Fanfic / Discord's New Business

Discord's opened a new shop. He did it legally. This will end well, I'm sure...

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Discord's New Business is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by Jonathan "KnightMysterio" Spires (yes, he of Waking Nightmares fame) set somewhere after season 6.

As the title indicates, Discord puts in place a business. A legal one.

Which business? Why, turning ponies into other species for 24 hours! And because he's feeling nice, he gave a free transformation to Twilight and all her friends.

Each chapter is focused on one character, his/her transformation for the day, and what happens to him/her.

And you decide who gets transformed into what!

Can be read here.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

In general

• Audience Participation: As said above, the readers decide who gets transformed into what. More precisely, each chapter ends on revealing who will be the focus of the next chapter. From its publication, the readers have one week to vote for what transformation they want to see.
  • Some chapters let you choose both the transformation and the character, or the transformation instead of the characters.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Some transformations provoke the trope. See Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Starlight Glimmer and Rarity's chapters for more details.
• Ship Tease: Plenty in the story.
  • In "Customer 1: Fluttershy — Draconequus", when Discord sees Fluttershy's draconequus form, he starts chirping like a bird, puffs out his chest (which gains a large tuft), and creates a bunch of flowers, lollipops, and ice cream cones that start singing around him. Fluttershy immediately recognizes it as a mating display.
  • In "Customer 2: Applejack — Minotaur", after Applejack's impromptu wrestling match against Iron Will, Iron Will asks Applejack out on a date, which Applejack actually gives consideration.
  • In "Customer 3: Spike — Unicorn", near the end of the chapter, Rarity reveals that she likes the idea of being with Spike.
  • In "Customer 5: Starlight Glimmer — Changeling Royalty (Chrysalis-type)", Starlight, as a Changeling Queen, takes Sunburst to be the king of her new hive. He manages to talk her down, and the end of the chapter shows Starlight is now pregnant.
  • In "Customer 7: Rainbow Dash — Griffon", it's revealed that Gilda and Greta have feelings for each other. Also, Gabby apparently catches the eye of a hawk-like male Griffon.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The theme of the fic. Discord, for a fee, transforms his customer into what they want for 24 hours (or more).
  • The possible transformations are: Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, alicorn, zebra, donkey, griffon, minotaur, old-type changeling (Pre-season 6), new-type changeling (Post-season 6), changeling royalty (Chrysalis and Thorax types), dragon, and draconequus. Special requests are possible.
    • Alicorn, changeling royalty, dragon, and draconequus are more expensive than the others, and require signing a "If I do bullshit during my transformation, it's my fault and not Discord's" form.
  • Later on, Diamond Dog, Genderswap, hippogriff, catfolk, tatzlpony, age manipulation and (for the reader's vote) transformation error are added to the list.
  • Some other forms are seen through other customers, like human.

Prologue: Opening day

• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The fact that Discord has a permit for his business is what worries Twilight the most.
  Twilight: A permit. As in he's doing this completely legally. As in he somehow managed the patience to actually sit through doing all the necessary paperwork.

Customer 1: Fluttershy — Draconequus

• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Fluttershy sees how Discord sees the world. And goes on a prank fest.
• Single Specimen Species: It turns out that not even Discord has seen another member of his own species, making him possibly the only one of his kind.

Customer 2: Applejack — Minotaur

• Ship Tease: Between Applejack and Iron Will.
• What the Hell, Hero?: A light version. Rainbow Dash and the Apple family aren't happy at all to see Applejack be a Workaholic, using her freebie transformation to make it easier for her to do more work.
  Rainbow Dash: AJ... I am disappoint...
• Workaholic: Applejack uses her freebie and her day off to do more work.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Applejack gets herself in a wrestling match against Iron Will.

Customer 3: Spike — Unicorn

• Cassandra Truth: Twilight, Discord and Pinkie Pie all tell Spike that his Shapeshifting Seducer plan is a bad idea. He doesn't listen. Rarity figures out who he is almost immediately.
• Secretly Wealthy: Pinkie Pie has invested her money well, that's why she can afford to throw welcome parties for free. It's also hinted it's not meant to be a secret, she just doesn't think it's important.
• Shapeshifting Seducer: A rated-G version. Spike chooses to take on a unicorn form for one week (he pays the additional days) to try and flirt with Rarity.

Customer 4: Pinkie Pie — Alicorn

• Alliterative Name: Princess Pinkie Pie.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The first thing Princess Pinkie Pie does is take over the narration and make the author fill in for her at Sugarcube Corner!! Don't worry, she exchanges back at the end of the chapter.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The general reaction when people see Princess Pinkie Pie.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: While she stays a Cloud Cuckoo Lander, Princess Pinkie Pie is also more mature than she usually is.

