//------------------------------// // Customer 6: Rarity // Story: Discord's New Business // by KnightMysterio //------------------------------// Discord's New Business Customer 6: Rarity by Jonathan 'KnightMysterio' Spires All characters copyrighted to their original owners and used for non-profit amusement purposes. Please support me on patreon if you like my work! /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Ponyville... /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ “Amused?” Discord asked, Lyra giggling as the newly human unicorn flexed her hands. “Very! Hands are SO cool!” she said. She looked down at her outfit, a pink top and blue miniskirt, with magenta boots and hairband. “Why the clothes, though?” “Proprietary thing,” Discord said. “Humans don't have tails or covering fur, so they wear clothes instead to keep their naughty bits out of view.” “And to keep warm, apparently,” Lyra said. “Feels weird not to have fur.” Discord chuckled. “Plus, I gave you the outfit the you in the other world wears,” he said. “Nice!” Lyra said, tugging at the clothes. “Thanks, Dissy!” She waved to Discord and ran off. She tripped over herself almost immediately, but quickly got the hang of her legs after picking herself up. “Dissy, huh...” Discord said thoughtfully. “I like it!” Quite possibly the most elegant pony in Ponyville trotted up to the stand. “Discord, darling,” Rarity said, smiling from beneath her sun hat. “How are you today?” “Business is booming,” Discord said, some fireworks shooting up into the air behind him. “Seems everypony in town wants to try being something else.” Rarity giggled. “Well, it is a fascinating opportunity,” she said. “And aside from a few incidents, it seems to be going well.” “Has your sister's fur grown back yet?” Discord asked. Rarity snickered. “Yes. And she's forgiven Scootaloo, thankfully,” she said. “But speaking on that, I've come to claim my free transformation.” Discord nodded. “What'll it be?” he asked. Rarity removed her hat. “Well... I think I'd like to try being a Diamond Dog,” she said. Discord blinked. “...Congratulations. You're now one of the only beings in the history of EVER who've caught me off-guard.” He grinned, adding, “And yes, that's a very good thing.” He leaned forward, smirking. “SO! Diamond Dog. Why not dragon? Maybe reverse the dynamic between you and dear Spikey-wikey?” “Honestly,” Rarity said, “it's be a little unfair to Spike to become a dragon while he's a pony. Perhaps I might change into that later, once the transformation is reverted, but as for now... Well, why be obvious? Be adventurous, try new things, that's what I say!” “You've just described one of my personal philosophies in life,” Discord said. “And honestly, my dear, while Princess Pinkiecorn's party last night left me in a good mood, your little declaration just now has put me into a fantastic one!” He snapped his talons, and Rarity found herself suddenly getting fuzzier. Her body shifted, becoming more canine in appearance, her muzzle shifting and gaining more pointed teeth as her head became canine. Her ears changed shape, becoming longer and floppier, her hooves turning into thick paws, her forepaws becoming like wide scoops. Her vision blurred slightly, but her nose became much more powerful in response. Her mane, much to her relief, stayed the same, expanding into a full head of hair. Her tail shifted, becoming long and whiplike, her nose turning black and moist. A diamond-studded collar appeared around her neck, a light blue vest flying out of her shop and wrapping itself around her chest. “Oh! Thank you, darling!” she said. “I was JUST thinking of what might go with this. Perhaps a nice yellow scarf rather than the collar, though...” Discord snapped his talons again, the collar changing to a scarf. Rarity grinned. “Thank you, Discord.” Discord nodded. “Anytime,” he said. Rarity giggled, and began sniffing the air, testing her newfound super-enhanced sense of smell. “Oh... Oh my, what's this?” she said, sniffing all around. “I knew dogs had a fine sense of smell, but...” A rainbow of scents was hitting Rarity now, each painting a different picture for her. In one direction, she could smell the musk of construction ponies building a new home. In another, the sweet smell of apples coming from the Acres. The smell of Spoiled Rich's perfume came from the riztier part of Ponyville. Rarity gagged a little. Spoiled tended to overdose on perfume, but to Rarity's senses now, even at this distance, it was disturbingly unpleasant. So many scents! So much to investigate. Her nose twitched in the air as she gallumphed off to investigate them. Discord just chuckled, turning his attention to his next customer. Rarity, meanwhile, was trotting around town, giggling and sniffing everything. “Oh, my my my,” she said as she found herself drawn towards the smells coming from the nearby restaurants. A particular one caught her attention. “A hint of vanilla. Hm. Sweet... salty... Oh, what is that?” She sniffed about, lowering her head to the ground to try and follow the scent. She snuffled about, not caring that dirt was getting