//------------------------------//
// Episode 15: Feeling Dashie Mean 
// Story: Total Magic Pony Island 
// by Tailslover13 
//------------------------------//

Discord: Last time, on Total Magic Pony Island: it was an episode for the ages, and not just because I’m the host and I’m so handsome. First, there was the airship, with the cello-playing and the fighting and the tackling and the chasing and a whole bunch of other stuff that I should probably mention, but I won’t, since I forgot half of it! Oh, and on the island, Rainbow Dash was wheeling and dealing with Scootaloo, Fluttershy and Celestia. Our resident teacher, however, told Dash to get lost and not to touch the little filly or else there would be trouble. Big deal? I’d say huge deal! Then Gilda and Derpy Hooves both returned, along with the annoying and sneaky little Vinyl Scratch, and we were back up to thirteen campers. Since both Nightmare Moon and myself did not feel like doing much work that day, we simply forced the campers to run twenty laps around the island and then feast on a bunch of tasty food before being forced to stay awake for as long as possible. Rainbow Dash tried her best to cheat her way to a win, but she ultimately lost to her new rival, Cheerilee. This gave the earth pony the first individual immunity of the season! In a very close vote at the bonfire ceremony, the battle between Spike and Rainbow Dash finally came to a close when the little dragon was ultimately sent packing thanks to the votes of Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, Celestia, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo. Before leaving, however, Spike got the last laugh by revealing how he rigged the votes to eliminate Applejack a few episodes back, which resulted in an enraged Rainbow Dash flying headfirst into a plank from the Dock of Shame. Now, only twelve are left. Can Rainbow Dash’s dominance of the game continue? Can Cheerilee do anything at all to make her pay? Find out next, right here, on Total…Magic…Pony…Island!

*the opening theme song showing all 20 contestants plays a moment later before the episode*

“Ugh…what happened?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open, the throbbing pain in her head intensified by the moonbeams shining down upon her from the full moon overhead. It was almost as if Luna herself was mocking the Pegasus, which only fueled her inner rage as the memories of what Spike did to her began to flash back into her mind. She didn’t even notice the worried filly resting at her side until she arose into a sitting position a minute later. An icepack slid off her forehead and onto the ground, but she didn’t care; her anger was beginning to overlap the pain.

“Rainbow Dash! You’re okay!” Scootaloo bounced in joy upon seeing the cyan mare finally wake up. “I was so worried. Well, I mean, I wasn’t that worried, since you are Rainbow Dash and you are totally the toughest Pegasus in the world and running headfirst into a little board is nothing compared to what you go through on a daily basis. But, all the same, I’m really happy that you…”

“Scootaloo! Spike is gone, right?” Rainbow Dash interrupted, glaring down at the filly while raising a hoof to her forehead and massaging her scalp. “That little brat went home on the Boat of Losers and now we’re down to just twelve, am I right?”

“Well, yes. You didn’t suffer amnesia, did you?” Scootaloo gasped and quickly leaped up onto Dash’s lap, staring into her eyes and once more reverting back to her worried stance. “Rainbow Dash, what’s the name of your five other best friends? What’s the name of the group of awesome fliers that you want to join one day? How long did I stand outside your home on your last birthday before you came out and I gave you your present?”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash pushed the filly off her lap and rose up onto all four hooves. “Shush, Scoots. I’m fine, alright? I just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t all in my head. That cursed little dragon will pay for making me run into that plank!”

“Um, Rainbow Dash? You…kinda ran into it on your own…”

“Are you taking his side over mine?” Rainbow Dash flared up, shoving her face into Scootaloo’s and glaring at her. “He totally provoked me, so it’s all his fault! You understand? I’m never at fault; I’m the awesome Rainbow Dash, you know.”

Giving a little squeak of fear at seeing the Pegasus so riled up, Scootaloo fell back onto her rump, unable to break her idol’s lingering gaze. The filly reached over and grasped the melted icepack, clutching it in her tiny hooves and trembling a little as she held it out in front of her, almost as if using it as a shield to defend herself against Rainbow Dash. She had no idea why, but the hateful, scary, and manipulative look in Dash’s eyes made a cold shiver run down Scootaloo’s spine. That warm, loving, gentle expression that Scootaloo had grown to adore and love wasn’t there. 

“N-no, Rainbow…I-I would never g-go against you!” Scootaloo’s voice came out in a choked, squeaky whimper. Rainbow Dash was leaning over her, pressuring her for the correct words with her deadly gaze alone. The scowl on her face was intimidating enough, but those cold, rosy eyes were what cut deep to the filly’s heart. “Spike was t-totally wrong and he was t-totally mean! It was t-totally all his fault that you g-got hurt!”

“That’s what I thought.” Expelling a huff through her nose, the breath strong enough to knock Scootaloo over onto her back, Rainbow Dash yanked her head away from the filly and began to stomp off. “My head is killing me. I’m heading to bed. If you hear the others say anything involving me, make sure to keep it on the low. You got that, squirt?”

“Y-yes, Rainbow D-Dash…”

“Good. Have a pleasant night, Scootaloo.” With a little flick of her rainbow tail, the Pegasus vanished into one of the two cabins, leaving the trembling filly curled up into a whimpering ball of fluff on the ground in the middle of the silent campgrounds. 

Rainbow Dash: Okay, good, now that the hardest piece of the puzzle has been take care of, the rest of the pieces will soon fall into place before long. As much as I hate to admit it, Spike was my biggest threat in this game. All the others are my pawns, and I am their queen! I will lead them across my chessboard to the million bits, each of them sacrificing themselves for the greater good. I will rule!

Scootaloo sat on her rump, her ears flattened against the sides of her head as she stared at the cabin that Rainbow Dash vanished within. She didn’t know what to do. Did she go and sleep near her, being the loyal and caring filly she was? Did she head into the other cabin, letting Rainbow Dash have her space? The filly had never been in such a situation before, and she didn’t like it. She hated uncertainty and being confused. She had tried her hardest to mirror her entire life so far to be like that of Rainbow Dash’s, attempting to be just as cool and just as awesome as her. Rainbow Dash was never uncertain; she just did whatever she wanted and was happy with it. Scootaloo felt so uncertain and so confused.

“Why? Why does stuff have to be so…hard?” Scootaloo whined, leaning her head back and staring up at Luna’s artwork in the sky. “It should be easy…but it’s not. Rainbow Dash and myself both working together to make it to the final two is our goal. It’s just a friendly alliance, right? There’s no harm in it. I love Rainbow Dash…she’s so awesome. But, the whole deal with Spike…and little things I’ve been trying to ignore a few other campers saying…and how Miss Cheerilee has been talking in odd ways…”

The orange filly trailed off, her voice dipping lower and lower on the volume scale as more and more negative examples of Rainbow Dash filled her mind. She didn’t want to believe the rumors. She didn’t want to believe the negative vibes she had been picking up from Rainbow Dash since day one. She didn’t want to listen to what any other camper, not even her own teacher, had to say regarding the cyan mare. But, the harder she triednot to think about those thoughts, the more she thought about them. The more she thought about them, the more her brain hurt. The more her brain hurt, the easier that tears began to appear in her eyes. 

“Miss Cheerilee…where are you? I…I need you!” Scootaloo sobbed, allowing a few wet pistols to rain down from her eyes and splatter on the ground in front of her hooves. All the other campers had either gone to bed or were off resting in the infirmary, getting a snack in the mess hall, or taking a shower. Scootaloo felt all alone without Rainbow Dash or Cheerilee at her side, and she hated it. She at least wanted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to be with her, but they were already long gone. She didn’t have the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she didn’t have her teacher, and she didn’t have her idol and crush. It was almost too much for the filly to take.

Scootaloo: *looking as though she had been crying for a very long time* I don’t want to sound lame or weak or anything, but…do any of you out there get that feeling now and then when you feel like you just aren’t worth anything? Like the world is against you and you were meant to be alone? That feeling of miserableness and sorrow that makes your heart hurt? Well…I’ve been experiencing it a lot.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of Scootaloo’s blurry, tear-filled right eye caught her attention. A streak of black and purple inhibited her vision, along with the shining of something light blue. Raising a hoof to trying to brush the tears away so she could get a better look, Scootaloo craned her neck to the side and tried to focus in on what she was seeing. It took her a moment to realize that she was not alone after all. Another pony was sitting on her haunches a good 10 yards away. The sparkling moonbeams raining down from the astral sphere in the sky allowed the visitor to be illuminated and made it easier for Scootaloo to recognize just who it was. 

Letting out a soft gasp, Scootaloo’s eyes bulged out of her head, her tears drying up almost instantly. “W-w-what?!?! B-b-but…b-b-but…oh my gosh, it’s you! It’s…it’s…Mare Do Well!” 

The masked vigilante was staring right at Scootaloo, the bright blue eye sockets etched into the black mask hiding any facial expressions from the filly. The pony’s body sat upright, her cape fluttering in the gentle breeze behind her back. Atop the masked mare’s head, the trademark purple Stetson hat tilted down in a leveled horizontal line over the upper half of her lifeless eyelids. Who was hiding behind the mask? Who was wearing the costume? As Scootaloo’s heart fluttered into her throat, all she could do was just sit there and stare at the costumed pony with the same widened, shocked eyes.

For long, strenuous minutes, both the filly and the masked mare sat staring at one another. The 10-yard gap between the two seemed more like 10 inches instead. Scootaloo could almost feel the vigilante sitting right in front of her, boring down into her soul with those mysterious eye sockets. Scootaloo had become so enamored with the hero when she appeared back in Ponyville a while ago. She had vanished suddenly, with no explanation being given for her disappearance, but the general rumor was that Rainbow Dash had scared her off. Now, here she was, sitting right in front of her.

Carefully, her head bent low to the ground, Scootaloo edged her way closer to Mare Do Well. All the filly wanted was some closure with someone she considered amazing and caring. There was no one else currently out on the desolate campgrounds, leaving Scootaloo alone with the mysterious masked mare. But, the closer she came towards the pony, the safer she felt. She couldn’t explain why, but there was something different about this mare that none of the other ponies had. Scootaloo couldn’t explain it. Something in her heart told her to talk to Mare Do Well and she would feel better.

Mare Do Well did not move from her stationary location. Her glowing, masked eyes stayed focused on every move the timid filly made as she drew closer to her presence. The mare’s cape flowed idly behind her back, her hooves outstretched before her with her expressionless face silently beckoning Scootaloo towards her. Who was behind the mask this time? Why was she there? What purpose did she serve for continuing to stalk the campers? Was she friend or foe? Was she one of Discord’s toys? Was she just another camper going around teasing everyone just for the fun of it? Millions of questions roamed Scootaloo’s fragile mind as she finally got within two feet of Mare Do Well. She halted, then meekly stared up at the hero that she admired and idolized while her little body trembled.

“Miss Mare Do Well…I am such a huge fan!” Scootaloo squeaked out, just speaking whatever came into her head for her mouth to say first. “Oh, but please don’t tell Rainbow Dash I said that…she’d get mad. But, you’re so cool, and I always wondered what happened to you when you left Ponyville. Um, could you please…help me? I really need your help! See, Rainbow Dash…um, you know her, right? She’s the faster flier in all of Equestria…I love her a lot. But, um…I think this game is…is…changing her. I’m kinda scared, since she just doesn’t act like Rainbow Dash at all. She’s…she’s acting…well, mean. Sure, she has an edge to her, and she’s rather feisty and competitive…but not like this! It’s like somepony is messing with her mind! Miss Mare Do Well…what do I do? Please…please, tell me what to do!” 

The filly’s scared, trembling eyes stared up longingly at the towering mare hovering over her, begging for answers. Minutes passed, and only the soft breeze and the settling noises of the island filled the air. Mare Do Well said nothing, the masked mare making barely any movement whatsoever. The longer the silence lingered on, the more Scootaloo’s heart sank into the lowest pit of her stomach. She was slowly starting to accept the fact that she most likely was not going to be getting any answers. Mare Do Well had never been known for her dramatic speeches or her amazing ornate voice that could freeze any pony dead in their tracks. In fact, there had never been a mention of the masked mare even using her voice. What were the odds that she would talk to Scootaloo now?

The crestfallen filly hung her head, finally averting her longing gaze from the stoic masked pony. “I’m sorry. You’re…you’re probably just here…to keep an eye on Discord or Nightmare Moon or something. Yeah, it’s none of my business. Sorry…for wasting your time, Miss Mare Do Well. I’ll…I’ll go now.” Just as Scootaloo turned to go off on her own, the filly was surprised by Mare Do Well’s right hoof suddenly reaching up and over to her small neck. The next thing she knew, Mare Do Well had gently pulled the filly right over to her chest and pressing her face against her neck.

Scootaloo’s eyes shot wide open, her heart immediately quickening to the speed of a hummingbird’s wings inside her chest. Mare Do Well had her right hoof gently wrapped around the small Pegasus pony’s neck, embracing her and cuddling her up against her guarded chest. Scootaloo’s ear was pressed right against the hidden mare’s heart, allowing her to listen to the gentle heartbeat of one of her idols. The warmth that Mare Do Well was sharing with her while she caressed and held the lonely filly slowly and surely lit a fire that had been dormant within Scootaloo’s depressed heart. While still not uttering a single word, Mare Do Well sat on the ground and soon wrapped both hooves around her little fan’s neck and upper back. She would not let her go.

“Miss…Mare Do Well…” Scootaloo’s voice croaked, her eyes starting to get wispy and clouded again. She hadn’t felt the warm, gentle, caring affection that she was receiving in a very long time. Scootaloo loved to look tough and rugged, trying her best to not act very girly, just like Rainbow Dash. Without a cutie mark and only her two fellow crusaders to socialize and bond with on a daily basis, Scootaloo always felt that empty spot within her heart and soul. She still wasn’t sure how she would eventually fill it, but the longer she stayed on the challenging island under the watchful eye of the demigods of Nightmare Moon and Discord, the more Scootaloo was finding out about herself. Being held by the masked vigilante was already calming her spirits. 

