Things could be better for Starlight’s team right now.
Currently at the moment, she was sitting with Sierra, trying to comfort the fangirl after seeing how Cody voted her off the other day. Cody himself wasn’t sitting with the rest of the contestants right now, he was hiding in a luggage carrier. Starlight supposed she couldn’t blame the geek for not wanting to be near Sierra right now. While Starlight enjoyed Sierra’s company, she wasn’t too shocked that Cody was a little put off by her and given her emotional state, Starlight didn’t think Cody was ready to handle her yet.
“I’m glad Lindsay’s team won the last challenge and everything, but her being in first class and me being back here,” Tyler began speaking, “Oh, it sucks.”
“Uh… yeah, I know exactly what you mean.” Owen admitted shakily, “When I’m away from Izzy for too long, I get really-“
“Happy?” Noah asked pessimistically, “Because your girlfriend is a complete and total nutcase.”
“No need to be rude Noah.” Starlight rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“Oh come on Starlight. You’ve met Izzy, how could you say she isn’t somewhat insane.” Noah scoffed at the unicorn.
“I’m just saying, maybe keep your nose out of other people’s relationships.” Starlight spoke up.
“Oh right, because you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Noah remarked causing Starlight to look away guiltily which Noah noticed and bit his lip awkwardly.
“Hey. Where is Izzy anyway?” Owen asked, desperate to change the subject.
“I saw her go to the cockpit, to talk with Chef.” Alejandro explained neutrally causing everyone except Starlight to gasp.
Suddenly the plane began shaking and flying around sporadically much to Starlight’s fear before suddenly the plane finally jerked back to normal.
“Having some trouble controlling your team, Alejandro?” Heather then asked mockingly.
Starlight looked from the floor to see Owen sucking his thumb on a luggage carrier while Noah and Tyler’s heads were stuck in a birdcage and luggage carrier respectively.
“Your attempts to insult my team are… cute.” Alejandro smirked back teasingly.
“Whatever. My girl power team is going to win, we don’t get distracted by anything. Especially boys.” Heather glared at the Spaniard who smirked at the Queen Bee and opted to point to Sierra who was now sitting on the floor, crying and shoving globs of ice cream in her mouth.
“Get it together!” Heather growled furiously before taking Sierra by her ponytail and dragging her out of the room, not that she noticed as she was too busy crying, Gwen and Courtney soon followed the girls out.
“All clear.” Alejandro whispered to the luggage carrier, Starlight looked to see a bag being shoved aside to see Cody crawling out of the carrier and onto the ground.
“Phew. Thanks guys.” Cody wiped his brow in relief.
“You’re welcome. I like Sierra and all, but I do understand it can’t be easy to deal with her all the time.” Starlight said as she got up and dusted herself off, “Though I do gotta ask, why vote off Sierra and not Heather?”
“She’s been stealing all of my toothbrushes, underwear, and giving me unwanted foot massages. I needed it to end.” Cody said desperately.
“Yeah… that would get annoying…” Starlight replied awkwardly, making a mental note to talk to Sierra about that later, and talk to Cody about his antics with Gwen.
Wow, Starlight has really odd taste in friends.
“Hey Al, I gotta make a confessional. Can you hide me in case Sierra looks for me?” Cody asked with a nervous smile.
“Okay, let’s go.” Alejandro rolled his eyes before he and Cody walked off.
Starlight decided to use her magic to levitate Owen and Tyler from the luggage carriers and onto the ground.
“Hehehe, it tickles.” Owen giggles.
“Thanks for the help.” Tyler said in relief, “I needed that.”
“You’re welcome.” Starlight smiled back before heading to where Noah was and slowly levitating his head off of the bird cage and released him so he could get on the ground.
“I’ll have to get used to this.” Noah wiped the dust off his face.
“Let’s hope for our sake, you won’t have to.” Starlight chuckled awkwardly before walking off, “I’m gonna go see how Sierra’s doing. Catch you later.”
Confessional: Starlight
“Things are a bit tense on my team now that Cody and Sierra are at odds with each other, that and Sierra is really upset that Cody voted for her but hopefully things will smooth over soon.” Starlight admitted sheepishly, “Plus I really don’t wanna have to choose sides between them, I like them both.”
