//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: I Accidentally Joined a Harem and Now a Princess is Hitting On Me 
// by stillinbeta 
//------------------------------//

To say Coco slept fitfully that night would be an understatement. The first few times she woke up she was relieved, assuming it had all just been a particularly bad dream. But then the unfamiliar bedroom would come into focus. The window looked out over the Crystal Empire. Normally that would be a stunning sight, but right now it was a reminder of how far from home she was and what an absolute mess she had already made.
She hoped that reaction wasn’t permanent. The last thing she needed was Ponelovian panic attacks every time she saw the home of Rarity For You’s coming expansion.
That meant she was thinking about Rarity, and that made her whimper. What in Equestria was she doing here? She had a job to. The letter was still poking out of her saddlebags, perhaps she could still set things right.
Confidence swelling, she had almost managed to get out of her bedroom before she lost her nerve. The door stood closed, suddenly an insurmountable obstacle. So instead, she whimpered and crawled back into bed, ears flat. She was exhausted, she told herself. All of this could certainly wait until morning. She could explain everything to Sapphire, maybe even finally get ahold of Princess Cadenza.
Even as she said it, she didn’t particularly believe herself. She was just Coco the Cowardly, desperate not to rock the boat. What would Rarity do if she were here?
Coco conjured up an imaginary Rarity, who took a quick glance around the environs, pulled out her couch and promptly fainted. That sounded about right. Coco crawled under the covers, hoping desperately to wake up in her tiny Manehattan apartment. Instead, she dreamt of a disappointed Rarity, who happened to be an alicorn, who banished her to the frozen north.



Coco awoke once more, this time to a knocking on her door. Bleary-eyed, she shook off sleep and tried once more to regain her bearings. The Crystal Empire outside looked different in the morning light, glittering and sparkling as the sun caught it. She wasn’t far enough gone to not find it beautiful, but last night’s nausea was certainly back in full force.
A hoof knocked on her door once more, slightly more insistent. She hopped up out of the bed and pulled the door open, tripping over her saddlebags in the process.
“Good morning, sunshine!”
Sapphire was grinning ear-to-ear, despite the early hour. Then again, she’d probably slept through the entire night.
Coco stifled a yawn. “G…Good morning Sapphire.”
“Aw, still tired? I know how it is. Takes some time getting used to sleeping away from home. Come on, let’s get you some tea.”
Coco wanted to protest that her mane and tail weren’t brushed and she needed to get dressed. Really, she wanted to tell Sapphire that this was all a huge misunderstanding and could she please just go see the Princess? But instead she followed Sapphire into a small kitchenette at the end of the hall. Sapphire busied herself putting a kettle on, and Coco once again evaluated making a break for it.
But then she’d miss tea. That wouldn’t do.
“So, roll call.”
She realized Sapphire was trying to tell her something, so she should be paying attention. 
Coco nodded politely for her to continue.
“It’s pretty informal, despite how it sounds. We’re all going to line up, make sure we’re still here, give the pledge, listen to the announcements, that sort of thing. Facet’s not much                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  for rules and the like, she just wants to make sure everypony is happy and healthy.”
Coco nodded again, her mouth going dry. Standing up in front of everypony wasn’t too bad, she’d been to enough Bridleway curtain calls to be comfortable in front of an audience. But all these other ponies were going to see her. Once she finally got out of here, she was going to have to explain to even more ponies what had happened. Things were rapidly spiralling out of control.
Sapphire hoofed her a mug. “Here you go. Hope you like Canterbury Breakfast.”
Coco took the mug thankfully. It felt warm in her hooves. She usually drank coffee, like most Manehattanites, but it still felt a little bit like home.
Sapphire nodded in approval. “That’s how I feel before I have my morning tea too. But I gotta go get ready. I’ll see you at roll call!”
The mare turned tail and cantered back to her room. Coco found herself in the empty hallway, surrounded by doors with names in cursive. She didn’t trust herself to carry the tea on her back, so she sipped it quietly in the kitchenette. It did calm her down a little. 
Maybe she could do… what exactly?
Two crystal mares emerged from one of the rooms, chatting gleefully about… oh my.
Coco blushed, abandoning her tea and hurrying back to her room.