Before she knew it, Scootaloo’s stressed heart began to relax, her body started to melt, and her eyes began to close. Mare Do Well laid her head atop Scootaloo’s, calmly nuzzling the filly’s ears and letting her mask brush against her forehead and cheeks. When the filly finally went silent in Mare Do Well’s hooves, the masked pony lay down on the ground and wrapped her cape around Scootaloo’s back.

~~~

Scootaloo was jarred awake by an annoying tapping on her head. The warmth and protection she had felt from last night was now gone with the morning sun. Uttering a meek and tired moan, the small Pegasus fluttered her eyes open and was immediately met by a blue pair of pupils blinking back at her.

“Why are you sleeping on the ground, Scootaloo?” Pinkie Pie asked, poking the filly on the head once more with her hoof before curiously laying her head flat against the ground. “It certainly doesn’t feel like a great place to sleep at all! It’s rather rough and cold! Were you hot last night? Or were you sleepwalking and decided to hit the hay on the ground instead of your bed? I’ve done that sometimes, you know. I once woke up in the middle of a cornfield with a pair of socks on my back hooves and my mane cut into a mullet! Can you imagine?”

“Ugh. Pinkie Pie. What were you saying?” Raising a hoof to fix her messed mane from having slept on such an uncomfortable surface, Scootaloo raised herself up and instinctively began stretching out her smaller limbs. “Uh, I didn’t exactly sleep here…well, okay, maybe I did. I can’t remember much from last night. I just know that I was…er…well, no worries! I’m just fine now.”

Pinkie lifted her head up from the ground, a small rock lodged in her left ear as she gave Scootaloo a rather suspicious look. “Really really?”

“Y-yes, really really! Sometimes I sleep on the ground, okay? Nothing to worry about!”

The older pink mare curiously rubbed her chin, narrowing her eyes for a brief instance before almost just as quickly breaking into a wide grin. “Okie dokie lokie, artichokey! Well, see you at breakfast, Scootaloo! Bye-bye!” With that, Pinkie giggled and bounced over the top of Scootaloo’s head and proceeded to hop her way towards the mess hall. She failed to notice or even realize she still had a rock stuck in her ear from head-hugging the ground.

Scootaloo: I don’t like sharing my personal feelings and junk with other ponies. Especially older ponies. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I…have my reasons for that. *she lowered her head, averting her eyes from the camera* Miss Cheerilee and Rainbow Dash are really the only two I feel relaxed and happy around to the point of sharing my emotions. Ugh. But, was last night just a dream? Or was it real?

“Mare Do Well…who are you? Where…where did you go?” Scootaloo sat obediently outside the mess hall, waiting for Rainbow Dash to appear before she would start eating herself. The filly stared up at the cloudless sky, her heart still aflutter about the events from the past night. “Thank you…for giving me the strength to carry on. Dream or not, I know I can keep pushing forward!”

“Um, Scootaloo? Are you talking to someone, or talking to yourself?” With Scootaloo having been distracted from her vocal monologue directed to herself, she had failed to see Fluttershy softly trotting her way to the wooden building. “I’m sorry if I was interrupting or anything, but you seem a little tired and rundown. Are you okay?”

Shaking her head to clear any afterthoughts of her emotional breakdown from the night before, the orange filly immediately cracked a grin and waved her hoof in a nonchalant way at the her fellow Pegasus. “Yeah, totally! I’m stoked about being in the top twelve, and I just had a restless sleep from thinking about how awesome I’m gonna do at the challenge today! No worries, Fluttershy.” 

“Oh! Well, in that case, wonderful to hear!” Fluttershy smiled, kindly giving Scootaloo a little nuzzle with her right cheek before holding open the mess hall door. “After you, Scootaloo? Ah!” 

“Thanks, Flutterklutz, don’t mind if I do.” Gilda sauntered past Fluttershy and straight down the created doorway, accidentally smacking Fluttershy on the nose with her tail as she stomped past the mare. 

“Well…it seems that Gilda’s in a good mood…I didn’t think she liked mornings very well.” Fluttershy rubbed her nose and stifled a silent sneeze, watching as Scootaloo remained sitting on the porch of the mess hall. “Aren’t you going to come in, Scootaloo?”

“Not until Rainbow Dash gets here. You go ahead though.”

“Oh, um, alright then.” With a nod of her head, Fluttershy left Scootaloo sitting on the porch while she herself trotted inside the mess hall.

Fluttershy: I’ve been so concerned with helping out my friends and not getting into anyone’s way that I neglected not noticing just how worn out Scootaloo seems to be. I think I saw her actually giving Rainbow Dash a back massage the other day, while holding a drink of lemonade on her own back at the same time! I…I really wonder…if Rainbow’s alright. She’s seemed so…off. I wish she’d talk to me more.

“Good morning, everypony!” Pinkie shouted, popping her head up from underneath one of the tables in the mess hall nearly the exact moment that all the other campers had entered. “How did you all sleep? I slept like a log! And then, oddly enough, I actually dreamed that I was a log! A pink log! I was laying in the middle of a forest until I rolled down a hill, and joined even more logs! Isn’t that exciting?”

Gilda cast Pinkie a dirty look, trying to restrain herself from strangling the pony. “No, dweeb, it’s not. And if you say one more word, I’ll show you what is interesting in my book!”

“Eh-hem, yes, well…Pinkie Pie dear, did you know that you have a stone inserted into your left ear?” Rarity questioned, trying to avert Gilda’s rage elsewhere by making Pinkie focus on her instead. 

Pinkie blinked half a dozen times and stared at Rarity. “A stone in my ear? Aw, silly Rarity, I don’t have any stones in my ears! I’m pretty sure I have drums in my ears, but not stones!”

Rarity gave a patient smile, shaking her head and raising a hoof to point at Pinkie’s ear. “No, darling, you do actually have a stone sticking out of your ear! Do you not feel it?”

“If you ask me, she has stones inside her brain, not her ear!” Gilda commented. 

Pinkie: For some reason, everypony kept saying I had a rock in my ear! I couldn’t imagine why. *she scratches the side of her head, her hoof just missing striking the rounded stone jutting out her ear* Well, anyway, today’s another big day at Camp Paradox! Spike went home last night, and Rainbow Dash totally went bonkers! Do you think she still has a big headache? I wonder if there’s any aspirin around.

“Hello, everyone. You all had a good rest after the big elimination ceremony last night?” Twilight smiled at everyone sitting around the mess hall, trying to keep everyone’s spirits up. 

Trixie glowered at Twilight. “No, Trixie did not. For one, that stupid griffon dared to vote for Trixie last night! Two, it is downright impossible to get a good night’s rest with you foals snoring as loud as a waterfall! Three, Trixie doesn’t like any of you, so she never has a good night’s rest.”

“Uh…okay.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at Trixie, but with a shake of her head, she decided to focus on someone else who wasn’t as egotistical. “What about you, Cheerilee? How are you feeling after such a busy night?”

Sitting next to Twilight Sparkle, Cheerilee flashed the purple unicorn a warm smile. “With friends like all of you at my side, how could I not sleep well?” At this, Cheerilee almost immediately whipped her head around to glare at Rainbow Dash, who was sitting with Scootaloo at the end of the table. “Dear Rainbow Dash, how is your head feeling this morning? Still hurt?”

Rainbow Dash mumbled into her black cereal that Nightmare Moon had served up, but didn’t bother answering Cheerilee’s question. From the look on her face, though, it was clear that the long overnight rest had only made her throbbing forehead hurt worse. While the cold from the icepack had dulled the pain and momentarily made it subside, it was back with a vengeance after getting time to reload. Scootaloo gave Cheerilee a little wave, but mostly kept patting Dash’s wings and trying to make her feel better. Cheerilee looked disappointed. 

Cheerilee: Even after seeing Dash’s newfound temper and rage last night, not to mention her reckless abandon for revenge and conquest, it still baffles me how Scootaloo can so willingly cling to her like glue. I really must get them separated, for their own good. But, what pony would believe me? It was like Dash said; everyone likes her. *the teacher’s ears suddenly perked up* Oh, I forgot one certain girl…

“Excuse me, Gilda?” Cheerilee whispered, gently nudging the griffon and putting on her best smile, “If I may have a moment of your time, do you think I could ask you for a favor?”

“Huh?” Gilda looked down at the perky earth pony and raised an eyebrow. “What do you want? If it has anything to do with that skull carving on the back of the building, it wasn’t me. Flutterklutz was there, too, so it was probably her.”

Cheerilee face deadpanned. “That’s…not what I was going to ask about.”

“Oh. Well, what then?”

Double-checking to make sure that all the other campers were busy talking with one another or eating their gross breakfasts, Cheerilee craned her neck up to whisper closer to Gilda’s ear. “Do you think you could possibly…separate Scootaloo from Rainbow Dash? Please, Gilda?”

Gilda casually placed one of her talons on Cheerilee’s nose and forced her back a little. “Say what now? You want me to do what with the pipsqueak and the flip-flop over there?” She motioned over toward the two Pegasi at the end of the table.

“I want you to do what you can to make Scootaloo get away from Rainbow Dash!” Cheerilee hissed, a little louder this time. “See, Rainbow Dash has just been…well, acting very…mean. And I think she’s using Scootaloo and it’s only going to hurt her in the end! I already tried to talk to her, but Scootaloo won’t listen to me, and Dash…well, let’s not go there. I can’t ask any of the ponies to help, since they wouldn’t listen to my worries involving one of their friends and a filly I care about. But, since you’re a griffon and…er…well…could you please just try?”

Gilda: So, there I was, just sitting back and trying to chill with some of that gross grub they were trying to make us eat, and then that teacher pony actually has the nerve to ask a favor of me! Seriously, she dared to ask me a favor! *she scoffs a little, shaking her head in amusement* Well, if it was to get under Dash’s skin, I was down for a little fun. But, I wasn’t going to be that easy to coax.

Purposely taking her time by flicking at the spoon in her goopy black cereal, Gilda pretended to mull over what Cheerilee had asked. “Hm. That seems like a lot of extra work without any reward. What’s in it for me, huh?” The griffon turned back around, giving Cheerilee a devious smirk.

Cheerilee’s ears drooped, having figured that Gilda would go that route. “What do you want exactly, Gilda? I’ll do anything it takes to make sure Scootaloo doesn’t get hurt.”

“I want your word that you won’t vote for me at the next elimination, you got that?” Gilda pointed her talon right in Cheerilee’s face. “I got humiliated the first time when every backstabber dared to write down my name and get me out earlier than I deserved! So, I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. You promise me that you won’t vote for me if I don’t win the next immunity thingy, and I’ll make sure the kid gets out from Dash’s shadow.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Cheerilee nodded her head. “Deal.” She extended her hoof to shake with Gilda, but immediately regretted it upon feeling the crushing hoof-shake she got in return via Gilda’s powerful griffon claw. 

Cheerilee: Making a deal with Gilda? Yes, you might say that was a…questionable decision. But, see, the longer I’m forced to stay on this island, the more I wish to spend it with ponies who deserve to be here and are fun to play against. My vote will always go to Rainbow Dash until she leaves once and for all! If Dash somehow gets immunity…well, I’ll simply spoil another vote on Derpy if I have to.

“Princess, how are you holding up?” Twilight asked, now giving her undivided attention to the young Celestia sitting nearby. “You seem to be in somewhat higher spirits since your past few stressful weeks here. I’m really happy to see that.”

Celestia gave Twilight a small grin, trying to showcase her usual smirk she gave when feeling in a certain mood. “Why thank you, Twilight. I daresay that I have started to settle into this sudden lifestyle and I am ready to start making the most of it. While I really do miss my royal duties, not to mention my sister, I’m very thankful to be here with amazing ponies such as yourself at my side. It makes it all worthwhile.”

“Yeah, Princess! That’s what I’m talking about!” Vinyl laughed and gave Celestia a playful hug from behind, having overheard her proclamation on her risen mood. “No more slumping and dragging your hooves, eh? Nothing but clear skies and smooth sailing from here on out for our almighty ruler! Feel the rush of the musical interlude that is the curvy line of destiny, Princess! Ya understand what I mean?”

“Uh…sure. Thank you, Vinyl dear, for that…encouragement.” Celestia cast a weary look back at the grinning disc jockey hugging her around her back, before slowly turning back around to give Twilight an ominous look that clearly asked her to please get her crazy friend away. Having studied a few books on facial expressions, Twilight easily read the princess’ silent order and quickly moved to pull Vinyl Scratch away from the bemused alicorn. 

Celestia: My dear subjects, you all must be wondering exactly why I’m in such a good mood? Well, you see, in my efforts to find out what Discord and Nightmare Moon are really up to, I finally had a major breakthrough! Last night, I found a very curious book laying outside Discord’s cabin, with one of the more darker chapters marked. I won’t share what was on that page, but just know that it’s not good.

“If Discord and Nightmare Moon are planning to do what I think they’re planning to do, I must make sure that I stop it,” Celestia whispered under her breath, her eyes worryingly glancing over in Twilight’s direction. “Or, rather…Twilight must stop it. She is Equestria’s savior, and she will always be there when the darker times come upon us. I have faith in her.”

“Hey, Princess Celly? Are you talking to your imaginary friend?” Derpy Hooves was suddenly sitting right next to Celestia, her walleyed stare shocking the princess. “I talk to my imaginary friend sometimes, too. And they talk to Pinkie’s! Isn’t that so cool? We all should have imaginary friends! Hey, would you like a bite of my muffin?” Derpy politely held out the darkened pastry to Celestia, which managed to make Celestia’s facial expression go from shock and confusion to disgust and horror. 

Down at the end of the table, after asking Scootaloo to taste all the food before considering eating any of it herself, Rainbow Dash was leaning back against the wall and looking over all the other campers still in the game. Her hoof resting against her throbbing forehead, Dash silently reconsidered all her options. After sending Spike off the island, Dash felt very confident with what she had in front of her to play with. Every camper she looked at, she saw the perfect plan to either use them for her own personal gain, or get rid of them in a timely manner. The filly next to her going green in the face after tasting a black donut was the x-factor in her plans succeeding at this point.

“So…not good?” Dash asked, watching as Scootaloo staggered back to the table after puking her guts out in the nearest garbage can. 

“No…very bad…tasted like charred dirt baked in a pan of tree bark and rock clippings…” Scootaloo weakly pushed the plate of black donuts away, moaning and wiping her mouth with the side of her left hoof before giving Dash a meek smile. “Heh…don’t eat any of those…okay?”

“Good to know, good to know.” Dash casually patted Scootaloo on the head before going back to eying all the other campers. “So, Scoots, pretty much everyone in this room is more or less on my side now, and since you’re with me, that’s good for the both of us. Easily put, our targets are Cheerilee, Derpy, Gilda, Trixie, and Vinyl. We simply have to take them out one by one and we’ll be sitting pretty all the way to the final…”

“W-what? Miss Cheerilee?” Scootaloo ears drooped as she heard Dash mention that her teacher was one of her targets. Her heart sank all the way to her hooves. “But…Rainbow Dash, why? I love Miss Cheerilee. She’s the best teacher I could ever have! She’s sweet, and kind, and smart, and really likes to act like one of us fillies most of the time! I care so much about her. Why do you want to…?”

Rainbow Dash quickly wrapped a foreleg around Scootaloo’s back, pulling the filly in and giving her a sorrowful look right in the eye. “But, you love me, don’t you, Scoots? I thought you’d do anything I told you so that I could take you to the end with me. Are you saying that you don’t love me now and that you love Cheerilee more?”

Scootaloo’s ears splayed out over the top of her head, that miserable feeling from before slowly creeping back into her as Dash gave her such a sad look and asked such a serious question. The filly looked back and forth between her teacher and her idol, inwardly feeling terrible at being forced to choose one over the other. It was then that Scootaloo felt a cold shiver race down her spine. When she glanced back up at the Pegasus holding her, those rosy magenta eyes staring back at her caused her to gulp and tremble a little.

Scootaloo: It was so weird. For a moment, I thought I saw another pony staring back at me when I looked up into Dash’s eyes. But…it must’ve been my imagination. She was just…I don’t know what she was doing, but it was…scary. Then, listening to her telling me to pick between her and Miss Cheerilee? How could I possibly make such a horrible choice like that? But, I knew that I had no choice but to pick…

“Yo, Dash!” Moments before Scootaloo could utter a response to Dash’s question, Gilda ambled her way over to the two Pegasi and narrowed her eyes challengingly to the blue mare. “How about you ditch the little chicken filly and go for a fly with me, huh? I want to see if you still have it in you to even give me a challenge with your puny pony wings!”

Pulling her head away from Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash frowned and gave Gilda a cold look. “Sorry, but Scootaloo promised that she’d give me a hoof massage later on today, and since she promised to do all four hooves, not to mention my back and neck, it was going to take quite a while.”

Gilda raised an eyebrow. “Since when? I always thought you hated having your hooves touched.”

“I do. It’s called ‘making an excuse to get rid of an annoying pest’, Gilda. You might want to look into it.” With that, Rainbow Dash tossed Scootaloo onto her back and started to head for the door. “Come on, Scoots. Let’s blow this joint and go relax someplace where annoying griffons can’t pester us. Discord will call us when he wants to make us do a challenge.”

Gilda: Aw, heck no! Dash blew me off, just like that? That tears it! Forget about trying to separate that squirt from her, I’m going to make it hard for Dash to be separated from me once I’m through with that flip-flop! *she cracks her knuckles, then proceeds to stretch her mighty wings in the small confessional* That’s certainly not the Dash that I know, backing down from a challenge like that.

With Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo exiting the mess hall, and Gilda in hot pursuit, the remaining nine ponies all finished what they could of breakfast (which was basically just pushing it all towards Pinkie and deciding it would be safer to go searching for food in the forest). After Pinkie eagerly gobbled up everything placed in front of her and looking disappointed that all the black breakfast items were now inside her belly, the ponies made their way out of the mess hall to relax and spend some quality time together until Discord would most likely interrupt their peace.

“Hey, Derpy, you wanna go and collect seashells along the beach?” Pinkie asked, eagerly bouncing circles around the walleyed gray Pegasus. “I don’t know why, but there’s always a lot of seashells with funny shapes laying on the sand every morning when I go play down there! I have a very huge collection I’ve been storing under my bed!”

“Ah-ha, so that’s where that painful, pointy shell came from!” Trixie snapped, pointing a hoof at the pink party pony. “Thanks to you, one of your little mementos ended up getting stuck in Trixie’s mattress and gave her a very bad sore on her rear when she rolled over onto it in the night! What do you have to say for yourself, you obnoxious irritant?”

Pinkie giggled, bouncing up to the annoyed azure mare and giving her an affectionate and very squishy hug. “Aw, Trixie. If you wanted one of my seashells to keep for yourself, all you had to do was ask! I love sharing everything I have with my friends!”

“F-friends?!?! Y-you are not Trixie’s friend!” Her cheeks tinting a light crimson, Trixie squirmed in Pinkie’s tight grasp and tried to escape. “And for your information, if Trixie actually desired to have something as annoying as a seashell to be a pain in her rump, she would sooner have Twilight Sparkle at her side at all times!”

“Ha-ha, very clever, Trixie,” Twilight muttered, rolling her eyes as Trixie eventually squirted loose of Pinkie’s grasp. “Come now, let’s not fight today. After the drama that went on last night with Spike going away, let’s just relax.”

Twilight: While I’m still keeping my eye on Discord and Nightmare Moon, at this point of being stranded on this island for so long, I’m going to try and have fun and attempt to actually win. I highly doubt I would actually get a million bits if I won and Discord would keep his word, but looking over my shoulder every single day hasn’t helped me at all. Princess Celestia is still here, after all, so I’m alright.

Trixie: Obnoxious pink fluff ball, squeezing Trixie to death like that. Ugh. If Trixie isn’t mistaken, didn’t that silly pony have a rock in her ear? So weird. Anyway, with Discord not bothering Trixie at the moment and that loudmouthed Rainbow Dash flying off on her own, Trixie finally has her chance to work on converting her friends to her side! Trixie knows if she wants to go far, she’ll need their votes. 

Giving a big hug to Twilight as well, Pinkie finally went bouncing off towards the beach with Derpy flying shakily after her. Trixie readjusted her bent spine and shot the departing Pinkie an annoyed frown, before turning her attention to Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Even though it personally disgusted her to act all nice to ponies who aggravated her so badly, the unicorn knew she was on the outs. If she ended up making it a few more votes, she knew that there would be no way she would get above any of the remaining elements of harmony, or even Princess Celestia herself for that matter. Trixie knew she had to work on her social game.

“So…what would you all like to do during our downtime?” Trixie questioned, forcing herself to smile mostly at the three elements of harmony surrounding her, “Perhaps Trixie could enthrall you all with one of her many amazing stories that elaborates on her great and powerful feats?” When all she got back was mixed expressions of exasperation and annoyance, Trixie quickly tried again. “Or, we could possibly do whatever you all wanted to do?”

Rarity: It is so cute and downright laughable watching Trixie try to socialize with us. Is it possible that she actually realizes that she isn’t technically one of our friends and is trying to work her charms on us? Ah, how sad. *the fashionista giggles and tosses back some of her mane* It is such a shame that Trixie simply does not have the elegance and grace to be as likable as somepony like me. 

“Yeah, dude, that’s what I’m talking about!” Vinyl laughed, pulling both Twilight and Trixie into her hooves for a group hug. “How about we join Pinkie and Derpy down on the beach and build a super big and awesome sandcastle?”

“Or…we can go on a nature hike and visit all the woodland creatures?” Fluttershy ventured, barely speaking her suggestion above a whisper.

“Or we could do all sunbathe and tan our bodies to make them look absolutely fabulous?” Rarity threw her own two bits into the suggestion pile.

“How about we all find a nice place to sit down and mentally prepare ourselves for the coming challenge so that we make sure we’re fit and ready?” Cheerilee eagerly looked around to see if her suggestion had sparked an interest in any of the ponies, but everyone had once again ignored her and was starting to all chat at once about the other three ideas mentioned.

Cheerilee: I really hope Gilda is doing what I asked her to do with breaking Scootaloo up from Rainbow Dash. I can’t get a word in edgewise when I’m around the popular ponies like Twilight and  Trixie. Not that I really mind; they are wonderful ponies in their own ways. It’s just…it kind of makes me feel sad sometimes, you know? *she gives a deep, heavy sigh* I wonder if…all I am is just a teacher.

Celestia: Hearing all the fun ideas that my lovely pony subjects want to do really warms my heart. Even if this is a dire situation, being held hostage on an island by Discord and Nightmare Moon, it really is a whole new experience for me. It has been from the beginning! I’m…not really in tune with what my young, growing subjects do nowadays. It always intrigues me. Nothing I offer would ever interest them.

Having pushed the clingy Vinyl Scratch away, Trixie once again went through the pointless action of readjusting her spine. “Do all you ponies always have to hug one another for no reason at all other than to be obnoxious and foolish? You are going to break a pony’s back that way!”

“Trixie, Pinkie and Vinyl are just being friendly. That’s who they are. They have spirited and carefree personalities and they like to see others happy.” Twilight smiled at her fellow vexed unicorn. “You should really try it sometimes. I used to be the reclusive, antisocial type as well, but then the princess opened up my heart to a whole new world of endless wonder and friendship! It really is a beautiful and wondrous feeling to have knowing that there are ponies that want to hug you and make you smile.”

Sitting on her rump and mulling over what Twilight said, Trixie crossed her forelegs over her chest and gave a little sniff of indignant obligatory agreement. “If you say so, Twilight Sparkle. If it will make Trixie that much more loved than she already is, she may as well give your way of living a try.”

“That’s the spirit, darling,” Rarity purred, giving Trixie a pat on the back. “Come on, let’s all go join Pinkie and Derpy on the beach. I’ll show you all the perfect positions on how to give yourself a stunning tan. It really is more complicated than one would think.”

“Cool! A day of being a beach bum with Twi at my side and a clear sky above my head! Who could ask for more?” Vinyl eagerly started ushering a confused Twilight Sparkle down towards the beach, while Celestia was left pondering why the girl had just called herself a bum.

“It’s a term that younger ponies like to use,” Cheerilee explained, chuckling and trotting past Celestia after Twilight and Vinyl, with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Trixie all following. “Just go with it, Princess, and try to understand it later.”

“Oh. Uh, right then! I will become a bum on the beach as well!” Celestia tried to get excited at the thought, but still felt very weird at the strange expression. “Er…wait for me, please!” The small princess hurried after the others. 

Cheerilee: I learned a lot of expressions and sayings and whatnot from my students. You can really learn a lot from the younger ponies if you just sit back and listen. It’s really why I became a teacher. Regardless of what Rainbow Dash or anypony else says, my life’s calling to teach and learn from fillies and colts alike and watching them grow into wonderful ponies…it makes it all worthwhile.

