Veiled Threats
Though fixing her tail with an illusion was nearly effortless, perfecting the human illusion spell was significantly more difficult. It had taken many tries to get it right, but thankfully for her Jace was an especially patient tutor.
The two of them had moved to the balustrade to practice the spell, just above the courtyard. Jace had wanted to give Twilight room to practice walking in her false body, reasoning that doing so in the common room would risk tripping and damaging one of his projects. Twilight had tried to protest, but several botched illusions where she fell flat on her face had proven him right on that regard.
Thankfully, the location had also given Twilight the opportunity to glimpse a duel between Gideon and Nissa in the courtyard. Gideon wielded a weapon made from several whip-like blades, while Nissa wielded a glowing green sword that had transformed from a wooden staff. The duel continued into a stalemate for the entire time Twilight practiced her illusion spell: Gideon surrounded himself in a glowing armor-like aura that seemed to be completely impervious to Nissa’s blade, while Nissa effortlessly danced around Gideon’s weapon, gracefully moving just beyond the reach of his weapon’s striking tendrils. Nissa, Twilight noticed, didn’t even seem to be using any of her magic at all.
After what felt like hundreds of attempts, Twilight finally managed to recreate the exact effect that Jace had shown her. She wasn’t sure exactly how many times she had attempted the illusion in the end, but it was already almost sunset by the time she finished. A few tentative steps, then a short sprint across the balustrade, then a series of jumping jacks confirmed that everything was in working order. Even if she wasn’t, she felt human in every possible regard.
“Yes!” Twilight cheered. “It worked!”
“I’m happy to help you out,” said Jace. He glanced towards the courtyard. Somehow, Nissa and Gideon were still engaged in their duel. “We should be heading in. It’s getting late, and I’ve a lot of paperwork to catch up on.”
Twilight dismissed the illusion, returning her perceptions to their natural state. An immaterial part of her felt heavy with fatigue, a feeling that was difficult to describe to anyone without a unicorn’s intrinsic ability to sense magic. “Sounds good to me. I could definitely use a rest.”
As Twilight headed inside, she wondered if the same would be true for the two planeswalkers that were still locked in combat.
————————
It didn’t take long for Twilight to notice that there was something off about the common room as she entered. Lavinia was absent, no doubt attending to her duties elsewhere as she often was, and Chandra had likely gone to her room, having burnt herself out both figuratively and literally. But it wasn’t the emptiness the bothered her. In fact, it was difficult to place just what made Twilight feel so uneasy. It felt like some kind of magic, but it wasn’t quite like any kind of magic she’d felt before.
It felt… wrong. Like the magic used by Nightmare Moon or King Sombra, yet somehow even darker, if that was even possible. An unnatural chill ran down her spine as she stepped further into the room. It was then that she found out why.
Climbing on top one of the bookshelf ladders was an animate human skeleton, removing books and placing them back in an apparently random order. There was a disgustingly loud cracking and popping motion as its head turned one-hundred and eighty degrees to face Twilight. The skeleton opened its mouth, emitting a dry, screeching hiss.
“Aiieeee!” Twilight jumped back in fright. In the very next moment, she was assuming a defensive stance, already gathering the mana she would need to blast the skeleton into oblivion. Before she could cast a spell, a voice called down from the stairway.
“Well, what do we have here? I didn’t know Jace kept such exotic pets.”
Twilight’s body whipped around, what she saw was significantly more frightening than an undead creature. A tall, slender woman with slick black hair and impossibly pale skin glided down the staircase, clad in a purple dress and a golden headgear resembling a pair of curved horns. But most concerning of all was the small object made of linked chains that dangled from her pocket. It was practically oozing dark power, so much that it overwhelmed Twilight’s thaumatic sense just to look directly at it. Every rational part of her mind shut down, leaving only her fight and flight responses to duel each other for supremacy.
