Windfall
Twilight paced back and forth in the chamber, the sound of echoing hoofsteps remaining the only sign of life within the utterly silent chamber. The cell bars were ironclad, and show no signs of budging at any of Twilight’s efforts to break free. She had held onto some dim hope that her enhanced earth pony strength as an alicorn would be able to pry the bars open, but the only thing the effort had earned her was an exhausted set of forelegs.
How long had it been since she had arrived on Ravnica? How long had she been trapped in the cell? It was impossible to tell exactly, the only sign of time passing was the gradually waning sunlight from the window, already too small to make out anything beyond it. She was left completely alone, with no company but her own thoughts. With no distractions, there was no possible way left to avoid confronting the truth.
Twilight had been a fool. She’d acted on her first impulse, planeswalking away for no other reason than to prove that Princess Celestia had nothing to fear. Instead, she’d only stumbled head-first into inescapable danger. What sentence the Azorius would give to her for breaking the law was something she could only imagine, and every time she tried her mind only jumped to the worst conclusions. She could be imprisoned and starved to death, tortured, or even beheaded. The constant growling of her empty stomach made her suspect that they could already be trying to starve her.
Her legs began to ache from the constant pacing. Eventually, her exhaustion finally caught up with her, and she lay down on the floor, the weight of her eyelids steadily becoming greater as she drifted further and further from consciousness.
Before sleep could fully embrace her, Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of approaching footsteps coming from the corridor. She steadily rose to her feet, at once both apprehensive and curious about the oncomers. She cautiously trotted closer to the door, leaving just enough space between it and herself to avoid being in arms reach of any human that came through the door.
From down the hallway, a trio of Lyev came into view, wielding elongated spears and escorting with them another pair of figures. The guests looked overall human, but their features were heavily suited to an aquatic life, with green-blue skin, multiple fins sticking out of their bodies, and gill slits across their exposed necks. They wore light armor made from a grey metal that Twilight couldn’t identify, leaving all but their arms, shins, and abdomens exposed, with webbed hands on their arms and webbed feet walking bare against the surface of the floor. Their exposed flat, muscular torsos had initially led Twilight to believe they were both male, until she noted that neither of them had the defining anatomy of a mammal on their chests. On a second examination, they almost appeared more closely related to fish than to humans.
One of the Lyev approached the cell door, a ring of keys held in his left hand. Quickly sorting through the keys, he placed one into the lock and turned it. Twilight’s breath caught as the door slowly pushed open, the friction of unoiled metal rubbing against itself reverberating through the chamber.
The Lyev soldier nodded, and the two fish-people entered the cell. Twilight instinctively backed away, but her efforts proved futile as one quickly circled around behind her, leaving the other standing in front of her. The one in front made a gesture with its hand, beckoning Twilight to follow. When she failed to respond, the one behind her gave her a soft kick in the rear, startling her into moving forward.
Walking between the two escorts, Twilight cautiously followed them out of the cell. As soon as she crossed the door, a sudden realization hit her.
She was free. Still trapped in a prison in the middle of who-knows-where, but no longer caged like a helpless animal. The rest of the building likely still had enchantments to nullify unauthorized spellcasting, but the innate strength and flight ability of an alicorn were not quite so easy to suppress.
Without a second thought, she rapidly swiveled around and sent a powerful, full-body buck straight into the crotch of the fishy humanoid in front of her. A shocked, high-pitched yelp carried through the hall, followed by the sounds of forceful shouting. By the time the noise reached her ears, Twilight had already taken to the air, bolting past her captors and never once looking back.
————————
Jace followed Ral across the Tenth District’s streets, down a busy thoroughfare that led away from the stores and service buildings that lined the street. With the help of a subtle illusion to mask the perceptions of passerby, the two went largely unnoticed by the crowds. Jace had quickly come to dislike being the most famous person on the plane, and found it far easier to conduct his affairs when his presence remained undetected unless needed. That, and he enjoyed hearing the many rumors about him being able to instantly appear anywhere on Ravnica. That was true in a sense, but not in the way anyone suspected.
Of course, Ral had been able to see past part the mystery he’d crafted around himself. “So, tell me about the teleportals.”
“I had a feeling you’d ask about that,” Ral replied. “You’ve always had a knack for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“You’re stalking me and I’m the nosy one?”
