Inside the Castle of the Two Sisters.
The ritual was over.
The dark magic applied to Ye Ziji’s forehead had settled into a near-invisible mark, as faint as a wash of light ink, and fallen dormant.
Silence returned to the hall.
Yet the atmosphere was entirely transformed.
It was no longer filled with grief or confrontation, but a subtle, quiet calm—the kind that exists between a monarch and her subject.
Nightmare Moon sat upon the throne, gazing silently at Ye Ziji standing below.
Her eyes were filled with complex emotions.
She looked at him much like an artisan who had been lonely for far too long and had finally created her very first masterpiece.
This creation proved her worth and answered her existence.
In her gaze was a flicker of emotion she herself had not even noticed.
However, that emotion lasted for only a fleeting moment.
She seemed to suddenly realize something.
Noticing her unreserved satisfaction just now—and that long, relieved sigh—she knew such actions were undeniably an “indiscretion” for a majestic queen.
She could not allow her very first subject to see such a “weak” side of her.
And so, she quickly composed herself.
A soft cough shattered the atmosphere she had created.
That cough acted as a clear boundary line, thoroughly separating the emotional queen of a moment ago from the majestic queen of the present.
She straightened her back once more, the softness on her face rapidly fading away, replaced by her usual royal pride and dignity.
In a tone that tolerated no questioning, she issued her first command to Ye Ziji.
“We shall retire to Our bedchamber to rest.”
She paused, a trace of scrutiny in her slit-pupiled, teal eyes.
“As Our first subject, serve Us well.”
Even then, she seemed to feel that was not enough.
To completely dispel any improper thoughts he might harbor, she tacked on a final warning.
It was both a stern reminder and a definition of the new relationship between them.
“Do not entertain any additional ideas.” A chill of magic laced her voice.
“Our magic resides within you. We can feel your every move.”
Those words acted like invisible shackles, clearly declaring their respective statuses.
Trust had been given, but control had never been loosened.
Having asserted her ownership, she paid no further mind to Ye Ziji’s reaction.
She rose gracefully from the throne, her nebula-like mane trailing a brilliant arc behind her.
With proud steps, she walked toward a dark archway behind and to the side of the throne, one that almost blended into the wall.
Without looking back, her noble figure soon vanished into the deep shadows.
Once again, Ye Ziji was the only pony left in the throne room.
He stood silently until he confirmed that Nightmare Moon’s aura had receded completely.
Slowly raising a hoof, he lightly touched the barely perceptible magical mark on his forehead.
He could feel it: a thread of pure dark energy, acting like a faithful sentry monitoring his every move.
Then he raised his head and looked in the direction where Nightmare Moon had disappeared.
*Bedchamber?*
He snorted inwardly.
*That cold, run-down room that looks like no pony’s lived in or cleaned for centuries?*
*What unique taste~*
The moment Nightmare Moon left, Ye Ziji’s respectful and earnest expression slipped away like a discarded mask, vanishing without a trace.
He shrugged lazily, his entire aura shifting completely.
The previous loyalty and solemnity of a dutiful subject were gone.
In their place was a familiar, languid playfulness, as though he couldn’t be bothered to exert himself for anything.
He stretched his hooves, his bones emitting a faint popping sound as if that earlier, mentally taxing performance had utterly exhausted him.
Raising a hoof, he casually surveyed his surroundings.
The tall stone pillars were covered in cracks, and several large holes gaped in the ornate vaulted ceiling (well, one of them was my doing), offering a view of the eternal night sky outside.
Thick dust and fallen stones lay piled on the floor, while massive cobwebs that looked a thousand years old hung in the corners.
Rather than a royal castle, this place was more like a ruin forgotten by time.
“The Elements of Harmony…” he murmured softly, a glint of thought flashing across his dark eyes.
Was there any rush to go hunt down those legendary stones right now?
He quickly dismissed the idea.
First, this place was huge, and heaven knew which obscure nook or cranny those things were hidden in.
Second, she had very likely hidden them somewhere he could never find—or was carrying them on her person.
Rather than wasting effort on a needle-in-a-haystack search, it was better to change his approach.
Ye Ziji’s gaze shifted back to the direction Nightmare Moon had gone.
He decided to play the loyal subject dutifully for now.
Not only to earn her complete trust, but also to satisfy the burning curiosity deep inside him. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
What was going on inside the heart of this queen who had been imprisoned for a full thousand years?
