Ponyville
As the group of ponies reached the edge of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and her friends couldn’t help but stop in their tracks.
Their faces were filled with astonishment and confusion.
The scene before them was a far cry from the panic-stricken, chaotic town they had left behind—it was like night and day.
There were no screams, no ponies fleeing in panic, and certainly no atmosphere of despair.
Instead, there was a tense but orderly busyness.
In the town square, Mayor Mare was holding a large megaphone, energetically directing operations.
The ponies had been divided into different groups: some were reinforcing doors and windows, some were distributing food and blankets, and others were comforting the frightened fillies and colts.
But what they found most unbelievable were the four figures standing out prominently in the center of the square.
A pony composed of blazing flames stood quietly in the middle of the square, occasionally pacing around.
The light and heat it radiated drove away the darkness and cold, forming a massive safe zone.
Many ponies gathered around it, expressions of relief on their faces.
A giant water serpent, composed of flowing water, was docilely coiled next to the medical station.
Every now and then, clear streams of water would separate from its body and flow into buckets for the medical team’s use.
An earth elemental composed of rock and soil silently carried massive stones to areas that needed reinforcement, each of its steps steady and powerful.
There was also a wood elemental woven from vines and trees.
It was collaborating with several carpenter ponies, using gathered timber as well as wood growing from its own body to quickly repair the houses Nightmare Moon had carelessly damaged with a sweep of her hoof on her way out.
These four imposing elemental creatures should have been terrifying existences to any pony.
Yet, the surrounding ponies didn’t show the slightest hint of fear when looking at them.
They coexisted in harmony and trusted them implicitly.
Mayor Mare even trotted up to one of the elementals from time to time, looking up to politely ask it to begin the next task.
“W-What is going on here?”
Applejack took off her cowboy hat and rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.
She remembered clearly that when they left, the Mayor had been shivering under a table in terror.
“What are those?” Rarity pointed at the elemental creatures, her voice trembling slightly.
“Are they new monsters? But why isn’t anyone afraid of them?”
Twilight Sparkle didn’t speak, but a storm of emotions was brewing inside her, larger than any pony’s.
She could feel that these four elemental creatures contained pure and abundant elemental energy, but this energy was restrained by a powerful will, making them gentle.
She couldn’t help but turn her gaze to the unfamiliar Unicorn leading the way.
If her guess was correct, this was undoubtedly all his doing.
Ye Ziji paid no heed to their shocked expressions.
He calmly kept walking, leading them through the busy square toward the familiar Golden Oak Library.
With a creak, the door of the Golden Oak Library was pushed open.
A scent of old books, dust, and a faint sweetness of cupcakes wafted over them.
Ye Ziji walked in, his dark eyes casually scanning the place.
Bookshelves stretched from the floor all the way to the high ceiling, crammed so full with all kinds of books they were practically overflowing.
Some party streamers and deflated balloons lay scattered on the floor—clearly remnants of the welcome party Pinkie Pie had thrown for Twilight Sparkle earlier.
Perhaps this place would become the home of the Princess of Friendship in the future.
But right now, it was just an ordinary library filled with knowledge and a bit of a mess.
Without standing on ceremony, he found the most comfortable-looking armchair and sat down naturally, as if he were the master of the house.
Then, he cast a look toward Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, help them out and find them a place to sit.” He paused, then added, “And introduce me while you’re at it. You know what to say.”
*Sigh, I really don’t want to introduce myself again,* Ye Ziji grumbled inwardly.
*I’ve been in Equestria for less than a day, and I’ve already formally introduced myself three times.
Enough is enough.*
Fluttershy understood immediately.
First, she trotted over to guide the dejected Rarity and the still-frustrated Rainbow Dash to their chairs, then helped Applejack and Pinkie Pie sit down.
Finally, she approached Twilight Sparkle, who was still standing in place with a face full of confusion, and gently nudged her with a hoof.
“Twilight… this is Ye Ziji, a Unicorn from the far east of Equestria.” Fluttershy’s voice was soft, but clear enough for everyone to hear.
Twilight Sparkle gave Ye Ziji a complicated look and nodded, acknowledging the introduction.
Then, she slumped weakly into a chair, her limbs drooping, forming a semi-circle with her four friends.
The atmosphere was heavy and awkward.
Having completed her task, Fluttershy pulled up a chair and sat right next to Rainbow Dash, gently patting her proud friend’s back with a wing in silent comfort.
Once all the ponies were seated, a bizarre silence fell over the library.
Only the wall clock ticked away in the background.
Ye Ziji crossed his long hind legs and slowly swept a scrutinizing gaze across the five dejected faces before him.
Finally, his eyes rested on Twilight Sparkle, the leader.
“So,” he began, his voice flat, yet like a stone thrown into a calm pond, instantly shattering the silence.
“How did your mission go?”
The five ponies hung their heads even lower.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, her rainbow mane looking dull and lackluster.
Rarity stared at her dirtied hooves, her eyes welling up again.
Applejack pulled her cowboy hat down low, obscuring her expression.
For once, Pinkie Pie wasn’t bouncing around, only mindlessly twirling her curly mane.
As for Twilight Sparkle, the planner and leader of the mission, she buried her face in the shadows, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Hearing his question only made them more depressed, and none of them spoke.
The humiliation of their crushing defeat and the lingering terror of their narrow escape left them completely at a loss for words.
The silence in the library seemed to solidify, weighing heavily on every pony’s heart.
The ticking of the clock sounded exceptionally grating, like a countdown to their failure.
Finally, after another suffocating stretch of silence, Twilight Sparkle let out a long, deep sigh.