~~~

“Do you really want me to give you a massage, Rainbow Dash? Hey, who knows? Maybe I’ll get my cutie mark! I can’t remember the Cutie Mark Crusaders ever trying out massage work. Perhaps I’m actually very good with my hooves!”

“No, Scoots, that was just an excuse to make Gilda go away. I hate getting massages! Let’s just talk turkey for right now. There’s a lot of careful execution that must be done to make sure my…I mean, our plans don’t falter.”

In a secluded clearing far from camp, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both sitting at the top of a tall, skinny tree. Naturally, Rainbow Dash had flown both herself and her young pony fan up the tree to have a private discussion about the game where they seemingly could not be interrupted. However, just as they had arrived and settled in at their rendezvous location, Gilda started shaking the base of the tree with her powerful talon hands to get their attention. 

“H-HEY! W-WHAT DO YOU T-THINK YOU’RE…?!” Caught by surprise, Dash was thrown out of the tree thanks to Gilda’s shaking, and couldn’t react in time to spreading her wings before crashing down onto the ground right beside the smirking griffon. Scootaloo followed much the same way, but Gilda caught her just before she splattered into a pancake alongside her idol. 

“Oops. Been flying long, Rainbow Crash?” Gilda snickered, poking the back of Dash’s flattened head as the Pegasus tried to inflate herself from her crushed state. The griffon turned her attention the filly clutched in her talons, giving her a cocky grin. “Hey, squirt, ignore this flip-flop dweeb and come hang out with a real cool girl like me! I can show you how to vandalize stuff without being lame enough to let it be known that it was you!”

“Let…her go…she’s mine!” Dash snarled, desperately reaching out one of her flattened hooves and trying to swipe at Gilda. The griffon merely hopped to the left to dodge Dash’s hoof, and would proceed to dodge every attempt the crushed mare took in trying to pull Scootaloo away.

“Er…is Rainbow Dash okay? It wasn’t nice of you to shake her out of the tree like that!” Scootaloo glared up at Gilda, trying to shake out of her grasp on her own and go to assist the inflating mare. “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash, I’m not going anywhere!”

“Aw, c’mon, kid. Don’t you wanna be cool, like me? Rainbow Crash here is nowhere near cool. She’s just a poser. A lame little pony dipped in multiple paint buckets and juiced with wings that allowed her to fly to levels that are respectable at most.” Gilda, keeping a strong hold on the squirming filly, quickly began to stretch her wings and take off with her target. “If you want to learn to be the best, then you’ll stick with me! C’mon, let’s get going!”

“NO! PUT ME DOWN, NOW!” Scootaloo thrashed and squirmed like crazy, kicking all four hooves about and even beating her tiny wings against Gilda’s chest in a futile effort to escape. Gilda finally gave Dash a mocking grin before taking off into the skies with the screaming filly in tow. 

“GET BACK HERE, GILDA!” Rainbow Dash hollered, unpeeling her hind legs from the ground and trying her hardest to get her wings to pop out. “YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS!”