Confessional Ends
Starlight was beginning to make her way to the dining hall before the intercom went back up again, “Attention passengers, if you look out your window, you’ll get to see what happens when a plane does a somersault.”
“Gimme that.” Chef’s voice could be heard before he spoke up, “Uh, y’all might wanna hang on to something heavy.”
Starlight didn’t think twice before teleporting to where she last saw Owen.
After the plane quite literally did a somersault in the water, the remaining contestants were all seen just outside the Louvre.
“I didn’t get a chance to prep my intro what with the unexpected water landing, so I’m just gonna give the highlights. France, City Of Love, art gallery, filler, lots of artwork, priceless priceless artwork.” Chris muttered.
“Eeeee, Paris.” Lindsay squealed, “There’s only one guy I wanna share this with. The one guy I’ve been dreaming of spending time with since we were apart. Where’s my Tyler?”
“Right here Linds.” Tyler said happily as he walked next to Lindsay.
“Are you sure that’s you? Because you look slightly different in my head.” Lindsay admitted skeptically.
Starlight raised an eyebrow at this, she understood having memory problems but Lindsay just realized who Tyler was two episodes ago.
“Do you always wear a tracksuit?” Lindsay’s voice broke her thoughts, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. Because us being in Paris means only one thing.”
“I know. I love-“ Tyler began before Lindsay interrupted, “Shopping! I can pick out new clothes for you. Eeeeee!” She squealed before Chris pinched her lips shut.
“There’s no time for shopping.” Chris explained, “The challenge is about to begin. Everyone inside the Loaf.”
“I think you mean Louvre.” Courtney corrected.
“Whatever. Go already.” Chris scoffed.
We then see the inside of the Louvre with Chef wheeling in a large crate with breathing holes.
"Challenge time kids. Each team gets their own famous sculpture: Team Victory gets Rodenz the Thinker, Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot gets Venus de Milo." Chris said as he handed out pictures of the statues to Lindsay and Alejandro.
"Ah Venus such beauty." Alejandro smirked.
"Calm down lover boy." Chris warned the Spaniard, "Team Amazon you get the Statue Of David." He then handed that picture to Heather.
"Here's how it works, it's up to you guys to find the statues in the Louvre area." Chris said.
"Well that shouldn't be too hard, the statues are big plus I'm a pro at reading brochure maps." Courtney smirked.
“About that,” Chris said, “Chef has broken the statues into pieces and hid them, first teams to find them, race them to the pyramid court and reassemble them wins, the losing team may be sending someone home."
"But the Thinker isn't located in the Louvre and the Statue Of David isn't even in France." Alejandro reminded the host.
"Well we aren't using the original statues, those are priceless, Chef made some fake ones, right Chef?" Chris explained before Chef’s eyes widened and ran off, telling Starlight that these statues were indeed not fakes.
’I question how Chef will avoid getting into trouble for that, though in his defense, I got away with a lot worse.’ Starlight silently admitted to herself in her head.
"I almost forgot the twist twist, here's your motivation." Chris smirked before pressing a button on the remote and soon the box opened which revealed a yeti, a bear with a chainsaw, and a baby seal.
“Awwwww DJ, look. It’s that baby seal you ran over in the Yukon.” Lindsay cooed, clearly not realizing the severity of their situation as the seal growled at DJ.
“I’d start running.” Chris unhelpfully commented causing Starlight to immediately gallop away from the scene with her team following close behind.
After a while, Starlight and the rest of Team Amazon lost the bear and were searching for the missing pieces when Heather commented, “Come on guys, I’m not gonna let the boys beat us to the pyramid court. We have to find the rest of these things fast.”
Starlight looked to see Sierra looking at some statue of two people hugging, and put a hoof on her shoulder but she immediately began crying on the floor which caused Cody to walk over warily but suddenly they heard a roar which alerted them of the bear’s presence.
Starlight didn’t think twice before zapping the bear’s chainsaw to pieces. She gave it a look, daring it to try anything before it shrugged and walked off but unfortunately, Sierra’s crying was still a problem.
“Cody, you got her into this mess, so you have to get her out.” Heather glared at the geek who awkwardly tried to rub her back.
“Uh, there there.” Cody gulped but it did not stop the crying.
“I can’t stand anymore crying, we can do this challenge without you, deal with Sierra.” Gwen grunted before walking off with Courtney and Heather.