Was it truly as simple as the “jealousy” recorded in the history books?
The mournful sadness as she sat in silence, and that relieved sigh after the bestowal ceremony…
all of it was…
quite interesting~
He wanted to see what this lonely queen’s true thoughts were, and how she would change after being touched by his actions.
“Yeah, that’s settled then,” he decided, speaking to himself.
With that, Ye Ziji paced back and forth in the vast, dilapidated throne room.
His hooves struck the dust-laden flagstones, making muffled thuds.
As he walked, he carefully inspected the ancient castle.
Every detail revealed a sense of desolation eroded by time.
Many areas had fallen completely into ruin, with collapsed walls and scattered masonry everywhere.
“Tsk. Talk about a terrible living environment.”
He couldn’t help shaking his head.
Since Her Majesty’s first command was to “serve well”…
Then what better way to demonstrate a subject’s worth than by improving her living conditions?
He stopped in his tracks, surveyed the mess before him, and curled his lips into a confident smile.
“Right then. Cleaning up comes first.”
For an element master like him, it was a walk in the park.
Having made the practical decision to clean up, the lazy demeanor on Ye Ziji vanished into thin air.
In its place was the focused, powerful presence of an element master.
He walked to the very center of the throne room—the heart of the entire castle, and the place that best reflected its decay.
He didn’t bother looking for tools, because he himself was the ultimate tool.
“Let’s start with wind, then.”
He murmured softly under his breath.
As his words fell, the single horn on his forehead glowed with a faint cyan light.
An invisible ripple expanded outward with him at its center, causing the air in the hall—which had stood still for a thousand years—to begin slowly circulating.
At first it was merely a gentle breeze, softly brushing against the cracks in the stone pillars and fluttering the giant cobwebs suspended from the vault.
Gradually, the wind gathered strength.
Yet it did not grow violent or wild.
Instead, it formed currents of wind imbued with wisdom and intent.
They transformed into countless streams of cyan air, darting into every corner with precision like snakes spotting prey.
They swept up the thick dust on the floor, peeled away the caked-on grime on the walls, and tore apart the massive, fossil-like cobwebs.
All the filth was swept up by these air currents and gathered in the center of the hall, forming a rapidly spinning, steadily compressing sphere of gray right before him.
Eventually, the sphere was compressed to its absolute limit, turning into a rock-hard gray bead the size of a fist that dropped to the floor with a soft *clack*.
With a flick of Ye Ziji’s hoof, a breeze flung the bead far out of the castle—
Feeding it straight to the Everfree Forest.
A thousand years of dust was wiped away in just a few short minutes.
The air throughout the hall became fresher than it had ever been.
*Elements are just way too useful, you know?*
But that was only step one.
The tip of Ye Ziji’s horn lit up with a deep, solid brownish-gold light.
“Next… earth.”
He stomped his forehoof heavily onto the floor.
A deep, heartbeat-like vibration spread from beneath his hoof throughout the entire throne room.
The cracked flagstones on the floor began to emit faint creaks, as if a sleeping leviathan were awakening.
The shattered pieces of collapsed pillars hovered slightly into the air, seeking their original places.
Guided by the power of the earth element, they flew precisely back to where they had broken off, fitting together seamlessly.
The gaps between stone blocks squirmed and fused together like living tissue, restoring them completely until no trace of damage remained.
Cracks in the floor were smoothed over, and gaps in the walls were filled in.
Even the lonely stone throne saw the signs of weathering on its surface recede, regaining the natural luster of the rock itself.
Under the power of the earth element, the structure of the hall regained a portion of its grand, intact state from a millennium ago.
With the structural repairs complete, Ye Ziji began the final cleaning phase.
He invoked both the water and fire elements simultaneously.
One side of his horn tip glowed azure, while the other ignited with a warm, fiery red flame.
The sparse moisture in the air was rapidly condensed into a soothing, dense mist that blanketed the entire hall.
This mist seeped into every pore of the stonework, thoroughly dissolving and stripping away the deep-seated grime that the wind couldn’t dislodge.
Immediately after, the fire magic transformed into a gentle wave of heat, instantly evaporating all the moisture and giving the stone itself a mild, polished finish.
The floor was as smooth as a mirror, the stone pillars stood tall and majestic, and even the air bore a fresh, warm scent reminiscent of sunshine after rain.
Ye Ziji nodded in satisfaction.
