Sing, o Muse, of impetuous Zagreus: Scourge of shades, son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld. Few tales are told of him and even fewer truths. But what follows, though wilder than the most outlandish Orphic fiction, is still as true as an oath sworn on the Styx. For the depths of his father's realm contain passages unplumbed by any, and gates to realms undreamt of by god or man.
But by pony, they are well known indeed.
A crossover between issue #82 of the main MLP comic and the game Hades. Cover synthesized from works by Pencils and Supergiant Games. Contains some game spoilers, including some several millennia old. Rated Teen solely to allow the content warning.
Prereading provided by Akouma, Bugsydor, Caliaponia, and SirNotAppearingInThisFic.
My sister actually beta-tested this game for the developers. Great to see a story with it here!
Hah! I dunno why, but your descriptions and such crack me up.
This had me giggle. Never expected to see a Hades crossover here, good show
Most excellent.
This may be the most obtuse nitpick of all time, but did you mean Ariadne or Arachne?
Very well done. Everything for this story is just perfect. Also, I loved the ending. Wished that aspect was actually in the game xP
10539726
Neat! I greatly appreciate her efforts, along with everyone else involved it bringing it to the high polish of v.1.0.
10539727
If ever there were an E-rated story with the Death tag, this would be it. And yeah, "spoilers for Greek mythology" does make things enjoyably absurd.
10539755
I blame the Yarn of Ariadne item in the game for mixing me up on that one. There are clearly too many Greek myths that involve thread in some manner.
10539759
I'll just point out this bit I buried in a blog's comments.
Having home set as respawn is so convenient.
Curse you, Professor Gangrene!
10539771
Delightfully, Theseus will get flustered if you have Yarn of Ariadne on you when you meet him
10539771
I shall tell her.
Inside Baseball Alert: The saturation bombing of the fourth wall is true to the game's source material, although I'm sure that the game does it too because it's come back into fashion recently.
I know how hard it is to make a Greek gods crossover and remain non-M rated, so great job!
I'm glad I read most of this in the narrator's voice
A fun crossover idea but also kind of devoid of any real tension or drama to make it a fuller story. I'm not sure how much sense it will make to someone who hasn't played Hades.
Well, that was a fun little jaunt.
At least Rarity got her ice cream. Hope she's not too traumatized.
Was it his spear that fell out or something else? I'm wondering what it was that had Rarity acting like that. Obviously something Divine but no idea what.
Fun story, I love seeing characters interact with the narrator in this fashion. Maybe one day I'll get around to playing the game myself.
Thanks for the story FoME.
Hmm, weren't there six weapons available to Zag? Methinks the other 5 each have a form for the other bearers.
That was really clever. I like it.
10540135
The idea for this story apparently started with the sneaking suspicion that Pinkie Pie somehow managed to obtain Exagryph before the game was even out. Note the blog's tags, and the comment that elaborates on the exact connections.
If you continue this story, you should include an omake of Zagreus, wielding Rarity's Needle, meeting Hornet from Hollow Knight.
10540158
Heh. So, so finish it out, we've got the Twilight Blade, Spearity, Fluttershield, RainBow, AppleSmack, and Party Rail.
10539869
Recently? It came back in massively in 90s, now it's just some odd-ball TV-series which do that.
Flat
That was demented. I love it.
Next time, make a spoiler warning plis
10540275
Compared to Greek Mythology, that's pretty damn recent.
10540454
Well, greek chorus was used during all that time minus some selected periods. E.g. being replaced by narrator in early renessaince thetre
Brilliant
10540212
You have the sword and bow the wrong way around, which the flavor texts would make clear.
You know, if Hades ever gets modding support, I want someone to make this spear aspect into a thing.
"What do Earth Ponies hate the most?"
"Hay Diss"
I'm not sorry!
10539786
Even Discord can recognize when it's time to visit the old entity-that-existed-before-the-concept-of-gender and get some advice for the future.
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I'd say it wasn't too hard, but the game does have multiple romanceable characters. Also Aphrodite exists, and in this game, her outfit doesn't beyond Godiva hair. Suffice to say, the majority of the fic takes place in either Equestria or the foundational void for a reason.
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That was the intent, yes.
10539905
I admit, this was more an exploratory exercise than anything else. Though I did make sure that my prereaders covered a wide spectrum of Hades exposure and tried to accommodate their concerns as best I could.
10540051
A potential sequel idea involves Fluttershy helping her get through the trauma by introducing her to another nonpony friend. Rarity and Thanatos hit it off great... until she finds out he's gay and already taken.
10540098
The intent is that he drops the spear, yes. Thus Rarity gets a brief glimpse of something she'll wield in the future for unclear reasons.
10540160
There seems to be an issue of scale there. As I understand it, the cast of Hollow Knight are still bug-sized. It's not unworkable, just potentially awkward.
10540383
Glad to hear it. Few things are more fun than a crazy idea taken seriously.
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Next time, I recommend reading the whole story description.
10541132
I'd volunteer, but my 3D modelling abilities are even more nonexistent than my 2D art skills.
10541315
Ha......sorry, my bad :(
Neither of those was really a thing back in Mythic Greece. Hades' staunch monogamy was considered unusual, and if you start the polyamorous relationship in the most mechanically likely manner then it turns out that Meg's snark about romancing Thanatos if you love dying so much wasn't snark.
10541348
No harm done. Use it as a learning opportunity.
10541372
See, you know that, and I know that, but does Rarity know that? And even if she does, will she want to be a part of a larger polycule? (Fully aware there are many fics where the answer there is a resounding yes, but still.)
10541376
I mean, yes, she's a hopeless romantic and goes into histrionics at the slightest provocation, but I wanted to make sure you were aware that Thanatos' reaction would be genuine bafflement that anything he said was an issue. Especially if he's familiar with horses.
Aww! He cares!
10541311
Hmm... On that note about family... Fluttershy meeting his parent / family would be interesting...
10541311
Hook that sequel like Discord did to Zag's corpse
A Hades crossover eh? Intrigued
Awww, that one felt a bit too short! But I guess one must always return to the Styx, no matter how fast! (also, there's always a bonus to riffing on Sun-butt) see ya.
I recognized the bugbear and the dread maulwurf, but what was this one?
What is Ixion in the game's setting? I thought he was a man strapped to a burning wheel, but it sounds like Ixion is something else here. I've not played or watched much of Hades.
Found a typo here:
Overall, I enjoyed this, though I feel like I'd probably have gotten more out of it if I were more familiar with the game. Thanks for sharing with us, FOME.
10661888
Frankly, I'd like to know what some of these things are. The only other time we saw those nameless horrors was in the scariest cave in Equestria back in "Pinkie Apple Pie."
In the context of the game, Ixion is basically the sun of the Underworld, providing light where Apollo cannot reach. (Not that Apollo does anything to help Zagreus, despite several of his siblings getting involved.) Wouldn't surprise me if it were still a guy on a burning wheel.
And yeah, this leans pretty heavily on familiarity with both sides of the crossover. Glad you enjoyed it as much as you did.
Read it again! Now I'm left with craving more! Can we have him "do a run" and meet another pony?
A crossover like this always made me wonder why we never got a villian named Haydes.
10661981
The one at the bottom looks like a gargoyle.