Insanity Reaches a Boiling Point: Invisibility at Random

[NPC]

So random things were disappearing in the forest. No pattern, no buildup, no nothing. Just this strange, purplish pink beam that flashed for a moment, only to leave whatever was in its wake completely invisible. Trees seemed to get hit by it the most, which made sense: this was a forest. The trees were, in fact, disappearing at a fairly alarming rate. They didn't seem to be disappearing entirely though, instead, chunks were being lanced off their barked trunks by wild beams. For once, there seemed to be something akin to targeting going on here: the beam was looking for... something. It kept zapping and charting a path, a path that headed toward the boundary of Tenebrae, more or less. And the beam kept lancing out, literally forming a clear path, as though whatever or whoever was doing this wanted nothing so much as to point out to residents exactly the route they needed to take to get going.

even stranger still, the suits that normally patrolled the borders seemed to be completely absent. The mysterious guardians of Tenebrae were mysteriously absent. The only living creatures, besides any Shifted that might wander into the woods, possibly exploring, were the wildlife. Squirrels, songbirds, what appeared to be a bear, a few smallish skunks, and many more were desperately scrambling, convinced that the beam was out to kill them all. One or two animals were getting hit, of course, and you could hear them flitting through the undergrowth, as desperate as their visible brethren. Again, the aim wasn't always accurate: there were several animals with pieces that were simply... not visible. They were still clearly whole, and nothing hurt, but you simply could not see entire sections of them.

And the beam kept going, as though eager to finish its course. There seemed to be a path... the beam seemed to be coming from the sky, somewhere... if anyone was actually paying attention, of course.

[NPC]

The beam had taken a slight break from its manic directionality to begin drawing shapes. If someone were to get an overhead view of the forest, they'd likely see that the various trees were disappearing in a deliberate pattern. It just so happened to be a smiling face, one with a slightly pointed head, grinning into the sky. It was a bit sloppily done though, as though whomever was at the controls wasn't exactly an expert artist.

After a bit of this, the beam seemed to realize that it was supposed to be clearing a path. It jerked and almost seemed to speed up, pointing a straight path and forging straight on. It seemed to pause for a moment though, beaming at a solid piece of ground. Slowly the ground itself began to vanish, as though layers were being purposefully blasted to show something beneath.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink thought a nice long walk in the forest would do her some good. She'd been at Tenebrae for just over two weeks, yet she hadn't really been anywhere, hadn't really interacted with her fellow Shifted. For all her talk of getting used to her new home, she was doing just the opposite of that. In fact, she was being a bit of a recluse. She knew she should be trying to do something about her situation, but all she really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and think happy thoughts. She just felt so miserable. This was not where she belonged at all. It was no wonder why she was behaving differently from her usual bubbly self. Everything about her had changed, so maybe it was natural for her attitude to have changed as well. Yeah sure, walking in the forest probably wasn't the most social exercise, but it did feel like a step in the right direction.

Her decision had been made early that morning when she remembered she had the day off. Her previous two days off had been spent sulking in her room. She really didn't want to do that, but she wasn't sure what èlse she could do. Of course, she knew that Tenebrae had plenty to do for entertainment, and while she knew how they worked, going to a movie still seemed so foreign to her. A forest would be familiar, even if it was one without friendly, animal talent fairies. Though she had decided to go, it took her a while to actually leave the house. When she was finally standing at the fringe of trees, it was well past noon.

