My Little Planeswalker: Twilight's Spark

by Zennistrad


Return to Equestria

Twilight, true to her word, had spent a considerable amount of time within the guest room that Jace had provided. To her delight, the room had come furnished with its very own bookshelf, and she eagerly took the opportunity to devour as many of the dusty old tomes as she could. Figuratively devour, of course. She didn’t quite have the taste for paper products that Discord had.

As she lay in her bed, reading through a tome on the history of a plane called Kamigawa, she was pulled out of her session by a knock on the door.

“Come in!” said Twilight.

The door swung open with a creak, and Chandra stepped in. She’d changed out of her armor into what Twilight figured was a more casual outfit, a simple red robe that draped across her body. “Heya, Sparky.” she said. “Er, Twilight. Mind if I call you Twilight?”

Twilight smiled, feeling a slight giggle building in the back of her throat. “Not at all. It is my name, after all.”

“Right,” said Chandra. She casually walked over to the bed, and sat down right beside Twilight, causing the mattress to bounce slightly from the sudden impact. “How’s your tail doing? It looks like you’ve found a way to fix it.”

“Hm? Oh, that.” Twilight’s eyes turned backwards, towards the apparently regrown hair on her tail... ‘apparent’ being the operative word. “It’s just an illusion, actually. It should last me for the next twelve hours or so. It’ll take a while before the real hair can grow back.”

“Oh,” said Chandra. Her eyes looked heavier for a moment, as though weighed down by some feeling Twilight couldn’t quite identify. “Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened back there, during our duel. It looked like you were really upset by what I did.”

Twilight looked into Chandra’s eyes. The orange tint that they normally carried seemed different, somehow. Still as bright as burning embers, yet somehow less fierce, almost like the warmth of a campfire. Twilight wasn’t even entirely sure if this was a metaphor: for all she knew, her fire magic had literally altered her eyes.

“It’s alright, Chandra,” said Twilight. “It’s no harm done.”

“You sure?” said Chandra. “You looked pretty horrified for a moment there, I just...” Chandra silently mouthed several words, as though they were being haphazardly smashed together to form a coherent sentence. “...I’m, uh, not the best at self-restraint. I can get a bit carried away sometimes, you know?” She reached out, and placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “If I ever go too far, just tell me, okay? The last thing I’d wanna do is hurt you.”

Twilight smiled, feeling the warmth seeping into her body from Chandra’s touch. “I’ll be sure to say something, if it helps you feel better. Just don’t worry about it in the meantime, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Chandra. “Gids says dinner’s ready, by the way. You wanna come down?”

Twilight’s eyes trailed downward, towards her stomach, and her attention was immediately drawn to a yawning emptiness inside of it. A slight gurgle reminded her that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“Food sounds good, now that you mention it,” said Twilight. “Just, um... can I ask you something first?”

“Shoot,” said Chandra.

“Do you, uh...” Twilight grinned sheepishly. “...Do you think you could scratch me behind the ears for a bit?”

————————

After a short yet very satisfying ear-scratching session, Twilight followed Chandra down the stairs, back into the common room. Her mind still buzzed from the pleasant sensation, and she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d not known about it sooner. Did all ponies have the same response to ear-scratches? Could that feeling be replicated with magic? What evolutionary purpose did a response to such a stimulus serve, given the relative rarity of opposable digits on her world?

Jace and Nissa had already sat themselves down at the central table, joined by Lavnia, who had presumably returned some time prior. Gideon, meanwhile, had already sat down at the far end, wearing a large white apron over his armor that was covered in grease stains. Two spaces were left unoccupied at the table, one on the end opposite Gideon, and one next to Nissa. Chandra walked over and roughly pulled out the chair by Nissa’s side, just before sitting down. She turned to Twilight and beckoned her to sit down at the remaining space.

A sudden apprehension grasped at Twilight’s chest. From her position on the ground, she couldn’t see what kind of food had been set out on the table, and the smell wafting from the dining area was one she couldn’t quite identify, one that brought an increasingly powerful nausea to her stomach. A suspicion began crawling its way into the back of her mind, one that she was not happy to have.

Twilight had been made vaguely aware that the humans of Anthropia were omnivorous, but never before had she actually seen her friends’ counterparts eat meat. She’d lived her experiences as a human never really giving it much thought, whether because it wasn’t relevant to her interests or because she simply didn’t want to think about it.

