Total Drama Friendship is Tragic

Chapters

Total Drama FIM
Not So Happy Campers Part 1
Not So Happy Campers Part 2
The Big Sleep
Dodgebrawl
Not Quite Famous
The Sucky Outdoors
Phobia Factor
Up the Creek

Total Drama FIM

In Equestria, not much is known about the outside world, and only a few ponies have ever been out there. Princess Celestia was one of those ponies.

Ever since she had been contacted for permission to film various points of Equestria for a television show called “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” she had been kept up to date on the entertainment industry from Earth. Although the show was clearly the most popular on their channel, it still had to compete with other “cartoons” such as Spongebob Squarepants on Nick, Gravity Falls on Disney Channel, and Teen Titans Go! on Cartoon Network.

A few shows had entered this metaphorical ring, but had since lost popularity or had ended. One show in particular was a mystery to her, and although she loved the concept, she hated the execution. It was still popular when Friendship is Magic first started airing, but was only real competition for the first season or so. This show was called Total Drama, and it had recently ended Pahkitew Island with very little hope of a renewal.

At the same time Doctor Hooves has recently made a breakthrough in technology, inventing television for Equestria with four channels, and was an instant success. Suddenly demand for programs was wanted, and soon many popular shows were coming to Equestria. The Tonight Show with Princess Luna, and Equestria News Network immediately became the most popular shows.

One day the least popular of the channels, National Bronco Company (NBC), came up with the idea for a reality tv show, where competitors would be picked off until one was left standing. After drawing up their plans they announced a series with the running title, “Last Pony Standing.” Before the show was announced, however, Princess Celestia visited NBC, with her hopes of bringing Total Drama to Equestria.

Teletoon

Chris McLean sat in his office at Teletoon, writing a letter to Mr. Turner, asking him to renew Total Drama for another year. So far, unlike other seasons, there had not even been any talk about the show receiving another season, and he was starting to get worried for his fame’s sake.

Back in 2006 he had been asked to be the host of Total Drama, and it had been his big break, and what he became known for. Although the ratings died down significantly after World Tour, it wasn’t enough to stop his fame, as he was signed to promotional deals. After his imprisonment for dumping toxic waste, suddenly all of that was gone. As it turned out, no one wanted to have a criminal for a spokesperson, so he was removed from almost all of those positions. He remained the host of Total Drama, but by this point the show had hit rock bottom, and it seemed the network had tried to push Season 5 as fast as it could through production, as both All Stars and Pakitew were filmed with just two weeks separating the two, and Pakitew itself being hastily put together as a filming location.

Chris groaned as he remembered the laziness of the network, but he quickly snapped out of it when he heard his phone ring. Sitting up immediately he reached across his desk and picked up the phone.

“Hello, Chris McLean speaking”

“I know who you are McLean, I called you after all!”

Chris’ eyes widened in surprise, “Mr. Turner! Hello, sir, how’s it going?”

“Can it McLean and let me talk! This is some very important news, and it concerns that show of yours.”

“Did you renew it for another season sir?

“Not exactly, you see I sold the rights to the show for a hefty price tag, and we couldn’t turn it down.”

“Wait, so what does this mean for me?”

“I was getting there McLean, and it means that they are prepared to offer you a contract to be the host for one season, 26 episodes, with a new company, and a 25% pay cut.

“WHAT!? But I already had to pay the fine for violating my last contract! I need the money to be able to afford my new mansion.”

“Well look at it this way: I was going to fire you anyways and you wouldn’t be paid a nickel, but now this company is offering you a position and that will bring you to stardom again. We could always ask that new hot shot Don to do it instead, he seems willing to take it.”

“Fine! Whatever! I’ll sign! But who is this company so I can go over what we’ll be doing?”

“It’s called the National Bronco Company, and they plan on airing it in a place called Equestria, under the title, “Total Drama Friendship is Tragic.”

Author's Note

This was just a little something I’m throwing together. This is just the preview and I promise it’s normal after this, I just thought that a prologue would help to establish what’s going on. Thanks for reading!

Not So Happy Campers Part 1

Ponyville

It’s a beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there are fillies and colts playing around the town. Chris McLean steps in front of the camera for the first time in a year, hands raised, and a huge grin on his face.

“Coming to you live from Ponyville in Equestria, I’m your host Chris McLean, and we’re hosting a little thing I like to call Total Drama. But first, the rules.”

As he talks, the camera cuts away to shots of several competitors. “We have gone far and wide, seeked out the popular (Twilight) and the unknown (Derpy). The loud (Pinkie) and the quiet (Big Mac). The old (Shining Armor) and the young (CMC). We left no stone unturned in our quest for competitors. In the end 16 of these ponies were invited to duke it out for our grand prize.

“The competitors will be separated into two different teams, and will compete against each other until about the midpoint when we will disband the teams, making it every pony for themselves. But before that, the team that wins a challenge will receive an advantage in the next round, and the losers may have to send somepony packing. We will be picking these ponies off one by one until one is left standing. That player will receive 100,000 bits which is sponsored by NBC.”

The camera cuts back to Chris, “Although Ponyville will be home base, and the host for the competition, we will be traveling far and wide. From Canterlot to the Everfree Forest to Las Pegasus, and we’re saving you a seat upfront for it all! So buckle up, this is TOTAL DRAMA: FRIENDSHIP IS TRAGIC!”

“Welcome back to Total Drama. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to introduce our contestants, who should be getting here any- OOOOF!” Chris was suddenly knocked over by a blue blur. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a blue female pegasus pony with a rainbow mane looking down at him sheepishly.

“Oops! Sorry,” the pony said immediately to the bewildered host. “Am I really the first one here? That’s so cool! I’ve always been the fastest, you know, so I think there’s no doubt who will be the winner.”

Chris got up and dusted off his clothes. “I’ll never get used to these ponies,” he muttered to himself before turning to the blue pony and smiled. “Yes you are Rainbow Dash! Welcome to the show!” Rainbow Dash started curiously looking him up and down, making him raise an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

She looked at him with a curious stare before saying, “So I’m guessing you're the human host, huh? I’ve never seen anypony like you before.”

“Uhhh...hey! Here comes some more competitors,” Chris called out, relieved to put the awkward conversation behind him. Immediately after a few ponies are seen coming over the horizon, and a unicorn and another pegasus are the first two to arrive. The unicorn was white with a mane that was moderate sapphire blue with moderate cerulean and dark phthalo blue streaks (according to the fim wiki) and the pegasus is yellow with an orange spiked mane, and wearing sunglasses.

“And here we have Prince Shining Armor and Spitfire, Captain of the...Wonderbolts? What the heck are those?” Chris asked looking up from the cue card he was reading.

Spitfire smirks and lowers her sunglasses. “Only the best fliers in all of Equestria. Surprised even you’ve never heard of them, McLean.”

“Totally,” Rainbow Dash shouted with a huge smile on her face. “They are undoubtedly the coolest ponies around.” Then she smiled “That is, of course, once I get asked to join the team. So how ‘bout it Spitfire?”

“Maybe someday Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire replies, rolling her eyes.

Chris then looked to Shining Armor. “And what exactly are you the prince of? I know about the four princesses, but I haven’t heard of a prince.”

“I’m Cadence’s husband, and therefore the prince of the Crystal Empire,” he said with a bright smile.

“And he’s also the best big brother in the world!”

Everyone turned their heads to the source of the sound, which happened to be a purple alicorn accompanied by a small purple dragon with green spines.

Chris smiled at them, “And here we have the only alicorn competitor, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the only dragon competitor, Spike.”

Shining Armor ran up to Twilight with a big smile. “Twily! How’s my favorite little sister doing?”

“Just as good as when you asked me two hours ago, big brother,” Twilight replied, giggling a little.

Just then Spike cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, “What, no love for me?”

Shining looked down at him, “Oh...right...uh...how’s it...going?...seen any good...movies lately?”

Everyone laughed at how it had sounded like he had racked his brain for that question as quickly as possible, that no one realized until the laughing died down that two ponies had appeared in front of all of them laughing harder than the rest. Both of them were earth ponies, one a pink mare with a curly pink mane, and the other an orange colt with a similar main style, except his was colored brown.

“Wow,” exclaimed the filly with a smile, “I can’t believe how long it took us to get here. We were just so nervouscited to get here that we took a wrong turn back there, he he.”

“I told you we shoulda made a left turn at alicornque,” the orange colt said with a smile.

“But Pinkie,” interrupted Twilight who was facing the pink mare, “you live literally 5 blocks away from here. How could you have possibly gotten lost?”

“Because,” the mare said, “I had to pick up Cheese on the way, silly,” she said with a laugh.”

“Ahem,” they turned their heads to the host behind them, “I seriously feel like I have a lot to learn about this world. Anyway, here’s Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich everyone! Oh, and by the way,” Chris turned his attention to Cheese, “you sound a lot like Weird Al Yankovich. Like, a lot.”

“Never heard of him,” said Rainbow, “but he sounds like an egghead.” She turns to Twilight. “Hey Twilight! Do you know him?”

“Nevermind,” Chris interrupted with a face palm before looking the other way and smiling. “Oh and here comes some more contestants!”

Three earth ponies were going up the path. In front was a small yellow filly with a red mane and a big smile. Behind her was a bigger orange mare with a yellow mane tied into a ponytail. And lastly, a giant red stallion, the biggest Chris has seen aside from the princesses.

“And here,” Chris started with an excited tone, “We have, from smallest to largest, Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Big Macintosh. Welcome guys.”

Apple Bloom ran forward, “Howdy, Chris! Ah’m just so excited to be competing in this here show! Are we really going all over Equestria for this? Ah…”

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack yelled out, “quit bugging the host with all your silly questions and wait up for us.”

“Sorry big sis!”

As soon as the two got to the group, Rainbow Dash flew forward with a confident grin on her face. “Hey Applejack, ready to lose to me?”

Applejack smirked. “If you say so,” she replied.

“Actually,” interrupted Spike, popping into their conversation, “I think it shall be me. 100,000 bits can net a lot of gems in these parts.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow, “Aren’t those things practically worthless? I thought you could just dig them out of the ground.”

Spike suddenly perked up. “You can?” He then starts digging at the ground next to him, while everyone around laughs. After it dies down Spike is still digging, and Chris turned to Big Mac.

“Any opening introduction for you?”

Big Mac turned to him with an emotionless look on his face.

“Nnope.”

“He’s not exactly a big talker,” Applejack said walking up next to him. Chris then nods to both of them.

“Noted,” turning around, he sees two other ponies coming up the path. Both are white unicorns, one small filly with a purple and pink mane, and the other with a purple mane and a fashionably curly tail. Chris waved to them. “Yo, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, welcome to the show!”

Rarity walked up to Twilight before saying with a disgusted tone, “I still can’t believe you convinced me to be a part of this program, Darling. I mean, I know there’s a grand prize and all, but I fear the conditions will be too dreadful for me to compete.”

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Twilight assured, “I think that we’ll all have fun together. Besides, you know you wouldn’t have let Sweetie Belle compete without you here.”

Rarity smiled, “Yes, well, I suppose you’re right there.” She then looked over to see Spike still hard at work trying to dig for gems. “Uh...what is he trying to do?”

“Oh, he’s just trying to dig up gemstones that he can eat,” Twilight answered giggling.

Rarity then walked toward Spike before stopping a few hooves from where he was. She then used her magic to find a gemstone in the ground in less than three seconds.

Spike then looked up to see her offer him the gem and blushed immediately afterwards before taking it. “Well, it’s not as easy as it looks, you know? I bet it would’ve taken someone without magic a lot longer to find one.”

Pinkie then smiled and jumped up saying, “Ooooo! Is that the first challenge?” Before anyone can answer, Pinkie starts digging into the ground the way only she can and about five seconds later pops up with three gems. “I win!”

Everyone laughs, even Spike, although he has a bit of an embarrassed look on his face. Suddenly, a small voice is heard.

“Um, excuse me,” it whispers, and Chris turns toward the source, which is a nervous looking yellow pegasus mare with a long pink mane and an even longer pink tail. “I-is this where Total Drama is being filmed?”

“Yep,” Chris answered, “and welcome to the show, Fluttershy!”

She nodded to Chris before walking next to Twilight. “Um, are you sure this is such a good idea? I mean, I know you asked me and all, b-but I’m not a big fan of competition and all, so…” she then drifted off into a mumble.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy,” Twilight said smiling, “besides, didn’t you want to raise the bits for the pet shelter? Well, this is a really great chance to get it.”

“Besides,” Rainbow Dash interrupted flying above them, “this is a chance for you to hang out with us more. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Well,” Fluttershy said softly, “w-when you put it like that I suppose…”

Rainbow Dash smiled proudly at the timid pony. “That’s the spirit!”

“Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!” Fluttershy jumped at the voice that came behind her and ran toward the side. The speaker was a blue unicorn mare with pale hair, and she had a sinister grin on her face.

Some of the ponies groaned as soon as they recognized her.

“Seriously, they brought her here,” Rainbow spat.

“Well, Trixie sees that you haven’t changed a bit, Dash,” Trixie said with a frown, “but Trixie has the feeling that she will be seeing you losing this competition, and you will be seeing her take the bits from under your nose.”

“Ummm…nice to see you too, Trixie,” Twilight said with a fake smile while holding her hoof on Rainbow’s tale, preventing her from attacking.

Chris then looked toward the town with a hand on his forehead to block out Celestia’s sun. “I think I see someone coming, it’s a little one, so...Scootaloo, everyone!”

The little filly had run as fast as she could into the group. She was an orange pegasus and had a purple mane and tail. “Hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle!”

Both aforementioned fillies ran up to meet her. “Hey Scootaloo! Where’s your scooter?”

Chris then walked over with a copy of the rules, opening it to a specific page, and clearing his throat before reading, “Rule 3-4b clearly states ‘All forms of personal vehicles, including, but not limited to, skateboards, scooters, and bikes are prohibited while still in the competition.”

“Well I guess that answers that question,” Apple Bloom said sadly.

Chris shut the rulebook and threw it over his shoulder before looking toward town again, “There should be one more competitor coming.” Chris pauses to check his watch. “She only has about two minutes before we have to go.”

All of the sudden a faint voice is heard coming from Ponyville, and as it got closer everyone saw that it was a grey pegasus with a yellow mane. What stood out the most about her, however, was that she was cross eyed. She apparently wasn’t a good flyer, as she nearly crashed into the group but barely stopped herself in time.

“And lastly,” Chris said with emphasis on the word, “Ditzy Doo, also known as Derpy.”

“Sorry Bliss,” she apologized, “I overslept and then realized that I needed to get here before we left.”

“Uh, it’s Chris, and at least you got here in time, so now I can give a rundown of the competition! First order of business, may I present to you our mode of transport for the competition. Behold: the Equestria Express!”

The contestants awed at the beauty of the red train in front of them. It looked to be brand new, and have very comfy cabins on the inside. “You can thank your guys’ television sponsors for this one. When we did this back on Earth everything had to be done on the cheap.”

“Wow,” Spitfire said, awed by the mechanical marvel in front of her, “I don’t think I’ve ever ridden in anything so awesome, and I’m a Wonderbolt!”

Cheese walked up to touch it with his hoof. “It’s so big! We could probably throw a gigantic party on here if we wanted to!” When he said that Pinkie got really excited and started jumping up and down.

“I call the balloons,” she exclaimed, “and the confetti, and the cake, and the music, and the streamers, and...EVERYTHING! And it’s gonna be so much fun!”

“So what can I do,” Cheese said with a pout. Pinkie giggled.

“Don’t worry, Cheese, you can be the official co-party planner with me!”

After hearing that Cheese went from sad to excited in a millisecond. “Let’s do it!”

“No, no, no parties,” Chris shouted before walking away from the train. “Besides, we can’t leave without seeing possibly the most important place in this entire show!”

Campfire Pit

They followed him for about a minute before seeing an area alongside the edge of the everfree forest. In the middle of the space was a campfire pit surrounded by rocks that was not currently lit. Along one side of the fire pit were some stumps that almost looked to be seats, and on the other side was a single metal barrel. It was all seemingly wrapped up in a package by some long wooden poles in the ground, with red, orange, and yellow lights hanging from each of them.

“This,” Chris began staring at the bewildered contestants, “is the campfire, where our elimination ceremonies will take place. For each challenge, while the winning team will enjoy an advantage in the next round, the losing team of each challenge will be forced to come here, and vote out one of their own.”

Most of the contestants looked really uneasy after hearing the last part, except for Rainbow, Spitfire, Scootaloo, and the other confident competitors. To them it just meant one less pony to trample on their way to victory. Chris then turned around after about ten seconds of letting the threat of elimination soak in.

“Alright,” Chris said, turning back to them with a smile, “with that out of the way, we can finally get on! All aboard the Equestria Express, where our adventure begins!” Chris waved an arm up toward the train. All of them either run or fly past Chris back to the train. Chris watches them go for a second before turning to the camera.

“I’ll never get used to this world.”

Ponyville Express- Observation Car

“Welcome to the central meeting point on this express, the observation car.”

Everypony is seated around Chris who is currently in the middle of the car. It has big windows situated around the walls, and is very cosey, with carpeted floors and leather booth seats, almost like what you would find in a restaurant. They are all looking around taking in their surroundings.

“Wow, this place really is impressive,” Twilight said with a wonder-filled expression, “I wonder how fast this thing can go. What kind of drag coefficient does it have? How…” she is stopped when a certain purple claw is snapped against her mouth. Rainbow Dash laughs at this.

“Oh Twilight, when will you ever learn that only eggheads care about that kind of stuff.” Twilight only scowled at her as the claw was still over her mouth at the moment.

“Oh my,” Rarity exclaimed, “this certainly is riding in luxury, is it not Sweetie Belle?”

Her sister who was next to her nodded enthusiastically, “This is going to be the coolest vacation ever!”

“Hooey,” Applejack smiled, “this here is far more fancy than any train Ah’ve ever been on. Remember that time we visited Babs Seed in Manehattan, Big Mac? This makes that look like a pig pen.”

“Eeyup,” came the low response from her elder brother.

Chris beamed at them, “This room is the central nervous system of the train. It is where you will hang out, chill, vibe, rock on, or whatever it is you guys want to do. It is also where you will be meeting before a challenge starts, where I will prep you on what you need to know for the upcoming challenge. But today we will use it for another reason, as before we go into the rest of the train, we will now sort you into your teams real quick.”

Everypony looked at each other with mixed emotions. Fluttershy looked nervous, Rainbow Dash looked annoyed, Pinkie was still smiling, Derpy was being Derpy, Shining had a proud look on his face, and Applejack had an eyebrow raised.

“Alright, so if I call your name please sit over there,” Chris pointed to his left before reading names from a sheet.

“Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie, Trixie, Cheese Sandwich...”

Pinkie squealed with excitement as Cheese claimed his spot next to her.

“...Rarity, Derpy Hooves, Applejack...”

“Alright big sis,” cheered Apple Bloom. Meanwhile Twilight and Rainbow Dash were holding their hooves together, both praying the same thing.

“Please don’t say my name. Please don’t let me be on the same team as Trixie.”

“And,” Chris started, “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes,” thought Rainbow, relieved.

“No,” though Twilight, terrified.

After Twilight reluctantly took her seat with the seven others that were called upon, Chris picked up a rolled up banner and hung it on their side of the car.

“Henceforth, the eight of you will be known as…” he lets the banner unfold, revealing a golden banner, with a gold symbol with five gemstones around the edges, and one gem in the middle. Some of the contestants recognize it as the symbol of, “...the Elements of Harmony!”

“This banner is simply marvelous,” beamed Rarity, “though I would not have chosen that shade of gold for the banner.”

“Ah think it looks fantastic,” Applejack said, “Ah’m mighty proud to be on this here team!”

“And as for the rest of you, please sit on the opposite side” Chris started, again looking at the sheet, “Shining Armor, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spitfire…”

“Double yes,” Rainbow whispered.

“...Big McIntosh, Spike, and Scootaloo.”

He waited for the last few to get seated before taking another banner that was rolled up in a similar manner and hanging it the same. “You are now collectively known as…” he let the banner unfold, revealing a that it was a tan brown, with the picture of a very familiar being in the center, with a pose almost like it was on a dollar bill. “...the Draconequui of Discord!”

“The dracone-what,” came the confused response from Scootaloo. “That’s a made up word!”

“It is very much not a made up word, Scootaloo,” Chris replied, “but it is plural for draconequus.”

“But why,” Shining Armor asked with a puzzled expression.

Chris looked at him with a smile, “Because Discord is a sponsor, and he said he’d give a lot of money if we had a team named for him. By the way, expect him to drop by. He mentioned something about, ‘checking on our little stars.’”

“Well, that certainly does sound like him,” came the quiet voice of Fluttershy.

“Alright, next order of business. Follow me down this hallway,” Chris said as he began walking, with everyone else following him.

Ponyville Express- Sleeping Car

Chris leads everypony into a small hallway. There are two doors on each side, and Chris stands in the middle of the first two.

“Welcome to the sleeping car,” Chris exclaimed, “where you will be sharing a bedroom with four other competitors.” He opens the door to the room on his left, and some of them are able to peer inside with expressions of complete awe. The interior was mostly white, except for the blue carpeted floor. There were four fold up beds that went into the wall when not being used, two on each side, and one on top of the other. There was also a door that led into a bathroom on the side. The whole layout made it feel almost like a very small hotel room.

“Omigosh!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “Can you believe these rooms? They're sooooo cool!”

Spitfire flew over some heads for a better look. “These remind me of the barracks,” she grinned.

“As for who will be in which cabin,” Chris announced, “boys automatically get one cabin since there’s four of them already. You guys can have this one right here.” He gestured to the room he had opened.

Spike, Big Mac, Shining, and Cheese all looked at each other and nodded, going into their new room to explore a bit more.

“Wow,” Spike gushed, opening the door to the bathroom. “Hey guys, check out the shower!”

As they all went over to Spike, Chris turned to the mares. “As for you ladies, you can all separate yourselves into three groups of four for the other cabins.

Rainbow Dash flew up immediately. “I call Spitfire,” she yelled, grabbing and pulling Spitfire next to her, “‘cause she’s awesome, and Fluttershy,” she pulled Fluttershy with her with her free hoof in a similar manner, “because she’s my best friend. Who else wants to be with us? Scoots?”

Scootaloo looked up at her with a sad smile, “Sorry Rainbow, but us Cutie Mark Crusaders have to stick together!”

“Cutie...what?”

They turned to see Chris looking at the orange filly with a puzzled look. Applejack walked up to him with a smirk.

“It’s a long story, sugarcube, but let’s just say they’re closer than Derpy’s eyes.”

Some ponies laughed at the last line, even Derpy herself. Then Pinkie jumped up.

“Dashie, Dashie, pick me! Pleeeease?” She looked up at Rainbow and put on her sad puppy eyes. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Alright Pinkie. That is, if you can handle it,” she said with a chuckle.

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow, still hugged to her body. “Handle it?”

“I’m just horsing around,” Rainbow said with a smile.

Chris opened the door to let the girls in the cabin across the hall from the boys, who were still exploring it. “Alright ladies, welcome to your new home! Who’s the next group?”

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all high hooved. “We are,” said Sweetie Belle,” and we just need one more pony for the cabin.”

“I wouldn’t mind sharing with you,” a voice came from above them. They looked up and saw Derpy with a hopeful smile on her face. The CMC then got together in a huddle, whispering to each other and turning to the cross eyed pegasus a few times. After about ten seconds they broke the huddle and turned to Derpy.

“We’d love to have you as a roommate, Derpy!”

As soon as Scootaloo had said it, she and the other two crusaders were taken into a big hug by the older mare. Chris then walked down the hallway and opened the door on the same side as the boy’s room.

“Well then, in here please.” He was then knocked over by the tornado of energy that was the CMC, with Derpy following soon afterwards. Chris got up and dusted himself off before opening the last door on the other side of the hallway. “Well it looks like you four are what we got left.”

Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity all looked at each other with satisfied looks until the all froze, and slowly turned toward the only other pony left in the hallway walking into the room.

“You should consider yourselves lucky to be able to sleep in the same vicinity as me: The Great and Powerful Trixie! You better not snore!”

Applejack scoffed. “The great and powerful headache is more like it.”

“Well, look on the bright side girls,” Rarity said enthusiastically, “at least we can stay up all night and talk about fashion!”

Applejack and Twilight gave each other a look before following Rarity into the room together. Chris then looked around satisfied at his hosting abilities.

“You have thirty minutes to wind down and relax before we meet again in the dining car, where you will receive your first meal of the competition, courtesy of Chef Hatchet.”

Chris then walked away to his own personal cabin, opened the door and took one look inside before turning to the camera. “I know I got a pay cut, but this makes it all worth it.” Chris smiled one more time before walking in and shutting the door.

Cabin 2 (Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire

“Isn’t this place amazing?”

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire had both started to figure out how to unfold the beds, while Fluttershy watched Pinkie from the corner with concern. The pink party pony had started bouncing off the walls, almost literally, as she looked at everything possible in excitement. “This is like a hotel room! It’s almost like we’re on vacation!” She gasps. “Are we on vacation? Maybe there’s just no competition at all!”

Spitfire rolled her eyes under her sunglasses. “Yeah,” she mumbled, “something like that…”

Spitfire finally folded out one of the beds on the top and layed down on it, but when she opened her eyes again she was immediately startled by a big excited pair of cerise eyes staring into hers.

“So Spitfire, are you psyched that I’m on the same team as you? I know I am!”

Spitfire sat up and looked at her with a smile. “I’m glad you are, Dash. I hope to lead the Draconequui to victory through our first challenge.” Suddenly the pink blur slowed down and looked at her wide eyed

“How do you know you’re going to be the leader? Can you tell the future or something?”

Spitfire stared down from her high bed into the sparkling blue eyes that were staring at her, anticipating an answer. “Pinkie, I’m the captain of the Wonderbolts for Celestia’s sake. Who would be a better choice than me? Who else-“

“I’m not so sure, Spitfire,” Rainbow Dash interrupted with a look of worry on her face, “Shining Armor seemed like he would want to lead, and if I know that foal,Scootaloo, she’ll probably make a run for it, too.”

Spitfire just shrugged it off, “I honestly don’t think he has the patience, control or the ability to compete under pressure, and besides,” Spitfire smirked, “Scootaloo wouldn’t be a good leader. She’s a good filly, but she’s still a filly.” Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, then saluted.

“You for sure have my support, captain!”

“I definitely think you should be the leader of our team! It would be so much fun! Plus you’ve got a really cool mane!”

Both pegasi stared at Pinkie before Rainbow Dash started talking slowly. “You...know you’re not...actually on the same team as us...right?”

“Oops! I forgot! He he!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked at the one pony in the cabin who had not said a word yet. “How about you, Flutters?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened now that the attention had landed on her. “Oh, um, well, I don’t really know who I would pick. But if you think you should be captain, then-”

“So I have your vote,” Spitfire asked flying over the shy pony with a hopeful grin on her face. Fluttershy simply nodded and turned away. Spitfire immediately became overjoyed at the thought of being the captain of the

“Alright! That’s three votes for me! I wonder if I can get Big Mac to vote for me!” She dashed out the door and across the hall. Rainbow Dash turned to the other two with an obsessed fan-like look.

“Isn’t she amazing?”

Cabin 3 (CMC and Derpy)

“This will be so much fun!”

The squeaky voice of Sweetie Belle echoed through the cabin. The two fillies and the mare were all excitedly jumping around the room.

“Yeah,” Derpy said, “it will be loads of fun! Woohoo!” Scootaloo stopped jumping and thought.

“Wait, what exactly are we going to do here that’s fun?”

The others stopped after hearing the question and thought.

“We could always play cards!”

“We could try to get our cutie marks in cabin cleaning!”

“We could fly around the train!”

“Only you can do that, Derpy.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry.”

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Sweetie Belle’s head. “I got it! We can get out cutie marks in strategy!”

The other three looked at the unicorn filly in confusion, but it was Apple Bloom that spoke up first.

“What the hay does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, we’re in a competition right? And one of the best ways to win one is strategy, right? So if we won, we might get a cutie mark in that!”

“So you're basically saying we should try to win,” Scootaloo asked.

“Yep!”

There was a moment of silence until the fillies faces lit up.

“YEAH! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, and Derpy, COMPETITION WINNERS! YAY!”

Cabin 4 (Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Trixie, and Rarity)

“...and that’s why I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, would make a far more superior leader than Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The other three ponies sighed in relief as Trixie finished up her speech that she claimed was a campaign speech, but mostly involved mocking Twilight. Applejack was the first to speak

“You do realize that there is not a remote chance of you being captain, right?”

Trixie continued with a confident smile on her face “We will let the team decide that, now won’t we Applejack?”

All three of the listeners glanced at each other with the same annoyed expressions.

Dining Car

The contestants walk into a car designed to look like a sit down restaurant with one long table stretching the length of it on one side, with eight seats on either side. On the other side of the car was a grey serving table with many different trays on it.

They all stood in line by the serving table and saw that it had many different kinds of food on it. Hay, oats, apples, flowers, and even a few gemstones to the delight of a certain purple dragon. At the very end of it there was a bunch of desserts, such as brownies, cookies, and cake. Everypony would have been drooling in delight over the amazing spread if their faces did not have a look of terror instead.

Standing behind the counter with a scowl was a tall black man with a mustache and a soul patch, wearing a white toque and a white apron. He looked almost like a prisoner who broke out of jail.

“Listen up,” he yelled at the poor paralyzed ponies and dragon in front of him, “I serve it three times a day and you'll eat it three times a day! Grab a tray, get your food, and sit your butts down now!”

Everypony complied immediately as Chris walked up with a smile. “I see you all have met Chef Hatchet already? By the way,” he started while looking at the serving table, “how come you never made food this good back home?”

“Because that Princess Ballestia said that she wanted daily quality meals, and that if I didn’t live up to a certain standard, she’d ‘cut my pay,’” he said the last line in as high of a pitch as he could go before he started looking all of the contestants up and down.

“Yo Chris, are you sure about this, man? I mean, most of these guys look like they could never handle the stuff we’re about to throw at them.”

By sheer coincidence, a scream was heard as it turned out that some of Derpy’s food had fallen off of her tray and onto Rarity’s mane.

“My mane is ruined,” she said, dragging out the last word with sobs in between. After a few seconds she ran out of the car down the hallway into her room. After about five seconds she came out with her mane sparkling clean, just as it always is. “Much better,” the white unicorn said with a smile.

“Perfect as always,” came a love struck voice belonging to Spike.

The host turned his attention back to Chef to answer his question. “You never seemed too worried about the competitors back on Earth. Do you have a soft spot for these guys?”

“Nope,” Chef replied, eyes rolling at the host’s grin.

All of the contestants had gotten their food and sat down beside one another at the table, and began eating and talking to one another.

“I still think Zecora should have agreed to come on the show,” Apple Bloom said to her fellow crusaders, “she should have been really fun to have.”

“Yeah, it’s too bad that she had to go back to her homeland,” Sweetie Belle agreed, taking another bite out of her apple pie. Scootaloo shook her head

“I don’t think it’s because of that. I’m pretty sure it’s just because the writer can’t write any rhy-“

“Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo was interrupted by her unicorn friend’s older sister, “You simply must try these hors d'oeuvres. They’re simply divine!” Sweetie Belle then levitated one over to herself and took a bite. Her eyes then lit up.

“Wow! That’s amazing,” she squeaked, stuffing a bunch of them into her mouth. Shining Armor, who was sitting next to Sweetie Belle nodded his head in agreement.

“It’s all very delicious. I mean, not as good as back at the castle, but-“ he was cut off by a pair of thongs flying through the air and missing his head by about two inches. He turned around angrily and stared coldly at the thrower. “Come on, Chef! I was about to say it was almost as good! And you’re lucky I don’t have any royal guard with me or you’d be dead!”

Cheese laid a hoof on the pony that had been target practice a minute ago. “Don’t worry, Shining, just be glad that he has really, really bad aim.” He ducked to avoid another set of thongs coming at his head.

On the other side of the table Twilight was talking to Fluttershy and Applejack about what she planned to do if she won the contest. The egghead unicorn, as Rainbow would call her, was gushing about all of the book replacements she could make.

“I’ve been meaning to get the latest Daring Doo book for the library, and the Psychology section always needed a little bit of expanding. I guess all of the sections need expanding now that all the books have been destroyed by Tirek, but...this is all just so exciting!” Twilight said the last part while clapping her hooves together.

“Ah’m mighty happy for you Twi’,” said the orange earth pony, “but don’t y’all think it would be best to spend at least
a tiny bit of that money on decorating your fancy-schmancy new castle or something?”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. While it was true she loved books, she never really thought about how to fill up the rest of her castle.

“Maybe you’re right, but I still think that a majority should go to restoring the old library. After all, Ponyville is going to need a new library now that the old one was destroyed.”

“Whatever floats your boat, sugarcube. It’s your money and all, but don’t go spending it all in one place.”

Twilight smiled, “Don’t worry AJ.” She turned to Fluttershy, “By the way, what’s going to happen to all of your animals while you’re away?”

“I asked my friend Tree Hugger to stay at my cottage,” she explained, “apparently she needed a place to ‘clear her thoughts and improve her aura a skosh,’ so it all worked out in the end!”

Applejack smiled. “Good for you! It took a mighty ton of convincing to make Granny Smith to call in our relatives for this year’s harvest. To the day we left she still thought she could manage to do the whole harvest with just the volunteers from Ponyville.” She chuckled, “Eventually we got sick of it and we had Big Mac go to Appleloosa to see how many ponies we could round up!”

Twilight and Fluttershy both giggled, remembering that Granny Smith’s stubbornness was only rivaled by her two eldest grandchildren.

They continued eating for another five minutes before they all started getting sleepy eyed and looking ready for bed. Before they could go back to their cabins, Chris stepped forward with one last announcement.

“Now you may have noticed the door on the side of the dining car that looks like it leads into a closet.” All of the ponies searched around until all of their eyes landed on a door at the end of the dining car, and it did in fact look like a closet door. “That there leads into the confessional. If you want to tell secrets, say hi to the family, or announce your deepest darkest secrets while on the show, do it there. It will also be used as the voting booth, where you cast the vote of the camper you want ousted. Once you do it, it will be broadcasted back home through bolded text.

A confused Spike interrupted, “Huh?”

“Nothing!”

“(Rainbow Dash) Uh, testing, testing, 1...2...3…alright! The only secret I have is that I’m going to win this whole thing!”

“(Shining Armor) Hey Cadence! Love you!”

“(Apple Bloom) This is really cool!”

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie will not share all of her secrets, that she can assure you!”

“Alright,” Chris started, “with that, go to bed! You guys look super tired! And you guys will really want to be rested up for the first challenge tomorrow in Canterlot!”

“Yes!”

All eyes turned to Rarity, who had jumped up in excitement, sheepishly sitting back down and clearing her throat. “Continue.”

“We will be going overnight while you all are sleeping. So, be gone! And Chef, start the engines!”

Chef walked toward the engine while the others made their way back to their new bedrooms. Along the way Apple Bloom turned to her big sister.

“What do you reckon we’ll have to do?”

Applejack looked down at her sister’s fear filled bright eyes and chuckled. “Awww, don’t you worry none, Apple Bloom. It’s the first challenge. How hard can it be?”

On top of a cliff in Canterlot

All of the contestants are now looking down at a giant lake about 1,000 feet away from the top of a giant cliff.

“Well,” Applejack gave a fake smile to Apple Bloom, “I’ve been wrong before!”

Author's Note

Thanks so much for reading this. Tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!