Tink wandered slowly along the treeline, looking for a path or trail. After twenty minutes, she still hadn't really found anything. Oh wait! There! Clearly, a straight path had been cut through the forest for hikers, at least it looked that way at first. As she started down the "path," she immediately tripped on something unseen and went sprawling. She twisted around to see what she had tripped on but didn't see anything, not even a protruding root. She shrugged her shoulders, deciding she had tripped over her own feet. After all, she had been much more clumsy since coming here. It was this stupid too big body. Sure, she'd had two weeks to get used to it, and she thought she had, but obviously she'd been wrong. She started to stand up and instantly knocked her head on something hard. The shock made her stumble until she sat down again. Okay, that was not just her being clumsy. She looked around while rubbing her sore head but still didn't see the cause of ner accident. Feeling very frustrated now, the young woman put her hands out in front of her, like someone trying to find her way in the dark. Suddenly, her hands brushed against something hard and rough, though she couldn't see anything. She tilted her head back, and to her surprise saw branches sticking out from the empty expanse. It didn't take much thought for her to realize that a tree had become invisible, and as she glanced down the path, she saw that this was not the only invisible tree. Chunks of bark and branches seemed to be missing from other trees when the whole tree itself was still visible. Then there were places where the only parts to be seen were the floating chunks and branches.

Slowly, Tinkerbell crawled over to the line of visible trees, where she carefully stood up. She stared at the line of invisible trees for a long time, deep in thought. Why were the trees invisible? What had made them invisible? Was it magic? Did magic exist in this world after all? If she found it, could she go back home? Well, she certainly wasn't going to find the answers to her questions just standing there, so she started walking along the invisible tree line, though not too close, she didn't want to bump her head again.

After ten minutes of walking, Tink came across a sight that very nearly made her lose her breakfast. It was a rabbit frantically hopping away from the direction she was going, at least she assumed it was a rabbit. It had the ears and body of one, but its head was completely missing, or rather invisible. She could see the muscles and bone of its neck as well as the veins. True, no blood actually spilled, but the way it looked made it seem as though there should have been puddles of red liquid all over the carpet of dead leaves and rotting twigs. She shuddered and turned away, taking breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart. The sight had only lasted a few seconds, but she knew it would stay with her a long time.

Fifteen minutes later and after more disturbing sightings of animals with invisible body parts, the light around her started to become strange. At first, it was a subtle change, but as she continued it grew more dominant. It couldn't be the sun, could it? It seemed waaay too early for sunset. Then she spotted it: a purpleish-pink beam pointed straight at the ground. Tink stopped and hid behind a nearby tree, silently watching the beam. It seemed to be causing the ground to slowly vanish. Then she had to quickly remind herself that the ground was still there; it was just invisible. She wasn't too keen to get close as it looked like the beam was cutting a deep gorge into the earth. Normally, she wouldn't be worried, but here she had no wings. If the ground really was gone and not just invisible, the fall would be terrible, maybe even deadly. Besides, she didn't want to get hit by the beam. Who knew what being invisible might do to her? No, the best course of action seemed to be to wait and see. The beam seemed to want her to see something, but what could it be?

[NPC]

The beam, being a beam, didn't notice Tinkerbell. apparently whomever was controlling the beam (assuming there was a controller, which, given the directionality of the thing was a pretty safe assumption) hadn't noticed her either. For the beam kept pouring energy and power into the ground. Layer upon layer was revealed, and soon the beam was shining forth on what appeared to be a metal bunker of some kind. There was no hatch, no lock or anything: just a shiny wall of some strange, metallic substance. The beam now shone, or rather battered, against the wall, but not a whole lot seemed to be happening.

The beam seemed to grow impatient then, swiveling a bit. It easily caught a few more nearby trees, what appeared to be a few bugs that hadn't noticed, and a tree that a certain tiny blonde girl happened to be hiding behind. The beam lowered for a few moments after that, leaving Tinkerbell completely in the open. the beam was again directed at the ground, but this seemed less purposefully, and more like someone had accidentally left the thing on and was trying to fiddle with it now.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink continued to watch the beam from her hiding spot as it caused layer after layer of dirt and stone to become invisible. What was it looking for? Gold? Diamonds? Buried Treasure? Her question was soon answered when the beam finally broke through the last layer and shone on something shiny and metallic. From her position behind the tree, she couldn’t quite make out what the thing was. Still, she felt sure that the beam, or rather who was controlling it, wanted to know what was beneath the shiny, metallic surface. For several long moments, the beam remained concentrated on that one spot, pulsing as it tried, and failed, to break through.

