The human planewalker Anonymous has lived by his wits for millenia, but now he seems to have hit the blinds at last; he's out of options, out of rope, out of friends. That's until an unexpected helping hoof comes in the form of a brightly-coloured equine delegation from one Princess Celestia, offering him a cordial invitation to her realm. He takes to the adorable ponies and their lovely homeland pretty quick - at least it surely beats the fate that awaited him in the Lady's shadow. For their part, the ponies are excited to have such an unusual guest, and naturally they offer him the warmest welcome they know how. But what does the princess want with him, and when it's time to pay the music, will he be able to afford the price?
Chapters (11)
The amount of anons.
Are too damn high.
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You would hate Tumblr ask blogs.
1715678 I already do.
This is confusing, I don't even know what crossover this is. Planetscape? I dunno.
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Voila.
Although, Torment's hero is called "The Nameless One," not "Anonymous."
I once thought of crossing ponies over with this game myself, but couldn't decide whether it should be a prequel or sequel.
Too much cartoon humor for me to enjoy the Planescape setting while in Planescape. Maybe crank it up more when they're in Equestria.
And he's pretty damn calm for someone who's friend just crossed the LADY OF PAIN.
She is one of the few things that you cannot kill. Her entry is pretty much, 'you lose' if you decide to "fight" her.
Who may now be looking, well as much as the Lady of Pain actually has to look for someone in Sigil, for him.
I would think that he'd be more of the mindset, FLEENOWFLEEFAST.
What can change the nature of a pony?
Interesting concept and you make it work even if it's more lighthearted than Planescape in general. Well written and promising.
Awaiting next segment.
I have a feeling someones been watching The Spoony One....
Shemeska's out of character. She's an arcanaloth, and a highly-placed one besides; losing her temper and going crazy like that is unbelievable for a member of a caste of fiends tasked with being negotiators between the baatezu and the tanar'ri. Making veiled threats while being polite and diplomatic, yes; but snapping like that? She's a greater yugoloth, not a tanar'ri.
This is also the first time I've seen her described as being obese. If I recall correctly, she's a sleek fox-headed humanoid.
Hmm Anonymous? A 2370 year old version of The Nameless One? One who has not forgotten yet? Or perhaps a different Anonymous who is taking a leaf out of his book? Don't know, never read the setting beyond Torment. Still is interesting. I'm hesitant though. This setting... it's not meant for ponies, brief visit or not. I'll continue to follow this at least until I see more, but you have chosen quite the challenge.
Moderate to major concern: You have the ponies comment that Anonymous couldn't have committed crimes if Celestia still wanted him to visit, then promptly get him into a brawl with Mercykillers that certainly leaves some dead. Fight or not, ponies do not simply die in battle from the showverse. Hope you either address this from the safety of Equestria or show how they can brush off bodies lying in the street so easily.
After all, I loved Planescape Torment. And now I kind of love these ponies. I'd love to see it work together.
Oh man awesome!
I would've liked to see you describe a floating skull to the ponies.
But whatever, it works for me.
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And due to get higher! Enjoy.
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Gosh. What is wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape
Anyway, it's written to be enjoyed by people of all levels of familiarity with the setting, so even if you are are a clueless lemon, feel free to judge it on its own merits. Or don't. Just as you please.
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Close but not exactly dude, it's a crossover with the setting, as published in the AD&D books by TSR, rather than the game per se. Torment is canon for the setting as a whole, but so far I haven't made any references explicitly to the game, and I've drawn a lot of material from sources outside it.
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No reason to freak out about it - at the point where he finds out, he'd already be dead/mazed if that's where she wanted him. So like, yeah, sure, he's game to leave Sigil pretty sharpish rather than test her patience, but running to a portal vs walking to a portal isn't going to make the difference.
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I literally have no idea what that is, but maybe I should look into it.
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My take on Shemeska is pretty idiosyncratic and owes a lot to the eponymous poster (that is, Shemeska) who has contributed a lot over the years to the online community. He's posted a long campaign log on EnWorld in which she's a recurring character, here. To those in the know, my misspelling of Shemeshka's name was a nod to that user (although I have no idea if he would appreciate me associating his name with pony shit; probably not).
As to your criticisms of her characterisation, I don't really see where you're coming from. The typical 'loth modus operandi is the iron fist in the velvet glove, yes, but I don't see any reason why a specific Arcanaloth shouldn't cultivate a very different style from that. Shemeska's public image is all about over-the-top ridiculous pomposity and overweening vanity, which forms an unnerving juxtaposition with her known penchant for losing her shit and blowing things up. It's an intimidation tactic - a very unsettling combination that keeps people thoroughly on edge around her, and that's precisely where she wants them. Having a reputation as a total fucking psycho can be handy - as long as you can reign in your temper when you need to, and there's nothing to say that Shemmie can't do that.
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Can see your concerns, but consider that the ponies come from a paradigm of cartoon violence. Issues of violence and bloodshed are not dealt with in the show, but are glossed over with the assumption that nobody is seriously hurt (eg the brawl with the changelings in Canterlot Wedding; I'm not going to stir the whole shitstorm of Twilight blasting fake Pinkies). They have proven willing to defend themselves from aggression with physical force, and the way they see it, that's all that is happening here.
Also, I might take issue with your assumption that some Mercykillers definitely died. None of the ponies killed any, for sure. A few might have bled out from Anon's knifework, but he was fairly surgical about it and you should bear in mind the abundance of magical healing. Likewise as far as the blinded giant goes - both Equestria (at least, in my headcanon) and the Planescape multiverse work on the assumption that blinding is a temporary inconvenience rather than a permanent mutilation.
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Thanks for reading!
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Good. I wasn't wrong when I faved and tracked this story. Looking foward to more.
