Equus Zulu - Everfree Forest - Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters - Library
A lavender alicorn stared deep into the light blue crystal heart before her.
“Cadence, you summoned me,” she spoke into the ball before her. The spirit Cadence,who was protected within the crystal, hummed audibly with ancient power to Twilight’s words. The alicorn knew that if the crystal broke, Cadence would be torn apart by the natural magic that permeated all of Equus. It was paramount that she be careful with the delicate artifact. It was little known fact that Twilight’s brother Shining Armor had found Cadence and her crystal hidden in the Southern Desert when fighting an evil earth pony who had turned his body into pure light.
“Princess Twilight, I have indeed,” the spirit Cadence replied. “As you might have noticed, the Harmony plague is spreading faster than we can stop it. It will soon overtake the castle.”
The alicorn Princess of Friendship rubbed a fresh tear from her face. She had grown up in this castle and loved the forest that grew around it. It was where her teacher Princess Celestia had adopted her and given her the education necessary for ascension. The diarchs had given her the Everfree Kingdom to her after their tragic passing. Cadence had told the diarchs of their inevitable demise to the evil spirit Harmony and Twlight’s role as the new leader of ponykind. Everything had been planned in Twilight’s life up to this point.
“What must I do?”
“You must build a new castle on top of Canterlot Mountain. It must not be made with any of our magic as Harmony will tear through it like paper.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “How will I do that then? There is no way to build any building of that size without magic, especially on top of a mountain.”
“Get Starswirl’s Mirror and summon a being known as Guild Leader Lulamoon from Equus Bravo. She has the necessary tools and workers with the expertise to build such a structure.”
“Equus Bravo?” Twilight asked, her eyes going wide.
“Yes, little one: Equus Bravo. There are many, though not infinite, dimensions that have an Equus. This one is called Equus Zulu, one of the younger ones. They all stem from the mother dimension of Equus Alfa, which no one can enter. Guild Leader Lulamoon comes from an Equus that closely resembled Alfa until three individuals from a non-Equus dimension entered it and steered Equus Bravo from its original path. We will need their pupil Lulamoon to enter ours in order to change our fate.”
It was a lot to take in for Twilight, but she nodded in affirmation anyways. She would ask Cadence about this more after she had built the castle. She adjusted her crown, which she wore to protect herself from malevolent magic, before leaving for Starswirl’s mirror.
Equus Zulu - Everfree Forest - Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters - Courtyard
Guild Leader Lulamoon had come into Twilight’s Equus with little fanfare. There wasn’t much time for a party anyways. The Princess of Friendship was surprised to find Lulamoon was not only an alicorn but resembled somepony she knew: Trixie. The Trixie of Equus Zulu had served under Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as court jester until the blue unicorn had taken out her jealousy towards Twilight. The Diarchs had banished Trixie to the badlands where she presumably would die.
Like the former diarchs, Trixie’s ethereal mane flowed around her like smoke in wind. It would occasionally spread out from her like a morning fog. Twilight had heard rumors of spectacular sights unseen in this world found in this magical fog. The Princess didn’t know what to make of it.
One evening after a particularly productive day of castle construction, Twilight took a walk into the ancient Everfree courtyard. Dozens of exotic birds flew all around her. A strange music emanated from no discernable source and possessed the qualities of both loudness and machismo. During a particularly skillful and empathic guitar solo, the sublime cognitive dissonance of seeing foreign avian species happily chirp along with the music set in.
Once the song ended, Twilight regained some of her senses.
“Welcome, Princess,” a familiar voice greeted. The Princess of Friendship frowned at the way the way the voice had enunciated her title. Turning around, the lavender alicorn found herself face-to-face with a smaller blue alicorn.
Lulamoon laughed heartily.
“I can’t help it if Princess is an insult where I am from. We use it to refer to a person who thinks they deserve more than other people just because of how much magic they have or think that people should listen to their every whim without reservation.”
Twilight grit her teeth.
“And before you retort, Princess,” the blue pony added. “Put yourself in my horseshoes. You take me from my Equus and tell me and my employees to build you a castle. You expect us to do this quickly and without pay. If we don’t succeed, we die to a magical threat you cannot defeat. If we do, all we get is a ticket back and your ‘thanks.’ This is exactly why we don’t like Princesses. You treat people like crap.”