Suddenly, Tink gasped as all of a sudden the beam turned in her direction. She closed her eyes tight, afraid it might hit her. When she opened them again a minute later, she discovered that the tree she’d been hiding behind had been made invisible. It was definitely still there though. She could feel its rough bark under her hands; she just couldn’t see it. Thankfully, the tree had acted as a good shield, protecting her from the beam’s effects. At least, she assumed as much because she could see all of her. Just to be on the safe side though, she decided to check herself out. She pulled out a small compact mirror from her pocket and began making sure that all of her was indeed visible. This took several minutes, but when she was finally satisfied that she was all there, she started to put the mirror back in her pocket, only to nearly drop it as she caught sight of her disfigured hand. Okay, so it wasn’t her whole hand. It was just the tip of her pinky finger. Even so, it made her stomach churn unpleasantly as she looked at it. She could see the muscles and tendons as she wiggled her finger, and—She thrust her hand into her pocket as she gulped back the bile rising in her throat. It really was not a pretty sight.

Tink rummaged around in her other pocket until she pulled out her talking device. It took her longer to type out the message with only one hand, but when she finally pressed SAY, the device shouted. “Hey you! Beam controller guy! You hit me!” Here, she pulled her hand out of her pocket and waved the invisible tip of her pinky in the air. “It looks disgusting! I want you to fix it right now!” For several minutes after the device went silent, she stood there, perfectly still with her pinky finger extended in the air. When nothing happened, she huffed grumpily and wandered over to the hole the beam had made earlier. It was a bunker of some kind, though she supposed she wouldn’t know what was in it until the beam could get through the metal layer. This didn’t stop her imagination from running wild, and soon she had imagined that all her friends were being held captive in there, that the Pixie Hollow tree had somehow been moved there, that a portal back home was there. “Hurry up!” The device shouted again as Tink looked on impatiently. “I have to know what’s in there!”

[Rainbow Dash]

Believe it or not, Rainbow Dash had been sleeping. After a particularly frustrating night in the house, caused by a build-up of tension between two ponies with very different personalities, Rainbow had headed off for a comfort location. For her, that meant somewhere high. Late the previous night she had gone into the woods and climbed the tallest tree she could, nesting herself comfortably against the trunk and falling asleep.

She was a heavy sleeper, but the sound of a voice coming from somewhere below her roused her from sleep. She opened her eyes and blearily looked around, freezing when she saw that her tree was apparently floating above the ground. And it wasn't the only one--things all over the forest appeared to be floating or missing. Glancing to her left, she saw the apparent hole in the ground which had revealed a metal base. Then she heard the call from below. Hurry up, I have to know what's in there! She looked for the source of the voice and saw someone below who appeared to be talking to a sort of purplish light.

Rainbow looked at the light, trying to understand what in the world was going on. She was having a lot of trouble piecing it together, though, so she decided to ask the girl below her.

"Hey!" she called out loudly. "What's going on? Who dug that hole in the ground? What's up with the forest? And who are you? Do you know what that purple light is? Is that what's making everything disappear?" A new thought struck her, and she sat up excitedly. "Do you think it could make me invisible? That would be so coo--!"

Her thought was interrupted as she accidentally leaned forward enough to throw her balance off and make her tip off the edge of her branch. She fell to the next branch down, then managed to catch herself on something she couldn't see. "Okay, this is too dangerous. I'm getting down." She began the descent, using her feet to feel for something that her eyes might not be able to spot.

[NPC]

The waving and shouting apparently got the beam (or more appropriately, the beam's controller) to pay attention. It swiveled toward Tinkerbell for a moment, lancing the ground just in front of her, before deciding that she really wasn't worth it. Instead, the beam turned and began hammering the ground again. The metal of the bunker wasn't holding up against the beam for much longer; already it was starting to go transparent. If you squinted, you could just make out something underneath. Whatever was in the bunker, it looked decidedly suspicious... like a room with some computers and several different items tucked away in storage, many of which looked decidedly non-terrestrial in origin.