But when she climbed onto her chair and sat on her haunches, that thought became impossible to ignore. Plates were laid out before each of them in between a set of silverware and a glass of water, and all but hers and Nissa’s held what she could only presume was a very large chunk of cooked flesh. In addition to the meat, each plate contained an assortment of cooked vegetables: potatoes, onions, eggplants, bell peppers, and lentils, served in a brown sauce and seasoned with what appeared to be feta cheese crumbles and oregano. Twilight gave her serving of vegetables as much attention as she could, hoping it would distract the other servings.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” Gideon asked from across the table. “You look uncomfortable.”

“Huh?” Twilight looked up. Gideon had already speared a chunk of flesh on his fork, a striking contrast to the softness in his eyes. “U-um, well...”

“Her species likely evolved as prey,” Nissa chimed in. “It must frighten her to see you eating meat.”

Gideon’s grip on his fork loosened. “Ah. My apologies, Twilight. I’d made sure to serve you a vegetarian dish, but I didn’t think my food would make you uncomfortable.”

Twilight shook her head. Nissa was right: there was something about the human diet that unsettled her deeply, on a level beneath her rational mind. “It’s alright, Gideon. I can understand. My friend Fluttershy runs an animal sanctuary with several carnivorous species in it. It’s kind of disturbing to think about, but she always reassured me it was the natural way of things. I don’t know what kinds of animals you eat, so I don’t really know if I have a good reason to be upset with your diet.”

Jace paused, holding his fork just above his plate. “Interesting,” he said.

“What is?” said Twilight.

“I’m not an expert on biology by any means, and I usually trust Nissa’s judgement on other creatures,” said Jace. “But your eyes are, well...”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “My eyes? What about them?”

Jace’s expression remained mostly unchanged, save for a slight wrinkle of uncertainty in his brow. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

“Mmmmph,” said Chandra. She let out a loud gulp, swallowing a very large mouthful of food. “Come on, Jace, don’t leave us hanging! What’s this about her eyes?”

“Erm. Well, both of your eyes face forward,” said Jace. “To the best of my knowledge, that’s usually a trait that distinguishes predators.”

Twilight blinked. “A trait that distinguishes what now?”

“That’s a good point,” said Chandra, her words muffled by another chunk of meat that had found its way into her mouth. “I’ve heard horses can actually eat meat if you feed it to ‘em. I dunno how true that is for Twilight, though.”

Twilight loudly coughed, startled to such an extent that she nearly fell out of her chair. “Chandra! I can’t believe you’d say such a thing! That’s... That’s...” Her words trailed off, as an unpleasant nugget of information unearthed itself from the back of her mind. During times of famine, many centuries ago, some ponies were known to eat things that they wouldn’t ever think of otherwise. “...Okay, fine. That’s technically true, but why would I ever eat meat if I had a choice? That’s disgusting!”

Chandra shrugged, making a noise that vaguely sounded like ‘I dunno.’

Any hesitation that Jace had shown before had already disappeared. The sparkle of curiosity in his eye was unmistakable: Twilight had already seen it several times before. “So your herbivorous diet is more of a result of a cultural taboo? Interesting.”

“U-um, well...”

Gideon cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should change the subject. Twilight, how are you enjoying your food?”

“The food? Oh, right! It’s, uh...” Slowly, Twilight levitated the fork before her, scooping a biteful of vegetables onto it. A subtle apprehension fluttered within her as she lifted the utensil to her mouth and took a bite...

...and then, all at once, an overwhelming explosion of flavor assaulted her palate. She felt the pleasurable taste seep into her taste buds between every single chewing motion, leaving it to linger on her tongue after she swallowed. It took every bit of willpower she had to maintain some semblance of table manners, and avoid devouring her entire plate face-first.

“Oh my gosh, this is delicious! Gideon, did you make this yourself?”

Gideon laughed, a deep guffaw that rumbled off the walls. “I’m glad you enjoyed it! The life of a soldier is normally ill-suited to fine cuisine, you see. I made sure to learn a thing or two about cooking in my spare time. Spice things up, so to speak.”

That was all the answer Twilight needed. She spent rest of the meal eagerly chowing down, the less-than-pleasant thoughts of meat already forgotten.

