Rise of Ruinous

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: RISE OF RUINOUS

Chapter 13 - Genesis: TOLERANCE

The time: One month after the treaty between Transforma and Equestria was ratified.

Virtuna hums her song as she gets the arcade set up - or tries to, seeing as her artificial leg still hadn't been replaced.

Virtuna: They charge me 600 bits and they take their time fixing it.  And they always FIX it, not REPLACE it.....  I tell ya, Verdescale, it's stupid.

Verdescale: *nod* Who do they think you've got in your tree, Princess Celestia herself?

As Virtuna shrugs, Prince Shiftshape lands outside and walks in.

Virtuna: *She and Verdescale bow their heads* Greetings, Prince Shiftshape.

P.Shiftshape: *bow* Hello, Virtuna.  Still having a problem getting your leg replaced?

Virtuna: BIG time.  They charge me three months' profits and then take an eternity.

P.Shiftshape: Well, forget them from now on.

Verdescale: Oh?

The prince nods, then produces a new artificial leg.

Virtuna: Prince?

P.Shiftshape: *puts it on her* Consider this your housewarming gift.

Virtuna: WOW! *nuzzles the changeling* Thank you!

P.Shiftshape: *nuzzles back* You're welcome.

*INTRO SEQUENCE*

As Prince Shiftshape and Princess Morphina play a few games, an eagle shriek splits the skies, making Virtuna and Verdescale look up.

Virtuna: Who dat?

R.Dash: Believe me, *enters the arcade* ya don't wanna know.

The pegasus bows to the changelings, then notices Virtuna's leg.

R.Dash: Well!  That company got that leg replaced?

Virtuna: No, Prince Shiftshape got that leg replaced.

R.Dash: Awesome!

Rainbow Dash and Prince Shiftshape exchange a high-hoof as Gilda lands by the arcade.

Virtuna: WHOA!  Four kinds of ponies, dragons, a draconequus, changelings and now a GRIFFON?  How many crazy and cool beasts does this part of Equestria have?

Gilda: Just one kind: Mine, you.

Virtuna: *blink* Hmm?

Gilda (advancing on Virtuna, who backs off towards the staircase): Let me get one thing into your head, pipsqueak: I am the COOL-EST thing in Equestria, NOT the princesses, NOT Nightmare Moon, NOT ANYTHING ELSE.  GOT ME?!

Gilda stomps out, shoving past a dumbstruck Rainbow Dash as Virtuna gets back up and shakes it off.

Virtuna: *whistle* Cranky birdie.

R.Dash: THAT..... is why you didn't wanna know what that shriek was.....

P.Shiftshape: Not the friendliest thing I ever saw here, Rainbow.

R.Dash: Uh, yeeeeeeeeeee-AH!

P.Morphina: You know her?

R.Dash: KNEW her, Princess.  She was one of my best friends in flight camp, I mean, inseperably so.  We'd have races all around flight camp and we'd even get into fights about who was fastest.

P.Shiftshape: Sounds like Captain Imitato and his brother.

R.Dash: *laugh* A bit like sibling rivalry.  Then one day, I called her over to meet my NEW friends, Twilight and Pinkie and the others, and she was so mean to them because they *flaps her wings angrily* "weren't cool enough for her".

P.Morphina: THAT'S not fair.  All those friends of yours are real nice and cool enough, Rainbow Dash.

R.Dash: *smiles* Aw, thanks, Princess.  Anyway, she was so fixated on being cool, she didn't see how nice my friends were or how cool they could be in their own right.  And NOW when she says she's cooler than even Nightmare Moon?  This time, she's gone TOO far.

P.Shiftshape: *smirk* Far as I go, Nightmare Moon's WAY cooler than THAT birdbrain.

Virtuna: Oh?

P.Shiftshape: *nod* First of all, I don't think that griffon would be able to handle flying as fast as Moon did to smack our mother around like that.

Verdescale: *smirk* Her feathers would burn off.

Everyone looks at Verdescale, then laughs.  Later that day, Rarity hums as she works on her latest fashions while Sweetie Belle waited for her friends to take her to Sweet Apple Acres.  The door opened and shut, getting the little unicorn excited as she galloped out of the room with her saddlebags.

Rarity: Have fun!

S.Belle: OK!

A short while later,.....

S.Belle (from downstairs, startling Rarity so much she accidentally ripped a sleeve off with her magic): BIG SIS!  C'MERE, QUICK!