Not So Happy Campers Part 2

Luna’s Cliff - Canterlot

All 16 campers are assembled at the top of the 1,000 foot tall cliff. They stare mouth agape at the sheer height of it, with realization slowly setting in on what they actually have to do. After about 20 seconds, Chris steps forward.

“Welcome, contestants, to your first challenge atop the fabulous Luna’s Cliff!”

“Maybe when you’re looking at it from the ground,” Rarity whispered, not taking her eyes off the lake.

“Now a lot of you have probably got a good idea of what today’s challenge is. A 1,000 foot dive into the lake. If you look down you will see two rings of rope surrounded buoys. If you land in the smaller ring, you get two points. Land on the larger ring but not the smaller one, and you get one point. If you somehow land in the outer ring, zero points. After you jump, you can swim to the beach on the shoreline”

All of the contestants looked at each other, until Scootaloo spoke up.

“I’m not saying I would because I’m not a scaredy pony, but what if we decide not to jump?” Scootaloo was clearly shaking, but did her best to hide that she was scared.

In response, Chris picked up a yellow chicken hat that looked almost like a real chicken. “Then you will not only be rendered a chicken, but you must wear this ridiculous hat all day and cost your team a point. Also, it’s a lot quicker to jump and swim to the beach then it is to walk or fly from the top of this mountain.”

Twilight then stepped forward and asked, “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

Chris just gave her an evil grin. “Lady, you haven’t seen nothing yet! Now if you look down there, you will see a bunch of crates.” The contestants followed Chris’ pointed finger. On the shoreline just beside the jumping area were two groups of crates, eight in each group. “Inside of those are the supplies you’ll need to build a hot tub, which is the second part of the challenge. The team that gets the most points in this diving challenge will get a set of wagons they can use to drag the boxes into town, where they can build it. The team that loses will have to carry them all the way, with no wagons. So, which team wants to go first?”

Complete silence enveloped everypony as they stared back at the host. It was clear that nopony wanted to go first, mostly because they wanted to see that . a pony could jump and actually survive. Chris then frowned and said, “If you must know, this was tested out before you guys did this.”

Flashback to a few days ago from the top of Luna’s Cliff, where Chris is standing with a huge white pegasus with wings that are way too small for his massive body. “Alright, Bulk Biceps, we called you here to test out this cliff dive challenge to make sure it’s safe. Just try to land in the smaller of the two circles. Think you can handle that?” Bulk nodded just before jumping.

“YEEEEEEEEAAAAAH-OOOOOWW!!!”

Chris looked down and saw that Bulk had managed to land on one of the buoys surrounding the inner circle. He winced at the sight before smiling again taking out a clipboard and a pencil and taking some notes.

“Well, that seems safe enough,” he said to himself before walking away whistling.

The teams still looked unconvinced and no one was willing to volunteer. Chris got fed up with waiting and decided for them. “Elements of Harmony, you guys will go first.”

The whole team went rigid, afraid that they would essentially be the test monkeys for the other team. “Wait just another minute,” Applejack finally said, “why do we have to go first?”

“Because I said so, that’s why, now who’s first.”

Applejack grumbled before stepping forward and walked to the edge of the cliff and staring down.

“(Applejack) Ah was mighty terrified of jumping, but if Ah wanted to step up and be a leader, Ah knew I needed to show my team the strong and dependable pony that Ah am.”

Applejack turned to look at her team. “Don’t you worry none. Ah’ll go first and show y’all how it’s done. Here I go!”

As soon as she had said it she jumped off the cliff. Everypony went near the edge of the cliff to get a good view, and just before she hit the surface of the water, she went into a diving position and splashed in the inner circle.

“Alright, the first jumper and she gets two points for the Elements,” Chris announced.

“(Spike) How did she manage to keep her hat on the whole time?”

Cheese Sandwich jumped up in excitement. “That looked amazing! I’m up next,” he exclaimed, quickly running back a few yards and then running forward and jumping off, preparing a cannonball. He landed in the outer circle, gaining another point for his team.

Next, Pinkie stepped to the edge and laughed. “Hang on Cheese! I’m coming!” She then happily jumps off the cliff and lands tail first right next to Cheese. Both of them laugh and swim toward the beach.

The five remaining teammates look at each other in anticipation for someone to step forward. Then Derpy shrinks away. “I don’t know if I can do this guys. I’m really scared.”

Twilight smiled kindly to the grey pegasus, “Don’t worry Derpy. It’s not as scary as it looks. Just shut your eyes and dive down, and it will feel like soaring through the air until you splash into the water.”

This seemed to give Derpy a little bit of confidence, as she slowly made her way to the end of the cliff and gulped before she dove down without jumping, acting as if she really was soaring through the air. The downside of not jumping was that she lost a lot of momentum, and she landed outside of both rings, not gaining a point.

“Alright Elements,” Chris nodded to the remaining four, “with that you have four ponies that jumped and four points gained. Next!”

Rarity gave a disgusted “Hummph,” before she turned around. “I am sorry, but I am not going to be seen with a ruined mane, especially on national television.”

Twilight teleported in front of her and put a hoof up. “Are you really going to let your mane cost us a point. I mean, don’t you want to just jump and get it over with? You can fix your mane after you're done.” Twilight looked up to see that she was gone. “Where’d she go?”

Chris smiled and pointed toward the path that led up and down the cliff, and the posh pony was seen walking down now wearing the chicken hat. “Took the hat and walked off. Now you guys only have three points and three jumpers to go.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I know she cares a lot about looks, but does she realize that she kind of gave herself a black mark by doing that? That just makes her chances of winning a little bit further.”

“(Spitfire) In this game you have to be prepared to get your hooves dirty, so if she’s walking off like that, I seriously question her ability to win.”

“(Rainbow Dash) Ha ha ha! Did you see that stupid chicken hat on her. I swear she almost turned around and jumped after seeing such a ‘fashion crime’ on her head!”

“Fine! I’ll go!” Twilight looked down and did some quick calculations in her head that only Twilight could do, before she backed up, kicked the ground a few times, and sprinted toward the end of the cliff. However, in her calculations she seemed to fail to account for the crab that had just walked in front of the cliff, and retreated into its shell as soon as it saw Twilight coming. Twilight was going too fast to stop and tripped over the shell. Sending her falling head first into the water. She also landed outside of the rings, earning nothing for her team.

Shining Armor looked over the edge to her sister below, who looked like a little purple dot making its way to shore. “Hey Twily! You ok?” He sighed at the affirmation he received from his little sister.

Trixie then removed her hat and cape with her magic and ran towards the cliff, jumping off and somehow managing to get herself into the smaller ring.

“(Trixie) Trixie has been through much worse while perfecting her magic. A simple dive into a lake is not much of a challenge for her.”

Chris then looked at the yellow filly who was shivering in fear.

“Alright, Apple Bloom, you're the last one. What’ll it be?”

“C’mon Apple Bloom,” a shout came from the beach below from her big sister, “You can do it!”

Apple Bloom recoiled for a second before a determined look came to her eyes as she started to run forward, “Ah’m coming, big sis!” She jumped off and landed in the outer ring for a final point to be added to the Elements’ score.

“Draconequui of Discord, you guys are up. You need six to tie, seven to win.”

“What happens if we tie,” Shining Armor asked.

“Nobody wins and nobody gets the wagons, easy as that. So, who’s first up?”

After a few seconds of silence, Spitfire stepped up and looked to Rainbow Dash. “This should be easy, Dash. We practiced diving at the Wonderbolt Academy, remember?”

Rainbow Dash nodded before Spitfire took off her sunglasses, turned around and jumped off, going into a perfect air diving position and landing smack dab in the center of the inner circle.

Rainbow Dash then ran forward and performed almost the exact same stunt, with the only difference being the fact that she spun around a few times while going down, and landing in the middle just like Spitfire had.

Chris looked at their teammates in surprise. “You guys are off to a really fast start,” he exclaimed, “four points already!”

“(Applejack) We’re dead.”

“(Cheese Sandwich) Man, those two dove exactly the same! I wonder if they’re related.”

“(Scootaloo) That’s going to be me one day! Promise!”

“Um, I’m not really sure I c-can do this, guys,” Fluttershy squeaked, drawing the attention of her team.

“It’s not so bad, Fluttershy,” Spike encouraged, “it’s not so hard! Maybe you just need to watch a few of us go first. Uh, Big Mac?”

The enormous stallion stepped forward, nodding his head. “Eeyup,” he said before running forward and jumping, landing in the outer ring with a huge splash, making the score six to five with five Draconequui still to go.

“(Shining Armor) Big Mac is one of the strongest ponies I’ve ever seen. He’s going to be very valuable to this team.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) They just had to get the strong one. This will not be easy.”

“Oh! Oh! Me next!”

The team turned to Scootaloo who was excitedly jumping up and down with a hoof raised. Shining Armor nodded his head in approval, and the orange fully backed up and ran forward. However, it seemed like she was encased with last minute jitters, as she lost balance just before she went off the cliff. Screaming as she went down, she landed just outside of the largest ring for no points.

“(Scootaloo) I wasn’t scared! I was...distracted! Yeah! There was a really cool bug right in front of me! Yeah…”

Fluttershy went over to Chris looking down at the ground. “I don’t think I can do it,” she whimpered, taking one of the hats before turning to her team, “I’m sorry.”

Immediately after Sweetie Belle ran towards the hats, taking one as well, muttering an apology, and ran after Fluttershy.

“(Sweetie Belle) I really haven’t been known as the brave crusader, just the one that comes up with all of the plans.”

“Well you two,” Chris said, looking towards Shining Armor and Spike, “looks like you two are left, and your team suddenly only has three points left.”

Shining Armor then looked to the ground in thought. Then his eyes lit up and he looked over to Spike, who was staring at him confused.

“(Shining Armor) At that moment I had the craziest idea ever. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but if it did I would win a leadership position on our team.”

“Spike,” he called out to the small purple dragon, “get on my back! We’re jumping together!”

Spike just looked at Shining Armor like he was joking, until he crouched down and looked at him with a very serious expression on his face. Spike reluctantly walked over and got on the unicorn prince’s back.

“You better know what you’re doing, Shining,” he warned in a tone that Shining couldn’t tell was threatening or fearful.

“Don’t worry, Spike, I got this!” He turned around and faced the edge before galloping forward, Spike’s arms fastened around his neck and his eyes shut. Suddenly Spike stopped feeling the thumping on the ground, and realized that they had started falling. 1,000 feet.

“(Apple Bloom) Spike looked real funny when they started falling. Ah almost didn’t realize that they might have cost us the challenge.”

Shining Armor managed to make it into the water, with Spike still fastened around his neck to the very end. When they surfaced they could hear Chris shouting from the top of the cliff.

“7 to 6! The Draconequui won the challenge!”

The Draconequui cheered as soon as Spike and Shining got back to the beach, while the Elements looked anything but happy for the other team.

“(Pinkie) Awww…and we were so close, too!”

Canterlot Beach

After about ten minutes Chris finally made it back from the top of the mountain to the beach.

“Alright guys, you have two hours to get back to Canterlot and build the hot tubs. There’s a path that splits at a few points, so just make sure you follow the signs. Draconequui of Discord, since you guys won the challenge, those red wagons over there are all yours. Elements of Harmony...uh...good luck! After you get there they will be judged by me based on how well they were built based on the instructions inside one of those boxes. And...go!”

The Elements immediately either placed them on their backs or pushed them from behind up the path. Meanwhile most of the Draconequui went to get the wagons, while Big Mac and Shining Armor stayed behind to load the crates.

Although the Elements got a lead because they didn’t have to load, in about two minutes it was erased when the Draconequui past them wheeling all of their supplies.

The Path to Canterlot

15 minutes later and the Draconequui had a decisive lead over the Elements. At this point they were literally walking at a leisurely pace and singing 99 bottles of milk.

“99 bottles of milk on the wall! 99 bottles of milk! Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of milk on the wall!”

“(Sweetie Belle) Who knew that doing this much work could be so much fun?”

Meanwhile the Elements were walking slowly due to the weight of the boxes they were forced to move without any help. Applejack and Twilight seemed to be the only ones who weren’t struggling too much, with Applejack bucking her box up the path, and Twilight levitating hers. Trixie tried to do the same, but could only do it for about five seconds before dropping it everytime.

“I have a question,” Apple Bloom spoke up, “how did we lose when more of us jumped then the other team? That’s not fair!”

“Aw, it’s not so bad, Apple Bloom,” Pinkie said with her signature smile, “this just means we can spend time getting to know each other and bonding!”

“Uh, begging your pardon, Pinkie,” said Applejack looking behind her, “but most of us already know each other.”

“Well yeah! But that doesn’t mean we can’t still bond together!”

Applejack rolled her eyes before looking behind at her team and realizing how far behind most of them are. “C’mon team! We’re never going to win at this here pace!”

“(Trixie) Trixie does not use her magic for such menial tasks. Trixie needs to rest her magical abilities for when it matters.”

“(Applejack) Rarity just kept taking breaks the entire time. She literally asked Cheese to carry her part of the way while she levitated her box.”

Sure enough, Rarity was seen on Cheese’s back while complaining about the hot sun. “Why does it have to be so hot?”

“Rarity, maybe if you walked by yourself it would help Cheese get there faster,” Twilight suggested. “Just look at him, he’s exhausted!”

Rarity looks down and sees an extremely dehydrated Cheese Sandwich who is trying to put on a smile, “No, it’s ok, Twilight, I’m always fine.”

Twilight clearly doesn’t believe him, but keeps walking.

“Come on, everypony! We’re still way behind the other team,” Applejack yelled behind her, “and pick up the pace there Apple Bloom! You’re moving slower than a snail in molasses!”

Apple Bloom is behind most of the other teammates. Being the smallest of the group and having to push the giant crate has clearly taken its toll on her, as she kept having to stop for breaks every few minutes. “Ah’m trying my hardest, sis,” she gasped, “just let me catch up real quick.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Well, at least she was actually trying.”

“Uh, guys? Has anyone seen Derpy?”

As soon as Pinkie had asked that question everypony started to look around with concern. She was right. Derpy was nowhere to be found.

“(Pinkie Pie) So I came to the natural conclusion that she had teleported to the end and was just waiting for us there, but no one would listen to me. The rest of them just thought she got lost. As if!”

“Alright everypony, let’s go looking for her,” Twilight ordered as she spread her wings to begin an aerial search, while the rest of the Elements began looking on the ground.

Canterlot

A half an hour after they began walking, the Draconequui had managed to make it to Canterlot to the area where they needed to begin building. They all seemed really impressed at the time they made.

“All right, team,” shouted Spitfire, “we have a big lead over the Elements, and we should use it. So open these crates!”

Suddenly Chris appeared, “You can’t use your hands!”

Scootaloo did a double take toward the host. “Where in Equestria did you come from, Chris?”

“(Rainbow Dash) How did he manage to get there before us? We pretty much had a direct path! They get all the privileges I tell you.”

“Uh, Chris,” Fluttershy said, “I don’t think we have hands, just hooves.”

“And claws,” Spike said.

Realization immediately dawned on Chris, but before he could say anything else, Big Mac reared back and bucked his crate, which instantly fell apart, revealing a pump. “Well…I guess that works,” Chris said before facepalming.

“(Fluttershy) I hope I didn’t make him mad. I just...really want to...win?”

All of them opened up their crates and examined the objects they got.

“Cool, I got wood planks,” Rainbow Dash announced, holding two or three oak planks.

“I got some tools,” Spike said, holding a pony version of a hammer.

“I got a rock,” Fluttershy said shyly, holding up a rock, much to the amusement of Chris.

“I didn’t say all of the crates had supplies in them,” the host said, chuckling.

“I got a tarp,” Scootaloo said, “and, oh yes! The instructions.” She excitedly held a big blue tarp in one hoof and a piece of paper in the other. Rainbow Dash flew over to her and extended a hoof

“Can I see them, Scoots?” Scootaloo happily gave her the instructions, and Rainbow Dash looked them over. She looked up at all of the supplies to make sure they had everything they needed to start. “Ok, check, check, check, we have that, and check! Alright guys let’s get to work. I’ll read off the instructions!”

The team gave a cheer and started building while Rainbow Dash flew around making sure that the tub was turning out like the diagrams.

“(Spike) I thought we’d be at each other’s throats the whole time, but I guess that the win earlier and the easy trip back to Canterlot made us feel relaxed and grow as a team.

“(Rainbow Dash) The question in the backs of everypony’s mind is who’s going to be the leader, but for now Spitfire and Shining Armor seem to be sharing the role. It will be interesting when those two disagree on something finally.”

The Path to Canterlot

It had been ten minutes and no sign of Derpy. Everyone was still looking, except for Rarity and Trixie, who were watching the boxes and talking.

Twilight had taken to soaring across the sky, her eyes beamed into the trees on either side of the forest desperately searching for any sign of the full yellow mane her teammate owned.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I was seriously starting to think that Derpy went to the finish line without us somehow. You really have no idea what that mare is thinking sometimes.”

Suddenly she heard Applejack’s voice calling out from a little ways away. “Hey everypony! I found her!” Twilight started to dive towards the sound, where she saw a relieved looking Applejack and a confused looking Derpy.

“Derpy,” Twilight started, “what happened?”

Derpy gave her a puzzled expression. “I was just trying to catch up to you guys. I assumed that you were way ahead of me, so I tried to take a short cut.”

“(Derpy Hooves) I fell behind and couldn’t see my team anymore, and I came up to an arrow. It was telling me to go left, but I thought it was like that one shortcut on Mario Kart Wii at Wario’s Gold Mine, so I decided to go right. The funny thing was that there weren’t any minecarts flying overhead.”

“Chris said to follow the signs” Applejack explained to Twilight, “so she got lost for not following them!”

Twilight let a groan slip past her lips as she tried to hold back her frustration as possible. “Alright girls, let’s go round up the rest of our team so we can get a move on. We already lost a lot of time.”

Twilight then flies back to gather her teammates and meets them all back at the crates, although Derpy takes a little longer because she still has to push her own crate back. As soon as they all get back they finally begin to move forward again.

Canterlot

After a little more than an hour, the Elements finally manage to get to the building area, but they all gasp at what they find. The Elements are about halfway done with their hot tub, and at this point were going at a very leisurely pace.

“(Shining Armor) After the first few steps it really wasn’t that hard. It went from ‘attach the pump to the edge with the tool set, to hammer in these nails.”

“Alright Elements, we’re down but not out, so let’s build this hot tub!”

Cheese’s cheer of encouragement seemed to reactivate the Elements, as they soon rushed forward with newfound determination to their boxes to break them open. Before they reached them, however, Chris shouted from his lawn chair he had set up by the area. “You can’t use your hooves!”

The whole team came to a screeching halt before looking at Chris and started complaining, with Apple Bloom being the loudest. “Well then how are we supposed to get the supplies from the inside?”

Twilight then cleared her throat to get the attention of her team. “Like this,” she said before using her magic to levitate the box closest to her, moving it higher and higher in the air until suddenly dropping it and letting it smash open on the ground.

Everyone on her team except Trixie stomped their hooves in approval, while Chris facepalmed for the second time.

“(Rainbow Dash) You know, Chris really has a lot to learn about Equestria and all of the ponies that live inside it.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Trixie begin to use their magic to smash open the rest of the boxes, while the others collected the parts that they needed and began to look over the instructions they found in the box.

Thirty minutes later

The Draconequui were now finished with
the hot tub, and Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, and Fluttershy had been going back and forth with buckets of water to fill it, while the rest of them were sitting and playing cards nearby.

“Go maid,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, flipping her cards over with a big grin. Spitfire looked at her cards and groaned.

“Ok Sweetie Belle,” she started, “first of all that’s Go Fish, second of all it’s also Old Maid, and third of all WE’RE PLAYING CRAZY EIGHTS!”

“We are?” Spitfire then turned her attention to Scootaloo who was sitting next to Sweetie Belle. “I could have sworn we were playing Black Jack.”

Spitfire shook her head while the three ponies who had gone to get water dumped another load into the hot tub. “It’s about halfway full,” Rainbow Dash announced joyfully, “we’ll be able to start the pump soon.”

“Excellent job guys,” Shining Armor cheered, while the others nodded in agreement, “we totally have this in the bag!”

Meanwhile Derpy heard Shining Armor and flew over to look at their tub when suddenly Rainbow Dash popped up in between her and the tub. “Spy! Get away before I have to chase you away!”

Derpy put her hooves to her mouth in a surprised fashion. “Oh, sorry Rainbow Dash. I just wanted to take a look at what you ponies did.”

“WELL, DON’T!”

Rainbow’s yell startled Derpy who lost control in the air and flew right at Rainbow Dash, who didn’t have time to react as both pegasi went plummeting to the ground. Fluttershy saw what happened and flew over and stared down at them concerned. “Are you two alright?”

She put out a hoof for Derpy, who had landed on top of Rainbow Dash, and then did the same for the blue pegasus. “Yeah I’m all good. Thanks Flutters,” she said before turning to the guilty grey pegasus. “Watch where you're going!”

Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash, mumbling an apology before going back to her own team. Rainbow just stood watching her shaking her head.

“(Rainbow Dash) I know the pony is literally nicknamed Derpy, but she can really be clueless sometimes.”

“(Derpy Hooves) I really need to find a way to make it up to Rainbow Dash. Hmmm…”

Meanwhile the Elements were almost done with their hot tub, and it was looking very nice. All it needed was the water.

“Alright team,” Applejack called out, “Ah’m going to fill a bucket. Who’s coming with?”

“Ah’ll go, big sis,” Apple Bloom cried out, grabbing one of the buckets, with Pinkie following her close behind.

“Water round up! Water round up! Let’s finish our hot tub here!”

“Alright you two, let’s go!” The three of them quickly ran to fetch the water, while the other Elements stayed behind to put the finishing touches on their hot tub. Trixie and Twilight were tightening the bolts when Trixie looked over and saw that Twilight was done with her bolts, and that she herself had a few to go. Trixie thought to herself for a second before grinning evilly.

“(Trixie) The only way that miserable princess could have possibly managed to tighten her bolts faster is if she had failed to tighten her bolts enough. Trixie knew she needed to rectify this mistake and be the hero of her team.”

Trixie finished tightening all of her bolts and then moved to the back of the tub where all of Twilight’s bolts were, and started tightening as hard as possible.

Thirty minutes later

“Three, two, one, STOP!”

The teams quickly assembled in front of their respective hot tub, and looked at Chris in anticipation. First up he walked over to the Draconequui hot tub and looked it over. He dipped a finger in the water, examined it, looked over the sides, and checked the pump. He then turned to the Draconequui.

“Nice temperature, bubbling nicely and evenly, boards are all straight, pump is purring like a kitten. In my expert opinion, this is a really nice hot tub.”

The Draconequui cheered and high hooved each other. “I do have one question, though,” he said with a joking expression. “Why didn’t you use the rock?”

The whole team groaned and looked at him, not amused. Chris’ smile dropped and he turned around and started to walk toward the other hot tub. “No sense of humor these guys,” he muttered, before stopping at the pool and doing almost the same check up. “These planks are really well put together, pump is purring, that seems to be in order. Hmmm…” he stopped for a second before turning to the Elements and asking Cheese to come over. He did and Chris pointed in the hot tub. “Do you see anything wrong with this?”

Cheese looked in, before he smiled and looked at Pinkie. “You jokester! What did you do with the water?”

As he started laughing the rest of the Elements processed the information she gave and ran over to the tub, with the . Draconequui following behind as well in curiosity. Inside where water should have been, instead there was a few
small puddles of water and no more.

Twilight turned to Applejack, and yelled, “I thought you guys were going to fill the entire tub up with water, not just the very bottom!”

Applejack stared back at her with rage in her green eyes. “It was full and fully functional. Ah seen it with my own two eyes. You musta messed up putting the boards together and there was a leak.”

Pinkie then walked to the other side of the tub that was hidden from view. “Hey guys, I think I found where the water went! Start getting the buckets and scoop the water back in!”

Everyone else went around to the back of the hot tub and found their hooves or claws on very wet grass. Then they looked at the boards on the pool, and they saw the problem instantly.

“The bolts leaked,” Apple Bloom cried out, “look, there’s still marks where the water ran down.”

Applejack’s frustration was now at an all time high. “So which one of y’all was in charge of tightening the bolts?”

The whole team looked at Twilight and Trixie, and the blame clearly rested on their shoulders. Trixie for her part started thinking of a way to shift the blame away from her, and the solution was almost instantaneous.

“Well Trixie did the bolts for the front side,” Trixie stated, “so it must have been Twilight!”

Suddenly everyone’s attention was focused on the purple alicorn, and her eyes were indeed darting around in worry.

“Dang it, Twi,” Applejack shouted, “these bolts are way too tight. There are cracks in this here wood.

“I swear I didn’t tighten them that hard,” Twilight responded, “I made sure they were tight enough where they could hold, but I didn’t do it that hard!”

“Well thanks to you we may have just lost our first challenge!”

“Hey,” Chris interrupted, gaining everyone’s attention, “as the host I decide who the winner is.”

The anticipation was high as he looked back and forth between the two teams before cracking a big smile. “Come on guys. No question the Draconequui of Discord win, for reasons including, but not limited to, having water in their hot tub.”

The Draconequui started to cheer and celebrate. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire high hooved each other, Big Mac silently smiled, and Spike was jumping up in down like the little kid that he was. “Congratulations Draconequui,” Chris said happily, “to the winners go the spoils. Tonight you guys will be receiving a delicious dinner in the canteen, courtesy of Shining Armor’s best friend, Chef Hatchet.” Shining Armor laughed at the joke, followed by the rest of the high spirited team. “And as an added bonus, none of you go home tonight! So get back to the train while I deal with the others.”

The Draconequui kept celebrating and jumping up and down while going back to the nearby train.

“(Sweetie Belle) We won the first challenge! I can’t believe it! Though I really hope my sister doesn’t get sent home.

“(Shining Armor) I won two things today. One the challenge and the respect of my team…”

“(Spitfire) ...that will make me the leader of my team soon.”

Chris then turned to the Elements, with a sympathetic look, “Just so you know, you guys may have actually won if it wasn’t for the leaks.” This caused the whole team to stare at Twilight, some with disgust, some with disappointment, and one with a big smile (guess who). “Well, sorry guys, but you lost. Normally I’ll just say to nominate a pony for elimination because we won’t be sending a pony home in every episode, but this time a pony will be going home. And can I just say something?” Applejack stared at him coldly.

“What?”

Chris leaned in and said in a very soft voice, “You ponies have a lot of good options.” He then followed the path back to the nearby Ponyville Express.

“(Applejack) The worst part is he’s not wrong. I feel that we need to consider the worst player on our team. But who?”

Dining Car

With all systems go, the contestants were now being brought back to Ponyville, in time for the very first dramatic bonfire ceremony. The Draconequui were all chowing down on the delicious feast that had been set out by Chef.

“Hey guys do me a favor,” Spike said through bites of his sandwich. How about we win every challenge so we can be treated like kings?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “plus this cake here tastes awesome.” She then stuffed the rest of the cake into her mouth. Spitfire chuckled.

“Eat like that, Dash, and you won’t be able to fit into your Wonderbolts uniform.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and she dashed over to Spitfire so that they were almost nose to nose. “Really? A Wonderbolt?”

Spitfire chuckled again, “Maybe one day, Dash.”

“Good job team,” Shining Armor said, “I think we’re well on our way to dominating this game.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

The whole team continued the celebration until Rainbow turned and saw Derpy going into her room with a big bucket of something. Wondering what she was doing, she tapped Fluttershy and pointed toward the cabin. “Do you know what Derpy could be doing in our cabin?”

Fluttershy just shrugged and got up to look, with Rainbow following close behind. When they got to the door they found that it was opened and that Derpy appeared to be working on something that they couldn’t see. Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy before going over to Derpy and tapping her on the shoulder.

As soon as she did, though, she jumped up surprised and dropped the bucket that she was holding. The contents of which fell of both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, dousing them each in sparkly pink paint. It made Fluttershy shrink away nervously, but it made Rainbow Dash super angry, and then she exploded at Derpy. “WHAT THEY HAY, DERPY! WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT PAINT, AND WHY ARE YOU EVEN IN HERE?”

Derpy had hung her head in shame before explaining, “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I was trying to make you a card to apologize for earlier, and I wanted it to be a surprise.” This didn’t seem to calm Rainbow down at all, but before Fluttershy could stop her, she stormed in the room and to the bathroom to get the paint off. Derpy then walked up to Fluttershy. “Sorry,” she said “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”

“It’s ok Derpy,” Fluttershy said, still covered in paint, “you didn’t mean for it to happen like this. I’m sure Rainbow will understand once she calms down.”

Derpy smiled shyly and nodded, walking out of the room.

“(Fluttershy) If this game doesn’t destroy Derpy first, I’m afraid that Rainbow will instead.

Pinkie Pie was hopping along down the hallway prepared to go use the confessional when she suddenly heard a voice. “Hey, Pinkie, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Okie dokie lokie,” she exclaimed before walking toward the source of the voice and starting a conversation.

“(Pinkie Pie) The pony made me pinkie promise I wouldn’t tell anyone what she said, so I won’t.”

A voice came over the trains loudspeaker suddenly, “Attention Elements, we are about five minutes ourside of Ponyville, so please cast your votes and wait in the Observatory Car so we can walk to the Campfire Pit as soon as we’re there.”

Campfire Pit

It’s nighttime in Ponyville, the campfire is lit, and there’s a bunch of marshmallows on a silver platter which can only mean one thing. It’s time for a Campfire Ceremony.

The Elements of Harmony all sat down next to one another with worried expressions, before Chris stepped forward and picked up the silver platter.

“Elements of Harmony,” he started, at camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, marshmallows represent life.” He paused for a second to let the message sink in before continuing. “You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only seven marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name come up and claim your marshmallow. Everypony will receive a marshmallow except one, and if that happens to be you, that means you're out of the contest, and you can't come back... Ever.”

The team looked back and forth at each other, some worried, some confident, but they looked back to Chris as he read of the first name. “Applejack.”

Applejack stepped forward with a smile and got her marshmallow from the plate, eating it immediately. “Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie Pie.”

Both of them stood up and cheered before getting their marshmallows and standing with Applejack. “Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom turned around and smiled at the other four still remaining before frowning when she saw how stressed they all looked, except Trixie. She walked up and claimed her marshmallow, and stood next to her sister. Chris then looked at his notecard before staring up in disbelief. “Surprisingly Trixie.”

Trixie knowingly stood up and got her marshmallow, one of three that were still there. “Rarity.”

Rarity wiped a bead of sweat off her head before she got hers. Chris then held up the platter with only one marshmallow remaining. “Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Twilight Sparkle and Derpy Hooves both stood eying the marshmallow, anticipation building. Twilight had her hooves on her cheeks and Derpy was shaking uncontrollably. Finally Chris held up a finger and pointed it at Twilight, then Derpy, then brought it back to his thought, and then…

“Twilight.”

Twilight almost fell over in excitement as she ran over to pick up the last marshmallow. The whole team then turned to Derpy, who was wearing a devastated look on her face. Chris then cleared his throat. “Sorry Derpy,” he said pointing over his shoulder “exit stage left is that way.”

Derpy got up, waved goodbye with a sad smile, and walked away without a word.

“(Derpy Hooves) I guess it’s for the best. I slowed our team down in the challenge which caused Twilight to get stressed and to rush the bolts. Besides, I don’t want Rainbow Dash to be even more mad then she already is.”

“Everyone else,” Chris said, “enjoy your marshmallows, you’re safe...for now,” he said while walking back to the train.

“(Rainbow Dash) I may or may not have pulled a few strings there. I had a bad feeling that she was going to mess with my reputation more, so…”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I’ll make them sorry they put me up there last night. They don’t know this, but I can be a bit competitive at times, and I can feel that spirit coming on, so they better watch their step, because I’ll do anything to win this competition, and no one will stop me!”

Votes

Derpy

“(Pinkie Pie) I’m still not saying what we talked about, but I vote for Derpy.”

“(Cheese Sandwich) I didn’t really want to vote for anyone, but Pinkie told me to vote for Derpy, so sorry.”

“(Rarity) I trust Pinkie knows what she’s doing, so I vote Derpy.”

Twilight

“(Trixie) Now that I set her up, everyone thinks that Twilight cost us the challenge. She’s totally going home. I vote for the miserable princess.”

“(Derpy Hooves) Twilight kinda lost us the challenge today. Sorry.”

Rarity

“(Applejack) Ah can’t have a girl who won’t even step on the ground if it’s dirty on the team. Sorry Rarity, but you’re dead weight.”

“(Apple Bloom) Rarity can be a little annoying and whiny. Sorry darling!”

Trixie

“(Twilight) That girl is nothing but trouble, always showing off. Bye bye, Trixie!”

Author's Note

When I made the cast list for this, I literally put Derpy in to send her home first. I just couldn’t see her as anything but a spare. Thanks for reading!

The Big Sleep

“Last time on Total Drama, the sixteen campers faced their first ever challenge, which was to cliff dive into water. While some of them chickened out, most of them managed to do it, and the Draconequui of Discord came out on top, receiving wagons to carry their supplies onto build a hot tub. The disadvantage proved to be too much for the Elements of Harmony, as they got to their destination a full thirty minutes behind the other team for reasons including not having wagons, Derpy getting lost, and Cheese carrying Rarity. After they got there they were foiled again by bolts that ended up being tightened too much by Trixie. The team blamed Twilight, however, for the loss. Despite this, an annoyed Rainbow Dash of the Draconequui had enough of Derpy and convinced some of the Elements to vote her off. And so it was Derpy Hooves who’s dream of being 100,000 bits richer went up in flames. One down, fifteen to go. Who will be next? Find out right now on Total Drama Friendship is Tragic!”

Sleeping Car

All of the contestants are asleep. It’s five in the morning, and everypony is sleeping. Spike is mumbling something about Rarity and ice cream, Rainbow Dash is snoring really weird, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are all dreaming about how to get their cutie marks.

Chris walked down the hallway with a loudspeaker in one hand, a blow horn in the other, and earplugs. He then proceeded to put the blow horn to the end of the loudspeaker, smiled, and hit the button.

Cabin 4

HOOOOOOOOOOOONK

Everypony was suddenly woken up by the sound of the horn, and were all looking around in a very confused manner. Twilight had hit the bunk on top of her when she jumped, and Rarity just seemed very mad.

“Don’t these ponies know what beauty sleep is?”

Cabin 1

“Why does Chris think it’s a good idea to wake us up this early?”

Rainbow Dash had quite literally rolled out of bed and onto the floor in alarm. She was muttering complaints to herself and the others while they also got out of bed. However only she and Pinkie seemed to be having trouble doing it. Spitfire was up and doing push-ups and Fluttershy was huddled up in a corner in fear.

Cabin 3

All three of the young fillies were all struggling to get out of bed.

“Ah don’t know how my brother and sister do this everyday,” Apple Bloom complained.

“I don’t know how anypony can do this anytime,” Scootaloo responded, stretching her wings out.

Cabin 1

Spike was still curled up in bed, obviously hoping to get back to sleep. Shining Armor and Cheese Sandwich were both slowly moving around, while Big Macintosh was the only one who wasn’t fazed.

Shining Armor walked over to Spike’s bunk and nudged him a little with his hoof. “Spike,” he said softly, “it’s time to get up. We have a game to play.”

“Five more minutes, Twilight,” Spike muttered before turning away and facing the wall instead. He kept trying to wake him up while Cheese was finding his balance. He looked to see that Big Mac looked perfectly normal. “You seem to like getting up at five in the morning. Does farm life do that to you?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said before opening the door and going out in the walkway, becoming the first contestant to emerge from a cabin.

