Chapter 2
It felt like he could fall forever.
Tracy’s arm-full of supplies spilled out in front of him, dumping his possessions on the floor. But he barely even noticed, he was much too worried about falling himself. For some reason he couldn’t keep his balance, and he flopped forward, arms flailing out to either side as he tried to catch himself.
The ground came rushing up to meet him, and his hands struck with an abrupt, numbing shock. He froze a moment, mind reeling like he’d been shot. What the hell had just happened? Why did everything feel so… wrong?”
He blinked bleariness from his eyes, hoping his surroundings would give him a clue. A plain, cement hallway, with light streaming in through a little door on the far side. He felt like he should’ve been utterly blind in the space, yet somehow he could make out the bag of toiletries in front of him, and the bundles of clothes just past it.
Then a voice spoke from behind him, a voice he now knew belonged to a man called “Discord.”
“Well, that’s going to be an interesting challenge. But I suppose I should’ve known what I was getting into, signing one of you ‘technical’ creatures. Not a one in any galaxy can go to bed at a reasonable hour. Well you’ll fit in perfectly here.” Then came a hand on his shoulder, feeling strangely larger than before in a way he couldn’t quite explain.
“I know you… but I can’t remember what I’m doing here. What…” It came back to him, one little strand at a time. He needed somewhere to live, or he was going to get fired. He’d taken a desperate last-ditch contract. The relator was helping him move in. “This is… I’m sorry this is so awkward. Can you help me stand up?” He offered one hand, still feeling entirely numb. The fingers in particular felt like he’d soaked his whole hand in cement.
“No need, Tracy. You’re already standing just fine. Don’t worry if you feel a little scrombled by the whole process—passing between universes can do that the first few times. You’ll adapt.”
“I don’t… What the fuck is going on?” He glanced once over his shoulder, finding even his neck moved sluggishly. And worse, nothing he saw made any sense. He stumbled forward, trying and failing to rise with every few steps. There was a doorway up ahead, and a window. Maybe someone else would be here, someone to make any of this make sense.
Each step was another reminder that things weren’t right. Had his shoes fallen off, why could he feel the ground there too?
His back felt strangely trapped, as though his arms were tied there, though he couldn't make any sense of what he was feeling. Maybe he'd been carrying too much for his first trip? Even so, Tracy didn't slow down. That voice over his shoulder urged him onward, even as he spoke with nothing but friendliness.
"You really shouldn't move so quickly, Tracy. You're adapting to things that most humans will never experience. Take it slow, let your brain catch up. Even Alicorns struggle when they pass between worlds for the first time. There's no shame in that."
Tracy glanced backwards, and this time he got a clearer view of whatever was behind him. The real-estate agent that called himself Discord, with the mismatched suit—except that those weren't just bits of different fabric anymore, they were entirely different limbs. More like a deranged version of Frankenstein’s monster, assembled with no regard for the graves robbed to put it together.
Tracy shuddered, stumbling over the clothes he'd still been trying to carry and finally reaching the door. The light on the other side wasn't stained orange with late afternoon, but still blue-white. He didn't stop to wonder how that might be possible, and instead shoved his shoulder up against the door. He was in luck—it swung inward, letting him stumble into the living room.
He remembered this place, he'd seen pictures of it on Craigslist. A charming, old-fashioned style kitchen, with a fridge that could've come out of the fifties covered in illustrations of flowers. The living room had no television, only some worn-looking sofas with heart pillows, and a ceiling-length mirror running up the wall. That left it with a clear view of him, and Tracy had no choice but to see what was reflected there.
At first he thought it was a strangely-framed picture of a… horse? He couldn't think of anything else to call it, even if it didn't look much like any horse he'd ever seen. The body was covered in dark fur, and its mane was a mix of different blues. Who the hell would do that to their poor farm animal?
But what kind of farm animal had a set of wings on its back, connected with thin skin membranes like a bat? But then the animal moved, banishing any possibility that it could be a painting. The ears twitched and flattened, the eyes squinted forward as though the image was staring back at him. It was staring at him, because he was the one staring. Tracy advanced, crawling forward on all fours, and the almost-horse walked forward to meet him. He leaned to one side to inspect the brightly-colored tail, and the creature did the same. "W-what..." The animal's mouth moved when he did, exposing pointed fangs within.