Without stopping, he followed the same process to clean the corridors, side halls, and the main entrance of the castle connecting to the throne room.
Wind banished dust, earth repaired damage, and water and fire performed the final cleansing ritual.
Like an impossibly efficient construction crew, he transformed the public areas of the castle from a pile of ruins into a clean, majestic fortress that, while ancient, stood pristine and grand.
Cleaning as he went, he finally stopped before the archway where Nightmare Moon had disappeared—the one leading to her “bedchamber.”
He could sense that the space beyond was still saturated with dense dark aura.
Hesitating for a moment, he ultimately decided against going inside.
“Best not to barge into a pony’s private space.”
Moving too fast might arouse unnecessary suspicion.
So he turned around, ignoring the deeper, unexplored areas.
He had already completed everything required for the first phase.
Standing in the revamped throne room, Ye Ziji let out a long breath.
Looking around at the spotless environment, he knew this was only the beginning.
Simple cleaning was merely surface work.
The true wounds of this ancient castle stemmed from a thousand years of relentless erosion, further exacerbated by the aftermath of his battle with Nightmare Moon just a short while ago.
He raised his head and looked past the hall toward the structures in the distance that remained in ruins.
Collapsed towers, broken bridges, and the marks of a millennium’s erosion on the exterior walls…
None of these could be erased by simple cleaning.
“Doing things half-heartedly isn’t my style,” Ye Ziji murmured softly, his gaze sharpening.
Immediately, he began the true restoration work.
This time, the elemental energy he channeled was far more immense than before.
No longer limiting himself to the throne room, he expanded his perception like an invisible giant net, covering every part of the castle that needed repair.
He first focused his attention on the most severe structural damage.
The brownish-gold light on his horn flared brighter than ever.
Reaching out a forehoof, he made a grasping motion toward empty air.
In the distance, beneath a half-collapsed tower, scattered boulders weighing several tons began to float gently off the ground.
Defying gravity, they slowly rose into the sky like building blocks controlled by an invisible hand.
With a focused gaze, Ye Ziji reconstructed the tower’s probable original appearance in his mind.
Under his will, the massive stones flew back to their original places with absolute precision, their connecting joints fitting together flawlessly.
The earth elements acted as the ultimate adhesive, clinging tightly together to fuse the stones into one cohesive structure once more, resurrecting a shadow of their former glory.
Next came the rotted wooden structures.
Many doors, windows, and colonnades throughout the castle had long since rotted beyond recognition after a thousand years of wind and rain.
The tip of Ye Ziji’s horn shone with a vibrant, emerald-green light as he communed with the wood element.
The lingering vitality within the decayed timber was awakened.
At a pace visible to the naked eye, it burst back into life.
The rotten portions flaked off, and new wood fibers grew and restructured rapidly, restoring their original toughness and color.
For pieces completely beyond repair, he borrowed fresh, sturdy, faintly fragrant wood directly from the distant forest to replace them.
As time ticked by…
Like an untiring craftsman, he moved through various corners of the castle.
He repaired broken bridges, reconnecting the castle’s various wings.
He smoothed over the weathered marks on the outer walls, restoring the grand majesty the castle deserved.
He cleared the debris from the courtyard, bringing the buried stone pathways back to light.
He erected new stone bridges to replace the creaky, badly rotted wooden drawbridges outside.
However, he didn’t try to make the castle look brand new.
He preserved some of the historical moss and climbing vines left by time, merely trimming and neatening them to look more orderly and aesthetic.
He restored the structure without erasing its history.
The restored castle was no longer a desperate, lonely, forgotten ruin, but a fortress steeped in stories, solemnity, and depth.
It remained ancient, but was no longer dilapidated.
Finally, when all major structural repairs were largely complete…
Ye Ziji injected a pulsing, lively vitality back into this palace that had slept for a thousand years.
A bright red flame ignited on his horn.
With a flick of his hoof, small bursts of flame flew toward the ancient sconces and candelabras along the hall and corridors.
One, two, a hundred…
Warm orange firelight instantly dispelled the chilling dark that had gathered over a millennium.
Next, he turned his gaze toward the massive fireplaces flanking the throne room.
Flicking another spark, the flame landed in the cold hearth and instantly roared to life.
The crackling sound of the burning wood brought the very first sound of “home” to the dead-silent throne room.
The warm light and dancing flames made the ancient castle come alive once more.
Now this was slightly more fitting for…
A queen.