As for the tree, it was a tree, and trees, even invisible ones, didn't do things. Which makes that sentence rather silly, but definitely not filler. For with attention drawn to the tree, we can now remember that thing lived in trees. Especially squirrel things. Especially a fat squirrel thing that hadn't bothered to get out of the way but now found a strange, rainbow-colored person landing dangerously near its nest. The squeaking was definitely audible, and soon Rainbow would find herself attacked by a pudgy, outraged squirrel, who seemed to take extreme pleasure in flicking his tail in nearly random patterns and just generally making things difficult.

Because Fate has decreed this to be the goal of squirrels in a roleplay, obviously.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

At first, the beam’s controller seemed to be paying attention to her. At least, the beam was coming towards her now.. She held out her invisible pinky expectantly, but just before it touched her, the beam turned away and started focusing on the bunker again. She scowled at the beam, but since she was also very curious to see what was inside the bunker, she decided her finger could wait. She stepped slowly closer to the large hole the beam was making and peered down anxiously. Something was definitely coming through. She could see large boxy shapes if she squinted and--

Tink stumbled forward at the sound of someone suddenly shouting at her. She jumped back off the invisible ground and spun around several times, trying to spot the source of the voice. She caught a glimpse of rainbow-colored hair and had to do a double take to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Nope. There really was a girl with rainbow-colored hair up in a tree. For a moment, she just stood there, staring at the girl in disbelief. Then she shook her head and started typing out answers to rainbow girl’s questions on her device. “My name’s Lillian Tinkerbell. Yes, the beam is what’s making everything invisible. No, I’m not controlling it. I think it wants to show us what’s in the bunker. That’s what it’s focused on anyways. I wouldn’t recommend letting it turn you invisible. It isn’t pretty.” She waved her pinky finger in rainbow girl’s direction, so she could see for herself what being invisible looked like.

After she’d answered rainbow girl’s questions, Tinkerbell resumed staring at the bunker. She thought she could maybe make out what was down there. Televisions. She tilted her head to the side, continuing to squint down into the hole. Was it a security room? Were the suits watching them to keep them safe, or were they being watched for other reasons? When did they watch them? Where did they watch them? A faint blush crept into Tink’s cheeks as she considered the possibilities. They wouldn’t watch them during private moments though, would they? There had to be some sort of moral law against that. Then, she noticed something sitting in front of the televisions. Keyboards. Wait, these weren’t televisions; they were computers. Well, her security room theory still stood. What was that though? She had no name for it. It looked strange and otherworldly.

Suddenly, Tink’s concentration was broken by an animalistic screech. She spun around and saw a squirrel doing a dance for rainbow girl. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she just looked on with an amused smile on her face.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash wasn't paying any real attention to whatever was happening to the beam. She listened to the girl, Lillian, answer her questions through a little machine she was typing on. At the same time, she kicked around, trying to find another branch to drop down to so she could stop hanging from her current branch.

"Nice to meet you, Lil," she grunted as she swung around. "I'm Rainbow Dash. And I can't seem to find--aha!" She just found purchase on something below her when she heard an indignant squeak. Looking up with surprise, she stared into the beady eyes of a fat squirrel who was looking at her fingers very greedily. "Hey, no!" she said loudly. "Back off. Get back!" She blew at the creature, already wishing that Fluttershy were here to take care of this problem. Rainbow was not cut out to take care of animals.

Despite Rainbow's protestations, the squirrel darted onto her arm and up across onto her shoulder, running up and down and generally causing Rainbow to spasm as she felt the tiny claws digging in all over her body. "Hey, stop it! That tickles! Stop it, stop!" But she couldn't hold on forever, and soon she lost all of her grip on the tree and fell again, slowing slightly as she hit a few branches on the way down but still landing with a pretty solid thump on the ground.

"OW!" she screamed loudly, grabbing at her leg. "You stupid squirrel, look what you did!" Her ankle was already turning swollen, and Rainbow could feel her lower lip beginning to tremble not only from being in so much pain but also from the idea of being lame for a few weeks. She sniffed back tears, though, and turned over onto her hands and knees.

