I knew exactly what I was going to say to Fluttershy when I saw her. I was escorted by the guards to her room, and I was there before she was. That gave me a minute to finalize my thoughts on what I was going to say.
"This isn't the nicest room here." She said from behind me.
"Huh?" I didn't even hear her walk in.
"My room's the least well designed out of all of the ruling counsel."
"That's probably just opinion," I looked over my shoulder at her, "I think it looks nice." She laughed for a second then stopped, suddenly serious.
"We aren't here to exchange pleasantries," She walked over to a vanity by her bed, "I'll be ready to start in a minute."
"Yeah, about that."
"What about it?" She had he dress half off.
"I, uh, I, shit." Her dress was all the way off now, and she had on just enough underneath to qualify as still being modest. I saw two vertical rows of feathers on her back. "Are those supposed to be wings?"
"Yes, pretty well done, aren't they." She was looking at me over her shoulder, while she was untying the cloth around her chest.
"How much gene splicing was involved?" She let the cloth fall to the floor, and turned around to face me before she answered.
"Just a little, and it doesn't hurt."
My face felt like I had a fever, "You know I was joking, right?"
"I know you were," She put one of her hands on my shoulder, "Now, why don't we get started?"
Later we were lying in her bed together, after we had finished. We were staring at the ceiling in silence, she was pressed up against me, and I had an arm around her shoulders. A few minutes ago, I found out there was far more to their culture then I had already pieced together, including the choice that was coming for me.
When she spoke up, I was deep in thought, and almost didn't hear her, despite the fact that her head was half an inch from me ear. "So, how did I do, compared to the other girls that you've been with?"
"Huh?" I was torn from my thoughts, "Oh, you were the best one." She blushed heavily.
"You're just saying that."
"No, I'm not." I looked right at her, "I lost my virginity tonight, too."
She sat up when I said that. "How did you know I was a virgin?" Shit, this is going to be hard to talk my way out of.
"Would you believe it was a lucky guess?'
"Not for a second."
"I knew that was a long shot."
"How did you really know?" she was staring at me hard, and her eyes narrowed, almost to slits.
"I'll tell you," I wasn't lying this time, "but only if you promise not to lynch me."
"Why would I lynch you?" I had her attention now.
"Promise first, then I'll tell you."
"I promise," She raised her right had as she started, "not to be involved in any lynching, that includes you in the list of victims." Close enough.
"I, accidentally, read your mind."
"Could you, explain that?'
"Would you like to here the short version, or the long version?"
"The short version."
"Right, where to begin. I have psionic abilities. I'm not always in full control of them. The most I can do is move small - and I mean small - objects, telepathic communication over short distances, and, once, teleportaion. Well, that's what I can do on purpose anyway.
"I can achieve more impressive results without consciously meaning to. Most commonly premonitions, time dilation, and, of course mind reading.
"Mind reading and telepathy require easy access to the target mind, and can be prevented easily. Everything else, I'm not exactly sure."
"So, you can't read my mind if I don't want you to?"
"Maybe."
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes I can break though mental defenses," I looked back to the ceiling. "But, that's enough about that."
"What else could there be to talk about?"
"The fact that I now have to choose between slavery and death is high on that list."
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain that to you," she was honestly sad about this.
"There isn't much that I need cleared up."
"What don't you understand?"
"Do I still get to choose a pony to become or is that predetermined?"
"You don't get to be a pony," She closed her eyes, and her expression darkened. "You're going to be something like a changeling."
"Will I be your personal slave, or just some random unpaid laborer?"
"A little bit of both, really."
"That's all I needed to know." The door swung open, and Celestia walked in, carrying a loaded crossbow.
"Good," She looked pissed, she sounded pissed, and she was standing like she was pissed. "Because now it's time for you to choose."
I climbed out of the bed. "I'm guessing that waiting until you aren't so pissed about," I gestured vaguely in her direction, "whatever it is you're pissed about, is out of the question?"
"Yes, and you interrupting isn't helping improve my mood."
"Are there more rules to choosing my own fate that I should know about?" I put as much sarcasm in my voice as I could.
She completely ignored my remark. "As I was saying, now it's time for you to choose. If this were a normal case, that is. It has been brought to my attention that you pose a threat to our plans as long as you remain alive, so you are going to die."
"I was going to choose slavery," I intended to find out as much as I could about this. "So, do I get a last request?"
"That depends on what it is."
"I want to know who told you I was a threat to your plans."
"His name is Piak," she leveled the crossbow at my heart. "Not that you can do much with that information now."