That sigh contained a mountain of self-blame, confusion, and exhaustion.
She raised her head, her violet eyes devoid of their usual spark.
Looking at Ye Ziji, she decided to tell the whole story of their humiliating ordeal.
“We followed the books and went into the Everfree Forest,” she said, her voice raspy and trembling slightly.
“The forest was indeed terrifying, full of strange noises and shadows, but we pushed through. We didn’t actually encounter many real obstacles along the way, but…”
She paused, as if recalling that journey.
Applejack instinctively straightened her posture, while Rainbow Dash let out a dismissive scoff, clearly not thinking the forest itself was all that scary.
The real terror came after.
“We found the old castle—Nightmare Moon’s castle.” Twilight’s pace quickened, as if she didn’t want to dwell on the name.
“She was sitting on the throne, staring down at us coldly. She was far more… imposing than she was described in the books. Just standing there, she made it hard for us to breathe.”
“And then,” Twilight glanced at her friends, her eyes full of gratitude and guilt, “I made a plan. I asked Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie to distract her to buy me time to look for the legendary Elements of Harmony. They all charged forward bravely.”
Rainbow Dash’s wings snapped shut, and Applejack scraped her hoof against the floor.
They had indeed charged, only to be easily blasted back by an unseen force, crashing miserably onto the ground, completely powerless to fight back.
“But I…”
Twilight’s voice dropped, filled with endless frustration.
“I searched the ruins of the castle for so long. Every stone, every statue, every single corner where something could be hidden—I searched them all! But there was nothing! There were no Elements of Harmony like the books described. Nothing at all!”
“In the end, Nightmare Moon seemed to grow bored.”
A hint of humiliation crept into Twilight’s voice.
“She said we were too weak and boring.”
“Then, she just casually waved her wings, and black briars wrapped around us. Before we could even react, we were blasted away by a massive force…”
She closed her eyes, unable to go on.
But the memory of being thrown high into the air, the weightlessness and despair of their rapid descent, and the sharp pain of the thorns piercing their skin flashed vividly in each of their minds.
“And the rest of the story,” Twilight finally opened her eyes, looking at Ye Ziji with a hollow gaze, “is what you saw. We failed. We failed completely.”
With that, she hung her head and fell silent.
The entire library fell into a dead silence once more.
They had laid bare their painful defeat before this mysterious Unicorn.
Ye Ziji listened quietly to Twilight’s narration.
On the surface, he remained leaned back in the armchair, his expression calm and unreadable.
But inside, his mind was in absolute turmoil:
*Nightmare Moon’s plans were disrupted by an uninvited guest like me, and she failed to capture me.
She must have been in a terrible mood, so naturally, she had no interest in playing some obstacle-course game with these ponies.
She probably just waited at the finish line for them to walk right into her trap.*
*But—they didn’t find the Elements of Harmony?!*
This piece of information made Ye Ziji’s mind snap to high alert.
He instinctively sucked in a breath, hissing inwardly.
*Wait, could those things have been blown away to some random corner by the shockwaves of my fight with Nightmare Moon?!*
Once this thought surfaced, it wrapped around his mind like creeping vines.
*The probability is extremely high!*
The battle between him and Nightmare Moon above the ancient castle had been intense enough to alter the terrain.
It was entirely normal for a few stone artifacts to be blasted away or buried by the shockwaves.
*If that’s really the case, we’ve got a massive problem on our hands.*
The originally straightforward main storyline had suffered a fatal deviation because of his interference—
The quest items were lost!
In an instant, several solutions flashed through his mind.
Should he lead them back for a sweep-and-search?
Or try some other way to defeat Nightmare Moon?
Or perhaps go back himself once he fully recovered?
Every option carried its own risks and uncertainties.
Ye Ziji’s gaze swept over the five dejected faces of the ponies one by one.
*Forget it.*
What they needed right now wasn’t a complex plan or another adventure full of uncertainty.
Their minds and bodies had reached their absolute limits; they all needed a good rest.
After pondering for a long moment, Ye Ziji made his decision.
He stood up from his chair, stretched, and broke the silence.
“Alright, I have a general grasp of the situation,” he said, his voice regaining its steady, reassuring authority.
“Let’s call it a night.”
He looked at Twilight Sparkle and her friends, his tone softening.
“What you need right now is rest. No thinking, no self-blame—just sleep. No matter how big the crisis is, it can wait until you wake up.”
This unexpected instruction left the five ponies stunned.
They had expected to immediately begin drawing up a new battle plan, but they never anticipated that the advice would be “go to sleep.”
But immediately after, an irresistible wave of exhaustion washed over them.
Once the tension in their minds relaxed, the physical fatigue surged like a tidal wave.
They were indeed far too tired.
“There should be guest rooms upstairs, enough for all of you,” Ye Ziji said, turning to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, take them up and get them settled.”
“Okay!”
Fluttershy agreed immediately.
She also felt that her friends desperately needed to rest.
She walked over to the still-dazed Rarity and gently nudged her with a hoof.
“Come on, Rarity. Let’s get you a hot bath first, and your mane will be back to normal.”
These words were pure music to Rarity’s ears.
Her spirits instantly lifted, and she followed Fluttershy toward the stairs.
The other ponies supported one another, dragging their exhausted bodies as they followed.
Even Pinkie Pie, usually a ball of infinite energy, looked like a deflated balloon now, lagging sluggishly behind at the very end of the line.
Soon, the faint sound of running water and Fluttershy’s gentle, soothing voice drifted down from upstairs.
Left alone in the first-floor hall, Ye Ziji stared out the window at the still-deep night sky, sinking into deeper thoughts.
“Nightmare Moon, huh?”