"And how am I supposed to get home now? Not only is the ground disappearing, I can't even walk right!" She looked up at Lillian with a frown, then glanced over at the laser beam. "What is that thing even doing? And doesn't the person up there know that I AM INJURED?!" She called this last part into the sky, hoping that someone else would be there and be able to help her. Lillian hardly looked strong enough to help Rainbow home on her own.

[NPC]

The bunker definitely looked abandoned, but it also definitely looked visible. The ray, unimpeded, had done its task of baring the source of what appeared to be one of the suits' little secrets. which meant that the ray could now focus on other, more fun things. It swiveled for a moment, directing its ray more or less at random, as if not quite certain where to go now that it had managed the whole revealing thing. It pointed in a direction it hadn't gone for a bit, zapping a tree into nonexistence (well, more accurately, a section of the tree; roughly a ray shaped hole in the trunk; it was quite odd).

However, it seemed to hear the two girls, and swiveled back in their general direction. The ray was, fortunately, moving very slowly, which made it very dodgable, especially if you happened to be an ex-fairy or ex-pegasus, and therefor understandably light on your feet. In fact, the girls would pretty much have to stand completely still for the beam to actually hit them again. Plus, its controller seemed to be sort of bored, drawing strange shapes into the ground. well, more like not drawing since it was making things invisible. Just go with it.

Back to the fat squirrel. The beam did manage, in its weaving, to lance the squirrel almost too precisely, mostly because it seemed to occur to the NPC account that it didn't specify that the totally invisible squirrel, was, you know, totally invisible. So Rainbow got a few free paragraphs, err, seconds to flail at her chubby tormenter before totally legit invisibility lanced it into not-seeing-ness. Which all turned out to be pretty pointless overall, because Rainbow managed to fall out of a tree. She could probably hear the chittering of her now completely invisible nemesis who was perked atop the tree above her, and totally not thinking about stalking her for the rest of her natural days or anything. Because who would want to be stalked by an invisible squirrel? That is just so not cool.

About this time, Rainbow yelled at the sky. The beam seemed to pause for a moment, ceasing its doodling and swiveling in Rainbow's direction. Not really aiming itself at her, so much as just pointing where she sort of was. It zapped the ground several feet away from her, making a few flowers and grass become invisible. On the other hand, Rainbow's nemesis let out what really sounded like a chuckle from his totally invisible position on the mostly invisible tree.

[Darwin Daugherty]

It wasn't long before the worst possible thing happened. Discord, the Avatar of Chaos, the Eternal Trickster, The Spirit of Disharmony, was left alone. He saw a forest nearby and figured why not. The trees were peaceful, and there wasn't even the sound of critters to scamper about. It gave him a place to gather his thoughts about what to do next. His form was definitely shifted from his handsome Draconequus form to this lanky monkey like form. Chocolate Skin, Vanilla Hair, and Strawberry Eyes. Oh Celestia, he was a walking cone of Neapolitan Ice Cream. His shirt was a patched work mesh of every color in the rainbow. His left sleeve was short while the right was long. His pants were basic, though the coloration of green and brown were half and half. His left foot in a cowboy boot and right in a sneaker.

With the silence of the forest, he figured a little song would help him pass the time in the walk. "I'm not a fan of puppeteers, but I have a nagging fear, someone else is pulling at the strings. Something terrible is going down through the entire town causing anarchy and all it brings. I can't sit idly, no I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it aaaaaaaaaaaaaall. Discord! I'm howling at the moon and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord, what ever did we do to make you take our world away? Discord, are we your prey alone, or are we just your stepping stones for taking back the throne? Discord! We won't take it any more! So take your tyranny AWAY!"

Up ahead of him, he saw a beam shooting around and making things disappear. There were two girls nearby. One of which seemed a little familiar. Picking up a couple stones from the ground he walked closer while singing. "I'm fine with changing status quo, but not in letting go. Now the world is being torn apart. A terrible catastrophe played by your symphony, what a terrifying work of art! I can't sit idly, no I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it aaaaaaaaaaaaaall. Discord! I'm howling at the moon and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord, what ever did we do to make you take our world away? Discord, are we your prey alone, or are we just your stepping stones for taking back the throne? Discord! We won't take it any more! So take your tyranny AWAY!"