"You see what I mean? You have every reason to be justified in your confusion, young Tracy. Why don't you let me get the rest of your possessions moved in while you figure yourself out?" He got one more glimpse of that horrifying creature, created of many strange parts of others, before it was gone again the way it had come. Still carrying his stuff.
Tracy turned again, staring at the reflection. This explained a great deal of what he was seeing, the pressure on his back and the air around his back that could only mean he'd become abruptly naked. He felt a set of... saddlebags, was that the word? In the exact brown and gray colors of his old backpack, with the same oversized rectangle inside that suggested the laptop packed into its padded compartment within. And as for his jeans and company polo—the polo had transformed into a vest, and the jeans into a set of almost-socks running up all four of his legs. Again there were the same colors here, even a little gold on the top of the not-socks that suggested the belt he'd been wearing.
"But it doesn't... it doesn't cover anything." He tilted to the side in a daze, and somehow managed to lift one his back legs out of the way. What he saw there confirmed every bit of his fears. He was naked, and none of what was back there resembled human anymore. He shuddered, ears flattening again as he settled his leg back where it belonged. At least between that and the tail it was mostly obscured, though it would be clearly visible to anyone looking back at him from up ahead, or if his tail moved...
What am I thinking? I'm completely losing my mind. None of this can be real. I've been drugged, or I'm in VR, or... something. "It's really happening" obviously couldn't be right. There had to be a scientific explanation.
Review. You were moving into the new property. It seemed incredibly sketchy, but you were desperate not to lose your job. You followed the real estate guy inside, and now... Where was he now?
Tracy turned from the mirror, continuing past it towards a set of old-fashioned picture windows near the door. It looked like the front of the house far more than the entrance he'd used, and one of them was already open. A bright afternoon breeze drifted in, pleasantly cool against his coat.
And through it was... somewhere else. Somewhere he'd never seen before. Somewhere that shouldn't exist. The structures conformed to no rule he knew, with pink glass and hearts set into the cement foundations and around their window frames. But no matter how strange those might look, nothing could compete with the ones walking around between them.
In retrospect, he probably should've suspected what would be waiting for him on the other side based on his own reflection. Why else would he look like this, except to populate an entire... city of such creatures.
There were horses outside, horses more numerous than he'd seen at any equestrian show in his life. Though like him, they didn't conform to any of the usual rules about color, and their shapes were only generally suggestive of horses. Some had wings, feathery things that they used to glide through the air. Others had protrusions emerging from their heads, though he couldn't guess at what those were for.
Tracy turned quickly away, ignoring a friendly wave from a gray-colored horse with wings and an adorable mailbag on her back. He couldn't be looking at this—none of this could exist. The longer he stared, the more utterly out of place he felt.
I need to get out. Even if his senses were lying to him, some suggestive placeholders remained, that maybe he could use to escape. He remembered how he'd gotten here in the first place, that hallway to the door with the stained glass. He stumbled, tripping over his own legs as he made his way back down the hall. He bent down, scooping up his keys as he went. Without hands, he had no choice but to take them in his mouth. Good enough. If he got back to his car, maybe whatever he'd been doped with would be wearing off enough to get away.
None of the clothes he'd dropped were still in the hallway, and he could see the boring brown tile going all the way to the door. There was no telling how that had happened, but he also didn't really care. Keeping his job mattered, having somewhere to live mattered, but not more than not getting killed.
He stumbled out the open doorway, and felt another incredible rush. The ground seemed to fall away beneath him, as he lost track of where he was standing for a moment. Then everything crashed back into focus, a little faster than it had last time. He didn't stumble in total blindness for minutes, or wonder how he'd become so small.
He was standing outside, on a weedy path leading away from the rental house. The door was still open behind him, leading to a plain hallway. There was nothing even a little bit strange about it. It could've just as easily been any other house.
The cool air must be clearing my head. I have to get away from here. He took a few steps forward, and realized abruptly that he was on two legs again. He was still wearing everything he remembered—jeans, his company polo, and the backpack with his laptop. Good, he still had the most important thing he owned. Everything else could be secondary if he could get out alive with that much. This would do just fine.