————————

Time Turner’s illusion magic had managed to stay up long enough for him to follow the mana line well into the Tenth District. Apart from a few instances where a passerby bumped into him without realizing what they had bumped into, he had blended into the busy scenes of Ravnica without a hitch. Of course, he still couldn’t help but feel that it would have gone easier if he were human, and it was during such times that he truly missed his shapeshifting ability. Still, it wasn’t worth getting too worked up about. Before long, he had already reached his apparent destination.

By the time he’d arrived, the sun had already dipped below the horizon. It was difficult to keep track of the exact time, given Ravnica’s different solar cycle, but back on Equestria it would have likely been several hours further into the night. As he approached the end of the mana line, what he saw was truly curious.

It was a building, almost perfectly nondescript in its appearance, much different from the extravagant architecture on the rest of Ravnica. It was so nondescript that his mind struggled to even find an accurate description of it at all. In fact, he noticed that it took a significant amount of willpower to even keep his eyes on it; his gaze seemed to slide away from the building of its own accord whenever he was not giving it his utmost focus. He recognized that magic. It was another perception filter, just like the one he’d been using.

“Well, aren’t you clever?” Time Turner said with a grin. “Or at least you would be, except for the fact that I’m here.”

Making his way up the side of the building, he placed a hoof on a crack in the stonework, and began slowly crawling his way up.

————————

“Ugggghh...”

Twilight had almost regretted stuffing her face with so many vegetables. The meal was one of the best she’d had in recent memory, but she hadn’t even bothered to pay attention to how much of it she was having. She hadn’t felt this bloated since the day she met Applejack.

The rest of the night was spent lying down on her bed and reading, leaving the window open to a pleasant nighttime breeze. It was no different from her usual pastime, but this time around it served the secondary purpose of helping her keep herself distracted from the uncomfortable bulge in her tummy. Twilight briefly had a thought of starting a regular exercise regimen; eating that much in one sitting couldn’t be healthy, even for an alicorn.

She’d spent some time idly flipping through the pages of her book (this one on a plane called Shandalar), when a strange sound registered on the edges of her awareness. Her ears unconsciously swiveled towards the bedroom window, and she could just barely make out the very familiar sound of hooves against a hard surface. It became louder and louder, until finally it ended with a distinctive clumph just inside the window, the unmistakable sound of four hooves hitting the floor at once.

Twilight turned her head so fast that it nearly gave her whiplash, and what she saw was so startling that it nearly gave her a heart attack. There, standing just beneath the open window, was a very earth pony stallion. He had a light brown coat and a darker brown mane, an hourglass cutie mark, and wore a small white collar with a green bow tie. As she started, Twilight couldn’t shake off the feeling that she’d seen the pony before.

The stallion dusted himself off, then turned to face Twilight, his eyes widening in sudden recognition. “Ah, Princess Twilight! Glad to see you’re in one piece. I’ve been looking for you, don’t you know.”

“Ah... Buh... Wha...” Twilight babbled incoherently, her mind feebly grasping at anything it could find to understand the situation. It had taken several painful moments before it found something it could use. Namely, that the pony standing before her was none other than Ponyville’s town timekeeper.

“T-Time Turner?” Twilight stammered.

Doctor Time Turner,” he replied, so quickly that it almost seemed like a reflex. “I didn’t go through eight years of higher education eleven separate times for nothing, you know.”

“Eleven...?” Twilight paused, momentarily taken aback. “Hold on, you don’t actually expect me to believe you have eleven doctorates, do you? That’s ridiculous. It’s not even funny! But more importantly, what in Celestia’s name are you doing here!?

Time Turner didn’t seem to be at all perturbed by Twilight’s sudden outburst. On the contrary, he looked downright pleased with himself. “Well, isn’t it obvious? I’m a planeswalker, just like you. I’m here to make sure you’re able to return to where you need to be.”

If Twilight could see her own eyes at that moment, they would have looked so big that she could see their whites from a mile away. “You’re a what?

“You heard that right, Princess. I’ve been traveling through time and relative dimensions in space for a little under...” Time Turner paused, tapping a hoof to his chin. “...Oh, let’s say about twelve hundred years.”

“T-Twelve hundred?” Twilight’s head was already spinning. If she were to take Time Turner’s word, that would make him just about as old as the Royal Sisters. It was almost unthinkable, and yet...

