//------------------------------//
// Episode 23: The Cast Away Chronicles 
// Story: Total Magic Pony Island: The Lost Episodes 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

The sun did not shine, it was hidden behind thick, grey clouds that ensured no sunlight could seep through them. Rain was pouring down at a fairly steady rate, casting a damp and gloomy picture over the surrounding environment.

Yet despite the less than pleasant conditions, Discord was standing on the Dock of Shame dressed completely in a yellow rain poncho and holding up a pink umbrella as he looked into the cameras. It seemed he was intent to give his usual opening spiel in spite of the inclement weather. And that was just what he did. "Last time on a very special episode of Total Magic Pony Island."

The camera quickly cut away to clips of the previous day's events, depicting a different dock at a different location where the shining sun looked even brighter in comparison to the drabness of the rainy sky that had just been seen. And Discord was explaining everything. "We spent a day visiting the glamorous 'Palace of Losers' where our fifteen soon to be sixteen eliminated contestants ended up after leaving Paradox Island."

Discord kept narrating as the cameras showed off clips from inside the tropical resort. "Our first big surprise of the day came when we learned Princess Celestia was back to normal, all grown-up again. But that was far from the only thing shocking to occur that day."

Another flicker of the camera showed some very familiar looking excited fillies as the witty spirit narrated. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders were reunited, and they'd expanded their circle of friends to include former enemies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. And Diamond Tiara had turned over a new leaf just like her friend Silver Spoon had."

Then the camera showed off more clips while Discord explained. "But by far the biggest surprise came when Spike and Applejack had a little heart to heart about a certain elimination," Footage began to play of the two talking it out and patching things up while the witty spirt just narrated. "They apparently decided their friendship was more important and agreed to let bygones be bygones. Good for them, bad for me," He let out a sigh. "Oh well, can't win 'em all."

After that, the camera was showing a clip of the chaos maker appearing in front of the eliminated contestants. And he was explaining what had happened as a result of his arrival. "Eventually, I surprised the eliminated contestants by announcing that they'd get to help me set up a challenge for the survivors. They agreed on an obstacle course, and each contestant would get a head start based on their support."

Said challenge was then shown off as the spirit just kept on narrating. "Surprisingly enough, Rarity won the challenge and extended her win streak to two in a row. Twilight blew her popular lead to tie with Pinkie Pie for second. And by a hair, Rainbow Dash beat out Trixie to stay in the game. Kind of disappointed I'm stuck with two element bearers in the finale no matter what now. But eh, whatcha gonna do?"

The clips ended and the cameras cut back to the Dock of Shame as the rain kept pouring down. And Discord was just narrating. "Our fabulous four have certainly survived a lot up to this point. They've all proven to be quite tough and have all won invincibility for themselves at least once. But the challenges are only going to get even harder now," He then looked up. "Bet you wanna know what's up with the rain? Well, it's all part of my plans here on Total Magic Pony Island!"





It just kept on raining, nothing else seemed to really happen. The four surviving contestants had been expecting many things, but a day of seemingly endless and constant rain was not one of them.

Discord's voice could be heard blaring over loudspeakers all across the many buildings of Paradox Island. And they carried his statements even all the way to the cottages where the four remaining ponies (all of whom were element bearers) were more or less holed up. They could only really venture outside to visit the confessional or the mess hall, there wasn't much else to do.

Discord sounded surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing as his voice was explaining. "It pays to have friends in the right places, ponies. Now you're all getting a taste of the worst thing that can happen with any sort of camping trip or island vacation: A rainy day. A day where all your fabulous, fun filled plans have to be cancelled. Not to worry, though. Come rain or shine, there's going to be some true doozies of challenges waiting for you."

Even the hyper competitive Rainbow Dash found herself unable to do anything other than groan. "Discord is just rubbing it in our faces right now!" She complained! "I could totally bust those clouds if I could use my wings!"

"For once, that would actually be preferable," Rarity remarked as she gazed longingly out of the window. "Stranded on this island with nothing to do while it rains is so boring."

