//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: I Accidentally Joined a Harem and Now a Princess is Hitting On Me 
// by stillinbeta 
//------------------------------//

Coco Pommel shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was oscillating back and forth between her characteristic excitement and equally characteristic anxiety. For the hundredth time, she looked at the letter in her saddlebags. She didn’t read it: It wasn’t addressed to her, after all. She simply needed to know that it was present.
She was on a train speeding away from Manehattan towards Equestria’s newest province: The Crystal Empire. And this was no social visit: She was here to accept a commission as a royal seamstress. Princess Mi Amor Cadenza and her staff needed a new line of uniforms, and she was going to design them. It was an extremely prestigious appointment, one that would certainly do wonders for her languishing fashion career.
The problem was that they didn’t exactly know it was her coming.
Princess Cadenza had written to Rarity a month ago, requesting her services as a designer for the Crystal Empire’s “rebranding,” whatever that meant. Rarity had been overjoyed, of course, but that joy quickly turned to anguish when she realised just how big of a job that was going to be. It was that particular day’s “Worst. Possible. Thing!” It was a two-ice-cream-cartons situation, which put it somewhere between a bad manecut and an unexpectedly closed spa.
Rarity was, despite her best efforts to conceal it, exhausted. She just wanted to stay home with her sister and friends, doing the odd piece when it suited her. The cosmopolitan life had been okay for a time, when first class train tickets and Manehattans were still exciting novelties. But eventually the time away from home started to get to her. Coco saw less and less of her in the Manehattan branch of Rarity for You, and Sassy reported similar things from Canterlot.
Requests for special orders were still fulfilled, of course: Rarity would never turn down a pony in need. But by and large the store was Coco’s to fill with whatever she liked. Rarity came out once in a blue moon to inspect her wares, and it was on such an occasion that the request from the Princess found its way to her.
Coco, as both an employee and close friend of Rarity, was well suited to assuaging her boss’s meltdowns. She politely offered tissues while the unicorn rambled and wailed. Eventually the mare had calmed enough to thank Coco for her help, and hadn’t she been doing such a good job with the store, and didn’t she deserve a raise?
Coco blushed at the memory. She was still not used to receiving compliments.
Then, Rarity had an idea. 
Or, more specifically, an “Ideaaaaaa!”
“Coco! I’ll send you to the Crystal Empire! This is perfect! Your designs are fantastic, I’m sure Cadance will adore them. The staff here can handle the store, right?”
“Yes, but--” Coco tried to explain.
“Perfect! I shall write to Cadance right away. Or... no, I shall just send you with a letter. Are you busy the next few weeks?”
“Not particularly, but...”
“Then it’s settled! Thank you so much for doing this darling, you know how much I hate imposing on other ponies.”
“But Rarity...”
“I won’t hear a word of it, Miss Pommel. Your designs are absolutely stunning, well worthy of gracing the royal pony. The true crime is that it hasn’t happened before! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a spa!”
Rarity had quickly written a letter of recommendation  for Coco to give to the Princess and  was out the door before Coco could get a word in edgewise.
It didn’t take her long to get ready to go. Despite her best efforts as of late, there was no coltfriend to notify.  She simply left a note for the postmare about her absence and a key with the neighbour to look after her plants Hortense and Credenza. The note and a few extra ties were placed in one panier of a a small saddlebag. The other bag was filled with the tools of her trade: fabric swatches, measuring tapes, and a sketchbook. Then, with more than a little trepidation, she headed for Manehattan  Pegavania Station.
And that was how she found herself on the Love Limited, speeding past a wintery Equestria towards the scariest job interview of her life. She just hoped the princess would be nicer than her former boss Suri had been.



The Crystal Palace was an absolute hive of activity, an elegant dance with hundreds of ponies all doing their duty for the Empire. The only trouble was, Coco had absolutely no idea where she fit in. One did not simply ask for an audience with royalty, it seemed, no matter how prestigious the appointment was.
Rarity had told her simply to go to the Castle and talk to the princess about her appointment. What Rarity seemed to have forgotten was that whilst she was a decorated national hero, celebrity, and best friends with Cadance’s sister-in-law, Coco was a comparative nopony. She could not simply walk up to the royal chambers and be welcomed with open hooves.
There was probably a steward, or majordomo, or somepony she could talk to, but everyone seemed awfully busy, and Coco had never been good at interrupting ponies. She tried standing in the middle of the floor for a bit to see if anypony noticed her, but that just resulted in ponies bumping into her. Some apologised, but others just shot her a glare and bustled on their way.