Gilda: Heckling Rainbow Dash feels really good. That silly teacher pony had the right idea with giving me this task. I didn’t have anything else to do today until that annoying Discord gives us a new task to perform, so driving Dash crazy and keeping that little brat away from her is a surefire way to keep me entertained. *she cackles in delight* Did you all see Dash get squashed flat? Ha, that’s classic!

~~~

“Ooh, ooh, look at what I found!” Pinkie bounced over to Twilight, holding out a small, flat, circular disc to the purple unicorn to inspect. “Is it a type of funny-looking rock, Twilight? Or maybe some kind of tasty sand food?”

“No, Pinkie, that’s a sand dollar,” Twilight stated, “It’s a type of echinoderm, or in other words a small creature in the same class as sea urchins. It must’ve gotten washed up onto the beach. You’d better throw it back into the sea.”

“Okay, Twilight, whatever you say!” Pinkie jumped up onto her hind legs and twirled around in a circle, rearing back her right foreleg and preparing to launch the sand dollar back into the water. However, her momentum caused her to launch the sand dollar in the complete opposite direction, accidentally having it smack Trixie in the head and making the yelping unicorn crash down on top of her sandcastle she had been trying to make.

“OUCH! TRIXIE’S HEAD!” Violently shaking her noggin and rubbing the area in the back where she had gotten hit, Trixie weakly got back up and stared down at her crushed sandcastle and the amount of sand now sticking to the underside of her belly. “TRIXIE’S SANDCASTLE! TRIXIE’S BEAUTIFUL COAT! UGH!” Whipping her head around, Trixie glared daggers right over to Pinkie Pie. “YOU! YOU ARE A VERY DEAD PONY ONCE TRIXIE GETS THROUGH WITH YOU!”

Pinkie: I think I need to work on my aim.

“Trixie, it was an accident!” Twilight protested, quickly standing in front of Pinkie to protect her from a mutinous Trixie. “She simply misfired, okay? She didn’t mean it! Isn’t that right, Pinkie?”

“Yep, of course! How about a big hug to make you feel all better, Trixie?” Pinkie poked her head out from behind Twilight, giving Trixie a playful grin while sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth. When Trixie’s glares only intensified and she began showing her teeth, Pinkie quickly came up with an alternative. “Well, how about if I let you bury me in the sand then? That should make you feel better!”

“HOW ABOUT IF YOU LET TRIXIE THROW YOU INTO THE OCEAN AND…oh, bury you in the sand?” Trixie’s snarl slowly faded into an evil smirk, her eyes lighting up at the thought. “Very well then. Please, allow Trixie to thank you for not only having a seashell give Trixie’s rump a cut, but also for throwing a rock at the back of her head when she wasn’t even looking!”

“It was a sand dollar, Trixie,” Twilight pointed out. 

“Whatever. Just get your pink plot over here so Trixie can bury you!” Keeping the evil grin plastered on her face, Trixie motioned for Pinkie to follow her. 

“Okay, how fun!” Pinkie giggled, giving Twilight another hug around the neck before bouncing after the retreating blue unicorn, who was now sporting a small red wilt on the back of her head to go with the smaller one on the left side of her rear. Twilight watched both Trixie and Pinkie head off to apparently have fun together and reconcile, and she couldn’t help but smile.

Twilight: Even with her constant attitude problem, I’m really taking a shine to Trixie every day that she continues to stay here with us on the island. She can act loud and rude, but the thing is that she never follows through with any of her threats or insults. It’s just a bluff, much like a lot of her magic tricks. Deep down inside, as I’ve been trying my best to work with, Trixie’s heart is slowly opening up.

“Now, Princess, it’s very important that you do not fully expose yourself to the sun’s rays,” Rarity explained, unfolding and very neatly straightening out a blanket to lay on the sandy ground. Nearby, Princess Celestia was taking in everything the alabaster unicorn was saying, even though she was growing very confused by most of it. “See, too much radiation can be quite harmful to one’s glorious visage, and just one little mistake can mean the difference between a perfect tan and a horrible sunburn that will make you hurt for weeks!”

“Uh…yes, I see…I think. Please, do go on.” Celestia tried to mimic Rarity with laying out her own beach blanket next to one already on the ground. 

“As you may have seen or heard of, holding a mirror so that the sun’s rays may indirectly tan the front of your coat is very important. Direct contact with such powerful exposure to something as delicate as the sun may, as I stated, lead to very disastrous results to our wonderful and very important looks.” Rarity held out a special tanning mirror to Celestia, which the princess awkwardly grasped and examined with her usual puzzled expression. “Now, when we lay down, we want to make sure our heads are elevated slightly so that we do not harm our necks from laying on the ground. That is why I have these therapeutic pillows.” Rarity proceeded to toss over a very comfortable and deluxe pillow to the princess.

“How exactly do you have all this here, Rarity dear?”

“A lady always comes prepared, Princess!” Rarity giggled, before giving a minor cough and looking away. “Plus, since my postcard that lured me here said that this was a fashion resort for models, I was hoping to spend some time on a beach or a spa…just not like this.” While Celestia gave a nod of understanding at Discord’s trickery, Rarity carefully put her pillow into place and gingerly laid down on her backside upon the blanket. “Anyway, since we will be staring up at the sun, we need protection for our eyes!”

“Sunglasses, right?” 

“Not quite, Princess. That is Rainbow’s style, but not mine. For us ladies with considerable fashion sense and beauty beyond compare, we need something a bit more elegant for our lovely pupils instead of tacky shades.” Rarity pulled out a little baggie filled with cucumber slices, tossing two slices over to the befuddled Celestia. “There! Simply lay one of those on each eye and we are good to go!”

“But…cucumbers? I’m…not quite sure I understand. Don’t we eat cucumbers? I…didn’t realize that we would be wearing food on our bodies while trying to get a tan.” Celestia poked at the cold, slimy vegetable slices and winced at the thought of laying them over her eyes.

“Believe it or not, Princess, the moisture and molecules stored inside cucumbers are incredibly helpful and very safe for our bodies!” Rarity laid her head down upon her pillow, sighing happily as she gently laid each cucumber slice over her eyes and raised her tanning mirror over her chest. Princess Celestia again tried to mimic Rarity, cringing when she laid her own circular veggie slices over her eyes. 

“Uh…okay. So, I am laying here with cold vegetables on my eyes, holding a mirror over my chest, and lying motionless on top of a blanket on a beach. And…I am now a bum?”

“You are now a what, darling?”

A second later, Derpy Hooves eagerly burst out of the water with something clutched in her excited little hooves. The Pegasus splashed a wave of cold water straight towards the beach, drenching both Rarity and Princess Celestia and making the former screech loud enough to shatter a window. Derpy eagerly flapped her wet wings and fluttered down beside the two horrified, soaked ponies and started to show off an apparent treasure she found on the seabed. 

“Look, look! I found a seashell, I found a seashell!” Derpy held up her prize over her head, her eyeballs spinning around excitedly in their sockets while she completely ignored the spluttering ponies behind her back. “Another for your collection, Pinkie?”

Trotting over to inspect Derpy’s find, Twilight gave another patient smile and shook her head. “Derpy, that’s a mollusk; commonly known as a clam. You can tell with how the two shells are connected together. A seashell is a discarded, singular exterior broken off from a clam or other invertebrate.”

Derpy used one of her eyes to stare at Twilight while the other one stared down at her clam. She tilted her head to the left, then tilted it to the right. Her wet, blonde mane flopped over each side of her face as she tilted her head back and forth. She held the clam up to her face and stared hard at it, poking the top shell with her hoof and giving a little frown of aggravating. Eventually, after several moments of intense focus and thought, Derpy finally glanced back at Twilight.

“Does that mean I can’t hear the ocean roar if I hold it up to my ear?” she asked, curiously tilting her right ear down and placing it alongside the crevice of the clam. Before Twilight could give an educated answer, the clam’s two shells slowly creaked apart to reveal its inner body. From there, the clam clamped down right onto Derpy’s ear, causing the Pegasus to squeak rather loudly and flail her hooves around as though she had just been zapped.

“Oh, Derpy, are you alright?” Twilight was about to rush forward and try to pry the clam off Derpy’s ear, but Derpy, after the initial shock, didn’t seem to be all that in pain.

“So cool! I have an earring! Yay!” Derpy clapped her hooves together and did a backflip in the air. From there, she eagerly flew away to show off her new accessory. Twilight was left rubbing her head with an exasperated expression and having to deal with the ranting of Rarity and the confusion of Celestia from behind her back.

Rarity: That RUDE and CALLOUS Pegasus has some nerve soaking me like that! Ooh, my mane is ruined! I didn’t bring my entire shop with me; I could’ve, but that would’ve taken up a lot of extra space and suitcases. The point is, it is so much harder to fix your look without the use of everything at your disposal. *she whines and starts to comb and fix her dripping mane* So much for my new tan.

Celestia: *glancing down at her chest, she sees the two cucumber slices having slipped down and gotten stuck to her wet coat thanks to Derpy’s splash* Hmm. I think that this new age way of getting a tan is simply not my style. Rarity can do whatever she desires, but I’ll be sticking with taking a trip to the sun if I should need to lighten or darken my body. It’s so much more convenient and less of a stress. 

~~~

“So, he was getting all up in my face and talking a bunch of trash about how he could make it rain upside down or some junk,” Gilda rambled on, relaxing on top of a cloud with Scootaloo thrashing around on the side of a mountain nearby. “Well, he was getting on my last nerve, and he pushed me a bit too far with his bragging. So, I nailed him with a good shot straight to the face! Sent him flying through six whole walls of clouds, too. After his trip to the infirmary, that loser never dared to think he was better than me again! Ha, ponies are such idiots.”

“For the last time, I don’t care!” Scootaloo snapped, glaring up at Gilda from her rocky seat. She had been tied up and bound with some strong rope that Gilda had stolen from the supply shed near the mess hall, due to the filly refusing to settle down. “Rainbow Dash is infinitely cooler and better than you, and she always will be! Just you wait until she gets her hooves on you; she’ll mess you up good! She won’t stand by and let you mess with me!”

The brash griffon slowly glanced down at the overzealous filly from atop her cloud. “Yeah? And just why is that? Is it because she actually cares about you? Or…is it because you’re simply important to her plans to win this stupid game and she wants to make sure she keeps using you for as long as you’re useful?”

“WHAT?!?! Shut up! Rainbow Dash…is just tough! Y-you need to be tough to survive in a place like this and become rich! It’s not easy being awesome!” Scootaloo managed to free her left foreleg from her bindings, using it to form a fist and shake it up at Gilda. “I won’t let you talk trash about Rainbow Dash while I’m around! She’s the element of loyalty, and she’s remained loyal to me ever since I was honored with meeting her. She’s taking me to the final two, so eat THAT!”

Gilda couldn’t help but laugh at Scootaloo’s confident threat. “Ha! Are you seriously that stupid to believe such bogus? Don’t you realize that she’s lying to you and using you as a slave? Think about this, kid. If she really is ‘loyal’ as you say she is, doesn’t that apply to her geeky friends before you? So, if she were to take you to the final two, wouldn’t that mean she’d have to backstab and betray her own friends to take you there? You think she’d choose you over them? Really?”

“Huh? B-b-but…that’s not…she wouldn’t…w-wait…what?” It took her a moment to settle down from her vicious defiance of listening to anyone talk ill will of Rainbow Dash for Scootaloo to fully comprehend what Gilda had so bluntly stated. She didn’t want to believe or even think that anything that Gilda said about Rainbow Dash could be true, but the more she processed the information in her head, the more she came to realize that the griffon had a valid point. There would only be a final two, and if came right down to it, who would Dash choose to be there with her? One of her fellow elements of harmony, or a little filly who loved her? 

Shaking her head, Gilda stretched out on the cloud and closed her eyes. “Think what you want, squirt. But, the more you try to come up with excuses, the more it’ll bite you in the butt in the long run. You’re so in denial that it ain’t even funny. I pity you, and almost feel sorry for you. Really, I do.”

“Shut up…shut up…shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!” Scootaloo cried and hung her head, refusing to look at the griffon anymore. Here it was again. No matter where she turned, someone was always saying something negative about Rainbow Dash. And they were always using logic and pointing out things that, while she herself was starting to see, Scootaloo didn’t want to hear. Each negative shot at somepony she had admired, worshipped, idolized, and loved from such a young age hurt. It hurt her bad. All she wanted was the true Rainbow Dash to fly to her rescue and save her. At this point, it was all she wanted.