Pinkie Pie bounced over. "Hey, come on you guys! We've all made this far! No matter what, one of us is gonna win the million bits!" She excitedly declared! "Maybe this rain is hide to how Discord's feeling now that he can't split us all up any further. It's just too bad Applejack and Fluttershy couldn't make it as well."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Who cares? They would've just been eliminated anyway."

Rarity frowned. "You don't have to be so grumpy about it, darling. Spikey Wikey was right, you haven't been acting like yourself for a long time."

The brash speedster groaned anew in response. "Please, don't start with this again. I'm tired of hearing it. Especially because it keeps giving me nightmares about Mare-Do-Well."

The fashionista narrowed her eyes, glaring back at Rainbow as she couldn't help but reply. "Darling, with all do respect I'd say you deserve it. You still have yet to answer for what you did to Scootaloo, and how you treated Fluttershy and Derpy for the longest time."

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof down. "I don't need a lecture from somepony who couldn't stand Spike falling in love with somepony else."

"And I've regretted it ever since," Rarity replied. "Which is more than I can say for the likes of you," She then looked over to see Twilight gazing longingly out of another window, and called out to her fellow unicorn. "Am I right, Twilight? You've seen it for yourself after all."

The studious unicorn turned slowly away from the window. It sounded like she let out a sigh before blinking. "Huh? Oh... I guess. I mean, you have begun to change your ways. But Spike hasn't been around for most of it."

The fashionista unicorn grumbled. "Thanks for that 'moral support', Twilight," And then she commented. "You know, you've been really distracted lately. First it was right after Vinyl Scratch was eliminated, and now it's the same thing with Trixie."

Twilight protested with a shake of her head. "You're just imagining things, Rarity. I just felt sorry for the way they were eliminated, that's all. There's nothing going on between us!"

The camera then flickered briefly, showing Twilight in the confessional as the sounds of rain could still be heard outside. She was staring directly into the camera while saying. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I stop thinking about Trixie and Vinyl Scratch? I don't even think I really like mares. I mean, I've never really interacted with a lot of stallions either... but I don't think that matters," She then groaned, running a hoof through her mane! "I've gotta stay focused! I'm so close to the end, and even one mistake could cost me!"

Twilight wasn't the only one to use the confessional though, because another flicker showed Rarity coming in next and she seemed to be pondering aloud. "Could Twilight have feelings for Vinyl Scratch and Trixie? Perhaps, much like friendship, she's just new to romance and is still sorting out her feelings?" The fashionista couldn't help but lament. "I've been unlucky enough to have a crush turn out to be nothing," After swishing her tail she then declared. "But oh well, there'll be plenty of time for romance after I win. I'm starting to feel really good about my chances! I've won three of the last four challenges after all."

Rainbow Dash came into the confessional too, and she was grumbling to herself. "Why does it seem like the more I try to lose, the more I keep winning? What kind of backwards logic is it that winning causes me to lose and vice versa?" Running her hooves through her mane she then added. "Urgh! I gotta stop doing this! I just gotta focus on the next two challenges. If I can make it to the finale, I know I can win! And when I do, hopefully everypony will stop getting on my case."

Even Pinkie Pie was eager to get into the confessional to give her thoughts about what was going on. But mostly, she just couldn't contain her excitement! "Oh, I can't believe I've made it all the way to the fabulous four, or the fantastic four, or whatever it is they're calling it!" She declared while prancing back and forth in front of the camera! "I don't even know what I'm gonna do with the prize money yet if I win," Then the pink party pony paused in her prancing "But I don't know if I can keep winning for much longer. It kind of seems like everypony's turning on each other even though we're all supposed to be friends."





With nothing to really do as the rains continued all day, the final four contestants all opted to call it an early night and went to bed. Whatever plans or challenges Discord (or possibly Nightmare Moon) might have in store for them were obviously going to have to wait for better weather, whenever that would come.

Yet as the four ponies slept they were unaware of a development that was occurring around them. The rains were having an unexpected effect on the surrounding landscape, particularly the cottages. Had anyone been watching, they would've most certainly seen what was unfolding! Somehow, the cottages' foundations collapsed and they began to move, carried a ways downstream by the currents!

All the while the four sound asleep ponies inside had no knowledge of anything that was occurring, not even as the cottages were moving far away from Paradox Island to the point where you would never have known cottages had once been there.