Customer 5: Starlight Glimmer — Changeling Royalty (Chrysalis-type)

• Berserk Button: Starlight ends up pushing Discord's by taking on Fluttershy's form. She apologizes afterward though, having only taken the form out of an instinct to inspire love that she can feed on.
  Discord: "Don't. You. Dare." (with his eyes glowing red from anger, he snaps her back to her changeling form)
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Starlight craves love as a changeling and instinctively slips into the form Discord would love most of all. She later does the same thing with Twilight, initially impersonating Shining Armour, before regaining control. Then she sees Sunburst and completely gives in to her queen instincts.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Discord reacts this way when Starlight, having been turned into a changeling queen and instinctively reacts by turning into the being Discord loves most, aiming to spur love she can feed on. Instead, he gets mad and snaps her back into her changeling form while growling "Don't. You. Dare."
• Relationship Upgrade: Starlight and Sunburst become an official couple by the end, after he ends up knocking her up in her changeling queen form.
• Wham Line: In Starlight's chapter, where she turned into a Changeling Queen and fell prey to her instinct to claim love, she ended up claiming Sunburst (who was willing, once he helped her gain control of her instincts). One thing led to another, and the next morning...
  Starlight Glimmer: So, I think I'm pregnant.

Customer 6: Rarity — Diamond Dog

• Affectionate Nickname: Lyra calls Discord Dissy as she thanks him for turning her human. Discord decides he likes it.
• Big Friendly Dog: Rarity starts acting this way as a Diamond Dog, sniffing around, covering her sister's (and Spike's) face with doggie kisses and generally being goofy.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Apparently, the gestation period for Changelings takes about a year. However, since Starlight is giving birth to hybrids, it might be different.
• Didn't See That Coming: Both In-Universe and Out-of-Universe, Discord reacts this way when Rarity asks to become a Diamond Dog.
  Discord: ...Congratulations. You're now one of the only beings in the history of EVER who've caught me off-guard.
• Humans Through Alien Eyes: Mild case but the chapter opens with Discord explaining the concept of clothes to Lyra when he turns her (per request) into a human.

Second visit: Rarity — Dragon

• Beat the Curse Out of Him: Ember brings a dragonified Rarity (who's succumbed to Greedgrowth Insanity) back to her senses by literally beating the living daylights out of her.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Discord's inner Lord of Chaos comes out when he berates Rainbow for her vague request for "something cool" and manages to properly intimidate her. A reminder that chaos isn't always just "for fun."
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Blueblood is arrogant and a snob but he acknowledges the sincerity of Ponyville's residents, compliments Bulk Biceps' skills as a masseuse and seems pretty fond of his "auntie" Celestia.
• Karma Houdini: Lampshaded by Rarity herself. Nopony's mad at her for kidnapping them, since they all got something beneficial out of it, including business opportunities and a chance to relax in a natural hot spring.
• One-Winged Angel: Both Rarity and Ember. Rarity grows to a large size because of Greedgrowth Insanity. Ember is temporarily aged up into an adult dragon to fight her.
• Really Gets Around: Downplayed, because she doesn't actually get to sleep with any of them before having some sense knocked back into her, but under the influence of Greedgrowth Insanity, Rarity kidnaps people she's physically attracted to. We have: Spike, Big Macintosh, Applejack, Fancy Pants, Blueblood, Zecora, Trixie, Filthy Rich, Bulk Biceps, and a changeling. And Ember.
• Whole-Plot Reference: This chapter is more or less "Secret of my Excess, the Remake", but with Spike and Rarity's roles reversed after Rarity becomes a dragon and succumbs to Greedgrowth Insanity.

Customer 7: Rainbow Dash — Griffon

• Fantastic Slurs: "Magpie", for griffons. Gilda uses it to describe what their species has become, hoarding shiny trinkets rather than being "A military force on the level of Equestria, tough and strong with GORGEOUS homes..."
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gilda delivers a brutal one on the other griffons on how they let their selfishness and greed destroy their nation.
• Slapstick: Rarity, after deciding she's had enough of Discord's sense of humour, decides to leave... and Discord promptly invokes the trope on her.
  Rarity: I suppose I walked right into that one. (Rarity turns to leave and collides with a signpost Discord placed right behind her.)
  Discord: No, you walked right into THAT one!

