//------------------------------//
// Contrast 
// Story: Oversaturation 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
//------------------------------//

Getting your soul shattered by a giant, glowing alicorn made of the very magic you were trying to steal made for a bad night. Having it happen when you were on the verge of world domination pretty much made it the worst night ever. To Sonata Dusk's amazement, it got even worse from there.

The sirens had fled from the stage, egged on by thrown food. They'd kept running until they'd reached the town park, where they'd collapsed amid the trees. Sonata could feel dew soaking into her skirt, but couldn't bring herself to care.

After a brief stretch that they all spent catching their breath, Adagio slammed her fist into the ground and screamed into the treetops. She didn't need magic to fill it with rage and anguish, stretching it out until her lungs emptied.

Aria gave her a tired glare. "You done?"

"Don't start," said Adagio, her voice scratchy from the scream. "Not now."

Aria stood, looming over the kneeling girl. "When, then? We lost, Adagio. We lost big time."

"We've come back from worse." Adagio gave a weak smile. "Remember the Prench Revolution?"

"Yeah. We still had our magic." Aria curled her fingers around where her necklace should have been. "Don't you see what you've done?"

Adagio bolted upright. "Me? It was those Raingoons who—"

"Yeah, the ones full of Equestrian magic that you just had to have. And now look at us. Can't you feel it?" Aria put a hand over her own chest. "Your body huffing and creaking and oozing? We're human now, Adagio. We're mortal now. Even if we take perfect care of ourselves, our bodies will just wear out anyway."

Adagio gave a dismissive wave. "Please, this will barely slow us down. I have a plan."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Because that's worked so well for us before." She drew herself into a haughty pose and began imitating Adagio's voice. "'Let's work together and feed off the land ponies.' 'He's just an old stallion. We can take him.' 'We're going to make everyone in this pathetic little world adore us.'" Aria snarled. "Even the Revolution was your fault! 'I bet we can stretch it out much longer than the colonies.' Well, I've had it." With that, she turned and started walking away.

Adagio glared at her. "Get back here, Aria."

Aria looked back with a sharklike grin. "Don't you get it? I don't need you anymore." She turned around fully. "The only reason I put up with the two of you was because I'd starve otherwise. But now? Now I'm human. I can just eat fucking matter!" She gave a sharp laugh. "Isn't that great!?"

Sitting under a spruce, Sonata swallowed. "Um, I could, like, give you some recipes—"

"Shut up, Sonata." Aria laughed some more, neither it nor her widening grin entirely sane. "If there's anything good about this, it's that I'm never going to have to see or hear you ever again." She turned and resumed walking away.

"Aria! Get back here!" Adagio cried. The only answer was a raised middle finger. "Aria!"

Adagio collapsed, eyes wide and unseeing. After a few moments, she said, "Okay. Okay, I can still work with this. Just a slight hiccup in the plan. I just need to convince Aria that she still needs us, and then we can work on revenge."

Sonata bit her lip. "She's right."

"Not now, I'm..." Adagio trailed off, slowly turning her head to meet Sonata's eyes with her own incredulous expression. "What did you say?"

"She's right," Sonata said with more confidence. "Every time we've followed one of your plans, it went wrong eventually."

Adagio glared at her. "If I wanted your opinion, I would've told you what it was. Now shut up and let me think."

Sonata stood up. "It's over, Adagio."

"No!" Adagio sprang to her feet, fists clenched. "It is not over! We will be victorious!"

The words came easily. They'd been echoing in the back of Sonata's mind for centuries. "You stranded us. You starved us. Now you've killed us."

"No!" Adagio clutched at her missing pendant. "There has to be a way to restore our powers."

Sonata turned away. "You've lost."

Arms snaked around her from behind. She felt pressure and moisture on the nape of her neck. "No. You can't leave. I won't let you leave."

Sonata shook her head. "You've lost, Adagio."

"I don't lose!" Adagio shrieked.

"You wouldn't have let Aria go if you thought you could keep her around."

The arms tightened around Sonata. "I just didn't have a plan yet. And besides, where do you think you're going? They're smarter than you, Sonata. They're all smarter than you. The world has been changing more quickly than you can follow for decades now. Cell phones have cameras now, Sonata. Did you know that?"

She didn't, actually. But the others had been insulting her even before their banishment. She was used to it. And she knew one thing for sure. "I'll be better off alone than with you."

"You're not allowed to leave," Adagio growled. "I won't let you."

Sonata drove an elbow into her gut, then walked away without looking back. Even when the wheezes turned into curses and screams, Sonata kept walking. Adagio didn't follow her.