Scootaloo: Rainbow Dash will make it work, you’ll see! She’s awesome! She’s amazing! She can do it all! She’s the element of loyalty, and she promised to be there for me no matter what. Gilda is so going to pay for saying that stuff about her. Rainbow Dash will make her pay! *she gives a very confident smile, but it’s clear her tearstained eyes tell the true story* Heh…maybe I’m an element of loyalty, too?

~~~

“Yeah, man! We’re the three queens of this castle! DJ Pon3 is rocking this house, and her two groovy mates in Flutters and Cheery make us a supreme dynamite fusion of unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony! Nopony wants a piece of this deadly combination, eh?” 

Vinyl Scratch happily stood over the top of the large, stunning sandcastle that she had built with the help of Fluttershy and Cheerilee. The excited disc jockey showered her two playmates with compliments and praises at their hard work, evoking smiles from both the element of kindness and the pony teacher. Both girls, while finding Vinyl rather eccentric and flamboyant, were easily charmed by the pony’s wild streak and were never kept without a chuckle at every passing second while spending time with her.

“It really is a nice sandcastle,” Fluttershy agreed, silently hovering around the sandy abode and admiring the hard work that went into creating it. “I like to take Angel to the beach sometimes, and we have fun making sandcastles, too! Of course, he loves wrecking them rather than making them, so I get an awful lot of experience making them over and over again.”

“I watch my students make them all the time in the sandbox on the playground, so it’s just another thing that they teach me instead of me having taught them,” Cheerilee sighed, gently patting a few loose ends on the back of the sandcastle while she admired the sandy building. “Little moments like this is what we all should live for every day, don’t you agree? We take the simplest and silliest of things for granted, and it really is quite a shame. Spending quality time with those you can relate to and enjoy life with…isn’t that what we all want in the end?”

Nimbly hopping down from the top of the sandcastle, Vinyl playfully tackled Cheerilee and started to give the shocked teacher a noogie. “Darn straight, Cheery! If you ain’t having fun, then you ain’t living! However long I last on this kooky island, I’m going to make every second count! You with us, Flutters?”

“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy smiled, landing next to Vinyl and Cheerilee and watching them wrestle with one another. “I’m sad that Applejack is no longer here, but being with all my friends and enjoying…um, a very scary game led by that big meanie Discord…is an experience that we may never have again. As long as I have ponies like you at my side, it gives me courage to go on.”

Cheerilee, struggling to remove Vinyl from her back and stop her from continuing her noogie, gave Fluttershy a weak smile. “You…really consider me your friend, Fluttershy?”

“Yes, I do. Why would you think I wouldn’t?”

“No reason.” Cheerilee soon found her face accidentally smushed down into the sand, thanks to Vinyl’s roughhousing finally getting her pinned.

“Gotcha, Cheery!” the DJ giggled, readjusting her goggles and bouncing off the earth pony’s back. “Now, let’s get our bucket filled with more water so we can make a moat around our castle!” Picking up a nearby black bucket with her teeth, the disc jockey skipped off towards the sea.

“Could there be cute little fish of all shapes and colors in our moat?” Fluttershy asked, following after Vinyl Scratch with her imaginative eyes filled with excitement. “And maybe some otters? And dolphins? And beavers? And maybe even alligators with no teeth, like Gummy?”

Lifting her head from deep within her little sand crater, Cheerilee spit out a mouthful of the grainy rock minerals and turned to watch Vinyl splashing Fluttershy and the latter squealing and trying to get away at the base of the sea. Not wanting to miss a moment of it, Cheerilee picked herself up and eagerly ran over to try and pay Vinyl back for pinning her down a second ago.

Cheerilee: To hear Fluttershy actually call me a friend really relit a dull flame within my heart. I was actually starting to believe the lies that Rainbow Dash was saying about me. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to last a bit longer than I imagined on this island. The more I can fit in with Twilight and her friends, excluding Rainbow Dash, the more I feel that I can get through to them with my worries. 

“Hmm, it’s almost noon,” Twilight estimated, glancing up at the sky and observing the position of the sun with the shadows on the ground, “Knowing when Discord likes to surprise us with challenges, I determine that he’ll be showing up soon. It really seems like everypony is having fun, though. It’s a shame that Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Gilda choose not to join us.” The curious purple mare, having spent most of her time simply sitting at the water’s edge and staring out over the sea, longing for a book to read, decided to see how Trixie had fared in burying Pinkie Pie.

When Twilight trotted over to visit Trixie, she saw the blue pony curled up on the sand and daydreaming about how amazing she was. When she heard Twilight moving towards her, however, the unicorn quickly got up and flashed her an innocent smile. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, how moderately nice to see you! How has this day at the beach been treating an inferior, untalented unicorn such as yourself?”

Twilight, naturally, rolled her eyes and smirked back at Trixie. “I wouldn’t know, Trixie. I was about to ask you the same question.”

“Watch it, Sparkle.”

“You can dish it out, but you can’t take it, huh? Typical.” Twilight stifled a playful giggle, having grown to enjoy the whiny frown on Trixie’s face by this point. “Anyway, did you have fun burying Pinkie in the sand? Where is she anyway?”

“Right over there,” Trixie stated, nonchalantly motioning her hoof to her left. Twilight followed her gaze, smiling and trying to find her friend. At first, she didn’t see any sign of Pinkie. Then, after narrowing her eyes and taking a closer look at the sand, she gasped. Sticking out of the sand wasn’t Pinkie’s head, but rather the very tips of all four of her hooves. Each hoof was squirming and twitching like crazy, with the rest of Pinkie buried upside down deep underneath the beach. The top layers of sand had been leveled and smoothed out by Trixie to make sure the surface remained flat.

“TRIXIE!” Twilight squealed, racing over and desperately trying to dig out Pinkie with nothing but her bare hooves, due to the island’s anti-magic barrier. “H-HOW COULD YOU?!?!”

“What? The foal wanted Trixie to bury her, so Trixie buried her.” Trixie shrugged, going back down laying down on the sand, only this time facing the frantic Twilight trying to dig out her friend. “While Trixie is not keen on such things, she does believe there is no rule that says how a pony should be buried when they ask to be buried in the sand, yes?”

“We are having a long talk about this once I get her out of here, Trixie!” Twilight growled, flashing Trixie an angry look as she struggled to work with her inexperienced hooves at digging in the sand. It took nearly five minutes for Twilight to bail out a good chunk of Pinkie’s legs. When she felt she had dug enough to the point of fully excavating her buried friend, Twilight firmly wrapped her front hooves around Pinkie’s left foreleg and started to tug and pull with all her might.

“WHEEEEEE!” With a mighty tug from the determined Twilight, Pinkie finally popped free from her earthly prison and smashed roughly into the purple unicorn, tackling her down a good five yards from where she had been buried. Twilight ended up landing hard on her backside, with Pinkie crashing down right on top of her, their bodies pressed firmly together and their faces no more than an inch apart.

A giggling and very ecstatic Pinkie Pie lay atop Twilight, swishing her puffy tail around crazily behind her as mounds of sand slid off her trembling body. For a moment, the excited earth pony could feel her quickening heartbeat press up against the one of Twilight’s, and they synced up as one beat. Their noses stayed touching each other, with their gasping lips a soft breath apart. Pinkie’s front hooves lay on either side of Twilight’s head, with her back hooves pinning down Twilight’s hind legs. For just one solitary minute, joyful blue eyes stared longingly into worried purple eyes, and time stood still.

Pinkie: *giggling, albeit somewhat nervously* Twilight freed me from being buried in the sand. She was so worried about me, even though it was honestly a lot of fun. It was…sweet. It was so sweet of her. *she shyly looks down, pressing her front hooves together and breathing deeply* When you’re that close to an amazing pony like Twilight, it really makes your brain go all mushy and your heart all jumpy. 

“Ah…um, Pinkie?” Twilight whispered, blinking half a dozen times as she stared up at the smiling Pinkie, “Are…are you alright?” The smaller pony tilted her head a little, noticing that Pinkie still had the same rock lodged in her ear from before. She tried to move, but the stronger Pinkie Pie remained on top of her to keep her pinned. “I…was worried. I thought you might’ve suffocated under there.”

“Aw, Twilight, you’re such a silly filly!” Pinkie wiggled her nose against Twilight’s, then nuzzled her cheek against Twilight’s face before forcing herself off the unicorn. “It was so much fun under there! All the blood was rushing to my head and making me see a lot of funny shapes in the sand! The sand was rather warm and tickly, yet it was so cool being under there! Trixie sure knows how to have fun!” 

“Trixie was very glad to do it, too!” Trixie called out, grinning over at the duo. “It was quite peaceful and Trixie felt very proud of herself. Should you ever wish to be buried again, just tell Trixie and she will make it happen. She will probably do it again very soon regardless, but just saying.”

“Hee-hee, okie dokie! Maybe I could even bury you in the sand next time, Trixie?”

“Try it and see where it gets you.” Trixie narrowed her eyes at Pinkie, watching as the laughing pony helped the bewildered Twilight to her hooves and started to brush sand off her back. 

Twilight: I simply do not get Pinkie Pie! No matter how many times I have to deal with her randomness and illogical and baffling antics, I still can never comprehend or fully understand them! The pony was buried upside down in the sand! How in the world was she okay with that? *she huffs, then rubs her temples in irritation* Also, why did my heart start pounding so hard when she tackled me?

“ATTENTION MY LITTLE PONIES AND GRIFFON, IT’S TIME TO START THE DAY’S CHALLENGE!” Discord’s voice blared out of the camp loudspeakers. “PLEASE ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE MESS HALL IN ONE MINUTE, OR ELSE I WILL SWITCH YOUR BRAINS WITH ONE ANOTHER! MOVE IT, CAMPERS!”

“Trixie’s coming, Trixie’s coming!” Trixie yelped, quickly getting up and racing off the beach as fast as she could, the thought of her brain being replaced with Pinkie’s making her shiver in horror. One by one, each of the campers on the beach hurried away from their playtime on the beach and made their way back to Camp Paradox. Vinyl, Cheerilee and Fluttershy’s large sandcastle remained standing, and due to Rarity’s blanket and tanning mirror getting wet, she tossed them away and made a mental note to test out some of her other multiple ones that she had brought along, just in case.

Appearing in a burst of smoke, Discord casually rested his claws behind his head as he watched all the ponies hurry to run in front of him. “I do wonder why I did not make that threat earlier, since it seems to be so very effective.” The draconequus snickered at seeing Celestia’s glare, giving her a playful wink before checking his imaginary watch on his left arm. “Ooh, it seems I might just have to be doing some brain transplants in a moment, since Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Gilda are not present.”

“WHAT?!?! NO! TRIXIE NEEDS HER BRAIN!” Desperately looking around, Trixie soon leaped behind Twilight and used her as a shield. “Please, use Twilight Sparkle first! Her brain is not very useful anyway and should make for a very good first target!”

“I resent that remark, Trixie!” Twilight wiggled her rump and tried to whip Trixie away with her tail, but the show-mare refused to move.

“No worries, dweebs. I’m here, in all my glory.” Gilda flapped her wings and appeared in a small cloud of dust a moment later, carrying a sullen-looking Scootaloo in her arms. She was no longer tied up, but from the way she wasn’t thrashing or yelling, it was clear she had just given up on protesting. Rainbow Dash hadn’t come to rescue her. 

“Gilda? Why do you have Scootaloo with you?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow out of suspicion. “And why does the poor dear look like she’s been crying? If you dared to harm her, so help me…”

Cheerilee quickly looked at Gilda as well, but the griffon was prepared. “I didn’t lay a single claw on the squirt. She’s just been spending the time with me today, that’s all. Rainbow Crash got tired of her and wanted some alone time, so I took the filly off her hooves. She’s quite good company. Hard to not like this dorky little pony.” She set Scootaloo down, giving her a rough yet affectionate slug on the shoulder. 

Cheerilee: I know it may seem cold, but seeing Scootaloo depressed and with Gilda was a good sign. If Scootaloo had been screaming and fighting, it would’ve meant that she wanted to be back with Rainbow Dash. But, since Dash was nowhere in sight and Scootaloo was with Gilda, it means that she’s finally coming around to understand how she’s being used! Whatever Gilda said to her, it worked!

“Just ten seconds until I rearrange your minds, my dear campers!” Discord sang out, counting down the seconds on his imaginary watch, since Rainbow Dash still hadn’t shown up. “Ten! Nine! Eight! Four! Three! Two!”

“Discord, that’s not fair!” Twilight shouted, bravely stepping in front of as many ponies as she could to go along with Trixie, not wanting any of them to get hurt before herself. 

Just as Discord was about to reach the end of his countdown, a flash of rainbow colors zoomed down next to Fluttershy as Rainbow Dash finally appeared. “Yo, I’m here! What’s the big fuss about?”

“Rainbow Dash, you came!” Scootaloo gasped, smiling tiredly as she gazed over at the mare, “You came just in time to save us from having our brains switched! Can you imagine what would’ve happened if I had gotten Rarity’s brain?”

Rarity frowned down at Scootaloo and shook her head. “I was worried about your safety, Scootaloo, and that’s how you repay me? Humph.” 

“Yes, yes, almost all of us are happy that Miss Fashionably Late got here at the last possible second, but now it’s time to play!” Discord clapped his clawed hands together, making a dozen large treasure chests appear in a circle around the remaining campers. “You see these treasure chests? Can you guess what they’re for?”

“Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!” Pinkie Pie stretched her left foreleg high into the air, bouncing in place and shaking her hoof like crazy. “Do we get to place hide and seek in them? Or maybe we get to build them into an even larger combined treasure chest that we can turn into a giant treasure chest robot that will help us in the next challenge? Or maybe we have to go on a hunt for the keys to open the chests so that we can get the prizes inside?”

Discord stared at Pinkie Pie for a very long time, as did all the other campers. Discord slowly looked at the rock in Pinkie’s ear, then back to her grinning face. “Yes. That last guess would be correct.”

“Ooh, goody, goody! A treasure hunt to look for keys to open treasure chests! How fun!” Pinkie started to circle around the treasure chests, going from each and every one and inspecting them in her own unique way. “Mmm…this one smells funny. Ooh, this one sounds funny! Ew, this one tastes funny! This one just looks funny. Oh, oh, oh, I want this one, I want this one! Please, Discord, can I have this one? I have a very, very good feeling about this one!” The party pony picked out one of the chests, which happened to be right in front of Twilight, and started hugging it. “Pretty please can I have this one, Discord?”

Vinyl: Pinkie Pie, you wild mare you! That crazy pony totally licked and sniffed and put her ear with a rock in it on a bunch of different chests! Dude, she’s wilder than a wildflower! *she laughs and smacks her own hind leg in amusement* She’s such a riot! She sure knows how to keep things lively, that’s for sure! But, she wants the chest that was in front of Twi, and that’s so uncool. I wanted that one!

“Pinkie, the key that you find will only open one chest,” Discord explained, snapping his fingers and making a small wooden box appear on top of the chest Pinkie was hugging. “Inside that box is twelve maps that lead to a certain area on this island where you can find your designated key. Once you draw a map, you must go for that key. You may not go and look for any others. This isn’t a race, so take all the time you want trying to hunt for your key. Once you get it, come back here and find the treasure chest that it fits in, as that will be the only chest it will open.”

“So…how exactly do we win this treasure hunt?” Rainbow Dash asked, trotting up to the box of maps and reaching inside to pull one out. 

“Five of the chests contain different food items that should last you for a week, unless you’re Pinkie Pie, which in that case would mean it would last you ten seconds.” Discord smirked over at the blushing pink pony. “Five of the other chests contain random household items that range from being useful and possibly handy in future challenges, to totally and utterly useless garbage that I felt like putting inside the chests to make you mad. One chest contains absolutely nothing, but the final chest contains the ultimate prize: individual immunity!”

“Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!” Rainbow Dash grinned, pulling out one of the maps and peering down at it. “That’s going to be me for sure! This map right here is leading me to the key for immunity!” The piece of parchment that Dash had drawn out of the box had a crudely-drawn map on it, showing a very small portion of the island that was no bigger than possibly fifty square yards. Each map was just big enough to fix in a pony’s hoof, and each had a big red ‘X’ to show where the key should be waiting.

“In your dreams, Dash,” Gilda sneered, pushing the blue mare aside and reaching inside to grab her own map, “That immunity is as good as mine! All you losers are fighting for the silver this time around.” While Rainbow Dash and Gilda stared one another down, the rest of the ponies all hurried to draw a map out of the box for themselves. 

Trixie: *staring at her own map with a frown* What the heck kind of map is this? It seems to be showing a waterfall, but Trixie doesn’t remember seeing a waterfall on the island. Ugh, how annoying.

Cheerilee: This challenge basically depends on luck and nothing more. There’s a one in twelve shot that Rainbow Dash will win immunity, so I’m really hoping anypony but her wins it.

Rarity: *looks very sick as she stares at her map* This…this is clearly showing…the bathrooms. Oh, please, for the love of Celestia…PLEASE do not let it be in the toilets! PLEASE, I’M BEGGING YOU!

Twilight: Thankfully, I’m a very experienced map-reader, since I’m always the one leading my friends when we go on adventures. *she smiles down at her map* This should be rather easy for me.

“Okay, so you all have your maps!” Discord exclaimed, clapping his claws together and having the empty wooden box vanish. “So, you all may begin whenever you desire! Remember, you may only search for the key that your chosen map leads to. When you find your key, come back here and try it out. When you find the chest that it works on, whatever is inside is all yours to keep! Good luck, campers!” Just as Discord was about to vanish, however, he remembered something. “Oh, before I forget! Nightmare Moon wanted me to tell you all that she will be serving her special spaghetti tonight, so she hopes you’re excited for it!”

“Yum!” Pinkie eagerly expressed her delight at the news, while every single one of the other campers all grimaced and could only imagine the horrors awaiting them that evening.

Celestia: I don’t get it. Nightmare Moon is essentially a part of my sister, Luna. But, Luna is actually a rather decent cook. How is it possible that Nightmare Moon can serve us meals that make my taste buds want to be banished to the sun, and yet Luna can make food that is…acceptable? *she gives the camera a weak wave and a very meek smile* Luna, dearest? Please do not hold that against me.

When Discord ultimately vanished on the spot and went to go do his own thing, the campers quickly split up and started to follow their maps to their chosen key. Celestia and Rarity both chose maps that indicated their keys were somewhere at camp, so both girls focused on searching the grounds. Derpy headed for the beach. The remaining nine campers all ended up heading into the vast woods to try and locate their key. 

In no time at all, Rarity gingerly trotted into the bathroom. “Heh…okay, darling, this will be fine. The key is most likely…just hanging on a showerhead or something! Y-yes, that’s it! No reason to panic.” Rarity looked down at her map again, seeing that the big red ‘X’ seemed to be right in the middle of the stalls. The fashion pony quickly scanned all the showers, but didn’t see any types of keys. She then looked over the sinks, but didn’t see any keys in them, either. Finally, after five minutes of retracing her steps almost five times, Rarity finally forced herself to start opening the toilet doors. 

“N-no worries…m-maybe the key is just…sitting on a plunger? Y-yes, that’s surely it!” Rarity glanced down at the plunger in the middle toilet, but there was no key on it. She then checked the toilet head and the toilet seat, but there was no key on either of them. Then, knowing that she had no choice, Rarity held her breath and dared herself to stare straight down into the toilet itself. 

There, nestled dangerously near the drain at the bottom of the murky, green water was a bright, silver key. It was about as big as Rarity’s own horn, but there was a good foot or so of disgusting toilet water standing between the unicorn and the key itself. Normally, Rarity would’ve used her magic to simply levitate the key out of the water, thoroughly wash it in the sink with three bars of soap, and then allow it on to be carried on her backside as she made her way back to the treasure chests. But, without the use of magic, Rarity was left staring down into the toilet with a very sickened and terrified expression. 

