The next day, mor…
night.
Before long, Ye Ziji slowly woke up on the couch.
He had slept in, naturally waking up when his body was ready.
He let out a wide, lazy yawn, stretched his somewhat stiff body from sleeping in an awkward position, and shook out his hooves.
A peaceful night’s sleep had greatly replenished his depleted magic and mental energy.
He could clearly feel the dormant elemental power within his body had recovered to nearly half its peak level.
This sense of overflowing power gave him more confidence and options.
“Perhaps I should make time to visit the Everfree Forest again,” he calculated in his mind.
“Maybe I can find some missed clues and continue recovering my strength along the way.”
With that in mind, Ye Ziji walked over to the window and looked outside.
The sky was still a deep, dark night.
The high-hanging moon cast a cold, gloomy glow, blanketing all of Ponyville in an eternal night.
There was no birdsong, no sunlight—only a deathly quiet night.
Ye Ziji shrugged, a self-deprecating smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Maybe eternal night isn’t so bad,” he muttered in complaint.
“At least I can keep sleeping in and never have to wake up early.”
However, his rare moment of leisure was utterly shattered in the next second.
“Good morning, everyone!!!”
A greeting bursting with explosive energy echoed from the staircase, followed immediately by a pink blur landing with a loud *thump* right in the middle of the first-floor lobby.
It was Pinkie Pie.
She looked completely energized, her puffy, curly mane bouncing up and down, bursting with joyful energy.
“*Bang! Bang! Bang!*”
Accompanied by her cheers, three party poppers hidden in her mane went off simultaneously.
Countless streamers and confetti exploded, plastering themselves all over Ye Ziji’s face before he could even react.
Ye Ziji: “…”
With an expressionless face, he peeled a sticky streamer off his cheek.
“Oh, sorry!”
Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out, but there wasn’t a hint of apology on her face.
Instead, she laughed even harder.
“I forgot you were here!”
The others followed shortly after, and the library instantly transitioned from the quiet of late night to the clamor of a bustling market.
“Oh my goodness, Pinkie Pie! Can’t you be a little quieter!”
Rainbow Dash grumbled, yawning as she preened her messy, rainbow-colored mane with her wing.
“My ears are almost deaf from your shouting.”
“Good morning, everyone.”
Applejack looked completely ready to start a new day of work.
Spiritedly, she said, “I’ll go see what there is to eat. Everyone must be starving.”
“Oh, darling, this confetti! It’s going to ruin my fresh coat-care!”
Rarity elegantly deflected the confetti drifting toward her with a magical shield while anxiously checking her smooth, indigo-violet mane.
Fluttershy trailed behind at the very back, quietly greeting the “attacked” Ye Ziji.
“G-Good morning, Ye Ziji. Are you okay?”
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle walked straight up to Ye Ziji.
Clearly, she still remembered last night’s promise.
Ye Ziji looked at the chattering, vastly different ponies in front of him, then at the streamers hanging off his body, and sighed deeply once more.
*Sleeping in?
I was dreaming.*
He silently deleted this unrealistic fantasy from his mind.
Ye Ziji ignored the chattering ponies and let out another yawn.
He had already made a decision.
Now was not the time for some morning meeting.
The longer they delayed, the more damage Nightmare Moon would cause to Equestria.
“Alright, quiet down.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable calm that instantly silenced the noisy lobby.
He swept his gaze across the room and finally said, “I’m going to the Everfree Forest. It will allow me to recover my full strength as quickly as possible.”
Having said that, he turned, preparing to leave immediately.
To him, explanations were unnecessary; action was key.
However, he had barely taken a step when he felt his tail tighten.
A weak but firm force pulled him back.
Ye Ziji turned his head and saw Twilight Sparkle clamping her teeth tightly onto his tail, her cheeks puffed up from the effort.
Her violet eyes were filled with anger and confusion as she mumbled incoherently, “Mmh… wha abou… the plan?!”
“Uh, let go.”
Looking at her serious expression, Ye Ziji sighed with some helplessness.
Of course he remembered the promise, but that had only been a temporary measure to appease her last night.
The situation had changed now.
His power had recovered by half, which was enough to support a high-risk operation.
As for bringing them along?
Ye Ziji quickly calculated in his mind.
Absolutely not!
He knew his own strength very well.
Although he couldn’t defeat Nightmare Moon head-on right now, with his spatial magic and recovered strength, if he wanted to run, Nightmare Moon would never catch him.
The Everfree Forest was somewhat dangerous to him, but only to a certain extent.
But if he brought these six “treasures” along, things would be entirely different.
What if they crossed paths with that royal lady on the way?