As he got closer, basically within ear shot...or a stone's throw, he lightly through one of the stones through the beam with just enough force to lightly hit the one with the rainbow hair. His hips started moving to an instrumental piece in his head that went along with the song. As it continued he went into a running man dance and tossed the other stone through aiming for another light thunk on the blonde.

He then stopped, started clapping in time with the beats only he seemed to hear. "I can't sit idly, no I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it aaaaaaaaaaaaaall. Discord! I'm howling at the moon and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord, what ever did we do to make you take our world away? Discord, are we your prey alone, or are we just your stepping stones for taking back the throne? Discord! We won't take it any more! So take your tyranny AWAY!" With the final word he struck a pose of spread feet and a single hand extending upward with a finger pointing to the sky.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink gasped when she saw the rainbow-haired girl, Rainbow Dash, fall from the tree. She rushed over to the girl who seemed to be in pain. Of course, she was. She’d just fallen out of a tree, after all. At first, though, Tink couldn’t see anything wrong with the girl. She looked at her from head to foot once, twice, thrice. Wait, had her ankle gotten bigger? Tink watched with a mixed expression of fascination and horror while Rainbow Dash’s ankle swelled to the size of a large pototao. There was no way she’d be able to walk on it, and Tink doubted she’d be able to support the other girl. Even in this world, she was still tiny compared to most other humans. So the young blonde woman did what she did best: she started to build something to help.

While Rainbow Dash was shouting at the beam’s controller, Tink had wandered off, collecting sticks, twigs, leaves, and bits of soft moss. She’d only bumped her head once because after that she had held a hand out to detect any invisible hazards. After about ten minutes, she returned to Rainbow Dash and started tinkering with the stuff she’d gathered. Maybe a person who hadn’t formerly been a tinker fairy would have had difficulty working with the materials, but Tink had been working with this kind of stuff her whole life. Okay, usually she also had some tools to work with, but she could make due. By the time she was done with her tinkering, she had constructed a crutch. It was mostly made with sticks tied together with bits of long grass, but there was some moss in it too for cushioning. She laid the crutch next to Rainbow Dash. “Here, use this to support yourself. It should get you home.” She had typed the words into her device before pressing SAY.

Now, Tink was back at the hole. She quickly took out a pencil and piece of paper from her pocket and started trying to draw what was in the hole. She wasn’t an artist though; she didn’t paint the butterflies. Most tinker fairies could at least draw well enough to get their point across though. That was all she needed now. So for several minutes, the former fairy drew what was in the hole, her tongue sticking out in her intense concentration. Once she was satisfied with her drawing, she wrote SECURITY ROOM? at the top and put the paper and prncil back into her pocket.

Tink walked back over to Rainbow Dash. She was ready to go now, and she would walk Rainbow Dash back home just in case the rainbow-haired girl needed help. It was then that she heard someone singing. She turned around in a slow circle and saw a figure walk towards them. Just looking at the person made her head ache. She couldn’t be sure if it was a man or woman, but the mix of clothing and patterns she/he was wearing was very confusing. She could only watch as the person picked up a stone and threw it through the beam. Judging by Rainbow Dash’s reaction, the stone had hit her. Then, he/she again picked up a stone and threw it through the beam. This time, it hit Tinkerbell. She rubbed her head where the stone had struck her and scowled at the person. She was about to write a message on her device when he/she started dancing. After that, she couldn’t help but stare at the person open-mouthed.

[NPC]

So the invisible squirrel was still obviously enjoying the suffering of the people below. He also seemed to be enjoying the antics of the strange newcomer. Though no one could actually see it, the squirrel had turned to look and watch, twitching his tail in anticipation. After all, the overweight invisible squirrel and the Shifted draconequus had something in common: they were both setting out for a life of trouble and trolling.

