Early in the morning, before the sun had even risen, Ashford felt something strange about his body.
He felt as if he were tightly wrapped in a quilt, unable to move an inch.
It might have been sleep paralysis, but since today was a holiday, it didn’t really matter.
However, after a while, Ashford’s consciousness became clearer, and he realized his bed felt strange.
Logically, it shouldn’t be this hard.
And why was the whole bed vibrating?
Was there an earthquake?
Opening his eyes dazedly, Ashford yawned and tried to raise his hand to rub his eyes, but he couldn’t.
His arms were tightly confined within the quilt.
No, it didn’t seem like sleep paralysis; he was actually tied up.
Once Ashford realized this, he snapped awake instantly.
Opening his eyes, he saw a pitch-black sky and felt the bumpy vibrations beneath him.
“Wait, what’s going on? Can someone explain this to me?”
“Eh? Ashford, you’re awake?”
Ashford heard a voice coming from above him.
He tried to sit up and break free from the quilt’s restraint but failed, as the entire quilt was tightly bound with belts.
He couldn’t break free at all.
At that moment, the person carrying him realized he was awake and set Ashford down.
Only then did Ashford see who was behind this.
“Pinkie Pie?”
“That’s right, it’s me.”
Pinkie Pie grinned widely at Ashford.
Ashford was now scared witless.
What was this?
A kidnapping?
Ashford was certain he hadn’t provoked Pinkie Pie, yet he couldn’t understand what she was playing at this time.
“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?” New chapters come out on g.com first.
“Oh, I wanted to invite you to help me with a favor. But since time was so tight, I couldn’t notify you in advance because I forgot while being busy. So I thought I’d find you quickly before dawn and have you help me. But I saw you were sleeping so soundly, and to avoid disturbing you, I just brought you along with the quilt and the mattress.”
“…What kind of favor?”
Ashford breathed a sigh of relief upon learning it wasn’t a kidnapping.
As long as his life wasn’t in danger, even if Pinkie Pie wanted him to do 500 push-ups in one go, Shangguan Jingxing would grit his teeth and do them.
There was no other choice.
Before dawn, a girl had broken into his home in the middle of the night, tied him up with belts, and carried him to an unknown location.
She said she wanted help, but if she actually went crazy, things would get messy fast.
After all, Ashford was still tied up.
“Uh, can you untie me now? I’m awake, I can walk on my own.”
“No problem.”
After Pinkie Pie answered, she reached out and unbuckled the belts.
Ashford, having regained his freedom, nearly knelt to kiss the ground, feeling the beauty of liberty.
“Pinkie Pie, what favor do you want me to help with? At this hour, forget the sun rising, even the roosters haven’t crowed yet.”
“Let’s get moving. I’ll explain it to you slowly on the way.”
Ashford didn’t know if he had grown accustomed to the rhythm of life here and these strange occurrences, but after experiencing this, he didn’t choose to call the police immediately.
Instead, he chose to continue following Pinkie Pie toward the unknown destination.
As they walked, Pinkie Pie explained the current situation.
Pinkie Pie wanted to celebrate her older sister’s birthday.
To make the most delicious candy, Pinkie Pie wanted to hear from everyone who had ever had contact with Maud Pie.
She wanted to hear those people’s opinions.
But this confused Ashford.
“Pinkie Pie, if you’re talking about the person who knows your sister best, it must be you, her younger sister. By asking us outsiders, are you sure you can make what your sister wants?”
Ashford asked this out of confusion as he arrived at Pinkie Pie’s house with her.
As if she had anticipated this question, Pinkie Pie immediately began to answer, and her reasoning was quite sound.
“Because my sister is much more silent than I am. She doesn’t like socializing. So, to know more about her, I need to talk to everyone she’s communicated with, even if they’ve only met once.”
“Fine… then. Considering this is an alternative way of inviting me to taste candy, I’ll forgive your act of breaking into my house, but don’t let it happen again.”
Pinkie Pie pushed open her front door.
The lights were on in the hall, and there were some familiar faces, though Ashford hadn’t interacted much with this group.
Ashford’s social life at school was almost the same as Maud Pie’s.
Fortunately, he could name everyone in the group, though the number was indeed quite small.
“Everyone, let me introduce you. Ashford, that strange top student. You should all know him.”
Pinkie Pie pushed Ashford into a chair and spoke up, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
The gazes of the large group of people were fixed squarely on Ashford.
Normally, Ashford would have felt a bit awkward and shy.
But now, everyone’s faces were filled with the exhaustion of sleep deprivation.
They were all dutifully making candy, without a shred of energy.
Even so, they didn’t say anything.
Was Pinkie Pie’s popularity really that good?
“Ashford, now let me introduce everyone here. The big guy with big muscles, Derpy who can see more of the field, the fashionista Rarity, Fluttershy who loves small animals, the cool girl Rainbow Dash, and her best friend and rival Applejack, and the magician Trixie.”
“Hello everyone.”
“Hello, Ashford…”
Everyone clapped and welcomed Ashford’s arrival in a daze.
It seemed that in their sleep-deprived state, they hadn’t heard Pinkie Pie’s introduction clearly at all, only remembering the name Ashford.
But it didn’t matter; Ashford was used to being called by his surname instead of his given name.
At that moment, Pinkie Pie leaned her face close to Ashford’s ear and whispered.
“Actually, I also invited Sunset Shimmer, but she didn’t like it here and left on the way. There’s also a guy named Mud Stone. Although my sister knows him, I hate him, so I didn’t invite him.”
Upon hearing Pinkie Pie’s explanation, Ashford fell into deep thought.
So…
it was possible to refuse?
That wasn’t the point at all.
The point was, what on earth did this guy named Mud Stone do to make Pinkie Pie hate him?
Meanwhile, at Ashford’s house, Adagio pushed open Ashford’s bedroom door as usual to call him for breakfast.
But today, Adagio looked at the empty bed—where even the pillow, quilt, and mattress had disappeared—and fell into deep thought.
“…Has the house been hit by human traffickers?”