Ashjing is unusual for a pandaren, she prefers not to fight with her magical sword and spells, but with her words and knowledge of the past. She trained under Lorewalker Cho before the Horde and Alliance arrived in Pandaria, though once their conflict was over she left her home behind to see the rest of the world and learn about the new lands she encounters.
Eventually she learns that the Dark Portal, which connects Azeroth to the ruined world called the Outlands, somehow reconnects itself to Draenor before it was broken into pieces. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she follows a group of adventurers into the unstable portal, only to be separated from them. She finds a world with strange and inviting creatures, as well as the knowledge that beckoned to her in the beginning. She thought she was prepared for anything and everything she might uncover in her travels...
...except for colorful talking ponies.
World of Warcraft crossover
Strange. A WoW crossover where the main character is neither Alliance or Horde.
Color me interested at least.
Interesting... a pandaren in Equestria.
I wonder what trouble this character is going to get into.
Hmm... I'll keep my eye on this and see where the rabbit hole leads.
Intrigued. I hope you have a plot for this story to follow. I would really like to see something good come from it.
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Okay, I wasn't sure if I missed something until right at the end, but now I know that Ashjing has arrived in Equestria at some point prior to the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, before Twilight was sent to Ponyville.
Which leaves me to wonder if Ashjing has actually seen just how Canterlot is resting on the side of the mountain it is half-way up. I mean, sure, it would be easy enough to get visual clues that the city is on the side of a mountain, but unless the city was seen from outside of it, the natural assumption of anybody unfamiliar with Canterlot who arrives inside of it without seeing it from the outside first should be that it is resting on a solid ledge of rock and not on an artificial overhanging shelf.
Even Dalaran started out as a city that rested firmly on the ground before it was eventually raised into the air by magic. And even then, they took a noticeable chunk of the ground its foundations was on with it. The foundations of the artificial overhanging shelf that the bulk of Canterlot is resting on goes directly to the side to connect to Mount Canterhorn. I don't think Azeroth has any similar feat of purposely designed architectural engineering, magical or otherwise, other than Acherus, Nexxramus, and the ruins of the titans.
7762548 It seems that Ashjing has only seen Canterlot from above, thanks to Twilight's tower. She'll be amazed when she finds out what's keeping the city attached to the side of the mountain.
And yeah, I just now noticed that she arrived before the start of the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration... though how soon before I have no idea.
I like this character. Though I am wondering how she'll handle what's coming Twilight's way in the future.
Twilight might be tempted to try to solve the Puzzlebox of Yogg-Saron. come on you just put a mystery in front of her and you don't expect her to try to appropriate it so that she can solve it.
Or that it may solve her.
As someone who is liking this story thus far, I would like to throw in some critiques in hopes of showing just how much I like this story and how much I would like for others to come and appreciate this as well.
You have a fantastic natural set up to allow you to create and describe settings in a way that those unfamiliar with the show can also be introduced to the land of Equestria for the first time, and I can definitely see that you're taking advantage of that fact. This helps you to avoid the common trap I see of authors not taking the time to actually give a setting.
A critique I would offer in counter-balance to this is to try and take the time to develop the setting a bit more. Lorewalker Ashjing is a lorewalker, and would thus be able to notice things that others wouldn't. She'd be able to glean information from the local architecture and city layouts, the behavior of the locals, and much more. For example, the demeanor of the locals and the large number of shops and businesses that she's likely to pass by would inform her that the current city she's in (or the part of the city she's in at least) is one that is very influential and rich in regards to the nation.
Essentially, this is your chance to really bring the land of Equestria to life as an actual world of fantasy rather than a simple place that you just want to plow through to get to the story. A big part of adventure stories is to make the travel just that: an adventure. Despite the fact that we members of the fandom are already familiar with many of the locations already, this is your chance to bring the world to life in ways we've never seen or maybe even thought possible.
That's my biggest critique and praise for you. Here's a link to a blog post I gave on settings. In the meantime, I really look forward to more updates on this story.
I wonder what Ashjing will think when she actually walks through Canterlot and sees what the city has to offer.
This is... different... honestly, I'm not sure what to think about this so far.
Spike hit that nail on the head. I wonder what else he'll get right as this story progresses.
That ending is a little weird, but I guess its okay considering this hasn't been updated since December. I hope the next one is better than this one.
I fully expect more when the next chapter comes out... whenever that is.
Like this story! Waiting for more!☺
Aaaand following.