on her face as she tracked down to scent. It was her sister, her mane still short from the previous incident with Scootaloo. She was sitting on a bench, munching a blue ice cream bar of some kind. “Sweetie Belle?” Rarity called out. The pink-haired filly looked up at the strangely familiar diamond dog. “...Rarity?” she asked. Rarity wagged her tail. “Indeed!” she said. Sweetie blinked, grinning. “Wow, I would have sworn you'd go for dragon,” she said. Rarity smiled. “Oh, why be obvious?” she said. “What is that you've got there? It smells fantastic!” Sweetie looked down at the ice cream she was eating. “Oh! It's sea salt ice cream!” “Sea... salt... ice cream?” Rarity said curiously. “How odd...” Sweetie Belle pointed. “Mr. Orange Dream over there sells novelty ice cream flavors!” she said, pointing to the stallion, a relative newcomer to the town. His coat was orange with a white mane and tail, and he had a bowl of ice cream with a pair of chocolate chip cookies in it as his cutie mark. “How odd,” Rarity said. Sweetie Belle smiled. “I can get another, if you want to try it,” she said. “Thank you, dear! I would!” Rarity said, sitting down next to her. Sweetie quickly ran over and bought another ice cream bar, giving it to her sister. After fumbling with the stick due to her large, clumsy hands, she managed to get a hold of it. Rarity slurped the ice cream bar with her long, canine tongue, and tittered. “Oh, that's delightful!” she said, eagerly licking at her treat. Sweetie Belle watched her sister with amusement as she ate, the Diamond Dog's ears bobbing back and forth in amusement. Getting an idea, she stood up on the bench, reaching up to rub at Rarity's ears. “Sweetie, what are you... Oooh, that's nice...” Rarity began to lean over, wurfing happily as Sweetie used her hooftips to scratch behind her ears. She kept leaning over, enjoying the tingling sensation, until she leaned over so far that she fell. “Uwaaa!” Sweetie, having dodged out of the way to the much larger Diamond Dog didn't fall on her, eeped. “Rarity, are you okay?” Rarity giggled, dusting herself off. “Minor scuffs, nothing more,” she said. She looked at the dust still on her coat, and chuckled. “It's strange... As a pony, I was always so obsessed with dirt and grime. But now I've got dust all over me and I don't care a wit.” Sweetie giggled. “Doggies are always kinda messy,” she said. “Probably why you won't let me have one.” “Ohh, that reminds me,” Rarity said, an idea occurring to her. “I should probably avoid Opal for the rest of the day... Darling would you take care of her?” Sweetie Belle nodded. “Sure! Me and the girls will take her to the clubhouse,” she said. “No grooming sessions,” Rarity admonished. “We only did that once...” Sweetie grumbled. Rarity chuckled, and picked up Sweetie Belle to give her a hug. An amused whim hit Rarity, and she kissed her. The way a dog would kiss. “Heehee!” Sweetie said, squirming as Rarity licked her. “Rarity, c'mon!” “Sorry, dear, I couldn't resist,” she said, setting Sweetie down. “See you later?” Sweetie nodded. “Sure thing, sis!” Rarity smiled, and trotted off. Another scent caught her attention, a strong, musky scent that had her blushing. She snuffled the ground, following it again. Ponies stared at Rarity as she followed the scent. “Whomever this is, they smell fantastic,” she said, mainly to herself. Eventually, she came to the source of the scent: Spike. The purple unicorn was running errands for Twilight, buying spell components and new quills. A mischievous idea occurred to Rarity, her tail wagging happily. Glancing around, making sure Spike hadn't noticed her yet, she decided to test out her new digging claws. She quickly dug a hole behind a bush, her paws acting like big shovels to easily move the dirt aside. She ducked down into the hole, waiting to see if Spike would walk by. “Let's see...” Spike said, levitating a checklist out of his saddlebags. “Star root... Star spider webbing... Candied stardust... extra quills and scrolls...” He smiled. “Yep, that's everything!” He was silently glad that he decided to go back to working as Twilight's assistant. “Okay. Back to the castle.” He turned down the alley Rarity was hiding in, heading for home. Before he got to far, however... “WRRARRF!!” Rarity shouted, jumping out of her hiding hole and tackling Spike to the ground. She giggled, licking his face over and over. “Hey!” Spike sputtered, not realizing who it was yet. He thought a big dog had knocked him over and was being friendly. “C'mon, down girl!” He chuckled, looking up. When he saw that familiar, yet so very different face, he blinked. “R-Rarity?!” Rarity licked him again and giggled. “Ahah! I have you now, pony!” she teased. “Now I take you to my den and make you dig up gems for me all day!” A smirk crossed Spike's face. “Isn't that already our relationship?” he teased. Rarity started to snark back, but paused, thinking about it. A dismayed look crossed her face. “Good heavens, it is...” Spike chuckled as Rarity backed off, letting him get up. “I don't mind, honestly,” he said. “I just enjoy being with you.” Rarity