The beam, or more accurately the beam's controller, however, was not pleased. Rocks were apparently entirely offensive to the beam controller, and since he'd already done his plot given du--errr, he'd already accomplished his aim, he was free to do what pleased him. And in this case, what pleased him was aiming the invisibility beam toward the being doing the rock throwing. This meant a full out swivel, the beam aimed straight for Discord. It would definitely miss him, what with the dancing and the absolutely atrocious aim of whomever was doing the firing. But the foolish Shifted did this thing where he stopped and pointed to the sky.

And why would anyone tempt Fate like that?

The beam swiveled, and unless someone did something super fast, the draconequus boy was soon to become very, very invisible.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow continued moping at the ground, watching the invisibility ray come close to her but feeling completely unwilling to move. Aside from being in pain, it might actually be fun to be invisible, despite what the other girl had said. But she didn't have much time to think about this, since Lillian was soon next to her with a pair of crutches.

"Did you...make these?" Rainbow asked in wonder. She pulled herself up against the tree, determined to get up herself even if she couldn't manage to get all the way home by herself. Lillian wandered away while Rainbow stood, but she was back shortly and offering a lending hand. Rainbow reluctantly accepted the other girl's assistance. How else was she supposed to get back? "Thanks, I guess," she said. "What were you looking at over there?"

Rainbow began to hear a strange voice, singing, of all things. She couldn't quite make out all the words, but she began to look around. It took extra time to turn around, though, and before she could manage to see who was making the noise she was hit on the arm with what felt like a rock. "Hey!" she said loudly, whipping her head around just in time to see someone throw a rock--which then became invisible--at her new friend. "Hey there, who do you think you are?"

Apparently the guy was all too willing to oblige her demand for information. At the first mention of "discord," Rainbow's eyes widened, and she looked the newcomer up and down. "No way," she said, hobbling backward just a step. "How--"

Before she could fully process that one of her old enemies (and maybe not enemy? RD still wasn't quite sure she trusted Fluttershy's analysis on that one) might have arrived and probably just threw a rock at her, she spotted the invisibility ray streamlining toward the white-haired guy. Her eyes widened and she used her one good foot to launch herself toward the guy (who might or might not be Discord), hoping to knock him aside of the beam. "Watch out!" she shouted as she flew through the air, jumping farther than any normal person could but still not sure it would be enough. She'd only get one shot; if she couldn't reach him on this first leap, she wouldn't have time to haul herself back up and try again.

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin noticed as he danced the beam streaking by him. The way it went after him made it obvious it was not a random act of nature. It was controlled. And something that was organized and directed could not defeat The Element of Disharmony, the Demon of Dissonance, The Tumult Terror, The Creature of Cacophony, Captain Clamor, Colonel Clinker, the Djinn of Din, Heir Harshness, Jangle Junior, Judge Jarring, The Racket Rocket, The Singer of Sour Notes. There I used all the synonyms for discord, the nicknames are done for this thread. And it didn't seem to enjoy being used by others. But there was a fatal flaw made by the controller of the beam. It was moving to make Discord invisible. Make a being, whose entire goal in life and immortality, invisible. Robbing everyone of his one weakness, the ability to see him before he does something. Would anyone want to do that to the world?

Just as he was about to be bathed in the light and become more powerful, the rainbow haired girl shouted hey to him. this caused him to avert his gaze and spotted her leaping at him. Crashing into him, he wrapped his arms around her and the two spun on his feet a couple times out of the way before stopping in a dance-style dip with the girl's injured foot raised in the air. "Aggressive one eh? While I appreciate the feelings, and can totally understand the attraction, this might not be the best time. How about I get rid of this beam first?" As he raised her back up he turned and held out a single hand towards the beam. "If a beam of light is throwing everything in a state of chaos, how about we just reflect the light back into itself?" He snapped his fingers and created a mirror under the beam. At least that's what should have happened when he snapped. Apparently absolutely none of his abilities survived the trip. "Huh no Mirror?"