“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!”
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.
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.”