When the next day dawned, the rains had gone and the sun shone through the clouds again. Yet the four contestants were not where they should have been.

Discord and Nightmare Moon were not aware of this, they had not toured all of Paradox Island and nothing they'd seen had given them any reason to suspect that something about it was different now.

Still, Discord couldn't help but comment when he noticed the empty mess hall that morning. "Say, Nightmare Moon. You wouldn't happen to know where our remaining four contestants are by any chance, would you?"

Nightmare Moon shrugged her hooves. "Ain't see hide or hair of them. And to be honest, I don't really care. They can sleep in as much as they like, I'm not going to feed them if they miss breakfast," And she said to Discord. "What were you even trying to accomplish with the rains yesterday?"

The witty spirit answered. "Well, I would tell you if I could find the contestants," Then he shrugged his paws. "But I guess they just wanna play hooky or something. They'll turn up eventually," And he looked at Nightmare Moon. "You wanna get something to eat?"

Nightmare Moon blinked. "What? You mean you actually like the slop I cook up?"

Discord made a gag face and then chuckled! "Of course not, don't be absurd! I'm talking about some real food!" He soon used his talons to rip open a glowing blue portal. "Lucky for you, I know just the place. And while we're there, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

The wicked mare of darkness smiled. "See, now you're starting to see things my way," And she couldn't resist chuckling back. "Boy do I feel sorry for our contestants. The one day they decide not to show up is the one day you decide to stop holding back the good stuff." And soon, the host and co-host had also left Paradox Island, unaware of what had happened to the four ponies.





Pinkie Pie was the first to become aware of what had happened the night before. Though not the only former Magical Misfit left in the game, by a stroke of bad luck she had taken up a bed on the right sided cabin and was now stranded by herself!

Being confronted with this stark and unfortunate reality upon opening the cabin door, Pinkie immediately shut it and rubbed her eyes. "I must still be dreaming or something," She said to herself and firmly nodded. "Yeah, that's it. This is all just a dream and I'm gonna wake up at any minute." Giggling and quite content with that knowledge, she waited for a bit before opening the door again. But the same sight greeted her: That of a vast, empty stretch of land leading out to a lake. And there was no sign or map to tell her how far away she was from Paradox Island or any kind of civilization.

The pink party pony shuddered as she shut the door again! "This.. this isn't happening!" She firmly insisted even as the reality was slowly settling in for her. "Oh, where is everypony?! Come on, it's not my birthday! There's no need for a surprise party." Yet she received no reply at all. Her voice was carried on the wind, scattered and lost with no one around to acknowledge it.

Unbeknownst to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash was several miles downstream and had also woken up to find herself stranded. But she had taken to seeing it in a different way, and without bothering to wait to see if there was anypony else around she had trotted off. She was explaining her logic in the confessional, which had (by some stroke of luck) washed ashore near her location. And the camera inside was still recording. "This must be the challenge! Survival of the fittest!" She declared! "Well I'm gonna survive alright! This time I don't have to worry about an entire team, just myself."

So the brash speedster had trotted away, intent on finding her way back to Paradox Island all on her own where invincibility would surely be hers! "I've got this in the bag!" She thought to herself as she wandered away from the cabins and deep into the surrounding wilderness.

As for Twilight and Rarity, they had the fortune of waking up together to find themselves alone in what had been the left cabin. A quick inspection of their surroundings revealed that neither Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie were with them, it was just the two unicorns by themselves.

"Really?" Rarity rolled her eyes, as if she expected there to be cameras everywhere. "A wilderness survival challenge again? Just because I've been doing good in some of the recent challenges doesn't mean you have to start rigging the game against me."

But Twilight nervously commented. "Uh, Rarity. I don't think this is part of the game."

The fashionista snorted. "Whyever not, Twilight? What in the name of Celestia could possibly make you believe that?"

The studious unicorn replied with a gulp. "You don't think it's weird that neither Discord or Nightmare Moon have made any sort of announcements? Or what about the fact that two of our friends seem to be missing, and the only other building besides our cabin that made the trip here is the confessional?" She gestured a hoof in dramatic fashion. "Open your eyes, Rarity. We're stranded here!"