~~~

“Odd…it seems my map says that the key…is in the mess hall?” Celestia held the map to within an inch of her nose, trying to study every minor detail on the tiny display. “It’s seriously that easy? Wow, this must be my lucky day! Finally, no getting humiliated and shamed by that rotten Discord or that egotistic Nightmare Moon!” The small princess couldn’t help but smile as she began searching the familiar mess hall for her key. 

After searching for nearly ten minutes, which included looking underneath every seat and bench, looking beneath both large tables, looking under and inside the two trash cans, and even at the ceiling, Celestia was left befuddled and confused. She had found no key. She rechecked the map, and tried to pinpoint where the red ‘X’ was placed. It looked like it was marked at the back of the mess hall, not at the front or in the middle.

“Wait…but, the back of the mess hall is…” Celestia slowly looked down the aisle at the large metal doors leading into a very sacred place. “…Nightmare Moon’s kitchen!” 

Celestia: I knew it couldn’t have been that easy! Me and my big mouth. I suppose my sister was right when she told me that I talk too much. Maybe…I owe her an apology for banishing her to her room for an entire week without being able to perform her royal duties. *she once again gives the camera another weak smile* Luna, dear sister? Um…I…er…well, you had it coming! *she huffs loudly*

“Okay…Nightmare Moon is probably out…um, doing whatever it is she does at this time of the day!” Celestia nervously crept towards the kitchen doors, trying to walk on the tips of her hooves to not make any noise. “I’ll just hurry in there, find the key, and hightail it out before she can get back! Easy.” The small alicorn moved closer and closer, beads of sweat already dribbling down her cheeks. Normally, she would never be afraid of Nightmare Moon, but with her reduction in size and age also came an increased level of fear and childishness. Plus, she didn’t have the use of her magic, while Nightmare Moon did. 

Reaching the swinging kitchen doors, Celestia shakily placed a hoof on the left flap and slowly pushed it open. The right side of the kitchen seemed to be empty, and there were no sounds coming from inside. Daring to take a few steps inside, Celestia allowed the left door flap to swish back into place behind her back while she edged even further into the lion’s den. More and more of the kitchen came into view, and it still remained empty. By the time Celestia walked almost entirely into the kitchen, she was convinced that Nightmare Moon was indeed out.

“Okay, good, she’s not here!” Celestia breathed a sigh of relief, turning the corner and allowing the last few feet of the kitchen to come into view. “Now, if I was Discord, where would I hide a…key?” The princess froze in her tracks the instant she looked up against the far west wall of the kitchen, farthest from the doorway. Sitting there on her rump, her head held high with an evil grin smeared across her face, was none other than Nightmare Moon. Around her neck was a necklace with a silver key tied to it.

The moment her eyes fell upon Celestia, Nightmare Moon’s grin grew even wider. “I’m not supposed to be biased, but I was really hoping you’d get that map, dear princess. This is going to be a lot of fun, let me tell you.” The ebony alicorn casually raised her hoof to the sparkling key around her neck and gave it a little pat. “You want this? Come and get it.”

~~~

“I GOT IT!” Derpy burst out of the water, holding a large rock above her head. “Oh…nope, that’s not it. That’s just a rock.” The Pegasus tossed it back into the water, then dove again towards the seabed. A minute later, she burst up yet again, holding a clam. “I GOT IT! Oh…wait, no, this isn’t it, either. OW!” The clam latched onto Derpy’s other ear, to give her matching ‘earrings’ due to not having removed the other clam from earlier. “Aww, yay! I got two earrings now! Hurray!” She giggled, then dove yet again back underneath the water. Another minute passed, and Derpy soon resurfaced yet again. “I GOT IT! Oh…no, this is another rock. It looks familiar, too. Oh well!” Tossing the same large boulder back under the water that she had already grasped five times now, Derpy continued to dive for her key.

~~~

“Okay. Northeast down this path…and then west down this fork…and then northeast again…until you reach the river.” Trixie, being an expert map-reader, looked down at her map every other second, while being very careful that she was going the right direction. She was talking to herself as though she were explaining the map to someone else. “Once you reach the river…travel east along the bank until you hit the waterfall. Behind that waterfall is where you will find the key.”

While not very thrilled at having to get her mane soaked from a powerful waterfall, Trixie was determined to be the first one to get her key and get back to open her chest. What she really wanted was the immunity, naturally. At this point in the game, with all the campers together, Trixie didn’t feel very safe. She also didn’t trust anyone at all, regardless of what Twilight and Pinkie had talked with her about on the airship. 

Upon reaching the river, Trixie smiled at her exact prognosis and turned to the right to begin heading for the waterfall. “Hopefully, that obnoxious Rainbow Dash will not win immunity, and Trixie can finally get her out of here! While Trixie hates all the ponies here, including that griffon, it’s clear that Rainbow Dash is the biggest threat and her tactics have been…a bit harsh, by the look of things with that filly, but rather brilliant. So far, every camper that got sent home was one that Trixie heard did not follow Dash’s orders. Hmm…really makes a pony wonder what goes through her mind.”

~~~

Fluttershy smiled as she glanced up at the beehive where her key was located. Used to going on nature hikes and finding her animal friends’ homes, the Pegasus was quite the expert on reading maps as well. She had deduced that her key was inside a beehive hanging a good twenty feet up in a large, coniferous tree. The Pegasus was thrilled when she discovered this, since she was sure the bees would be nice enough to give her what she wanted if she just asked politely enough.

“Oh, I do hope they’re not busy making honey right about now,” Fluttershy whimpered, flapping her wings and gently flying up towards the buzzing beehive without trying to make too much noise. The closer she got to the hive, the louder the buzzing became. When she eventually started to fly right beside the large bee home, it sounded very busy inside. This worried Fluttershy even more.

Meekly, Fluttershy tapped the beehive with her hoof, no harder than a butterfly would land on a dandelion, and started to say hello. “Excuse me, bees? I’m so sorry to disturb you and all, but I’m pretty sure you have a key in there. If it’s okay with you, I would be happy to take that key off your hands for you! Um, well, I know you don’t have hands, but you know what I mean.” The yellow mare shyly crossed her hooves over her lower belly as she waited for a response. 

Slowly and surely, the buzzing began to simmer. Then, one by one, worker bees started to fly out of the bottom of the hive and hover in front of the timid Pegasus. This continued on until a large army with hundreds of worker bees stood in front of Fluttershy and stared at her with their many eyes. The final bee to exit the hive was the queen herself, and dangling from her stinger was a bright, shiny, silver key. Fluttershy gasped upon seeing it.

“Oh, that’s what I’m looking for!” she squeaked, nervously bowing her head at the queen bee. “Please, Miss Queen Bee, could I pretty please have that key? I really, really need it to help me in a very scary game that I’m playing on this island. Um…is that okay with you?”

The bees hovered silently and motionless in front of Fluttershy without buzzing or moving an inch. The queen stayed right where she was, the key still dangling mere feet within Fluttershy’s nose. The mare could probably zoom out and snag it if she really wanted to, but she was trying to be polite and not upset the insects. Then, all of a sudden, the queen buzzed something to all her workers, and the hoard of bees quickly started to encircle Fluttershy. They made sure to fly above her head and under her rear, and circle around her from front to back. In no time, Fluttershy was locked inside a wall of bees.

“Oh d-d-dear…d-d-did I say something w-w-wrong?” Fluttershy whimpered, curling up into a ball in midair, while still keeping her wings weakly flapping. Slowly, the bees started to close in, with the queen watching from the outside of the wall. 

~~~

“Ha, this is too easy!” Gilda flew straight to the top of her designated mountain, snickering at just how fast she was about to find her key. “My map says that my key is right up this mountain. Good thing I have wings and I know how to use them!”

At the top of the mountain, Gilda could see almost the entirety of Calamity Island. It was a lot bigger than Gilda first thought, at least when she was looking down upon it from the tallest mountain on the island itself. But, with a bored shrug, Gilda looked away from the scenery and focused on finding what she came for. 

“Bah, this place is so boring. There’s nothing up here! Where could that key be?” Gilda flew around a few giant boulders, using her muscle to push them aside and look underneath them, but not finding her key. Then, on the opposite side of the mountain, Gilda heard soft cheeping noises. Curious at hearing the sounds of birds, the griffon made her way to the edge of the cliff and peered over the side. What she saw was a nest built onto the side of the north side of the mountain, with three baby condor chicks inhibiting the home. On the side of the nest was an egg with what looked to be the tip of a key poking out the top. 

“Bingo! That’s what I’m talking about!” Stretching her wings one more time, Gilda flew down a little ways until she was level with the nest. The three baby condors all looked at the griffon with wide, terrified eyes as she drew close to them. “Ha, don’t worry your little heads. I ain’t gonna hurt ya. I’m just here for my key.” As she reached into the nest to snag the egg with the key in it, the baby condors went berserk. They started screeching and flapping their little wings like crazy. 

“Sheez, I certainly hope that I wasn’t such a big baby when I was still a chick,” Gilda grumbled, smashing the egg in her talons and soon clutching her key. “Now, to get back to the camp so that I can…huh?” A loud whoosh of air and an angry cawing sound suddenly echoed out from behind Gilda’s back. The three condor chicks all flapped their wings and seemed to chirp happily at what was behind the griffon. When Gilda turned around, she came face-to-face with the baby condors’ large and angry mother. 

“What are you looking at, punk?” Gilda frowned, taking a few flaps backwards as the large condor pointed her sharp beak right between Gilda’s eyes. “You looking for a fight? I wouldn’t try it; I would mess you up in a heartbeat. Now, we can either do this the easy way with you letting me go, or else it can be the hard way, with you learning a painful lesson that your chicks are going to have to watch. Take your pick.” In response, the condor mother reared back her head and let out a large, angry roar that sounded like a combination of an earsplitting screech and hiss. Then, the condor lashed out right at Gilda, with her talons extended and her beak aiming right for the griffon’s face. 

