Discordian Promise

Compass squeezed her eyes, as if not seeing might translate to not happening. Things had been going so well- relatively, at least. Midas'... transformation (the earth pony could think of no other word for it) was unexpected, maybe even a little terrifying...but he was a unicorn. Magical power was his birthright, and at least the globule he had created had been directed at the Hippocorvids.

Until they had begun piling on top of him, of course.

Compass wanted to rush towards them, and buck them off. Instead, she stood, hooves rooted to the floor, and closed her eyes. She thought she felt the universe tilt for a second, but she didn't dare open them to look.

She told Steel Works she wanted to protect the children, but when she had to, she couldn't even open her eyes.  They were piling onto Midas; one of them had already crushed a bee. Did Magasi eat bugs?
They- all of them- were going to lose Discords game. They might die down here, alone, and she couldn't do anything. She felt her eyes beginning to water

'Windy... I'm sorry. I knew I wasn't supposed to be the element of magic.'
Except...
Except the pictures that flashed in Compass thoughts weren't of Windy. They weren't even of the Faithful Student, doomed to stone eternal if they failed.
A Beekeeper.
A Philosopher.
A Mechanic.
A Critic.
A Healer.
And, in a battered old cloak... a Wonderluster.

Her eyes felt hot, but it was a heat that spread throughout Compass' body. A white heat, that caught her fur and made it shimmer, sparkle and shine. Like Crystal.
An odd, almost serenity passed Compass features... and the light that shone from her chest (her heart) spread out in a wave, passing harmlessly through the elements of Harmony... though changing them in the process. Each element- Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness- felt a small jolt run through them, a jolt that passed with the wave, but left them with the same shining coat that Compass had, not just a sparkling make-over, but...
Ideals. Shining.

The Hippicorvids, unfortunate enough to get caught in the crystal wave, on the other hand...

Spoiler:

The bright burst of light was too much for most of the creatures to handle. they fell to the ground, though weather it was from pain, or amazement was uncertain. Only  the leader was  still up.

The leader, for once looked just as mesmerized as the rest of the Hippocorvids. "So...So...shiny." She certainly looked much worse for the wear than before. Then she looked down at her cringing subjects. Her feathers started to rufffle, and she started to yell

"Now!You!Understand! The creatures all moaned. "You-trust-the-chaotic-ones-gifts-and-promises!What-do-they-bring-but-pain?" Slowly, a few of the Hippocovids began to get to their feet. "Shinies-don't-belong-here-and-I-will-remove-them-for-your-own-good!" She got back into a fighting stance, flanked by a much smaller group of creatures

ooc:

One of the standing Hippocorvids tried to chase off the bee swarm, but only succeed in hitting a single bee. It then went to check on the Leader, who was looking very battered but still standing.

ooc:

Steel rushed into the midst of the hippocorvids again, swinging his arms out and hitting the leader and another one.

combat+status:

The last hit cracked the Leader's helmet, and knocked it off her head. She slumped to the ground, unconscious. The rest of the standing hippocorvisds rush to her side, urging her to talk to them, but seemingly no longer hostile.

ooc:

Midas blinked a few times. It was over? And his muscles weren't locked and he was all shiny and pretty. That was good he guessed, but he felt a bit confused. Aftera moment of deliberation, Midas stepped forward, pushing his way through the hippocorvids and over to their leader. "You've got poison in your belly. That's where half your soul is, so that's really bad." he said softly, pulling out a small vial of thin brown syrup. "This'll get it out of you, but it's kinda gonna suck. So sorry about that." He leaned the leader's head back and poured the syrup down her throat.

Meta:

The leader moaned, but managed to drink it without choking. After a second, she started shaking, and threw up (luckily, not on anyone) Still shaking, she looked over to the standing hippocorvids, and motioned for them to tend to the unconscious ones. She muttered. "Whydidyoucomeshinymaker.Ijustmanagedtogetcontrolbackafterhidingthefirstshiny.Whydoyoubringmorechaostoourhome?"