The unicorn with a pristine white coat gasped in horror as she looked her fellow unicorn square in the eyes! "I was afraid you'd say that, Twilight," She blinked her eyes in rapid succession, eyelashes and all. "What are we going to do?!"

"I don't know," Twilight uncertainly answered. "But I do know what we're not gonna do. We're not gonna panic. We're gonna stay calm, and we're gonna do this together," Yet within seconds of her having finished saying that, she saw Rarity faint right in front of her. "Or not. You can totally panic." She sarcastically replied.

Relieved to know that the confessional camera was still operational (at least for the time being), Twilight took the opportunity to vent her frustrations! "You have got to be kidding me! If we make it through this, the million bits had better worth it for all the therapy we'll have to endure!"





Miles away and isolated from the rest of her friends, Pinkie Pie had taken to fending for herself as best she could. "Okay, recap," She remarked as her imagination started to run away from her again (and without the intent of coming back with cake). "No contact with the outside world: Check. No signs of ponies or other life forms anywhere: Check. No friends anywhere: Check. Oh wait, there is one friend!"

The pink party pony looked down, staring at a small rock that she had taken to drawing eyes and a smiley face on. "How could I forget about you, Boulder II? It's so nice to meet a friendly face out in the middle of nowhere, right?"

The rock gave no reply, but Pinkie believed it had answered. "Oh yeah, I totally agree. It's us against the rest of the world now. We have to find some way to survive and get back to wherever life is," She blinked, her eyes narrowing and retreating to the farthest corners as she did so. "What's that, you say? 'How are we gonna get off this island?' Well... I haven't figured that out yet. But I'm... sure we'll think of something, eventually. We just gotta stick together!"

Meanwhile, miles away, Rainbow Dash was making her way across the island with only the sound of her own voice for company. Her mane and tail were becoming quite frazzled as she became hot, dirty and sweaty. She was even starting to pant a little, and had to resort to knocking coconuts out of trees to get to the milk inside. "Urgh! This would be so much easier if I had a map or something!" She complained aloud.

Stopping for but a moment, Rainbow blinked in realization. "Hey, why am I talking to myself? There's nopony else here... or is there?!" She spun around, half expecting to see something or someone standing behind her. But there was nothing there. She was the only individual on the island as far as she knew.

The brash speedster groaned, slapping herself hard in the face with a hoof and causing a red bruise mark to appear across her left cheek! "Come on, Rainbow," She thought in her head, determined to keep herself from going insane. "This is all part of the game. They're trying to make you go crazy. But you're not gonna let them get to you! Right? Right?!"

Unable to give herself a satisfying answer, Rainbow Dash kept on trotting. She could see hoofprints, so that had to be a sign that she was on the right track.

Suddenly, however, the silence was broken up by the faint but distinctive sound of a horn being blared. And all the ponies who heard it wondered only one thing: What was making that sound?

The horn blaring was courtesy of Nightmare Moon, who was now bringing out several plates of food that would've made the very hungry ponies' mouths water had they known about it. "Here you are, Discord," The wicked mare of darkness declared with a rare sincere smile on her face. "Your brunchfast is served."

Discord was licking his lips as he was sitting on a large bench out in the sun, far away from anything on Paradox Island. And he was fondly proclaiming. "Ah, brunchfast. Is there anything else like it in the world? I think not."

Nightmare Moon smiled again. "Seems like you enjoy more about these ponies than you let on. It's almost as if you didn't truly wanna take over their world."

At that the spirit threw back his head and laughed. "Don't be absurd, Nightmare Moon! I'm the spirit of chaos and disharmony! Chaos is my life's blood. I literally can't exist without it," He quickly recovered from the laughing fit and added. "Being trapped in that stone prison was the worst thing that's ever happened to me! And once this show is over, I intend to make Equestria my eternal playground, my colony of chaos."

The dark coated alicorn simply nodded. "Whatever you say, Discord," She then turned to the cameras with a knowing wink and whispered. "He's going soft, I can tell."

"What was that, Nightmare Moon?" Discord questioned. "You know the cameras aren't really rolling here, right? This lot was abandoned long ago. I just used it to test the equipment before I set up my show on Paradox Island."