“Since you have an ongoing habit of making life difficult for me, I think I have good reason to keep an eye on what you’re doing,” said Ral. “Besides, this isn’t even the first time I’ve tried to find your sanctum.”
“The Implicit Maze,” said Jace. “You’re still bitter about that.” It wasn’t phrased as a question. Jace didn’t need telepathy to know the answer already.
“I know when I’m beaten,” said Ral, curtly. “But don’t think I’m interested in letting you slip beneath my notice. Given your obsession with secrecy, there was only one way you could move across the plane so quickly while remaining hidden.”
“A teleportal network,” said Jace. “One with no record of its sale or construction. One that, officially speaking, doesn’t exist.”
“Exactly,” said Ral. “And that’s where the black market came in. There are very few vendors on Ravnica that would sell such conspicuous goods illegally. I made sure all of them obtained their supply from me.”
“Right. And you also put a tracking enchantment on the teleportals,” Jace added. “I suppose you think you’re clever for having outsmarted me.”
Ral paused, making certain that Jace could get a good look at his self-satisfied grin. “Very.”
Jace remained unperturbed. He met Ral’s gaze, his lips curving upwards into a thin smirk. “You’re forgetting something important, Ral. I can authorize my teleportal network whenever I want. You, on the other hand, broke at least a dozen commerce laws. And now you’re bragging about it to someone that regularly speaks to Isperia herself.”
Ral’s pride visibly shattered. “You wouldn’t.”
“No,” Jace replied. “But maybe next time you’ll think twice about whatever you’re trying to pull.”
There was a tense moment of silence as Ral seethed, digesting the conversation. “Damn you, Beleren,” he cursed. “Enough of this. We’re almost there.”
Their path eventually led them to one of the side roads along the larger street, away from the Tenth’s commercial and residential subdistricts. As the crowds thinned and the street narrowed, the buildings became increasingly austere, losing the spires and fanciful decorations in favor of plain, brutalist concrete architecture. Silver-clad Lyev and steel-clad Wojek increasingly composed the pedestrian traffic, and on the edges of his hearing Jace could make out the sounds of military drills being carried out. This subdistrict was where the Azorius and Boros held joint training exercises, their mutual presence there arranged by the original Guildpact to foster inter-guild cooperation. How successful it had been was still up for debate.
Finally, the two of them reached a very large rectangular building, even more imposing than the others, with only a single front entrance and tiny, barred windows. The building was surrounded by a massive concrete outer wall with barbed wire adorning the top, and several guard towers rising above the structure, leaving no part of the compound unwatched. Just outside of the outer gate were two Lyev guardsmen, each standing alert with a spear in their hands.
As he and Ral approached the outer gate, Jace dismissed his illusion and stepped forwards. The two guards immediately turned their attention to him.
“Let us through,” said Jace. “Official Guildpact business.”
The soldiers obeyed almost immediately, stepping to the side as Jace and Ral passed through the outer gates. The soldiers inside the compound showed much the same obedience to Jace’s authority, and they were able to enter the prison’s interior with little effort.
Inside there was a simple receptionist’s desk behind a barred window, just beside a fortified steel door that led into the main prison complex, with two guards standing on either side. Behind the desk was an aging woman in white robes, her greying hair tied neatly into a bun. She instantly snapped to attention the moment Jace approached the window.
“G-guildpact!” she said. “I mean, to what do I owe your presence here today?”
“To my understanding, there is an exotic animal being kept here, in this prison complex,” said Jace. “A bright purple pegasus with a horn on the center of its head. Do you know of any such creature?”
“Y-yes, Guildpact,” said the receptionist. “I believe a creature matching that description was imprisoned here this afternoon.”
“And where are you keeping it?” said Jace.
“I... hold on, let me see,” said the receptionist. She reached behind the desk and pulled out a very large notebook, scrolling through the pages rapidly. Finally, she stopped on a page, and pressed against the text with a finger. “Cell number 1010, East Wing. Will you require an escort, Guildpact?”
Jace shook his head. “That won’t be necessary,” he said. It was unlikely that anything in the prison would pose a danger to him, given the several layers of enchantments woven into the masonry that nullified any unauthorized spells. His magic, by contrast, was considered authorized by definition. It was one of the many perks of being the Living Guildpact.
The receptionist reached beneath the desk and flipped what Jace could only presume to be a switch, judging by the telltale click noise that sounded. There was a rumbling of metal scraping against metal hinges, and the guards beside the steel door stepped aside as it swung open.
