Crystal woke up groggily the next morning. She didn’t exactly have a pleasant time trying to sleep, but the album had been poking at her ever since she pulled it out. She regretted doing so the previous night. However, then wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. She sat up, and attempted to get off the bed…..horribly wrong as she fell suddenly face flat onto the floor. “Gah!!”

She raised her head, rubbing her muzzle as in stung from the impact. Feeling her muzzle, she then remembered something. “…..right….hooves,” she grumbled, annoyed with the fact that she had to endure being some animal for however long she would be stuck in the dimension.

She walked towards the bathroom, and decided to start up her morning routine. Reaching the sink vanity, she got up on two hooves with the support of the vanity, and began to clean herself up a little. She was thankful that the place had provided disposable daily necessities like the toothbrushes and soap bars you’d get from any fancy hotel. She managed to do so with her magic, as she realised that using her hooves to pick stuff up is nearly impossible….that or she didn’t know how to yet.

“Young madam, the princesses are waiting. Are you ready for breakfast?” she heard a meek voice reply on the other end. She assumed that it was a maid.

“I’ll be out in a sec!” she replied back as she hurriedly rinsed the soap off of her face and the toothpaste foam from her mouth. She stumbled towards the door. She was getting the hang of her new ‘form’, to say the least. Exclude the part where she fell earlier- and you’d have a perfectly normal pony! She opened the door, and met face to face with the maid she encountered the day before. “Good morning.” The maid was a young light red coated mare with her red mane done in a simple bun. She was dressed in the classy maid outfit.

“Good morning to you too, young madam. The princesses are waiting at the dining hall for you,” she explained briefly. Crystal also noticed a supply cart the maid guided behind her.

“Oh- are you here to also?.....”

“Ah, yes! I am now your personal room maid tasked by Princess Celestia earlier in the morning. I hope you don’t mind me coming in to clean for awhile while you dine, I wouldn’t touch anything that is yours….”

“I don’t mind, thank you,” she nodded to the maid and stepped out of the room, giving the mare way to drag her cart in.

---

She remembered the way to the dining hall, thankfully. Although it took some sharp turns and misguided head scratches later. As the guards swung the doors open, she was immediately hit with the familiar whiff of……pancakes?

She walked up to the dining table, where Luna was already beginning to show down on what appeared to be a few bananas and a plate of pancakes. Well, she had thought so. All that was left was syrup drizzle, she noticed. Celestia sat regally in her chair, greeting Crystal with a smile as she noticed her. “Good morning! I hope you’re hungry- I’ve made some delectable pancakes and I’m aching to see how you find them!”

Crystal greeted her back, and went to sit beside Celestia. She then stared amazed at the huge stack of pancakes in front of her, decorated with fruits and whipped cream in the design of a cute smiley face “Woah!”

“Taste it first- then judge!” Celestia giggled. She felt excited to see someone else trying out her pancakes rather than her grumpy sister every morning. Crystal cut a few bits of pancake and stuffed it into her mouth. And it was clear that the bite was an enjoyable one as she a mouthful of pancakes. Celestia was glad for the reaction, peering towards her sister with a grin from the complement. Luna merely replied with an eyeroll as she managed to stuff down another banana in one go, swallowing it whole.

“Crystal, please do not inflate any more of my sister’s ego.”

“Hey!” Celestia scolded. Crystal giggled. She found the sisters quite different from what they tried to portray themselves in front of the girls. And what she thought of them when she first saw them with Discord. Regal, poise princesses- and behind the curtains, they’re still ponies nonetheless. She found their sisterly dynamic quite entertaining to watch, wholesome even…..

How she wished her sister was the same.

Crystal’s smile dropped a little, however she tried not to let it be too noticeable. It didn’t work however, as she was sure that Celestia had noticed it. “….Crystal? Are you still homesick?”

“Huh? W-well sorta….but I’m not bothered in the slightest!” she exclaimed. And the sad part was that….it was quite true. She felt more at ease than being at home, especially after all that’s happened. But….if they did know what had happened, she was sure that they wouldn’t treat her as good possibly.

