Sonata the Drama

by MythrilMoth


Sonata Simple Solution

"GAH!" Sunset screamed, teleporting halfway down the hall. Her heart hammered in her chest.

Twilight facehoofed. "Discord," she groaned.

Discord flipped upside-down, turning his head upside-down so it was right-side-up. "Why, hello, Princess Twilight! It's so good to see you! I was just wondering what you were up to...I was just thinking of popping over to Ponyville for a visit, and here you are!"

Sunset's eyes were wide and wary. "What...how...what...Twilight...what...DISCORD...WHY?!"

"Well, it appears somepony didn't get the memo," Discord said disdainfully, turning up his nose. In a bright flash, a fax machine appeared in front of Sunset, spitting out a sheet of paper. It tore itself off and waved itself in her face, literally screaming DISCORD IS REFORMED.

Twilight banished it with her magic. "Discord, this isn't a good time..."

"It never is, is it?" Discord said petulantly. "Why, I—"

"Actually, scratch that. This may actually be the one time I'm happy to see you!"

"Just the one?" Discord asked, arching an eyebrow.

"How are you with dimensional magic?" Twilight asked.

Discord buffed a claw on his chest. "Why, I can easily open portals between dimensions whenever I please!" he said.

"Good, because these two here need to get back to their own dimension," Twilight said, motioning to Kim and Ron.

"Oh they do, do they? Well, let's just have a look." Discord pulled out a jeweler's loupe and began examining Kim and Ron, nodding and humming thoughtfully to himself. He pulled out a tape measure and stretched it out, measuring both of them, then pulled out an abacus and made a series of rapid calculations. Finally, he snapped his talons, making all his tools disappear, and shook his head. "Can't do it," he said. "Sorry."

"What? Why not?" Twilight asked.

"Well, for starters, this donkey is full of monkey magic, and monkeys make me itch," Discord said. "But that's not the reason. It's...oh, it's too difficult to explain. It'd be easier if I just showed you."

And before Twilight could react, Discord stole her eyes and swapped them with his.

"AHHH! WHAT DID YOU JUST—" Twilight screamed before pausing and blinking. She stared at Kim and Ron with Discord's eyes. Her jaw fell open. "What...what am I looking at?!"

"A problem," Discord said. "These two brought incompatible magic into a world that isn't supposed to have magic, were pulled there by one of Starswirl's silly mirror portals that had been corrupted by dark magic, and then you brought them here, which compounded pony magic on top of everything. And then there's that...vaguely spicy, cheesy aura floating around them I've never seen before—"

"Taco magic," Twilight said absently.

Discord blinked...with Twilight's eyes. "Taco magic," he said flatly. "Right. Okay. Anyway...you see the problem?"

"I...think so, yeah," Twilight said. She shook her head. "Now can you please give me my eyes back? This is really freaking me out!"

"Oh...sorry." Discord snapped his talons, and Twilight's eyes returned to her face, while Discord's rolled up his arm and popped into his head.

"Gorchy," Kim said, shuddering.

"This dude...thing...whatever is really freaky," Ron stage-whispered.

"So for those of us who just saw something very mentally scarring happen and can't process it," Sunset said as she strode up beside Twilight, a severely nauseated expression on her face, "what exactly are you two talking about? And don't do that eye thing with me, Discord! I will blast you! And buck you!"

"Have you ever tried to untangle a knot and ended up making it worse?" Twilight asked.

"Oh! Oh! I have!" Ron said. "Every time my dad decides to go fishing. Don't ask."

"I think I know what you mean," Kim said. "Like...Christmas tree lights, right? They get all tangled up and when you take them out, it takes hours to get them untangled, and then you end up going out and buying new ones anyway?"

"Okay, well...right now, the two of you are basically a really, really tangled knot," Twilight said. "If I understand what Discord just showed me, trying to send you back to your own dimension without untangling you...well..." She looked at Discord, tilting her head.

Discord drew a rectangle in the air. An image appeared of a massive, colorful explosion, spraying flaming debris in every direction and erecting a towering mushroom cloud.

"WE'RE GONNA EXPLODE?!" Ron brayed.

"No, you wouldn't explode," Discord said.

"Whew."

"Your entire home dimension would."

"Yikes," Kim said. "So...what, we're just...stuck?"

"No," Twilight said. "We need to get you back where you belong and we're going to get you home. It's just..." She sighed. "Figuring out how to untangle you without doing any permanent damage is going to take a while." She glanced at Discord. "Unless you—"

Discord held up his mismatched hands in surrender. "Hey, the less I get involved with this mess, the better," he said. "If I even lay a paw on these crazy kids, I'm liable to accidentally torch Equestria, and I happen to like it here." He shook his head. "Sorry, but you're on your own for this one." Without fanfare, he vanished in a white flash.

The group looked around at one another awkwardly.

"So...what now?" Kim asked.

Twilight sighed. "For now, we should all get settled in," she said. "We've got a lot more work ahead of us than I thought."