Before either instinct could claim victory, the sound of Jace’s voice brought coherent thought back to her. He approached from behind Twilight, staring at the woman with… whatever the opposite of amused was. Alright, maybe she still wasn’t completely coherent.
“Liliana. What did I specifically ask you not do to?”
“Reanimate your model skeleton?” said Liliana.
“And what did you do?” said Jace.
“Reanimate your model skeleton.”
Unamused. That was the word Twilight was looking for, and Jace was the most perfect picture of it that she could imagine. He didn’t even look to be angry, strangely enough; it was more of the exasperated kind of look that Applejack would have given to Pinkie Pie’s less tolerable antics.
“Oh, alright, fine,” Liliana huffed. She waved her hand, and the skeleton instantly went limp, falling down the ladder and clattering lifelessly on the floor.
“I still want to know how you keep doing that,” said Jace. “The last time I checked, that skeleton was made of plaster.”
Liliana smirked, and held her finger against her lips. “Sorry, necromancer’s secret.”
It was then that Twilight’s thoughts decided to catch up to the rest of herself. “What!? Jace! You didn’t tell me you were friends with a necromancer!”
“It talks?” said Liliana. “That really is an exotic pet.”
“She’s not—”
“I’M NOT A PET!”
If Liliana had any reaction to Twilight’s outburst, she didn’t show it. She just stood there wearing that same smirk. It was not the smile of a nice person. It was not the smile of a good person. It wasn’t enough that she was a necromancer, she had to have the face of least trustworthy person in the multiverse.
So why, exactly, was Jace acting like she knew her on a deeply personal level?
“You’ll, er… You’ll have to excuse her,” said Jace. “This is Twilight Sparkle. She’s a planeswalker, and she’ll be staying with us until she can find a way back to her home plane.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” said Liliana. “I suppose that’s as good a name as any for something that looks like a prize from a carnival. Liliana Vess,” she said, introducing herself to Twilight. “I have to say you’re not what I would expect from a planeswalker. I’ll have to visit your plane sometime.”
“No!” Twilight blurted out. “I mean, um… you really shouldn’t. It’s dangerous. Really, really dangerous. Not a nice place to visit.” It was immediately apparent to her that Liliana wasn’t buying it. Twilight sighed inwardly: when caught in a lie so blatant, there was only one right thing to do.
Change the subject.
“Jace,” said Twilight, “why exactly are you friends with her?”
“We’re not friends,” Jace replied, a little bit too hastily. “It’s... Well, let’s just say it’s complicated.”
Liliana brought a hand to her chest, in a mocking gesture that roughly imitated shock. “Why, Jace, I’m hurt. How could you say such a thing?”
“There are many things I could say about you,” Jace replied.
“Cute,” said Liliana. “I’ll admit, it was nice meeting your pretty little pony friend, but I must be going. I’ve already had all my fun here.”
Liliana’s legs moved in graceful strides as she made her exit. She didn’t even bother waiting for Jace or Twilight to move out of the way, leaving the two of them to stumble backwards awkwardly as she left. The door closed with a very loud slam as she exited the building through one of the many teleportals.
Twilight glared daggers at Jace. “Care to explain her?”
“Liliana is a member of the Gatewatch,” Jace replied. “She’s… well, useful. I wouldn’t say quite say she’s on good terms with everyone, but she’s willing to help us.”
“And you trust her?” Twilight accused. “Jace, she’s a necromancer! And that… that thing she carries with her has the most powerful dark magic I’ve ever seen! I could literally feel the evil radiating off of it! And you’re telling me you’re just letting someone who carries something like that in her pocket be a part of the team?”
“We would all likely be dead were it not for her,” Jace countered. “The rest is, er… complicated, like I said before.”
“And what exactly is so complicated about it?” Twilight shot back. “It’s almost like you… you…” Twilight trailed off as a realization slowly wormed its way into her thoughts. When she finally became aware of it, it crashed its way into the center of her attention.
Twilight felt her heart drop into her stomach. “Oh, dear Celestia. You have a thing for her, don’t you?”