Sonata may not have known about cell phone cameras, but she knew how to find her way back to her lair. Adagio liked to call it a "base of operations," but it was as much a lair as that little atoll off of Horseshoe Bay.

That was the problem with Adagio. She'd forgotten what she was supposed to be. Sonata wouldn't be in this mess, not even on this world, if Adagio had been content to stay in the ocean and eat sailors the way nature intended.

Still, Sonata couldn't deny that the apartment they'd acquired was a lot more comfy than that little rock where it all began. Comfy, well-furnished, and roomy enough for all the luxuries they could steal. Of course, now that they couldn't sing the rent away, the landlord would probably want to take it up with them. All the more reason to get out while the getting was good.

The apartment's entrance hung open, and she could hear movement inside. Sonata couldn't help but smile. At least Aria knew what she was, what she was supposed to be.

Aria was in the main room, taking a pocket knife to the couch cushions. She looked over her shoulder and snarled. "What, Adagio didn't have the guts to try to get me back herself?"

Sonata shook her head. "I'm through with her too."

Aria's mouth worked silently for a moment. "Really?" She grinned. "Didn't expect that. I figured you'd stick with her just because you always have."

Another shake. "I still remember what it was like before she talked me into this."

"Yeah. Me too." Aria looked away. A moment later, she scowled, grabbed the edges of the sliced upholstery, and tore it open wider.

Sonata tilted her head. "Why are you doing that?"

"Because I'm never going to be here again. Because it makes me feel better. Because it's going to piss off Adagio." Aria shrugged. "Pick one."

Sonata opened her mouth, but something told her Aria didn't actually want her to pick one. She just made for her room.

"I already took all the money," Aria said behind her.

"Okay." Sonata navigated past the drifts of take-out menus, the jumbo roll of bubble wrap, the carefully preserved da Whinny sketchbook.

Footsteps sounded behind her. "You didn't forget what money's for again, did you?"

"That was, like, six hundred years ago, Aria." Sonata grabbed the foot of her bed and pulled. Inch by inch, it pulled back.

"Then what are you doing?" Aria was starting to sound angrier than usual.

"You two... were always... taking... my stuff," Sonata huffed. She released the bed and reached behind the headboard, into a hole she'd made in the wall. She pulled a blue backpack out of it. "I've been making stashes since before we left Equestria."

"Really?" Now Aria sounded surprised and angry.

Sonata put on the backpack, looked to Aria, and said,"You haven't?"

"Figured I'd just take your stuff." Aria shrugged. "Or Adagio's, if I could get away with it."

Sonata looked at the knife still in Aria's hand. "Are you going to now?"

Aria frowned at the weapon for a good long while. Eventually, she shook her head. "Leaving Adagio is the first smart thing you've ever done, even if I had to do it first. You should get something for that." With that she trudged back out, wading through the menus and trailing dozens into the common room.

Sonata changed into a clean set of sweats and her hoodie, though she couldn't fit her hair into the hood without the "octopus in a jar" spell. Aria poked her head in the room. "I've broken everything worth breaking. Now I'm going to empty all of Adagio's hair crap into the tub. You in?"

"All of it?"

Aria grinned the way she did when feeding. "All of it."

The bathtub was clogged with an orange wad like a tiger's hairball, as usual. By the time they had finished dumping all of the mousses, gels, conditioners, and Xubidu only knew what else, it formed a thick, swirling puddle several inches deep. Then they started sticking spray cans in the muck and pressing down on the necks until bubbles stopped coming out.

Sonata smiled. "Kinda like old times, huh?"

After a moment, Aria gave a chuckle. "A little, yeah."

Once they were through and standing outside of the building, Aria said, "You know, maybe you're only second worst. After Adagio."

Sonata smiled. "So are you."

Sonata watched Aria turn and leave, and felt a little pang of regret. She kind of wanted to follow along, stick together, pool their resources.

She shook her head. It was that kind of thinking that had gotten her in this mess in the first place. Besides, now that they didn't need one another to survive, if they did stick together, one of them would probably end up dead by the end of the week, and Sonata really wasn't sure who it would be. She went her way and let Aria go hers.

After that, Sonata wasn't sure what to do. Definitely avoid Adagio, but beyond that, she didn't have any idea. She wandered aimlessly for a while, drifting about the city. She ate well. One good thing about this world was the cheap and plentiful beef, the closest she could come to tasting minotaur again. She slept... tolerably. She'd dealt with worse over the centuries.

A few days later, she was back in the park, playing "Guess that Meat" with a hot dog, when she saw people she recognized from the school gathering by a gazebo. She didn't have anything better to do, so she watched. From a distance, of course. Sonata knew hatred well, and those people definitely wouldn't be happy to see her.