Customer 8: Princess Luna — Zebra

• Adaptational Villainy: Remember Jet Set and Upper Crust, the two jerks from Sweet and Elite? Here, they're revealed to be fanatical racists who, with the help of corrupt guards, beat up non-ponies and brainwash them into never coming back to Canterlot, all in the name of keeping the city "pure". They already had 18 victims, and Luna would have been the 19th...
• Big Sister Instinct: When Celestia discovers that Luna was attacked while she was disguised, she goes beyond mad.
• Darker and Edgier: Not that Darker and Edgier, but the chapter is much more serious than the previous ones, dealing with Luna investigating Canterlot for racism against non-ponies and facing it herself when she takes the form of a zebra and ends up getting attacked and actually injured by pony supremacists.
• Fantastic Racism: During her exploration of Canterlot, Zebra Luna is turned away and treated like crap by a pair of high-end businesses... And is then beaten up by corrupt guards in the service of the pony Ku Klux Klan, as had 18 non-ponies before her. To say the least, Princess Celestia does not take the revelation lightly.
• Genre Blindness: Jet Set and Upper Crust, a pair of pony-supremacist nobles, take sadistic pleasure in gloating to their victims before brainwashing them. Luna takes an equal pleasure into lampshading their stupidity before getting away from them.
• Mugging the Monster: Everyone who messed with Zebra!Luna. Not a one of them realizes she's actually a disguised Princess, or that she'll be informing Celestia of the racism she encountered in Canterlot.
• Oh, Crap!: Jet Set, Upper Crust and the corrupt guards all have this reaction when they learn the Zebra they attacked is a disguised Luna (meaning they'd attacked royalty), and everyone reacts this way when Celestia gets angry.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Used in Celestia's angry reaction when she learns of what Jet Set, Upper Crust and some corrupt guards were up to — You. Hurt. My. Sister.
• Seeking Sanctuary: Canterlot's nobles have the right to extend the protection of sanctuary to anyone they want, and only the Princesses can break it. Fancy Pants invokes his right to protect Zebra Luna.

Customer 9: Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee — Genderswap

• Easy Sex Change: Discord makes Fancy sneeze his mustache off, which is the trigger for her turning female. He then puts the mustache on Fleur, which turns her male.
• Gender Bender: What Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee decide to have their transformation be. Fancy takes the name Fancy Dress afterward, while Fleur doesn't change his name upon becoming male.
• Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Fleur tries to invoke this as a joke, lifting up Big Mac's cart. He can't do it, and is immediately shown up by a little filly.
• Affably Evil, Even Evil Has Standards, Chaotic Is Not Evil, and arguably Blue-and-Orange Morality: We get an insight into Discord's character when we see his anger at Jet Set and Upper Crust.
  Discord: And even then, when I do it, it's FUNNY! Harmless little pranks! General annoyance! Just BEATING someone for being different... No class, no class at all. It's RUDE.
  Fleur: The priorities of a chaotic being...

Customer 10: Trixie Lulamoon — Alicorn

• Badass Boast: Pulled by Trixie when, as an alicorn, she's facing an Ursa Major:
  "I am Great! I am Powerful! And by all that is holy, you will kneel before me, monster!"
• Bears Are Bad News: An Ursa Major appears, one that's rather vexed by Flim and Flam accidentally hurting its cub.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Like Pinkie Pie, Alicorn!Trixie takes over the narrative. She steals the author's USB drive and threaten to reveal publicly all his clopfics.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Trixie lives up to her old boast in that she actually managed to defeat and drive off an Ursa Major. (Played with in that she had nothing left, and if the Ursa pressed the attack she'd be finished.)
• Mama Bear: Flim and Flam accidentally hurt an Ursa Major's cub. She was understandably a little irritated at that.

Customer 11: Princess Celestia — Seapony/Siren

• Heel–Face Turn: The Dazzlings, at various degrees. Sonata completed hers, Aria's in the middle of it, and Adagio still hasn't begun.
• Shout-Out: To The Infinite Loops. Queen Novo in this storyline subscribes to the idea of "seapony diplomacy". Her method of dealing with pirates who kidnapped her involves dropping a tsunami on them.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Queen Novo loves this trope. Sonata Dusk later explains that "The human equivalent [of seapony diplomacy] would be carpet bombing. With nuclear weapons."
  Sonata: Novo and the concept of overkill have had a long, lasting love affair.

Customer 12: Sunset Shimmer — Transformation Error

• Cuteness Proximity: Human!Fluttershy thinks Sunset Shimmer as a unicorn is the cutest thing ever, immediately wanting to give her mane brushes and tummy rubs.
• Shout-Out: During Pony/Draconequus!Fluttershy's attempts at transforming Sunset (which don't work like she expected), one of the transformations is into Twilight. Spike's amused response: "Oh no, it's Lavender Alicorn Syndrome!"

Customer 13: The Cutie Mark Crusaders — Age Manipulation

• Didn't Think This Through: The Crusaders realize quickly that their plan to spend the day in Manehattan as adults has some holes in it. (Mainly, the city's so big that they won't have time to go all the places they want and get back in time to see the stage show they were planning on seeing.)
• Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films: The CMC became adults mainly because they wanted to watch a play that's an Expy of Marble Hornets. After watching the play, they're scared out of their minds.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Of all the beings who saw Granite Wasps, Discord was the only one who wasn't scared by it. If anything, he absolutely ADORED it.
• Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe. The Crusaders go to see the adults-only play Granite Wasps and are left traumatized by it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Honestly, the fact that Maud Pie got traumatized by Granite Wasps should have been a red flag, girls...
  Rainbow Dash: It was so weird, seeing her actually emote.

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