Sensing the urgency in her sister's voice, Rarity galloped downstairs fast.  Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she was horrified to see ALL her dresses ripped to tatters!  Two ponies raised their heads nervously out of dressing rooms.

Pony 1 - pink fem with yellow hair: She just..... Everything's.....

Pony 2 - blue fem with red hair: And her coat! So UGLY and brown, YUCK!

Rarity: Brown?

The fashionista looks down and sees a long brown feather.  That plus how her dresses were destroyed led Rarity to one conclusion:

Rarity: Gilda.

As Rarity tried to get her clothes back in selling condition, across town at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was also getting ready for the day's fun.  Applejack was also preparing, stretching her legs for the day's harvesting when Big Macintosh trotted in, panicked.

B.Macintosh: AJ!

Applejack: Hmm?

The two rushed outside and gasped.  Half the trees look like they were blown over or split in half lengthwise!

Applejack: LANDS SAKES!  What in thunderation?!

B.Macintosh: I heard an eagle cry after I saw all this damage.

Applejack: Gilda.....  *sigh*  C'mon, Big Mac, let's..... let's clean up.

It's all hooves on deck as the Apples try to clean up the orchard.  Twilight Sparkle arrived after a while to help clean up by using her magic, then Spike ran over to the farm.

Spike: TWILIGHT!

Twilight Sparkle dashed back to the library to see all her books knocked over in a mishmashed pile, a brown feather on top as a calling-card.

T.Sparkle: Gilda.....

Twilight Sparkle sighs, then puts her books back on the shelves as Pinkie Pie wakes up to the same mess at Sugar Cube Corner, a brown feather on top of a cake that reads, "Pinkie Pie is a LOSER!" and had Gilda's spitefully-smiling face on it.  The party pony growled as she saw that cake.

P.Pie: What a stinky birdie!

As Pinkie Pie cleaned up the cake shop, a roar echoed out!  Zecora was out gathering herbs when she heard it.

Zecora: Hmm?  What was that?  Fluttershy helping a jungle cat?

The zebra dashed out of the woods to investigate.  What she saw in Fluttershy's cottage was heart-wrenching: The Bearer of Kindness curled in a corner, weeping and shivering, not an animal in the room.  Not even Angel Bunny was present.  Zecora dashed to Fluttershy's side.

Zecora: Fluttershy!  What happened here?  Why do you feel all this fear?

Fluttershy could only point at a brown feather on the floor.  Zecora's eyes narrowed in rage.  Outside.....

R.Dash: What are you doing?!  I heard there was SOMEgriffon terrorizing everypony, I just didn't think it'd be YOU!

Gilda: Lay offa me, Rainbow TRASH!  YOU'RE the one hanging around these *Zecora growls and walks slowly outside towards Gilda, who had her back to the approaching zebra* lame-o ponies all the time, you've lost your edge!  I thought you were cool!

R.Dash: I thought YOU were cool FIRST!  If I'd've known you were THIS rude and obnoxious, I'd've never befriended you in the first place!

Gilda growls, raising a taloned claw to scratch at Rainbow Dash - only for Zecora to grab it, fling her around and hurl her out of town into the forest, right into a BIG patch of Poison Joke!

R.Dash: ?!  Zecora?!

Zecora:

*looks at Rainbow Dash* You'd better get to Fluttershy's house,

she's shivering and squeaking like a scared little mouse.

*She fixates a glare on Gilda*

YOU!  You think that Rainbow is lame,

then scare and destroy like it's some game?!

You have no love for those not like you,

and you show it in all you say and do.

But there's one thing you forgot, and it's bad news for you.

These "lame-o" ponies are MY best friends, TOO!

Gilda: YOU!?  You are the lamest thing I ever saw in my life!  I can't think of anything else lamer!

Just then, a second "Gilda" landed nearby.

Gilda: What the?!

"Gilda": What the?!

Gilda: HEY!  Stoppit!

"Gilda": HEY!  Stoppit!

Gilda: CUT-IT-OUT!

"Gilda": CUT-IT-OUT!

Gilda growled, then reared her head back and tried to roar - only to wind up with a sound similar to Fluttershy's attempt at it.

"Gilda": Was THIS what you were trying to do?