Nightmare Moon stepped back and struggled not to blush. "Oh, it was nothing. Nothing you need to worry about anyway," And she coughed into a hoof. "Just stating what I plan to do once this is over. 'Cause no way am I going back to having to share a body and a mind with Princess Luna. She keeps treating me like an imaginary friend she can't get rid of. She just hopes to keep me locked away until I go mad from boredom."

The witty spirit chuckled. "What, is she your mother or something? I always thought it was you calling the shots."

"I was, until those Elements of Harmony got involved. As soon as they came on the scene Luna got cold hooves," Nightmare Moon explained. "Can't believe we're stuck with two of their bearers no matter what now."

"I can't believe it either, but it's not gonna matter in the end," Discord firmly insisted. "They're gonna have to waste time hunting down the elements, giving me more than enough time to take over. And I'm not gonna make the same mistake as last time," And as his thoughts turned to the elements and the ponies who bore them, he started to wonder. "Say, you ever get the feeling like you're forgetting something?"

The wicked mare of darkness nodded her head in confirmation before answering. "Yeah, all the time, really. I find if I just ignore it it goes away like a bad habit."

The chaos maker, however, replied in between bites of his food (it would be a shame to let it all go to waste after all). "Don't you think it's weird we haven't heard a peep from our contestants all day? It's almost high noon, after all."

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "I'm sure they're just enjoying their time off, like they were the day before you made it rain. It's your own fault for making them so bored."

"I had a plan in mind, you know!" Discord stubbornly protested. "If they don't show up soon, I may just have to do something about it! I can't run a show without contestants, the network won't let me."





Unaware of what was going on with Discord (or Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for that matter), Twilight was still in the separated left cabin and trying frantically to resurrect Rarity. "Come on, Rarity!" She declared as she kept waving her hooves in front of her fashion friend's face. "Wake up already! Please!"

It didn't seem like Rarity would wake up though. That is until suddenly her nose began to twitch, and then suddenly she fluttered her eyes open and stood up! She appeared none the worse for wear as a result of what had happened to her, instead declaring. "Twilight, do you smell that?"

"Smell what, Rarity?" Twilight questioned, before something began to waft past her nose as well and caused her to sniff the air too.

Rarity smiled. "It's food! Someone's cooking food! And they're not sharing it with us!" She furiously stomped a hoof down in protest, her eyes narrowing! "This will not stand! I don't know about you, but I'm starving! I can't remember the last time I had a truly good meal and not that barely edible stuff Nightmare Moon cooks."

The studious unicorn blinked slowly in response. "Well, I'm hungry too, Rarity. But that smell could be coming from anywhere."

The fashionista only shook her head. "I don't care where it's coming from, Twilight! I'm going to find the source! So you can either come with me, or you can just stay here and starve." And she stormed out of the cabin without waiting for a reply.

Twilight groaned and snorted, following her fellow unicorn out of the cabin. "The things I do for the sake of friendship," She thought aloud before calling out to her fashion friend (who was already a considerable distance away)! "Rarity, wait! Don't leave my sight, I don't wanna lose you too!"

And as the two unicorns were taking off in pursuit of the smell of food, Pinkie Pie was miles away and working on her own escape plan. But there was one thing she needed to do first. She was currently in the separated right cabin, talking aloud about a whole lot of things to what sounded like an audience of one: Herself. But it was actually meant for someone else in addition to her.

Her eyes completely narrowed now, Pinkie gave a giggle and a snort as she looked down at Boulder II (still sporting that scribbled on smiley face). "Ah, I feel so much better now that I've gotten all of that off of my chest," She declared to her new "friend". "Doesn't it feel good to confess to your crimes, Boulder II?" The rock didn't answer. "Yeah, it totally does! At least this way if it's truly the end, I'll go out a guilt free pony."

With that, Pinkie Pie exited the cabin with Boulder II tucked safely into her mane. The pink party pony with a very frazzled mane and tail then turned to a raft she'd hastily made out of sticks from nearby trees. It looked like it was just barely held together by vines. "Whelp, time to shove off!" She declared, before pushing the raft down the sand and to the water's edge. Once it was starting to drift away, she hastily clambered onto it and paddled with her hooves until the current caught hold.