beamed, wagging her tail. “Okay, that's just freakin' adorable,” Spike said. Rarity giggled. Spike smiled at her, and asked, “So... Diamond Dog, huh?” Rarity nodded. “I was initially going to go with dragon, but I realized that it would be unfair to you while you were still transformed,” she said. Spike thought for a moment, and nodded. “Okay, I can see that,” he said. “You want to hang out for a while?” Rarity grinned. “I certainly wouldn't mind the company!” she said. “There's so many fun SMELLS to investigate! And who knew that digging could be so much fun?” Spike chuckled. “You should probably fill in that hole you made,” he said, pointing. Rarity blushed, going to do just that. “Right, right, sorry...” she said, quickly scooping the dirt back in and patting it down tight. Spike smiled. “I just have to drop these back off at the castle,” he said. “Twilight's thinking about sending Starlight to the Crystal Empire with Sunburst, but wants to do a few tests first.” “Did they determine how long she'll have to be a changeling queen?” Rarity asked. “The local changelings say that Chrysalis usually took about a year to gestate before laying her eggs, and it was another month after that before they hatched,” Spike said. “They also said it might be different since it's a hybrid.” Rarity shook her head. “Rather a messy situation, isn't it...” Spike nodded. “I'm sure it'll work out, though,” he said. “Meet you here, later?” Rarity blinked as the wind shifted, a new set of scents reaching her. She sniffed the air curiously. “We'll meet at... hm...” She stepped out into the street, sniffing around. “...Fluttershy's place. We'll meet there.” “Why there?” Spike asked. “Just caught some interesting scents... I REALLY want to know where they're coming from,” she said, trotting off. Spike blinked, watching her go, and shrugged, going to make his delivery. Rarity, for her part, was following the scents wafting through the air curiously. She mentally tried to sort them all out. “Let's see... pizza parlor, no... Spoiled again, good heavens that's toxic... Trash dumpster...” She paused at the dumpster, sniffing at it. Several tasty scents were coming from it. “NO! No, Rarity, do not give in. Dog you may be, you must still maintain some standards!” She glanced back at the dumpster, her tail wagging unconsciously. “...Although whatever is in there does smell yummy.” She quickly shook her head, and went back to following the scent that attracted her attention. Briefly, she stopped in front of Discord's stand, sniffing him, the draconequus wearing her discarded hat from earlier. “You smell weird,” she said after a moment. She was unable to find any other word describe his bizarre scent. “Thank you,” Discord said, smiling pleasantly. Rarity blinked, and shrugged, moving on. Eventually, she made her way to Fluttershy's cottage, a grin crossing her face. So many amazing scents here. She hopped about, sniffing at every animal. Several of them backed away fearfully, unsure of what to make of this goofy, happy dog-person that was sniffing about them. For her part, Rarity was having a blast. All these smells were so interesting! Who knew that there could be so much fascination found in SMELLS? Angel glared at the intruder dog, and hopped inside, going to where Fluttershy was relaxing on her couch and reading a book. “Oh, hello Angel,” the pegasus said. “I was just thinking... Maybe I should become a draconequus again? Discord did seem to like how I looked, and I have been feeling closer to him lately...” Angel rolled his eyes, as if to say, “Yeah, sure, that's nice, we got bigger problems now.” He tugged on Fluttershy's tail, pointing outside. “Hm? What's wrong?” Fluttershy asked. And then she heard the distress from her animals, and the sound of an animal wurfing and barking happily. “Oh. A doggie must have gotten up to the cottage,” she said, smiling warmly. “It happens sometimes.” Angel insistently pointed towards the outside. “You're right,” Fluttershy said. “I should escort the pooch back home.” She went outside... and blinked, taken aback by the white Diamond Dog hopping back and forth, sniffing at her animals and freaking them out. “Um... hello?” she said nervously. The Diamond Dog turned, and grinned widely. “Fluttershy!” she said in a familiar voice. “Your cottage smells AMAZING!” Fluttershy blinked, recognizing the voice. “R-Rarity?” she said, worried. Angel's jaw dropped in shock. Rarity blinked, recovering herself. “Terribly sorry, darling,” she said, blushing and taking a more demure stance. “But this is all rather new to me. And quite thrilling!” Her ears perked. “And now that I've calmed down...” She leaned to one side. “Hearing as well? Oh, this IS delightful!” Fluttershy blinked, and smiled realizing what was going on. “You chose Diamond Dog as your transformation?” Rarity nodded. “Yes! How do I look?” she said, posing. Fluttershy giggled. “Like a cute little doggy,” she said. Angel, at that point, just gave up and went back inside, heading for his bed. Rarity beamed, wagging her tail. “I was worried I'd look as brutish as the pack that lived out in the quarry, but