Celestia could still sense the unexplained tenseness of her voice. She coughed. “Well, then. I’m actually quite off today from my duties. I wouldn’t mind giving you a tour around Canterlot for a change…..” she offered, hoping that maybe it would cheer her up a bit. “You were noticeably enjoying the ride yesterday,” she smirked at the fellow alicorn.

Crystal was flustered. “Well, in my defense, we humans don’t get to fly a lot like that. It was pretty fun to feel the breeze up there for a change. Not to shade my home but- the air here is way less suffocating than the airs back at homeworld.”

Celestia smiled. “Then I’d take that as a yes? Enjoy the place as much as you like- you’re guest, afterall.”

---

After breakfast, she was instructed to meet with the princess by the front gate, where the chariot was. She was also instructed to wear her cloak, to avoid suspicion and risk of getting seen. After all, alicorns aren’t that common in Equestria. Crystal had theorized that it was possibly the pendant that had affected her form, but she didn’t dwell on the thought for too long.

The tour started from there. As they flew, Crystal was able to see for herself the magnificence of Canterlot. Celestia pointed out places and explained them briefly for filler.

"That's the tower Twilight used to live in. However, I have tasked her to move to Ponyville and aquire some friends for herself, as long as move herself into the Golden Oaks Library along with her pet baby dragon, Spike…." said Celestia, pointing to a tower in the distance.

"-that's the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight was one of the gifted students. I took her under my wing after I learned about how good she really was….."

"-and that's the Canterlot Library. I used to have a tutor who called himself Starswirl te Bearded, he has a shelf dedicated to him there…..”

"-that's the opera house, during Hearths Warming they throw on some marvelous arrangements and plays- I’d bring you there one day to check it out….."

---

By sundown, the tour was over. They managed to spend most of the time stopping by some of the destinations as Celestia wanted to explain some more things about the place. Crystal didn’t mind, she thought it was interesting. Although, it was quite funny how Celestia went into a huge rant about how dangerous the sewers by the towers Twilight lived in once as Twilight had managed to fall in once and was too scared to call out for help fearing she’d get in trouble or something.

“Thank you for the tour, Princess. I’ve gotta say, it’s quite a town you’ve got going on,” said Crystal as they both entered the castle. Celestia smiled.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be as great as it is today without the help of my fellow subjects. A strong community for a strong home, you know?” she said. “Well, best be going to wash up now. I’ll see you later for dinner, you must be starved.” Crystal nodded, and went off her merry way.

As she walked off however, something felt off suddenly. The air was suddenly heavy. She suddenly felt tense, but she didn’t know why. She shrugged it off however, as she went back to her room to prepare for dinner.

Well, she was going to, at least.

Suddenly, she noticed that her pendant emitted a slight glow. She gazed down at it, confused. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, however it was confusing as to why it was acting up at a time like that. She wasn’t sure about it, but with the first few times it had happened, it had always been because it was sensing something big, or something out of the ordinary. What irked her most was that it always came in a form of a riddle to warn her, which bothered her greatly as sometimes it would take her a long time just to solve it.

Curious, her hoof reached out to touch it. And as she did, her eyes glowed as a riddle sounded in her subconscious:

“Someone lurks within the Gardens, something, somewhere, it has bared. Beware, beware, it wouldn’t dare, to take a bite of whoever’s there. Those who seek to know the truth, guilty pleasures pick a roof. Run and trot, or stay to play. Someone can’t be helped today.”

And with that, the glow faded from her eyes. She stood there, dumbfounded at the odd riddle. Curse the pendant and it’s riddles! The Gardens? Someone? A burglar? Two burglars?! A band of burglars?!

Burglarizing a…..fancy guarded castle?

Who else would be in the castle?

What else could….

Wait.

---

Quickly, she trotted into the Gardens, her eyes scanning the place as if she was expecting something. She wasn’t even sure what she was expecting, however she paced around the Gardens, eager to find out. Her eyes peered unsubconsciously towards the statue of Discord, which….was still there. Of course.

