//------------------------------// // A Chance To Compete and To Mourn // Story: Starlight’s Dimensional Drama: A World Tour To Remember // by Starlight Fan //------------------------------// Starlight really couldn’t believe her current situation. One minute she was at the School Of Friendship hoping that Cozy Glow would be stopped and the next minute, she and a human known as Alejandro were serving pancakes to a bunch of teenagers after they got caught up in some high speed car chase for fame. Surprisingly not the strangest thing she’s been through in her life. She noticed all the looks she was getting from the cast but none of them seemed too surprised to see her. She was guessing that news spread about her inter-dimensional journey pretty quickly. The only one who didn’t look at her weirdly was Noah, and to be honest, she was very appreciative of that. Starlight was made aware of Chris’ new plans to integrate her for a new season of his hit reality show Total Drama, so she had watched a bit of the first two seasons to at least recognize some of the contestants that were in the room with her right now. The only one she didn’t recognize was the purple haired girl, but she would cross that bridge when it came down to it. Suddenly her thought process was interrupted by Chris’ voice. “I have an announcement to make. We all know nobody does drama like you guys.” Chris said happily. “Duh,” the raven haired girl known as Heather rolled her eyes, “but what happened to Total Drama Dirtbags?” “It was a trick.” Alejandro explained from Chef’s counter, “There never was any Total Drama Dirtbags.” “Is that true?” Heather asked curiously. “Well… mostly.” Chris shrugged, “I did come up with the name, but anywho, I needed to make sure you kids still had it.” “What about Alejandro and also, why is that unicorn with you?” Heather raised an eyebrow at both Alejandro and Starlight. “Alejandro’s a dupe, just like the rest of you.” Chris gave Heather a playful noogie much to her annoyance, “I needed someone on the inside, but to make it up to him, I told him he could join you guys next time in a no-hold bars race around the world in a jet and as for Starlight, she’ll be joining you guys as well.” “Wait, seriously? We get to compete against an inter-dimensional creature? That’s so cool.” A red headed female known as Izzy smiled crazily akin to a way that reminded Starlight of Pinkie Pie. “After all the crap you put us through? As if.” A pale skinned goth girl known as Gwen scoffed. “Don’t you wanna be famous again?” Chris asked temptingly. “Pass.” The delinquent with a green mohawk known as Duncan leaned back dismissively. Considering these guys literally tried to hijack an interview for fame, Starlight wasn’t so sure if she could believe these teens were being serious. “What about cash? The chance to win One! Million! Dollars!” Chris asked happily. The cast began cheering much to Starlight’s confusion, they changed their tone quite quickly. “Hey wait, why is Starlight competing with us anyway? Shouldn’t she be getting back to her own world?” Heather asked with another raised eyebrow. “She doesn’t have the means to and has nowhere else to go, soooooooo you’re pretty much stuck with her.” Chris smirked. “Whatever.” Heather then rolled her eyes. Starlight sighed a bit and put a hoof to her chin as she sat at the table with a forlorn expression. The other contestants began celebrating their spots on the new season but Starlight didn’t know if she could share that same sentiment. She’d much rather be home at Equestria, but even if she got eliminated, there’d be no Equestria to return to. “Not happy to compete?” A familiar dry voice spoke from next to her to which Starlight turned her head to see Noah. “I guess the idea of winning money is enticing but we both know where I’d rather be right now.” Starlight chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not exactly thrilled with competing either but a million bucks is a million bucks.” Noah smirked back, “Any plans to win?” “Not in particular.” Starlight shrugged, “I’m just wondering how my friends are feeling without me.” Meanwhile, back in Twilight’s castle, the alicorn herself woke up from her bedroom and sighed, by now, her emotions had calmed down considerably since she heard the news about Starlight but she was still depressed. Twilight soon walked around the castle when she saw that Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were all sitting in the throne room. “Girls?” Twilight asked curiously, “What are you doing here?” “I let them in.” Spike explained solemnly, “I figured you could use some company after… y’know…” “Twilight, we know you well sugarcube and there’s no way that what happened to Starlight did not hurt you.” Applejack said stern, yet calm. “Of course it hurts, why would I deny that? Starlight’s one of my best friends and now because of me, she’s gone forever!” Twilight said, tears starting to brim from her eyes. “Darling, you have no reason to blame yourself.” Rarity said reassuringly, “Cozy Glow did this to her, not you.” “But if I had been more careful with Cozy Glow, I could have stopped her from getting as far as she did and Starlight would still be here and safe. What kind of Princess am I? What kind of friend am I?” Twilight said sadly. “One of the bestest friends in Equestria.” Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight’s face as she spoke sternly. “Yeah! You can’t let this bring you down… completely.” Pinkie Pie added as bubbly as she could given the circumstances, “You still improved Starlight’s life while she was still here and affected a lot of creature’s lives positively too. Even Neighsay admits he was wrong about the school.” “Besides like you said in the Changeling invasion, she didn’t just fool you, she fooled everyone.” Fluttershy reminds the alicorn, “If you’re at fault, all of us are.” “I guess you’re right.” Twilight sighed, “But I still feel terrible. Starlight’s gone and I doubt she’s ever coming back.” “Well, we should probably tell you this. We’re planning on having a memorial for Starlight.” Applejack spoke up, “Given everything that happened, we feel it’s fitting.” “We feel it’s warranted, for all we know, we’ll never see her again.” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly. “You’re right.” Twilight sighed sadly, “It’s what she deserves.”