Jace turned back and looked towards Ral. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
“And why should I do that?” Ral countered. “I’ve spent far more effort tracking down this creature than you have.”
“Just do what I say,” said Jace. He appended his statement with a telepathic message, projected directly into Ral’s mind. If you want a real answer, it’s because I don’t know what you’re planning on doing with this planeswalker. And given our prior conversation, I have little reason to believe you don’t have ulterior motives.
Jace turned towards the guards and gave them a nod. As he passed through the door, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up from static charge. Behind him, he could almost hear the sound of Ral’s blood boiling.
Making his way through the corridors would have been difficult, had Jace not taken care to memorize the layout of each major Azorius building. Out of all the guilds he worked with, they were perhaps the one he worked with the most closely, their labyrinthine codex of laws and statutes guiding most, if not all, of his official activities as the Guildpact. This particular prison was one that he had been to on several occasions before, when negotiating prisoner exchanges between guilds.
As he passed into the eastern wing, a series of shouts sounded out behind him, followed by a rush of hurried footsteps. He turned around to see an entire squadron of Lyev guards rushing down the corridor. As they noticed his presence, they abruptly came to a halt just before him.
“Guildpact!” said the squadron leader. “What are you— I mean, you must evacuate from these premises! One of our prisoners has escaped!”
“Interesting timing for an escape,” said Jace. It didn’t seem a likely coincidence that a prisoner would break containment the very moment he had come to free a captive planeswalker. “Would I be correct to assume this prisoner is a purple equine?”
“I... yes, Guildpact, that is correct,” said the guard. “Permission to present an inquiry?”
“Go ahead,” said Jace. It took an effort not to roll his eyes. He admired the methodical approach of the Azorius, but their unwillingness to take initiative without formal authorization was almost comically extreme.
“Is this prisoner related at all to your current visit?”
“It is,” said Jace. “And right now it’s of vital importance that I find this prisoner of yours. I want you to lead me to it.”
The guard leader fidgeted in place, as though he had thought to raise an objection, but such a thought was quickly stifled. “Yes, Guildpact,” he said. “Come along. You’ll come right behind us.”
The guards hurriedly maneuvered around Jace as they continued down the hall, and Jace turned to follow their path.
————————
The sounds of metal footsteps and unintelligible shouting filled Twilight’s ears more with each passing moment. The corridors were a twisty maze of passages, each indistinguishable from one another. Her heart beat like an earthquake, and eyes darted about the halls wildly, only catching brief glimpses at the startled looks she obtained from the compound’s prisoners. All the while, the rhythmic stomping of armored boots drew ever closer.
Seeing another intersection, she sharply turned right in the air, only to find that another squadron of Lyev had already shown up at the other end of the hall. The ceiling, she realized, was far too low for her to fly above them. Reacting on pure instinct, she turned around, hoping to bolt in the opposite direction, but by then it was too late. The other guards had caught up to her. Spears raised, they slowly began closing in on her.
An unbearable weight began to press down on Twilight’s wings. Fatigue overcame her body, and she felt herself lowering to the ground. It was over. There was nothing left to do but give up and leave herself at the mercy of her captors. She couldn’t even bring herself to cry, there was simply no feeling left within her to do so. She closed her eyes, grimly anticipating the guards to seize her, or even to simply end her then and there. It no longer mattered which.
“Out of the way! Guildpact’s orders!”
Twilight’s eyes suddenly burst open, and her body nearly jumped into the air. Something had not only spoken, it had spoken something that had registered in her mind as perfect Equestrian. And yet the guards soon showed that they understood it as well, as the ones that stood in front of her parted instantly. Twilight had briefly considered running past them then and there, but instead chose to stare transfixed at the lone figure that swiftly pushed past the security forces.
He was a human, presumably male, with pale skin, blue eyes, and ruffled black hair, dressed in a striking deep blue outfit rife with belts and buckles. A sea-blue cape was draped around his shoulders, with a hood that was pulled back, revealing a face lined with white markings that seemed to glow in the prison’s dim light. Twilight instinctively backed away as he approached, but instead of showing hostility, the man slowed his steps and regarded her with... curiosity? His expression remained cold and unreadable, and the way that he had spoke to the guards showed that he possessed unquestioned command over them, yet there was a subtle glint in his eyes that Twilight found oddly calming.