“What? No!” Jace, to his credit, seemed nearly as horrified by the accusation as Twilight was, yet there was far too much defensiveness in his tone to be entirely convincing.
“Don’t lie! You totally do!” said Twilight. “In what other social context is it appropriate to describe your relationship to someone as ‘it’s complicated?’ If that doesn’t scream ‘messy breakup,’ I don’t know what does!”
“I’m not hearing any more of this,” Jace tersely replied. He abruptly turned around and approached a work desk stacked with papers. As he did, a blue glow began to surround his ears.
“Hey! Don’t you turn away from me!” said Twilight. “You were romantically involved with someone who’s totally evil! You can’t just walk away from this!”
“If you’re saying something, I won’t hear it,” said Jace. “I’m now blocking out all of my auditory perceptions.”
Twilight groaned. “Oh, real mature!”
Jace didn’t respond. By then he was already sitting at his desk, diligently working on a very large stack of paperwork.
Twilight let out a sigh. “You know what? Fine. Have it your way. If you need me, I’ll be in my room. Just call me when dinner’s ready.” She turned around in a huff, making her way over the stairs.
Another realization crossed Twilight’s mind. Though her translation spell was still active, she’d been able to pick up some of the basics of the Ravnican language through her reading material. It was remarkably easy to learn, thanks mostly to its consistent phonetic spelling—a sharp contrast to the Equestrian language, which was an unholy mashup of Old Ponish, Prench, and loanwords from at least a dozen other dead and living languages.
With this information in mind, she could already picture the spelling of Liliana’s name in Ravnican. Her horn alighted, and a series of glowing purple letters appeared in the space in front of her.
LILIANA VESS
Slowly, Twilight reached out with a hoof and tapped the ethereal writing gently. At her touch, the letters began to swirl about in the air, rearranging themselves into different positions. When they stopped moving, they had spelled something completely different.
A VILLAINESS
Twilight frowned as she stared at the words in front of her.
“…Subtle.”
————————
Worst Impressions 3B
Sorcery
Reveal the top card of your library. Each opponent loses life equal to half that card’s converted mana cost, rounded up. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
Sometimes evil is just as dangerous when it’s obvious.
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TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if WOTC intentionally made Liliana's name out of an anagram like that... Twilight definitely figured out that said anagram exists faster than I did, though
i would just illusion words in front of him yes I know I'm immature
Twilight do it annoy have to death on wait that's my thing come to the annoying side twilight we have cookies
Also
first2nd <3 Luv U AuthorWoo! Finally, Lilliana enters the picture. As always, I look forward to the rest of this story. No worries about how long it takes, and good luck with your new job.
8518761
Apparently, they keep insisting it was a complete, but happy, accident.
8519097
Whatever the situation is, it's awesome and fitting nonetheless
YAY, Lilliana is here.
Did not expect you to turn the Chain Veil into exactly what it was. I mean its clearly that but the darkness of the veil is somewhat glossed over at times, and no a single one of her planewalker cards shows her wearing it, DESPITE the fact its really important to her character and plot.
I don't think the Elements of Harmony can fix this...But it would be interesting to try if she DID end up visiting Equestira.
Taste the Rainbow Liliana.
(Honestly, she would see all the bright and colourful and complete lack of undead and a SERIOUS lack of Black Mana and probably decide its not worth anything she could find to help her get out of her deal with Belzenlok. Unless thats where Belzenlok is hiding.)
Since this is called Twilight's Spark, I'm guessing the next part starts when she learns to planeswalk for real.
Says the woman whose name is an anagram for—
Oh. Beat me to it.
In any case, yeah, pretty much how I expected that meeting to go. Poor Twilight, though at least she not in the vulnerable state that is Lili's ex. And I do like how Ponish is as much of a kleptomaniacal chomera as English.
As for the card, it's certainly interesting when compared to Blood Tithe. Ideally, you want to reveal Draco, original Emrakul, or, for maximum cheese, Gleemax. However, it can all too easily whiff, and there's the information cost to consider...