Although, she had expected it to be him.

She furrowed her brows. Whatever could the riddle have meant? Someone in the Gardens? Her mind reverted back to the thought of burglars, but it didn’t sound good to be true. Blasphemy was probably what it is!

She looked down at her hooves, thinking what her next move should be…….maybe she should go back inside.

Just. You know, in case it was probably a burglar.

She also didn’t want to keep the princesses waiting after all.

---

After washing up, she had made her way to the dining hall. She contemplated on whether or not she should alert the Princesses. Cause, you know, what if it really was a burglar? They would then question her pendant though. She didn’t want to sound insane. As she got to the hall doors, she breathed in deep sighs. Should she? Maybe. But for her sake? Maybe…….not?

The guards looked at each other, wondering why she seemed so nervous with dinner. But they didn’t thought about it much as they swung the door open. There, Celestia and Luna could be heard loudly arguing about….something.

“I’m telling you, Luna, it isn’t serious!”

“Well if it isn’t serious then why am I angry?!”

“You’re just immature! Think about it!- what is so off about the place that you would think it was necessary to warrant most of the highly trained guards to patrol around the castle like we’re looking for a thief? I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to rob us-“

“Sister, it could also be something way bigger than a robbery! In fact- maybe even another magical outbreak! Sister, I’m telling you, something is off, I can feel it!”

“What’s off?” Crystal questioned as she took her seat. The princesses went silent for awhile, since they didn’t notice her entering the hall. They felt a bit ashamed for getting caught arguing, however that wasn’t the most of Luna’s concern at that rate.

Luna coughed. “I’m just telling my sister here that my intuition could well be as right as hers! And I sense something bad! There’s something off putting about the magical contents surrounding the castle- I just feel it!”

“We do have another alicorn in the castle at the moment……-“

“I know we bloody do! We had Cadence over like just a few days ago! But it’s different this time- I swear!”

“Like you swore that you thought there was someone lurking in your bedchambers when really you were so exhausted that one week that you were too blur to realize that it was your shadow?”

“Well-“

“Or that one time where you swore that one of the guards was a changeling due to the fact that he could be in more places than one until you learned that they were twins??”

“It’s different though-“

“Well so help me God, Luna, if you have no proof to back up your claim, I have it very hard in believing you.”

“……I kinda think Princess Luna is onto something,” mumbled Crystal, however loud enough to be heard by them.

“Pardon me?” asked Celestia, skeptical. Crystal gulped. However, Luna was there almost beaming.

She stammered at first. “I could also k-kinda see where Luna is coming from because I for one can also sense….an imbalance of some sort. It’s amost like the air feels off in some way. A-and my pendant glowed! Which usually means that something big or bad is lurking around…..”

“Ha! See?! I knew she’d have my back!” exclaimed Luna as she slammed her hooves into the table.

Celestia was still pretty skeptical. “What proof do you have to back up your claim?”

Crystal hesitated, but answered relentlessly. “Well, riddle me this: Someone lurks within the Gardens, something, somewhere, it has bared. Beware, beware, it wouldn’t dare, to take a bite of whoever’s there. Those who seek to know the truth, guilty pleasures pick a roof. Run and trot, or stay to play. Someone can’t be helped today.” She scratched her head. “It was a riddle given by my pendant. I just have to unriddle it to understand it….but I don’t understand it at all, truthfully…..”

“The Gardens?” Luna perked.

“Well, I checked the Gardens right after I got the riddle, but nothing was out of the ordinary, as far as I’m concerned.” She sighed. “Or maybe I looked too into….hmm?” her gaze was caught by the glowing of her pendant once more. ‘Wait, what the?-“ It doesn’t glow this often, usually.

The princesses were overly confused. “What is….that?” Luna asked, pointing at the pendant. Crystal seemed uncertained to answer. Curiosity struck again, and her hoof extended to touch it. Her eyes glowed, and this time this showed:

“Wow, you have a messaging device here too? What other mysteries do you hide, you little sneaker? Welp, just want to let you know that since you seem like a reliable source, I’ll be taking just a smidge of your magic for awhile- no biggie! Although, you might probably feel a liiiiittle bit sleepy after this.

