Planar Equestrian

by Southern Ice

3. A Strange Fellow From A Strange Land

Planar Equestrian
Chapter 3: Strange Fellow From A Strange Land

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“Knowing a man and knowing a land are one and the same. Knowing what is on the surface is never enough, you have to dig deeper down.”

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The Equus Ring is a collection of ten planes orbiting the Prime Material Plane and Equus Prime, protected by the Celestial Boundary. In the center of the Equus Ring are the twin-planes: The Prime Material Plane called Equus Terran and the Plane of Harmony, Equus Prime. Between them was the The Vast Hollow, or the Plane of Shadow, while they are also connected by the Astral Plane.

The ten planes of Equus includes:

+ Sol, the Blazing Citadel, also known as the Sun by the inhabitants of Equus. The Plane of War, where true evil and true goodness constantly fighting against one and another.

+ Lua, the Fields of Night, also known as the Moon by the inhabitants of Equus. Also known to be the Prison of Luna, one of the rulers of Equestria. The plane of goodness and solitude.

+ Atom, the Wasteland of Hope. It was once part of Equus Prime, but was separated and became a broken land where the ‘wastes’ from the other planes went to.

+ Everfree, the Fey Garden, the closest plane to both Equus Prime and Equus Terran. One of the most severe cases of plane bleeding.

+ Silver Coast, the Sea of Souls. Where the souls of those born on the Ring go to when they died and come from when they are born. The Sea of Souls is connected directly to the Astral Plane.

+ Syllable, the City of Stars. A large and vast construct dedicated to record the history of the planes. The origin of the unicorn and many other magical races of Equus Prime.

+ Dis, the Reversed Mountain. The Plain of Chaos, a counterbalance to Techna and to some degree, Equus Prime.

+ Soar, the Floating Isles. A collection of floating islands, each representing a ‘season’. Home to the pegasi, dygasi and other winged creatures.

+ Memoria, the Towers of Dream. The hardest plane to navigate due to its constantly changing structure.

+ Techna, the Plains of Iron. The Plain of Law and Order. The most technically advanced of the planes in a mortal sense. Home to the earth ponies and the spellforged.

As mentioned above, the Ring was protected by the Celestial Boundary, a planar construct of unknown origin. The Boundary served two purposes: a barrier stopping intruders from entering the planes within, and to keep the planes stable and coherent. The barrier was strong enough to stop any intrusion from both the fiends and celestial from other planes, the same could be said for the mortals.

Even then, once again found the nature of Sigil one of the most outstanding and fascinating topics of the multiverse. As was the case with Eberron, the portals of Sigils found secret pathways, cracks and weak points on the Boundary and pierced through it, creating a secured if not quite random route to Equus. It was also because of this route that Equus was discovered by the scholars of Sigil, and led to its documentations in this book…

Diz the Sigilite, Planescape: Equus, Chapter I: From the Gates of Sigils.

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The air was smelt of old books and dreams. The ground beneath her was solid, hard yet not cold. It was damp and rough, but also warm. She felt something was put on her body, covering her from the neck down. Pushing the heavy blanket aside, her mind slowly regained its consciousness. That was no pleasant progress, as her body twisted and turned as her mind piecing fragmented memories together to form a picture.

It was a normal day, was it? She was watching ponies walking around the town. Then she met an old friend, bought some candles from him… She and Bon Bon got into some trouble? They came, no, sneaked into a store, then… then…

Immediately, her mind returned and her body moved so quick that it pained her by doing so. Her head raised, her voice tried to come out, calling for her friend, but her throat was too dry to speak.
“Woah, woah, slow down, cutter. Ya brain-box may still be banging all over the place. Take a sip.”
A heavily accented voice spoke to her and offered Lyra a cup of clear water. She took it and downed the cup in one go. Breathed out slowly, she thanked the pony.
“Thank you… where… where am I?” Her eyes were blurry, she could barely make out the shape of the pony before her. But he was tall, Princess Celestia kind of tall. And slim too.
“My kip, more specifically its back room. After I dragged ya in, both of you fell asleep, so I took the liberty of organizing a small kip for you both.”
“Oh, I hope we didn’t make any mess to y-” Did they just say that ‘both’ of them? Lyra remembered the reason why she even woke up in the first place.

“BON BON! WE HAVE TO GO HELP HER!”

To which the mysterious pony just replied nonchalantly.
“Ya friend is right next to you, cutter. Catch a skeg if you need to.”

Lyra felt a small tug from her side. Turning to her right, she saw Bon Bon sleeping quietly, her hooves hugged the blanket and Lyra’s flank. Lyra blushed slightly, then pulled the blanket over Bon Bon, making sure that her friend was comfortable.

“So what’s ya brew?”

“A cup of coffee would be nice.”

“Got it, cutter.” With that, the pony left the room.