...and yet she couldn’t think of any other plausible explanation for his presence. Despite the importance of his profession, Time Turner was notoriously reclusive. No one knew of his history, and he was almost never seen outside of his work, as though he’d simply blended into the background of Ponyville. He could have easily been absent for months at a time without anyone noticing.

“Well, you have to understand, planeswalkers didn’t age in my day the same way they do now.” Judging by his response, Time Turner had very easily read the bewilderment on Twilight’s face. “Although, it does help to have a little bit of chronomancy on the side. It really does wonders preserving my youth, though I suspect that won’t be as much of a problem for an alicorn like yourself.”

“I...” Twilight placed a hoof to her head, trying to hold it steady. “I’m sorry, this is just so much to take in. You’ve been a planeswalker this entire time and nopony noticed?”

“For the most part, no,” Time Turner replied. “You’ll soon learn that I have a very good reason to keep my presence in the multiverse hidden.”

“Oh,” said Twilight. It made a strange kind of sense that she hadn’t heard anything from Time Turner before, yet there was something in the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite shake off. Her gaze snapped back to attention when she became aware of it. “Wait, what do you mean I’ll soon learn?”

“Sorry, that would be a spoiler,” said Time Turner. Despite his words, the grin on his face didn’t look sorry in the slightest.

Twilight fought the urge to facehoof. “A spoiler? What do you think this is, some kind of novel?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a novel,” said Time Turner. “But in either case, the most important thing right now is that you’re looking for a way back to Equestria. Is that correct?”

Twilight felt a sharp pang within her chest. Despite the new friends she’d made, for the past two days she had felt a constant, nagging reminder that she was in a foreign land, far away from the world she’d called home.

Twilight sighed. “Yeah. You’re right. I want to go home, but I... I just don’t know how I’m supposed to get there. The multiverse is just so big, and I have no idea where to even start looking.”

Time Turner approached the bed, looking up to meet Twilight’s eyes. There was something softer about his gaze as he did so, a genuine compassion that reflected itself in the corners of his eyes. “Well, Princess, I’d say you’re thinking about this the wrong way. You’re the Element of Magic, correct?”

“Um... yeah,” said Twilight. “At least I was, but the Elements of Harmony are gone now. What does that have to do with anything?”

“The Elements were never gone, Twilight,” said Time Turner. “They’ve been embedded within the soul of the plane since the day it was born. And right now, I’d say you’re just as connected to your Element now as you’ve always been.”

“Just as connected?” said Twilight. Then, almost right away, an epiphany came barreling its way into her thoughts. “Wait! Are you saying I can use my connection to the Element of Magic to find my way back home?”

“Now you’ve got it!” said Time Turner. “And now that you understand that connection, it should be fairly simple for you to follow it back to its source. It’s a good thing I was here to help you out, wasn’t it?”

Before she could even think to respond, Twilight closed her eyes, turning her mind inward. Almost right away, she could see it. She could see the line of magic connecting to her own soul, extending outward into the farthest reaches of infinity. It was through that line that she would find her home, by its guidance that she would return to the friends and family she’d left behind.

When Twilight opened her eyes again, she could barely hold back the tears forming in them. It felt as though a wave of joy and relief had washed over her, rinsing away the last of the doubts and uncertainties that had clung to her heart.

“Thank you, Time Turner,” she said. “I don’t know how I could possibly repay you for this.”

“Don’t worry about repayment, Princess,” said Time Turner. “Just making sure you’re able to return home safe is good enough. Now then, you should be all set to go back, correct?”

“I think so,” said Twilight. She hadn’t tried to return to Equestria yet, but there was hardly any uncertainty left in her mind. She would see her friends again, one way or another.

“Good, good,” Time Turner replied. “In that case, I really must be going. I’m certainly glad to have helped while I had the chance.”

“Huh? You’re leaving already?” said Twilight.

“Oh, I’m certain we’ll be seeing more of each other in the future,” Time Turner reassured. “But right at this moment, I’ve got a lot of important work that I need to be doing. Farewell for now!” Twilight felt a sudden pulse of magic, and Time Turner’s image began to fade, accompanied by a very loud noise that sounded like metallic scraping.

“Time Turner, wait!” Twilight called out.

By then, however, he was already gone. As he vanished, Twilight could almost swear she heard the stallion insist on being called ‘Doctor.’