He jogged forward a few more steps, over to the waiting automobile. But he stopped abruptly before he could get much closer, staring in horror at the figure waiting there beside it.
There was the man in the mismatched suit, the one who had introduced himself only as "Discord." The one who had followed him... where, exactly? Through the door into another world?
"You're confused," he said, leaning on the side of his passenger seat. He popped up, taking a few steps towards him, and causing Tracy to withdraw in fear. But he couldn't go much further—that car was his escape, and the open door behind him was hardly a way out. It was a return to horror. "I get that. Anyone would be in your place. But you should really take the time to think through what you're about to do before you do it."
Tracy hesitated, flailing one arm vaguely in his direction. "You're... lucky I don't have a gun. Whatever you did to me... get out of the way. I'm leaving."
"Who am I to stop you?" Discord stepped aside, letting him wobble over to the car. He could see inside now, see that the interior was so spotless it might've been dry-cleaned. There wasn't so much as a sock left on the seats. Only his little Bluetooth plugin was still inside, right where he left it. Weird thing not to rob if you're going to steal everything I have. It's more valuable than anything I was keeping in the car.
"What did you do?" He still wasn't thinking straight. His memory still spoke of impossible things that obviously couldn't have happened. He could ignore some of them, but... he could still remember the look of that reflection. The feeling of that strangely sensitive skin on his back, crushed by his backpack. "Where's my stuff?"
Discord retreated again, pulling one hand up to his chest. "I helped you get moved in, of course. It's all waiting for you in your room. And a word of free advice—as a connoisseur of chaos, maximum disorder isn't actually that interesting. You're better off having some systems in mind to find the things you need. Just make them unexpected to keep creatures guessing. And quit it with the plastic bins."
Tracy glanced around, scanning the streets. An occasional vehicle passed every minute or so, but otherwise they seemed totally alone. There were no pedestrians, and the only homes with lights on had their shades drawn. It was an unnatural, eerie look for a place so deep inside a city. "What did you do to me?" he whispered, stumbling forward to glare at him. "What kind of drug was that? How'd you give it to me without feeding me or injecting me?"
Discord shook his head. "Not a drug, not a hallucination. I don't understand how you can be so confused, Tracy. It's in your contract."
All this time you knew my name. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever introduced myself. “No it isn't."
Discord reached past him, to the folded-over piece of carbon paper emerging from his back pocket. He thrust it forward into his hand, unfolding it. "It's section C, paragraph 16. You initialed by it specifically, I don't know why you're so shocked by what it says now."
Tracy wasn't even sure why he bothered looking back down at the contract. But at least the pages were something more familiar than what his memory was telling him. He could study it, and maybe in searching for whatever Discord wanted would at least let him make sense of the man's motives. There has to be a reason for this. I'm not crazy.
Drugs on the paper itself? It didn't feel wet, and he didn't see any powder going into his face. Besides, the man had handled it with his bare hands too, and obviously wasn't completely tripping out either. He found the relevant paragraph without any difficulty at all. The words weren't hard to read, and he wasn't having trouble concentrating. If he really was drugged, they were drugs with a strange way of affecting him.
"The property will remain firmly placed within Ponyville's city limits for the duration of the contract. Leasee will assume form appropriate to the district while dwelling in the property, and may return to their normal form upon exit. For this reason, they may not bring more than one (1) houseguest at a time, or host guests overnight for longer than three (3) days.
He looked up, gasping in disbelief. He'd really signed something that said something so stupid? But there were his initials, faded a little around the edges just as the weird brown ink would've been. "But just because it's written down doesn't mean it matters," he insisted, shoving the contract back towards Discord. "These are just words! They don't mean anything. Contracts are enforced by a court!"
The man in his suit withdrew a little further, hands flat. "I don't need that, human. Don't you want to keep working? It's none of my business where you work, but... I'm going to be expecting that rent the third of every month, as agreed. Your lease lasts for twelve months, just like you signed."
He threw the contract onto the ground, glowering. "Take me to fucking court then. I don't know what you just did to me, what kind of hallucinogens are in the air, or... whatever it was. But there's no way a judge is going to think that is enforceable."
