Musings of a Lord

by Fury of the Tempest

Past and Present

Suspicion. Rumours. Distrust.

To Fancypants, it seemed that whenever someone was fantastically successful, there was always talk about them playing dirty to do so. Sometimes this was true and they were found out. However, just as often they were successful cleanly, only for their reputation to be cast into a dark light by the rumours.

Such was the way of the world.

Fancypants was no stranger to such rumours himself. Both because of his own successes and those of his father. Both of them ranked among the most successful business ponies to have ever lived. There was a difference between the two of them however.

For Fancypants’s father, the rumours had been true.

Fancypants himself however, did his work cleanly.

…

At least, now he did.

As he thought about this, the white unicorn smiled to himself. From his balcony, the sight of Canterlot faded out of focus as his mind cast back in time. Memories soon cropped up about the sensation he had caused when he announced his decision to leave the family business, starting a new enterprise from scratch. The reason that he made such a radical decision was that he wanted the challenge, or at least, that is what he claimed. In reality, he had decided to make a fresh new start and earn his money properly. Not using the power he already had to take control of more.

He had to admit, he was surprised at just how well he did. Not only did he manage to find a place in the market that no one else had spotted but he did so well in that spot he was able to buy back the family company. In the business circles, it was an even bigger sensation then when he had left. Nopony had ever expecting him to be so successful.

All but one pony, that was.

Fancypants turned away from the sight before his eyes at the sound of approaching hooves. His small smile of reminiscence widening into a smile of simple joy at the sight of the rose-white mare in front of him.

“Oh come on, it’s only been a few minutes since you’ve last seen me. Surely you are not that overjoyed to see me, are you?” Fleur de Lis said, though she was smiling herself as she slowly walked up to her husband.

“Everytime I see you, it’s like the sun and the moon have risen up from a thousand year darkness.” The mare giggled at the comment, hugging Fancypants once she reached him.

“Hush you old romantic, don’t you know that things like that are considered corny in this day and age.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t have to tell you the truth,” the stallion answered, giving Fleur a quick kiss before assisting her, helping her to lie down on the couch, lying down beside her once she was comfortable. The mare soon moved so she was hugging Fancypants however, making him laugh.

“One of these days I’m going to grow old of this constant hugging.”

“No you won’t, you're too huggable to get old at being hugged.”

“Just because I’m huggable doesn’t mean I don’t want to be hugged all the time.”

“Haven’t complained about it yet, though that might change when the foal is born.”

“True enough,” Fancypants admitted with another small laugh as he smiled down at Fleur.

“So, what were you thinking about this time?”

“Oh you know... rumours.”

“... You mean when you weren’t so...”

“Righteous? Charitable? Handsome?” This time it was the mare that laughed at the comment, particularly the last one.

“You were always handsome, even back then. It was your looks that caught my eye originally, you know.”

“It is a well-known fact that I am irresistible to mares.”

“Oh really? Is that what they call it these days? Instead of being so nervous that you stuttered when talking to a mare near your age.” Fancypants shifted uncomfortably at that reminder, obviously not liking to remember that.

“Do you have to mention that?”

“Of course I do,” Fleur answered with a teasing grin. “It was cute how you got so flustered when trying just to say hi. It was a surprise that I even got to know you.”

“I can think of something else that was also a surprise...” Fancypants said softly, looking off into the distance. Earning him a sigh from his wife.

“Just regretting that?”

“Of course I do, I hit you!”

“I hit you first.”

“That was just a slap and I completely deserved it. What I did was a solid blow and I didn’t plan to stop there! I was so angry that you had found me out, so angry about what you had said that I--” The unicorn then found himself unable to continue talking as his lips were blocked by Fleur’s. Closing his eyes, he melted into the kiss, feeling the mare press into him.

Before either of them got carried away, they both broke apart, panting slightly. The female unicorn was the first one to recover and speak.

“But you didn’t. Stop regretting what you did and wanted to do in the past. Just concentrate on the present and our future.” Fancypants considered this words for a while, before simply smiling at Fleur. The kiss did more then shut him up, but also put him in a much better mood. The stallion dropped the conversation completely as he pulled Fleur into a gently embrace.

An embrace that was broken when Fancypants started, his gaze dropping down to Fleur’s swollen belly.

“Was that a kick?”

“It was, a strong one at that. Our foal is going to be a nice, healthy one I can tell. Perhaps they might even end up joining the Royal Guard.”

“That’s a bit of a jump dear.”

“So? A mare can dream can’t they? About their foal standing tall and proud among Equestira’s great protectors. Who wouldn’t want their foal to be a guard?”

“Well I for one might mind a little bit, because I really do want an heir to keep the family business going.”

“Then just adopt your protégé already! You already treat one another as father and son, everyone can see it. So just fill in the paperwork and make it official.”