I actually think you might be able to get away with it at 3B or 1BB.
8519670
3B is actually probably a better CMC, now that you mention it. I was primarily concerned with it being too powerful in multiplayer EDH when designing the cost, but I don't think it'll be that much of an issue looking at it again.
8519192
I really don't think Equestria is starved for black mana. Beyond the villains mentioned in this chapter, there appear to be a good number of black-flavored artifacts lying around. The Alicorn Amulet just screams Grixis to me, and I'm darn certain that the Tome of Inspiration Manifestation was Dimir. The Well of Shades was pure black, and definitely a big enough power source to threaten Equestria at large.
And that's before getting into the monsters, the gryphons, the Flim Flam Brothers...
8519861
Equestrian griffons are textbook mono red mercenaries. Except for Gabby who's whiter than white. >.<
Same with dragons. Lots of red in Equestria.
But the Everfree Forest, the Well of Shadows, Hayseed Swamp with its death-trees and death-bees, the life-draining changelings (before they reformed) -- yeah, there's no lack of black.
8520105
I would argue the post-reformation Changelings are still Black, but are now multi-colored, with Black still a part of their spectrum. Possibly Green (what with them having nature return after their reform) and White (with their attempts at Harmony with themselves and the other races). Green-White-Black seems fitting for a card for King Thorax.
8519861
I know next to nothing about the comics, and in the comics its quite possible more black Mana exists. As someone somewhat new to the fandom, I have only watched to halfway through season 6...so some of the items you have mentioned likewise I know little about. However I will deal with what I do know.
Lets start with those mentioned in the Chapter....although remember this is my opinion. I do accept that other interpretations are possible.
Nightmare Moon: If we take the comic interpretation, that its some sort of spirit parasite, then yes, its a strong showing of black mana. If we take the TV show explanation however, while the colour (as in visual colour) of the magic is black, Nightmare Moon is almost entirely Red. This also somewhat fits with Luna herself. I am somewhat....disinclined to add black onto her because of madness, depression and jealousy.
Sombra I agree is black. He is the clear example of a Black creature. Given that Twilight can cast Dark Magic, Dark magic itself is not something that requires Black Mana, however I will not deny Sombra's example. However he is the only major Villian I would state that is linked the black Mana (Discord and Nightmare Moon are both Red, and Queen Chrysalis is very Blue...maybe with some white, due to the hive she controls).
However I did say starved, not lacking in Black Mana entirely. Even on the day side of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Black Mana existed and the Goblins that controlled it were not weak. Outside the comics, its worth noting that Sombra had zero allies....only slaves.
I am going to add Tirek as a final mention of a potential Black Mana....but given that he came from a distant land, and doesn't care about what will happen if he eats the very thing that keeps the sun in orbit... I would presume he, like some Demons, has a way to move from plane to plane. Not a true Planeswalker, but perhaps has a way to jump between planes.
Next, onto the Griffins. I agree, they are an example of a Black/Red civilization....and with the possible exception of the pre-Thorax Changlings, they are the weakest nation in Equestria and on the verge of collapse. We see no examples of Griffin Magic, and they are only made functional by either 1)An artifact that contained and limited their greed and selfish impulses, or 2) Pinkie's and Ranbow Dash's efforts to teach them about Friendship. And as I have yet to return to Griffinstone, I can't tell how successful that was.
If it was successful and the civilization is reformed, Black's grip on its only civilization on the plane, its ability to influence creatures to its point of view, is that weak, that two ponies who stayed for less then a week, some muffins, a reformed Gilda, and the idea of friendship overpowered it entirely.
Thats...rather pathetic. If that had been attempted on Grixis, Phyrexia or even Inistrad, to the dominant black civilizations on those planes (Demons and Liches, Phyrexians and Vampires), it probably wouldn't go well.
I cannot talk about the Well of Shadows without spoiling myself so I will have to trust your word that its pure Black, and I have no idea of its origin or creation.