"A judge." Discord leaned forward, wrapping one willowy arm around his shoulder. He laughed energetically, shuffling up and down. "That's hilarious. You actually think I would trust your authorities to enforce my contract? Oh no." He bent down, scooping up the fallen pages and dusting them off. He turned them around to the last page, where he'd made his final signature. "I had no idea you were the kind of person who would so flippantly disregard their word! I would've suggested you take another few minutes to review what you were signing. But... you really should read it over."
He had half a mind to tear the pages and storm off down the street. But then he caught the "default and enforcement" section, and his body went rigid.
"Following the grace period of eight (8) days following a default, the leasee agrees to permanently forfeit their human body and submit themselves as a subject to the sole amusement of Discord, for a number of centuries equal to the number of months defaulted on the lease."
Tracy's mouth hung open, and he stared stupidly down at the pages in his hands. For a few seconds he wasn't sure what to say—he was almost as blinded by his own insanity in signing this as he was by the boldness of whoever had printed those words in ink. "Did I... Are you the Devil? But... I thought you weren't allowed to lie! You said there were no hidden fees! Just the rent!"
Discord's face split into a wicked, toothy grin. Even if he wasn't the Devil himself, he was sure doing a pretty good impression. "I told you there were no other costs, and that's true. You don't pay by living in Ponyville. The property is exactly as it was advertised online. You walked back through the door yourself. On this side, you're human. Over there... humans aren't really a thing anymore. It's no fault of yours, but I'm not going to make this any harder on either of us than it has to be." He snapped the pages out of his hand, folding them up and tucking them neatly into one of Tracy's pockets. "Just be a good little cog and do what you promised, and when the year is up, you're free to leave."
He walked away, back towards his car. "Or drive away and see what happens when you're eight days late on your rent." He flung the door of the strange limousine wide open, hopping inside. Then he rolled the manual window down, poking his head all the way across to look up at Tracy. "Oh, by the way. You'll probably want to find a laundromat on this side, there's no facility on-site. The electricity is... well, buy a UPS before you try and plug anything in over there if you don't want it to explode. Let's see, what else…? Oh, obviously your currency isn't going to be worth anything through the portal. I would love to convert it for you, but the portal doesn't like lies. It can't handle that fiat you all believe in. I guess you could bring over scrap gold if you want anything to buy on that side. Uh..."
"You're insane." He backed away from the open window, glaring. "There's no fucking way I'm staying here. I'm not getting drugged for your amusement. I'm going to... call the police! They won't let you get away with this!"
Discord rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. You're going to tell the police that you've signed a contract with a demon and now you turn into a pony." He laughed, sliding back over to the driver's seat. "If you do, remember to only bring one at a time through the portal. I don't think the human police would be terribly thrilled that you've permanently transformed them into ponies too. And without a contract with me, how could they possibly expect to be changed back?"
He started the engine with a twist of one hand, then sped away into the early evening, his laughter somehow louder than the ancient engine of the old limo.
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This has a lot of potential. I'm already incredibly amused by the idea of Discord tricking someone into being a pony tenant. Keep it up!
Ha! Now this, this is what I call entertainment!
What's wrong, Tracy? Feeling a little... batty?
Could use a little help here, Fluttershy. Though I guess when all the shock fades, Tracy will literally just use the room like he intended, a storage place. Living in the car isn't so bad. Of course, I wonder what other surprises are hidden in the... fine print.
Well, at least we now know he wasn't specifically targeted. At least, initially. Good job in taking one for the team, Tracy.
Probably still in shock, but you did sign your name in the contract, Tracy.
If there's nothing else in the fine print, this won't be a problem, even if Discord only takes payment on the Equestrian side of the portal. $500 is still $500 and is what Discord is asking for. As far as we know it doesn't say anything about bits and doesn't say anything about having to actually live there. For now.
Can anyone tell me what his Cutie Mark is?
Well done good sir, well done!
I would think Discord would be more delighted than disappointed with (some) humans realizing the fundamental truth that all money is totally arbitrary in value. After all, it’s not like gold atoms have a monetary value fixed by physical law (well, aside from the tautological “one gold atom is worth one gold atom”). It’s just a social convention that gold is worth anything, exactly like paper money.
Not sure if it's just the artist's style, but aside from the lack of long eyelashes, Tracy's equine form looks rather feminine in Chapter 2's artwork...