Midas turned and looked at his friends. "I didn't mean to come here. Discord sent us even though we didn't want to go. And I didn't mean to bother you either. But they were takers. They took my element from me and I need it back. And they tried to take my friend from me. People don't get haved. Are shinies bad for them? They make them happy."

"They also make them take things," Skitter pointed out as she started to take stock of her remaining bees...

((How many do I have left?))

((EDIT: Also, can the leader be considered helpless right now?))

The leader gave a bitter smile. "Yesitmakesthemhappy.ShiniesarealltheythinkaboutnowOneshinynearlydestroyeduswheneveryonefoughtoverit.Go.Takeyourcursedshinies"

ooc:

Sunlit Wave stands up shakily, moderately surprised that the attacks stopped. He smiles as he notes with quiet pleasure that his shiny new style had expunged the dirt and paint from his coat, leaving it sparkling in an almost familiar fashion. His smile fades, however, as he begins to piece together the greater narrative from the leader's comments. "Skitterbuzz is probably right, Midas." He says solemnly. "The anticipation of...shinies...made them happy, but it also made them willing to fight and batter and ravage. Tell me, er, madam...what was life like before any shinies were here?"

"Shinies are Magic," Compass muttered. That was what it sounded like, anyway; to give the Hippocorvids their due, she hadn't heard that one before.

Of course... for all she knew, it might be true. After all, that...thing that had just happened had made Compass and her companions shiny, hadn't it?
What was that, anyway? It felt... warm. She could almost still feel it, burning in her chest, a heat that made her feel somehow lighter.

She shook her head, and pulled her cloak tighter to conceal more of her coat. She found herself wishing she had a hood to cover her shining mane too.
Instead, she addressed the leader.

"What is this first shiny? I mean... I admit, I'm asking because I'm curious to see it- it sounds like another wonder-... but couldn't you have divided it between the Flock or something? "

Midas chewed his lower lip in a sad sort of way. "Giving people things...that's supposed to help them be better, not make them worse. This is wrong. Unless..." his eyes went wide and he stage-whispered to his group and the leader: "The first shiny is poison! Or...or maybe you're allergic to shinies, I dunno, but we have to help to make them better! We have to get the poison out of them!"

The Leader gave a puzzled look. At least she was begining to look betterThe-first-shiny-is-first-shiny.Not-big-enough-to-share-and-too-hard-to-spilt.About-this-big." She said, indicating a length of about 7 inches. "Long-but-not-wide."

"Just giving ponies...creatures...things doesn't help them, Midas. You have to be certain you're giving them the right things. Sometimes, that means giving them nothing at all." Sunlit Wave says, walking closer to the leader. "Do you have a name, madam?"

The Leader straightened up and unfurled her wings. "DarkFeathers" she said in a serious tone.

"That will help." Sunlit Wave replies, reaching a hoof back to touch the constellation on his flank. "I've never done this on anything quite like you before, but the term hippocorvid does make this rather simple." He continues quietly, drawing his hoof forward as the stars on it rearranged, forming a small trapezoid. "Corvus." He whispers, before gently pressing the constellation to Dark Feathers' chest. "Now then," He whispers, conveniently right next to Dark Feathers' ear. "Do we need to take the first shiny without anyone noticing? Will your friends become violent if they see us leaving with it?"

OOC:

Dark Feathers got to her feet. Noone-knows-where-it-is-but-me.If-you-are-careful-noone-would-know-you-had-it."

"It...might be a little harder than just being careful." compass grimmaced, motioning towards the rest of the shiny party.

"I mean... being shiny is how this whole thing started. Do you think you can keep them from following us?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Midas examined his hooves before looking back up. "Yeah this could be a problem."

The Critic wordlessly goes to making an exit tunnel, knowing that'd be the quick and easy answer to this problem.

(going to take 20 on this task if we have the time for that)

Dark Feather's shrugged. "First -shiny-is-in-my-quarters.No-one-is-allowed-in-but-me." She motioned towards a small corridor off to the side.