“Cool. Guess it’s going to be the hard way.”

~~~

Cheerilee peered out over the massive gorge that Rarity and Silver Spoon had nearly fallen to their deaths in, then glanced out at the large rocky column that had been created by Discord. The teacher’s key was dangling on a hook on the column, in plain view, but Cheerilee had no way of getting it without attempting suicide. She had no wings, and being an earth pony in situations like this really had their disadvantages. Cheerilee had been pacing back and forth in front of the cliff, trying to think of a way to get to her key without having to try and jump across and grab onto the stone column.

“Hmm…what would the elements of harmony do?” Cheerilee mused, sitting down and pondering what the six mares would try and do to solve such a simple, yet difficult-to-most-other-ponies challenge. “Well, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy would just fly across and snatch the key and fly back. Twilight and Rarity would use their magic. I’m guessing Pinkie Pie would somehow randomly appear on the stone column, grab the key, and be able to bounce back while defying the laws of gravity. And Applejack would probably…oh, that’s it! A lasso!”

Quickly turning around, Cheerilee raced back into the forest and hurried to find some strong vines. She had to climb a little ways up a few trees to get them, but after searching around for a little while, the pony found over ten feet worth of vines. From there, Cheerilee sat down and tried to create a sloppy, makeshift lasso. She really had no idea how to make a proper one, and since Applejack wasn’t there to help, she couldn’t ask her for her opinion. 

After enough loops and knots, Cheerilee stood back to admire her handiwork. It looked like she had created a noose rather than a lasso, but it would have to do. Dragging the created lasso made of vines back to the cliff, Cheerilee stared out at the key and tried to center herself so that her lasso would encircle the key, snag it, and allow her to fling it back over to her side of the cliff without having it drop down into the gorge. Clutching the lasso in her teeth, Cheerilee reared up and started her first rodeo.

~~~

“My key’s inside a cave? Lame! I’ve so got this.” Rainbow Dash, after getting lost twice on her outing to find her key, finally came to what she thought was the correct location. “Now, where is that thing? I want my immunity, and I’m going to get it!” Not bothering to look at her map again, therefore failing to realize that the red ‘X’ was clearly inside the second cave a little ways north of the one that Dash had found, the Pegasus ventured forth with her head held high.

When Dash had trotted deep enough inside the cave, she saw something familiar on the ground and had to stop to take a look. “Huh? Wait, purple hair? Was Twilight recently here or something?” Scattered around the area was strands of Twilight’s mane and tail that had gotten ripped out when she had accidentally wandered inside the cave trying to stop Pinkie Pie from sleepwalking. Rainbow Dash was about to see exactly how that happened.

Stomping towards the Pegasus, the cave’s owner made its presence known with authority. The massive bear that had laid down the law with Twilight interrupting its sleep a few nights ago was now eying the new pony that had dared enter its home uninvited. It was not holding any key, and the look in its eye screamed rage and bloodlust. When Rainbow Dash met those murderous eyes, she very slowly gave a nervous grin that showed her entire set of teeth.

“Hey there, bub. You haven’t seen any keys around here for me, have you?”

~~~

“Yo, Twilight, what’s going on?” Vinyl waltzed up to the purple mare, having her key wedged into the side of her goggles. “I totally found my key inside a tree. I had to barter with a squirrel for it, though. The little guy wanted four acorns, but that was totally a rip-off, you know what I’m saying? So, I managed to haggle with the little dude and got off easy by giving him only three acorns for the key! That’s so dope! I got my key and I’m anxious to see what kinda sick prize I won for myself! How are you doing with your own search?”

Twilight glanced at the jubilant white mare and smiled. “I know where my key is, Vinyl, but the problem is that I can’t get to it.” She motioned with her hoof towards a small burrow underneath a grove of bushes a little ways west of the river Trixie had followed a while ago. Inside was a group of three skunks staring out at the purple pony. “I had a bad experience with a skunk once during winter wrap-up in Ponyville, and without the use of my magic to help me, I’m a little at a loss at how to get my key.”

“Ooh, those gassy little critters? Yeah, I’ve tangled with the likes of them before, too!” Vinyl peered down at the three curious skunks inside the burrow, who all returned the pony’s gaze. “This one time, I had this gig down in this forest near Canterlot, and a few of these little guys totally crashed our party, yo! They darn near smoked my entire crowd away, man! Thankfully, I took care of them and got things back under my control, ya feel me? There ain’t no problem that can’t be solved! A smart unicorn like yourself should know that, eh?”

Twilight: *her cheeks tinted a light ruby color, she rubs the back of her head with her hoof* Talking with Vinyl Scratch is such a weird experience. She has such an odd and different way of talking and acting that really baffles me. She’s almost like the unicorn version of Pinkie Pie. Her high level of charismatic cheerfulness and spunky playful behavior is rather contagious. It’s…rather a nice thing.

Still slightly blushing at getting praised yet again by Vinyl, Twilight quickly turned away from her signature grin to look back at the skunk burrow. “You’re right, Scratch. I really don’t want to get gassed again, though. Taking a bath in tomato sauce makes me rather squeamish, and the amount of laughs I’d get from Discord and the shame I’d face in front of Princess Celestia makes me very uneasy about trying anything to get my key.”

“I feel ya, Twilight, I feel ya,” Vinyl nodded in understanding, “Which is why DJ Pon3 is here to help ya out and make your day a lot less stressful! It’s a good thing I brought this baby along with me!” Bucking her flanks up into the air, Vinyl flipped the same black bucket she had used on her sandcastle and had been carrying along with her, just in case, over her head and snagged it out of the air in her teeth. She lifted her goggles and winked one of her dashing red pupils at Twilight, before trotting over to the nearby river and filling the bucket with water.

While Twilight sat back and watched, Vinyl carried the bucket of water back over to the skunk burrow and bravely stepped right up next to the hole. The unicorn tilted her head and made the bucket tip over, letting the water rush down straight into the skunk’s home and flush out all three shocked animals. Too soaked to really spray Vinyl, the three skunks chittered in fright and quickly took off to get away from the large creature drenching them with heavy amounts of water. With the burrow now clear of skunks, Vinyl dropped her bucket, turned around and playfully grinned at Twilight.

“Your key awaits you, Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn sang out, bowing her head and motioning her hoof towards the burrow. 

Stifling a giggle and feeling her cheeks ignite with even more warmth than before, Twilight moved her way to the burrow and started to grope around inside with her hoof. “It’s a good thing Fluttershy didn’t see you do that, Scratch. She would’ve had a fit!”

“Nah, I didn’t hurt the little critters. It was nothing more than a rainstorm for them!” Vinyl sat on her rear and watched Twilight reaching around inside the skunk burrow for her key, sighing a little under her breath as she eased her goggles back down over her eyes. “Twi…you’re such an awesome pony. What would Equestria do without ya?”

“Um…well, since I’m only one pony and the world doesn’t revolve around me, I’m sure it’d be just fine.” Grunting a little, Twilight switched from groping around with her left foreleg to her right one, thus turning away from Vinyl and facing the opposite direction. “Sure, I have some talents and I try to help out whenever I’m called upon, but I’m not bigger than any other pony. Whether you’re Apple Bloom, or Spike, or Gilda, or even Trixie for that matter, we’re all the same on the inside. If I wasn’t here, I doubt it would make any difference.”

For possibly the first time since she got voted off the first time, Vinyl’s smile sank off her face. Hidden behind her goggles, the disc jockey could almost feel her eyes welling up and getting ready to cry. The longer she stared at the back of Twilight’s head, the more her heart raced. She was very glad that Twilight was looking the other direction for the moment, so she couldn’t see the darkening of her white cheeks. It took her a moment, but eventually Vinyl scooted forward a little to be closer to Twilight.

“You’re wrong, Twi,” Scratch whispered under her breath, sagging her head slightly as she analyzed Twilight’s humble words inside her head. “One pony can make all the difference. If you weren’t here, it would be so sad. Your friends would still be leading meaningless lives without the pleasure of having you by their sides, to lead them on adventures, to educate and help them grow, and to share the love that’s inside your heart with the world. If you weren’t here…dang, I wouldn’t want to be here. You may not know me, Twilight Sparkle, but that doesn’t mean I don’t lo…I-I mean, care for you!”

“GOT IT!” Finally wrapping just the tip of her hoof around her key, Twilight wiggled herself backward with her prize eagerly snagged by an inch. “Thanks so much for your help, Vinyl! I really appreciate it! Uh…were you saying something, by the way? Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention.” 

Quickly lifting her head back up, Vinyl’s grin reappeared on her face as quickly as it had vanished. “Way to go, Twi! That’s how you score, right there! Unicorn power for the win! Who says we need our magic to make us special, eh? Give me a high-hoof!” Raising her left hoof in the air, she smacked it against Twilight’s as both unicorns celebrated their achievements. 

“Would you like to head back to camp together?” Twilight asked, tossing her key onto her back so she could talk freely without her mouth carrying it. 

“That’d be wicked sweet! After you, Twilight.” Once again, Vinyl bowed and allowed Twilight to lead the way back to the camp. The violet mare herself chuckled at Vinyl’s polite behavior, but nodded and had no problem taking the reins of leader, as she was prone to do in most situations. Scratch followed closely behind her fellow unicorn, carrying her key on the strap of her goggles, and carrying her bucket on her back. But, her heart was still racing from her silent monologue moments ago.

Vinyl: It would mean the world to me to make it far in this game with Twilight, ya know? If I don’t win myself immunity with some dumb luck tonight, I might be finding my plot right back on that boat of losers and watching that amazing mare wave back at me for the second time. Man, I don’t know if my heart can take that again. *she gives a shaky grin* But, hey, I’ve got faith! I ain’t giving up, not ever! 

~~~

Delicately wrapping nearly an entire roll of toilet paper around the base of the plunger, after using another dozen sheets or so to remove the suction bottom to simply use the device as a long stick and nothing more, Rarity shakily took hold of the toilet tool and stared back down into the toilet at her key. It was still sitting right there at the base of the drain, waiting to be pulled up the bowl. But, no matter how hard she tried, Rarity could not make herself reach into the toilet water to get it.

“Ew…so disgusting…oh, how could Discord give such a horrid task to a lady like me?” Rarity sobbed and whined loudly, clutching the plunger stick with so much toilet paper that it was nearly slipping out of her grasp. Slowly and carefully, Rarity dipped the other end of the stick down into the water, trying to fish out the key without having to touch any part of the toilet herself. 

Rarity: It really is times like this that makes a lady such as myself thankful for what I have. While I may not have all the flashy skills that Twilight or even, dare I say Trixie has, I take great pride in being a sophisticated, beautiful unicorn with moderate and lovely skills that any common pony would just love to have for themselves. A distasteful, vile challenge like this wasn’t about to stop me!

“Come on…come on…come on, you little…!” Rarity growled as she struggled to get the end of the plunger stick on top of the key. The toilets were cheap and very small, probably due to most of the campers themselves being rather small in stature, and it was hard to move a vertical piece of wood through murky, nearly translucent water and dragging a silver key up the side of the bowl with it. Whenever Rarity thought she had the key under the end of the wooden plunger stick, she would try and scrape it up the side of the toilet bowl, only to find that it had slipped back off. 

Now starting to snarl and lose her patience, Rarity began violently stabbing the end of the plunger hard into the toilet, content with going fast and trying to pull the key up with speed rather than accuracy and in a delicate manner. It wasn’t long until the silver key Rarity was ripping at finally slipped a bit further down the drain, to the point of being impossible to spear with the wooden stick. The tip of the key was thankfully still able to be seen from the top of the toilet bowl, but Rarity had pushed her luck and was now left with no other option.

Realizing that she was screwed, Rarity slumped down on the stall floor and let the plunger stick fall by the wayside. Very slowly, the unicorn lifted her hooves up to her face, staring at them lovingly and almost sadly, like she was never going to see them again. With tears starting to form in her eyes of the unspeakable task she was about to perform, all for a chance to become rich, Rarity gave each of her hooves one final kiss. Then, she gingerly placed her left hoof on the edge of the toilet bowl, while starting to ease her trembling right hoof towards the toilet water.

~~~

Levitating an ice cream gone with three scoops of black ice cream on top in front of her face, Nightmare Moon smacked her lips and eagerly partook in licking at her treat. The large alicorn idly shook her flanks back and forth over her lively seat beneath her shapely rear-end, which was none other the struggling and very exhausted Princess Celestia. Having barely lifted a hoof to deflect every measly attack the small princess had tried to send Nightmare Moon’s way, the ebony alicorn had finally decided that she deserved a treat for dealing with such a nuisance, not to mention a comfortable seat while she enjoyed said treat. 

“This…is…an outrage!” Celestia gasped, kicking her hind legs on the left side of Nightmare Moon’s flanks while thrashing her head and forelegs sticking out the alicorn’s right flank. “You…are heavier…than you look! Get off me…this instant! I am not…your seat!”

“Au contraire, dear princess, that is indeed what you are,” Nightmare Moon sneered, grinding her rump firmly down onto the squealing Celestia’s back while continuing to randomly lick at her ice cream. “You are so used to sitting your fat, cake-inflated flanks on your own throne all day and all night long while you force your ‘dear subjects’ to do all your dirty work. Well, guess what? Now, you get to be my throne while I sit here and enjoy an ice cream made of my own dark magic. It really is quite delectable; you should try it sometime.”

“I…will banish you…back to the moon…once this is all over…Nightmare Moon!”

“If you even tried to do that, you would risk harming your little sister, arrogant foal! Did you forget that I am essentially a part of her? If you hurt me, you risk hurting her! Do you even think before you talk?” Giving a quick bounce in place, the annoyed alicorn slammed her rump back down hard upon Celestia’s back, eliciting another sharp squeal out of the young princess. “Now, do shut up, before I am forced to flip you around and sit upon your face instead of your back to silence your big mouth!”

Celestia: My dear subjects, we all must suffer through hard times that will humiliate and mortify us to the point of tears. But, when that happens, it is important to remember to never give up! If you just lie down and quit, then you are letting the hardships of life win against you! That must never happen. *she clears her throat* So, as such, please disregard everything you just saw regarding me.

With Celestia going silent out of fear of getting a face full of big black butt, she silently craned her neck back to glance up at the alicorn. Her key was still dangling from the powerful pony’s necklace, a good two or three feet out of Celestia’s reach. Especially from her current position. Nightmare Moon was busy nonchalantly licking her ice cream cone and casually shaking her flanks over Celestia’s back now and then, having gone away from mocking the tiny princess.  Celestia really didn’t want to be the only one not to get her key, but she had already tried to fight Nightmare Moon, but without the use of her powers and with her tiny body, it had gone miserably. 

Realizing that there was still one tactic that Celestia hadn’t tried, she sighed and decided that she may as well give it a shot. “Nightmare Moon?” she asked sweetly, giving a polite smile as she peered up at the alicorn yet again. “May I please have that key around your neck?”

Glancing down at Celestia, Nightmare Moon shrugged and idly ripped the key off her necklace. “Sure. Here you go.” She dropped it right in front of Celestia’s nose. “But, that doesn’t mean I’m moving until I finish my ice cream. Now, as I said before, SHUT UP!”

Easy to say, Celestia was much too shocked to really bother saying anything after that anyway. 