Wherever she would end up now, the positively pink earth pony knew it was out of her hooves. It all depended on where the current carried her and her new friend.





While all these developments were unfolding, Rainbow Dash was finding herself getting to the point where she was losing what little patience she had. Although her moderate violet eyes couldn't be one hundred percent sure, it really felt to her like she was going around in circles. Had she just been chasing her own hoofprints this entire time? No, that couldn't have been it!

Yet the brash speedster had nothing to show for her efforts after what felt like hours of endless wandering and searching. And it was only made worse by the smell of delicious food that had begun wafting through the area, assaulting her nostril with those sweet scents.

"Come on already!" Rainbow loudly complained even though she knew she was just talking to herself at this point. "This is ridiculous! I wanna get off this stupid island! I'm tired and hungry!"

Suddenly, there came the rustling of bushes in the distance. And then the next thing Dash knew, she was being jumped by two ponies she had not been expecting to see!

"I got something, Twilight!" The familiar voice of Rarity was shouting at the top of her lungs! "Quick, help me pin it down before it gets away!"

Twilight immediately came rushing up to the scene, panting heavily from exhaustion as she did so! "I can't run as fast as you can, Rarity," She declared, before her eyes fell upon what (or rather who) her fellow unicorn had managed to "pin down". "Uh, Rarity. You do know that's Rainbow Dash, right?" She questioned.

Rainbow Dash groaned anew as she stood up and knocked Rarity down! "I should've known you two would try to stop me from winning!"

"Winning what?" Twilight blinked in confusion. "This doesn't appear to be any sort of challenge, Rainbow Dash. We've been stranded here, completely cut off from everyone and everything."

And Rarity whined. "And with nothing to eat or drink too! I doubt Discord would be this cruel on purpose."

The brash speedster blinked slowly while stepping back a bit. "But... but... but what about the tracks I've been following? Or what about the fact that the confessional cam's still working?"

The studious unicorn explained. "I have a feeling you've just been following your own tracks, because the only hoofprints Rarity and I saw all ran around in a circle. And as for the confessional, I have a feeling that wasn't intentional. It's just a stroke of luck it made the trip down here with us."

"Okay, and where exactly is 'here'? This is definitely not Paradox Island." Rainbow questioned as she looked all around, spotting no familiar landmarks anywhere.

Twilight could only answer. "I don't know. It's definitely no place I've ever seen before. But for right now, let's just regroup back at the cabin and discuss our next move."

"Make it quick, I'm absolutely starving!" Rarity insisted! "I wish I knew where that food was coming from."





So the three friends retreated back to the cabin they had been sharing. And imagine their surprise when they found Pinkie Pie and a small wooden raft already waiting for them.

"Oh, hey you girls!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully greeted despite her state of appearance. "Have you met Boulder II yet? He just loves to make new friends!"

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Who's Boulder II?"

Pinkie held up a rock with a hastily drawn scribbly face and giggled. "He's right here, silly! He's not much of a talker, but he's terrific company."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Darling, you are aware that it's just a rock, right? It's not an actual sentient creature."

At that the pink party pony let out a gasp! "How dare you say that about Boulder II! Don't you know he's very sensitive?!" And she quickly whispered to the rock. "It's okay, Rarity didn't mean it like that. She's just not used to making friends with rocks is all."

Twilight was quick to opt to change the subject, even though she briefly gave her own thoughts on what she was seeing in the confessional. "Pinkie Pie making friends with a rock. Why doesn't that surprise me?" And she let out a long sigh. "If I ever see Discord, he's gonna have a lot of explaining to do! I'm half tempted to just quit at the next elimination ceremony. I can't take much more of this craziness." To emphasize her point she brought her hooves up to her forehead and rubbed said forehead with said hooves.

The four friends, now reunited, gathered together in the left cabin as it was now clear to see it was barely holding together. "So, you've been alone with Boulder II all this time, Pinkie?" Twilight questioned her friend, slowly trying to piece together what had happened since the unintended separation.

Pinkie Pie firmly nodded. "Yes indeedy. It's never a bad time to make new friends," And then she looked out to the others. "But it looks like all of you have been busy today too."