"Gilda" rears her head back and fires a picture-perfect lion roar right at the stunned griffon.  Gilda shivers as she gets a high-volume dose of her own medicine.  "Gilda" smirks as she turns into Prince Shiftshape, much to everypony's delight as Virtuna trots up, smiling.

Virtuna: When I heard that roar, I figured she needed a dose of her own rudeness.

Gilda: Rudeness?!  That is MY ROAR!!

P.Shiftshape: Funny what can happen when you've got a CHANGE-LING on your friends list.

Zecora: You should be ashamed of yourself,

all that hate should be put on the shelf.

As for me, I don't care if we don't look the same,

As long as we're friends, nopony here is lame.

Twilight Sparkle smiles, then senses something, craning her head towards Canterlot.....

T.Sparkle: No way.....

Zecora looks up in shock as she sees the same crystal dust that surrounded the other ponies that got Elements of Harmony surround her!

Applejack: So wait?  Ya'll DON'T need to be a pony to get one of those?!

Everypony is in shock as Zecora got a necklace as well, her cutie mark as the charm.  Discord flew down after the shards, blinking as he saw Zecora.

Fluttershy: zecora?  y-y-you are an element?

Discord: Did you know the first holder of the Element of Tolerance was a deer?

Rarity: Oh?

Discord: *nod* Yes.  Ever since it was discovered, the Element of Tolerance has NEVER *Fluttershy cringes a bit and Discord bows his head as he looks at her* - sorry *Fluttershy straightens back up with a slight smile* - been held by a pony.

T.Sparkle: Not once?

Discord: It ALWAYS goes to a non-pony Equestrian that exhibits the same traits Zecora here just did, a willingness to see beyond a pony's cover and see what they are all about inside.

Gilda (voice getting squeakier and quieter): WHAT?!  You mean SHE threw me into the Poison Joke and SHE gets the Element of Harmony?!

Discord: She threw you into the Poison Joke since YOU needed a lesson in being tolerant of other ponies' differences AND because you were INtolerant of EVERY single thing LIVING in this village that is NOT... A... GRIFFON!

Fluttershy: YEAH!

That got all the ponies - and Zecora - laughing.  Gilda, however, wasn't laughing as she tried to take off - only to find out she was having so many control problems, it made Rainbow Dash's bout with Poison Joke exposure seem like a minor problem!

Gilda: AH!  *CRASH!*  NO!  *SMASH!*  WHY-ME?!  *THUD!*

The griffon smashed, crashed and bashed her way out of the village.  Meanwhile, the ponies faced a HUGE clean-up, Prince Shiftshape sighing a bit, then flapping his wings hard, making them buzz.  Up above flew a squadron of changeling soldiers, who descended down and helped clean up every bit of damage Gilda did!

Applejack: WOW!

P.Shiftshape: Yeah!

R.Dash: So THAT'S why Queen Chrysalis didn't have that huge army of changelings she had before.

P.Shiftshape: *nod*  Her rule was on the way down, anyway.  What happened during the wedding only accelerated the process.

Discord: I heard of that.  Feeding changelings love, rubbish!  Cake tastes a LOT better!

P.Pie: *laugh*  Oh, yeah!

After a while, all the damage was repaired by the ponies and changelings and everypony celebrated the finding of a new Element of Harmony.  Discord flew back to Canterlot and ran into the princesses and Nightmare Moon.

P.Celestia: So?  Who and what?

Discord: Tolerance and Zecora.

P.Luna: Zecora?  The zebra?

Discord: *nod* Yes, Princess.

N.Moon: The streak continues.

Everyone chuckles a bit.

P.Celestia: Once Respect is revealed, Ruinous' henchponies will start the attack.  This is close to the beginning of the greatest battle in Equestrian history.

N.Moon: Soon to be followed by the greatest TRIUMPH in Equestrian history.

P.Celestia: You seem so sure of that.  In fact, every time I bring Ruinous up lately, you seem to be increasingly confident of our victory.

N.Moon: Of course!  Twilight and her friends beat me and Discord, Twilight herself sniffed out Queen Chrysalis and ALL of those ponies have taken on every trial that's been set before them with their unique blend of friendship, love and trust.  They also have something I can see burning deep in them: The hope in themselves that their bond IS enough to overcome obstacles, and THAT is the greatest strength they possess.

Nightmare Moon punctuated that with a nod and heads off down the hallway.  Princess Celestia watches her walk off and slowly smiles.

TO BE CONTINUED