Sleeping Car

The rest soon followed in the span of five minutes. Everpony seemed very drowsy and sleepy still except for Big Mac, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spitfire, who were all used to getting up that early anyways. At last Spike and Shining Armor walked out and Chris was finally able to talk.

“Good morning, campers,” he exclaimed, “are you ready for today’s challenge?”

“Chris! It’s still early,” Rainbow whined.

“We haven’t had breakfast,” Scootaloo complained.

“I’m going back to bed,” Spike said, turning to walk to his cabin door. Before he could go through a giant red hoof slammed it shut.

“Nnope,” Big Mac said, staring down at the purple dragon. Spike groaned and turned back toward Chris.

“Are you all done complaining?” Chris paused and looked around before smiling again. “Good! Well the first part of today’s challenge is an easy one! Follow me!”

The contestants followed Chris out of the train and onto the station. He then pointed to a dirt trail that was lined on either side by red flags.

“That track is ten miles long, and it loops around back here. Your challenge is to be the first team to run the track and get everypony back here. Ready! Go!” He said that so fast that all of the competitors had to process what he said for a second before it looked like they were all shot out of a cannon. They all scrambled to get to the start of the course and were off.

Race track

After a few minutes it seemed like all the contestants were starting to form groups, with ponies like Spitfire, Applejack, and Cheese at the front, Twilight, the CMC, and Shining in the middle, and Rarity, Spike, and Rainbow in the back.

“Why is this so much harder than flying?” Rainbow Dash was already running low on energy and was sweating.

“Maybe because you spend all your time flying and little time running, darling,” Rarity replied. It seemed like she was just jogging so that she wouldn’t start sweating and look gross. Spike was currently in last because he was still very tired.

Meanwhile the CMC were all running together in a line, being about the same speed.

“I hope you’re not lonely without us, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said, through breaths, “your team seems pretty nice.”

“Well, Ah’m glad that we have Applejack and all. Ah just hope she doesn’t start to boss me round like she usually does.”

“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said, looking forward “she seems a little busy at the moment for that.”

The other two crusaders looked forward and saw that Applejack was running backwards toward the back of the line. Her and Rarity exchanged a few words and the crusaders could tell that they weren’t kind words. After a minute Applejack rolled her eyes and bursted forward again.

“(Applejack) That girl would rather take her sweet time and have our team lose than get a little bit sweaty. Ah swear if we lose she’s going home.”

Ponyville

Spitfire made it back to the station to find Chris was standing there waiting for everypony to arrive with a newspaper in his hands. Spitfire flew over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Chris, I’m the first one here!”

“But you can’t be the first, silly filly, I made it here before you!”

Spitfire cringed and looked over her shoulder to see Pinkie looking up at her with her usual Pinkie smile.

“How? Nopony went past me the entire time,” Spitfire thought for a second before shaking her head, landing on the ground, and shook her head.

“(Spitfire) Never try to understand Pinkie Pie logic. It never goes well.”

Spitfire turned around only to see a confident Rainbow Dash blow past her and stop with a cocky smile on her face. “Rainbow Dash,” she started to ask, “how did you get here so fast? You were far behind when we started.”

“I had a burst of energy at the end and passed everyone up,” she said, turning to sit down and rest.

More runners showed up after this, including Twilight, Applejack, Shining Armor, and Cheese Sandwich. So far there were four Elements and three Draconequui.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I employed the same technique I used in the running of the leaves to give myself a big boost at the end.”

“There’s only three of us here?” Shining asked the question through pants and turned back toward the end of the track.
“Well we better hope that the rest of our team gets here before the last Element.”

A minute went by before the CMC made their way to the finish, followed closely behind by Big Mac and Trixie.

“Alright teams, both of you have six runners here, leaving Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity out there,” Chris announced, staring in anticipation as the last competitors were still yet to be seen.

“(Apple Bloom) All we need is for Rarity to not come in last and we win. Easy...I hope…”

“(Scootaloo) How can they all be so slow?”

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't like to be left waiting to claim her victory.”

After a minute they see Spike come over the horizon panting and waving his arms around. After he crossed the finish line he looked to his, “Fluttershy was right behind me. She should be here any second.”

As he said that they saw the creamy yellow pegasus approaching, with no Rarity in sight. The Draconequui cheer as she crosses the finish line and looks to them apologetically. “I’m sorry I was so slow in getting here, everypony.”

“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, “we won!”

The Draconequui were cheering in celebration while the Elements were waiting for Rarity to walk across, and Applejack in particular was looking ready to kill her as soon as she did.

“Are you alright AJ?”

Applejack turned to Twilight who stepped back after seeing the look on the earthpony’s face. “No I’m not Twilight. It’s clear that we have a pony on our team that’s not willing to at least try. At least Derpy tried her best, even if it wasn't always perfect, she still tried! See! Look at her!” She pointed a hoof toward the track and they saw Rarity walking across the finish line. Rarity smiled and nodded to her team.

“I’m baaaaack!” Her expression changed when she saw the looks of sadness and anger from her team. Then Twilight stepped forward.

“Rarity, we-“

She was cut off by Applejack stamping her back hoof in frustration. “Rarity, do you even care about this competition?”

Rarity stood there with a dumbfounded expression staring at Applejack. The orange pony waited for a response, but upon not receiving one she continued.

“Ah personally have not seen an ounce of effort come from you for these first few days. You refused to jump of the cliff, you had poor Cheese drag you around while we were hauling crates, you barely helped build the dang hot tub, and now you just made us lose the race. How can you explain this pattern of uselessness, Ah wonder, besides being lazy and not having a care in the world!”

By this point everypony was watching the scene, even Chris. Applejack took a breath after letting herself go on the lengthy rant and then acknowledged the look on Rarity’s face. Devastation. Her face was scrunched up in a way that looked like she was trying her best to not cry. She ran back up the track with tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

“(Trixie) Wow, that was harsh. Even for Trixie.”

Spike ran after her, shooting Applejack an ugly look, and the rest of the group watched them go.

“Actually you guys won.”

Everypony that was still there turned to Chris in confusion after he interrupted.

“But Rarity finished last, and she’s an element,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Well, I got word that a certain pegasus flew through most of the track.”

The Draconequui all simultaneously turned to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened when this happened for a second before her expression morphed into a sheepish smile.

“(Rainbow Dash) So I flew a little. So what?”

“I only did it for a few miles,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“But this was a ten mile run, not fly.” Chris said, “therefore the Draconequui forfeit, and the Elements win!”

There was not a lot of enthusiasm from the Elements who were staring after Rarity, worried about their friend.

“(Shining Armor) Gosh dang it, Rainbow! We were so close and she just had to break the one rule we were given.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Remember kids, cheaters never win.”

“As your reward, Elements of Harmony,” he snapped his fingers, and an unenthusiastic Chef Hatchet appeared, carrying seven mugs on a platter. “you will all get a cup of coffee, which should help you through the next challenge.”

The Elements stared at the coffee in confusion, expecting a better reward, but each of them took a cup and drank it.

Then a white hoof came out of nowhere and snatched a cup angrily. The hoof belonged to Rarity, who had just come back with Spike, and had mascara running down her cheeks and was glaring intensely at Applejack. The orange earth pony noticed and walked up to her, but Rarity turned away, refusing to face her.

“Rarity, Ah’m truly sorry about going off on you. Ah just wish you could take this game a bit more seriously, because your team needs you.”

The rest of the Elements of Harmony nodded their heads in agreement. The only response they received was a “Hummph,” from Rarity and she turned away sipping the coffee. Meanwhile Spike made it back to his Draconequui team and smiled expectantly.

“So where’s our reward for winning the challenge?”

Campfire Pit

The teams walked to the campfire pit following Chris, but were clearly confused considering it was still very early in the morning, and the bonfire ceremony wouldn’t take place until nighttime.

“I still can’t believe we lost,” Spike said as they approached the pit. He then let out a loud yawn. “I wasted whatever energy I had on that race. I don’t know if I can deal with another challenge.”

“It’s okay, Spike, you can do it,” Spitfire encouraged.

“(Spitfire) My job as leader is to motivate those that lack confidence. Spike may be one of the weakest on the team, but that doesn’t mean he’s the weakest out of all of us. He’s stronger than about half of the other team.”

Pinkie was bouncing forward in excitement. “Oooo, I can't wait to hear what the challenge is! Do you think it’s a marshmallow roasting challenge? Or a staring contest? Or,” she gasped sharply, “maybe it’s a party throwing contest!”

“If it is, we totally got it in the bag,” Cheese said excitedly.

“Not even close!”

At this point they had just gotten to the pit, and Chris was standing right next to the pit. It wasn’t lit, seeing as how the sun was in the air, the lanterns weren’t on, and there were no marshmallows. The campers stood perplexed at the scene, especially to the Elements of Harmony, who less than twelve hours ago, had watched one of their own exit in a very dramatic scene.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I still remember the cold feeling I got when I was waiting for that marshmallow.”

“Okay, teams, this challenge is the awake-a-thon! The goal is-“

He was cut off when Spike suddenly collapsed from exhaustion, and as soon as he had, he started snoring loudly.

“-don’t do that. All of you must try to stay awake as long as possible. The last pony awake wins it for their team, and will receive a well deserved reward. The losing team will put somepony up for elimination here tonight. Now that Spike is out, the score is tied, so go!”

The teams stood around in confusion, looking at each other.

Then Apple Bloom asked, “So...we’re just supposed to sit around and not fall asleep?”

“Correct! Just stay by the fire pit, and no funny business! We have Princess Luna on speed dial in case anypony tries cheating, good luck!”

Chris then walked away to Celestia knows where. The teams then walked over to the campfire pit and sat down.

“Well this is boring,” Rainbow Dash said after waiting in silence for a minute.

Twenty four hours later and Spike was the only one to fall asleep. As soon as he woke up, he drowsily stood up and walked back to the train.

“(Spitfire) Told you he was one of the weak ones.”

The other contestants mostly just looked really tired, with some having dark circles around their eyes. Pinkie, Cheese, and Apple Bloom were the only ones still wide awake. They had been playing party games and talking the entire night, and Apple Bloom had even taken Applejack’s hat away from her and ran around with it for ten minutes before her older sister caught her.

“(Applejack) This is why we don’t give her coffee normally, but for this challenge it’s fine.”

“(Sweetie Belle) This challenge is pretty easy, but only if you get past the fact that you’ll be a zombie for the entire thing.”

“This is lame,” Scootaloo cried, “why can’t we have a fun challenge instead of waiting for everypony to fall asleep?”

“Don’t worry, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said, “as soon as we win this challenge, we’ll be able to move on and hopefully do something fun next challenge.”

“(Scootaloo) It better be.”

Meanwhile Applejack was trying to talk to Rarity, who continued to ignore her.

“Rarity, Ah already apologized more time than Ah can count. What more do you want from me?”

“I would just like to be left alone right now if you don’t mind, please.”

She then got up and walked toward the other side of the pit and sat down next to Fluttershy. The pegasus looked to her friend with concern.

“Rarity? Are you alright?”

Rarity then caught her friend in a big embrace and buried her face in the long pink mane, “Oh, Fluttershy! What should I do? I don’t think I can handle this game!”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t been any good at the challenges so far. I really do try, but I either get tired or am just no good at it. I’m not fast or strong or anything. Maybe I’m just not made for this game.”

“Well, you never know when your skills will come in handy. If you make it through this challenge it could end up being a fashion competition!”

Rarity sniffed, sat up, and rubbed a few stray tears out of her eyes. “I just don’t know if I’ll be able to make it until then, darling.”

“You have to try. Otherwise I’m not sure Applejack will like it very much.”

“Alright, I’ll try to push through the ugliness I feel.”

Fluttershy gave a sad smile and nodded, watching Rarity walk back to the other side.

“(Applejack) Ah should really thank Fluttershy for knocking some sense into that girl. Way to go!”

“(Spitfire) I’m not really sure how I feel about her helping the enemy, but it’s Rarity so I don’t know how much it helped exactly.”

Thirty six hours into the challenge, and it seemed like a few contestants were nearing the end of their trek. All of a sudden Shining Armor fell asleep, with his sister Twilight following close behind. Both sides had six ponies awake still.

Rainbow Dash was currently sitting with Big Macintosh “I think I’m so tired I’m not even tired anymore. Does that make sense?”

“Nn-Eeyup,” he said, yawning at the end.

“(Rainbow Dash) The stallion may not talk a lot, but he’s probably the best listener I know. Except Fluttershy, but she sets the bar pretty high.”

Apple Bloom was lying down and looked like she was about to drift off when she received a light tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sweetie Belle standing over her with her eyes as open as she could make them.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting...now.”

Apple Bloom nodded and stood up, stretching for a second and following Sweetie Belle behind a rock by the campfire pit, which was now lit since it was night. When the were on the other side they saw Scootaloo waiting for them.

“Took you both long enough,” she said, “are we ready?”

“I think so,” Sweetie Belle said, “why did you want to talk to us anyways?”

Scootaloo, who seemed to be the more awake out of the three, started to speak. “So as you both know, Apple Bloom is on a different team than Sweetie Belle and I. This doesn’t mean that the Crusaders will fall apart right?” All she received in response was a small nod from Sweetie Belle and a yawn from Apple Bloom. “Right! So clearly we need an interteam alliance of some sort. I’m not the best at strategy or planning, so that’s where you girls come in-“

She turned around to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both passed out. Scootaloo looks around before awkwardly leaving.

“(Scootaloo) Alright! Good talk!”

“(Apple Bloom) The first night Ah was wide awake, but then Ah crashed. Stupid caffeine. No wonder my family doesn’t let me have none.”

An hour goes by after the two crusaders go out when suddenly Rarity starts to wobble from either side.

“(Rarity) My vision got blurry, everything I heard got muffled, and suddenly I woke up the next morning covered in dirt!”

Rarity then fell over, clearly exhausted, and started snoring.

A few minutes later Fluttershy yawned, and was closing her eyes before opening them suddenly again. Rainbow Dash saw this and flew over to her, shaking her.

“Stay with me Fluttershy. Don’t quit on me now.”

“Rainbow-“ she suddenly fell asleep in the blue pegasus’ arms. Rainbow Dash tried to gently shake her awake, but then layed her down slowly instead.

“(Fluttershy) I was really tired. I just got so tired by that point that I think even if I was being shaken by Rainbow I still wouldn’t have stayed awake.”

Forty eight hours in, and by this point all of the remaining eight campers were dead to the world. Cheese was mumbling stuff to himself, Scootaloo was curled up facing the campfire pit, and Trixie was nodding her head back and forth before falling asleep finally.

“(Trixie) You can’t say Trixie hasn’t been helping her team. Trixie has done more for this team than any of the others. She just got too tired to stay awake any longer.”

“Hey Cheesie! How are you doing?”

Cheese Sandwich looked up and saw Pinkie Pie standing over him with a big smile on her face. Cheese smiled back before answering, “Pretty good! A little tired but I’m getting through it!”

Another hour went by before Chris came to check on them for the first time in the challenge. “What is wrong with you ponies? Go to sleep already! If you don’t I’ll have to use extreme measures.”

“(Spitfire) What could he possibly have that’s worse than what we’re already dealing with?”

It seemed like the line from Chris had hypnotized Scootaloo, and she suddenly fell over, knocked out herself. There were only three ponies per team left now.

At noon on the third day, the campers were each now fighting to stay awake, and it seemed like any of them could fall over in exhaustion. Then Applejack stood up.

“Ah’m going to use the last bit of energy that Ah have to go to the bathroom.” She stood up and took one step before freezing and falling to the ground, going asleep.

Sixty hours into the challenge, and Big Mac, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Cheese Sandwich, and Pinkie Pie looked, for a lack of a better word, dead. Then Chris walked up with a wheelbarrow, and inside was the biggest book that any of the ponies had ever seen.

“(Rainbow Dash) It looked like the kind of book that would leave Twilight foaming at the mouth.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I asked Chris if I could borrow the book after the challenge.”

Spitfire looked up and saw Chris stop with the wheelbarrow and smile suspiciously. “Oh what now?”

“Well,” Chris explained, “Chef and I were talking about you five earlier and we decided that this challenge was a little to easy for you all.”

“(Spitfire) He’s not the one that stayed up for more than two days straight.”

“So,” he continued, “I found the most boring, sleep inducing thing that I could find which is…” he hesitated as he struggled to pick up the giant book and place it on the barrel where he puts the marshmallows.

“The Unabridged History of Rocks, By Maudilenna Pie.”

“Nope! I’m out!”

Chris turned to see Rainbow Dash quickly lay down and fall asleep, not even daring to hear about such an uninteresting topic to her. Chris then shrugged and opened the book to chapter one.

“In the beginning there was nothing. Equestria was just a simple abyss with nothing inside it.”

Cheese Sandwich listened for about ten minutes before covering his ears, walking slowly over to the rock, and banging his head on it in annoyance. His plan backfired, though, and he fell unconscious. Chef Hatchet then picked him up to carry him to the infirmary.

“(Cheese Sandwich) Got a little real there for a second! I was just so tired I couldn’t think straight.”

After about an hour all three of the ponies looked to be on death’s door. Chris’ voice was droning on in their heads, and even though they tried to ignore it, the words were still sinking through.

“...and that is why there are three types of rocks known to ponies now.”

Spitfire, Big Mac, and Pinkie took a deep breath as silence finally hit their ears.

“Now onto chapter two!”

The big red stallion started falling to the side, landing with a big crash. Spitfire and Pinkie Pie looked at each other weakly, realizing the winner won for their team. Chris looked at the two of them with a smile.

“This is it everypony! Spitfire for the Draconequui of Discord, and Pinkie Pie for the Elements of Harmony! Who will win it for their team? Who will spare their team from the campfire? Who-”

“Chris,” Pinkie Pie interrupted, “she’s asleep.”

Chris turned toward Spitfire to see that the Wonderbolt captain was indeed out cold. “Oh, well then, congratulations Pinkie, you and the Elements of Harmony win the challenge!” He then pauses for a second after his gaze fell on Pinkie, “actually I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“How did you manage to stay awake so long without getting really tired? I mean, you look tired, but I wouldn’t say you’ve been awake for two and a half days if I saw you.”

Pinkie Pie thinks for a moment before answering. “I’ve always had high energy! How do you think I manage to throw my super duper parties?”

“Alright then.” Chris shrugged and pulled out a walkie talkie and held it up to his cheek. “Chef, please wake up the contestants in the train and have them come to the campfire pit, pronto!”

A grunt of affirmation was heard on the other end.

About ten minutes later all of the contestants had gathered by Chris at the campfire pit. It was around eight at night so there was still a little light out. Half of the campers still looked tired, although the ones that went out early like Spike, Shining, and Twilight looked fully recovered. Big Macintosh, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire were still asleep in nearby places, and Cheese Sandwich was sitting on the ground with bandages on his head, rocking back and forth.

“(Cheese Sandwich) Turns out I gave myself a concussion. I’ve heard of rock and roll, but this is ridiculous!”

“So as you have no doubt heard already, the winners of the challenge are the Elements of Harmony!”

The team cheered and high hooved each other, congratulating each other. “Your guys’ reward is a night in Manehattan Hotel, where you guys can recover from this challenge in peace. We’re going there for the next challenge and tomorrow is a day off for both teams, but you’ll be enjoying it in luxury.”

The Elements happily cheered at the news.

“(Rarity) Manehattan. Next to Canterlot it’s perhaps the most fashionable city in Equestria!”

“(Apple Bloom) Whew! Ah need this! The perks of actually winning!”

“As for you guys,” Chris said turning to the five conscious Draconequui, “time to put someone up for elimination. You have two hours to decide and meet back here. Have fun!” Chris turned around and walked a few steps. “Oh yeah! And take your teammates with you.”

They looked at the sleeping Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, and Spitfire.

“Well,” Shining Armor started, “they tried.”

Cabin 3

Back at the train, Scootaloo is resting on her bed while Apple Bloom is sitting on her own watching Sweetie Belle pace around.

“I can’t believe we lost,” Sweetie Belle squeaked while turning around to continue her pacing. “What if I’m the one everypony wants to send home! I really don’t want to go home now! We just started!”

Apple Bloom got off her bed and stood in front of Sweetie Belle to stop her and get her attention. “Why would they send you home? You haven’t done anything bad yet.”

“I know, but I’m still scared that they’ll find a reason.”

“Apple Bloom’s right,” Scootaloo interrupted, jumping off her bed. “There’s really no reason to send you home. Speaking of which, who do you think we should vote off?”

They all thought for a moment before Scootaloo spoke up. “Well, definitely not Rainbow Dash because she’s awesome. Not either of us. Not Spitfire because she’s an amazing leader…”

“And if you vote out my big brother Ah’ll kill you.”

“...right. So that leaves Spike, Fluttershy, or Shining Armor.”

Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Well, I think we should vote out Shining Armor. He’s trying to be a leader when we definitely don’t need one. Besides I don’t really think he’s all that good.”

“No, we need Shining Armor. He’s really strong and fun. I say we vote out Fluttershy, who’s kind of the opposite.”

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin in thought. “You know, Shining Armor did win the challenge yesterday, so I guess he’s got that going for him. But we can’t drop Fluttershy. She may not be strong, but she’s kind and she can do things nopony else can.”

“Oh yeah, right,” Scootaloo said, defeated, “well then I guess we’ll have to compromise.”

“Yeah.”

Observatory Room

Most of the Elements of Harmony are hanging out doing whatever. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are playing cards, Twilight is reading a book, and Trixie is practicing her magic.

However, in one corner of the room, Shining Armor, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire were in the middle of a conversation.

“I don’t think I should be going home tonight,” Rainbow Dash said, “I made it further in the challenge than most of the team.”

“But you still cost us the first part of the challenge,” Shining Armor said, “and that could have given us such a big advantage.”

“He has a point, Rainbow,” Spike said, with a claw pointed at her, “you shouldn’t have flown ahead.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the comment, “Do you seriously think I should go just because of that one mistake? I’m really sorry, and I promise I’ll work 20% more in order to make it up.”

“Yeah guys,” Spitfire stepped in, “everyone deserves a second chance, so let’s give her one.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her idol in awe.

“(Rainbow Dash) Did you see that? She stood up for me! Yes!”

“I don’t know Spitfire, what would you do if one of your Wonderbolt fliers messed up the routine trying to make it better?”

“Well, then I would...put them on probation…” her voice got quieter and quieter as she continued.

“My point exactly.”

Just then Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof on the table, inadvertently drawing the attention of the entire car to her. Shining Armor’s confident grin turned to a frown as he looked wide eyes at the sudden anger he saw in her eyes.

Then Rainbow Dash’s eyes softened, and her anger subsided. She looked at the hoof that she used to slam the table and retracted it.

“M’sorry,” she mumbled before walking to her cabin with a shameful look on her face.

“(Rainbow Dash) I don’t know what happened! All of a sudden my vision went blurry and I almost slammed my fist through the table. I wonder if this is how the Hulk feels.”

Campfire Pit

The sun has set and the two hours is up. The Draconequui of Discord are all sitting around the fire. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are next to each other, and they give each other a nod. Shining Armor is sitting with Spike and Big Mac, who is still drifting in and out of sleep. Fluttershy looks absolutely terrified, and Rainbow Dash put a hoof of comfort around her to calm her. Spitfire was standing at attention, trying to hide the bags that were under her sunglasses.

Chris then stepped forward with his platter, and proceeded to put it on the barrel. On it stood seven marshmallows. Chris pauses before a moment, eying the losing team, before he proceeded.

“Since this is your first elimination ceremony, and because the writer is lazy, I’m just going to give the same intro that I gave last night.” He cleared his throat. “Draconequui of Discord,” hecontinued, “at camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, marshmallows represent life.” He paused for a second to let the message sink in before continuing. “You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only seven marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name come up and claim your marshmallow.”

He paused and saw a few frightened faces, waiting a few seconds before saying the first name.

“Big Macintosh.”

The red stallion slowly stood up, and walked forward with his eyes narrowed in exhaustion. He claimed the first marshmallow before immediately lying down next to Chris to rest and eat.

“Spitfire.”

She nodded and ran up, claiming her marshmallow.

“Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo smiled and bolted for the plate, grabbing the first marshmallow she could reach and shoving it in her mouth.

“Sweetie Belle.”

Sweetie Belle cheered silently and ran up next to her friend, almost forgetting her marshmallow, and needing to turn back around to get it.

“Shining Armor.”

He slowly got up and walked over, standing next to the other Draconequui.

“Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy stood up and cast a sad look over her shoulder at the only two campers without a marshmallow, then slowly made her way to the tray to get the penultimate marshmallow.

“Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Spike and Rainbow Dash were frozen in their seats, eyes glued on the final marshmallow on the platter.

Chris then eyed an unmoving Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I got word that a certain pegasus flew through most of the track.”

The Draconequui all simultaneously turned to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened when this happened for a second before her expression morphed into a sheepish smile.

He turned to Spike, who was chewing on his claws and fidgeting.

“The goal is-“

He was cut off when Spike suddenly collapsed from exhaustion, and as soon as he had, he started snoring loudly.

“-don’t do that.”

He held onto the suspense a little longer, waiting until the very peak of drama before announcing the last name.

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash flew up as soon as he said her name and knocked over the tray. She still picked up the marshmallow off the ground and ate it while glaring at Shining Armor.

The team then turned to Spike, whose expression was one of shock. “Me? But why? I thought I was doing alright!”

“Spike,” Chris caught the attention of the baby dragon, “I’m sorry, but you’ve been eliminated. Time to go.”

Spike exhaled and stood up, arms slumped down, and started to slowly walk down the path back to Ponyville. He shot his team one final look with his eyes full of tears. “Bye guys. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

Fluttershy flew up to him, and gave him a sad hug. “I’m sorry you didn’t win, Spike,” she whispered. The hug lasted for about a minute before Spike let go and walked up the path.

“(Spike) I’m seriously bummed to go, but at least I didn’t go first, right? Well, I just hope that Rarity ends up winning this thing now. If you can see this, I’ll be rooting for you, my love!”

As their dragon friend disappeared, and lowered their heads in sadness.

“The rest of you enjoy your marshmallows, you’re safe...for tonight.” He was about to turn around to leave them in peace when he turned around. “Oh, and Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked up at Chris nervously as he pulled a note from his jean pocket and reading it before looking up at the yellow pegasus. “If you ever vote for yourself again, that will be considered a forfeit and you’ll be eliminated.” Chris then walked away back to the train.

Fluttershy flinched as she suddenly had the whole teams’ attention on her. She stared back at the questioning eyes with her nervous ones, muttered something incoherent, and ran back to the train.

“(Spitfire) She voted for herself? That’s just asking to go home!”

“(Shining Armor) Does she even want to be here? I seriously want answers now.”

Cabin 4

Applejack walked into her cabin to see Rarity laying on her bed with a pillow over her head. Applejack could tell she was awake so she sat on the bed next to her.

“Look Rarity,” Applejack took a deep breath before continuing, “what Ah said was wrong, and Ah shouldn’t have snapped at you. Ah know that your trying and that so far you haven’t been getting any challenges that favor your skill set, and Ah should've understood that. You can do things that Ah can’t do, and Ah can do things you can’t, and that’s okay. Anyways, Ah just wanted to tell you that Ah’m sorry.”

Applejack waited a second before standing up and walking toward the door.

“You’re right, Applejack.”

She turned around to see Rarity with a soft smile spread across her face. “I’m sorry that I ran off and acted dramatic. I really do think I need to try harder, at all things. The things I do best and the things I do worse.”

Applejack paused and smiled, “Ah’m glad you said that.”

Rarity then got up and spread her arms out. “Now come here, darling. Give me a hug.”

Wasting no time Applejack went forward and accepted the white unicorns embrace. They stayed that way for a moment before they heard hoofsteps coming toward their cabin.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to go to bed, so either zip it or get out!”

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, smiled, and shook their heads before going to their respective beds and falling asleep.

Cabin 1

Rainbow Dash walked into her shared cabin to find Fluttershy laying on her bed and silently staring up at the ceiling of the car. Rainbow Dash flew over slowly to the yellow pegasus.

“Hey Flutters, what’s wrong?”

Fluttershy turned to look at Rainbow before responding, “I-I don’t think I’m cut out for this game. I know I talked to R-Rarity about pushing forward and all, but I don’t think I can handle it. That’s w-why I voted for myself. I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for anypony on our team, s-so I thought I was the only option.”

Rainbow Dash nodded to Fluttershy, understanding how the game's cruel system would clash with her friend’s kind demeanor. “You’re wrong, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked up to see Rainbow, confused, but staying silent to allow the blue pegasus to continue. “You’re a lot stronger than you think. I’ve seen it in you, and I think you can use it to push through this game and win the whole thing. You just gotta have faith.”

Rainbow Dash then turned toward the door to make sure no one was watching before she leaned in and gave Fluttershy a big hug, which she returned. It lasted a few seconds before Rainbow let go and saw Fluttershy with a small smile.

“Thanks Dashie,” she whispered before falling asleep.

Rainbow Dash smiled back and flew off the bed and into her own, turning off the light, and falling asleep herself.

Votes for Spike

“(Rainbow Dash) Try and kick me out? I’m not the weakest here, Spike. You are!”

“(Scootaloo) I guess I have to vote for Spike. I don’t want Rainbow to go home.”

“(Sweetie Belle) I hate to do this, but I think that Spike is the best option to go tonight. Sorry.”

“(Spitfire) Cutting off the weakest link. Who knew that it would be a dragon?”

Votes for Rainbow Dash

“(Shining Armor) Something about Rainbow’s attitude was off today, and that’s the least of her problems.”

“(Spike) Rainbow cost us the challenge and almost ripped Shining’s head off.”

“(Big Macintosh) …Rainbow…”

Votes for Fluttershy

“(Fluttershy) I have to vote for myself. I’m obviously the weakest link, and I can’t bring myself to upset anypony.”

Author's Note

Spike was the last character I added. At first I limited it to ponies but decided he would be a better option than Bulk Biceps. Still, I didn’t know what to do with his character.

Dodgebrawl

“Last time on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic, the teams received a very early wake up call and then had to run a ten mile track around the Ponyville area. Rarity of the Elements of Harmony showed up last, and Applejack exchanged some not so nice words. It wasn’t until after her rant that the Elements were informed that they won due to a cheating Rainbow Dash, and each of them received a cup of coffee to help them in the next challenge, the Awakeathon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Despite having more members, the Draconequui fell to Pinkie Pie and the Elements. Back at the train Rainbow was called out by Shining Armor for her cheating, and then she almost broke a table in her frustration. But instead it was Spike’s dream of becoming the first dragon to win Total Drama that went up in flames. Will Rarity come back stronger than ever? Does Fluttershy still have the will to go on? And do I get paid now or at the end of the week? Most of these questions and more will be answered on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic.

Observatory Car

The Ponyville Express has been sitting at the Manehattan Station since noon yesterday. The Elements of Harmony had spent the whole day yesterday exploring Manehattan and taking in the sights before going back to their five star reward hotel stay. There they were pampered with spa treatments, platters full of delicious food, and makeovers, much to Rarity’s delight.

“(Rarity) You can’t find this kind of treatment in little old Ponyville. It’s simply luxurious.”

The Draconequui of Discord are all sitting around in the leather seats in the observation car, relaxing and mentally preparing themselves for the day ahead. Some of them still seemed sore about losing the awakeathon challenge, but all of them had recovered and were now wide awake, even Big Macintosh.

“So that’s when I swooped in and grabbed Rarity and you guys from falling through the stadium!”

Rainbow Dash has finish telling her heroic feat from the Best Young Flier’s competition that took place in Canterlot about a year ago to Spitfire, who, although she was technically there, was also knocked out for the best part.

“I still can’t believe you managed to pull off the Sonic Rainboom while doing it. That must have been impressive to watch.”

Rainbow jumped up, hovering a little in excitement. “You bet it was! That’s why I won the competition! It was so awesome!”

Spitfire just rolled her eyes with a smirk.

“(Spitfire) Dash is a good kid. A little on the cocky side, but I’ve seen a lot worse.”

“(Rainbow Dash) I think Spitfire really likes me! Makes it about twenty percent easier to make it into the team one day.”

“It sure sounded awesome, Rainbow. I wish I were able to see it.”

That's when Fluttershy joined the conversation. So far she had just been sitting next to them listening to their stories and giggling every once and a while. “Oh, I saw it. It was very magical!”

Rainbow Dash smiled widely at the complement. Before she could respond, however, the loudspeaker on the train released a loud squeak that caused the Draconequui to cover their ears.

“Good soon to be painful morning, Draconequui!” The voice was easily recognized as their loving host, Chris. “Get your tails down to Filly Stadium in downtown Manehattan! It’s challenge time!”

“(Scootaloo) Yes! Sports!”

“(Fluttershy) Oh dear, sports.”

“Come on, Draconequui,” Shining Armor exclaimed with an excited smile, “it’s time to get our A game on.”

A cheer erupted as the team ran out of the train car, led by Shining Armor, and went out into the city, walking down the sidewalks past hundreds of ponies on the way to their destination.

The city was huge. It was like ten Ponyville’s fit into one. There were big gray buildings surrounding the streets, with many floors and windows, and ponies bustling in and out of them. Most of the ponies were in a hurry, which unnerved a few of the contestants, but a few were sitting in a bench waiting for a cab or sipping a latte.

“(Shining Armor) Canterlot is still bigger, but this city isn’t very far behind.”

“(Sweetie Belle) This place is amazing! I can see why my sister always wanted to visit here so much!”

Filly Stadium

Both the teams are gathered at the center of Filly Stadium, a large stadium that was originally built for the Equestria Games 30 years ago and now served as a multi-purpose sports complex. Hoofball, Archery, Buckball, and so many other sports were played in the massive stadium. It could seat around 25,000 ponies and could expand if needed, though the stands wouldn’t be needed this time.

There were no ponies in the stands, which made the stadium seem even bigger to the fourteen contestants that were gathered inside of it. The field is essentially a giant white rectangle with a line going down the middle. There are some stands on one side of it.

Chris walked over to them wearing his usual big smile carrying a net bag full of a bunch of red dodgeballs. Next to him was Chef Hatcher wearing a whistle and a referee uniform with his usual look that said “I hate everything.”

“Welcome to the magnificent Filly Stadium,” Chris exclaimed, “a modern marvel in stadium architecture!”

“(Shining Armor) Yeah, because anything’s better than Troticana Field. That place is disgusting.”

“As you can see,” the host continued, “you’re challenge today will be a good old fashioned game of dodgeball.”

He looked around at the ponies and saw that their faces were completely blank. “Seriously? You don’t have dodgeball in Equestria?” Everypony just shook their heads, and Chris sighed. “Okay, the rules are simple. See how the field has a white rectangle with a line down the middle surrounded by boards?” The contestants looked to where he was pointing, where they saw that the grass had been painted to look almost like a buckball field without the buckets. “That’s the court. Each team will start with five ponies on each side. There will be four balls in play, each team getting two to start, and then you’ll have to knock out the entire team. Buck, throw, or levitate the balls to hit a pony from the other side. If they get hit...” he threw a ball at and hit Pinkie Pie to prove his point, who just stood up laughing again, “...you’re out. If you catch a ball thrown at you with your mouth or magic or… whatever, you’re still in and get to call a teammate back in.” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof in the air. “Yes pegasi and Twilight can fly.”

“Yes,” Rainbow cheered, now looking more confident than ever.