She began to examine the room they were in. It was old, but tidy and rather organized. There were several shelves for books and whatnot, two tables, one for reading and the other for working. It didn’t have any bed, so the pony might actually prefer a mattress, like the one they lent her and Bon Bon. What caught her attention was two things. First, it was the smell of the room. It felt mixed, like a room both near the sea shore while also on top of a mountain. The other thing was the many strange things placed on the shelf labeled ‘Equus’. She took a step closer. On it were many plant samples, crystal spheres and trinkets. Some of which she found quite familiar, such as the Ponyville map and the Canterlot’s Guard medals. But most of them were both strange and familiar. One of them in particular, a quill made of crystal feather, attracted her the most. Unintentionally, her hoof reached out for it…

“That’s a Scryer’s Quill, made from the feather of a glass hawk. Quite an interesting exhibit if I might say. The scryers of High Tower used it to transfer letters to each other using their glass hawk-”

The pony’s words were cut short by a yelp from Lyra. The pony moved so quietly that to Lyra, it seemed as if the pony appeared out of thin air. Their towering form didn’t help much either. Lyra backed away from the shelf, took a good look at the pony.

She could feel every single drop of blood being drained from her body as her eyes realized what that ‘pony’ was. The creature from last night stood just a few steps aways from her. Under the sunlight, it seemed less intimidating, but by no means ‘normal’. The cryptid stood silently, observing her as they traded glares. A wall of silence was built between them, slowly suffocating Lyra. Fear in her eyes, her body curled when the creature decided to close in.

“Please, don’t eat me!”

Silent again. She waited for it to reply. What came was a chuckle. She opened her eyes, which she didn’t know were closed. The creature laid down on the floor and chuckled heartily, it seemed content. Tapping its hoof on the floor, the creature turned to her.

“Cutter, ya truly thought I was a lily?”

Lyra was beyond the state of confusion, all she had was tiredness.

“Wah-what? But you said that…”

“Putting the whole town in the dead-book and eating your young? Cutter, I may be a knight of the post, but I am not a barmy fiend. I just want to jangle you up a bit for banging around my kip, that’s all.”

Lyra understood about one or two things the cryptid said. She could hear blood being pumped from her heart and feel them running in her veins. Her eyes bulged out to keep her sight on the cryptid pony. The cryptid sat down with a tray levitating by their side. Putting the tray down, he pushed it toward her.

“Coffee, like you asked. I made a salad with whatever I had left in my kip. Not quite sure if you are going to twig it or not, but they are safe to eat.”

It was no luxurious meal, but at the same time, not some weird or disgusting thing they showed in horror shows either. Lyra’s stomach yearned for food while her brain needed some caffeine to actually think. Hesitantly, she took a few steps toward the tray. The coffee was steaming hot, a body-warming smell came out of it. The salad was fresh at least, and she hoped the dressing wasn’t made of witch brews.

A few bites in, and she began to get used to the cryptid in front of her. He let her have her space, turned his head away if she stared at him for too long. Lyra took a sip of coffee and kept on staring at the cryptid.

“Cutter, are ya thinking that I am going to fatten you up and feast on you later or something?”

“Well, I didn’t know that was a thing until you told me so!” Lyra angrily spat

“Do I look like a gannet to ya?”

‘What’s a gannet?’ She pointed at him, inquisitively.

“You said that you want to eat our young.”

“It was just a jangle. Don’t you do that sometimes? Like uhhh… a hag impression? I believed that I saw an earth pony say that to her child once.”

Lyra grumbled and returned to the salad. The creature shifted its gaze from her to Bon Bon. She was still sleeping soundly. Should he try to do anything to her, she would immediately buck him on the flank, no matter what kind of cryptid he was. What she didn’t expect was his next words.

“So, why did you two bang around my kip last night?”

Lyra almost spat all of the food in her mouth out. She managed to force them down her throat while her face was blushing red. Breathed in and out, she nearly shouted.

“We didn’t ‘bang’ around your store! We were investigating it.”

“Investigate? Lathly, I knew that my doughty up wasn’t good enough. So how long have you two banged around my kip?” He asked, seemingly oblivious to whatever was bugging Lyra.

“By Celestia- We weren’t uhm… ehm… ‘making out’ around your store! We were investigating you!”

Then it clicked. The cryptid threw another laughing fit as if he had just heard the funniest thing in his life. Lyra could make out some of the words he mused to himself, ‘never get old’ and ‘just the same’.

When he finally gained his composure back, he turned to Lyra with a gleeful face.

“Sorry, cutter. It's just…Pfff… when I say ‘banging around’, it means ‘hanging around’. Sigil’s Cant, an old habit that my bone-box couldn’t stop rattling about.”

Lyra blushed even harder. She groaned, justifiably and buried her face into the salad. The cryptid could hear she mumbled something beneath the vegetables.