Huzzah!! Today is the day of days!
So much awesome with this story! So bucking glad you wrote this!
Pure reading enjoyment.
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Thanks! Glad you're liking it. There's more to come, I have another couple of chapters of similar length written that just need formatting, expect to see them up tomorrow.
and yet the Baldur's Gate crossover remains elusive...
Excellent job chief
I don't know, are Celestia and Luna actually goddesses? While Celestia raises the sun, her feats don't really put her in line with any of the powers. Chrysalis overpowers her, and it's blatant that Discord pretty much trolled her for his amusement. Yes, Discord is more akin to Ygorl and Ssendam than a generic boss monster, but Chrysalis is far from anything on par with Discord. If anything, Celly's more like the Oerthian demipowers who got punked by Zagyg.
And Celestia protecting Anon from Her Serenity...the Lady flayed a greater power just for converting one of her dabus, I don't really see Celly playing in those leagues.
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Seems to me like you're making some unfounded assumptions about relative power levels. It's demonstrably true that Chrysalis is more powerful than Celestia (at least, after being empowered by eating all Shining Armor's love), and Discord is too. (Although something to bear in mind is that Celestia could be assumed to have given up a lot of her power in the form of the Elements of Harmony.) But who's to say how powerful Discord and Chrysalis are in relation to each other, or in relation to Aoskar or to Zagyg? For that matter, did I really ever state that Celestia was anything more than a demipower? Or that she was definitively even that?
The way Anon sees it, controlling the heavens of a whole plane is definitely a feat that implies divinity in the traditional sense; that combined with the sense he gets of her personal majesty and potency, makes him pretty sure that she's a power of some kind, and his might be assumed to be a reasonably educated guess. But it's far from decisive proof of anything.
100% agreed.
I see that Rarity was fishing for information to see if Anonymous had a some pony special.
I wonder at what role those Tears play? A key perhaps?
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Oh, hey, she was just making conversation, I'm sure a classy, respectable lady like Rarity doesn't have any designs on Anon or anything.
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WHAT ABOUT FLUTTERSHY!!!!
That, my dear author was glorious. Where did Fleur ever come from? Twas a stroke of genius.
HA! Dash got owned.
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Never know, she may still have a shot at sloppy seconds.
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Mostly blame this gif for setting my filthy overactive imagination in motion. iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/93925%20-%20animated%20fleur_de_lis.gif?1323979393
Glad you liked it!
Awesome as always.
A bit of a wait, but well worth it. What kind of shinanigans will Anonymous get 'into'?
Can't wait to find out.
#$@%. The moment I saw the Lady of Pain, I became scarred to read this. No me gusta, the Lady is bad news. She's always bad news.
Excellent job
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Ha!
That's what I said too.
Interesting story, but I'm not really sure where it's going. The planescape angle sucked me in at first, but the last few chapters after meeting with Celestia just seem to be about the protagonist mingling and getting laid, with almost no visible plot development.
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Thanks for your patience! And your continued support. With any luck, there won't be any more waits like that in the immediate future.
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Giggle at the ghostie, laugh at the Lady.
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Thanks!
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I do believe the next chapter may change your mind; although, if fimfiction would let me tag this story as both Adventure and Slice of Life, I would do so. It's my continued intention to have quite a heavy focus on Anon hanging out with ponies/fucking ponies/having drama with ponies, in between and alongside the plot development. If that's not your thing then... sorry that you had to read 50k words to find that out, I guess.
Another good chapter. Continue please
The plot thickens. No pun intended.
Balance in all things.
My, but that was action packed. Good show and well done.
So... changling rainbow or just a turbo bitch, I wonder.
Ok what the hell, they at least has to be making a lot of noise with the window crazing, where were all the guards? Annon, was only a few days in Equestria, I think they will be the ones that keep an eye on him the most. Or did ALL the guards decide to play troll with him, and let him feast with two changelings?
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'All the guards'? He's in a residential wing of the palace, not an area that is open to visitors. There aren't any guards stationed there; why would there be? He's also nowhere near either Princess or any other dignitary who would have their own guards.
As for noise, I'd say the whole fight lasted about a minute, and only with the window breaking at the very end was there any significant noise that would be heard outside of that one (deserted) corridor.
I feel like if you want to find fault, there are probably much bigger flaws with the story than 'why doesn't a random guard happen to come past this one section of the huge palace at this particular moment of time?'.
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Point taken, sorry I just thought some guards will follow him, for precaution, you now;the whole incident with Zecora, plus he is clearly armed, but you are right, sorry for bother you,
By the way, where is Octavia? Still unconscious in the ground?
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Hey, no big deal, just sort of felt like a nitpicking thing. Re: incident with Zecora, you must be mixing this story up with another one, there's no Zecora in my story (at least not yet). As for keeping an eye on him, Celestia might not trust him that far, but she trusts him to look after his own interests. Whatever damage he could cause with a couple of knives is surely not worth the trouble considering he's a guest/prisoner in her sealed demiplane.
Octavia can probably be assumed to still be unconscious on the ground.
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Ah I see, and for the Zecora incident, I mean the Zecora episode, you know the one where everypony just run away from her because of being different, and that is actually what happen to him when they walk to the train station, I though the guards will be nervous around him and considered dangerous, that all, not so much Celestia being envelop or anything, just the guards being paranoid…but thanks to clarify everything
I couldnt stop laughing at some parts of the story
You are a true wordsmith. Refreshing to see a word like caveat in a story.
This is pretty darn good. I don't usually thumb up this 'early' in a story, but you've earned it. Too many gems like this are lost in the pile, so keep up the good work.
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Thanks, really appreciate the kind words.
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Your wish is my command. Incoming.