Having nothing better to do and not wanting to be in the way, Coco trotted out of the main atrium and down the first side passage she saw. She hoped she’d be stopped by a guard or somepony who could help her, but instead she  found herself in one empty hallway after another. The castle was deceptively large and she soon found herself completely and utterly lost. Every passage suddenly looked exactly the same, and the geometry seemed to defy reason. Sometimes it seemed like three left turns made another left and despite not actually climbing any stairs, she was too high up to orient herself to the city outside.
Coco thought she’d done an excellent job keeping her composure up until that point, but every pony had their limits. She sat down in the corner of a hallway, covered her face with a free hoof, and tried not to cry. Unfortunately her skills in doing so were not much better than her navigation of strange castles.
Some time later, long enough that the sun had set low on the horizon, she felt a gentle caress on her shoulder. She started, backing farther into the corner.
“Oh! Oh you poor thing. Don’t be scared.”
In front of her was a crystal pony, light blue with a brilliant indigo mane and tail. Her smile was disarming, and somehow Coco immediately felt more at ease.
The mare offered her hoof.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you. My name’s Sapphire, what’s yours?”
Coco took the offered hoof, more out of instinct than any conscious decision. 
“I’m... Coco,” she said, wiping her snout on her foreleg.
“Nice to meet you Coco. You look awfully lost.”
Coco nodded glumly.
“Are you the new girl?”
The new girl? That didn’t sound right, but at this point Coco was far too tired to care. 
She nodded.
“Ah! Facet told me we were getting somepony new. And you’re so cute! Come on, I’ll get you set up.”
Any doubts Coco had were immediately supplanted by a tremendous blush. She followed Sapphire silently through an incomprehensible series of turns and doors. Eventually they came to a large set of double doors decorated with an intricately carved Crystal Heart. Sapphire pushed the doors open into what looked like a large living room, dotted with pillows and couches.
“Well, this is the lounge! I know they say save the best for last, but why wait?”
Coco nodded, unsure of what to do with this information. She suspected there’d been some mistake, but she was so relieved to have someone helping her that she decided to deal with that particular issue later.
Sapphire led her down a long hallway, dotted with doors. The doors were all decorated lavishly, and a stylised nameplate adorned each one. She recognised “Sapphire” and “Facet” but none of the other names looked familiar. Certainly none of them read “Cadance.”
“Let’s see.” Sapphire stopped in the hall, almost causing Coco to run into her. She tapped her chin with a hoof. “I think Zativa’s old room is free. You can have that one. Just let me find my keys.”
Sapphire opened the door labelled with her name and slipped inside. Coco hung back, unsure if she was supposed to follow . Certainly she wouldn’t want anypony to see the state of her apartment in Manehattan at the moment.
“Don’t be shy!” Sapphire called over her shoulder. “Come on in!”
Coco walked into a colourful, cozy room. Cloth hangings dotted the walls, and a few plants stood on a pair of bookshelves built into the wall. The bed was decorated with a large blue bedspread bearing Sapphire’s cutie mark. At the far end was an easel holding a blank canvas, looking out a window.
Sapphire was rummaging through a steamer chest at the foot of her bed.
“Somewhere, in here, I’m sure...”
Coco was suddenly aware of how small the space was, and felt a little awkward about their closeness. But Sapphire hadn’t cared, had she? It was just two mares hanging out. Normal ponies probably did that all the time.
“Got em!”
Sapphire triumphantly lifted a ring of keys out with her mouth. With patience, she removed a single brass key from the ring and hoofed it to Coco.
“Most of us don’t keep our rooms locked, but you can if you want. It’s mostly a symbolic thing, though. You never have to bring anypony back to your room if you don’t want to. I recommend only doing it for the really special ones.”
Coco just nodded. She had absolutely no idea what that meant.
“Now, you can set your stuff down in your room and I’ll show you the ropes.”
When returned to the formerly empty door, the nameplate now read “Coco,” written in elaborate cursive over a background of colourful hats.
Coco slipped the key into the lock, and felt it click smoothly. Inside was a room a mirror image of Sapphire’s, only lacking the plants and easel. The bedspread somehow already had her cutie mark on it.
She set her saddlebags on the floor. Without even really thinking, she slipped her letter from Rarity into a drawer. 
Out the window was the rest of the Crystal Empire. The hundreds of houses, all of different colours, were absolutely mesmerising. Down below, the ponies went about their days, chatting and shopping. The pace seemed much slower than she was used to back in Manehattan. Maybe it would be alright here.
“...And most important of all, you never, ever have to anything you don’t want to, no matter who asks you. Everyone wants you to be happy, because that’s how you can make them happy. Does that make sense?”
Oh no, had Sapphire been talking this entire time? Coco nodded quickly, hoping whatever she had said wasn’t that important.
“Excellent.” Sapphire beamed. “I’ll see you at roll call tomorrow morning then. Welcome to the Crystal Harem!”
The what.
Coco swallowed hard.
Oh... Oh dear.