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Waking up wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience to Bon Bon, but at least, it was more peaceful than Lyra’s. Her body ached all over due to lying down for too long. Her mane was a mess, one she quickly recognized as soon as she saw its strains dropped onto her face. Her eyes blinked twice, taking in the area around her. Quickly, she realized that she wasn’t in her room, nor was she in her house. It was a strange place she had never been to before. Standing up wasn’t easy either, she struggled for a few steps before she could get her bearings back together. She felt sore and parched. Her mind was hazy, why was she here? Did she have any cinder yesterday?

“Hello?” She said, coughing as she did so. “Anypony here?”
The sound of rustling suddenly came from the next room. Somepony was there, this must be their house, but how she ended up here was a mystery. Pulling the door open, which was rather easy compared to what she subconsciously thought would be a challenge, she bore witness to what was transpiring in the room.

There was her friend, Lyra, holding the jaws of a bizarre creature, inches away from eating her whole. Instinctively, Bon Bon jumped at the creature to save her friend.

“LYRA NO!!!!!”

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Lyra sitting on the table, snickered while Bon Bon furiously munching her salad. The creature stood across the room, brewing some tea. The earth pony’s eyes were still on the cryptid despite Lyra’s attempts to intercede. The cryptid, despite being jumped by Bon Bon, hit the table and got boiling hot water rained upon him, humming cheerfully while he waited for the tea to steep.

“Come on, Bon, I was just trying to see where the light in his body came from.”

Bon Bon raised her head up from the bowl and scowled at the unicorn mare.

“Lyra, you scared me breathless and I was just waking up! Don’t do that again.”

The cryptid brought a tea set out of the cupboard and placed them on the table. Bon Bon chewed her food slowly, eyeing his every move. With the teapot set down, the cryptid sat on the opposite side of the table with the pair.

Clapping his hooves together, he asked Bon Bon.

“Still mad about my jangle?”

“You threatened to eat our foals.”

“I didn’t threaten you, cutter. It was a jangle. I just want to confuse you a little and have a good laugh.”

“I didn’t laugh with that.” Bon Bon’s hoof slammed on the table. “And cut with the ‘cutter’ thing, my name is Bon Bon!”

“That’s Sigil Cant, cutter means a resourceful pony, or a decent pony.” Lyra said and excitedly turned to the cryptid. He gave her a nod of approval which made her squeal happily.

“Since when did you become friends with that… thing?”

“While you were sleeping. We chatted a bit, just some random things. He is actually a pretty nice pony.” The cryptid gave her another nod.

“I still don’t trust him, Lyra. What if he is trying to fatten us up and eat us later?”

“I don’t think so, he doesn’t look like a gannet.” Lyra and the cryptid looked at each other and snickered at Bon Bon’s confused face.

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When Bon Bon finished her breakfast, the three sat around the table and enjoyed some tea. The cryptid said that the tea was made from flowers gathered by hand from ‘The Green Fields’. Even though they didn’t know where or what that place was, it sounded important. Tension lingered in the air even after Bon Bon half heartedly accepted the cryptid’s apology. The tea was rather nice, it was soothing and warm, leaving behind an aftertaste reminded them of their home.

“So… may I ask when did you two decide to… investigate me?” The cryptid took a small bottle filled with amber liquid and passed it to the mares. "Honey?" Lyra graciously took the bottle and added a teaspoon into her cup.

“When I realized that you wear the coat of other ponies and go around the town brainwashing people into thinking that you are their friends.” Bon Bon spat, nearly jumped onto the table and pointed straight at the cryptid. Lyra jumped, her cup flew out of the table, merely an inch away from the floor. Luckily, she caught it in time with her magic. When she set the cup back on the table, she saw the cryptid stared straight at her, or her horn to be exact.

"Sorry..." Bon Bon muttered to Lyra. Lyra looked at her friend empathetically, then turned to the cryptid, which was still staring at her. Her cough snapped him out of... whatever was going on his head.

“If I tell you who I am and why I am here, will you both leave me and never tell anyone about who I am?” The cryptid said while sipping his tea.

“Depends on what you are. We don’t want a monster to go rampant around our town, eating people!”

Lyra saw the creature’s ears drooped down. Clearly, it began to regret its poor ‘jangle’. Lyra patted Bon Bon’s shoulder, calming her down while talking to the cryptid.

“So, what are you, exactly? And your name, come to think of it, you haven’t told us your name yet.”

The creature went silent for a hard minute, considering its word. Bon Bon grew impatient, her eyes focused on the cryptid. With an inhale, the creature finally spoke.