And then, Twilight felt the strangest thing that she’d felt in her life. A tingling sensation right behind her eyes, like something was tickling her optic nerve. The sensation moved backward, into the depths of her skull, and right into her brain. She shivered audibly, the unfamiliar experience leaving her entirely skeeved out.
Then, even more startlingly, the man spoke again. Except instead of speaking through words, the meaning was projected directly into her mind.
Apologies. I don’t often go probing another’s mind uninvited, but I wanted to make sure you were really a sapient being. I promise I didn’t look at any of your private thoughts.
Twilight was dumbstruck. “What!?”
From behind her, another set of footsteps came approaching. Twilight turned her head around to see the guards parting, allowing the two fish-people that had attempted to wrangle her from her cell to approach. One fish-person looked down at Twilight with a fierce glare, while the other stepped forward and met the eyes of the apparent telepath, shouting something in the Ravnican language.
“This creature is not an undiscovered species,” the telepath responded. “It isn’t even a new species at all. It was created when an Izzet experiment inadvertently exposed a wild pegasus to mutagenic energy. Under section one thousand three hundred sixty-seven, subsection twelve of the Ravnican Code, any accidental mutants created by Izzet experiments are property of the Izzet.”
Twilight’s head spun, struggling to keep up with the pace of the events unfolding before her, yet even through the confusion she knew the words that she heard were utterly ludicrous. She wanted to protest, but she could only barely wrap her mind around what was happening to begin with. Just then, another telepathic message wormed its way into her mind.
Don’t worry, it’s just a cover story. My name is Jace Beleren, and I’m here to rescue you.
“Rescue me?” Twilight looked up at Jace. There was a firmness in his eyes as he stared down the fish-people, yet the message that he had telepathically projected was somehow soft and reassuring in tone. Twilight wasn’t even sure how that was possible, given that it lacked any true voice, yet the mere thought of being rescued was enough to give her hope.
Finally, after a prolonged staredown, the fish-people relented, turning around with what Twilight could only assume to be a statement of exasperation. The guards parted once more as they allowed the two figures to leave, closing the gap in their formation before Twilight could think to follow.
“I’ll be taking this creature with me,” said Jace. “And I don’t believe I’ll be needing an escort, before you ask.” He looked down at Twilight and gestured with his hand to follow. “Come on, then. You want to get out of here, right?”
“What? Now, wait a second!” said Twilight. “I appreciate the help, but why should I trust you? How do I know you’re not just trying to take advantage of me?”
Because I’ve nothing to gain from harming another planeswalker in their most vulnerable moments. Besides, I can’t in good conscience leave you here. A mind like yours doesn’t deserve this.
“A-another?” Suddenly, all the gears started to fit together. Why Jace could communicate with both herself and native Ravnicans without incident, even before he had tried to read her mind. Why he was suddenly so concerned about her well-being, despite his apparent authority.
It suddenly dawned upon Twilight what the glint she’d seen in Jace’s eye was. It was sympathy. Any planeswalker could have just as easily ended up in a situation similar to hers, trapped at the mercy of an unfamiliar world. And now, for the first time, there was someone else in Ravnica who truly understood what she had gone through.
Twilight felt a dampness in her cheeks, and realized that she was on the verge of tears. Not out of sadness or anguish, but out of sheer release. Like a cold and shadowed fog had been lifted, and the warmth that flooded into her had flushed out the sludge of anxieties clogging her mind.
There’s no need to be shy. Do you have a name? What do you call yourself?
“Twilight Sparkle,” she said. A smile crept its way across her face as she paused to wipe her eye. “And... thank you.”
It’s no trouble at all, Twilight. Why don’t we continue our introductions outside? The guards are starting to get confused.
“Huh? What do you mean?” said Twilight. “Why would they...” Twilight paused, and took a glance at the surrounding guards, all of them staring at her, utterly perplexed. The whole time, she realized, they had likely heard her speech as unintelligible whinnying. “Oh. Right. You, uh, go ahead and lead the way.”
Jace waved his hand, and the Lyev guards moved aside to let him through. He gestured for Twilight to follow, and the two of them continued down the hallway together, following the path that would lead them both to the outside world.
————————
Rescue Mission 2WW
Sorcery
Return target planeswalker card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Sometimes all you need is a friend to watch your back.
So we finally have our meeting in this chapter. This has been a long time coming, and is more or less the moment that I’ve had in mind when writing this fic from the beginning.