“The challenge will be a best of five, first team to three wins will receive a reward, while the losers will put somepony up for a dishonorable discharge. Chef Hatchet is the referee, and he will call you in or out. Now, you each have two minutes to decide which five ponies will be going in for your team for the first round. The other two can still be called in if you catch a ball however. Move! Move! Move!”

The teams did as Chris said and moved to their places on the field with their teammates, and huddled together.

Elements of Harmony

“So, who wants to go out first with me?” Twilight asked, standing on a bleacher.

“Ah’ll go!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Me too!” Apple Bloom cried.

“Trixie volunteers.” Trixie said smugly.

“Pick me! Pick me!” Pinkie shouted.

Twilight stared in with a mixture of both disbelief and satisfaction at how quickly that had been decided. “Well alrighty then! Cheese and Rarity, we’ll get you in next round. Let’s go, Elements!”

They all cheered and the five volunteers went out on the court.

“(Rarity) I have no problem staying out as much as possible for this particular competition. If I can make it past today, I’ll show my team that I can really shine in the next challenge.”

“(Applejack) Ah feel like we’re the more overall athletic team. They have my brother with strength and a few speedy ones, but the others Ah wouldn’t chalk up to being sporty.”

Draconequui of Discord

The Draconequui are having significantly more trouble deciding which five will be going out on the court.

Rainbow Dash looked over to see the other team taking their places on the court. “Come on, guys, they’ve already decided! Let’s just go!”

“She’s right,” Spitfire chimed in, “we need to pick the most athletic to go out first.”

“That probably doesn’t include me,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Can’t we just send out the ponies who want to go?” Shining Armor asked.

“I think everypony wants to go out.” Scootaloo deadpanned, “including me!”

“Draconequui, thirty seconds.” Chris announced.

“We gotta pick our team now,” Shining Armor said.

“I got this,” Spitfire said, flying over her team to get their attention. “Me, Rainbow, Big Mac, Scoots, and Sweetie.”

“Why can’t I go out?” Shining Armor asked, a little disappointed.

“We can’t have all of our good ponies going out first, so we’ll put you in next round,” Spitfire explained. “Now move out troops!”

“(Shining Armor) I guess that kind of makes sense.”

“(Spitfire) As long as that joker keeps gunning for the leadership position, I have to promote myself and make him seem of less importance until he understands that I’m the leader.”

Match 1

The match starts with Spitfire and Big Mac holding the balls for the Draconequui, while Applejack and Pinkie hold them for the Elements.

The whistle blows and both sides run forward at each other. Rainbow Dash has the first throw of the day, as she hits Twilight. The whistle blows and Twilight sulks off the court.

“(Rainbow Dash) This may be my first time playing this game, but when you’re a five star athlete like me, you learn quickly.”

Apple Bloom quickly runs over to the ball that hit Twilight and aims at Rainbow. Rainbow dodges the ball by flying through the air.

“Come on, Elements!” Applejack shouted, “Let’s step it up!” Immediately afterwards she got pegged by a ball thrown, or bucked, by her big brother. She angrily takes a seat next to Twilight.

Pinkie Pie quickly tosses the ball at Sweetie Belle, but it is caught out of the air by Spitfire before it can reach her.

“Fluttershy! You’re in!”

Fluttershy nods and flies down to the court to join the team. The six of them stare down Trixie and Apple Bloom, the two elements remaining.

“(Apple Bloom) Two against six? That ain’t fair!”

Spitfire throws at Apple Bloom but misses. Trixie sees a ball near her and she uses her magic to pick it up. Before she can get it to herself, however, she is hit by a ball, courtesy of Big Mac.

“Curses!” she exclaimed, going to the bench.

Apple Bloom is standing in the middle of the court, absolute terror written on her face. It took about five seconds before Scootaloo threw the ball that finished it.

“Wow! That was fast!” Chris announced. “Game one to the Draconequui! Elements, you might want to step it up! You have two more minutes to rest and decide who’s going in!”

Elements of Harmony

“Well, that was a total bust,” Trixie said, sulking after the defeat.

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed, “who knew Scootaloo could throw so hard?”

“It ain’t over yet, team,” Applejack said, “Ah’ll go out again, and Ah’m taking Cheese Sandwich and Rarity with me for sure. Who else wants a go?”

“Why do I have to go?” Rarity asked, “I’m not good at sports.”

“Uh, because you didn’t go last time. And also because you told me you’d start trying harder at these here challenges,” Applejack pointed out.

Rarity thought for a second before nodding in agreement.

“I want to go again! Pretty please?” Applejack nodded to the bouncing Pinkie Pie before she pointed to Twilight.

“Twilight, Ah think you ought to try again.”

“Alright, I’ll go,” Twilight said, “and that’s all five of us! Move out!”

Draconequui of Discord

“Good first round, team! Who’s going out next?” Spitfire asked in a confident voice.

“Well, I say I go,” Shining Armor said, “and I’ll take Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Big Mac, and…Fluttershy, you still have to go.” He turned to face the yellow pegasus who was the furthest away from him.

“Um, yes, but-”

“It’s settled then! Let’s go!” He led the four other ponies he picked out onto the court, while Spitfire was left behind grumbling to herself.

“(Spitfire) I know he sat me just so he could get a shot in the spotlight without me. Well it’s not going to work!”

Match 2

The balls are with Rarity and Twilight on one side, and Rainbow and Big Mac once again on the other.

“(Rainbow Dash) We decided not to mess with our strategy from last time. It should work again, right?”

Chef Hatchet blew the whistle and the round began. Rainbow once again became the first one to throw a ball, but this time missed Applejack who dodged. Then Twilight aimed and fired at the biggest target on their team, knocking Big Mac to the ground.

Fluttershy sees this and quickly grabs the ball Big Mac had, and threw it as hard as she could at Rarity, which only resulted in a lob that caught by the fashionista.

“(Fluttershy) I don’t really throw things so my arm power isn’t great.”

“Apple Bloom,” Rarity called, bringing the small filly back into the game, only to be thrown out right away by Shining Armor.

“(Apple Bloom) Come on! He didn’t even give me a chance!”

With all the balls on their side of the court, the Elements of Harmony went on the attack. First, Rarity threw the ball at Shining Armor, narrowly missing. Then Twilight threw at Scootaloo, missing by a mile. Finally, Applejack and Cheese both aimed at Rainbow Dash in the air, with Applejack’s being the one to get her.

“Darn it!” Rainbow said, flying off the court.

Shining Armor turned to Scootaloo and then to the five ponies on the other side of the court.

“(Shining Armor) It was then that I got an idea that would save our team if it worked.”

Shining ran, picked up a ball with his magic, and purposefully threw way low in front of Twilight.

“Hey, Shining! Try to aim at the other team!” Spitfire yelled from the stands before Shining turned to smirk at her, confusing her.

It was then that Twilight smirked, picked up the ball, and tried to aim at her older brother, only to be called out as he caught it.

“Nice try, Twily! Um, Big Mac! Welcome back!”

As Big Mac walked onto the court he was almost hit by Cheese Sandwich, but barely dodged in time. He went back, got the ball, and chucked it at Rarity, who attempted to catch it with her magic, but failed.

“(Shining Armor) And that’s how you even up the score!”

“(Spitfire) That was impressive, I’ll give him that.”

Big Mac gets another ball and bucks it at Applejack, getting her big sister out.

“What’s with Big Mac today? He’s dominating.” Chris pointed out.

Big Mac turns to him and shrugs. Unfortunately he gets distracted and becomes a casualty of Cheese Sandwich, who gave his second attempt at hitting him. He gets up with a grunt before leaving the court.

“Nevermind,” Chris said.

Now it’s Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich for the Elements and Shining Armor and Scootaloo for the Draconequui. Scootaloo picks up a ball and chucks it at Pinkie Pie, which misses and hits Cheese Sandwich instead.

“Well, that’s all folks,” he said, saluting before going off the court.

Pinkie stared at the two ponies on the other side, a determined look in her eyes. “I ain’t afraid of you! Bring it!”

Scootaloo and Shining Armor both picked up a ball and looked evilly at her. Pinkie’s pupils shrunk and she smiled widely at them. “Uh, friends?”

About one millisecond later she was on the ground after having been hit by Shining Armor.

“Game two to the Draconequui! That means the Elements need to sweep the next three games to have any hope of winning!”

“(Applejack) We’re doomed.”

“(Apple Bloom) We’re dead.”

“(Trixie) We’re toast.”

Draconequui of Discord

Once again they’re all huddled up ready to pick a team.

“I want back in,” Spitfire announced, “and I think we need to give Fluttershy another go.”

Fluttershy looked away at the sudden attention. “Oh, um, I don’t think that’s such a...I mean-”

“Good to hear,” Spitfire flew over and patted her on the back, “Sweetie Belle, Big Mac, and one more.”

“I guess I’ll go again,” Shining Armor announced, stepping forward before Rainbow Dash could. Instead she sat back on the bench next to Scootaloo, frustrated.”

“Good, that’s five. If we win we can be done, so let’s go!”

The whole team clearly has a high morale as they step on the court, all excited and ready to win a final time.

Elements of Harmony

The opposite of excited is depressed, and that would be one way to describe the as of yet shut out Elements.

“Ah need a break, y’all,” Applejack said, and Twilight nodded in agreement, following her to the stands.

The others looked at each other with blank stares.

“...Ah guess that’s us then, everypony. Let’s go.”

Apple Bloom’s words did nothing to cheer up her team, but as they were starting to trot onto the court, Pinkie stopped them.

“Hey now, is that anyway to act? We may be down now, but we can jump back, guys! You guys just need to believe in the power of positivity, and love, and parties! In fact, if we use our minds, and take a step at a time, we can do anything that we want to do! So come on, team, let’s win this thang!”

The whole court was in complete silence by the end of her inspirational speech, and when she finishes her whole team claps and shouts, a new hope for them. They all go out more determined than ever.

Match 3

The balls are in the possession of Spitfire and Shining Armor for the Draconequui, and Pinkie Pie and Trixie for the Elements.

The whistle sounds and both teams are off. Both Pinkie Pie and Trixie aim for Shining Armor, quickly knocking him out of the game before he could even throw his ball.

Spitfire then throws at Pinkie Pie who catches the ball in her hair and uses it to rip it back at Sweetie Belle, gutting her in the head.

“Alright, everypony! That’s three down!” Pinkie cheered before realizing a second later, “Oh, ummm, Twilight!” Twilight happily nods and gets in the game. As soon as she does she sees Big Mac with three balls lined in front of him and him tearing back about to buck them all to the other side.

“EVERYPONY DUCK!”

They all do as she says and they get to the ground right before the powerful back hooves. The first two completely miss and the other one hits Trixie in the stomach, but she somehow holds on against the momentum of the ball and catches it as she flies through the air and lands on her back. Chef whistles Big Mac out and he trots off in disbelief.

“(Twilight) That was the first useful thing she’s done for us since showing up!”

“(Big Macintosh) Nnope!”

“Well, I guess Applejack since she’s the only one left,” Trixie said before her and the rest of the team turned toward Fluttershy, alone in the middle of her side.

“Oh dear,” she whispers in the face of seven ponies and four dodgeballs. She manages to dodge the first three, but gets hit with the last one.

“(Fluttershy) That was so scary! I hope I never have to face something that bad again!”

“(Rarity) Maybe Pinkie Pie’s onto something. We really can do anything that we want to do!”

“And by total domination, the Elements win their first match! Get ready for match number four, teams!”

Draconequui of Discord

“That was embarrassing,” Spitfire spat, sitting down on the bleacher, “no more messing around! We need our A-team out there, so me, Big Mac, Rainbow, Scoots, and Shining. Let’s move out!” Before she could get up, Fluttershy stopped her.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt, but I think Big Macintosh could use a rest. Or not, that’s okay too I guess.”

Spitfire looked over to see Big Mac panting and sweating like a dog.

“Well, I guess if he hasn’t had a break yet, then Sweetie Belle you come, too. Ready? Break!”

Elements of Harmony

“Well, since that worked last time,” Twilight said, “I say we send the same team out there, except with Applejack in for Apple Bloom.” It was then that Chris popped up right next to her.

“Not so fast! Everypony must sit out at least once, and Pinkie still has to.”

“You never said that, McLean!” Applejack shouted.

“I know, have fun!”

“(Applejack) Ah feel like Chris must get a kick outta seeing us miserable.”

“Fine,” Twilight groaned, “I’ll go in for Pinkie. Any questions? No? Perfect!”

“Actually I kinda need a break. Can I take one?”

The alicorn turned to see Cheese Sandwich sitting down next to Pinkie Pie.

“Uh, sure. Apple Bloom?”

The filly stood up and jumped down. “Right away, Twilight!”

Twilight then looked around at every member of her team with an . “Anypony else need anything? Anypony?” After no one responds she smiles. “Alright, now let’s go!”

With that both teams are situated on their respective sides of the court, ready to go.

Match 4

The balls are residing with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire of the Draconequui, and Applejack and Twilight on the Elements, and with the blow of the whistle from the bald referee the match begins.

Rainbow Dash fires a ball at Trixie and misses, and Spitfire throws a ball at Applejack, but also misses.

“(Rainbow Dash) Well we’re off to an amazing start! Five seconds in, no one out, and they have all four balls!”

Applejack quickly bucked one of the balls over the line, getting Sweetie Belle out. Scootaloo dodge a ball thrown by Twilight and snagged the one that had hit her friend and hit Trixie.

“(Trixie) Say what you will about the Great and Powerful Trixie, but that filly can throw!”

Apple Bloom bucked the ball up, attempting to hit Shining Armor, but he catches it.

“Sweetie Belle, you’re back in.”

As soon as he said it he wound up his horn and threw the ball at his sister, Twilight. She ducked and it hit the pony behind her, Applejack, hitting her right in the nose. It knocks the orange pony back, but she doesn’t get up right away.

Seeing this, Chef whistles time out and goes down to examine the pony, with the rest of the team and most of the other team as well. She is bleeding out of her nose and is dazed and confused.

“She’s definitely got a broken nose,” Chef explained after a quick examination.

“How do you know about equestrian medicine?” Chris asked.

“That ding dang Princess Delestia or whatever made me take a course before we began. Told the producers that we couldn’t do the show without a professional on site.”

“Please help mah big sis!” Apple Bloom’s cried to Chef with her big puppy eyes.

“It’s not that bad,” Chef said, trying to calm everypony down, “I’ve had five broken noses before I turned thirty!”

“How many have you had since?” Trixie asked with genuine interest.

“Seven. Eight if you could the time that dude in jail broke it two places.”

“Nice,” Trixie said with a smirk.

“You guys are forgetting about the broken nose now!” Twilight’s voice snaps Chef’s attention snaps back to Applejack, still lying in pain.

“Did we wid da gabe?” Applejack asked in a nasally voice due to the injury.

“Nope, not yet,” Chef said, “and because of the injury you can’t participate anymore, so please wait outside in the medical tent for the end of the challenge, and then I’ll fix the nose.”

“Why cad’t y’all do it right dow?”

“Duh, challenge.”

“Whatever,” Applejack said, getting up with the help of Apple Bloom and Twilight and trotting out of the stadium.

“(Applejack) It doesd’t hurt that bad. Ah thought I could still bake it id the gabe bore.”

“(Shining Armor) Who knew I was so strong? Either that or who knew how weak Applejack is?”

“Alright, teams,” Chris said with the stoppage out of the way, “get back to your sides. It’s Rarity and Twilight verses Shining, Spitfire, Rainbow, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.”

“(Twilight) Great, just great.”

The whistle sounds and the round resumes with Twilight throwing the ball at her brother, hitting him on the flank.

“That’s for Applejack!” she cried as her brother walked off sulking. At that moment Rainbow Dash flew up and wound up to throw at Twilight, who caught it on the fly. “Get back in here, Apple Bloom, the score is all tied up!”

The filly ran into the court and bucked the closest ball to her at Scootaloo, which would have missed if Scootaloo hadn’t stuck her wing out.

“(Scootaloo) Stupid wings! At least stay at my side when I need you too!”

Spitfire mimicked Rainbow and flew up before throwing her ball, only to have it be caught by the magic of Twilight again.

“I guess Trixie?” Trixie stood up and went back into the court, which was now 4v1 against Sweetie Belle, who made one last ditch effort by levitating and throwing the ball weakly at Trixie, who easily caught it with her magic.

“Alright everypony! One last round to decide who wins the whole shebang, and also nopony can come back in even if somepony catches a ball.”

“You just make the rules up as you go along, don’t you,” Rainbow Dash said with suspicion.

“Yes, yes I do.”

Elements of Harmony

“Alright,” Twilight started, “because Applejack got knocked out, we have one less pony to sit down, so who’s the worst at dodgeball out of all of us?”

All of the ponies think to themselves and survey each other.

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to eliminate the weak ones from the team so she can shine over them. For now she needs a pony who is already on the border of being eliminated and just needs a little push.”

“Rarity’s the weakest,” Trixie blurted out, and the rest of the team turned to her with questioning looks, but none of them more so than Rarity herself.

“How am I the weakest?”

“What have you done so far besides lurking around the back of the court and letting everypony else take the fall?”

“I most certainly have not done that! And I have also contributed to this team positively as well.”

“By doing what?”

“Uh, well it’s not important! I am not the weakest pony on this team and I’ll prove it in this next match!”

Rarity’s determined look made Twilight smile and say, “Alright, I like the attitude! Apple Bloom, do you mind sitting out this last time?”

“No problem, Twilight.”

“Alright Elements! We didn’t come all the way back from the brink and suffer a broken nose just to turn back now, did we?”

“NO!”

“Then let’s roll!”

“YEAH!”

Draconequui of Discord

“We gotta try something else,” Rainbow Dash said, “I think they figured out now!”

“Well we should probably come up with a plan,” Spitfire suggested, “maybe we could try...wait! Yes! Crush the newbie!”

“(Rainbow Dash) Yes!”

“(Fluttershy) No…”

“Oooo, what’s that?” Scootaloo asked.

“An old trick from flight school,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “when we played infection, the taggers would always tag the first person they saw. It was effective and fun!”

“Not if your the one being chased,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Exactly! So Rainbow, Fluttershy and I will go out since we know it, and we’ll take Big Mac and Shining as well,” Sptifire announced. Everypony except Fluttershy nodded.

“Um, maybe somepony else could go out. I’m not exactly good at this game.”

“Nonsense,” Spitfire shrugged off the concern, “you know how crush the newbie works. We’ll just wait for the Elements to throw the balls, pick them up, and knock somepony out!”

“Fifteen seconds!” they heard Chris yell.

“Come on, Flutters,” Rainbow pleaded, “please?”

Fluttershy thought before smiling and standing up. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“(Fluttershy) I don’t know what it is, but something about Rainbow Dash makes her really convincing.

“Great! Go team!” Rainbow said, flying out amid the cheers of her team.

Match 5

The final match starts with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire holding the balls for the Draconequui and Rarity and Chees hold them for the Elements. The wistle blows and the final round commences.

As was planned, the Draconequui wait for the balls to be thrown by Rarity and Cheese, both missing, and collected them all, giving all of them except Fluttershy a ball.

Spitfire surveyed the team before yelling the target out. “Twilight!”

The other three respond and they quickly levitate, buck, or throw their balls directly at the alicorn. Because of the amount she isn’t able to focus to catch or dodge.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes!”

Twilight was hit by literally all four balls, and even worse, one of them ricishayed off her and hit Cheese.

“Does this mean I’m out?” she asked Chef. He turned to him and nodded, blowing the whistle twice for each pony.

Trixie then picks up the ball with her horn and throws it at Shining, hitting him before he can react with magic.

“(Trixie) Just making my plan a little easier for myself.”

Big Mac goes to the ball and bucks it at Pinkie, knocking her down, and dodging the immediate counterattack by Trixie.

“Help me out, Rarity! I can’t do it all by myself!”

“I’m trying!”

“Try ha-” she pauses to catch a ball thrown by Spitfire, and throw it back to hit Big Mac.

With only two remaining on either side, Rainbow Dash swoops down and picks up two balls, giving one to Fluttershy who is also in the air, and pointing a hoof at Trixie. They both fire, Fluttershy missing by a mile and Rainbow’s being caught by Trixie.

Trixie then takes aim and fires up at Fluttershy, and she cowers and puts her hooves over her eyes and turns her head away. As she does this, she inadvertently catches the ball with her long pink tail, and whips it around before it is fired at Rarity, who fails to catch it before it hits her.

“(Rarity) Well I’m sorry if I can’t catch a ball that was thrown by a tail.”

Chef blows the whistle three times to signal the end and Chris comes out to make the announcement. “Game over! Draconequui of Discord somehow win!”

The winning team quickly swarms onto their side of the court and congratulate Fluttershy, confused as to what just happened.

“(Fluttershy) I just remember the terrifying feeling when I was about to be hit, and apparently I won somehow?”

“(Scootaloo) That was so awesome!”

“(Apple Bloom) ...HOW!?”

“Go ahead and go to the train, and we’ll get ready to go back to Ponyville where you will enjoy your prize, which is to be treated like real athletes at the Ponyville Day Spa tomorrow! Well done!”

The team cheered and went to the exit of the stadium.

“(Sweetie Belle) Rarity always talks about how divine it is at the spa, and I’ve never gotten to go before, so this will be awesome!”

“However there is still one last matter to discuss,” he said turning to the Elements, “you guys lost, so you must vote one of your own out for elimination, and choose wisely. Be gone!”

The six ponies sulk their way back to the train following behind the victorious Draconequui.

“I told you she was the weakest,” Trixie pointed out while trotting along side her teamattes.

“Excuse me,” Rarity said, stopping dead in her tracks, “I may not have contributed much to this particular competition, but I must point out that I have done my best in all other challenges, and shall continue to do so in the future, unlike you!”

The rest of the team stood around the two and listened in.

“If your best is coming in last place in the race, laying on the crates while we pull, and standing in the back of the court today, then your best stinks!”

“Well, I have not been given a challenge yet that is suited for my particular skillset, and at least I’m a team player! You don’t know the first thing about teamwork and the proper etiquette of being a team member.”

“Girls!”

They are snapped out by Twilight, who has put her hooves out to separate the nose to nose girls. “Stop fighting! We can’t have our team falling apart now!”

“It already has, Twilight,” Rarity said, pointing a hoof at Trixie, “and this one is the reason why.”

“Look at you,” Trixie said, “having a meltdown.”

“Trixie, stop!” Twilight yelled, “If you want to be on this team, then you better get your act together and help your teammates, not break them.”

“Whatever,” Trixie said, continuing beyond the looks of her team. Twilight flared before turning to a fuming Rarity.

“She’s not worth it Rarity. She’s just not worth it.”

With that the team once again started to walk toward the train, with Applejack running to catch up with them. She has a white bandage on her nose and tissues in the nostrils for blood.

“What did I biss?”

Bonfire Pit

The sun has set and most of Ponyville is sleeping, which means it’s time for another campfire ceremony.

The seven Elements of Harmony trot slowly down the trail to the lit fire, where Chris is waiting for them with a silver platter with six marshmallows.

Apple Bloom sits in the front with her big sister next to her, still in a little pain. Rarity sits with Twilight on one side of her and Trixie sits on the other, a smug look of confidence across the blue unicorn’s face. Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich sit together off to one side.

“Elements, welcome back! Seven of you will soon become six, so I hope you all made the right decision. When I call your name, come up and take a marshmallow. The camper who does not recieve a marshmallow must get the heck out of here and go back home, and you can’t come back...ever.”

He let’s a dramatic pause sink in before he called out the first name.

“Apple Bloom.”

She smiled and ran up to get the first marshmallow of the evening.

“Cheese Sandwich.”

The super duper party pony jumped up and ran to the platter.

“Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie bounces her way up and claims her prize, high hoofing Cheese.

“Applejack.”

Applejack slowly stands up and waltzes up, wincing once her twice from the pain in her muzzle.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

The alicorn wipes a bead of sweat of her forehand before sharing a worried glance with Rarity.

As soon as she stood by the other Elements, Chris held up the platter.

“Rarity and Trixie, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

The two unicorns glare at each other in disgust, each sharing a genuine hatred for each other after their argument at the stadium.

The pause is extremely suspenseful, and Chris eyes Rarity, who has broken the glare and is awaiting the announcement.

“Rarity’s the weakest,” Trixie blurted out, and the rest of the team turned to her with questioning looks, but none of them more so than Rarity herself.

“How am I the weakest?”

“What have you done so far besides lurking around the back of the court and letting everypony else take the fall?”

Then he eyes Trixie, a confident grin sat upon her muzzle.

“Trixie, stop!” Twilight yelled, “If you want to be on this team, then you better get your act together and help your teammates, not break them.”

“Whatever,” Trixie said, continuing beyond the looks of her team.

Finally, Chris picked up the final marshmallow, and walked over to where the two were sitting.

“Trixie.”

Trixie held out a blue hoof and accepted the marshmallow from the human, almost strutting away to her team.

Rarity looks absolutely mortified, and she opens her mouth to say something, but no words come out.

“Sorry, Rarity,” Chris says, “but it looks like you’re all out of thread. So long.”

“(Applejack) That was a terrible joke.”

Rarity takes a deep breath in and says in a calm voice, “Well, I’ll just be...going. Sorry I couldn’t be more useful to you guys.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube,” Applejack said, “take care dow, you hear.”

“Bye Rarity,” Apple Bloom said.

“Tell Sweetie Belle I said goodbye,” she said, tears coming to her eyes as she trotted back to Ponyville amid sad waves from everypony except Trixie.

“(Rarity) This game really wasn’t made for a pony like me, I see that now. The competitions were less mental and arts driven than I had hoped for, but Trixie will be following me soon, and that’s all I’m hoping for. Good luck Sweetie Belle *sob* your big sister loves you.”

“I’m honestly surprised she made it this far,” Chris said, interuppting the silence, “she seemed out of it from day one. Oh well, that’s all folks, now get out!”

The team of now six did as Chris said, very much in the dumps.

Cabin 3

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are sitting on Scootaloo’s bunk, laughing and joking with each other.

“And then,” Sweetie Belle said giggling, “Spitfire said, ‘Rainbow, if you don’t get back here with my shades, I will personally make sure you never make the Wonderbolts ever.’ Rainbow must’ve apologized a hundred times and cried a little.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo exclaimed, “I knew Rainbow wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but not that badly!”

They then heard the door open and a tired looking Apple Bloom trot over to her bed and lay down.

“Hey AB,” Sweetie Belle greeted, “who got the boot?”

Apple Bloom hesitated before saying the news, “Uh, it was your sister.”

Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open and she started to cheer. “Yes! My big sister’s gone! My big sister’s gone!”

The other two crusaders shared a confused glance before Apple Bloom asked, “What’s so great about losing your sister? Ah thought you’d be devestated.”

“I am a little sad she’s gone,” Sweetie Belle said after calming down, “but I was kind of getting sick of her trying to meddle with me. You guys didn’t see it, but she was always checking up on me and trying to help me win.”

“Wait, what?” Scootaloo asked.

“She lost the race on purpose so I wouldn’t, and made sure not to hit me in the dodgeball game. She even let a ball hit her when I threw it. I tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t, so I just had to deal with it.”

“So she was throwing the game?” Apple Bloom’s asked, raising an eyebrow, only to have Sweetie Belle nod her head. “Well now Ah’m kinda glad we kicked her off. Oh well, Ah’m going to bed because Ah’m plum tuckered out. Goodnight, Crusaders,” she said, going to her bed and pulling the covers over her head.

“I guess we’ll tell her about the party tomorrow, huh?” Scootaloo asked Sweetie Belle, who nodded in response.

Cabin 1

Big Mac and Shining Armor were both getting ready for bed when Cheese Sandwich walked into the car and shut the door behind him.

“Hey Cheese,” Shining Armor said, sitting up in his pull out bed a little, “who went home?”

“Rarity, which is really sad, but I live to see another day!”

“That’s great. Ever since Spike left it’s kinda felt a little more empty in here, and I’m glad I have someone to talk to.” He then turned toward Big Mac, “No offense dude.” The red stallion just shrugged and nodded.

“(Shining Armor) Big Mac’s one of those guys who’s quiet and reliable. He always gets the job done, but can’t hold a conversation to save his life.”

“Hey, can I ask you guys’ opinion on something really quick?” he asked raising a hoof to scratch the back of his neck.

“Sure, Cheese. What do you need?”

Cheese took a moment in which he spent studying the floor before looking at each of them at once.

“What do you think about Pinkie Pie and me? Together.”

Votes for Rarity

“(Apple Bloom) Ah just don’t think Rarity’s has her head in the game. Sorry Sweetie Belle, nothing personal.”

“(Applejack) As buch as Ah’d like to sedd that addoying blue unicord packidg, Ah said I would vote Rarity off if she couldd’t ibprove.”

“(Pinkie Pie) Rarity wasn’t acting very nice today. Then agan, Trixie doesn’t act very nice ever, but still.

“(Cheese Sandwich) That argument was wild! I have to pick one and Pinkie said to vote Rarity out.

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie has already stated her reasons for why Rarity should go home. All part of the plan.”

Votes for Trixie

“(Rarity) Trixie has less class than a purple dinosaur with green polka dots.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Trixie, you’re evil. Enough said.”

Not Quite Famous

“Last time on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic, the two teams went head to head in a good old fashioned day of dodgeball. The Draconequui took a two game lead thanks to Big Mac’s powerful bucks and Shining Armor’s strategy. However, the Elements battled back and tied the game at two wins a piece, only to get beat in the last round in a real...tailspin. At the bonfire ceremony it was either Rarity or The Great and Powerful Trixie for elimination, and to the surprise of this host, it was Rarity who ended up going home for a lack of effort. Three down, thirteen to go and we’ve lost a pegasus, unicorn, and dragon. Who will be next? What challenge will we have in store today? Find out right now on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic.”

Cabin 2

It is about 9:00 in the morning and the light outside, and Fluttershy, Spitfire, and Pinkie have all gotten up for the day. Rainbow Dash has just woken up and is attempting to get herself out of bed.

“Almost...there,” she groaned before falling off her bed. “Ouch,” she cried, getting off of the floor. She still looked half asleep and was doing early morning calisthenics. As soon as she stretched her back, though, she winced in pain and sat down on the floor hunched over.

“(Rainbow Dash) I have a hard time getting out of these uncomfortable beds every morning. They’re not as fluffy as the clouds and they give me a backache every once and awhile.”

“Look alive today, Rainbow,” Spitfire barked, “we’re coming off a big win, and we can’t lose this momentum!”

Rainbow got up slowly and flapped her wings to get her off the ground slightly. “Yes ma’am! Right away!”

The loudspeaker kicked on and gave high pitched audio feedback, causing all four ponies to put their hooves to their ears. “Good morning passengers!” Chris’ voice boomed, “please report to the dining car for your breaky and to hear about today’s delightful challenge! McLean out!”

Pinkie jumped up in the air and started cheering after the announcement was made “Woo-hoo! Come on girls, let’s hop to it!” She quite literally hopped out of the cabin with Spitfire following right behind.

“Are you okay, Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow turned around to see a concerned Fluttershy studying her over. Seeing this, Rainbow flew higher and adopted her cocky smile.

“Of course I am, Shy! I’m always one hundred percent!” She turned around and flew out of the room, leaving Fluttershy watching her go out.

“Well, if you say so, I guess.”

Dining Car

The passengers are all in the dining hall eating their breakfast of honey bunches of oats with coffee or orange juice as a beverage. Sitting at one end of the table were the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were talking about the dodgeball game.

“I thought I was going to get my cutie mark in dodgeball for sure,” Scootaloo said. “I was doing so good out there!”

“Can you get a cutie mark in dodgeball when nopony’s heard of it?” Apple Bloom asked, causing Sweetie Belle to laugh.

“If you can get it in loop-de-hoop, anything’s possible, right?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle laughed at the joke while Apple Bloom nervously smiled.

“(Sweetie Belle) After Rarity got sent home, I’ve made it my personal mission to win by any means necessary. *thinks* Well, maybe not any means. Some means are, well, mean.”

“What do you think the challenge will be today? I hope it’s a singing competition,” Sweetie Belle gushed.

“You’re actually not wrong, my dear little pony,” Chris interrupted, appearing out of nowhere, “everypony finish your breakfast and meet me outside by the giant stage. You can’t miss it.”

The announcement made Sweetie Belle get really excited, “A stage? You mean like a play, or a musical? That would be so fantastic!”

“(Apple Bloom) Maybe for somepony else. Ah don’t exactly have any talents that are stage worthy.”

At the other end of the table Twilight Sparkle is sitting with Shining Armor, Cheese Sandwich, and Applejack.

“I really hope we win today,” she said, “because we’re down one pony and we need to win to pull back on track.”

“I wish I could say the same, but I’m on the other team, so no can do Twily, we’re taking you down!” Shining teased.

Twilight shook her head and smirked. “Whatever you say, big brother.”

“We’d better be gettidg goidg, y’all.”

They turned to face Applejack who still had a bandage over her broken nose and was talking funny and nasally.

“(Applejack) Chef Hatchet said that it would take a few bore days before bah dose is fully healed. Udtil thed Ah have to talk like this add soudd ridiculous! Ugh!”

Applejack got up and walked toward the exit of the car, with every other pony following one by one.

“Hey Shining,” Cheese Sandwich whispered, getting the attention of the unicorn prince next to him, “do you think today is a good day?”

“Maybe later, be patient.”

“(Shining Armor) Cheese asked me to help him out with trying to ask out Pinkie Pie. They’d make a good couple so I agreed, and besides, Cheese is really bad with girls. Like, really bad.”

“So when I ask her,” Cheese Sandwich wondered, “do I need to make sure there are other ponies around so she can’t say no?”

“Uhhh, definitely not,” Shining Armor said shaking his head.

Ampitheater

Almost right away as the passengers got out of the train, they were greeted by a view of the aforementioned stage. It was a big stage with a wooden floor and a red curtain hanging down from ropes. It was your typical run of the mill outdoor theater, not very high quality, but still impressive. Surrounding it were two columns of benches, five rows on each side, and in the middle was a table with four seats. Currently on the stage was Chris waiting for all of the passengers to arrive.

“Welcome to the outdoor amphitheater, passengers! Today’s challenge is as old as time itself. A talent contest! You can sing, dance, do magic tricks, whatever you want, as long as it’s legal anything goes. You will have three hours to hang out and find your three most talented team members to come up on stage and perform for the judges and any ponies from Ponyville who want to show up. The team that gets the most overall points will win.”

Sweetie Belle raised a hoof. “Excuse me Chris, but who will the judges be?”

“Why, me of course,” Chris answered with a smile, “and also Chef, some DJ pony named Vinyl Scratch, and guest star Simon Cowell from Earth.”

“(Chris McLean) It’s a good thing Celestia doesn’t check the humans I bring on this show. I don’t think she’d approve of Mr. Cowell and his methods of judging. *laughs*”

“Alright, let’s split you all up!” Chris continued. “Draconequui of Discord can go to the bonfire pit and the Elements of Harmony can stay here.”

“Hey,” Scootaloo yelled, “why do we have to move?”

“Because I said so, now go! We’ll call you when it’s time.”

Several members of the Draconequui grumbled but they all walked down the trail to start. Meanwhile Chris walked off stage and back into the train and the Elements took the stage.

“(Trixie) Finally a challenge where Trixie can establish herself as a leader! If she can lead our team to victory today, the Great and Powerful Trixie will take complete control, and then it will be bye bye to that annoying Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“Well Trixie can do an amazing magic show, so she should be one of the acts.” the blue unicorn suggested stepping forward. The rest of her team paused to looked at her.

“Beggidg your pardod, Trixie, but Ah thidk we deed to check out what everypody cad do before we decide,” Applejack said.

“Well unfortunately Trixie only has enough magical props to do one show, so you need to trust her if you want to have the great and powerful show.”

“And you can’t get some from your wagon or in Ponyville?” Twilight asked in a deadpan sarcastic voice.

“Trixie cleaned out her wagon before she left,” Trixie replied, “and she doesn’t get her props in Ponyville.”

The team looked at each other for a second before turning back to her.

“I guess it would be alright,” Cheese said, “besides, now we only need two more acts.”

The rest of the team besides Twilight agreed and got to work finding the two other competitors.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I’ve got my eye on that Trixie. I think she’s up to something.”

“(Trixie) Trixie’s wagon is always stocked full of her precious supplies. She just needed to get the team to trust her, that’s all.”

Bonfire Pit

The Draconequui are sitting amongst each other discussing what talents they have.

“Can I show off my scooter skills in the contest?” Scootaloo asked.

“I don’t know kid,” Spitfire said, “maybe we should see what these other ponies can do.”

“You should see her though,” Sweetie Belle piped in, “she’s very good at doing her tricks.”

“Alright, so how about anypony who’s interested in a spot in the show get any supplies they need and meet back here in fifteen minutes where we’ll decide.”

The others nodded and agreed and either ran off to get supplies or to sit down by the bonfire pit and wait.

Elements of Harmony

“I hope you ponies liked that!”

The Elements were all sitting in the stands listening to Cheese Sandwich. He had volunteered as the first act to audition for a part in the show, and he brought his red accordion on stage with a stool to sit on, and played his super duper party pony song.

When he had finished they had all clapped and stomped and cheered for the earth pony, who was now awaiting an answer to his question.

“He’s got mah vote,” Apple Bloom cheered.

“Yeah, Cheesy! That was really something! You rocked!” The cheers and exclamations from the pink pony in the stands made him blush a little.

“Well thank you everypony! I hope I can do well today!”

“Who’s next? We need one more act,” Twilight announced. Pinkie Pie then hopes up onto the stage cleared her throat before speaking.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, mares and stallions, I, Pinkie Pie, shall throw an entire party here on stage in less than five seconds.”

Everypony got on their hooves and tried to get her to stop, but it was too late. The party planner had already started.

“(Pinkie Pie) Well if they didn’t want me to do it they should have just said so…Oh, I guess they did. Whoops.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) The five seconds of setup took fifteen minutes to clear out!”

Bonfire Pit

Scootaloo had just finished showing off some amazing tricks on her scooter and they had accepted her as an act. Sweetie Belle was surrounded by her group and singing some song about a blue hedgehog called “Gotta Go Fast.” The song was terrible but she sung it so well and impressed everypony there, and they all clapped in approval at the end.

“Alright, Sweetie Belle,” Spitfire said as soon as the applause had ceased, “I think we’re all in agreement that you should be our musical act. So that’s two spots filled.” She turned to the others and eyed them up. “Who’s next?”

Silence fell on the ponies as they all looked at each other, wondering who should go next. Just as it appeared Shining Armor was about to step forward, Spitfire turned to the blue pegasus who had been oddly quiet throughout the entire thing.

“Rainbow Dash! How about you show us your Sonic Rainboom for the contest.” An embarrassed Shining Armor froze and took a few steps back to where he had been.

“(Shining Armor) I don’t know if it’s intentional, but for some reason Spitfire seems to like to cut me off and do things her way.”

Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of the group with all eyes suddenly on her, and she nervously nodded her head. “Sure, but I need to save up my energy for the show, so why don’t I just go take a nap and wait until then to do it.”

“Uh, sure thing Dash,” Spitfire said confused, “just as long as you're ready by show time, I really couldn’t care less. Everypony who’s performing, get ready. Everypony else should either get out of here or help out.”

With that the Draconequui all scattered, with Scootaloo scootering around, Sweetie Belle warming her voice up, and Rainbow Dash going back to the train to get some rest.

Cabin 2

The door opens and Rainbow Dash walks in and starts trying to stretch herself again, wincing in pain every time she got to her back. After a minute the door opened to reveal Fluttershy with a look of concern on her face.

“Are you feeling alright, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Rainbow Dash asked with an eyebrow raise as Fluttershy trotted closer to her.

“It’s just that you didn’t seem like yourself back there is all. You seemed really quiet, you didn’t volunteer yourself, and I didn’t think you would ever pass up an opportunity to show off your flying skills, let alone a Sonic Rainboom.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, “I just haven’t been one hundred percent today is all.” She waited for Fluttershy to say something but she simply nodded, silently encouraging the athlete to continue. “I’m used to sleeping on clouds, and these beds are uncomfortable for me, so now my back’s all sore and I really need to rest up so that I can do good today.”

Fluttershy’s worried expression didn’t fade. “Are you sure you’ll be able to do the trick for the show?”

“Oh course I will, Flutters. Just be ready for the greatest show you’ve ever seen!” Rainbow Dash responded while flying up and sleeping on her bed. “Just let me take a nap for a couple hours and I’ll be all ready to go.”

With that Rainbow rested her head into her pillow, pulled the blankets up to her chin, closed her eyes, and drifted into sleep.

Fluttershy stood watching her for a few more seconds before smiling and quietly making toward the exit.

“(Fluttershy) As long as she’s able to wake up stronger than ever, who am I to stop her?”

Ampitheater

The team is all gathered around the stage still and watching the performances, with Trixie appearing to be the leading voice.

“Alright, so Applejack is a no,” she pointed to the earth pony hopping away with rope somehow tied all around her body, “I don’t think Apple Bloom’s talent is necessarily a stage worthy talent,” Apple Bloom had set up an easel and was drawing a picture of Lyra Heartstrings, “so how are we supposed to have enough performances for the show?”

“Well, I could always do my own magic show,” Twilight suggested.

Trixie just laughed and shook her head. “Oh Twilight,” she sneered, “you can’t just do a magic show. It takes time, effort, and years of practice before you can pull off a magic show.”

“But Twilight’s better at bagic thad you are, Trixie,” Applejack pointed out.

“Well, maybe at regular old boring magic, but The Great and Powerful Trixie is by far best at illusionary magic, and misdirection.”

“So who’s going to be our third act?” Apple Bloom asked. Just then Pinkie started to step forward again with some balloons.

“No, Pinkie,” Trixie said, “we are not cleaning that up again. Besides, it’s a really bad talent, let’s face it.”

“It is not bad!” Pinkie yelled, “It’s just underappreciated.”

“And who doesn’t like a great party?” Cheese Sandwich asked. Both him and Pinkie cheered while Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” Trixie scoffed, then she turned to Twilight, “are there any other talents you can do?”

“Well, I can pull off some pretty amazing dance moves,” Twilight smirked, and looked to be about to show them off before Trixie stopped her.

“Perfect! Fine! You can do them in the show, and that’ll make all three.” As she walked away Pinkie and Applejack exchanged a shocked glance.

“(Applejack) Yeah, Twilight is dot a good dadcer, like at all. This will be paidful like by broked dose.”

“I’ll be right back, team,” Cheese exclaimed as he walked away from the stage.

“Have fun!” Pinkie waves behind him before bouncing away humming to herself.

Bonfire Pit

Only three members of the Draconequui are currently at their prep location. Spitfire is taking a nap on the ground nearby and Shining Armor and Big Macintosh are sitting on two stumps and playing cards on another one between them. They were playing a game of Texas hold ‘em, when they both heard a voice called out for them from a nearby bush.

“Huh?” Shining mumbled looking around for the source before his eyes fell to the bush, where a light orange head with brown curly hair stuck out of it.

“Cheese? What are you doing here? Are you even supposed to be over here?”

“I have no clue,” Cheese admitted, “but I had an idea for something if you want to hear.”

“Alright,” Shining said, as he and Big Mac drew closer to the bush, “what do you have?”

“Well, I’m performing in the talent show, you know, with the accordion.”

“Yeah, you’re really good, Cheese,” Shining interrupted with a compliment, with Big Mac nodding on his right.

“Thanks! Anyway, my idea is to write a super awesome song for Pinkie, and perform it at the show.”

There was a pause as Cheese Sandwich awaited a response from either stallion, both of whose faces were unreadable.After a few seconds Cheese frowned.

“Is it a bad idea, guys?”

“No,” Shining said, “absolutely not! In fact I think it’s a brilliant idea!”

“Really? You guys think so,” Cheese said with stars in his eyes.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said.

“So what are you going to write about, man?” Shining asked.

The question made Cheese look away shyly and put his hooves together. “Well, I was wondering, I mean if it’s not much trouble, if you two could maybe possibly help me.”

Shining Armor and Big Mac looked at each other and then back into the pleading eyes of their friend, before Big Mac shrugged.

“Eeyup.”

“Sure, we’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Yes! Thanks guys,” he said as he reached into his mane and pulled out a pencil and paper and the three got started planning.

“(Shining Armor) I love helping ponies out, and with Cheese Sandwich out trying to get a mare, I couldn’t help but, well, help.”

“(Cheese Sandwich) I’ve never really had a lot of guy friends before, but those two are really nice and cool, and they helped me out today. I really hope I can repay both of them.”

Meanwhile while the boys cleared off their card game and began to plan the song, Spitfire had woken up and was staring at them with one eye.

“(Spitfire) Conspiring with the enemy. Traitors! This is just what I need to get Shining out of the leadership position.”

After about an hour in which Cheese thanked his two friends for their help and left, and all of the team except Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had gotten back, Chris showed up to announce that the show would start in half an hour, and that they should get going to the stage.

“Who are your three acts your going to have today?”

Spitfire stepped forward and announced the three ponies. “Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.”

Suddenly the team looked around to find only one of their performers there.

“Hey, where are the other two?” Shining Armor asked.

“Rainbow Dash is back on the train taking a nap,” Fluttershy answered, getting up and walking toward the express, “I’ll go wake her up.”

“Well, that answers that, but you still need to find where Scootaloo is,” Chris told the team. “If you don’t find her before she’s supposed to go on, you’ll need to find somepony else.”

“(Spitfire) Scootaloo takes after Rainbow Dash a lot. They both like sports, are very athletic, and have absolutely no sense of time.”

“Fine,” Spitfire shouted clearly irritated at both the pushy host and her absent teammate, “Shining Armor, go and try to find her, the rest of us will go to the stage and get ready.”

Shining nodded and ran toward the path that led back to Ponyville while the rest of the team followed Chris to the amphitheater.

Ampitheater

The Elements of Harmony were all behind the stage getting ready to send their entrants out. Twilight was stretching, Cheese was in the corner with a sheet of paper and his accordion, and since Trixie already had all of her supplies with her, she was going around and checking on everypony. Applejack, Apple Bloom and Pinkie Pie were all out in the audience waiting for the show to start.

“There’s not much time left everypony,” Trixie shouted, “so be ready to go out and look alive!”

“Almost ready,” Cheese said in the corner. Trixie looked down and saw that he was trying to look at the sheet and repeat what it said to himself with his voice and accordion.

“Trixie thought you would be playing a song you would have known really well already,” she pointed out.

“Oh but this is a song I know really well, in fact I probably know it better than anypony.”

“(Cheese Sandwich) Because I wrote it, of course, with a little help.”

“It’s a song that I really want to play out there,” Cheese continued, “I promise it will be positively awesome.”

“It better be,” Trixie warned ominously, trotting away with Twilight studying her from a distance.

“(Twilight Sparkle) Trixie’s being way too bossy today. I mean, she was before, but now it seems like a whole new level.”

“(Trixie) I tried to tell Cheese Sandwich to pick a song he knew for sure, but he wanted to play whatever he had written on that stupid piece of paper.”

Just then Spitfire, Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash trotted up the small wooden steps to backstage. “And remember, when you go into the dive, make sure you pull up early enough! I’ve seen too many pegasus flyers go down because they don’t pull up enough, so you need to find your buffer zone,” Spitfire finished explaining to Rainbow Dash. She was trying to coach her through the routine she was intending to do, ending with her fantastic Sonic Rainboom.

“Alright,” Rainbow responded, looking confident.

“Good luck out there soldier,” Spitfire said, saluting her and walking off into the audience.

“(Rainbow Dash) The nap helped give me the energy boost I needed, and also made my back feel a whole lot better.”

“Good luck out there, Dashie, I really hope you do well,” Fluttershy said with a sweet smile.

“You know it, Fluttershy. I’ll make the team proud!”

They smiled at each other before they heard a gruff, British voice from behind them that said, “So, these are the ponies I’ve heard about.”

All of the ponies who were backstage turned to see a man who was by far older than either Chris or Chef. He had dark grey hair that was combed neatly, and he wore a completely black t-shirt and blue jeans, and an expressionless look on his face.

“I see you campers have met Mr. Simon Cowell,” Chris walked in and presented the rigid man, “he’s a big talent judge for all kinds of different tv shows back on Earth.” After the brief introduction, Simon cleared his throat as his icy gaze fell on each of the ponies, some of which were almost cowering at this point.

“I would just like to say that I take my job as a judge seriously, and will refrain from sugarcoating any of my criticism for any talents you choose to display today. Whether it be singing, dancing, athletics, magic, or whatever talent I would just like everyone here to know that I will be giving my completely honest opinion.”

And just like that, he walked straight out of backstage, and went to take his seat at the judges table, where Vinyl Scratch was already seated, bobbing her head to the rhythm of her headphones.

“(Sweetie Belle) ...h-he seems...r-really...n-n-n-nice…and scary!”

Five minutes before showtime all of the ponies have taken their seats in the stands. A lot of them are locals from Ponyville, including Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, Cherry Fizzy, and more, though none of the three eliminated cast members were there.

The Elements were all set to go, with Twilight’s dancing going first, followed by Cheese’s song, and finishing with Trixie’s spectacular magic show. The
Draconequui, on the other hand, were not.

Scootaloo has still not arrived, but she was going last so it wasn’t completely alarming, but Shining wasn’t either so she likely still hadn’t been found. Sweetie Belle looked as though she had completely lost confidence, as she was nervously peaking through the curtain every few minutes before closing it and shaking more.

The only contestant out of them that seemed ready was Rainbow Dash, who was stretching herself out and doing a few flips in the air, much to Fluttershy’s delight.

“(Fluttershy) I decided to stay backstage and give the team some encouragement, and to help Rainbow Dash get ready. She’s really good at doing flips, and I can’t wait to see her Sonic Rainboom again.”

“It’s showtime, ponies,” Chris said, stepping forward and fixing his collar. “Draconequui, you’re up first.”

“But Scoots isn’t even here yet!” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“Don’t care! Find her or send somepony else out.” With that, Chris brushed his clothes off one last time before he parted the curtain slightly to let himself out, stepping in front of the microphone that was set up. He then began to address the crowd.

“Welcome to the Total Drama Amphitheater, where today only, we will feature the six bright stars from our show as they fight to win today’s challenge.”

“The judges for tonight’s affair shall be Chef Hatchet, a former DJ, VJ, and rap legend who is also my lovely assistant in the show.”

“That’s co-host, McLean,” Chef’s voice boomed.

“Right, whatever,” Chris rolled his eyes for a second before smiling again. “Next, Vinyl Scratch, a local here in Ponyville who is a traveling DJ from here to Manehattan.”

Vinyl Scratch stuck a hoof in the air and waved to the crowd.

“Finally, from the outside world, please welcome a former talent scout and judge for programs such as American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and The X Factor, Simon Cowell.”

Amid the small applause he was the only judge not to acknowledge them or react in any way.

As this was happening, one might have noticed that Fluttershy was quietly trotting out from backstage into the stands and over to Big Mac. When she got there she whispered something in his ear, and on hearing it he nodded and ran out of the stands.

“Alright, now with introductions out of the way, let’s get started, shall we? Our first contestant is from the Draconequui of Discord, give it up for Sweetie Belle!”

The audience clapped and cheered for the unicorn filly, and it took a little longer than expected, but a pony eventually did step out from behind the curtain. Only it wasn’t Sweetie Belle.

Or a unicorn.

Or a filly.

Or relatively even close to the same size.

Big Macintosh stepped onto the wooden floor of the stage and up to the microphone that Chris had used. Due to his size he only had to move it down a little bit.

“(Fluttershy) The poor dear Sweetie Belle looked so scared, so I couldn’t send her out there, so I asked Big Mac for a favor and he went out and sang for her.”

The crowd sat in confused silence as he cleared his throat and started to sing:

“You ain’t nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time!
You ain’t nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time!
Well, you ain’t never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine!”

“Well they said you was high classed,
Well that was just a lie.
Well they said you was high classed,
Well that was just a lie!
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine!”

At the end Big Mac bowed to the cheering audience and looked to the judges with anticipation for his score.

“Although that’s the most of ever heard you say as long as I’ve known you,” Chris said sarcastically, “you did really good. Nine.”

“How’d you know I love Elvis?” Chef Hatchet asked, “Ten points! Brilliant.”

Vinyl nodded her approval, flashing a sign that had an eight on it.

“Wonderful bass singing voice, despite not being who I expected, nine from me,” Simon said, clearly impressed.

“(Simon Cowell) Maybe these ponies are actually more talented than the humans. If that red one wanted, he could have a shot at being an Idol.”

“That was a fantastic performance, worthy of the 36 points the Draconequui shall receive. Next up we have the first Element of Harmony. Please put your hooves together for Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The purple alicorn stepped on stage amid the audience’s clapping levitating a black boom box and set it down before walking forward.

“Hi everypony,” she said, “I’ll be doing a little routine I do all the time at the parties I go to.”

She walked over to the boom box and started to dance to the music that was playing from it. The music wasn’t bad at all. It was an upbeat party song that would commonly be found at one of Pinkie’s many parties. But the crowd wasn’t paying any attention to it, as all of theirs were focused on the dancing mare, and it probably wasn’t a good thing either.

She was dancing, or at least that’s what she said she was doing, but instead it looked like she was kicking all around and moving out of line with the rhythm of the music. Every step she took seemed wrong and she was swaying in ways that were completely random and out of sort. The ponies were all watching in completely shocked silence.

“(Simon Cowell) Or maybe I spoke too soon.”

When she finished there were several isolated claps around the theater but nothing more.

“Ok then,” Chris said standing up awkwardly, “that was...interesting. Three from me.”

“I didn’t even think it was that good,” Chef shouted, “Two points, tops.” Then he turned to Vinyl Scratch who was holding up a six sign. “How could you possibly think it was that good?” She pointed a hoof to the boom box and smiled. Chef rolled his eyes. “Were judging the dancing, not the music.”

“Well I thought they were both abysmal,” Simon cut in. “As for you,” he said looking at Twilight, “I would recommend never dancing again, and I’ll be sending you off with one point.”

Twilight looked disappointed and sulked off the stage.

“(Twilight Sparkle) The saddest thing is I always thought I was a good dancer.”

Backstage Twilight almost bumped into Rainbow who was stretching out her wings and getting ready for her turn. She saw Sweetie Belle on her knees thanking Big Mac for taking her spot, and Cheese Sandwich hangin four with his accordion. But most importantly she saw a very annoyed blue unicorn.

“Trixie thought you could dance,” she criticized.

“I can dance!” Twilight angrily exclaimed, “And excuse me for trying! I thought I was going to do good.”

“How could you possibly think that? That was the worst performance Trixie’s ever
seen, dancing or otherwise.”

“Why are you being so nasty?”

“Nasty?” Trixie looked offended, “Trixie is just playing the game and is trying her best to lead her team.”

“You’re going about it in the worst way possible! You don’t know the first thing about being a good teammate let alone a leader!”

“Oh, and I suppose you’re little Miss Perfect with your contributions so far?”

“Huh? What? You know what, forget it, Trixie,” Twilight said storming off in front of a smirking Trixie.

“(Twilight Sparkle) That's it! One way or another Trixie and her leadership has got to go.”

While all this was happening, Rainbow Dash was standing just behind the curtain ignoring it by doing her stretches to loosen up for her big performance.

“(Rainbow Dash) How come I always get hurt at all the wrong times?”

As she gets to her legs and back, she winces in pain and falls over. She whispers, “Not again,” and tries to get up again, taking several seconds to do so.

Chris then announced Twilight’s results to the audience. “Twelve points. That’s just sad, but there’s still four acts left so plenty of time for the Elements to catch up. But first for the leading Draconequui, give it up for Rainbow Dash.”

Since most of Ponyville knew her well and saw that she was an amazing flyer, they quickly got excited. She walked on from the back of the stage like she was made of cardboard, which went unnoticed by most of the audience.

Rainbow Dash put her wings out and flew up, starting some tricks. None of these tricks were very impressive, but she knew it would all come down to her big finale.

As she gained altitude, the crowd’s noise seemed to reach a new high, as they prepared to see Rainbow’s world famous Sonic Rainboom. She took her mark at a very high point and went into a dive, gaining speed and momentum as she soared through the sky, past clouds, and began to take form.

As she got closer, however, her back pain kicked in and she failed to get the speed necessary to finish her routine. So for the first time since the Best Young Fliers competition, it backfired, sending her through the air and crashing down on stage.

“Ouch,” Chris winced, “well despite a good start, you failed the end, so I’ll give it a four.”

“I say four, too,” Chef announced, with Vinyl nodding and giving a four.

“The ending was disastrous,” Simon pointed out, “three points.”

“That brings the total to fifty-one for the Draconequui, and now looking to turn it around, everypony please give it up for Cheese Sandwich.”

Cheese Sandwich walked on stage with his red accordion and started to play, jumping around to the rhythm. Then he opened his mouth and began to sing.

“Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shinin'
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful and I tell her everyday
Yeah, I know, I know when I compliment her she won't believe me
And it's so, it's so sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me "Do I look okay?"
I say
When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change 'cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are.”

At the end the crowd exploded into clapping and the same with all the judges.

“Nice work, dude,” Chris exclaimed, “Full points.”

“I give it nine,” Chef cheered. Vinyl nodded along.

“That was fabulous,” Simon said, surprised, “ten points.” Cheese smiled and trotted off stage.

“(Trixie) So our little friend Cheese has a crush, huh? I can work with that.”

“And with that,” Chris said, “the score is 51-50 in favor of the Draconequui. It’s still any team’s game!”

Again backstage, Cheese was high hoofing Twilight and Big Mac, and Rainbow was pacing around.

“Where is Scootaloo?” she asked herself. “She’s up next.” As if perfectly on cue Shining Armor walked into backstage and walked over to Rainbow who raised an eyebrow . “Where’s Scoots?”

“Well…”

“(Scootaloo) *covered in scrapes and scratches* Don’t you just hate it when you’re riding your scooter down the road, it hits a small bump and completely falls apart? Yeah…”

“Great,” Rainbow cried, “now what?”

Shining Armor thinks for a second before he pulls out four red juggling balls literally out of nowhere and steps forward, smiling at Rainbow. “I know what I must do!”

“(Shining Armor) It felt like a scene from a play of some kind when I said that.”

“(Rainbow Dash) I honestly thought he was going to be terrible, but you can’t be much worse than me.”

“Let’s move it on with a scooter show from our friend Scootaloo,” Chris announced sitting down, only to have his smile drop at the sight of Shining Armor stepping up. “Again?”

“Hi folks,” Shining said with a smile. “Unfortunately my teammate is unable to be here right now, so I’ll be taking her place with this juggling performance.”

He uses his magic for the most part during his show, but every once and a while he would stick a hoof up to keep it up in the air. This goes on for about two minutes before he goes for the finale.

He sticks one hoof out and hits a ball super high in the air, and then attempts to catch it, but he miscalculates the height the ball was at, and sticks his hoof out to catch too late. As a result it goes flying through the audience and hits Applejack square in the face.

“Hey, watch what you do with those things,” Applejack shouted before her eyes widened and she felt her snout. “Hey, mah nose is all better!”

Everypony turned back to the sheepish Shining Armor who stood awkwardly in the center of the stage. “Uh, ta-da?”

“I give it a seven, it was pretty good, despite the finish,” Chris said.

“I say six,” Chef said, “for a magic juggling show I expected a lot more.” Vinyl nodded in agreement and also showed a six.

“Four,” Simon said nonchalantly, “it wasn’t that impressive, especially when you add magic to the mix.”

“Alright, and with twenty-three points they now have a twenty-four point lead, meaning the Great and Powerful Trixie will only need a great and powerful twenty-five points for the win.”

Suddenly a cloud of violet haze overtook the stage, and the crowd gasped in awe. Stepping out of the shadows, she made it to the front of the stage.

“Greetings, ponies, and prepare to be amazed by the ultimate power that is to be shown to you by the Great and Powerful Trixie Lunamoon!”

She quickly hid behind her cloak for effect before illuminating her horn with magic and creating some fireballs. “For her first trick, Trixie will be performing an old favorite, the fireball escape, where she shall escape from a fireball like trap.” She did as she said, forming somewhat of a cage made of fireballs.

As she started to do her magic act, the smug look never left her face, and in just ten seconds she escaped the fire. The audience clapped and marveled, but it was short lived.

What they had noticed and Trixie had not was that her cage of fire had been touching the floor ever so slightly, which caused it to set on fire.

“The next trick is-” she started but was cut off by screaming from the audience. Confused, she turned around just in time to pull her cape away from the flames. She quickly yelled and ran off stage.

Needless to say the next few minutes were very hectic. The audience, judges and contestants evacuated the area, several pegasus ponies flew to quickly grab some rain clouds to put out the fire, and after it was done the stage was at half its former glory.

After a half an hour Chris called the teams to what used to be the stage just for effect, with Scootaloo as well.

“Well, I really shouldn’t even have to announce this, but due to having the least amount of points, less talent, and BURNING THE ENTIRE STAGE DOWN, it appears that the Elements of Harmony lose again. That’s really all I have to say. See you at the bonfire tonight, and I’m gonna go try to apologize to Mr. Cowell.”

“Hang on,” Spitfire stopped in front of Chris, “don’t we get a reward?”

“Well you were,” Chris confirmed annoyed, “but thanks to your friend there, we need the money to fix the stage instead.”

Chris gives Trixie one last dirty look before walking to the train.

“Well, glad that’s over with,” Trixie smiled. She then looked around at the disapproving glances from both her team and the Draconequui. “Heh heh,” she giggled nervously.

Bonfire Pit

The sun has set and the fire has been lit. It’s time for the dramatic campfire ceremony.

Cheese Sandwich sits in the corner silently eying Pinkie Pie, who sat on the other side with Applejack and Apple Bloom. Twilight Sparkle sits near the front and Trixie sits next to her amid glares from all sides.

“Elements of Harmony, I went through the votes, and it’s pretty clear who you ponies want to send home. So when I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow,” Chris started, staring at the losing team.

“Applejack,”

The cowpony trots up quickly and gets her marshmallow.

“Pinkie Pie,”

The party pony bounces up in her own Pinkie way, as usual.

“Apple Bloom,”

She lets out a breath and runs up to get hers.

“Cheese Sandwich,”

He smiled softly as he walks up, but otherwise it’s unremarkable.

“Trixie and Twilight, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Twilight doesn’t look too concerned, simply eying the last marshmallow.

Chris then announced Twilight’s results to the audience. “Twelve points. That’s just sad,

Trixie is nervously looking at the ground with a frown, fearing the worst.

“The last marshmallow of the night goes to…”

“...Twilight.”

Twilight simply nods and trots up to get her marshmallow, grinning at the defeated unicorn behind her.

“Well,” Trixie said, folding her hooves, “Trixie can see where she’s not wanted, but you ponies just made a mistake getting rid of your most powerful member.” She stood up and started to walk back to Ponyville when she was stopped by Chris.

“Who said anything about getting rid of anypony?”

Trixie and the Elements’ heads turned so quickly they almost came off. Confused, Applejack asked, “What do y’all mean?”

“Remember when I said that a pony could be eliminated in any episode? Well this isn’t one of them. Congrats Trixie, you’re still in the game.”

The rest of her team stood in shock as Trixie smiled arrogantly at her team.

“Well, I’m off to bed,” Chris said with a smile, “better luck next week.” He walked off up the trail. It was then that Trixie yawned.

“Trixie thinks she should go to bed, too,” she announced following th host.

The rest of the team exchanged stares. Some shocked, some confused, some annoyed.

“(Twilight Sparkle) So close! Ugh! That annoying, power hungry mare is really getting on my last nerve.”

“(Applejack) That lucky unicorn may still be in the game, but whether she has the team’s trust is unclear. If Ah had to guess, the Great and Powerful Trixie won’t be around much longer.”

“(Trixie) Trixie got extremely lucky. Trixie needs to be more careful with her schemes. I’ll try out my new technique next on an easy target. My next victim? Cheese Sandwich.”

Votes for Trixie

“(Applejack) Ah don’t want to point hooves, but we lost today completely because of Trixie.”

“(Apple Bloom) How can you burn down a stage and not be sent home?”

“(Pinkie Pie) Trixie was super duper mean today! She needs to go!”

“(Cheese Sandwich) Trixie’s massive ego is the least of her concerns. Sadly.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I would have probably voted for her anyway. Bye Trixie.”

Votes for Twilight Sparkle

“(Trixie) I know I’m going home, but I’ll vote for the only pony who did as bad as me, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Author's Note

I don’t own the rights to Hound Dog by Elvis Presley or Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. Thanks for reading!

The Sucky Outdoors

“Last time on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic, our thirteen contestants stepped up on stage and tried to give us their best talents, and the two teams had to send up the three most talented of their own. Cheese Sandwich used the opportunity to confess his love to somepony on the show, while Big Mac sang in place of a scared Sweetie Belle. Twilight Sparkle, uh, did some kind of dance, or at least, that’s what she said she did. Some of the ponies rocked it, some of them socked it, some of them burned down the entire stage! Because of a certain somepony, the Elements of Harmony lost, while the Draconequui of Discord won, but didn’t get a reward because we used the money we were going to spend on it to rebuild the stage. As much as the Elements of Harmony and me wanted to see Trixie go home, she dodged a bullet thanks to the non elimination episode. Can Trixie win her team’s trust back? Will Cheese Sandwich confess his feelings directly? Will the hot dog bun makers put ten buns in each bag instead of eight to go with the number of hot dogs? Seriously, will they? Find out the answers to some of those questions right now on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic!”

Campfire Pit

Chris McLean gathered all of the remaining passengers around the fire pit in preparation for the challenge which has not been announced to them yet. They sit next to each other regulars less of teams, so the rest of the main six together, the CMC together, and the remaining campers essentially sit amongst each other.

“Today’s challenge will test your teamwork, your nature skills, and your survival skills,” Chris announced, “it’s basically colt scouts today. Our writers wanted to get creative and send you through an amazing corn maze with a few trust building activities on the way.”

The ponies all gave a cheer.

“But then they got lazy, so instead we’re just going to send you into the Everfree Forest for the night.”

The ponies all gave a groan.

“That’s right!” He throws a map and compass to Applejack and Spitfire. “On the map is where your campsite is. First team to make it back to this pit in the morning wins invincibility, and a prize. Provided of course a certain somepony doesn’t burn everything again.”

Chris shoots an evil eye at Trixie, who winces as almost everypony else looks at her with similar reactions.

“(Trixie) Trixie considers herself lucky to still be here, so until she gains at least a little bit of trust back, she’s going to lay low and put her plans into action behind the scenes.”

“And of course the losing team may be sending somepony home. Any questions?” Everypony raises a hoof. “None? Great! Good luck and I’ll see you in the morning.” With that Chris took off leaving the ponies alone in awkward silence.

“Uh, Ah guess we should be going Elements,” Applejack said, breaking the silence, motioning for her team to follow her while she looked at the map, with the Draconequui following closely behind.

Forest Trail

As the Draconequui and Elements started to trot into the woods along the same trail through the Everfree Forest, most of them started to look around apprehensively. The woods were most spooky at night, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t always spooky.

“(Sweetie Belle) There’s a reason why everypony says to stay away from the Everfree Forest. If Chris is trying to kill us, this is the way to do it.”

“(Chris McLean) We here at Total Drama value the safety and well being of our competitors, and also Celestia told me that I’d get a penalty from my paycheck for every major injury and death. I managed to talk my way out of the penalty for Applejack’s injury, but I have a feeling I won’t get anymore freebies so those ponies better not get hurt!”

“Which way do we go?” Rainbow Dash asked as the two teams came up to a split in the trail.

“It says on the map that our campsite is to the left,” Spitfire answered. “We’re about halfway there.”

“Well, it looks like this is where we split up, y’all,” Applejack said, “C’mon, Elements, to the right!” Her team followed her as they ran to the right and further into the forest. The Elements followed suit, running up the other pathway.

Forest Trail- Elements

Fifteen minutes later the Elements of Harmony were still walking through the woods, with Applejack and Twilight Sparkle leading them, holding the map and the compass respectively.

“I think we’re almost there,” Applejack announced, “just a little further before we reach a clearing with a couple tents.”

Apple Bloom’s stomach growled. “Does anyone know if there’ll be any food there? Ah’m starving.”

Twilight shrugged, “We may have to find our own. Since this is a wilderness survival challenge, I’d say that it’s a pretty strong possibility.”

Trixie’s ears perked up. “Fear not, for the Great and Helpful Trixie shall help to find the food if we need to.”

Everypony turned to Trixie with looks ranging from confused to disgusted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes, “I bet that you’ll cast a spell to make a five-star meal appear in front of all of us, right?”

“Trixie doesn’t need your sarcasm. She can do anything she sets her mind to.”

“(Apple Bloom) Except to win a 100,000 bit competition. Apparently.”

The rest of their team just shook their heads and continued the walk forward.

“(Trixie) Trixie does have a plan, and a pretty good one at that, but she needs to get at least part of her team’s trust back first, and that could take a while, especially with Twilight Sparkle singling her out everytime she makes a mistake, no matter how small.”

Draconequui’s Camp

The whole team has just arrived at the campsite, where they see only a few small things. There are three brown tents, not set up yet, matches, a few flashlights, and seven canteens for water.

“Hey,” Scootaloo exclaimed, “where’s the food at?”

“I think we gotta go find it,” Shining Armor said, staring into the woods. “I’ll go out and search. Who’s coming with me?”

“Leave this to me,” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying through the air. “I’ll be able to catch them no problemo.”

When she saw that Rainbow Dash was going, Scootaloo started to jump and down. “I wanna go, too,” she volunteered, raising a hoof in the air.

“We need ponies to stay back and help set up the camp, though,” Shining explained. “I think it should be me, Rainbow, and Fluttershy.”

Scootaloo groaned while Fluttershy shrank back slightly in fear.

“W-what? Me? Why?”

“You’re really good with animals, and if we run into anything wild you would know best how to tame it.”

“Well, alright, when you put it like that,” Fluttershy mumbled.

Shining Armor flashed a smile now that the team was in agreement. “Perfect. So while the three of us go out to try to find some berries or something, everypony else stays here and helps set up camp. We’ll need a fire and the tents set up so we can have a good night and we can race back to camp in the morning.”

The team all nodded in agreement and set out to work on their tasks.

“(Spitfire) I’ll let the Prince have his leadership position for now, but he better not get used to it.”

“(Shining Armor) I think I’m starting to get used to this leadership position! Go Draconequui of Discord!”

Element’s Camp

The ponies have gotten to the camp and split up. Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle have gone into the forest to try to find food and firewood while Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Cheese Sandwich are at the campsite currently building the tents.

“Careful there, Apple Bloom! Those stakes are heavier than they look,” Applejack warned her little sister as she appeared to be struggling to pick up one of the metal posts that would soon hold up the team’s tents.

“Here, I’ll help,” Cheese Sandwich said, rushing over to help the young filly with the heavy pole. Together, the two teammates were able to steady the pole and hammer it into the ground to put the tent up. Cheese smiled and stood back to admire his and Apple Bloom’s work. “There we go! All put up!”

“Gee, thanks a lot, Cheese,” Apple Bloom beamed up at the super duper party pony.

“No problem. How’s it going over there, Applejack?”

“Great,” Applejack replied, “this tents up so it looks like we’re all dandy. So Cheese,” Applejack adopted a smirking expression and walked closer to the orange stallion, “You and Pinkie, huh?”

Apple Bloom’s ears perked up and she trotted over to listen with a face mirroring her sister’s while Cheese’s face went red and he reached a hoof over his neck in embarrassment.

“So you figured it out, huh?”

“Well yeah,” Applejack nodded, “y’all hang out together all the time, and besides, you each have very similar interests. In mah opinion, you two are like two peas in a pod.”

“Really?” Cheese Sandwich asked, and then smiled when both sisters nodded. “Thanks, girls. I hope you're right. Nothing’s come of it yet, but I want to ask her on a date soon enough.”

“Ah just know she’ll say yes,” Applejack encouraged, smiling back at her friend.

“By the way,” Apple Bloom chimed in, “has anypony seen Trixie?”

Forest

Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy have been looking in the forest for berries for about ten minutes with no luck yet.

“So Fluttershy,” Shining Armor interrupted the silence, “do you know where the best place to find nuts and berries is?”

“If i had to guess they would be very close to the ground,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know this part of the forest very well.”

The apology made Rainbow Dash wince.

“(Rainbow Dash) Most of the time Fluttershy apologizes for something, she is not at fault, and sometimes nopony’s at fault. I’m not too annoyed by it, but she should seriously stop doing it so much.”

“That’s fine,” Shining Armor replied, “none of us really do.” he turned his head around and almost knocked his snout into a big tree. When he backpetaled he looked up and saw that there were dozens and dozens of delicious looking bananas.

The ponies stood in awe for a few moments before Shining nodded at the two pegasi, who flew up to collect the treasure they had found and they started to carry it back to where they came from.

Draconequui’s Camp

The tents have been set up thanks to Big Mac’s strength and Spitfire’s direction. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have both tried to help, but that basically led to them steadying the poles and almost tripping Big Mac a few times.

“Great, we’re all set for camping,” Spitfire announced to the other three ponies, admiring the work they had done. “Wait! We need wood for a fire.”

“We can do it! We can do it!”

Spitfire turned to the two fillies that were jumping up and down excited. “Are you kids sure you can handle it?” she asked, unconvinced.

“Sure we can,” Sweetie Belle said, “and we’ll even stay close so we don’t go too far.”

Spitfire shrugged and nodded, and the two cheered and ran back down the path they came from.

“Do you think they’ll be safe out there?”

“Eeyup.”

Forest

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie were doing a similar task to the Draconequui, which was to try to find any type of food possible.

After walking and, in Pinkie’s case, bouncing around aimlessly for twenty minutes, Twilight started a conversation.

“So, Pinkie, see any food around here yet?”

“Nopey dopey!”

“Alright then, just checking,” Twilight giggled at her friend’s response. “Random question, what do you think about Cheese Sandwich?”

Twilight was expecting Pinkie to either blush or stutter over her words or both like in some kind of fanfiction, but instead Pinkie simply kept on smiling and bouncing as she responded, “I think he’s a super terrific pony! He’s really funny and knows just how to have a good time, just like me!”

“But I mean what do you think of him, you know, as a very special somepony?”

Pinkie stopped and looked at Twilight confused. “As, like, a coltfriend?” In response the lavender unicorn simply nodded. “But why? Sure, he’s great, but I don’t really think he sees me that way.”

This time it was Twilight’s turned to be confused, tilting her head slightly and asking, “Are you crazy? Wait, scratch that, but seriously, you don’t know he likes you?” Pinkie shook her head. “Remember that song he sang at the talent show? Well that was for somepony special, and everypony knows it’s you because, like you said, you two have a lot in common with one another.”

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof to chin in thought. “Are you sure that it wasn’t for somepony else?”

“I’m positive.”

“Wow,” Pinkie said in amazement before the excitement and adrenaline both set in at the same. “I’m somepony’s crush! I’m somepony’s crush! I’m somepony’s crush!” She would literally be bouncing off the walls if there were any in the forest, but instead she just ran around in a happy pink blur.

“(Pinkie Pie) Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it! Ma always said that the Paring Stone would pick my soulmate for me, but what if I don’t need it?!”

Twilight stood off to the side happy for her friend, who ran over and trapped the unicorn in a big hug as she squealed in excitement.

After Pinkie’s cheering finished, she realized something and stopped. “Wait, what do I do now?”

“Well, I haven’t really had time to have a coltfriend in the past,” Twilight admitted, “but as far as I can tell, he should be the one to ask you out first and be a gentlecolt of course.”

“So I just have to wait?” Pinkie Pie looked like a foal asking about opening presents on Hearth’s Warming Day.

Twilight simply nodded before turning around and continuing her search for food. “I’m sorry Pinkie, but maybe it will happen soon.”

Pinkie smiled and nodded, starting to bounce away with Twilight.

She heard a russell coming from a nearby bush and a faint “ouch,” and Pinkie turned to look at it.

“I didn’t know bushes could talk! Oh well.” She continued prancing along and humming while a pair of eyes appeared out of the bush.

“(Pinkie Pie) If only Rarity were here to tell me about this stuff. What was it she always said? ‘The best way to pursue a stallion is to be confident, flirty, and most of all let him know you’re interested.’ Yeah, that sounds like good old rarity alright *giggles*”

“(Trixie) Stupid branch! Well, at least I got all the info I need to set a plan in motion behind the scenes. I’d do something more direct, but...yeah. Need to get the target off my back at least a little.”

Draconequui’s Camp

“We’re back, everypony, and we brought food!” The raspy voice of Rainbow Dash shouted as her, Fluttershy and Shining Armor emerged from the woods. They saw three tents, two ponies, and one pit for fire in the middle. Rainbow noticed the absence of her adoptive sister. “Where’s Scootaloo?”

“And Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy chimed in.

“They went out to get wood for the fire,” Spitfire informed them.

“How long ago was that?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.

“‘Bout fifteen minutes ago.”

Rainbow nodded and scanned the area for a second before going to sit down by the firepit, with the four other ponies all gathering around with her. After a solid fifteen seconds of silence, Rainbow groaned. “That’s it! I can’t take this anymore! I’m going to help get wood and see if I can find them.”

With that, Rainbow shot into the air and hovered into the forest out of sight.

“(Shining Armor) One of Rainbow Dash’s greatest abilities is her inability to sit in one place for a long time while awake. Unfortunately it’s also a weakness.”

The four Draconequui sat around the soon to be campfire and silently looked at each other, the pit, and the surroundings for about a minute before Spitfire asked a question.

“So, what do we do now?”

Element’s Camp

“Hey Cheese! You mind getting some good o’ kindling for the fire since Twilight and Pinkie are still out?” Applejack’s voice asked from the other side of the campsite.

“No problem,” Cheese said happily, jotting into the woods to pick up sticks from nearby trees.

After several minutes of searching, he heard hoofsteps coming from behind him, and he turned around quickly to see a blue unicorn coming up to him.

“Hi Trixie,” Cheese greeted with a smile, “where have you been?”

In response Trixie stepped a little closer and smiled. “Oh, just out looking for food with Twilight and Pinkie.”

“Oh, have you three finished yet?”

“They went back, but they sent Trixie out to get any more that she might see around here. She’s just happy to see a friendly face around here.”

“Me too,” Cheese smiled at the compliment.

“(Cheese Sandwich) I know what other ponies think about that mare, but maybe she’s just misunderstood. It’s absolutely possible that she just had a really bad day and she’s bouncing back.”

“So how was food hunting going with the girls?” Cheese Sandwich asked.

“It went all right,” Trixie said, before turning her head away and looking slightly downcast. “We just talked about some things,” putting emphasis on the last word hoping to get his interest. Lucky for her, that’s exactly what happened.

Cheese tilted his head curiously for a response. “What kind of things?”

Trixie turned to face him looking alarmed as she sputtered out, “Oh, Trixie is so sorry! She wasn’t supposed to say anything. Forget about it, it’s fine!”

“Trixie,” Cheese stepped forward and placed a comforting hoof on the mare’s shoulder, “you can tell me anything.”

On the outside, Trixie looked scared, and even close to crying, but on the inside she was cheering.

“(Trixie) Hook, line, and sinker.”

“Well, while we were walking, Twilight and Pinkie were gossiping about you and they said some pretty awful things…”

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie worked some of her magic on poor old Cheese. She told him Pinkie was going to exploit him to get further in the game. Hopefully this will get a major target off Trixie’s back, and she lives to see another day.”

Forest

While Rainbow Dash was flying over the Everfree Forest looking for a sign of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the two crusaders were still trying to find berries or some other kind of food.

“How much longer until we get back?” Sweetie Belle asked the orange pegasus beside her.

“I don’t know, but it’s starting to get late,” she pointed a hoof at Celestia’s sun as it began to kiss the horizon that could be seen slightly.

“Should we turn back?”

“Yeah, we just have to go back from where we came.”

Sweetie Belle nodded before realizing something. “Uh, where did we come from exactly?”

“That’s easy, we just head up that hill, turn right at the, uh, two trees sticking out of each other, and then...go by the tree-”

“Which one?” Sweetie Belle asked alarmed.

“Uh...just...ok fine, we’re lost.”

Sweetie Belle suddenly looked more scared than before, as she and Sweetie Belle tried to find their way back.

“(Scootaloo) I accidentally turned at the wrong tree.”

“(Sweetie Belle) She had no idea what tree was the right tree.”

Element’s Camp

Everypony except for Trixie and Cheese were back at the camp, sitting around a fire with wood brought by Pinkie Pie and started by Twilight’s magic. It was getting to be dusk, with the sun about halfway down the horizon. At the moment they had all been sitting around the fire listening to a story from the pink pony.

“And that’s how I set the Equestria record for most cupcakes eaten in an hour.” The Pink Pony smiled and looked around at the flabbergasted ponies.

“(Apple Bloom) And Ah thought Ah liked cupcakes!”

“That sure is impressive there, Pinkie,” Applejack admitted, although her face didn’t seem all impressed.

“(Applejack) That pony has probably set records that only exist in her mind. The limits of Pinkie Pie are...well...there are none.”

“Thanks, AJ,” Pinkie said before her ear perked up and she turned to her right toward the source of the sound. The bushes rustled and out popped the two ponies who had been absent up to this point came trotting out. “Hey Trixie and Cheese.” a faint blush could be seen on her muzzle.

“Salutations, Pinkie Pie,” Trixie greeted with a confident air in her voice, while Cheese barely acknowledged the greeting. He looked unusually sour and resentful, and he trotted down to sit by the fire, away from Pinkie.

“Did you ponies have fun?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh most certainly,” Trixie said, while Cheese only turned his head away with disappointment.

“So, Cheese,” she said, scooting closer to the stallion, “where did you originally come from?”

Cheese turned his head slightly toward Pinkie, who had an almost flirty look on her face. “Manehattan,” he replied simply and coldly

“(Cheese Sandwich) Deep down, I felt butterflies when she asked me that question, but Trixie informed me of some very interesting things that were said about me today. If that’s really what Pinkie takes me for, I won’t let her take advantage of me.”

“That’s great! Did you like it there? It seems like a handsome stallion like yourself could only come from such a big and beautiful city.”

Cheese felt a little color come to his cheeks at that statement, but he continued to stare off and mumbled, “It was fine.”

The questions continued while four other ponies sat around in disbelief.

“(Applejack) So the guy gushed about the gal the whole afternoon, and now he barely says two words to her? This is just weird.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Maybe Pinkie’s going about this in the wrong way. She’s not exactly subtle with flirting.”

Forest

By now night had fallen on the forest, and all should have been back at their campsites by now, seeing as how dangerous it could be at night.

“We should have turned around hours ago!”

“Well I’m sorry that all of the trees in here look the same!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were not at the campsite, and were very much in danger. For the last hour or so they had been arguing back and forth, trying to find the best way back, but could never come to an agreement.

“Well I’m sorry you decided to pick one tree to remember when they all look the same,” Sweetie Belle yelled back.

“I wouldn’t have needed to if you hadn’t taken us off track,” Scootaloo shot back.

“We wouldn’t have gone off track if we had found anything where we looked at first.”

“Well whose fault is that?”

“...Yours. You’ve picked where we went all day, and now all night!”

“Fine!” Scootaloo exclaimed, turning around and beginning to walk forward. “How about you just go ahead and make your own direction decisions without me.”

Sweetie Belle gasped at the suggestion before furrowing her eyebrows. “Fine!” she yelled running in the opposite direction

“(Sweetie Belle) Alright, I maybe could have handled that a little better, but I just needed to get away from Scootaloo at the moment.”

“(Scootaloo) She seriously made me mad. I figured if she was going to be like that, she could get lost in the Everfree Forest for all I care.”

Draconequui’s Camp

“It’ll heeeeeeeelp, it’ll heeeeeeeelp, if you just sang ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!”

The four Draconequui at the campsite fell on the ground laughing as they concluded the famous Campfire Song Song.

“That was great,” Fluttershy said between soft giggles. “I didn’t know you knew that song, Spitfire.”

“Are you kidding me?” the wonderbolt captain asked, laughing, “It was one of the most popular songs in Cloudsdale at one point. All of my friends listened to it a few years back.”

“Cadence mentioned it once or twice to me,” Shining Armor recalled, “either way it was really surprising to me how good it was.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

The laughing and banter concluded and Spitfire threw back her head and let out a loud yawn. “I’m beat, ponies. I’m going to hit the hay. See you all in the morning.”

“Wait,” Shining said, turning around to gaze into the forest, “don’t you think maybe somepony should wait out here for the three girls?”

Spitfire gazed over her shoulder and shrugged. “Rainbow Dash has an eagle eye and is amazingly brave. She can find those girls and handle anything the forest can throw at her, so as long as we leave the fire lit, they can find their way back.” She yawned once more before raising the flap on the closest tent. “Good night Draconequui, we wake up early tomorrow.”

With the reminder in place Shining Armor and Big Mac both turn to each other and nod, going into the opposite tent. Fluttershy stood outside for a few moments longer before slowly making her way into the tent.

“(Fluttershy) Rainbow’s such a brave pony, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t worry about her when she goes out to do things like this.”

Element’s Camp

The Element’s strategy was very different from the Draconequui apparently, as it was now 11:00 at night and none of the members were asleep. All of them were preferred to stay up late and sit around the fire and tell stories.

To the shock of the team, aside from the occasional monosyllabic response to one of Pinkie’s attempts at flirting, Cheese Sandwich stayed nearly silent and isolated throughout the night.

“Ah have never seen a bigger apple in mah whole entire life as Ah did on that day,” Applejack said, recounting her last stay at Appleloosa with her cousin Braeburn. “It would have been better if Ah didn’t have to phony up ten bits for losing our little bet.”

“Little?” Apple Bloom sputtered, “Ah don’t know if Ah’ve ever seen ten bits in mah life.” Applejack chuckled at Apple Bloom’s pouting face.

“I once had a really nice pony give me a tip of ten bits!” Pinkie exclaimed. “He was so satisfied with my service of offering him so many delicious baked goods that he gave it to me to leave him alone!”

“I don’t think it’s for the reason you think, Pinkie,” Twilight explained, shaking her head with a small smile.

“Well what other reason could there possibly be?”

Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Twilight heartily laughed at the question while Trixie sat looking bored and Cheese sat looking depressed.

“Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie needs to get her beauty sleep,” the illusionist announced, going to one of the tents.

“Goodnight, Trixie,” Apple Bloom waved.

“Ah think Ah should be getting to bed, too,” Applejack said, stretching her limbs. “How about you, Apple Bloom?”

“Ah’m not tired at all,” Apple Bloom lied, and that lie was revealed as she let out a loud yawn and rubbed her eyes.

Applejack laughed and put a hoof around her younger sister, “C’mon, AB, we need to be ready to run back to camp tomorrow.”

“Goodnight everypony,” Twilight said, following Applejack.

“I’m going to stay out a little bit longer,” Pinkie motioned to Cheese and blushed. Twilight sent a wink her way before she disappeared into the tent.

A period of silence followed as the stallion and mare were left alone by the fire.

“(Pinkie Pie) I was just trying to find the right words to say to him. I never usually worry about this kind of thing, but this is different.”

“So Cheesy,” Pinkie started, her head turned away to hide her less pink, more red face, “what’s the best party you’ve ever thrown?”

“I don’t know,” the stallion mumbled.

“Oh, I get it! So many parties that you can’t even choose one?”

“Eeyup.”

Pinkie giggled for a second before silence fell over them again for another moment before she spoke again. “So, Cheesy, after this challenge do you maybe want to-”

She was cut off by a faint howl coming from the woods, getting the attention of both of the ponies. Pinkie turned back to see Cheese get off of the ground and walk toward the direction of the source of the sound. He went into the woods to look and just moments later he ran like the wind out.

“TIMBERWOLVES! TIMBERWOLVES! EVERYPONY RUN FOR IT!”

Forest

Rainbow Dash soared over the forest, eyes glued on the treetops below for any sign of her young teammates. She stopped to gaze closer at what she thought was Sweetie Belle, but it was only an oddly shaped bush. She yawned before continuing her search flight.

“(Rainbow Dash) Man, those ponies must have gotten really lost. I couldn’t find them for hours.”

The blue pegasus quickly swooped down to get a closer look near some trees, and while doing so she noticed something out of the ordinary.

For the entire search Rainbow had seen nothing but green and the occasional brown of the dirt ground. Now she was looking at something that was orange, with hints of lavender.

“Scootaloo? Is that you down there?”

The orange spot looked around a few times before raising her head to look at Rainbow and wave her down. She quickly landed a few yards away with a weight lifted off her shoulders.

“Thank Celestia I found you! Our team would have killed everypony if you had gotten lost out here, how did you get all the way out here? How-” she stopped as soon as she saw the look on the filly’s face, one of serious distraught. “What’s wrong?”

Scootaloo sniffled a few times and rubbed a few tears out of her shiny eyes. “M-me and S-S-Sweetie had a f-fight about d-directions, and I told her to find her way back without me.”

The orange pegasus broke down in tears, crying over getting mad at her friend over being lost. She sobs loudly and curls up into a ball before feeling a pair of strong hooves hug her frame. Rainbow Dash tried to comfort her.

“Look, I’m not as good at comforting as other ponies,” she admitted, “but Sweetie Belle will forgive you. You just got a little heated because you were both scared and lost, that’s all. As soon as we get back to camp, you two can talk and hug it out and make up, and it will be like nothing ever happened.”

Scootaloo choked back a few more tears before looking up and her metaphorical sister. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, giving her another hug, “how many times have you gotten into a fight with your other crusader friends?”

“Plenty of times.”

“And how many times have you three gotten back together?”

“Plenty of times.”

“See?” Rainbow asked, raising her head to look at the younger pegasus in the eye. “You may get in fights with them, but if you three are really best friends, you’ll forgive and forget every time.”

Rainbow Dash waited a minute for a reaction from Scootaloo, her face slowly losing sadness and changing to a small smile of relief and hope.

“(Scootaloo) Rainbow Dash is so awesome! Not just at sports and personality, but she’s also the greatest role model ever, or at least that’s what Miss Cheerilee calls her.”

Rainbow gave her one last hug before letting go, standing up, and leaned down. “Jump on,” she said, motioning to her back, “I’ll give you a ride and we’ll look for Sweetie Belle together.”

Scootaloo nodded gratefully and jumped on just before Rainbow took off into the night sky again.

Forest

Somewhere deep in the forest, Apple Bloom and Applejack were running through the greenery, followed closely behind by Twilight and Trixie, trying to get away from the camp. After hearing both the howls and Cheese’s warning, they all took off in the same direction together.

“D-did we...lose them?” Apple Bloom asked as all four ponies slowed down to catch their breaths.

“Ah…Ah think so,” Applejack half panted half responded. “Ah haven’t heard them for a while anyways.”

“Well that’s good,” Twilight said, looking at her surroundings. “So how are we supposed to get back?”

“Don’t worry, everypony. We’re close to the campsite.”

The three other ponies turned to Trixie who was looking at the forest floor with a confident grin. Applejack and Apple Bloom looked at each other confused while Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure,” the alicorn asked the illusionist.

“See the clay deposits on the soil?” she asked pointing at the ground and acting like it was obvious to the other ponies that it was obvious. “This type of clay is common in forest clearings, which is where the campsite is, and since it’s a mixture of regular forest soil and the clay, we should be almost by it.”

“How can you be so sure though?” Twilight questioned, “We could be by the Draconequui camp for all we know.”

“Trixie saw the same clay type back at the campsite. She’s completely confident in her judgement.”

“(Trixie) Pinkie’s sisters taught the Great and Powerful Trixie a lot about geology while she was working at their crummy farm.”

Pie Family Rock Farm

Limestone, Marble, Igneous, and Cloudy Quartz are working on one of their fields when suddenly Limestone’s head perks up and she looks off into the distance.

“What’s the matter, fair daughter?” Igneous asked, noticing the odd behavior.

“I don’t know,” Limestone said blankly with an equally blank look on her face. “I sense a disturbance in the force.”

Forest

Trixie then turned to Twilight with a smug look. “Could you please fly up in the air and see if you can find anything, your majesty.”

Twilight groaned and flew up in anger, with the full intention of proving her wrong. Instead, she indeed saw the campsite about a third of a mile into the thick forest.

“(Twilight Sparkle) She’s...good.”

Twilight flew back down, nodded silently, then pointed a hoof in the direction that she saw the site, avoiding eye contact as much as she could with Trixie.

Bonfire Pit

All was silent at the location of the dramatic elimination ceremonies, or at least until a pink mare and orange stallion ran out of the forest amid the howling of timberwolves.

They skidded to a stop, dirt flying from the ground, and looked behind them.

“Are they still following us?” Pinkie asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“What are you two doing here?”

Pinkie and Cheese turn toward the first trail that leads back to the Express, and they see the angry form of their host wearing pajamas, a face mask, and bunny slippers. As soon as Pinkie saw his face she screamed and ran around the area.

“Zombie! Chris is a zombie! He’s gonna eat my brains!”

“Pinkie! Stop screaming!” Chris yelled. Almost immediately the pink party pony froze and turned toward him, acting like nothing everything happened. Chris just raised an eyebrow at her antics before scowling again. “You two aren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow!”

“Wait,” Cheese interrupted, “what time is it?”

Chris looked at his watch. “11:59.”

He stared at his watch in silence for ten more seconds before the display switched and his expression brightened. “Welcome back, guys! It’s officially tomorrow today so feel free to go back to the train and wait for the rest of your team.” He turned around and walked up the trail again.

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie said with a smile. She turned to her right to see her newfound crush walking silently past her and back up the trail. “Wait, Cheese,” she called out to him before running up to catch him. “So I never got to ask my question, I mean we had to run from the timberwolves, but I wanted to ask you something,” she paused for a moment while blushing. “Would you maybe, sorta like to do something tomorrow, like grab a bite to eat, or walk through Ponyville, or just sit on a park bench and stare into each other’s eyes?”

“(Pinkie Pie) What? Rarity recommended one of her romance books to me.”

Cheese froze and turned to the excited mare next to him, his expression unreadable.

“(Cheese Sandwich) I know that I should feel fireworks going off in me, and at that moment I definitely did, but instead it felt like a war going on inside of me, and my common sense won. So there was only one thing that I could say to her, and that was…”

“No,” Cheese shook his head sadly. “I’m really sorry Pinkie Pie, but I’m just not interested.”

Pinkie gasped loudly and tears started to fill her eyes, and she turned and ran away as quick as she could away.

“(Chris McLean) I was on my way back when a pink blur came back and knocked me over, giving me a skinned knee. No, Celestia, that doesn’t count as a serious injury.”

Forest

Sweetie Belle emerged from the darkness, panting and obviously tired. She found an opening in the forest and saw the light of a campfire, and she decided to lay down and fall asleep by the warmth of the fire.

Element’s Camp

Morning has broken like the first morning, and Twilight, Trixie, Applejack, and Apple Bloom were waking up and coming out of their tents, yawning, stretching, and in Trixie’s case, mumbling about how hard the ground was.

“Hey gals, look,” Apple Bloom said pointing toward the fire. The other three followed where the hoof was pointed to see a familiar white pony sleeping soundly.

“What’s Sweetie Belle doing here?” Twilight asked, with worry in her voice.

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack stepped forward, “but we had better ask her to find out.” She stepped forward to put a hoof on the white unicorn’s shoulder, shaking her calmly with the attention of not startling her as much as possible.

It only took a few seconds for Sweetie Belle to come back to consciousness and look around several times before her eyes fell on the source of her disruption. “Wha-? Applejack? What are you doing here.” Her eyes moved over and fell on the others. “What are all of you doing here?”

“We wanted to ask you the same question, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

At that question Sweetie Belle’s ears fold over her head and she looked guiltily at the ground. “I got lost.”

Applejack turned around to glance at the three ponies behind her before sticking a hoof forward for Sweetie Belle to take. “Well c’mon then, Sweetie Belle, looks you’ll be going back with us.”

Sweetie Belle looked up at the smiling earth pony before taking it and hauling herself up with the help of Applejack. The Element then turned to her team, determined as ever.

“Alright team, let’s go!”

“Wait,” Apple Bloom interrupted, “what about Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie?”

“We’ll just have to hope they made it back to the pit alright,” her older sister responded, breaking into a sprint while being followed by the Elements and Draconequus.

Bonfire Pit

All of the Draconequui have made it back within five minutes of each other. Big Mac, Fluttershy, Spitfire, and Shining Armor had all safely gotten back, while Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had just arrived, both incredibly tired.

“Where were you two?” Spitfire asked as they landed.

“Trying to find Bweetie Sell,” Rainbow Dash loopely responded.

“Wait, she’s not with you?” Spitfire’s commanding voice turned into one of anger mixed with furry. “We have to go back. Nopony left behind.”

“Wait,” Fluttershy’s voice somehow cut through, “what’s that?”

Spitfire turned around and saw the four Elements of Harmony running into the campsite.

“Oh no, we lost!” Twilight wined, “The other teams here already.”

“Actually, you didn’t,” an enthusiastic voice said. Twilight turned to see Chris’ bright smile and an ice pack on his leg. “Pinkie and Cheese made it here last night, so your whole team is here. And since Sweetie Belle was behind you guys, she was technically the last pony to cross.”

“Wait, what?” the Draconequui shouted in unison as they turned toward the other team, who parted themselves to see the white filly with leaves and sticks on her coat.

“Sweetie Belle, where did you run off to? You had me worried!” Rainbow exclaimed, giving her a hug.

“(Rainbow Dash) That and Rarity would’ve killed me.”

“Either way, you guys lose, Elements win. Great! Yay! Whoop Dee Doo,” Chris announced getting less and less enthusiastic as the sentence went on. “You ponies will be getting an all expense paid trip to...the tuck shop!”

“The what?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Some kind of food store, but I heard it’s really good. As for you guys,” he said turning to the losing team, “I’ll see your sorry flanks at the elimination ceremony.”

As most of the ponies trotted away, Apple Bloom went up to her crusader friends. “Hey guys, Ah’ll get you some stuff at this so called tuck shop if y’all…” her voice trailed off as her two best friends failed to look at each other in the eyes, both having a downtrodden expression. “Hey, what’s wrong gals?”

After the question hung in the air for several seconds, Sweetie Belle walked away and Scootaloo turned toward Apple Bloom.

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

Bonfire Pit

Later that night, the fire is burning, the timberwolves can still be heard howling somewhere in the distance, but most importantly, seven ponies are sitting around the aforementioned fire pit, eyeing their host and the six marshmallows on a silver platter.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ain’t next to each other, although both refuse to acknowledge each other. Rainbow sits between Fluttershy and Spitfire, giving both nervous glances, and Shining sits next to Big Mac in the back corner.

“Well, this one’s a nail biter,” Chris announced, “very close voting tonight, but one of you must go, so if I call your name get up here and claim your marshmallow.”

“Fluttershy.”

The shy pegasus slowly trotted up and got the first marshmallow of the evening.

“Spitfire.”

Spitfire nodded to Rainbow for good luck before stepping forward.

“Big Macintosh.”

The big stallion wipes a bead of sweat off his forehead and steps up.

“Rainbow Dash.”

She smiled confidently, acting as if she was never scared of going home.

“Shining Armor.”

The stallion nervously glances at the fillies up front as he walks by them.

“Ladies, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo each eyed the final marshmallow. Scootaloo with sadness and worry.

“Hey, what’s wrong gals?”

After the question hung in the air for several seconds, Sweetie Belle walked away and Scootaloo turned toward Apple Bloom.

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

Sweetie Belle’s face was terrified, and she was shaking uncontrollably.

“And since Sweetie Belle was behind you guys, she was technically the last pony to cross.”

“Wait, what?” the Draconequui shouted in unison as they turned toward the other team, who parted themselves to see the white filly with leaves and sticks on her coat.

Then, just as the final name was about to be read, they each looked at each other, silently gazing at each other in equal fear, and their eyes both sent messages of regret and sadness.

“Sweetie Belle.”

“What!” Rainbow Dash shouted in disbelief. “How could you guys vote for Scoots?”

“No,” Scootaloo said, making the cyan pegasi turn to look at her. “It’s fine. I had a blast being here.” She turned to look at her unicorn friend. “I’m sorry I yelled at you last night. Kick some flank, Sweetie Belle.”

Sweetie Belle bursted into tears, hugging Scootaloo and murmuring a barrage of apologies and farewells. After a minute Scootaloo broke free and walked the trail back to Ponyville, a tear falling from her eye at the last second.

“(Scootaloo) I really thought I was going to be the last pony standing and winning all that money, but I guess fate has other plans for me. Oh well, I really did have fun, even if my time was short. Crusaders forever!”

Car 4

Twilight Sparkle is going back to her car after saying goodnight to Fluttershy, Applejack, and Shining Armor. Rainbow Dash was steaming from her little sister’s elimination, and nopony had seen Pinkie Pie all day. As soon as she got close to her door, however, she heard sniffles and sobs coming from behind it.

“What’s going on in here,” she asked herself, opening the door with her magic to find the pink pony curled up into a ball on her bunk and crying, a rare sight indeed, so it caught Twilight’s attention.

“Pinkie? Oh my gosh! Pinkie what’s wrong?” she went over and gave her friend a hug.

After a minute of incoherent babbling, Pinkie rubbed one of her eyes and looked straight at Twilight. Twilight was surprised to see her mane was straight and her eyes were completely bloodshot.

“I asked Cheese on a date and…” she sniffles a few times before finishing, “and he rejected me!”

Votes for Scootaloo

“(Big Mac) Scootaloo.”

“(Fluttershy) Scootaloo got herself lost today, and I think it rattled her a bit.”

“(Shining Armor) I know Sweetie Belle got lost and officially cost us the game, but it was Scootaloo that made her even more lost.”

“(Sweetie Belle) You were really mean last night, and somepony that mean shouldn’t be a rich pony.”

Votes for Sweetie Belle

“(Rainbow Dash) Cost us the game, what else do I have to say?”

“(Scootaloo) I know what I said was wrong, but Sweetie still shouldn’t have gone off on her own.”

Votes for Shining Armor

“(Spitfire) I can’t work with this guy anymore. He hasn’t done anything bad, but he hasn’t done much in general either.”

Author's Note

Sorry this is slightly late, but I’m really happy how it turned out. Thanks for reading!

Phobia Factor

“Last time on Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic, our passengers were basically told to go into the dangerous Everfree Forest because we’re lazy with ideas. Pinkie Pie discovered Cheese Sandwich’s crush on her, and attempted to ask him out, but he rejected her, thinking she was using him to get ahead in the game thanks to Trixie. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle got into a fight when they got lost, and it eventually caused both of them to go away from each other, splitting up when they were already lost. Eventually Rainbow Dash found Scootaloo, and Sweetie belle found the Elements. The Elements of Harmony became the winners after Sweetie Belle crossed the finish line after them, and it came down to her and Scootaloo for the final marshmallow. After the dramatic ceremony, it was Scootaloo who ended up becoming the first crusader to get on out of here. With four ponies down and twelve remaining, the competition is starting to heat up. Which team will win? Will Cheese and Pinkie be a thing by the end? And will Trixie get what’s coming to her? Prepare to have all of these questions and more answered on the next exciting episode of Total Drama: Friendship is Tragic!”

Dining Car

Most of the remaining contestants are gathered here eating their breakfast of oats and whatever fruit Chef had thrown out for the day, but something was unusual about it today.

“Hey, has anypony seen Chef around today?” Applejack asked. While it was usual for Chef to simply lay out their food and shoot an insult at them every once and awhile, he was usually still around the train car giving everypony who looked his way the stink eye. Today, however, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Not since dinner yesterday,” Twilight said, looking around. “He probably went to stab a tree or something.”

“You think he stabbed a tree?” Shining asked, sounding surprised.

His sister shrugged, “It sounds like something he would do.”

“(Shining Armor) Fair point.”

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were sitting at the other end of the table alone, talking about their recently eliminated friend.

“Ah still don’t understand why y’all decided to send Scootaloo home,” Apple Bloom complained, “Ah mean, Ah know she was mean to you and all, but couldn’t you have tried to send somepony else home, like Spitfire?”

Sweetie Belle looked down and shook her head. “Spitfire is a good competitor, though, and it was pretty obvious that it was either me or her since we got lost together and ended up throwing away the chance of winning.”

“Ah know that, but you could have at least tried!”

“Look Apple Bloom, I’m sorry she’s gone, but we can’t do anything about that now, so let’s just focus on doing better.”

Apple Bloom shook off the rebuttal and stormed off without saying more.

“(Apple Bloom) Ah know that she didn’t mean for Scootaloo to be eliminated, but she was still eliminated, thanks mostly to Sweetie Belle’s mistake. All she can think about is what’s ahead, but she doesn’t see that we just lost a crusader, and in mah mind, no crusader gets left behind.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were talking about something when Rainbow Dash saw Twilight get up from the table and start to walk toward the sleeping car.

“Hey Twilight, where you going?”

“I’m going to check on Pinkie. She’s been in our cabin all night crying.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped, “what happened?”

“She said a bunch of stuff, but from what I gathered she asked Cheese out on a date and he said no.”

“Wait? What!?” a shocked and raspy voice yelled, making Fluttershy, Twilight, and a few ponies around them turning their heads to see that it had come from Rainbow Dash. “I thought that Cheese was the one who wanted to date her.”

Before anypony could stop her, she flew over to where a still saddened Cheese was eating his breakfast and got nose to nose with him. “Just what exactly are you trying to pull on my friend, party boy? Huh?”

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded as she used some magic to drag the pegasus away from the now surprised Cheese Sandwich. She dragged her over a safe distance away from the shocked earth pony and looked at her disapprovingly. “Now Rainbow, just because he rejected her doesn’t mean there isn’t another side to this, so why don’t we just go check on Pinkie, and maybe she’ll tell us more.”

“Are you saying this doesn’t sound really fishy to you?” Rainbow asked.

“Maybe, but-”

“But nothing! Now let go of my tail!” Rainbow made an attempt to flap her wings and break out of the magic spell, but after a few tried, Fluttershy stepped forward.

“Please, Rainbow,” she pleaded, “let’s go check on Pinkie first. She’s sad right now and her feelings should be our top priority.”

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy for a few seconds before shrugging and nodding. “Fine, but if I hear that he did anything to her, I’ll chop his tail off!”

Despite the threat, Fluttershy smiled at the agreement, while Twilight stood looking at the two shocked.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I didn’t know Fluttershy had such an influence over Rainbow like that. I couldn’t stop her, but sweet little Fluttershy could? Wow, I’m impressed.”

Seeing her hot headed friend calmed, Twilight released her magical grip on her, and trotted with her friends down the hallway to their cabin.

Car 4

The three ponies opened the door to the place where Pinkie, Trixie, Twilight, and formerly Rarity had called home during the competition, and looked toward the pink mare’s bunk. On top of it they found a pink ball of coat and hair, curled up partially under her covers. Taking in the sight, the three of them went over to the bed, hearing small sniffling noises as they did.

As soon as they got next to Pinkie, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around the party pony and stroked her mane, who reacted immediately by pulling herself out of the ball formation and almost knocking the pegasus over with her own hug.

“Oh, Fluttershy,” she wailed through her tears, “w-what am I going to doooo? T-Twilight said that he...he liked me s-so I j-just w-went for it and he...he...he completely rejected me!” She broke into a series of sobs again after her brief explanation.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said sympathetically, “I really thought he liked you that way.”

“Me too,” Twilight spoke up, putting a comforting hoof, “It’s my fault. I should have made sure that it was really you he liked first, but I seriously thought it was you.”

“(Rainbow Dash) Twilight really shouldn’t be apologizing, I think everypony assumed that Pinkie was the one that Cheese liked. I did anyway, so it might just be as much my fault.”

“What exactly did he tell you?” Rainbow Dash asked, suspicious.

Pinkie sniffed, “Well-”

“ATTENTION ALL PONIES! PLEASE REPORT OUTSIDE OF THE TRAIN! IT’S CHALLENGE TIME!”

Twilight groaned at the loudspeaker’s interruption before looking back to Pinkie and sighed, “I guess we’ll talk about this later. Just promise that you’ll do your best today.”

Pinkie sat up, nodded, and walked out the door, head hung low, hair still straight and slightly dulled.

Ponyville

The twelve contestants stood next to their respective teammates. Some are exciting like Spitfire, Shining Armor, and Applejack. Some are anxious like Sweetie Belle, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy, as usual. Pinkie and Cheese were standing on opposite sides of their team, the former depressed and the latter just holding a stone cold expression. Meanwhile, Chris walks up and scans his beady eyes across all of the ponies, but it just seems to make him smile brighter.

“Well, it seems like the competition is finally starting to set in,” Chris observed, “and today all of that anxiety will hopefully be erased.” He paused for a second before laughing heartily. “Just kidding! Today’s challenge is a little something we like to call phobia factor, where you’ll be facing your worst fears!”

“(Rainbow Dash) What’s there to face? I have no fears!”

“(Fluttershy) Oh dear. This won’t end well…”

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie fears nothing!”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Greatest fears? Uh oh!”

“So,” Chris continued, “here’s what we’ll be doing. We’re going to split you all up into three groups of four and give each of you a task to do that correlates to your deepest darkest fear. If you can face it, you’ll earn a point for your team. The team with the most points at the end wins, and the losing team will have to maybe possibly send somepony home.”

“Wait, Chris,” Shining Armor interrupted the host, “how are you supposed to know exactly what our fears are?”

“Because I can see them in your nightmares, Shining.”

The ponies all jumped and turned trying to find the source of the new voice. Standing right near the door of the Ponyville Express was a dark tall alicorn with a crescent moon on her flank and a neutral expression on her face.

“PRINCESS LUNA?!” everypony shouted, while Chris put his hand to the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated.

“Yes,” he groaned, “Luna here agreed to give us the information necessary to do this challenge, so...yeah.”

“(Chris McLean) Okay, she’s a spy. After the whole Everfree Forest challenge, I got a letter of concern from Princess Celestia, telling me how dangerous it was and how I shouldn’t do it again, and yada yada yada she sent her sister.”

“(Princess Luna) I owed my sister a favor, so when she told me I had to go down to Ponyville to supervise, trust me when I say that I was against it.”

“Anyway,” Chris continued, a hint of annoyance in his tone still, but gradually disappearing as he continues, “the first group will go to the station in the eating car, run by me. The ponies that will be going there will be Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, and Shining Armor. The second group will go to the newly built amphitheater,” Trixie winced for just a second, “which will be run by Chef Hatchet. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Trixie, and Pinkie Pie, if you could please make your way over there. Finally, station three will be in the Everfree Forest and run by Applejack.”

All the ponies looked confused, but none more so than the orange earth pony herself.

“Fluttershy, Spitfire, and Cheese Sandwich will go out there. Any questions?” Every single pony raised a hoof. “None? Great! Then get moving! We don’t have all day!” He reaches behind him and pulls out a red blow horn, and before anypony can react, he pushes the button on top, emitting an ear splitting tone.

As soon as the ringing was out of her ears, Spitfire gave Chris an unamused look. “Must you?”

“Yes, yes I must.”

Amphitheater

The four ponies all trotted their way to the location they were assigned. Apple Bloom was walking as far away from her friend, eyes lowered and a scowl upon her face, while Sweetie Belle’s look was more sad than angry, and Pinkie was still having a hard time getting over her rejection. Suddenly, she noticed a blue unicorn steadily getting closer to her before their legs almost started touching.

“(Trixie) Trixie surprises herself sometimes. Her plan went far better than expected, and because of this, Trixie has decided that she should continue and do this team a favor by cutting our weakest link. You ponies know who.”

“Greetings, Pinkie Pie, from the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she exclaimed with a content smile. “What seems to be troubling you on this fine day?”

Pinkie lifted her head and tried to smile a little bit. “It’s okay Trixie, I’m just going through something right now.”

“Care to elaborate?” Trixie asked, leaning in even closer to the saddened mare.

“Well,” she hesitated before starting to spill, “Twilight told me that Cheese liked me, so I tried to ask him out, but he turned me down and I don’t know why.”

Trixie smirked, “I think that I might know what’s going on then.”

Pinkie’s ears perked up and she lifted her head up for the first time all day, but her smile was still weak. “Really? Please tell me! Pleeeeeease?”

“Alright, alright,” Trixie said with a chuckle before looking over her shoulder, “but you have to promise that you didn’t hear this from Trixie.” After Pinkie nodded in affirmation, she continued, “Trixie heard Twilight telling Applejack the other night about how she secretly had a crush on Big Mac, and she thought that you liked him too for some reason, so, uh, she decided to tell you that Cheese liked you to get your interest away from her crush.”

“(Trixie) Well, that may not have been Trixie’s most shining plan, but Pinkie Pie’s not the most bright pony either, so maybe…”

“That’s silly,” Pinkie declared, “Twilight wouldn’t do that to me, especially when it comes to colts.”

“Maybe, but remember, it is one of the strongest elements, according to Twilight herself anyways.”

Before Pinkie could respond, a low burly voice called out, “Get your flanks over here NOW!” All four ponies turned and quickened the pace to the stage.

“(Pinkie Pie) Twilight absolutely wouldn’t know that...right?”

“(Trixie) And the seed has been planted. Time to wait for it to grow.”

“Listen up,” Chef Hatchet yelled, eyeing the ponies up and down, “we’ve got some challenges set up for you suckers, so first up we have Pixie with her fear of...the ursa major? What in the world is that?”

Trixie’s confident gaze melted just as fast as it turned into one of fear, with shaking to go with it. “D-did you say you b-brought an ursa major here, like a r-really r-r-real one?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t say that,” Chef shrugged, motioning over his shoulder, where Bulk Biceps was standing painted blue with stars on his body and a bear mask that was also blue.

“YEAH, I’M AN URSA MAJOR! FEEL MY WRATH!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, getting up on his hindlegs to raise some fake claws in the air and swipe a few times. After a couple seconds his mask was magically pulled off his face and carried toward an unamused Trixie. “Aw, no fair! I totally would have had you fooled!”

Chef slapped a hand to his face and waved a hand toward Bulk, motioning him to exit stage left, which he did still slightly bummed. “Alright, whatever, Trixie wins the first point for the Dracone-whatevers! Or, wait no, Harmony whatevers!”

Trixie smirked and trotted back.

“Next we have Sweaty Ball with her fear, which is singing on stage.”

Dining Car

Back on the Ponyville express, Big Mac, Twilight, Shining, and Rainbow are all sitting at the same table they had just used to eat breakfast about fifteen minutes earlier, chatting with each other and waiting for their individual challenges to be announced when Chris walks in with his trademark cheesy smile and Princess Luna and Nurse Redheart trailing just behind him.

“Well, ponies, it seems that Trixie has already gotten the ball rolling. She faced her fear and put up a point for the Elements of Harmony.”

None of them seemed very happy with the news except Twilight, but even her excitement seemed very short lived.

“Alright, so all four of you are up to the plate. Big Mac if you would please step forward. Nurse Redheart will be giving you a shot today.”

Big Mac’s eyes simply widened, and before the nurse could even prep the needle, he was already out the door. Chris walked toward the door he left through and shrugged.

“Well, he still has a little time to come back if he wants to face it. Moving on, Twilight, it’s time for a meal.”

“A meal?” she asked slightly perplexed. Chris then stepped forward and presented the mare with a silver platter with a matching top, and when he opened it, Twilight looked as though she had seen a ghost, and Shining’s expression wasn’t any better.

“Chef Hatchet has mad for the lovely mare tonight a delectable Quesadilla! Bon Appetit.”

“(Shining Armor) Well, this can only go so well.”

“So eat up while I take your brother and Rainbow Dash into their respective cabins and give them their tasks.”

Shining cast a nervous look over his shoulder and Rainbow one trying not to laugh out loud as they were both ushered into the sleeping car. Twilight nervously looked back down to the dish in front of her, wincing as her eyes made contact with it.

“I don’t know if I can go through with this.”

Everfree Forest

Well, the edge of it anyway.

Applejack has led Fluttershy, Spitfire, and Cheese Sandwich all right next to the entrance to the dangerous Everfree Forest. Though not as dangerous during the day, a pony would have to be either really brave, stupid, or competing for a hundred thousand bits in order to want to go anywhere near there.

“Hey, look,” Spitfire pointed a hoof to a plain bag lying by a tree with a really wide trunk. Applejack galloped over and opened it, revealing several items with a note on top. The items were two pieces of rope, one short and one really long, a box of matches, some sparklers, and a jar.

“Applejack,” she read, “these are your instructions for the challenge. First, use the longer piece rope to tie both Fluttershy and Cheese Sandwich to this tree and the other to tie Spitfire’s wings down to her barrel.” Applejack picked up the pieces of rope and turned to the others. “Well, Ah guess you two should get your backs on this tree right here then,” she said to Cheese and Fluttershy, who both looked at each other only slightly scared and more out of confusion than anything else.

Amphitheater

“These fears are all lame! How come y’all can face these so easily?”

Chef was angrily grinding his teeth after witnessing both Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie successfully face their fears. Sweetie Belle only had a moment's hesitation before belting out the Equestria National Anthem, while Pinkie Pie emotionlessly survived destroying a party, which was set up backstage. Each pony earned a point for their respective team.

“Whatever, moving on. Babble Boom, you’re last. You have to, uh, be buried alive for fifteen minutes.”

“What!?” Apple Bloom screamed, “Please don’t do this to me! Ah’m claustrophobic and Ah won’t be able to breathe in there!”

“It’s called phobia factor for a reason,” Chef deadpanned, “so go over there,” he pointed to a glass case next to a hole, “and stay down there for ten minutes to get the points for your stupid team. I’m forced to give you a wakie so we can dig you up if you decide to chicken out.”

Apple Bloom looked back and forth between the glass case, the walkie in Chef’s hand, and the other ponies before sighing and stepping forward, prepared to do the challenge.

“(Apple Bloom) Ah don’t really know why, but tight spaces have always been like some kind of worst nightmare to me. It’s not like Ah had a bad experience or nothing, but it’s just something Ah’ve never been too comfortable with.”

Dining Car

Twilight is still staring at the dish on the platter in front of her trying to muster as much courage as possible to gobble it down, when she saw two ponies walking through the door, and when she saw them she almost broke down on the train floor crying.

There, trotting in front of her, was her brother with his mane dyed bright pink and expression sour, and her blue pegasus friend wearing a ton of makeup and a frilly dress. She did not look pleased.

“I hate everything,” she said with a scowl, sitting down at the table opposite Twilight.

“This is what you’re afraid of?” Twilight asked between giggles, “Dressing up?”

“Says the mare who can’t even eat a tortilla with cheese on it!”

That comment made Twilight stop her laughter and look back to the plate, worried again.

“Well at least you got to keep your mane the same,” Shining complained, pointing to his mane. “This will take ages to live down.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Sometimes I completely forget we’re on television until I hear comments like that.”

Rainbow scoffed, “I dare you to put on a hundred pounds of makeup and dress like a showfilly from Las Pegasus.”

“Remember,” Chris announced to the two, “you have to remain like that for six hours. Afterwards if you make it, we’ll give you each a point.”

“What’s the score now?” Rainbow asked.

“Trixie and Pinkie each faced their fears and same with Sweetie Belle, so it’s two to one in favor of the Elements.”

“Wait, Big Mac never came back?” Shining asked.

“Nope, not yet.”

The unicorn stallion groaned, “I’ll go find him,” and turned toward the exit and galloped away in search of his friend.

Ampitheater

After ten minutes, Apple Bloom was completely buried in the ground and the timer was set. Since Chef didn’t care he gave the walkie talkie to anypony who wanted it, and Sweetie Belle volunteered.

“Now if she starts crying and says she can’t do it no more, come get me and I’ll dig her up,” Chef instructed.

“Wait, you’re not staying?” the filly asked.

“Nah, I’m going backstage to enjoy some of that smashed cake from the party.”

He walked off, leaving Sweetie Belle alone by the hole that her friend was buried in. It took her a few tries to figure out how to use it before she radioed Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie Belle to Apple Bloom, come in Apple Bloom,” she called, giggling slightly at the clichéd line.

“Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom responded shakily, “Ah’m mighty scared down here.”

“Don’t be, AB. As soon as the fifteen minutes are up, Chef will get you out.”

“Good,” the buried filly sighed, “Ah really don’t want to be here a second longer.”

A few seconds passed in silence before Sweetie Belle’s walkie sounded again. “Can you tell me a story, please. Ah need a distraction.”

“Sure,” Sweetie Belle smiled, “have you ever heard the one about Pigeon Mare?”

“(Sweetie Belle) Apple Bloom’s been really cold to me ever since Scootaloo got eliminated, so I’m really happy she trusts me again and wants to talk to me. Maybe we’ll be fine again.”

Everfree Forest

Applejack is finishing up tying the rope around Spitfire, and after a minor complaint about how tight it was, Applejack felt ready for step two.

“Next,” she read, “put two sparklers in the rope holding Spitfire and light the tops of them.” She situated the sticks on the Wonderbolt and lit the tops as the instructions said.

“(Applejack) Ah was mighty confused as to why the instructions told me to do all this, and, come to think of it, why Ah had to do it in the first place.”

“Can somepony please explain what’s going on?” Spitfire asked out of frustration. “My fear isn’t fire and it’s clear that their fear isn’t being tied to a tree,” she gestured toward Cheese and Fluttershy.

“Ah ain’t sure, but there’s only one last step. Finally, take the cap off of the jar right behind Spitfire. If anypony wants to back out, untie them.” She picked up the jar, insignificant on the outside, but she was sure it contained something scary on the inside.

The earth pony shrugged and went behind Spitfire, and opened the lid.

Out of the canister flew dozens and dozens of butterflies of all different colors. To most ponies this would be a wonderful sight, especially to Fluttershy, whose expression of confusion about the situation immediately turned into joy.

“Look at the lovely darlings,” she cooed, “they’re all so lovely.”

“Darlings?” Spitfire repeated, turning around to look over her shoulder. As soon as she saw the insects, she yelled out in fear and tried to get away from them as quickly as possibly, running in and out of the trees.

“Get them away from me! Get them away from me! Get them away from me!”

“(Spitfire) Alright, so maybe I have a minor fear of butterflies, but I have a perfectly good reason for it...they’re creepy up close.”

Spitfire running around also startled both Cheese Sandwich and Fluttershy.

“Oh, watch where you step!” Fluttershy yelled as loud as she could, which wasn’t that loud, “the sweet little butterflies are landing on the ground in front of you!”

“Don’t light a tree on fire!” Cheese shouted, “I don’t want to get burned!”

Applejack appeared to be getting more and more nervous as she witnessed the others freaking out.

“(Applejack) Ah really didn’t want to just stand there, but Ah had the feeling that Ah had to let them each face their fears. If they wanted to back out, they would just say so. Right?”

“Get this stupid thing off me!” Spitfire yelled as she slowed down and she tried to extend her wings to snap the rope. To most pegasi, this would have been nearly impossible, but since Spitfire’s wings were so strong it only took a few minutes of effort to succeed. She bursted off the ground and flew really high into the sky, accidentally lighting a leaf from a branch on fire in the process. It made all three of the other ponies freak out.

“No! This is all mah fault,” Applejack cried, falling to the ground and squeezing her eyes shut. “A-Ah need to get all of us out of here.”

She stood up and ran to the tree that her two friends were tied up and started to tug on the rope to loosen it.

“No, don’t!” Fluttershy shouted, “I want to face this.”

“Ah need to get you two out of here,” Applejack replied, still tugging at the long rope, “you two will burn.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Cheese yelled, struggling for a second before breaking free of the rope, falling to the ground, and booking it away from the forest.

“Come on, Fluttershy, you too,” Applejack said, pulling desperately on the rope to let her pegasus friend out, but she turned to see her shaking her head.

“No, I’ll be okay. Just go to that well we passed on the way and fill a bucket with water. I don’t want the fire to spread any farther!”

Before Applejack could reply, she took a look at the fire, which had spread down the branch and was now threatening a few more nearby. She nodded in understanding and turned to run down the path that they came.

Campfire Pit

Shining Armor had been looking around for the big red stallion for about a half an hour, and he finally found him sitting by the unlit pit, although it would be lit when the sun went down. He walked over slowly and tapped him on the back.

“Mac, are you alright?”

Big Mac turned around and opened his mouth to speak, but before any words tumbled out, his green eyes drifted upwards to the pink mane of his friend. A big smile split his face before he broke out into laughter.

Shining rolled his eyes and waited for the laughter to quiet down before responding. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but seriously are you ready to go back and get your shot?”

Big Mac’s entertained look dropped immediately. “Nnope.”

“Come on, man! I’m facing my fear right now, and a few of our other friends are too. Are you about to let down the team just because of a tiny needle?”

“Eeyup,” he said, turning away.

Shining Armor sighed, “You’re so stubborn, you know that?”

“Eeyup.”

“Can’t you at least come back to the train with me? I’m bored just sitting around and waiting for my challenge to be over.”

“Don’t you have your sister to talk to?”

“Yeah, but she’s going to be talking to Rainbow about girl stuff.”

Big Mac thought for a moment before nodding and standing up, and then he followed Shining Armor up the path back to the express.

“(Shining Armor) At least I got him to come back with me, so now maybe I can convince him.”

“So Big Mac, you want to race back to the train just for fun?” Shining offered when they went a little ways up the trail.

“Sure,” and he immediately quickened his pace and went into a full gallop, with Shining Armor right on his orange tail. They ran and ran, quickly approaching the area where the amphitheater and Apple Bloom’s “grave” sat.

Amphitheater

“Then she flew off into the sunset, surrounded by her bird friends, the only friends who ever really understood her.” Sweetie Belle concluded her story.

“Wow, that was a real dandy story, thanks for sharing it,” Apple Bloom said, still underground, but by the tone in her voice she sounded much calmer than before.

“No problem,” Sweetie Belle assured. After a few seconds Sweetie Belle sighed before hitting the call button on the walkie. “Listen, I’m really sorry that I didn’t try harder to keep Scootaloo here, but I was just as worried about me going home as I was about her. I know it’s not a very good excuse, but at the moment it’s the only one I have, and I’m sorry.” She waited a few seconds for a reply before she heard the radio buzz.

“Ah understand. Ah’m sorry Ah acted so harsh to you. It wasn’t fair, and Ah should’ve known.”

“Let’s just put this behind us and try to keep ourselves in the game from now on. We need to win this, not just for ourselves, but for Scootaloo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Yeah, that sounds right dandy to me.”

Sweetie Belle laughed, relieved that everything was forgiven. Suddenly, she felt the ground start to shake, and she turned around to see two stallions approaching at top speed, appearing to be neck and neck in some race judging by the determined smiles on their faces.

“W-w-what in t-tarntation is going on?” Sweetie Belle heard from the walkie. “Sweetie Belle, you have to get Chef! Ah can’t take this!”

“But Apple Bloom, it’s just-”

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

Sweetie Belle panicked internally and ran to the back of the stage to find Chef.

“(Sweetie Belle) I didn’t want to, but Chef told me to get him if she wanted to be freed. It’s too bad she was only four minutes away.”

Dining Car

“Ha! I won!” Shining cheered as both stallions skidded to a halt right outside of the door.

“Nnope, Ah won,” Big Mac protested.

“Dude, I totally edged you out, but whatever.”

They walked into the car to see, as expected, Rainbow and Twilight sitting at the table gossiping about stuff. They both turned when they heard the noise of hooves approaching.

“There you two are,” Twilight said, “where did you run off to?”

“I went to get this guy,” her brother answered before turning to his friend. “Ready to take the shot yet?”

Big Mac just shook his head and sat down at the table.

“(Shining Armor) He’s exactly like his sister. I remember when she was making the food for my wedding, and she refused to take a break. Stubborn as a mule that whole family is, I tell you.”

Suddenly, Shining realized something after looking around for a few seconds.

“Does anypony know where Chris went?”

Everfree Forest

Applejack finally dragged the bucket of water she had collected back to the challenge sight. By this point a few branches were on fire, and even though the fire was spreading very slowly, it was still spreading nonetheless. Fluttershy was waiting for the fire to be put out, not exactly patiently, but not frantically either.

“(Applejack) Ah was surprised how strong and brave Fluttershy was. Just goes to show that that shy little filly can really be strong when the moment arises.”

“Fluttershy, Ah’m back,” Applejack shouted before swinging the bucket forward and releasing all of the water onto the flames. Because the fire wasn’t too big yet, she had just enough to douse it all and it went out with a hiss.

“Thank goodness,” Fluttershy sighed, “for a second I thought you weren’t going to make it.”

“Me too,” Applejack chuckled. Just then she turned as she heard the cracking of dirt from behind her, and she turned around to see an enthusiastic Chris and an extremely displeased Luna approaching on the trail.

“Well done, both of you,” Chris exclaimed, giving a small golf clap.

“What were you thinking Chris?” Luna asked, anger in her voice. “The whole forest could have been destroyed by your reckless fear challenges! If I had known you were going to use the information I gave to this extent I never-”

“Easy you majesty,” Chris interrupted, making Applejack and Fluttershy uneasy, “we had precautionary measures set up just in case.”

“And exactly what were these?”

“Uh, well,” Chris stammered before quickly turning to face away from the alicorn princess. “You two managed to pass your challenges. Fluttershy for fear of animal endangerment and Applejack for fear of letting everypony down.”

“(Applejack) ...even Ah didn’t see that one coming. Wow!”

“As for Cheese and Spitfire, who both got out of the rope tying them down, no point for them. It’s three to two, with Big Mac and Twilight still needing to face their fears and Rainbow, Shining, and Apple Bloom on the clock.”

Suddenly, Chris’ walkie buzzed from inside his pocket. “Chris,” Chef’s voice came through with some static, “I had to dig up the pony we buried before the time was over. Got too scared, I guess.”

“Oh, well then I guess it’s just Shining and Rainbow now,” Chris corrected himself. “Let’s go back to the train now that all of this is over with.”

“Dang it, Apple Bloom,” Applejack groaned, following the princess and the host back along with Fluttershy.

Amphitheater

Pinkie was walking around the surrounding area of the big stage, starting to feel a little bit better, when she heard somepony yelling behind her. At first she thought it was just the wind, but then when the sound seemed to get louder and closer she turned around just in time for an orange pony with a brown mane to collide right into her.

When she opened her eyes she saw Cheese, the pony who rejected her, sitting in front of her and trying to recover from the collision course. Pinkie gasped and ran over to help him up.

“(Pinkie Pie) Even though he broke my heart, he’s still a pony just the same, so I decided to give him a hoof. After all, it’s the right thing to do!”

Cheese barely acknowledged the pink hoof being offered to him and instead got up on his own terms.

“Are you okay, Cheesie?” Pinkie asked, slightly hurt at the rejection of her offer, again.

“Yeah,” he muttered softly, looking anywhere but at her, “yeah I’m cool, whatever.”

Pinkie frowned and trotted over to where he was averting his gaze, only to have him turn his head once he saw the pony.

“Cheese, can I ask you something?”

“Sure…”

“Why did you reject me?”

Cheese raised an eyebrow at the question, his view getting closer to the pink pony.

“(Pinkie Pie) I thought the answer would have been obvious to her!”

“Because you’re just going to use me to get yourself further in the game,” Cheese answered.

About fifteen seconds passed in silence before he turned to look at her, making eye contact with her for the first time since he turned down her date offer. He had expected some kind of stammered response or even a confession, but instead the earth pony’s face held one of confusion and slight surprise.

Finally, she responded, “Who told you that?”

“Trixie told me that you were telling Twilight that you knew I liked you and that you were going to use that to your advantage.”

“I never said that!” Pinkie exclaimed, “I really do like you, Cheese Sandwich! I think you’re a lot of fun! I was just so sad and shocked when you said you didn’t want to go out with me! I really do want to be your marefriend, so please believe me!”

Cheese stared across to Pinkie, and could only think of one thing to do after her declaration of love. He ran up to her and kissed her on the cheek, before backing up with a smile and a blush. “I’m really sorry, but I promise I’ll make it up to you. How about we get some grub tomorrow before the challenge starts?”

Pinkie shook her head after falling into a loving daze before nodding her head like a bobblehead.

Cheese smiled, “Thanks! I need to talk to somepony real quick. I’ll see you later, okay Pinks?”

“Yes!” she shouted, her mane coming abc to its original curly style and her coat turning fully pink again before realizing her outburst was slightly excessive. “I mean, yeah Cheesie, I’ll see you laters!”

She winked as Cheese gave her a hug and ran off in the direction of the train, while Pinkie sat there staring off at him.

“(Pinkie Pie) The pairing stone better choose us. Otherwise I might have to break quite a few rules. He He!”

Car 4

Cheese walked up to the door in the sleeping car that had a golden four on it and knocked a hoof against it, causing a russell to occur from the inside.

“Who dares disturb the Great and Powerful Trixie while she tries to take a nap?”

She opened the door with a furrowed brow, but it lightened as she saw the pony standing in front of her. “Well, Cheese! How did you do on your challenge today?”

“Didn’t complete it,” Cheese shrugged, “anyway I need to talk to you.”

“But of course! What are friends for?”

“Well, Pinkie and I just got together.”

There was a slight pause before Trixie responded, ”Trixie sees.”

“She says she never planned to do any of that stuff, let alone told it to anypony, so I was just wondering if you just misheard her possibly?”

“Well,” Trixie put a hoof to her chin in thought, “Trixie doesn’t know for sure, but Twilight Sparkle was encouraging her and laughing along. Maybe she was the one who suggested it.”

Cheese gasped and considered the possibility.

“(Trixie) Trixie loves messing with heads, and she loves sending annoying precious princess ponies home. It’s a double win for the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“I guess I never thought of it like that,” Cheese thought, “are you sure that’s what you heard?”

“But of course, it was plain as day to Trixie.”

“Well, alright then,” Cheese hesitated, walking away with a thoughtful look, pondering what he just heard.

“(Cheese Sandwich) But why would Twilight set Pinkie up like that? Something’s fishy, and normally that means it’s time for a lake party, but this time it means it’s time to organize a search party!”

Observatory Car

“Twilight, Ah know you’re scared, but it’s just food!”

Twilight jumped at the frustration in Applejack’s voice. Ever since she had gotten back, she had been trying to console Twilight, while Fluttershy went over to talk with Rainbow. At first Applejack was patient, but it was starting to wear extremely thin. Sitting around the car was Chris, Luna, Nurse Redheart, Big Mac, and Shining.

“I’m sorry! I just don’t think I can do it!” she exclaimed.

Applejack groaned and slammed her head on the table in frustration.

“If she doesn’t eat it in the next two minutes she fails her challenge,” Chris announced while turning to Big Mac. “Same to you, big guy.”

Big Mac simply smiled and shook his head, while Shining Armor remained neutral next to him.

“(Shining Armor) We’re down three to two, but as long as me and Rainbow finish this out and Twilight doesn’t eat the quesadilla, which I’m almost certain she won’t, Big Mac doesn’t have to get the shot because we will have already won.”

“Only two more minutes before I can get out of this stuff,” Rainbow cheered, seeming to fight against the dress as she shifted slightly. On the other side of the table, Fluttershy clapped softly.

“Rainbow, I’m so happy for you. I know this must have been so tough for you.”

“Yeah, but when you’re as awesome as me, you can face anything.”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy giggled slightly, “you should consider dressing up more often, though.”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head slightly. “What gave you that idea?”

“Well, it’s just that I think you look really beautiful.”

Rainbow stopped and stared for a second at the pegasus’ soft smile as she thought about the comment.

“(Rainbow Dash) ...beautiful? She thinks I look beautiful?”

Before Rainbow could recover from the comment, Chris came over with his wrist watch out.

“Time’s up! Rainbow and Shining you each get a point for your team, and Twilight and Big Mac don’t. That makes it four to three in favor of the Draconequui! Congratulations!”

All of the team cheered except for Spitfire who seemed to be still embarrassed about her challenge, but smiled nonetheless.

“Elements, I’ll see your sorry flanks at the bonfire ceremony.”

“Gosh darn it!” Apple Bloom cried.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Chris smiled somewhat evilly, “you’re only allowed to vote for the ponies who failed their challenges, just to make it interesting.”

“Yes!” Trixie cheered.

“No!” Apple Bloom, Cheese, and Twilight shouted to the retreating host, with Luna following him.

“You can take that stuff off if you want to, Rainbow. Challenge is over,” Spitfire told the blue pegasus.

“Uh, actually Spitfire I might want to leave it on for just a little longer,” she said, staring toward Fluttershy.

“Wha- Dash! Wait, really?”

“Yep.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow over her shades, shrugged, and walked away.

“(Spitfire) Rainbow Dash wants to dress up and leave the makeup on? Okay, now I’ve seen everything.”

“Wait, why won’t this stuff come off?”

All the ponies turned to see Shining trying to wash out the pink dye in his mane by a sink.

“Oh yeah,” Chris said, sticking his head back in the car, “apparently that stuff takes a while to wear off. We couldn’t find any pink dye that was non-permanent.”

“(Chris McLean) We probably could have, we just didn’t try to.”

“So how long as I stuck like this for?”

“Give or take a week.”

Shining groaned while Big Mac chuckled behind him at his frustration.

“Shut up, man!” Shining told him as he playfully pushed him, causing the red stallion to stumble back and put his arm on the table behind him, and his eyes widened.

He put his forearm up and saw the syringe that was supposed to be for his challenge sticking out of it.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Campfire Pit

Celestia’s sun has set over Ponyville, and six ponies were sitting down next to each other at the pit, desperately hoping they wouldn’t be kicked off.

Applejack and Apple Bloom sat up front with Twilight, while Cheese and Pinkie sat next to each other holding hooves. Trixie sat behind them, content she couldn’t be sent home. Chris walked up with the silver platter with five marshmallows on top with Luna following closely behind.

“Well Elements, you know the drill. If you don’t get a marshmallow it may or may not be curtains for you. I have a little meeting with the Princess here after this so let’s make this snappy.

“Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Trixie!”

Immune from facing their fears, they all stepped forward. Trixie with full confidence, Pinkie with a wink to her new coltfriend, and Applejack slightly worried for her sister.

“There are only two marshmallows left, ponies,” Chris announced, “you three did not finish your challenges, so we’re leaving it to the votes. The next marshmallow goes to…”

“Apple Bloom!”

Apple Bloom sighed in relief and got up to stand next to her sister.

“Twilight, Cheese, this is it!”

Cheese shifted nervously while Twilight stared daggers at Trixie.

“Twilight, third time for you on the bottom. Think you’re out of luck?”

“Not yet,” she responded, “I’m still full of determination.”

“But do you honestly think that you should go on after your team wants you gone so badly?”

“I bet you they don’t, which is why I know I won’t be going home tonight,” Twilight flashed a smile at Trixie.

Chris’ eyebrows raised at the gutsy comment before looking between the two remaining ponies.

“Ah need to get you two out of here,” Applejack replied, still tugging at the long rope, “you two will burn.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Cheese yelled, struggling for a second before breaking free of the rope, falling to the ground, and booking it away from the forest.

Chris then took one last look at the now very confident Twilight.

“I’m sorry! I just don’t think I can do it!” she exclaimed.

Applejack groaned and slammed her head on the table in frustration.

Chris picked up the marshmallow, and held it up.

“Oh, what the heck?” he asked no one in particular before chucking it at the lavender unicorn.

Cheese stared in shock for a second before he got up and chuckled. “Well, looks like I’m done, huh? Goodnight everypony!”

He trotted over to Pinkie and smiled sadly. “Sorry about the date plans, but as soon as you win I promise I’ll still go out with you.”

Pinkie had tears forming in her eyes but she too smiled and hugged the orange pony. “Goodbye Cheesie! I love you.”

“Love you too,” he said before breaking the hug and giving her a quick kiss on the lips before beginning his trek back to Ponyville.

“Wait, Cheese,” Twilight yelled after him, quickly catching up, “how did you two get back together?”

“Well, it wasn’t easy, thanks to you,” he said with narrow eyes, “but we managed to figure a few things out so now we’re fine.”

“Because of me? But-”

“See you Twilight. Tell your brother and Big Mac I said so too.”

With that, Cheese went on, leaving a confused Twilight behind.

“(Cheese Sandwich) I guess I should have seen this coming, huh? Oh well, I really don’t regret coming on this thing. I got a marefriend, I met some pretty cool ponies, and I almost faced my fear of forest fire. How cool is that? Well now I’m going to show Canterlot what a real Cheese party looks like!”

Twilight trotted back to look at her four remaining teammates. Applejack smiled softly at her, relieved, and Pinkie did too, although there were still some tear marks on her face.

Suddenly, a blue unicorn trotted up to the side of her and whispered, “Better watch your step, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight turned to see a frustrated look on Trixie’s face, having seen her enemy avoid elimination again.

“You!” Twilight exclaimed, looking angrier than ever. “What did you do to Pinkie and Cheese?”

“That’s none of your concern, is it? Just know that it didn’t have the outcome Trixie hoped for.”

“You mean my elimination?”

“Precisely,” Trixie smiled. “It will only be a matter of time, Princess.”

She walked away in better spirits while Twilight grunted.

“(Twilight Sparkle) That’s it! I can’t take that lousy unicorn any longer! At this point I’m not sure I care about winning so long as she loses!”

Observatory Car

Luna sat down next to Chris with a serious look on her face.

“Chris McLean,” she started, “after observing the challenge today and seeing the many safety precautions I must say that I’m shocked my sister even approved of this show. Therefore I can only recommend one thing.”

“And what’s that?” Chris asked.

“That you step down as host for now as we review your records.”

Votes for Cheese Sandwich

“(Apple Bloom) Ah don’t want to go home, and same to Twi. Sorry partner.”