10139324
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/d451946f-1f72-4538-bf18-ee31608d8b2c/ddssub2-ee618639-e3d9-4a72-a617-15a09d792ec5.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_70,strp/welcome_to_pony_world_by_lunebat_ddssub2-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MzI0MCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2Q0NTE5NDZmLTFmNzItNDUzOC1iZjE4LWVlMzE2MDhkOGIyY1wvZGRzc3ViMi1lZTYxODYzOS1lM2Q5LTRhNzItYTYxNy0xNWEwOWQ3OTJlYzUucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTU3NjAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.0DNxqUhZsj7Hmvt1QMTTiRqHoqeDjnyTRRwwFAdTPvY
https://www.deviantart.com/lunebat/art/Welcome-to-Pony-World-834435182
10139409
Apart from the fact gold conducts electricity, does not tarnish nor corrode, and like all metals is stable in its total quantity. It does not deplete nor replenish, only shifts location, which is more than can be said for fiat. It’s inflation proof and has intrinsic usage, as can be said for all metals.
10139448
Can confirm it's just a style thing. There's no TG suggested here.
10139451
No I see it, I just don't know what it's supposed to be in the picture.
Daaang, Discord, you scaaary!
Oh good, the clothes transformed too. I was thinking that it would be pretty hard to explain to the neighbors why he had to change clothes outside.
Um. Well. That's quite the incentive to not default. Wonder what the penalty for breaking other parts of the lease might be.
...But what happens if the UPS explodes? WHAT DO I DO
Or you can bring back bits and cause a crash in the real-world value of gold before getting visited by some very interested government agents? What could go wrong with that?
Wait, that applies to everyone except Tracy, right? So that clause allowing for one (1) houseguest pretty much guarantees that either the guest hides in the house longer than three (3) days or they return to our world as a pony? Or maybe Tracy gets to go on an adventure to figure out how to return them to human within that three-day time limit?
Can't wait to find out what other tidbits are hiding in that contract. Wouldn't be surprised if there was something like the Van Halen no-brown-M&Ms clause in there.
Also, is Tracy going to have to show this to HR? Because they might have a few questions.
I'm curious to learn what Discord's motivation for all this is, although "for the lulz" wouldn't be all too surprising.
10139467
Who are you and what have you done with Starscribe?
10139458
I in fact had a line to the effect that there were reasons to use gold as a currency, but that one could find reasons to use many other things as currencies as well, and many of them have been used as currencies. However, I deleted it since it seemed redundant and obvious from the existence of various non-paper non-gold monies. So thank you, I am aware.
It is also not true that gold (or any other commodity) is “inflation proof”. There have been some quite notable instances of inflation involving metals throughout history. For example, there is the Price Revolution of the 15th-17th centuries, or the significant inflation that affected the Roman Empire later on as it devalued its currency (the latter points up the fact that even metal currencies are ultimately arbitrarily defined). The only real difference is that inflation in metallic currencies tends to be “spikier” due to being connected with devaluations or gold/silver finds, so you have prolonged periods with very little inflation and then a great deal of inflation all at once. Even that’s not totally universal given that the Price Revolution played out over about a century and a half, with inflation rates similar to the modern day (about 1-1.5% annually)
Anyway, presumably a certain number of bits in Equestria can buy a certain amount of stuff there, and a certain number of dollars can buy a similar basket of things on Earth, it wouldn’t be that difficult to devise a translation...not much more difficult than dealing with books written in English versus Equestrian or whatever, I don’t think.
10139458
There were still plenty of reasons why most of the world left the gold standard and never (mostly) looked back.
That being said, if Equestria's economy and culture is mostly identical to Earth's at a certain time period, I wouldn't be bringing gold. Aluminum foil is where it's at, baby!
1. Is that punkpin Cake in one of the Images at the wall?
2. I spotted my favorite Pony in there.
3. I wish something like that would happen to me.
And most importantly it's an amazing story and I can barley wait to see, how this will continue.
I am both delighted by this story, and a little sad there isn't more yet...
Keep up the great work, Starscribe.