Twilight snorted at this. How could she say this? Doesn’t she realize we are suffering here? She should be jumping at the chance to save her fellow pony when they are in peril, but instead she cries about money and her own personal safety.
“You will finish the castle as quickly as possible and ponies’ lives will be saved because of your help,” Twilight calmly stated in a matter-of-fact way that made Lulamoon roll her eyes. “Anyways, I am not hear to argue with you.”
“What is it that you desire, mistress?”
“I would like to learn how you do - well -this.” Twilight emphasized her meaning by gesturing to the surroundings.
“Illusions?” Lulamoon asked.
The Princess of Friendship nodded.
“Well, there are not something easy to teach.”
“Try me. My talent is magic.”
“That won’t help you, mistress.”
“What do you mean? Also, Guild Leader, stop calling me mistress. You are not a slave.”
“Could have fooled me.” Lulamoon laughed and continued her explanation while Twilight conjured a notepad and paper. “Illusion magic revolves around a person’s understanding of how reality works. Most people only ask the question ‘Why does something look that way?’ They don’t ask the better question ‘Why do I see it that way?’ People think they are learning about reality when they conduct experiments. Instead they are really just learning about how they perceive it. In other words, the world as we know it will always follow the rules that define our perceptions of it. The world independent of our minds and its perceptions of it is forever beyond us.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Which is why you specifically can’t just learn it from reading some textbook or having me explain it to you. In order to learn true illusion magic, you must experience it.”
“Isn’t this all illusion magic right now? Aren’t I experiencing it already?”
“These are but shadows of true illusion magic,” Lulamoon informed Twilight as little birds flocked to them and landed all over their bodies. Twilight could feel their talons sink into her fur in order to get a better perch. If she hadn’t know they were not native to the Everfree, the Princess would have thought them real.”
“Then show me this ‘true illusion magic.’”
“I would, Princess, but you would have to remove your crown.”
Twilight paled at the implication. Her crown was her only defense against malevolent magic. If she removed it, the blue alicorn could incapacitate her. However, Lulamoon would be stuck on Equus Zulu until Harmony came and turned her to stone had she done that.
“Let me get back to you on that,” Twilight replied before briskly trotting into the old castle. She swore one of the birds pooped on her but couldn’t find any sign of it.
Equus Zulu - Everfree Forest - Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters - Map Room
Twilight explained to her five advisors what had transpired between her and the Guild Leader. Each had given her words of caution in their own way. For instance, Pinkamena Diane Pie had warned her of the kind of surprises ponies like Lulamoon would hide in words wrapped like gifts.
The Princess sighed. Her heart fought against her mind. Eventually, her thirst for knowledge won out.
“Bring Guild Leader Lulamoon and tell her I want to learn true illusion magic, Flash,” she ordered the guard at the door. The five mares all gasped as Twilight had never disregarded advice so blatantly before.
In only a few minutes, the illusionist entered the map room. The opulently dressed Twilight stood over the smaller and casually naked alicorn. Looking down upon the common pony, the Princess dictated her wish.
“Then, of course, you know you must remove your crown,” Lulamoon replied with a surprising amount of sweetness.
Twilight smiled and ever so softly removed her crown. ‘Now, I get to learn this amazing new magic.’
There was a flash of light for a moment. Twilight felt her crown get knocked out of her hooves. The Guild Leader let out a chortle which then morphed into a clearly evil cackle. As her eyes cleared, she found Lulamoon growing before her. Soon she was eye-level, and the next moment she stood over her. Finally, Lulamoon was standing with her back against the castle ceiling. Twilight tried to use her magic, but it was useless against the giant, powerful alicorn.
‘Where had Lulamoon been hiding all this power?’ the Princess wondered.
“You fool!” the blue alicorn proclaimed. “Without your crown, you are powerless against me. I could make you suffer for all eternity! Make you forget everything you know and turn you into my slave. However, I have a better idea for you.”
Twilight shook in fear as her magic continued to fail her. Lulamoon picked her up in one of her hooves while shoving Twilight’s advisors against the wall with the other. After pulling Twilight behind her head, Lulamoon then pitched the Princess out the castle window and into the sky. A sparkle appeared in the sky once Twilight had flown so far as to be seen anymore from the castle.