When they started playing, it was rather bittersweet. Sonata would never sing again. The disaster with the giant energy alicorn had made that clear. But she could at least appreciate the human music in all its forms. She was far enough away that she could pretend the bursts of Equestrian magic weren't there, didn't bother her. She'd always been good at ignoring the sad parts of life.

Then one band started playing a song about her, and the world started to spin.

Sonata convulsed, her body trying to reach out to the magic she could no longer touch. The front of her neck puckered into a fleshy crater, convulsing around her absent heartstone. Her legs flopped, trying to beat against an ocean current. Her breaths went shallow, trying to send the air through gills. She instinctively dragged herself away from the disturbance, pulling her body along with her arms, her fingers bent like claws.

She managed to secret herself in one of the shrubs, watching for any intruders as her body warped itself. Twisted bone and wracked flesh tormented her. All of her years of tuning out the less pleasant bits of her existence couldn't even begin to defend her against the pain.

When the agony had lessened enough that Sonata could move, she began dragging her body in search of the one who caused it. Not whoever had sung that song, but Sunset Shimmer. The one who rallied the Rainbooms. The one who had called down the alicorn and shattered her soul. Sonata's nose was still a weird knob of flesh, but she'd gotten back some her sense of smell, and the scent of vengeance hung bitter and pungent in the air. This wouldn't be the first time she tracked it, but it would probably be the most satisfying.

The sun rose, and Mr. Discord stood on his lawn to greet it. He loved moments like this, when the sky and shadows changed, when the crispness in the air made it feel like it would crinkle if he moved too quickly, where the beauty of the natural world was fully manifest. Understanding the optics, the fluid dynamics, and all the other myriad secrets behind moments like this didn't lessen their beauty, it enhanced them. To watch the rising sun was to gaze into the inner workings of the universe.

It was moments like this that had kept him in his humble bungalow even after his writing career had taken off. Who needed acres of real estate when the universe was already his to appreciate?

So enraptured was Mr. Discord that he almost didn't hear the growl coming from his hedges. He turned just as the rising sun revealed a bizarre blue chimera of fish, horse, and human. He was still processing it when it lunged at him.

He only had time for one more thought, and in the way of those facing certain doom, it was a rather frivolous one.

What if Sunset Shimmer were wrong?

Mr. Discord snapped his fingers.

The sound carried in a way that the early morning air couldn't wholly account for. The creature halted like a paused video, then crashed to the ground mere inches away from him. Maybe it was the light, but Mr. Discord could have sworn it looked duller than before.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well now. This is intriguing. Tell me, who are you?"

The creature looked up at him. "Sooonaaataaa," it groaned.

"Sonata? As in Sonata Dusk?" Mr. Discord knelt by her. "My word. What happened to you?"

"Nooo jeeweel. Neeed fooor 'aagiiic."

Mr. Discord nodded. "I see. That wasn't just a necklace, it was a part of you. A vital one. Without it, you're experiencing a sort of magical organ failure." He blinked. "Either I've developed uncannily good intuition about magical matters, or something is feeding me answers."

Sonata looked deep into his eyes. Aside from the slit pupils, hers were still disturbingly human. "Heeel'?"

"Help?" Mr. Discord echoed. After a moment, he nodded. "Perhaps I can." Whatever sixth sense he'd picked up since that snap told him that setting her body right wasn't in the cards right now, but he could at least get her somewhere where he could puzzle out a solution. Another snap of his fingers, and Sonata hovered next to him, tethered to his reference frame. Wherever he went, she would stay by his side. "Shall we?"

"Ookaay." She stared ahead, apparently uninterested in anything now that she knew he'd help her.

Cousin? A familiar voice sounded directly into Mr. Discord's mind.

He looked around. No one else seemed to be out and about. He was free to answer out loud. "Yes, cousin?"

What exactly do you think you're doing?

"Making a new friend." Mr. Discord patted Sonata on the side, idly noting the odd feeling of flesh that couldn't decide whether or not it wanted to be covered in scales.

There was a psychic growl. Did you perhaps forget what I said yesterday, about increased magic use hastening the dissolution of your world?

Mr. Discord chuckled. "Ah, but that's pony magic. Based on Miss Shimmer's testimony, I just demonstrated that this is anything but."

Yes, because it's chaos magic.

This got a shrug. "Well, then aren't I the devout Discordian?"

A groan echoed in Mr. Discord's head. This isn't like your tongue-in-cheek pentagon worship. This is serious. Keep it up, and you could destroy the universe by blinking wrong.