“I am what you can call a fae, or a fey, not a fairy. They are part of the fey but I am not one of them. I am more closely related to a hag, actually, but not quite. I came from a place called Sigil, a city located within the Outlands, which is also the self-proclaimed center of the multiverse, where all of the planes meet, which is also true by the way, the latter part not the center part. I came to your plane purely for scientific and philosophical reasons, not to eat your young or putting you all into the dead-book. I set up this shop so that I could have a place to call kip, get some jink and learn about the local bodies, which are all wonderful. Honestly, I haven’t met anybody, or in this case, pony this good outside of the sixes. I am not a spy, though I do serve a power but it is largely irrelevant to why I am here. And my name is Star Quill/Land Tale.”

He spoke fast, really fast. It was like a fountain unexpectedly dumped on their heads. Lyra tried to grasp as much of the information as possible. But they did catch something out of his ramble.

“So your name is actually Star Quill?”

“Land Tale, he said Land Tale.” Bon Bon affirmed

“No? He said it himself, it’s Star Quill.”

“It’s Land Tale. I don't think that we could possibly hear two things that different.”

“Eh, it’s kind of both of them.” The fey said, taking another sip of tea. “My name is neither Star Quill or Land Tale, it’s something else. But your mind can’t really comprehend it, so it instinctually translates my name into a tag you can understand.”

That didn’t help much, at least from his perspective. He took out a piece of paper and wrote something down. The mares took a look at it, it was a word, three letters long. Yet at the same time, it conveyed many meanings all at once. Shaking her head out of the sea of thoughts, Lyra blinked and read the word out loud, alphabetically.

“Diz?”

“Aye, that’s my name, even though it doesn’t spell like that, you can call me Diz.”

“Are all of you… fey, named that way?” Bon Bon waved her hoof in the air, which Diz guessed was their form of 'air quote'.

“Not really” He tapped his chin. “Only some are, not like anyone can actually pronounce it anyway. It took me a ‘few years’ to learn how to read it, and I was under special training.”

"Why did you disguise as a pony?" Lyra gulped, unpleasant memories resurfaced. "And why did you plant those memories into our head? I believed that you are my friend."

"Self defense, mostly." The fey poured another cup of tea for himself. "I didn't know if the bodies of this plane would tolerance a fey or not, and I also didn't want to be brought to the deadman's tree either. You clueless have no idea how wild it can be in the planes."

"Well, unlike somepony, we don't threaten anypony on sight." Bon Bon huffed.

“I still don’t understand. You said that you come from Sigil? It’s a city and also a plane? What’s a plane? And why are you speaking in Sigil's Cant? Didn't you use Equestrian before?” Lyra crept closer toward the fey with each question.

Diz looked at the two of them gleefully. They found his eyes to be similar to that of a monster from the Everfree forest. Taking his glasses out and a white board, with a complete set of teacher’s essential tools. Bon Bon confusingly turned to the fey, then back to her friend, who sat excitedly with a notebook and a pen in her hooves. Diz inhaled deeply, and began the mare’s deep dive into the madness of the multiverse.

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Under the sewage of the City of Doors, deeper down, pass the buried village, laid a catacomb. The Dust Man labeled it the Weeping Stone, and the deader called it home. However, it wasn’t a place filled with deader and shambler only, if anything, it was teeming with life, just not the kind you would like to meet.

Rats, countless rats swarmed the tunnels and pipes of the old catacomb. Even more found their home within the vast chambers and tombs. Not just any kind of rats, but cranium rats. Nasty little vermin with the might of mind when the number was in their favor, and most of the time, it was. The denizens of Sigil were too familiar with those pests, especially those who make a living out of them. A fascinating subject to study they were, a pain to deal with they also were.

Therefore, when the collectors of the buried village returned to their kip with no rat tails to be found, or when the Office of Vermin and Disease Control was emptier than usual some began to rattle their bone-boxes. The chants were diverse, and at the same time rather few. Little body cared about those vermin anyways, but those did debate about it furiously. Where could those vermin go? Or what killed it.

A blood, in the art of vermin killing and tomb scrapping, decided to descend into the damned village and down to the catacomb below. And what did he find? No one knew, sadly, because as the chant was, he was caught by the King of The Deader and joined their rank… about a few years later. But the chant also said that he did find something on his first trip. A deader, either a prime or a plane-touched. The brain was eaten clean, so was the corpse. In its hand however, were the real rum part of the chant. A set of enchanted armor, master-crafted and all, with a dog tag and a golden ring. On the dog tag was the name of the poor sod, and the sod’s anthill.

Lt. Sparkling Crystal - Canterlot, Equestria.

Author's Note:

Plane: The constitution of the Multiverse. Each plane is a universe with its own rules with regard to gravity, geography, magic and morality. There have been various official cosmologies over the course of history, yet, non was confirmed to the the true model of the planes. Some even theorized that there is no such thing as the one true planar cosmology model at all, as the planes are ever changing and ever shifting.