Ta-ta! XOXO, see you soon! Your one and only chaos buddy of the season!”

The glow faded quick, and she was left even more dumbfounded than before. “What in the- thud!” however, before she could say anything else, everyone in the hall was taken by surprise as she fell unconscious immediately, hitting her head loud and hard against the table.

---

“….ow….” she groaned with the worst possible headache she could have, her forehead sore as if….she headbutted something….

“Thank Gods, you’re awake!” Luna exclaimed. Crystal jolted up immediately, after realizing the softness of what she was laying on was her bed- wait why was she in bed? “You gave us quite a scare! What were you thinking?!” Luna scolded.

“What? What….happened?” she muttered. Rubbing her head as she looked around, trying to remember the situation.

“Well, for starters, you hit your head pret-ty hard on the dining table earlier……and uh, something about your pendant, yes….”

“…..my…..pendant?” she repeated. “….my pendant? Pen….dant….. w-wait! Shit! Discord!” she then remembered. The message. The pendant glow. The sudden drift of unconsciousness. “That bastard!”

“What? What did he do??” asked Luna, overly confused with the sudden hype. Crystal hopped out of bed quickly and dashed towards the door, exiting the room as quick as she could. “W-wait! Crystal!”

---

She hurriedly made her way to the Gardens. Thoughts raced through her mind. How dare he?! I won’t say that I’m not amazed- but still! How dare he?! It then made her wonder if he’s trying to escape. Also, she didn’t know he could do that, which was something that she was eager to have answers to if he does escape or something.

As she got to the gardens however, the place was heavily patrolled by guards, it seemed. And she could hear the voice and calls of Celestia instructing the guards our something. She couldn’t pinpoint it as she was too far from Celestia. Which was good.

She hid by the same bush she hid behind the day before, peering over and towards the statue of Discord…….which was pretty much still there.

Then……what? She had expected it to be missing, or at most smithereens….

However, accidentally she rubbed a hoof against the bush slightly. The sound was so small, such a minor fuck up. Yet the Gardens all of a sudden went silent. She gulped. Oh no, oh no, oh fuck…..

“What was that?” she heard a guard whisper. Then several other whispers. Then hoofsteps that sounded like they were coming to her direction……..

Focusing hard, she tried to cast her spell of invisibility once again. However, as she trembled, she realized she was too scared to even do anything. She was also too tired…..

“Princess!?” she heard a guard suddenly exclaim in fright, leading other guards to sound startled up. Crystal perked up at that and cautiously, peered over from the bush……

The statue. It….it looked like it was glowing! She watched as a glow seeped through what appeared to be cracks forming by his talons, which slowly trailed down his body as if he was freeing himself.

“…D- Discord?”

It….it was….was he the ‘someone’ from the riddle? Both of the riddles?! It was clear that one of the warnings were from the pendant itself. However….

How did he send his own message?

Her thoughts were interrupted as a blinding glow shined from the statue, the crackling sound of stone echoeing through the gardens. And during that whole thing, a laughter erupted. The familiar guffaws of a beast she had only grown to know for one day.

He’s free.

She hid back behind her bush, not knowing what this would mean for everypony. Will he be a danger again? Will he continue to annoy her? It was pretty annoying that he had thought to imagine her thinking him as her ‘chaos buddy’. However….

The frightening screams of guards were enough to make her fear the inevitable. She held her breath, hiding behind her bush, trembling. Was he going to come after her? What was he doing to those guards? Why are they screaming?!

She cautiously peered over, and what she saw was……what.

Guards stood in their same places from before, however…..they were encased with chocolate?

She….she kinda expected that, not gonna lie.

Before she could say anything else, the annoying, fear-inducing voice striked her from behind it seemed….

“Chaos buddy! Long time no see!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 6: A Gorgeous Palace for a Lord Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes