//------------------------------// // Not Quite Famous // Story: Total Drama Friendship is Tragic // by YourUncleFuncle //------------------------------// “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 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. “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.”