She fired the bolt at me. I reacted as soon as the bolt was in motion. I telekineticly pushed back on the bolt as hard as I could, not that it did me a lot of good. The bolt missed my heart, and instead hit my diaphragm. The shock I felt at my sudden inability to breath was mirrored perfectly be Celestia's expression. I fell to my knees, and my head fell forward. I was kneeling on a door. I fell on the door, it opened, and I fell through into darkness.
Patrick (No, last name or middle initial on record) finishing his story on how he became involved in the Planescape.
I was training for battle. I had to be ready by next month, because that was when we would infiltrate the Crystal Empire to "recover" Crenshinibon.
"Nurel," I didn't even here my mother walk into the room. "We need to talk about your behavior."
"You should be asleep right now." I didn't even break my concentration on my training. "The only reason I'm still awake is you said I had to train for the upcoming invasion."
"Don't try to change the subject." I wasn't looking at her face, but I knew her eyes narrowed. "You might not approve of my plan, but after yours failed, I couldn't take the chance of letting you be involved in planning this."
"My plan only failed because of unforeseeable circumstances. But even then, I was the one that came up with it. We both know that Piak thought up this plan."
"No," she had my full attention now, "I devised this plan. The only role Piak played in it's creation was bringing the Shard's existence to my attention."
"I'm sorry mother, I thought -"
"I know what you thought about this plan, and I know what you think about this plan. If you continue to behave as if you never caused that defeat at Canterlot -"
"I DIDN'T CAUSE ANYTHING!" I wasn't even think about what I was saying anymore. "My plan only failed because YOU didn't mimic Princess Cadence's personality well enough to fool the unicorn that wields the element of magic. She saw through your disguise, freed the real Cadence, and then you put her close enough to Shining Armor that she could break the spell. It's not my fault our invasion failed it's your fault."
The next thing I knew I was sprawled out on my back in one of the corridors, with a dull pain in the back of my head. I felt the back of my head. I was bleeding, and my mother was standing over me, sneering.
"You will never speak to me like that again. Do I make myself clear?"
"Did you have to put me though a wall to make your point?"
She slashed my face with her horn. "Do I make my self clear?"
"Yes, mother. You made yourself clear."
"Good." She stepped back enough for me to stand back up. "Now, Piak would like a word with you." I would have responded, but she began to charge a spell, so I made my way towards Piak's chambers.
I was a mostly uneventful flight. Mostly. He met me half-way there. "You wanted to have a word with me?" I asked.
"Yes. You were half right about this being my plan." He began charging a spell. "Retrieving Crenshinibon was our queen's plan, but that's only the first step in mine." He released the spell, and before I could even blink, my throat was slit. "And now you die. No hard feelings, you just know to much."
I was certain the smug look on his face would be the last thing I saw. Then I noticed a door that wasn't there before, one that was built into the floor. I fell onto it, and then through it. Though it, and into darkness.
End of the story of how Nurel became involved in the Planescape. Level of detail in recounting due to level of detail in memories.
I was being followed. I had an idea who it was, and that only made me work harder to put some distance between me and them. And then I heard something I never would have expected.
Buzzing? But that could only mean... I looked back over my shoulder, and saw I was right, with both guesses. I was being followed by my sister's gang of smugglers. And they had changelings, a lot of changelings. I began charging a spell.
"Is that who you're smuggling those weapons to, Silver?" I called back over my shoulder.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" Somehow she starter galloping faster. Perfect.
I waited until she closed the gap almost entirely. A few of the changeling kept up with her, and that made my plan word all the better. I released the spell and they almost caught up with me. Almost. They ran in to an invisible wall, and bounced off. I spun around so I could watch my spell at work. The second Silver touched the ground, the wall burst into the colors of the rainbow. Yes, my new spell worked perfectly so far.
"Impressive, Black Cross," said a voice behind me, "But to bad you won't receive credit for inventing it."
"What do you mean I won't get credit for it?" I turned around, and it took all of my willpower to maintain my composure. How did they surround me so quickly?
"I mean you won't, but only because you won't be around long enough to take credit for it." The speaker was a changeling.
I would have asked him what he was talking about, but then it was suddenly unbearably hot. Painfully hot. They were burning me alive!Then the grass around me ignited, and all I could see was fire. They must have thought that I couldn't hear them anymore, that I was already unconscious, or even dead.
"Go report to Piak, tell him we won't have to worry about any more interference form this one."
I didn't hear a response, if there was one. I didn't here anything else, not even the fire. I was distracted by the ground at my hooves. But "ground" isn't the right word. I was standing on a wooden door, and strangely, it looked like it wasn't even effected by the fire it was surrounded by. It opened, and I fell in.
End of the story of how Black Cross became in the Planescape. Strangely found in his journal from before he was involved in the Planescape.