Rarity put a hoof up to her forehead as she dramatically declared! "Oh, like you wouldn't believe! What did I ever do to deserve such a terrible fate?!"

Rainbow only snorted. "Hey, at least I was actually trying to do something! The rest of you sat around and waited for help, or made friends with rocks!"

But Pinkie protested. "Hey, don't you all see?! If this is truly the end, if this is truly where our stories stop, then we need to come clean and confess."

"Beg your pardon? Why would we need to do that, darling?" Rarity questioned with an arched eyebrow.

Pinkie Pie explained. "Before I left on that raft with Boulder II, I made sure to spend time confessing to everything I did wrong. I felt so much better afterward, like a whole new pony."

Twilight quickly realized where the conversation was heading. "And you want us to do the same?"

The earth pony mare firmly insisted. "Of course! Trust me, you're all gonna feel a lot better after you do," And she added. "Besides, no one but the four of us will be around to hear it. It'll stay between the four of us."

"Fine," Twilight sighed before clearing her throat. "I'll go first."





But unknown to the four ponies, miles away on Paradox Island, Discord had lost what patience he had! "Alright, that does that!" He complained as he quite literally blew his top! "I need to have an episode and I need to have a challenge! Those contestants are gonna participate whether they want to or not!"

Nightmare Moon tried to console the very upset chaos maker. "N...now, there's no need to worry yourself. They'll turn up eventually, I'm sure."

Discord was not convinced for a second. "I can't wait that long! I'm going to look for them, and when I find them they're gonna be sorry they ever blew me off!" And he stormed away without another word.

The witty spirit traveled all over Paradox Island with a snap of his talons, inspecting every possible location for any trace of the missing contestants. But he couldn't find them anywhere at all, which only served to make him more frustrated and more concerned. Had something happened to them without him knowing it?

At last, an answer presented itself when Discord appeared in front of the cabins. Or rather, where they should've been. To his surprise, both the left and right cabins were gone! Not even their foundations remained. And it seemed the same thing had happened to the confessional. "Oh no!" He gasped in horror as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates! "Oh, leave it to the last inhabitants to build a bunch of bad cabins."

Nightmare Moon was quite surprised to see Discord appear suddenly in front of her! "I take it you found the contestants?" She asked him.

The chaos maker only frantically replied! "Our contestants have been swept away by flood waters! Why didn't anyone tell them the cabins were not built on solid ground?!" And he then declared! "There's no time to waste! We've got to assemble a search party! If anything happens to them, it's gonna be my fault! I don't do well with lawsuits."

The wicked mare of darkness sighed, sensing that Discord was not going to calm down until the contestants were brought back to Paradox Island safe and sound. "The things I put up with because of him." She murmured to herself.

"Come on, help me out here!" Discord shouted to Nightmare Moon! And then he turned to the cameras. "We're going to edit this all out later. This episode didn't go as I'd planned."





"And that's the real reason why I dropped out of flight school," Rainbow Dash finished confessing to the others. "Not because I was lazy. But if I told anypony the truth, they wouldn't believe me."

Twilight reached a hoof out to her pegasus friend. "It's okay, Rainbow. We believe you. After all, friendship sometimes means sharing secrets."

Rarity nodded. "Yes, like how you came to learn about 'The Want It, Need It Spell'. You're lucky the second time you tried it, Princess Celestia was there to stop things from getting too out of control."

Pinkie Pie added. "Don't forget about what you did to be able to afford Carousel Boutique, Rarity."

Rainbow Dash only snorted. "That's quite a lot of talk coming from the pony who just told us the truth behind Mr. Turnip, Rocky, Sir Lintalot and Madame LeFlour."

"Well, at least we're all in agreement that what we've told each other doesn't leave this island!" Twilight firmly insisted as she looked into her friends eyes. "Even Applejack and Fluttershy can't know what we know, and neither can Spike for that matter." And the other three mares nodded in agreement.

Rainbow then declared as she looked around. "Okay. So, what are we supposed to do now? I for one am not sitting around, waiting for the end to come."

