shining's and Cadance's wedding. I imagine if she did and met Chrysalis, ol Bugbutt just went "Say nothing and you can have Shining after I conquer Equestria."
This story was just too perfect! I would love to see our little Muse again! Though now I am curious as to how she fits in with the greater timeline o.o
I'm glad you posted a sequel to this; I might have let it keep lingering in my Read Later shelf otherwise. Very engaging read, with the snark and mythological cleverness I've come to expect and enjoy from your work. Thank you for it.
Hm... At least in comic canon Twilight do play with Shining and his friends. As far as I remember - she plays unicorn-wizard with the better social skills that Shining and friends PCs. This is kinda hilarious considering just how bad she on social stuff in "real life".
7398666
Rocket propelled grenade ?
Just kidding!
8312808
HA!
Seriously, she will accept the death of his gaming character for Vinyl's life? Damn, if that is what happens then he is a lot smarter than he appears.
8844825
uh, is that in life and times? Or is it in a slightly shorter, faster fic that I can conceivably speed-read before my finals?
8857368
Hope finals went well.
Study of A winning Pony, so no, it'll probably take at least a few days to finish. Given the late response I don't think it matters though, sorry 'bout that.
I find it odd that this isn't marked as a sequel to Cadance's Lovely Misadventure. I know by now that if it's a Chengar Qordath story, and uses InuHoshi cover art, then I should probably assume it's set in the Winningverse unless specifically stated otherwise. But before I actually read either of them, I did wonder. These stories could be more clearly marked. And speaking of the wider setting, I'm noticing the references to other stories and characters more and more as I go through these. In particular, going by the last chapter of New Life I read, and the comments here, it sounds like the Sparkle family tree is a lot more convoluted than I thought. I've kind of avoided Ponibius's contributions to the Winningverse until now, since I still haven't finished with the main series, but maybe I should get started on them at some point.
All that said, I enjoyed this story. Shining's investigation was a lot of fun, and I liked Musette and the concept of the fey as it's used here. Though, I will agree with the others who've said that I find "Mazes and Magi" an odd inclusion. Shining Armor being a dork who's into RPGs came from the comics, which already provided "Ogres and Oubliettes" as a good DnD substitute. Most fanon that still characterises Shining this way kept the name, and even show canon later adopted it, so the alternate name just sound weird to me now. Benefit of hindsight, I guess.