“You’re not going to stop going on about that are you?” Fancypants asked with another laugh.

“Not until you fill in the paperwork!”

“I’ll consider it... as for now though...” Fleur rolled her eyes at her husband’s grin, though she was smiling herself.

“Your insatiable, you know that right?”

“Well, when I have you for a wife, why wouldn’t I be?”

“True enough,” Fleur murmured in agreement as she drew her husband in for another, longer kiss.

* * * * *

Thanks go to PC for holding the collab as well as proof-reading the story, thanks also go to DawnFade for putting up the blog about it!

Comments

[WritingSpirit]

Not bad for a first!

One of those short, vanilla moments that the fandom does need once in a while. Especially with a character such as Fancypants.
There were a few errors here and there, but I'll leave you with the fun of searching it.

After reading, I was right. It was a vanilla one-shot. Well-paced and smooth, like all vanilla stories should be!
I'll give this a like

Here's a song!
[youtube=7m92qaaeqaQ]

[Fury of the Tempest]

1308071
Glad you enjoyed it!

[EclipseSight]

Hmm... Not bad at all... Sometimes it gets a bit confusing who's talking when you don't have the character's name after it... I still like it a lot, even though this isn't a character I got connected with well. Mainly cause we properly saw him like... once? Anyways, I liked it. Bout time you actually posted a fimfic.

Now... time to subject whoever disliked to Pinkie Pie Torture,

[Fury of the Tempest]

1308938
Like I said, it was a 1000 word ramble that I practically winged completely. Glad you liked it!

Good look with the torture!

[Anon-Do-Well]

Today I am going through the first chapters of every non-mature story on the front page and offering feedback on each one. Yours is the fourteenth.

Presentation

* When you only have one chapter in a complete story, it's good practice to call it something other than "Chapter 1."
* Be careful of sentence fragments—all sentences should at least have a subject performing a verb.

Fancypants was no stranger to such rumours himself. Both because of his own successes and those of his father.

should be

Fancypants was no stranger to such rumours himself, both because of his own successes and those of his father.

seeing as the second sentence is a fragment.

Story

* I know this was just supposed to be a short thing, but it really feels incomplete, like it should be part of a larger story. I'm left wondering about who Fancy Pants's protege is, about his past, about his father, and about all the rest of that. This is fine for what it is, but do keep in mind that, should you want to, you could get a lot more mileage out of this.

Good day.

[Fury of the Tempest]

1309208
Mistakes like that don't bother me TOO much in this one. Still, thank you very much for taking the time to point them out.

As for feeling incomplete... well I guess I could use elements of this in a future story. Really I was just winging it, so I didn't think much about what I was typing.

[Peregrine Caged]

1309208
Sentence fragments are acceptable on the occasion, such as the example you pointed out. It provides proper emphasis on the importance of that 'sentence'.

As to your second half, that was part of the point of this project. It's supposed to be a single captured Moment, a snapshot. It should feel like there's a history building up before and that there's things that happen afterwards.

You would feel the...incompleteness of that a lot less if it were with the sixty-odd other snapshots and part of the whole collection, heh. Just so you keep it in mind, at least.

[ImaginaryCatnip]

Just gave it a read, I must say the story left a positive impression in me. Nothing is said clearly but from the whole interaction between characters we can pretty much guess a lot of stuff outside of the 1k words fanfic and this is a good thing. Loved how you somehow portrayed Fancypants into something between Bruce Wayne and Hitman... seriously, from the first sentences I got the feeling his father was doing 'dirty' job like assassinations Not much work on Fleur done in this fic, she doesn't offer much more than showing up and being there which left her kind of bland.

Overall, I like this fic, shame it is a one-shot as it seems more like a prologue for a bigger story, maybe a war for company between the born heir and adopted one but I'm only throwing ideas around. Have an upvote, you deserve it

[Fury of the Tempest]

4540476
I'm happy, and surprised I managed to have such an effect on you. As I said in the summary, this was basically a 1k word ramble, and I didn't put that much effort or thought into it. Just goes to show that sometimes, you just need the right scene to have an impact and an inspiration.

I can't really think of making this anything more than a one-shot, as I didn't put too much thought into it. That, and I cannot see a company war between an adopted son and a real-life heir. Fancypants and Fleur wouldn't let such a thing happen... but hey. Don't let that stop you, if you got a good idea, why not write it yourself?

[ImaginaryCatnip]

4551697 Nah, not my thing and besides I already have a lot of fics pilled up But for a 1k fic ramble you did good with it and it can be expanded, even if you didn't give any thought to create more

[Fury of the Tempest]

4552069
If I do expand this story, it'll be with this as an epilogue, not a prequel.

[ImaginaryCatnip]

4552087 True, you should also add this to a groups like straight shipping and others, so it might gain more popularity because otherwise a lot of people won't read this story and it is well written from the looks of up votes.