The Alicorn Amulet is black and it clearly is of Equestria origin, and lacks the colours that would indicate it was made by Sombra, Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon or even Discord. Its possible the result of demons, since they exist on every Plane, but I will agree, once again its clearly one of the limited examples of Black Mana. However the drawback is odd. I won't say one way or another if thats a consequence of intentional design or weakness of Black Mana, but most black artifacts (the Chain Veil being the best example) corrupt the user to Black far more directly, where as the Alicorn Amulet kind of just drives the user insane (See Trixie's thing about circles).
All in all, I will concede your point on this artifact, but Sombra and the Amulet (and the Well of Shadows) shows that Black Mana is there, not that it is present to the degree that the other 4 colours are.
Tome of Inspiration Manifestation however doesn't share the Equestrian design, so like Tirek could have come from elsewhere. However that feels cheap in this case, so lets assume it does come from Equestria. In that case, the fact its locked up hints at a possible explanation for the weakness of Black on Equestria.
While planes have minor colour mana variations, Grixis, Phyrexia and Shadowmoor all were rich in Black due to interference from powerful entities. While Innistrad is a notable exception to this, with Black dominanting the plane with no apparent explanation, Avacyn and The Helvault was Sorin's successful attempt to push the plane towards the other 5 colours, and maintain balance.
And both Celestia and Luna are incredibly powerful, and have had over 1000 years to shape Equestria. And they both don't appreciate the nature of Black, that must is very clear. It is not beyond them to have locked up, trapped, destroyed or otherwise weakened Black Mana on the Plane. The Tree of Harmony's power and limits are also largely unexplored, but it in turn would fight Black ideas, creatures and attitudes. In fact you could make almost direct comparisons between Avacyn and Celestia and The Helvault and Tartarus.
At the end of the day however, this is all just my thoughts and opinions. A case could be made that due to the nature of conflict, MtG must always go to planes where Black and Red have a strong presence as otherwise there is essentially no story. Equestria could be the "Average" plane in proper balance, and Black should always be rare and subtle, and not have successful civilizations. That for such a thing to be the case is a SIGN of Black dominance, rather then its lack being a sign of its weakness.
8521322
I look forward to seeing more of it.
Hah, I was just thinking of mono-colors for base simplicity (and fitting into the idea I had that the Elements of Harmony are the five colors represented, plus the controlling planeswalker), adding in multiple colors was something else entirely. Dunno what grixis and mardu mean. If we're talking mutli-color, Flutters is definitely green/white, and I could see Pinkie with a mix of black/red and reliant heavily on artifacts. Not sure about the rest but meh, it's your story.
Just... no Slivers, okay?
From the chapter I got kind desceptioned with twily for being like that to liliana for no reason, but it is kinda what it is...
About the card, for the first time, I can say it is too OP, mostly unusa le but game breaking in the right deck.
About the discussion in the coments I have to say people has too much of a close mind on what black actually is, remember that Sorin was pure black but he was not degenerate/mad in any way. For an analises of the show we have timberwolfs as a BG creature, arguable the everfree forest and the marshes around poniville are places where one could draw black mana from. Black is jot about being evil or crazy or bad it is about surviving and doing what is necessary to reach ones desires.
I have ti ask, is Dormi a canon character? And is this really how he is? Because trying to kill another planeswalker fir no damn reason seem to be the sort of thing that gets them scores of people trying to kill them in return.
8524666
Yup. Domri’s known for hating authority, and also not having much in the way of common sense.
This chapter just perfectly sums up why erasing Jace's memories was a good idea.
Ah, there's Lili. What a meeting.
It's complicated....
TWILIGHT: *CUES DRAMATIC ROMANTIC BACKSTORY AND THEN PLAYS SCRABBLE WITH LIL'S NAME*
8524675
He was also a wannabe Bolas toadie who ended up getting his Spark extracted by an Immortal soldier during the siege of Ravnica.