“(Applejack) You’re the only one that I’m not very close with. Ah really don’t want to see you go, but Ah especially don’t want the other ones to go either.

“(Twilight Sparkle) Yeah, sorry Cheese, but you failed miserably and broke Pinkie’s heart.”

Votes for Twilight Sparkle

“(Trixie) Trixie mapped it out perfectly. So long, Princess.”

“(Cheese Sandwich) The quesadilla is the least of your concerns. Messing with me and your own best friend? Not cool.”

Votes for Apple Bloom

“(Pinkie Pie) I don’t want to vote of Twilight or Cheesie, so sorry AB.”

Author's Note

Spitfire’s fear is based off that moment from Spongebob with the close up of Wormy.

Big Mac’s fear is based off a fic I read about how he got a flu shot. It’s a good story, so read it here

Every other fear is from the show or from my imagination. Thanks for reading!

Up the Creek

“Last time on Total Drama, the prissy ponies had to face their worst nightmares, and while some of them were little crybabies, a few managed to get through them somehow. The Dragons or whatever won after the nerdy purple one with the horn couldn’t eat my quesadilla! I mean, I know my cooking isn’t the best, but come on! Oh yeah, and her team had to send that Weird Al knockoff home. Who will win? Who will not? Find out right now on Total Drama: Friendship is Shmagic. Stupid Chris leaving me to do this darn show!”

Ponyville

Eleven ponies stood in front of a river that weaved its way through and around Ponyville, before going into the Heartland of Equestria. The ponies had been given instructions to meet there, but nothing more, not even a hint of what their next challenge might be.

“Maybe we’re supposed to swim,” Sweetie Belle suggested you the rest of her Draconequui team.”

“Yeah, I really hope not,” Rainbow Dash shuttered, looking at the current in the water.

“(Rainbow Dash) In the sky, I’m champion, but in the water, nah. I still get flashbacks to the time the dam broke and I almost got swept away! Ever since then I’ve been careful whenever I’ve gone in the water.”

“Why are we even out here?” Applejack questioned, looking around for the middle aged man they called a host. After a few seconds of silence, she groaned, “Fine! Ah’m gonna look for him mahself!” She turned to walk toward the express when a purple hoof stopped her.

“I don’t know, AJ, maybe we should just wait a little longer. It’s not like Chris hasn’t done something like this before,” Twilight pointed out.

“Trixie agrees with Applejack, let’s split up and tried to find him,” the illeist unicorn said, making Twilight scowl at her.

“(Twilight Sparkle) Trixie only said that because she wanted to be against me!”

“(Trixie) Trixie only said that because she wanted to be against that annoying princess.”

Before Twilight could respond, a gruff and low voice said, “Well don’t bother because he ain’t here!”

Both teams turned around to see the African American cook walking toward while rolling a cart, which had eleven oars, a bunch of lifejackets of varying sizes, and five canoes, three of which were painted brown for the Elements and the two others were painted brown for the Draconequui.

As soon as he got in front of the teams, he stretched his back while uttering curses under his breath, before turning to the other contestants with his trademark scowl. “Listen up! Chris had to go for an investigation of his actions on this show, and left me in charge! So you’ll do what I say today while I stay back here and take a well deserved
day off!”

He stood there for a full minute absolutely frozen, the sour look never leaving his face. After a minute he turned around and started to walk off.

“Uh, Chef,” Shining Armor called out to the retreating man, “you haven’t given us our challenge.”

Chef groaned softly and mumbled more obscenities to himself before he turned around sharply and pointed to the canoes. “Each one of you gets in a canoe and row your butts upstream. In a little bit you’ll come to the end of the river, where you’ll have to hike through a trail to get back here. Once you do that you can start your stupid challenge to build a big enough fire to pass, which will be judged by me. First team that does it wins, losers vote somepony for elimination. Oh, and Chris wanted me to tell you ponies to get your own firewood from the forest once you’re in there. Got it?” Everypony shakes their heads. “Great! Now scram!” He shouted the last part in Fluttershy’s face, making her cower a little.

And so the teams scrambled to get to their colored canoes, but quickly realized after pulling them all off that they were intended to partner up in order to fit all of their members into the boats.

“Alright Apple Bloom,” Applejack called out to her younger sister, gesturing to one of the canoes, “let’s take this one right here. Ah’ll just get the oars for us.”

Apple Bloom smiled and nodded, rushing over to the canoe and jumping inside, sitting on the stern seat up front. She looked at the floor of the canoe and jumped as she noticed something pink moving down there, startling her enough to make her jump out of the canoe and onto the ground. She shook her head and looked to see the pink mass rising up.

“Pinkie Pie? What in tarnation are you doing down there?”

The pink mass now referred to as Pinkie giggled and sat on the same seat that the filly just had. “Silly, I’m in this canoe with you two!”

“(Pinkie Pie) I’ve been feeling a little blue ever since Cheesy got sent home, so I’m trying to be with my friends as much as possible to get past this like I should be, or at least that’s what Twilight told me to do.”

When Applejack came back to their canoe and noticed the pony that hadn’t been there before, she paused for only a moment before shaking her head and starting to push the canoe in the water.

“(Applejack) After spending time with that mare for as long as Ah have, nothing should surprise you when she’s around, and Ah do mean anything.”

“Wait...” Twilight whispered to herself before realizing something that shook her to the core. With three out of the five elements in one canoe, and there only being one left, that meant that she would have to share a canoe with-

“Ugh, why must Trixie suffer more?” Trixie asked to nopony in particular, although loud enough for all of them to hear. She trotted over to the remaining canoe and sat down. Twilight groaned and followed her, starting to push the canoe and the unicorn out into the water.

“(Twilight Sparkle) This...is going to be a long day…”

Over on the other team, teams were decided easier. Big Mac and Shining Armor looked at each other and nodded, taking one of the brown canoes. Spitfire was about to grab Rainbow Dash, but she saw the Wonderbolt reserve partner up with Fluttershy, so she looked around and saw the only remaining teammate without a partner was a small white unicorn filly.

“Looks like you’re with me, kid,” she smiled. Sweetie just smiled up at her and nodded as they went over to claim the final canoe.

River

The teams all shoved off the side of the rushing river and were being carried downstream, their paddles propelling it faster. Currently the order of boats started with Big Mac and Shining Armor and ended with Twilight and Trixie.

“Trixie, you have to coordinate with me!” Twilight yelled, as she felt it was actually easy to control the canoe by herself than to control her partner.

“Trixie is trying,” she retorted, “but your instructions are too confusing! Besides, what difference does it make since the Great and Powerful Trixie is literally rowing as hard as she possibly can?”

“Because if we’re uncoordinated then we won’t be able to steer straight forward!”

“Ugh, why couldn’t Pinkie ride with you? You are seriously giving Trixie a headache!”

“Well I’m sorry, but if we want to win, you have to listen to me, because if you don’t and we lose, I can guarantee it will be your flank going home!”

Trixie just huffed and focused on paddling, a scowl remaining on her face.

“(Twilight Sparkle) Alright, I probably could have handled that better, but that mare seriously makes me wonder if the bits are even worth it anymore, and no matter how many times I say it, I still wonder.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were fourth among the five boats, although the catastrophe known as Twilight and Trixie’s boat was way behind them. Rainbow Dash was managing to get a hold of using the paddle relatively well, but her friend appeared to be having a little bit of trouble with hers.

“You doing okay over there, Flutters?” she asked the yellow pegasus.

“Well,” she hesitated, slightly embarrassed, “I think I may need a little help.”

Rainbow chuckled and held out her hooves to demonstrate the motion. “Try moving the paddle in a circular motion like this, kind of like making soup.” She demonstrated it for Fluttershy, who looked at her own paddle before sticking in the water and using the technique.

“How’s this?” she asked, demonstrating her new style.

“Better!” Rainbow exclaimed. The nervous mare smiled brightly in satisfaction, and as soon as Rainbow Dash noticed, it made her turn away quickly and her face to get a tinge of red.

“Alright,” she said, “let’s move forward! We’re already behind!” Immediately, both mares put their paddles back in the water and gave a big push forward, propelling the vehicle along the waves in perfect synchronization.

“(Rainbow Dash) Fluttershy’s really awesome! It’s always super fun to see her solve a problem because she gets so happy! Plus her smile is really cute...uh, I mean-”

“(Fluttershy) Rainbow’s so nice, even though she may act bold, she really has a wonderful heart hidden underneath.”

In third place was Spitfire and Sweetie Belle, with Spitfire at first trying to shout out “Stroke!” so that she and the unicorn could move as a unit, but when Spitfire saw her struggling to keep up she eventually gave up and settled for the filly to just row as hard as possible to avoid losing an oar.

“Alright, Sweetie, just keep going and we’ll be there in no time!” she encouraged. In response her second in command picked up the pace even more.

“(Spitfire) I’m proud of that kid. After her sister got eliminated she seems to just want to keep pushing herself more. Maybe I made a mistake in trying to vote her off, because ever since she’s been trying her absolute hardest, and I love it.”

Surprisingly in second when taking into account the number of ponies on board, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Pinkie’s raft was in second, but was slowing down because only one of them was actually paddling.

“Applejack, Ah’m fine!” Apple Bloom shouted in annoyance as the orange life jacket around her abdomen was tightened even more, causing her to wince.

“Ah know that, but Ah’m just trying to protect mah little sister,” her older sister responded

“But does this thing really have to be so darn tight?”

“We don’t want it to fall off if you get sent overboard, now do we?”

“Whatever, Ah’m not a baby no more, and Ah can swim just fine!”

“Better safe than sorry, Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom groaned and picked up her paddle, going over to sit next to Pinkie and paddling from the other side.

“Make sure you don’t lean too far over!”

Apple Bloom’s frown deepened as she struggled to not shout back at her sister.

“(Apple Bloom) Sometimes that sister of mine is just plain crazy, almost as crazy as Pinkie, and that’s saying a lot.”

Apple Bloom heard some splashes of water coming their way, seeming to grow more and more in volume. She turned and saw her fellow crusader and the bright yellow sped on past them.

“Aw shoot, they passed us,” Applejack sighed, “Ah’d better get my oar and help out.”

She did just that, picking up the oar and making the boat go faster immediately.

Forest

After about an hour of whisking their way through the river, which proceeded to get thinner and shallower as they went along, the ponies arrived at the end of the river in a small patch of forest. The forest was not nearly as large or as thick as the Everfree Forest and it looked to be more penetrable given the large trail that was already marked out.

Since the whole Draconequui team was there first, they had a little bit of a lead. Because of this they figured that they shouldn’t have to rush to make it back before the other team, so they decided to move at a relaxed, yet brisk pace.

“Does anypony know how far this trail is back to Ponyville?” Shining asked.

Rainbow, who was flying in the air above them, shrugged and looked ahead. “I can’t see where we are from here. This will probably take forever!”

“We can take it,” Spitfire said, “now let’s move forward.”

The team members nodded and continued forward.

Meanwhile, back at the end of the river, three Elements were waiting for the other two to catch up, and after a few very long minutes, Twilight and Trixie had just washed up on shore.

“There y’all are!” Applejack shouted, “what happened?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Twilight snarked, “why don’t you ask the Fake and Miserable Trixie and her amazing rowing technique!”

“Never take the name of Trixie in vain!” Trixie shouted back, making Twilight turn to face her muzzle to muzzle.

“Oh yeah? Well if you had just listened to me for a change, we might have been able to beat the other team here!”

“You’re the reason we were so slow! Trixie was rowing as hard as she could, while you barely put yours in the water! You were too busy bossing Trixie around to notice that we needed to go as fast as possible, not use whatever slow and steady strategy you had!”

“It was smooth and steady!”

Trixie was about to retort when she felt a hoof separate her from the alicorn.

“Come on, gals,” Applejack said, “y’all can argue all you want after we win, but for now we need to get going!”

Trixie and Twilight shot each other one final glare before they broke away from it and began to gallop forward, the rest of the team following behind.

“(Apple Bloom) Ah seriously think that if those two were locked in a room together, they wouldn’t kill each other. Twilight would lose her temper and kill Trixie after one stupid remark.”

The rest of the Elements had caught up to the speeding enemies, and were now trying to catch up to the leading Draconequui, who were still ahead by a few minutes.

Said Draconequui were still trotting at the pace that they started at, talking and generally enjoying the comfortable lead.

“And that’s why I got that name from my first day in the Wonderbolts.”

Spitfire had just finished recounting a few anecdotes from her time spent on the Wonderbolts, including her first practice, the time she crashed into a flagpole in training, and when Soarin has tried to ask her out on a date once. Rainbow Dash was dying laughing at the end of the most recent story.

“I knew that your name was bad, but I didn’t think what you did to get it would be so bad,” she said through her chuckles. “I thought you just made Wind Rider mad at you or something.”

“Well, I did, but he had a good reason to be.”

The entire team laughed once more. As soon as it died down, however, they heard something fast approaching from behind them. They turned around fast and saw the five ponies that represented their competition speeding forward from a few hundred yards behind, trying to catch up with them.

“(Shining Armor) In retrospect we probably should have moved faster. They have less ponies and overall they have the faster team members, on the ground at least.”

“Move! Move Move!” Shining exclaimed, and the team followed his command, quickening the pace and trying to maintain the once-comfortable lead.

Both teams were now moving at a very fast pace, the Draconequui trying to preserve their lead, and the Elements trying to gain it. After about five minutes the forest surrounding them began to get thinner and thinner, with the greenery fading and the path getting wider.

“Wait!” Spitfire shouted, bringing their team to a standstill. “We need to gather firewood! Remember?” She then led the Draconequui off the path slightly to start picking up the wood. Soon, the Elements ran past them.

“Hey, where’d the other team go?” Apple Bloom asked, looking around.

“Maybe they found some candy in the forest,” Pinkie said, her eyes darting around to see if she could get a glimpse of it.

Twilight gasped in realization, “Or maybe they’re even farther ahead of us now! We gotta go fast!”

“(Sonic the Hedgehog) I resent that!”
The Elements picked up the pace, going even faster now than before, not realizing the ponies they thought they were trying to catch weren’t even on the same path as them anymore.

They were all spaced out to start gathering the wood that they would need to start a fire as soon as they got back, far enough so they could cover ground, but close enough so that they could still see each other.

“(Spitfire) We decided that we would need to stick closer together. The last thing we need is another Scootaloo incident.”

“Hey, Spitfire! Do you think I grabbed enough?”

The Wonderbolt captain turned to see Sweetie Belle holding a few sticks up with her magic, and a proud grin on her face. “Could you try getting a little more?” she asked, to which Sweetie nodded in reply. “Thanks kid! You know, between you being able to face your fear last challenge and your determination so far today, you seem to be getting over losing your friend well! I can’t tell you how much that means to me and this team, so thank you!”

“I’m happy to help!” Sweetie Belle said cheerfully, beaming from the recognition. “And you’ve been such a fabulous leader! You were really made for the part!”

“Thanks a lot kid, I really appreciate it,.”

“No problem! With you and Shining Armor, we're totally unstoppable!”

“Yeah, I- wait what?” Spitfire’s confident look morphed into a stone cold one, with some confusion mixed in.

“Yeah,” Sweetie continued, not noticing the change in demeanor, “I mean, you and him lead our team so well, I honestly can’t decide which of you is better. You both have such strong qualities as leaders that it’s no wonder why you're such a good Wonderbolt captain and he’s a good prince. Because of it the rest of the team pulls their weight well and are so organized knowing-” she looked up to see the pegasus gone. “Huh, maybe she found a good pile of sticks somewhere. Oh well.”

“(Spitfire) I’m the better leader, right? There’s no way he could be better than me! I mean, his empire gets invaded every other week!”

Sweetie Belle continued to search the forest floor, picking up a few more sticks before her hoof caught on something that almost made her trip and fall on her face. When she got control and looked back she saw something sticking out of the ground slightly. She went over and pulled it out, and was surprised to find that it was some sort of gemstone.

It was a light purple gem, so shiny and brilliant that it sparkled in Celestia’s sunlight. It was something that her older sister would absolutely love to have as a centerpiece for one of her designs, maybe a lavender dress. This alone would have made Sweetie Belle think it was magnificent, but when she looked closer she could see that the whole stone was shaped like some kind of animal, with the top of the stone that had stuck out of the ground being the head, the body being the middle of the stone, and four stubbs sticking out of the body like legs.

“Hey, this looks just like a pony!” she exclaimed. “It looks so pretty!”

“Sweetie Belle? Where’d you go?” Sweetie Belle realizes she had gone away from the rest of her team a bit, so she put the stone in her pile of sticks and went back.

When she got there she joined the older ponies standing with each of their piles of sticks, whether in their mouths, wings, or with magic.

“Is this enough?” Fluttershy asked, holding up her pile.

“I think we all have enough,” Shining Armor said, before turning to Rainbow. “Can you fly up and see if you can find the trail? We shouldn’t be very far off so it’ll be a sinch.” Rainbow didn’t respond, instead seeming to be looking at something with wide, dreamy eyes, so Shining decided to go over and shake her softly. “Rainbow, you okay?”

Rainbow Dash’s brain seemed to do a full reboot, as she quickly jumped up and flew underneath the canopies.

“(Shining Armor) Uh...well that was certainly strange…”

“(Fluttershy) I hope that I didn’t have a dangerous spider or insect or something like that on me! Rainbow Dash was staring at my cutie mark like there was something like that on there.”

“Hey everypony! I found it!”

The teams heard the raspy voice and followed it back to the trail, preparing to run back and build their campfire together.

Ponyville Express

Back at the station, Chef Hatchet is sitting in a lawn chair, lounging in the afternoon sun and drinking a lemonade, enjoying his “day off.”

“Ahhh, this is the life,” Chef said, taking another sip from his drink before continuing, “no Chris, no ponies, just peace and-”

“Here we are!”

“Awwww rats!”

He sat up in his chair, and saw the Elements of Harmony just arriving. He took an angry sip of his drink before setting it down and walking over.

“Uh, where’s the firewood?” Trixie asked, looking around.

“You were supposed to grab them, you dummies,” Chef shouted.

“WE WERE?” the entire team shouted in disbelief.

“I told you to! You girls have no ears, I swear!”

“Alright, so what do we do now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“It looks like we have to go back and find some firewood,” Twilight supposed.

“No we don’t!”

The whole team turned to a smiling Pinkie, who suddenly had a huge stack of sticks in her hooves.

Applejack’s mouth dropped open, but no words came out at first. “How in Equestria did you get that?”

Pinkie laughed, “Don’t you remember, silly? He said to collect some, and so I did!”

“(Applejack) Never question Pinkie Pie.”

“Uh, I guess we can start the fire then,” Twilight said. “Pinkie, put the firewood down over there and we can light it.”

“But how’re we supposed to light it without any flint or steel?” Apple Bloom asked. In response, Twilight and Trixie’s horns both ignited, circled in light. “Oh yeah, Ah forgot about that.”

Pinkie followed her instructions, setting the twigs on the ground just as the other team arrived, everypony carrying the firewood.

“Alright everypony! Put the firewood right here and I’ll start trying to set it on fire!” Shining Armor instructed.The team followed his instructions, with Spitfire doing it at a much slower pace.

“(Spitfire) There’s absolutely no way that he’s better than me, but I’m still giving it my all, and even if I can’t be the leader today, I will still help our team win today.”

Both sides were currently staking all of their twigs and kindling or barking out orders in the case of Twilight and her brother, trying to out pace each other. Eventually each side had their pile ready and prepared to be lit, and Twilight and Shining each set their horns alight, trying to magically create a flame to start the flames while the rest of their teams tried to encourage the unicorns.

“Let’s go, Shining, let’s pick it up!” Rainbow shouted.

“Come on, Twi! We need this win!” Applejack exclaimed.

“(Applejack) We really can’t afford to have another Element go home. Ah have to think we’re due, especially considering we’ve only won two challenges so far, and Ah say we’re the better team all around.”

In a little bit, both Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle have successfully caused a spark to light their piles on fire. They both step back to admire their work and compare.

“Ha!” Shining bellowed, “We won! Ours was lit first!”

“Sorry, big bro, but I’m pretty sure that was us,” Twilight retorted

“None of you losers won yet!’ Chef shouted, making everypony turn to him in confusion. He pointed at the two piles and shook his head. “See how it’s barely lit? You expect that to pass for a survival fire in the war? Not a chance! Your whole section will freeze! Make it bigger or neither of you win!” Chef stomped away and went back in his lawn chair.

“(Rainbow Dash) Geez, what war was this guy in and what did it do to him?”

“Step aside team,” Trixie commanded, “and let the Great and Powerful Trixie amaze you all as I use my pyromancy to lead us to victory!”

“(Applejack) Uh oh. The last time she tried doing that it burned down the whole darn stage!”

The team stepped back, not without an eye roll from Twilight, and started to focus all of her magical energy around the fire, trying to make it hotter and, therefore, bigger.

“Come on,” she struggled, “get bigger, get bigger!” The flames morphed around as the magic seemed to start to have an effect on them, but ultimately it only spread them out more, not doing much else in the way of productivity.

“(Trixie) That was far harder than Trixie anticipated.”

Meanwhile, considering Shining Armor was the only unicorn on the Draconequui who could control his magic and cast a fire spell, he was just straining himself harder to get the fire going bigger. Unlike the Elements’ fire, theirs was actually growing, though at a slow pace.

“Rainbow?” The colorful pegasus turned to the side slightly to see Fluttershy trotting toward her. “Would it be too much trouble to get a bucket of water? I think Shining Armor may need a drink.”

Rainbow turned to the unicorn and could see that he, indeed, looked tired and in need of some refreshments. “On it!” she saluted, flying to the same river they had just sailed down to collect some of its water.

About ten minutes later and there were no major results. Both fires had grown, but not significantly so, and all three unicorns who had been working were beginning to show fatigue. Twilight was straining to keep her focus, while Trixie was resting on the side.

“You can do it, Shining Armor!” Sweetie Belle encouraged, watching intently.

“Yeah, let’s go Shining, you’ve got this in the bag,” Rainbow shouted.

“Go!” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly.

Shining’s face contorted farther as he seemed to be putting all he had into making sure the fire was still getting bigger.

“Chef,” Spitfire called out, “please tell me this fire of ours is big enough!”

No response came, so Spitfire flew to the reclining Chef in his lawn chair, only to find that he had fallen asleep. She nudged him, who woke up with a snort and sat straight up.

“I’m awake! Wha-” He turned to his left to see the bright pegasus flying over him, and his brow was promptly furrowed. “Why did you wake me? I was having a wonderful dream!”

“You’re supposed to be judging, aren't you?”

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Chef got up yawning and looked over. “Are you joking right now? That thing is-”

“Barely lit and wouldn’t pass in the war, we know,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, an unamused look spread across her blue muzzle. “So how big is big enough so that you and your section doesn’t freeze then?”

“It’s big enough when I say it’s big enough! Now shut up and work on that fire!”

“(Spitfire) If that Chef was my superior in the Wonderbolts, I would have quit on day one out of pure frustration.”

On the Element’s side of things, Trixie had recovered and was now back to helping to grow the fire with her enemy.

“Let’s just hold it a little longer,” Twilight strained, the purple glow continuing to be focused.

“Trixie is trying her hardest!” Trixie retorted gruffly, with slight aggression, making Twilight’s pain-filled expression even more severe.

“(Twilight Sparkle) You know, I read in a book somewhere that when a unicorn’s stress level gets too high, combined with her anger, her magical abilities become very enhanced. Apparently that would be the only thing I have Trixie to thank for.”

“Would you just shut your cocky, horrible, mouth already?” Twilight yelled, “Ever since you’ve got here all you have ever done is bragged about how great your abilities are and constantly tried to belittle me as much as possible! The worst part is, you have barely had any results!”

“Trixie has done much more for this team than you,” Trixie shouted, “you really like to hear yourself talk, but have you yourself yielded many results? You’re basing this off of Trixie’s stage incident, but besides that she has managed to deliver in every challenge, and meanwhile your highness couldn’t even eat a stupid quesadilla!”

“Ladies, ladies, settle down!” Applejack yelled at them, trying to make them stop their argument, but she glanced at the fire and saw that it was rapidly growing while still under their magic spell. “Actually, never mind,” she murmured with amazement.

The Draconequui fire was still growing as well, but there was a huge problem on the horizon, and it wasn’t the combined efforts of the unicorn and alicorn on the other team.

“Guys, I think I’m reaching the end of my rope,” Shining Armor warned under stress. Immediately his entire team started to encourage and push him to continue to keep his energy up.

“Just a little more, Shining, just a little more,” Fluttershy encouraged.

“Yeah, you can do it!” Sweetie Belle cheered, before realizing that she didn’t have her new amethyst with her. Without her team noticing, she ducked out really quick and found the stone in a few seconds, and picked it up before trotting back.

The fire was still growing, and it looked pretty big at this point, making all the Draconequui sweat, both from worry and heat.

Spitfire looked around before noticing Rainbow appearing to be almost sleepwalking around the fire. Her gaze was dreamy and she stumbled a few times.

“Rainbow Dash, look out!”

Rainbow was taken out of her daze long enough to see herself kick the metal bucket of water she had brought for Shining and see it fly through the air in slow motion before landing on both Shining and the fire, putting one out of focus, and the other one...out.

The team looked at their defunct fire and then at the other team, whose fire was clearly going to win, and then back at Rainbow, some with glares.

Rainbow nervously chuckled and scratched the back of her head. “Uh, sorry, wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“(Shining Armor) Really? That’s all she could say?!”

“(Spitfire) ...so close.”

“(Sweetie Belle) She blew it! I mean, she absolutely messed everything up! You think a pony wouldn’t have to try too hard to look straight ahead.”

Suddenly, there was a big explosion right next to them that sent the team flying. Actually both teams. And the cohost.

When the smoke cleared everypony got up and rubbed their eyes and cleared their throats of any effects of the debris.

“That would definitely keep me warm,” Chef said, “I say the Elements are the winners.”

The team looked at each other and then at their fire. It was ginormous, with flames reaching five yards in the air, and the smoke rising up from it. Then they erupted in cheer, hugging, high hoofing, and celebrating.

“(Pinkie Pie) YEEEEESSSSS!!!”

“(Apple Bloom) Ah can’t believe it! We came all the way from behind to take it and everything!”

“(Trixie) Was there ever any doubt?”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Yeah, both of our magical stimuli grew out of control and led to a fiery explosion, like you see in the movies.”

“You suckers,” Chef shouted, pointing at the defeated Draconequui, “lose! Now you ponies have to nominate one of your own to get sent home! Get lost! All of you, get out!”

Everypony ran back to the train like their lives depended on it, and knowing Chef, they might have been.

Cabin 1

Rainbow Dash was sprawled out on her bed, staring up at the top of the train car trying to figure out her failure.

“Rainbow, there you are,” Spitfire exclaimed, trotting through the door. “I’ve been trying to find you since we’ve gotten back.” She flew up and saw her simply laying down and staring, a rare sight for the speedster indeed. “You okay?”

Rainbow turned her head slightly and nodded, but her blank expression was still present, which made her idol unconvinced.

“If you say so. Anyways, I think we should vote off Shining, agreed?” Rainbow simply nodded again. “Alright, good talk.” Spitfire descended to the floor again.

“(Spitfire) What’s up with Rainbow Dash? Whatever, I’ll figure that out later. Right now I need her vote, and she seems like she can shake off whatever she needs to shake off.”

Cabin 3

“So who’re you gonna vote for?” Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle. As they were the only two ponies in the competition still in their cabin, it was the perfect place for them to have Crusader meetings.

“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle admitted, “I’m thinking maybe Rainbow Dash since she kind of lost the challenge for us.”

“But we were about to win anyway. Besides, if Scootaloo found out you voted out her big sister.”

“Yeah, true, so who do you think?”

Apple Bloom thought for a minute. “Well, what about Spitfire? Ah mean, she is kind of bossy.”

“Are you kidding me? She was the reason we’ve been so good, including today.”

“Alright, well how about-” Apple Bloom’s eyes suddenly widened and she ran over and went muzzle to muzzle with the unicorn. “If you vote for mah big brother Ah swear…”

The proximity of the earth pony made Sweetie Belle start to get anxious. “Apple Bloom, I
promise I won’t. If I won’t vote out Scootaloo’s big sister, I won’t vote out your big brother.” Apple Bloom’s warning stare turned into a pleasant smile.

“Good,” she said with a far nicer and lighter voice than the forewarning one she had a minute ago. “Well, you decide what you have to do then.”

“Wow, thanks for the help,” Sweetie Belle said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

“Look, you’re in a tough spot, but just listen to your heart. Isn’t that what your older sister always says?”

“Yeah, but sometimes I think she’s wrong about stuff like that.”

There was a pause before both fillies laughed at the comment.

Observatory Car

Later on in the day, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle were sitting in the car in the leather seats together, and were having a conversation about how the day went.

“Ah just hope that lunatic never hosts again,” Applejack said while laughing.

“Yeah, no offense to him, but he kind of scared me,” Pinkie giggled.

“At least the challenge he gave us was straight forward,” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah, Ah guess that’s right.” Applejack turned to Fluttershy. “So Flutters, you’ve been, well, quieter than usual. Who you gonna vote for tonight?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I don’t know if I can pick anypony because they tried so hard today.”

“Well just make sure you don’t vote for yourself again,” Twilight said, “since the last time you did Chris said that they would kick you out.”

“I know,” Fluttershy said, before standing up. “I think I’m going to check on Rainbow Dash. I think she’s sad about our loss today.”

Before she could trot toward the sleeping car, the loudspeaker blared to life.

“ATTENTION LOSERS, REPORT TO THE CAMPFIRE PIT IMMEDIATELY, AND BY LOSERS I MEAN ALL OF YOU, EVEN THE WINNING TEAM!”

“Oh, well, I guess never mind then,” Fluttershy said.

Campfire Pit

The sun had set over the campgrounds, and all eleven ponies had gathered around the blaring flames of the fire. Then Chef walked up with a platter of five marshmallows.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to do one of these things,” he said with a content smile.

“And you’re going to keep waiting.”

Everypony and the Chef turned around to see the black haired, middle aged man they called their host.

“CHRIS!” they all exclaimed, but none louder than Chef.

“That’s right, and since my review is over, which I passed by the way, you’ve been demoted, Chef. Now get back to your actual job!”

All Chef could do was grumble, hand the platter off to the host, and stomp off.

“Right, I hope you all loved my substitute for the day.” A few of the ponies rolled their eyes or shook their heads. “Anyway, Draconequui of Discord, you know the deal. If you don’t get a marshmallow, you’re done.”

He paused and looked out at them. Rainbow Dash sat up front with a glazed fat off look, next to a worried Fluttershy and an anxious Spitfire. Big Mac and Shining Armor both looked confident that they would get through, and Sweetie Belle was shaking a little. The Elements of Harmony sat behind them, wondering who would be sent home and why they were called there.

“The first marshmallow goes to Big Mac.”

The big red stallion stood up with a small smile and took one of the five marshmallows on the plate.

“Next is...Sweetie Belle.”

The unicorn filly let out a big breath before galloping to the front to receive her prize.

“Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy shot a worried look over her shoulder at the blue pegasus, making her flinch, before turning around to get her marshmallow.

“And Spitfire.”

Spitfire smiled slightly before flying up to get her marshmallow.

“Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor,” Chris said slowly, his hand pointing at the platter, “this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes gazed longingly at the white treat, while Shining Armor still seems calm, although slightly less confident than before.

“And the final pony who is safe is…”

His eyes gazed upon Rainbow Dash, her eyes unusually unsure.

“Rainbow Dash, look out!”

Then turned to Shining, whose expression was becoming increasingly worried.

“Guys, I think I’m reaching the end of my rope,” Shining Armor warned under stress.

Chris held on a little longer, and then the name came flying out.

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow slowly trotted up to get the last marshmallow.

“What? But why? I thought I was doing so good.”

Everypony turned to Shining Armor, some with pity, some with indifference, and one smugly.

“Bye Shining, catch you around,” Spitfire said.

“Oh yeah,” Chris said with a smirk, “I forgot to mention that this is a non-elimination round, so you’re still in, Shining.”

Everypony turned to Chris with wide eyes, and then to Shining Armor, who was frozen in his face.

“O-okay,” he stammered, amazed at his luck, and he wobbled his way back to his seat by the fire.

“(Shining Armor) I dodged a bullet there, but now I need to be careful. Clearly there’s a big target on my flank, and I need to start getting my team back on my side.”

“(Spitfire) DANG IT! I almost got rid of him! I have nothing personal against the guy, I just want to get a hold of the leadership position, and I’m not sure I can do it while he’s still there.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I’m really glad to still have my brother here, and I hope he’s not back up there again. I should know, I’ve been up three times.”

“Now, Elements,” Chris started, “you’re probably wondering why I called you here. Well, I decided to do a little reshuffling. So, let’s see…” he held up a hand to his chin in thought before pointing at the Elements. “Trixie, switch sides, you’re on the Draconequui.”

A shocked Trixie went over to the other side, leaving her enemy unicorn with a big smile.

“Oh, and also Big Macintosh, you go over to the Elements.”

Big Mac simply trotted over to the other team, greeting his sisters with a big hug.

“(Applejack) Yee-haw! Now we’re really unstoppable! No more Trixie which means Twilight should be able to focus more, plus we get my big brother! What more could we possibly ask for?”

“I need two more ponies to switch. How about...Sweetie Belle and Twilight Sparkle?”

“(Twilight Sparkle) COME ONNNNN!!!! I CAN’T WIN!”

“(Apple Bloom) This is the greatest day ever! Now we have both mah brother and Sweetie Belle! What more could we possibly ask for?”

Twilight reluctantly went to her new team, while Sweetie Belle ran to hers.

“Well, enjoy your new teams, now I’m going to bed. Have a good night!” Chris shouted while walking back to his cabin at the train. The ponies soon followed them.

“(Shining Armor) I’m incredibly happy to see Twily on my team, and since our team got a reboot, maybe I have a better chance of getting back on their good side.”

“(Trixie) Trixie needs to do everything in her power, her great power, to get that annoying princess off her new team, and it seems the only way to do that is through elimination.”

“(Rainbow Dash) What’s wrong with me? I’ve been messing up left and right, almost like I’ve lost my awesomeness. That can’t happen, can it?”

Dining Car

Chef is sulking while chopping vegetables for everypony’s breakfast in the morning, and grumbling under his breath. He heard someone walk in on two legs, so without even turning around, he asked, “How’d I do?”

“Great Chef,” Chris said positively, “you really did a good job for your first time out.”

Chef chuckled dryly. “Probably my last time too. All day long I just wanted to relax and I had one of them come up to me every ten seconds asking ‘Is this good? Are we done yet?’”

“Yeah, that takes some getting used to my man, but all’s well that ends well.”

“I suppose so. Hey Chris, how’d your review go?”

“Well, it went alright, although we may need to make some changes…”

Votes for Shining Armor

“(Rainbow Dash) I really don’t know who I want to vote off. It’s my fault we lost, so I guess I’ll just vote Shining for Spitfire.”

“(Spitfire) Sorry bud, but there’s only room on this team for one leader, and I don’t need a civil war.”

“(Sweetie Belle) I just can’t vote for anyone else except Shining, so I guess I got to.”

Votes for Rainbow Dash

“(Shining Armor) All day long you’ve been completely distracted, and it came to a head when you made us lose. I tried my best, but if it wasn’t for you Dash, we may have won.”

“(Big Macintosh) Dash, you leave me with no other option.”

Votes for Spitfire

“(Fluttershy) Spitfire turned really cold and unsupportive at the end, and I think it may have caused Rainbow to lose her confidence.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, but it's finally here! Thanks for reading!