I’m going to say in advance that you likely shouldn’t expect some epic conflict coming out of this, the next few chapters will likely lean more heavily towards slice-of-life interactions (and FiMFiction won’t let me tag this fic as such because it thinks the category is mutually exclusive to “adventure” for some poorly-conceived reason 
), though there may still be an unexpected twist or so, as well as some possible setup for something else in the future... but I can’t rightly tell you too much about that, can I? 
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0.0/5 You're gonna need rescuing yourself if you try to play this in limited.
Jokes aside, it's about time Twilight met Jace! Well, the previous version of Jace, at least. I'm actually glad that there's not going to be any big epic conflict in this story, Twilight's Ravnica shenanigans has enough plot potential in itself.
This was fun.
Absolutely wonderful! Cant wait for more.
8482735
Every set needs its junk rares, friend.
Card: 5/5 Staple in Commander for all time.
At least I was half right about the Simic thing....
I continue to look forward to where this story will go.
8482760
Hmm that is fair, never thought about it that way. Intensely compassionate is definetly a red thing.
8482760
I am just about to start reading, but before I begin....why not Red, White and Blue? Jeskai are far more cunning and violent then then Twilight tends to be I admit, but The desire for order, control and organization, the planning and sometimes manipulating to get that control, and the passion she has, and the energy if her plans go wrong seem to fit that perfectly.
I do agree that is she is two color its White/Red though.
*pauses* In retrospect you are likely trying to fit her into a guild...Boros and her will have an...interesting interaction. Boros' "Ends justify the Means" attitude does kind of conflict with her own.
8482858
Twilight is Jeskai colored, if you see the card that I’ve posted of her at the end of the second chapter.
Mmh... Jace. Of course it was Jace. Then again, if Chandra had attempted that rescue, I get the feeling that a certain Lyev prison would've been reduced to a smoldering slag heap... probably for the better that it was Jace
I know nothing about Magic: The Gathering, and I'm still greatly enjoying this story.
Narrow but perfectly cromulent card. I just hope I never open it in Sealed.
As for the chapter, good to see Twilight found a friend. Let's just hope Ral doesn't hear about and immediately try to exploit the cover story.
Yay, Twilight gets a break from being on the run!
8482762
This is the exact kind of thing where people would go to MaRo/Wizards demanding to know why it's a rare, and they'd reply with something like "because it's obviously garbage in limited and you don't want to open multiples of it there."
Also I'd totally run that in like, Atraxa superfriends or something.
8483325
And you will squee in joy when opening it in sealed, after you found a good planswalker the pack before.
And Twilight joined the Gatewatch hehe.
Rescue Mission... for when you've run out of Gideons to throw at the problem, and you need to throw an Elspeth.
I get the need for a cover story, but this was a goddamn stupid move on Jace's part. He's outright fucked with her ability to do anything on this Plane. They're going to document it that Twilight is both a dumb animal and property, and since hes the Guildpact it'll be ironclad!
The plot thickens. Wouldn't be surprised if Twilight began to pry into Jace's material archives.
i love reading this story
i.pinimg.com/736x/55/a6/e2/55a6e208370add518e9d578dd14b3f6e--love-book-mlp-twilight-sparkle.jpg
8484562
She can also disguise herself however she wants. Jace can authorize whatever he wants. It's not that big a deal.
Noice! Finally, the long awaited meeting between Twilight and a fellow planeswalker! And that rescue mission card is great, even though I'm pretty sure I'd only use it in my Atraxa EDH deck. But that's just because of the inevitable abundance of planeswalker that deck ended up with because proliferate is too good. Anyway reading the title of this chapter only made me think of how many times Windfall had won me a game.
Interested horse noises.
... great now i just got an image of jace skywalker...
Playing from the graveyard is very much a Black ability. Rescue Mission would make more sense as a blink, if you want to keep it white. Or maybe change it to “you may return target exiled permanent to your hand.”
9065012
Resurrection effects actually originated in white, before shifting into black. Typically now they only appear on cards that return creatures with low power to life, but it’s still a secondarily a white effect.
White also tends to be the color that has the most planeswalker-centric spells, such as Call the Gatewatch, so I think that a planeswalker version of Resurrection would most likely be white. Since the flavor of planeswalkers going to the graveyard is more about them leaving or being injured than dying, a rescue mission also a bit more fitting with white than black thematically.
Oh hey, that's my future promo card come prerelease. Wonderful.
This story is only getting better.