10139516
I don't think Tracy will have to worry about conversions though. At least not until the two worlds meet. I'm pretty sure attempting a translation between a fiat and gold backed system (if Equestria really is one) is more than a simple nightmare. He'll just have to make due with indirect conversions with whatever he can bring in and sell.
Again, if Equestria is identical to a certain historical time frame of Earth, I'm holding out for a Tracy of the Noble House of Maxwell aka "The Lord of Aluminum". With careful supply management he could probably convert aluminum to gold and vice-versa through the universes and probably make a comfortable living this way. He can easily pay off the lease and his dream job on Earth will become a hobby.
Oooooh. Aaahhhh.
Illustrations. How fru fru, fanceee. Yer gooood.
10139572
I’m curious whether ponies could
abuse pegasi-generated lightning to generate the energy necessary to refine aluminum by modern processes. If they could, then aluminum may not be as valuable to them as it was to us once upon a time.10139572
Oh, of course it would be a problem for him. I was talking about the portal doing the conversions. Magic, see?
10139489
Under the terms of that contract, they're one burglary away from leaving unexplained small equines on Earth...
10139775
Well, it says that the Leasee assumes a form appropriate to the district while in the property. Nothing about uninvited guests!
Now that you brought it up, I wonder if the transformation would still occur for less-conventional entrances (e.g., windows or chimneys).
Look at us, armchair lawyering a fictional contract involving interdimensional portals to a world of smol horses.
10139735
No, I mean Tracy wouldn't have a real need to bring dollars and could bypass the problem entirely by buying stuff Earth-side then bringing it over and selling it for Equestrian currency. As Discord apparently suggested with the scrap-gold (unless the gold magically turns to bits).
Though I guess to Tracy the money conversion problem is irrelevant as he is very likely to try to avoid his apartment as much as possible. Only setting foot inside for sleep and hygiene purposes. Why need bits for a place you never plan to spend much time in anyway? Now I'm wondering if the answer to that question will come from the fine print or sheer boredom from living in a car.
10139792
That's how you know a premise is interesting and fun!
10139482
Looks like the wand that's typically attached to a Van de Graaff generator. It appears to be just one that's in motion (and thus appearing in two places) and surrounded by sparks.
While I'm not willing to bet money on that being 100% correct, I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of the ballpark. Electrical engineering is a good fit for what little we know about Tracy's job. From there it's not much of a jump to that mark.
Well technically, his only real obligation here is to pay $500 a month to Sheogorath for the next year. Nothing's forcing him to actually live here. He has an address, he has a lease, I suppose he could go live in a Motel 6 and budget for to live on ramen. Though I really wouldn't advise that, Discord doesn't like being thwarted.
10139840
actually a discord reigning him in during a future chapter would probably be pretty funny if done right.
10139852
The aluminum-mogul angle is always a good one, very good ROI there.
Oooh! Forget the court, wait until one of the ruling princesses finds out about this, because I'm pretty sure this violates Discord's agreement to "behave" after his reformation.
Not that they can really do that much about it either beyond trying to nag Discord into undoing it himself (which I doubt will work, or there wouldn't much of a story, now would there?), but you can be sure there will be words to be had if and when said princess finds out.
Which leads to a relevant question: which princess would that be currently anyway? This before or after finale?
Either way, this has been amusing thus far. These human-to-Equestrian tales aren't usually my cup of tea that much, but this one's got a fun premise and it's rapidly winning me over.
10139926
Forget the princesses, just tell Fluttershy and she’ll give Discord more than a piece of her mind. Not kind at all!
That crack about the fiat currency made me laugh.
I think Discords threat that cops might get locked into ponies rings hollow if our lead called them. One the disappearance would draw too much attention, so the door likely only works for our lead. Two the Alicorns might have to skin him alive if a sudden and determined group of former human cops came a calling. Lastly Discord might end up a play thing himself if the lead's world has it own guardian spirits and they decide to get mad.
But yeah the contract it self was buyer beware and he should have read it .
And how can you have a house guest without said guest being able to leave, and can you imagine if Discord did force the guest to stay in pony form?
So lets see what's more likely. Discord probably lied when he said that the visiting officer would change form and be stuck. Even if not, just tell the officer to wait, and watch. Enter, change to pony; exit, return back.
And the whole comment about behave after his reformation? One "Discord!" from Fluttershy, and he'd probably do "Oh, all right".