But before any of the four mares could propose anything, there suddenly came the sound of buzzing! Not the buzzing you'd associate with bees, the kind of buzzing you'd associate with propellers! And soon afterward, bright and blinding lights surrounded the cabin they were in!

Rushing outside, the four ponies were completely astonished to see huge airships circling above them! And aboard one of them was Discord, who could be heard shouting in triumph! "There they are! We've found them at last!"

"DISCORD?!" The four surviving contestants all collectively gasped, just as they saw the spirit jump out of the airship cockpit he was in and land in front of them, striking a pose as he did so!

"My apologies for the dramatics, contestants," Discord spoke up as he brushed off the dirt he'd stirred up. "But everything will be explained shortly. I'm just glad to see you're all still okay," Then he looked at Pinkie Pie's condition and added. "More or less."

Twilight found herself at a loss for words! "Discord?! How?! What?! But... I mean..."

The witty spirit only grinned. "My thoughts exactly, Twilight. But there will still be a ceremony tonight."





So it was that, the four rescued contestants were brought back to Paradox Island while the cabins were restored to their original glory and now bolted firmly to the ground courtesy of Discord. "There, now they won't be able to float away again!" He snorted and explained to the contestants. "I had planned to use the rain as a cover to bring in some long lost treasure. I was gonna have you all search for it after I re-buried it on the island. But you decided to play castaways instead."

"It wasn't our fault, Discord!" Rainbow Dash firmly protested as she pointed a hoof at the draconequus. "Maybe next time you should leave the weather alone!"

The witty spirit just snorted and waved his paw back and forth in reply. "Don't talk to me in that tone of voice, or I might just decide to take it personally."

"And the ceremony?" Twilight questioned with concern.

"Oh trust me, I've got something special planned for tonight! No votes required, just show up and everything will be explained," Discord laughed. "And someone, I'm not mentioning who, will be leaving this island forever!"

That announcement hung like a dark cloud over the rescued ponies, leaving them all to wonder who among them would be catching that dreaded ride on the Boat of Losers.

Eventually, it became time to find out as the mares made their way down to the fire pit near the Dock of Shame and took the first seats among the stumps that they could find. Discord and Nightmare Moon were already there, waiting for them. And all noticed that Pinkie had insisted on bringing along Boulder II, placing the rock on a stump next to her.

Discord then appeared before the ponies wearing a most unusual black shirt with a white collar. "Figured I should look the part. I just 'borrowed' this from someone, I'll make sure to return it before he even notices it's missing," He said with a grin, before he snapped his talons and produced a small plate. "Tonight's ceremony is going to be a little different. No votes, just marshmallows," As he spoke, he made a few marshmallows appear on the plate. "Contestants staying in the game will get a marshmallow. And the one that doesn't must immediately return to the Dock of Shame to catch the Boat of Losers."

Twilight quickly noticed a detail about the marshmallows, more specifically the number of them. "Wait a minute, there's four marshmallows on that plate. That means..."

The witty spirit didn't bother to let Twilight finish her sentence, he just quickly rattled off names while tossing marshmallows and saying: "The following players are safe for another round: Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie Pie gasped in horror! "Wait! But Boulder II didn't get a marshmallow!"

"And that means he's out of the game!" Nightmare Moon declared as she used her magic to pull the rock away from Pinkie before the party pony could protest.

Discord only shook his head. "Seriously, Pinkie. It's just a rock. You need to get a grip. As much fun as it might be to eliminate you instead, I'm not willing to stoop to that level of humor."

A series of slow blinks followed as a realization slowly settled in for the mare. "Oh... right," And she nervously giggled. "Wow, I feel so silly."

The spirit nodded. "Now you know how I feel," And then he added. "But believe it or not, there'll still be enough footage to make an episode. You know what they say: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

Nightmare Moon was quick to add. "Now all of you scram! You got lucky this time, but there's not gonna be anymore freebies!" And the four mares obeyed, ready to call it a night after the long day they'd had.

Discord only barely waited for the four ponies to leave before he was looking into the cameras and saying. "Well, things didn't go quite like I'd hoped. But as you can see, I'm prepared for any possible contingency. So just stick around, you won't want to miss the next exciting episode of Total Magic Pony Island!"