I think I look rather fetching! Discord even provided a nice outfit for me.” Fluttershy grinned. “He really can be nice when he wants to be,” she said. “Would you like to come inside?” “If it's no trouble? I promised Spike I'd meet him here,” she said. Fluttershy nodded. “No trouble,” she said. “I don't have tea, but I do have snacks. And some fish, if you want.” Rarity blinked. Fluttershy smiled. “You're a canine,” she said. “Canines need meat.” Rarity nodded slowly. “I suppose that makes sense... It's just... it's hard to imagine you fishing...” Fluttershy sighed. “Not all of my critters are content with grass and flowers,” she said. “I fish to help predators that are injured, and all the meat-eaters that live here have agreed not to hunt on the grounds.” “Dear me,” Rarity said softly. “Nature is what it is,” Fluttershy said, shrugging. “It's full of beauty, but there's a harsh price to maintain that beauty.” “...Never let anyone call you weak again, darling,” Rarity said. The two went inside, Rarity sitting down on the couch while Fluttershy retrieved the snacks. Rarity, meanwhile, just listened to the sounds outside, marveling at how clear and intense the sounds were. With some effort, she could tell the difference between the footsteps of each critter as they gamboled about Fluttershy's property. She could even hear the vocalizations of animals that she previously thought didn't make much sound, such as rabbits. Fluttershy came in a few minutes later, smiling apologetically, balancing a plate of snacks on her head. “Here we are,” she said, setting down the tray of snacks, including several cookies and a small bag of fish jerky. “You're a dear,” Rarity said, looking down at the jerky. Cautiously, she took a piece out of the bag and sniffed it. “Certainly smells good...” Popping the jerky in her mouth, she chewed it thoughtfully. “Hm... That's... that's not bad, actually... Texture's rather unlike anything I've ever eaten but... It's not unpleasant.” Fluttershy smiled. “Are you enjoying yourself, Rarity?” Rarity giggled. “Very much so,” she said. “My eyesight's a little worse, but the sense of hearing and smell more than make up for it. Once Spike arrives, he and I are going to go digging!” Fluttershy blinked. “Oh?” Rarity held up her hands. “It's amazing at how good these paws are at digging holes! It explains so much of how the Dogs were able to mess with us that time.” Fluttershy shivered. “That was really scary...” Rarity giggled. “Oh, it wasn't so bad. Granted, I had to debase myself a little to exploit their sensitive hearing, but I held my own well enough.” There was a knocking on the door. “Rarity? Fluttershy?” “Ah!” Rarity said. “Come in, dear Spike!” Spike opened the door, smiling at the two of them. “Ready to go?” he said, holding up a picnic basket in his magic. Rarity giggled. “Ever the gentleman,” she said. “And yes. I was thinking we'd go to the old gem quarry. With Rover's pack moved out, it should be all right.” Spike frowned, confused. “Okay, but there's more romantic spots...” Rarity smiled. “Truthfully? I really want to see how I do at digging,” she said. Spike shrugged. “Whatever milady wants,” he said, bowing grandly. Fluttershy giggled. “Excellent!” she said. “Let's be off, then! Tallyho!” Spike and Rarity left, Fluttershy sighing contentedly. They really were cute together. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Later... The quarry... /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Rainbow Dash was heading home for the day, having finished her duties. She had Wonderbolt practice in the next couple of days, and wanted to be ready for it. As she passed over the quarry, she saw Spike laying on a picnic blanket, seemingly by himself. “What's he doing out there?” she said. She was about to call out to him when a familiar mane popped out of the ground, attached to a Diamond Dog's head. “What the...” She ducked behind a nearby cloud, watching, as Rarity emerged from the ground, a large red gemstone held in her teeth like a tennis ball. She giggled, shaking the excess dust off of herself, Spike shielding the picnic with his magic. “How about this one, Spike?” Rarity said, dropping the gem. She wagged her tail excitedly as Spike looked it over carefully. “I think... Hmm...” He set it down. “It's just a regular ruby. But it's a real high quality one.” Rarity clapped her paws excitedly. “Oh, this is so much fun! Like a scavenger hunt!” Spike chuckled. “I'm glad you're enjoying yourself,” he said, pouring tea for the both of them. Rainbow Dash just stared, stunned. “Rarity... as a Diamond Dog...” she said. “Having FUN digging around in the dirt.” She made a 'mind-blown' gesture with her hooves, sitting back on the cloud she was hiding behind. “Geez... RARITY got ahead of me on something. I'm never gonna live this down...” She glanced back at Rarity and Spike, the two chatting amiably, neither of them in their proper forms. “To heck with it,” she said. “I am NOT gonna be the last of our friends to do this.” She zipped into town, heading for Discord's stand. TO BE CONTINUED... Next time: Rainbow Dash transforms!