Discordian Promise

With a bit of work, Midas manages to pull it out telekinetically, seeing that it fit Dark Feather's description in terms of size, but it was so covered in gunk, he couldn't tell if it was shiny.

Midas dropped the "shiny" on the ground and TKed a vial of green liquid to Compass before running to hide behind Steel Works. "Here. Acid. Kill it," he mumbled, hugging Ian and hiding his face.

The crystal pony frowned. Whatever was in the green vial was surely an over-reaction...
Actually, she had the rather distinct feeling that if she suggested just cleaning it, she'd receive some rather odd looks from the party. Besides, if it was a real wonder it could survive a little green stuff, couldn't it?

She hoped so. She took the vial, holding it awkwardly in her hooves, and unstop peering it. The pungent smell almost overwhelmed her, before she upturned the vial and poured it, slowly, over the shiny.
After everything, she wanted to see it, at least once.

As the green acid starts working on the gunk covering it, Everyone can see the the shiny is in the shape of a key, and made of a multicolored crystalline substance. Before they can get a really good look at it, though, it begins to smoke under the touch of the acid

Sunlit Wave is snapped out of a distracted reverie by the rising peals of smoke. He rushes forward and reaches into his saddlebags, producing a roll of gauze. With a practiced move he bites off a length of gauze and envelopes the key in it, scrubbing vigorously. Once the gauze starts smoke, he lets the key fall out and sets the gauze aside.

OOC:

The key, now cleared off of all the gunk and acid, now appears as a brilliant multicolored crystal. it almost gives off a subtle glow, and manages to sparkle even outside its actual physical form.

As soon as Dark Feathers saw them pull it out of the hole, she turned and faced away from it. "Thereyouhaveit.Nowgo."

Compass stared at the key, her eyes practically shining. The way it shimmered and the cut of it were fairly unusual; she had seen shiny things before (she was, after all, a shiny pony) but the key was brighter than most of them.

She picked it up, admiring it for a moment. She would be the first to admit it; she had a bad habit of zoning out when wonders were involved. Still, she pried her eyes away from the crystal and turned to look at the rest of the party, slightly bashfully.

"Um... Does anyone else want to carry it?"

Sunlit Wave smiles, just a little, and says "You are the collector of wonders, are you not? Take good care of it."

At this point the Critic pops out of the ground... "Well then friends... Now is as good as any to 'exit, stage left' as it were?" He suggests while pointing to his underground tunnel for a quick escape... Hoping that joined back with the best of timings and that they'll take his exit he's made, he'd feel so embarrassed if he popped back topside too soon for the real exit time.

Compass smiled and laughed, an expression that was equal parts bashful and embarrassed, as she pocketed the key, sliding it in next to the element of magic. "Am I that obvious?"

She almost jumped when the diamond dog re-emerged; honestly, she had almost forgotten about him. And the Minotaur. And probably would have forgotten the other ponies, if Midas hadn't helped retrieve the key...

"Go."Dark Feathers said, still looking away from them.

ooc:

Sunlit Wave bows his head to Darkfeathers before entering Marked's tunnel, his eyes glinting softly in the darkness as he leads the group back to the central room. When they arrive, and he sees that everyone is out in the open, he lies down, finally letting his tiredness show, and sighs. "Midas, that might just have been the most destructively naive action I've ever seen someone take."

Midas' eyebrows knit. "But only the key was poison. I..I think. They didn't sneeze or break out when they touched the shiny things, so they can't be allergic. So what's the problem?"

"Do you really think that they would have reacted to your hooves any better than the key?" Sunlit Wave asks, extending a hoof and dropping the two lumps of gold in front of him. "Think of what they tried to do to Compass Rose because she glowed. Imagine what the older birds would have done to that young one you gave one of these to. Have you ever had food stolen from you? Someone bigger and stronger than you just tears it away from you, and makes you watch as they eat it? That is what you offered him."

Midas looked down at the ground and frowned, eyebrows knitting. "But...with shinys it's about looking, not eating. That doesn't make sense. Why would you steal a shiny? I get stealing food and water and stuff. It's bad, but I get it. But why not just put it where every pony can see? It's easy, isn't it? It's like stealing a warm day or a library book. It's stupid."

"The concept of 'having' is quite tantalizing to some. Being able to call someone -- something...mine." Sunlit Wave says with a sigh. "And regardless of what makes sense, Darkfeathers had already told us what having a shiny around does to the clan. It tears them apart. You heard her, didn't you? Stupid though it may be, 'one shiny nearly destroyed' them. I've no idea how or why, but the fact remains that shinies bring them to civil war."

"That's stupid. Hippos are stupid."

Midas laid on his side and curled up on the ground, wrapping his scarf around his face.

Sunlit Wave stands, stretching all his joints slowly and precisely, and moves closer to Midas, wrapping a wing over him. "Possibly. But that doesn't make them any less than you or me. It just means you have to be careful, and think about the consequences of your actions. Can you reattach your hooves, by any chance?"

OOC:

Midas sighed and sat up next to Sunlit, though he didn't bother to unwrap his scarf from his face. "You guys'll probably have to help me with that. Ruby said that I was dumber than a wombat when I was dealing with people. It's like a bat, but wom. Uh...I think I can do that. Never tried."

He magically pressed the pieces of his hooves back together before putting drops of a sticky grey fluid on them.

Meta:

Midas gets his hooves reattached, but they still hurt.

Compass remained silent during the exchange. She had pulled out the key, and looked like she was examining it, until one realised the way she was turning it over, the slight impatience in her stamp. That was a conversation she wanted no part of, because she agreed with Sunlit.

Midas didn't think the Hippocorvids would tear themselves apart over one shiny; even her suggestion at dividing the key had been fairly naive. When ponies had something they wanted, something unique, they didn't share it.
It was why she the key was the first Wonder she ever owned. She usually stuck to things no pony could have.

But then, this was special. It wasn't just a key; it was Discords key. Why would he give it away?

Spoiler:

While the key gave off a certain otherworldly feel that came from things that Discord had personally created, and had a slight tweak in its morphic field that produced the unusual shine, Compass cannot detect any active spells on it.

ooc:

Spoiler:

Compass approached the statue in the centre of the room. She deserved a buck to the face; a key made by Discord on the one hoof, a pedestal with keyholes on the other. She had focused so much on the statue in question that she had forgotten about the holes spaced along it.

She circled around, until she found a lock that looked like it fit. She leaned towards it, before hesitating. Maybe she should ask before doing this. Or maybe she should let Midas do it instead? After all, he was 'the Shinymaker' after all...

She glanced up at the statue pony, and her face turned in determination.
At the same instant, she inserted the key, and tried turning it.

The key turned in the lock with no trouble. Once it turned all the way through, the key glowed briefly, then fused with the statue, with the statue morphing into the same substance as the key. All four remaining keyholes are still visible.

"One down," she breathed, taking in the statues new appearance, "four to go."