A pleasant chime and the sound of clattering hooves alerted Coco that roll call was probably about to start. She checked her mane and collar one last time, making sure everything was in order. Nodding to herself in the mirror, she opened her door and followed the herd towards a large atrium outside the hall.
This was her first chance to see the rest of the um... group she found herself a part of. There were maybe three dozen ponies here. It was, as she might have guessed, mostly composed of Crystal ponies, but there were certainly exceptions. Two pegasi sat in the corner chatting with a gryphon, and a zebra was cuddling with an earth pony stallion.
Actually, a lot of ponies were cuddled up, now that she noticed it. And not just in pairs, either. Some ponies were practically piled on top of each other, blushing and giggling. She even caught several couples stealing kisses.
Coco’s heart ached, a chill coming over her despite the warmth of all the ponies in the room. Now here was a reason to get out of here for sure: being surrounded by so much love and affection made her desperately lonely.
A white crystal pony stepped into the centre of the room, and politely cleared her throat. The chattering across the atrium gradually trailed off, and everypony looked expectantly towards the front.
“Good morning everypony! Now you know we normally go alphabetically, but I think I should start with…”
Coco held her breath.
“Winter. Is Winter here?”
The crowd waited for a response, then began giggling as none was forthcoming.
Facet facehoofed. “Could somepony please go wake that lazy mare up? Tell her I’m putting her on washroom duty if she doesn’t get here immediately.”
A chorus of “oooohs” rang out as a pink unicorn walked out of the atrium. She flicked a golden yellow mare with her tail as she walked past.
“Okay, settle down everypony. We’ve all got busy days lined up.”
The room quieted down once more. Then a heckler called out, “Not me! I’m just going back to bed!”
Facet grinned. “That sounds important. But you might want to wait to hear the announcements before you make any decisions.”
That got everypony’s attention.
“Right then. Roll call. Mirror Shard?”
A crystal mare from the back raised a hoof. “Here!”
“Bergamot?”
A grey earth pony nodded. “Here!”
Coco initially tried to take a look at everypony and learn their names, but this quickly proved to be an impossible task. The roll call went too quick, and from her vantage point at the back she could scarcely see some of the ponies.
“Coco?”
She spent a half-second looking around for somepony to answer before she realised that was her. Her hoof shot up so quickly she almost lost her balance.
“H-here!”
“We’ve got a new face today, everypony. Coco, would you like to come up and introduce yourself?”
Coco most certainly would not. But something about the way Facet asked the question felt rhetorical so she obediently trotted up to the front, face hot.
“Coco’s our newest member. Coco, would you like to say a few words?”
Again, most certainly not a question. But what could she say? She looked at all of the eyes staring intently at her. She wasn’t supposed to be here. But now all these ponies would recognise her. Everything was very quickly spinning out of control—if it had ever been in control in the first place.
She swallowed. “H-hi everypony! My name’s Coco, I’m a fashion designer, and I’m really honoured to meet you all!”
She was hoping to sound confident, but of course what came out sounded more like a squeak. She hoped the other ponies would just chalk it up to nerves.
A nod from Facet dismissed her, and she crept back to her spot next to Sapphire.
“You did great,” the crystal pony whispered.
Coco only nodded, not trusting herself to say anything right now. She tried her best to sink even lower in her seat.
There was a round of applause that Facet slowly fanned down. It made Coco feel absolutely sick to her stomach. What would happen if, no when she was found out? Would all those ponies turn on her? Would they think she was looking down on them? Or worse, Coco could get kicked out of the empire all together! She’d accidentally infiltrated the castle under false pretenses. Rarity would be so disappointed...
Coco didn’t think it could get worse, but after the hoof-stomping came the whispered conversation. They were probably all talking about her. She must not be attractive enough to be here! Everypony would turn on her even if she never straightened them out. The rest of the group was absolutely gorgeous, there was no way she’d  fit in. Oh, why had she come here in the first place? Rarity was wrong to trust her, she should’ve just stayed home.
Back up front, Facet cleared her throat to and mercifully, the whispers died down as everypony’s attention turned to her.
“First off, we’re going to do our cleaning a few days early.”
Everypony groaned. Coco thought the place looked absolutely spotless already, but it was clear from everypony else’s posture that this apparently wasn’t the case.
“We just cleaned on Fursday!” a pony Coco couldn’t see cried from the audience. “Why are we doing it again?”
“Because,” Facet smirked. “Princess Cadance is coming to visit.”
If Coco thought the applause for her sounded loud, this was absolutely thunderous. Three dozen voices all broke out in excited chatter, running hooves through manes and appraising each other. Facet stomped to once again get everyone’s attention.
“She’ll be here at noon sharp. Best get to it! Dismissed!”
The ponies in the hall scattered, and Coco scarcely avoided getting trampled in the ensuing rush. However, she managed to make it back to the safety of her room.
Initially she was absolutely terrified, but she realised this could work to her advantage. She wanted to see Cadance, right? She could just talk to her once she arrived, show her the letter from Rarity, and get this all straightened out. She hoped she wouldn’t be in too much trouble once the truth came out, but it seemed like as good a plan as any.
Given that her room was already pristine, she set about applying extra makeup and brushing her coat. Then she sat on her bed and waited for the time to come.