“Hey Cody, do you need some help with-“ Starlight began asking before Heather grabbed her by the tail.
“Oh no, this is Cody and Sierra’s mess, not yours’.” Heather said sternly, “You’re coming with us.”
Cody looked hopelessly at Starlight before Starlight mouthed ‘Sorry’ to the geek before walking off with Gwen, Courtney, and Heather. Starlight figured that helping the team with the challenge would decrease the chances of Cody or Sierra being eliminated.
Once the girls were far enough away from Sierra and Cody, Gwen eventually spoke up.
“Okay, so I think it’s best that we split up so we can cover more ground.” Gwen told the girls.
“I agree. You two gal pals can go together and I’ll go with Starlight here.” Heather said cynically.
“Why should you go with Starlight?” Gwen raised an eyebrow.
“No kidding. What’s up with that?” Courtney glared in Heather’s direction.
“Oh I’m sorry, do YOU want to go with her?” Heather asked pointedly, effectively shutting Courtney up.
“Yeah, I thought so.” Heather rolled her eyes, “Let’s go Starlight.”
“Okay,” Starlight replied uneasily before smiling at Courtney and Gwen, “Meet you two at the carpet.”
Starlight then walked off with Heather while Gwen and Courtney stared on in their direction.
“I don’t trust her, both of them really.” Courtney said in annoyance to Gwen.
“C’mon Courtney, Starlight doesn’t seem that bad.” Gwen said in an attempt to be reassuring.
“Gwen, you heard her backstory. She’s clearly demented.” Courtney glared furiously at the goth.
“I’m not gonna act like what Starlight did was okay because it’s not but considering the circumstances, she was given a second chance and atoned for what happened in her world.” Gwen explained, “May I remind you, you’re literally dating an ex-convict?”
“Duncan is different. He didn’t nearly cause the apocalypse.” Courtney reminded Gwen.
“Well I think it says a lot about her that she didn’t.” Gwen rebutted, “I’m not saying you have to like her or anything, but maybe try going easy on her because from what I understand, she clearly needs the help she can get.”
Gwen then walked off, and after a moment of hesitance, Courtney followed.
Meanwhile Heather and Starlight had already collected some pieces and Starlight was doing her best to stand on her hind legs while carrying her statue pieces with her front hooves when Heather took some pieces away from her.
“You don’t need to carry these, I’ll take care of it.” Heather told the unicorn.
“Uh… thank you.” Starlight replied awkwardly.
“Don’t mention it.” Heather smirked back before speaking up, “By the way, I kinda wanna know, why did you vote me off last episode?”
Starlight was hesitant to answer, from what Leshawna told her, Heather was very untrustworthy but Heather already knew she voted her off so it’s not like it mattered. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to give an explanation.
“I heard about your actions in season one.” Starlight explained as politely as she could, “No offense Heather, but it’s not the most flattering light for you.”
Heather had expected this to be the answer to be honest, one of the cast mates were bound to tell Starlight about her past eventually, but she still needed to salvage a kinship with this pony.
“Look, I’ll admit I’m not the nicest person around but none of these people are saints themselves. You’ve seen how Sierra and Cody act around their crushes and Courtney is probably more devious than I am.” Heather told the pony who raised an eyebrow.
“What did Courtney do?” Starlight asked curiously.
‘Got her.’ Heather secretly smirked to herself.
“Back in the last season, I watched her compete in Total Drama Action when I was eliminated, and she was ruthless. She’d use her lawyers to get her out of trouble, constantly treated her boyfriend Duncan like trash, rude to everyone competing, manipulated a few people, and even tried to bargain their lives to make them split the money with her if they won, though that deal fell flat.” Heather explained neutrally.
“She did all that?” Starlight widened her eyes.
“Yep.” Heather nodded, “She never exactly atoned for it, more or less made an excuse that she was bluffing about the last part and was just playing the game and for some reason, no one thinks to target her.”
“Wow, I didn’t know all that.” Starlight said in shock.
“Well now you do.” Heather said firmly, “So think about that if we lose a challenge.”
“Wait, how do I know you’re telling the truth. You could just be lying to my face.” Starlight scrutinized.
“Ask Sierra, she’s seen this show more times than I can count.” Heather shrugged dismissively.
