King wandered off after that conversation, searching for someplace to hunt down more information about this world. He decided a library might be a good place to start, though it wasn't easy to find on it's own, especially with that eyesore in his line of sight. "Who the hell's idea was it to build a damned tree out of shiny crystals anyways? he thought, his eyes seemingly constantly assaulted by the gleaming of light off of it's myriad "branches" if they could be called that. "Maybe I should just ask someone for help? One of these little horses should know the way around here, I'm su-" Though his thought was shortly cut off as some sort of pink blur flashed abruptly in front of him before disappearing a moment. He started to continue trotting forward before he was again halted by the pink flash, this time, however, it stopped right in front of him, revealing a painfully pink pony, with hair like cotton candy and sky blue eyes that shone just a little too brightly for his tastes.

"Oh! Oh! I've never seen you around here before, which means you must be new here! That must mean you're a new pony, which is ironic because you're not even a pony, you're a zebra or something, and that means I've never thrown a party for you, which can't stay that way because obviously I can't be the number one party pony if I don't throw you a party," she paused only to inhale deeply, "and what kind super duper party planner pony would I be if I just left you party-less anyways?? Not much of one I thi-" He quickly moved to cut her off by lightly pressing her muzzle shut with both hooves, clearly a little irritated as she just kept going.

"Alright, fine, you can throw me a party, just shut up, jesus christ!" He slowly removed his hooves from her muzzle to make sure she wasn't just going to blast him with words again and continued. "I'm King."

"Silly! No you're not, I already know all the royalty in Equestria, and you're not on the list!" She giggled a little as she said so before continuing, her expression shifting imperceptibly to something almost conspiratorial as she leaned in to speak with a near whisper "Besides, we both know who you really are, don't we?"

"I- wha- no- what are you talking about?" He was panicking, clearly, worried that someone had caught on, though he wasn't entirely sure why, the only thing he was really trying to hide was the thing he looked like. Did these ponies see what he really was the whole time? Had the disguise really meant nothing? "Who are you, anyways?" She brightened up instantly, a look of pure cheer instantly lighting up her face.

"Why, I'm Pinkie Pie! And you're a zebra named King, Secret Cool Pony Number One!" she exclaimed with a little too much cheer before again shifting to that knowing expression and turning to some unseen camera and winking conspiratorially. "Your party is tonight at Sugar Cube Corner, don't miss it, Number One!" She then turned and pronked off casually as if what she had just said wasn't somewhat concerning, at the very least.

"I- hmm..." He struggled to even think, he was panicking internally about this entire encounter and was worried about the possible ramifications. Was it that obvious? Was he as good as caught? For that matter, what did she mean, "Secret Cool Pony?" when he's a zebra right now? There were too many questions swirling in his head, so he decided to disregard them for the moment as, even if it was that obvious, he could hardly do anything about it just yet, so instead he chose to head for the center of town to get his bearings and maybe find somepony to ask for directions to the library.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, a certain DJ, sitting at home, decided to try out the sunglasses she had been gifted earlier that same day, finding that they didn't even really tint her view all that much, as her past pair had, leaving her still with unimpeded sight. She wasn't sure if they would help, but she was willing to try just about anything at this point. After all this, though, they would still remember what color her eyes were, wouldn't they? That much couldn't possibly change. She decided to try them out and see how other ponies reacted to her changed aesthetic. She walked out into the street and trotted towards the club she liked most to play at. If they didn't call her out on them or give her strange looks, she would call this a success. She walked in the doors and immediately, eyes were on her. She didn't see a single glare amongst them, though. It was like they had just forgotten about those eyes they hated with these sunglasses on, like she had a second chance. She strode confidently up to the manager to speak with him.

"Is there a spot open for tonight?" she asked excitedly, anxious for a chance to finally draw a crowd at her show. The manager nodded and handed her the requisite forms she needed to fill out to host a show that night. She took them to a corner booth and quickly filled them out before rushing them back to the manager and handing them to him.

"Alright, now you get yourself ready for tonight. Those magenta eyes are gonna shine in the spotlight, I promise you," he smiled warmly at her, excitement showing in his own eyes, as well. "Can't wait for it, kid."

She smiled back before realizing something off about what he had said. "Magenta?" She thought to herself, confused for a moment that was as quickly gone as it had arrived. Of course her eyes were magenta. They always were, and they always will be. How silly of her to forget.

King arrived at the town hall, only to be blocked from entering by a city guard. He had a scowl on his face and looked as though cruelty came as second nature to him. As King tried to walk past him, the guard turned and barked at him, "Where do you think you're going?" His scowl turned into a cruel smirk. "I don't recall Mayor Mare sending for any dirty zebras to come to town hall. Why don't you go back where you came from?"

"Excuse me? I'm sorry, but you're blocking entry from a public building, why?" He smiled a wry little smile as he raised his voice a few decibels. "I mean, it's not like you're speciest or anything, right? You wouldn't want to be seen like that, of course!" His smile grew a little wider as he noticed that ponies nearby had taken notice of his little display, turning to glare at the guard, whose smirk quickly vanished from his face. Cowed, he moved from the door, grumbling, and let King through.

The eldritch zebra knew that all he had to do now was head in and talk to the attendant at the front desk. He didn't even need to see this "Mayor Mare" as he was just looking for directions. He walked right up to the concierge and greeted her with a polite "Hello!" and, after a short polite, yet forced conversation, he received his directions and headed off, surprised to find that his destination was that damned crystal castle after all.

Author's Note

This chapter you was brought to you in part by the weird ass music I sometimes listen to casually because my tastes are pretty much busted. https://youtu.be/hCzfzeobeNM

As always, reviews are extremely welcome, I am absurdly unsure about this chapter in particular, so if y'all don't like something about it, please let me know.