————————

Most of the others had already gone to sleep for the night. That itself was disappointing, as Twilight had hoped to give them all one last goodbye before leaving.

Knocking on the doors to the other bedrooms proved fruitless, so Twilight instead trotted her way down the stairs, into the common room. There, she saw Jace hunched over a desk, toiling away at yet another stack of paperwork. A steaming mug sat dangerously close to the parchment, filled with a coffee so strong that Twilight could smell it even from a distance.

“Jace?” Twilight spoke quietly as she approached, hoping not to startle him.

“Hm?” Jace turned his head over his shoulder to face Twilight, a set of heavy bags beneath his eyes. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Oh, um...” Twilight gulped silently. Despite the happy news, her voice carried a nervous edge. “I, um, just wanted to say something. I think I may know how to get back to Equestria.”

“You do?” said Jace. His posture straightened, and it became clear that Twilight now had his full attention. “That’s great news! Are you planning on returning there soon?”

“I was planning on returning there right away, actually,” Twilight answered. “I’d thought about waiting until tomorrow morning to say goodbye, but... I dunno. I guess I couldn’t bear the thought of keeping my friends back home waiting any longer. They’re probably worried sick about me.”

“Completely understandable,” said Jace. “You’ll come back and visit us in Ravnica sometime, I hope.”

Twilight smiled warmly. “I will. And thank you, Jace. I’m really glad to have met you.”

Jace returned the smile. Twilight had rarely seen him emote so strongly, but when he did there was always a genuine sincerity to it. “And you as well. Perhaps you can take me to your plane someday and introduce me to your friends.”

A slight giggle worked its way up Twilight’s throat. “I’d love to. I think you’d get along nicely. So, um... goodbye for now, I guess.”

“Goodbye, Twilight,” said Jace. “I’ll be sure to let the others know in the morning that you left. I look forward to seeing you again.”

Twilight felt a twinge of regret, knowing that she was leaving without saying anything to the other Gatewatch members, but it was vastly overwhelmed by her yearning for her homeland. She could already imagine the joy on her friends faces, seeing her return safely, and experiencing the warmth and comfort of her own home. The only thing she didn’t look forward to was the paperwork she’d left behind, which she was unfortunately reminded of as Jace turned back to continue his own.

Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, Twilight channeled the same magic that brought her to Ravnica. This time, however, she also focused her mind on her own connection to the Element of Magic, to the connection that she shared with all her friends. The magic washed over her, and she could feel herself being pulled away from the ground she stood on.

————————

When the sensation of planeswalking ended, Twilight was made painfully aware of an uncomfortable fact. All around her body was an expanse of warm water, soaking into every inch of her coat and mane. Her breath instinctively held itself, unwilling to inhale the water that surrounded her.

Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes, and they were both immediately assaulted by an intense stinging sensation. It wasn’t the sting of salt water, as she might have expected, but the sting of artificial chemicals that were never meant to come into contact with an uncovered eye to begin with. She cried out in pain, and the water that flooded into her mouth had the distinctive taste of... soap?

Twilight’s body jolted upwards, swimming upwards as fast as she could. With her eyes squinted tightly, it was impossible to see which way was up, but on some level she knew which direction she needed to go. The trip was surprisingly short, and from the looks of it the body of water was only a foot or two deeper than her full height.

Frantically treading water, her eyes quickly readjusted themselves, and the blurry image focused into a scene she could identify. She was in a great marble room with ornately decorated columns. A multitude of carved alicorn statues on the walls spewed warm water into a massive basin, large enough to cover nearly all of the space in the room.

Great Epona’s wings! What is the meaning of this!?”

The voice boomed with power and authority, and Twilight swiveled around to face whoever its owner was. Namely, a very large dark alicorn, carrying a rubber duck.

“Princess Luna! Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to see you!”

Get out!

“But—”

GET OUT!

Twilight scurried out of the bath chambers as quickly as her wings could carry her. The Royal Canterlot Voice, she’d learned, was not something to be argued with.

————————

Equestria

Plane — Ungula

All creatures get +1/+1 and are Horses in addition to their other types.

Creature spells and creature cards that aren’t on the battlefield are Horses in addition to their other types.

Whenever you roll {Chaos}, put a +1/+1 counter on each Horse you control.