Starlight just looked to the side sheepishly before continuing to follow Heather.
After a while, Heather and Starlight reunited with Courtney and Gwen and had found all the pieces for their statue and were heading to the meeting point.
“Let’s move it girls, those boys won’t know what hit them.” Heather said proudly before she, Courtney, and Gwen dumped their pieces at the center but unfortunately Alejandro, Noah, and Tyler had also dumped their pieces on the ground.
“Hey, you got some of your Venus in our David.” Courtney said angrily.
“GAH! You did that on purpose.” Heather accused furiously, which then broke out into an argument between Team Chris and Amazon which Starlight wanted no part of so she settled for getting some pieces and analyzing them to make sure they were the right ones. The rest of the contestants took the hint and began trying to assemble the pieces as well.
After a few missteps in assembling the statues and DJ accidentally destroying Team Victory’s statue by crashing into it with a golf cart trying to fend off the yeti, bear, and baby seal(seriously, how did that happen?), Starlight put the final piece of The Statue Of David on the top of the statue.
“There. Finished.” Starlight sighed in relief.
“And Team Amazon wins the challenge.” Chris said happily as Starlight fondly watched Gwen, Courtney, and Heather high-five each other.
On the downside, this meant Team Victory lost again, DJ seemed happy at the prospect since he’d get to go home but then Chris turned the vote into a walk-off since it was a two-person team. Lindsay decided to pick Tyler for her model and DJ picked Gwen, much to the goth’s displeasure.
Suddenly, crying could be heard from behind Starlight and Starlight looked downcast to see Cody bring in a weeping Sierra.
“I thought you were fixing her.” Courtney said angrily.
“Look, I don’t know what she wants.” Cody sighed in annoyance but Sierra’s wails only got louder which made Cody furious.
“Enough! Sierra, put a sock in it!” Cody cried out angrily.
Starlight’s eyes widened as she gulped, this was clearly not going to end well unless she interfered so she teleported between them.
“Okay.” Starlight smiled nervously before turning to Sierra, “Look, Sierra. Cody’s already apologized a million times for voting you off and he feels really bad about it. I think he’s proved that enough, so maybe you could find it in your heart to forgive him.”
Sierra seemed to be contemplating this for a moment before shrugging and smiling, “Well… I guess he was pretty sorry.”
“Okay,” Sierra squealed before bringing both Cody and Starlight into a hug which both were suffocating in, “I forgive you Codykins.”
“Thank god…” Cody choked out as Starlight looked to see the yeti, bear, and seal clapping for them.
Confessional: Starlight
“Sierra’s hugs are pretty tight.” Starlight coughed before speaking, “I know Cody has every right to want to lash out at Sierra, but given the circumstances, now was not the best time.”
What she wouldn’t tell the confessional is how she’s seen how arguments and lashing out can do more harm than good. She saw it with Celestia and Luna, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, even her and Trixie.
Trixie
Starlight wiped a stray tear from her eye, would she ever see Trixie again? Would she ever see ANY of her friends again? She wasn’t sure if there was life for her outside this game, and how long would this game even be anyway? What would happen to her then?
Confessional Ends
Starlight sighed as she walked out the confessional before seeing Sierra walking by.
“Hey Starlight, I’m glad you’re here. I gotta tell you what happened at that fashion show. It was hilari-“ Sierra began before she saw Starlight’s tears.
“Are you crying?” Sierra asked in concern.
“What life do I have here?” Starlight asked forlorn.
“What?” Sierra raised an eyebrow.
“What life am I gonna have once the game is over. What if I’m stuck here for eternity?” Starlight sighed miserably, “I’m grateful for all of you and the rest of the cast, but as far as I know, I’m stuck in this dimension and drained of half my power. What’s gonna happen to me? I’m scared.”
“You’ll always have us.” Sierra said optimistically.
“What do you mean?” Starlight raised an eyebrow.
“You’re part of the TD cast now silly.” Sierra explained, “You may not be human, but I doubt the cast are gonna let you die in this universe. The Total Drama cast may be a dysfunctional mess but they do have some level of care for each other. Even Heather has a heart.”
“You really think so?” Starlight smiled a bit.
“I’m a TD superfan, I know so.” Sierra smiled back.
Starlight chuckled a bit at Sierra’s words. It was surprising how good of a friend she could be at times.