Discord's contract won't stand up in a court of equestria for the same reason it won't stand up here -- unreasonable and no meeting of the mind. He probably knows this.
Tracy does NOT know this.
===
On the issue of Fiat money: face-hoof-and-wing. Purchasing power is a much better correlation than raw value. And, you could argue that while the paper bills we use are fiat, the coins are actual money.
But lets not go that way. Precious metals have a horrible problem -- they cannot adjust to a change in population, nor a change in how widely the money is used. Take the same amount of precious metals, and change the population by a factor of 10, and you'll find that you have devalued the currency massively
Fiat money, and money created by central bank say-so, is a way around that, and the only way I know of that we have come up with so far.
Now, if you want to talk lies in the banking system, lets go with the "The natural inflation rate is 4%, so we'll force a 4% inflation rate over time" lie. It was hidden as long as land loans were 6% and banks paid 5%, so you stayed ahead of inflation and things were kept from going crazy.
That is the small lie that, over 100+ years of the federal reserve system, have given us what Lucas presented as the banking clan dictating terms to the government.
10139840
He would probably smile that Tracy can be that sneaky. Of course, Discord will top that 11-fold. If anything, he loves playing games.
And there's always the fine print...
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Still makes me wonder how the heck was he able to set this whole thing up on the Equestrian side without anyone batting an eye. In what appears to be Roseluck's residence. For worthless money he can't pay her. The heck is Roseluck getting out of this?
That romance tag though. Nope, there's no way Roseluck is that desperate that she has to look for fish in another sea. With the help of Discord. Gotta call Flutters. These schemes always end badly.
If he defaults, he can just ask a skilled unicorn to transform him back. Twilight did the thing with the breezies, after all. Anyway, I absolutely adore the cover art. He looks so cute. :)
If I was Trasy I would be calling the church
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He doesn't know that there is any other way back.
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Why would you say that Roseluck won't want to get help from Discord? This wouldn't be the first fanfic I've seen that has Roseluck trying to date a human, but it is the first I've seen where she's trying to date a ponified human.
... Wait, why didn't Discord do this with Lyra? Oh, right, she wants to study them, not date them. Not as interesting/chaotic.
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Well, he doesn’t yet anyway. Give him some time, I’m sure he’ll find out what unicorns can do eventually.
Oh my God, that art is fantastic. Thank you for linking, I may have to talk to them myself.
Loving the story so far!
Ohhh... this is going to be a ride. Thanks for the mind food.
OMG he's so cute!
Wondering how accurate the portraits in the house are, some interesting occupant suggestions there...
If fiat isn't converted, then perhaps he could abuse that and lift some Bits into a pawn shop for some quick cash. Shouldn't do that too much though.
Keep going! ;)
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Van de Graaff balls, used for releasing static electricity.
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Well, plenty of chaos, but aside from the Lyra/Bon Bon dynamic the author might prefer, Lyra's fanon obsession with humans is also a bit of an overused cliché at this point.
I've got to say, there is obviously a lot more going on than "Dischord playing with mortals for amusement". Both his "dont make it harder on either of us" and "good little cog" suggest something is pushing him into it. That Tracy was intentionally and specifically manipulated into it hasn't been ruled out either.
Damn, that is some fine artwork.
One small critique, it's a little confusing who is talking sometimes given the reliance on pronouns. Perhaps consider starting a paragraph with the name of whomever is talking unless it's a consistent back and forth with no actions other than talking.
Discord really has him with that contract and there's nobody who is willing to do anything about it. At most the would consider the default to harsh but try explaining to anyone that matters to Discord what exactly the problem is with the transformation.
First, can someone identify the ponies in those pictures for me?
Second ... Oh Discord ...
It does not say WHICH EXIT.
He can -- it says "may" -- turn human on leaving the property into Equestria.
Or, choose to stay Bat-pony in the normal world.
Want to show someone what's going on? Walk into the place, turn bat-pony in sight of everyone, and then walk back out and choose not to turn human.
Discord, your contract has lots of holes to cause you problems. What else is in that contract?
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That depends on how you define "may". You're interpreting it as "has permission to" while I'm sure Discord is probably interpreting it as a blend of that and "might"/"will possibly".