She had no concept of restraint—what if she flattened them into pony pancakes?
Or worse, if she decided to copy her sister and package them off to the moon for a thousand-year imprisonment, Equestria would truly be game over.
By now, the other ponies had realized what was happening and slowly gathered around.
Rainbow Dash’s face screamed, “Are you going solo?”, Applejack’s was full of “This is too dangerous,” Rarity looked at him with worry, and Pinkie Pie’s large eyes were filled with curiosity.
He couldn’t delay any longer.
Ye Ziji’s eyes flickered slightly.
He made his swiftest and most arbitrary decision.
His gaze passed over the ponies and locked directly onto Fluttershy, who stood in the farthest corner, looking the least threatening.
“Fluttershy.”
“Y-Yes?” Fluttershy looked at him in confusion after being suddenly called upon.
“Take them and go to Mayor Mare.”
“Tell Mayor Mare to keep them secure and not let them leave Ponyville. Your mission is to follow Mayor Mare’s instructions and protect the townsponies. Understood?” Follow the newest chapters on novelping(.)com.
Without waiting for them to process the order, Ye Ziji waved his front hoof.
A massive stream of water appeared out of thin air, instantly transforming into a giant, crystal-clear water orb that gently enveloped Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie before they could react.
From inside the sphere, they stared out in shock, their voices and movements completely muffled and blocked by the soft flow of water.
Right after, an incredibly sturdy rope woven from wind elements formed in the air.
One end tied itself to the water orb, while the other was gently delivered by Ye Ziji’s magic to the dumbfounded Fluttershy.
“Do me a favor.”
Ye Ziji repeated softly, “Take them to Mayor Mare. This is for their own good. Please.”
These words made Fluttershy hesitate, feeling overwhelmed.
She instinctively wanted to say, “I… I can’t,” but seeing the heavy trust and plea in Ye Ziji’s eyes, she swallowed her words.
However, Ye Ziji didn’t give her any time to question or hesitate further.
The moment he finished speaking, he lingered no longer.
A gentle breeze whipped around him, and he took to the air, galloping at high speed toward the Everfree Forest, leaving behind only a soft breeze that rustled the pages of the library books.
He was gone.
Fluttershy stood frozen in place, her hoof still gripping the rope woven of wind elements that was tied to the giant water orb.
She looked helplessly at her friends, who were nearly going mad inside the water sphere.
“Ye Ziji! You liar!!!”
Inside the water orb, Twilight Sparkle felt she had been utterly made a fool of!
Last night’s promise and this morning’s anticipation had all turned into one giant lie!
Consumed by an unprecedented sense of betrayal and anger, she frantically pounded her hooves against the inner wall of the water orb, yelling demands in the direction Ye Ziji had left.
But her voice and movements were completely absorbed by the seemingly soft membrane of water, producing only a series of muffled thuds and incomprehensible, breathy sounds.
Rainbow Dash was thrashing around inside, trying to use her speed to break open the cage.
Rarity was screaming in panic, struggling to maintain her elegance.
Applejack frowned, comforting the other ponies while looking for a way to escape.
As for Pinkie Pie, she was curiously rubbing her cheek against the inner wall of the water orb, feeling its strange texture.
Looking at her friends’ wildly different reactions, and then thinking of the heavy trust Ye Ziji had left her with, along with his prior help to the ponies, Fluttershy took a deep breath.
She turned her head to the furious Twilight Sparkle and the others inside the sphere, saying in a voice as gentle yet apologetic as possible, “I’m sorry, everyone… please bear with it for a little longer.”
With that, she hesitated no more.
She grit her teeth, put all her strength into pulling the wind rope.
Under her pulling, the giant water orb floating in mid-air, carrying her five friends, slowly and wobblily began to move in the direction of Mayor Mare.
Just as this strange procession left the library, groggy footsteps echoed from the stairs.
Spike rubbed his bleary eyes, yawning as he walked down.
“Twilight? What are you guys doing? It’s so noisy…”
He froze mid-sentence.
He witnessed a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life: Fluttershy, like a canal boat puller, was laboriously towing a giant, floating water bubble.
Trapped inside were Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
They were making all kinds of strange gestures, looking like they were performing some avant-garde pantomime.
Spike blinked, then rubbed his eyes hard.
Instead of disappearing, the scene became even clearer and more absurd as he woke up a bit more.
“…”
He stood in silence for a moment, arriving at a very logical conclusion.
“I must still be dreaming.”
Thus, he wisely turned around, yawned, and climbed back up the stairs, planning to go back to sleep and forget this overly bizarre dream.
Back to sleep.