"Chaos is all things, is it not?" Mr. Discord grinned. "Surely I can keep everything intact just as easily as I can destroy it."

I'd reach across dimensions and slap you if that wouldn't do even more damage.

Mr. Discord hummed to himself. What would happen if he were to bring his new intuition to bear here? "You know, in all the years we've conversed, I've always wondered if you were just an imaginary friend of sorts. A little creativity, a little doubt..." He noticed something intriguing, a strand of thought that trailed off in a direction he couldn't follow, like a silver ribbon going down a well.

Listen to me, John Quincy Discord, his cousin hissed, the irritation making the strand glow, or whatever the metacognitive equivalent was. You are violating the one and only rule of sustainable chaos: Don't. Break. Your toys. If you don't get your act together, you are going to commit double omnicide.

"Consider me warned." Mr. Discord pinched the telepathic link between two fingers and twisted. He blinked at the sudden silence in his head, so different from the inaudible susurration he'd grown used to over the years. "I wonder if this how most people feel." He shook himself. "Well, I suppose I'll have to get used to it. Come along, Sonata. I'll position you above the car on the way to the NAHTI. The breeze should do you good." He smiled. "And perhaps I can explore a few possibilities when we get there."

Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned in her bed, shining like an emergency flare. Her comforter burst into sparkling vapor, overwhelmed by the energy. She dreamt of the world imploding, of stars consuming themselves in an instant, of devastation more final than passing through an event horizon. She arched her back, mouth open in a silent scream.

Magic opened her eyes, which shone like violet spotlights. Her hair floated lazily about her head, as if underwater. Energy crackled off of her skin. Her body was still entirely human, even if the mind now operating it was anything but.

She appraised the situation in a moment. She was. She should not have been. That imbalance would be addressed after the greater one.

She lacked the usual channeling foci. She could perform her task without them.

The greater imbalance was approaching a dimensional interface. Her presence was required there. Folding space would put a dangerous amount of strain on existence. The logical course of action was clear.

Magic stretched out a hand. One of the room's windows vanished through the same energetic overload as the comforter. A purple aura wreathed the girl, who flew out fast enough to send papers flying through the window.

Spike blinked and yawned. "Oh boy. Here we go." He noted his sapience, then used it to decide he could deal with this at a more reasonable hour.

The Bearers of Harmony looked upon the village of... well, apparently, they'd never been able to settle on a name that didn't unfairly glorify something, so they just called it "The Village." But now, with Starlight Glimmer chased into the mountain caves, the ponies of The Village were free to embrace their uniqueness and form true bonds.

All six flinched for a moment as their cutie marks pulsed again.

Applejack shook off the tingling spasms. "I'll never get used to that."

Rarity smiled. "I think it's divine."

"Does that mean that the map is calling us somewhere else?" asked Fluttershy.

Twilight shook her head. "I have a feeling it means our work here is done." She frowned as her own mark kept pulsing, even after her friends' had stopped. "On second thought, you may be right."

"But why are you the only one affected now?" said Rarity.

"Who cares?" cried Dash. "We gotta get Twilight back to the castle pronto."

"Indeed we do." Discord descended on a window-washing gantry. Nopony followed the cables up. Most assumed they didn't want to know where they led, and Pinkie already knew.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "An' where were you all this time?"

"After you thwarted Tirek, I'd assumed you could handle a garden-variety unicorn on your own. And look at that, you could!" Discord held up a paw in a halting gesture. "We don't have time for witty repartee. My counterpart in the human dimension is taking advantage of his first chance to go mad with power, and fun as it would be to watch baby's first god complex, it won't end well for anyone who likes their atoms arranged the way they are."

The Bearers all blinked. "What?" said Twilight.

Discord shook his head. "No time. Every second counts; this is me we're talking about." One flash of light later, everypony found themselves just outside of Twilight's castle. "Last stop, Crystal Tree Box Castle Playset."

"But—"

"Twilight, you can ask all the questions you want after this is taken care of. Now, this is important enough to drop the trickster mentor routine: You need to contact the one person in either universe who may be able to fix this and open the portal. Everything else should follow from there." With that, Discord vanished.

The Bearers traded uneasy looks for a moment. Then Twilight went in the castle, and the others followed her. They sped up as they approached the throne room, galloping by the time they entered it.

They passed the map, but Twilight's mark kept pulsing.

"Shouldn't that have stopped by now?" asked Dash.

Twilight shook her head. "Not if everypony necessary isn't here yet."

The group stormed into the portal room. Twilight took hold of the journal as soon as she could see it, directly dyeing a blank page with her magic. "Get to the portal," she said as she wrote it. "Now."