~~~

Scootaloo nimbly hopped across the stronger part of the river, gulping at the rapids pounding against the small boulders sticking out of the water that the filly was trying to cross. Sitting in the center of the river, on top of an abandoned beaver’s dam, was the key that she sought. Scootaloo was quite nimble and had no problem jumping from rock to rock, but the thought of falling into the river and being swept away without anypony to save her made shivers race down her spine.

With the brave filly almost to the beaver dam, Pinkie Pie ended up burrowing her way up through the ground and poking her head straight up like a prairie dog. She had her own key clenched in her teeth, and still had the rock in her ear from before. She immediately spotted Scootaloo hopping towards the beaver’s dam, so after spitting out her key, the pink pony eagerly called out to her.

“HI, SCOOTALOO!” The shrill hello nearly made Scootaloo lose her balance on the final slippery rock before reaching the dam. “Whatcha doing? Ooh, getting your key, right? Cool! Well, I just got mine! See, it was in an anthill, but before I could get it out, the ants pulled me inside! They were very nice, though; they simply wanted to show me their newest tunnel and get my opinion on it! I told them it was a very good tunnel, but that it needed more concession stands and ice cream vendors. Anyway, after saying goodbye, I tunneled away myself and, well, here I am!”

“That’s very interesting, Pinkie Pie, but I’m kinda busy right now!” Scootaloo yelled out, just barely jumping onto the beaver’s dam while her lower half splashed down in the cold rapids. “I’ll talk to you when I get back to shore, alright?” Snatching up her key in her mouth, Scootaloo wiggled her tush in the air to wring it out, then prepared for her rock-hopping journey back to land.

Pinkie: *bouncing up and down excitedly with her key clutched in her hooves* So, what do you all think I’m going to get in my treasure chest? I really, really hope that this key opens up the chest that I picked out for myself. I felt a little twitch on my right back hoof, so my Pinkie Sense was clearly telling me that there was something good in there! Do you think it’ll be filled with cupcakes? Or candy?

While Pinkie Pie patiently waited, humming one of her many songs to herself while she did, Scootaloo eventually made her way back to land with her key safely tucked in her mouth. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to slip back into the river, Scootaloo spit out her key and tossed it onto her head so she could talk to her former Magical Misfit teammate. Before she could even utter two words, however, Pinkie grabbed her and pulled her in for a tight hug.

“We both got our keys with no problem!” she squealed, eying Scootaloo’s key and comparing it to her own. “Hey, they look both the same, don’t you think? I wonder what yours will open, Scootaloo! Maybe you’ll get something really awesome, like a new scooter! Or maybe a bucket of pearls? Or perhaps a big piece of cherry pie? Or maybe a veggie salad? Or even a rubber chicken!”

“Hey, what is that last one supposed to imply?” Scootaloo frowned, giving Pinkie a little glare. 

Pinkie simply giggled and let Scootaloo go. “Oh, nothing. Let’s head back to camp together, okay? We can even sing a random song, if you wanted.”

“Eh…I’m not really in the mood for one of your songs, Pinkie. Maybe next time.”

“Suit yourself. Let’s get scooting along, Scootaloo!” 

Scootaloo: I can’t put my hoof on it, but I could’ve sworn that Pinkie Pie teased me not once, but twice. Eh, she’s Pinkie Pie; it’s not like it really matters. *she shrugs* But, still, trotting back together might prove helpful with my current dilemma. I really could use some insight from somepony that isn’t my teacher or Rainbow Dash. Or a burly griffon with a big mouth and a big head. *she rolls her eyes*

Trotting alongside Pinkie, Scootaloo stayed mostly quiet with her head tilted down at the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Pinkie bouncing along with her eyes closed. The party pony happily hummed to herself while her key bounced up and down atop her head. She always seemed to know exactly where to bounce, since she never once ran into anything with her eyes shut. Scootaloo really wondered what went on inside Pinkie’s brain, and why she always seemed so happy.

“Er…Pinkie Pie?” Scootaloo ventured, finally deciding to break the silence between the two ponies. 

“Yeah, Scootaloo?” Pinkie opened her eyes and smiled down at the filly, still hopping and never missing a beat. 

“Could I…well…could I ask you something…personal?”

“Why of course, silly filly! Your best friend Pinkie Pie is always here to listen to you!” Pinkie tilted her head and stretched her smile out a little further. “What’s on your mind?”

“First, do you promise that you won’t tell anypony else what I tell you, and that you’ll keep it all between us?” Scootaloo stared Pinkie right in the eye, giving her a solemn look. 

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie went ahead and did all the proper actions with her hooves. “Pinkie Pie never breaks a Pinkie Promise! You can count on her!”

“Okay then.” Taking a deep breath, Scootaloo shyly glanced back down at the ground one more time before daring to look Pinkie in the eye again. “See, let’s say that there was this filly…er, mare! Yeah, mare. So, there’s this mare, and she really, really likes this other mare. But, the thing is, she isn’t sure if what she feels is simply adoration or…love. She’s not too keen on the subject, see.”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Uh-huh, uh-huh. Go on.”

“Well…so, this mare…she finds herself with the other mare…involved with a very deadly and dangerous game that involves a lot of perils. The first mare wants to do whatever she can to make the mare that she really likes happy, no matter what! But…no matter what she does…all she hears from everypony else that…uh, happens to be playing the dangerous game as well…is that the mare she’s after is using her and is no good!”

Pinkie nodded again. “Okay. I see. Keep going.”

“The first mare is even told by her teach…er, somepony older than her who is very wise and sweet…that the mare she’s after is mean and no good for her! She’s also told by the second mare’s past best friend that she’s no good, too! And that’s not adding in that the first mare herself…she herself has actually witnessed several instances where the second mare’s behavior has…left her worried. So, the first mare is left very confused and hurt and doesn’t know who to listen to or what to believe! Pinkie…what do you make of that?”

Halting her bouncing, Pinkie sat down and pulled Scootaloo onto her lap. Her smile stayed on her face, but it seemed to have shrunk just a little from a few minutes ago. Very carefully, Pinkie ran her hoof through Scootaloo’s mane, petting and stroking the conflicted filly and staring her right in the eyes. The longer the silent Pinkie Pie stared at her, the more nervous Scootaloo became. She was incredibly scared that Pinkie would call her out that she was the first mare in the story and she would be left in a very embarrassing situation. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie wasn’t that type of pony.

“Well, what does the first mare’s heart say to do?” Pinkie finally asked, poking Scootaloo on the nose. “The heart isn’t just an organ that pumps blood and stuff all through your body and sounds like a drum when you get excited about something, like cotton candy. The heart is a very precious and delicate part of every living creature, whether it be pony or dragon or griffon or chipmunk. When we are left with very hard choices to make, the heart will get what it wants, one way or another. Sometimes…what the heart gets, however, isn’t always what will make it happy. Sometimes it is. It simply depends, really. But, nopony can tell somepony else’s heart what it should or should not do. That just isn’t how it works. When you let somepony start telling you what to think and what to believe, then you’ll never be happy.”

Scootaloo whimpered a little bit. “But, Pinkie…I don’t understand! Are you saying that…we all have to make our own decisions in the end, whether they’re good or bad? But, what about those who worry about us and give us their concerns? Do we just ignore them or listen to them? I don’t get it!”

Pinkie Pie giggled, squeezing Scootaloo into a tight hug against her heart. “Silly filly. Do you know that Twilight tries to lecture me all the time about random stuff? Most of the time, I never understand a single thing that she says, but I just nod and thank her anyway, since it’s the thought that counts. But, I know what’s important, and I always listen when it matters most. When we make decisions in life, there are both good and bad consequences every single time.”

“Every…every time? Can there…never be…the perfect ending?” Scootaloo trembled a little bit, listening to Pinkie Pie’s heartbeat sound just like an irregular drumbeat. 

“Of course there can be the perfect ending, silly Scootaloo! You just have to seize the moment and make it perfect, regardless of what bad may come of it! Nothing will ever be perfect, no matter how hard we want them to be, but why should that matter? As long as you’re happy and as long as it’s a perfect ending for you, then nothing else should matter.”

“Pinkie…what…what makes you happiest?” Scootaloo asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

At this point, Pinkie Pie gently let Scootaloo go and rose back up to her hooves. “Everything makes me happy, Scootaloo. I make sure that every second I spend on Equestria is a good one! My friends make me happy. Candy makes me happy. Singing makes me happy. Mr. and Mrs. Cake make me happy. Ponyville makes me happy. Meeting new ponies all over the place makes me happy. Twilight…makes me happy.” Her cheeks turned a little rosy at the mention of Twilight. 

Scootaloo, having already turned away from Pinkie and thus failing to see her blush, smiled to herself and quickly nodded her head. “You’re absolutely right, Pinkie Pie. If I want a perfect ending, I just have to make it happen the way I want, no matter what it takes! All I want is to be happy, and one way or another, I’m confident that will happen. Thanks for hearing me out. You’re…you’re a great friend.”

“You’re a great friend too, Scootaloo.” Pinkie giggled softly under her breath. “Hee. I just made a rhyme! Too, Scootaloo! Too, Scootaloo! See, it rhymes!”

Even Scootaloo finally had to laugh at the silly pony. She really did know how to make something so serious turn out so perfect. 

~~~

“What happened to you?” Trixie asked, watching a ragged and beaten Rainbow Dash stagger back into camp on hoof, due to her wings having been badly damaged. Her teeth was clutched in her teeth.

Spitting out her key, Dash gave Trixie a pained smirk. “Wrestled with a bear when he dared to get in my face. May…have to take a trip to the infirmary…but, he had it coming. Got my key, though. Stupid map said it was in the wrong cave!”

“Trixie believes that that was your own fault, foal.”

“Shut up! It’s not like you look any better.” The azure unicorn being called out by Rainbow Dash was covered with twigs and a leech or two. Her mane was dripping wet and hanging wildly all over her body, along with her tail. Trixie’s neck and upper back was slightly red, and the way she was slightly trembling indicated that she was incredibly cold. 

“Humph. That is what happens when you have to dive under a powerful waterfall. Trixie is strong, but she still has a beautiful, fragile unicorn’s body.” She brushed Rainbow Dash aside and dragged herself over to the treasure chests, her key nestled into her damp mane around the base of her sore neck. 

“Beautiful is a bit of a reach, but fragile is right!” Dash snickered and limped over to start checking treasure chests herself. While Trixie shot the Pegasus a dark look, she didn’t retaliate. She was much too sore and weak to pick a fight, regardless if it was against an equally-weakened Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, losers!” Gilda called out, flying back onto the scene with her key clutched in her fist, and not a single knick on her entire body. “Boy, you both look trashed. What happened? Get into a fight with a bunny rabbit? Ha! I took on a large condor and kicked its butt from here to Cloudsdale without even breaking a sweat.”

“YOU are a very large and powerful griffon, while WE are ponies weakened by the island’s curse and unable to use our full powers!” Twilight trotted into camp alongside Vinyl Scratch, giving a little glare to the boasting griffon. “I’m not making excuses, but you don’t have to be so rude and obnoxious, Gilda.”

“Yeah, that’s messed up, yo!” Vinyl included, quickly trotting over to Trixie and Rainbow Dash and examining their bodies. “Can’t you see they’re totally hurt and didn’t have as easy a time as you did?”

“Trixie is fine, foal,” Trixie muttered, gently smacking Vinyl in the face with her wet tail and turning her back to her. “Stop worrying so much about her wellbeing. All she did was dive under a waterfall and hold her breath for around twenty seconds. No big deal.”

“No big deal?!?! Trixie, are you sure you’re okay?” Rushing to her side, Twilight worryingly started to rub the blue pony’s scalp. “A waterfall creates a very powerful force due to the momentum it carries when it crashes straight downwards. A hard enough hit to the head could potentially cause a concussion, and having a concussion while holding your breath underwater is very dangerous!”

Trixie weakly swatted Twilight’s hoof away and again tried to move away from the two unicorns. “G-get away from Trixie! S-she said she was f-fine!” 

Rainbow Dash: Was I mad that Twi and Scratch weren’t paying any attention to my injuries? Not at all! I’m no crybaby in constant need of attention, like Trixie. I let my work speak for itself. I took on a bear and kicked its furry rump, so I’m proud enough of that. *she crosses her hooves and frowns* All the same, Scootaloo should’ve been there with me. Just where is that filly anyway?

Proudly clutching her key in her teeth, and carrying her makeshift lasso around her back, Cheerilee trotted back to camp. It had taken her six tries, but she had eventually snagged her key and had successfully pulled it across the cliff without having made it fall down into the gorge. The moment she saw Rainbow Dash’s injuries and Gilda striking poses in the sky above her, the teacher gasped and quickly trotted over. 

“Rainbow Dash! Are you alright? What happened?” 

Having already tried five different treasure chests and moving onto her sixth, Dash glanced at Cheerilee and snorted. “What do you care, huh? Since when do you care about my wellbeing?”

“I care about everyone on this island, Rainbow Dash, regardless of how selfish, disloyal and rude they may be,” Cheerilee sniffed, narrowing her eyes at the Pegasus. “Despite your disappointing, shocking, and might I add very malicious actions, you are still one of Twilight’s friends and a well-loved Pegasus of Ponyville. I’ll always care about you, deep down inside.”

Dash blinked twice as she registered Cheerilee’s words, staring right into the earth pony’s stoic face. For a moment, she actually looked touched. Then, her lips curled into an amused grin, and she dropped down onto her back to start laughing her head off. Ignoring the bite and claw marks on all four legs and her wounded wings, Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and cackled loudly. She clutched her stomach and rolled around and around on the ground, finding everything Cheerilee said hilarious.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT’S RICH! YOU CARE ABOUT ME? YOU’RE SO FUNNY! OH MAN, MY RIBS! THEY’RE HURTING MORE THAN THEY SHOULD! BWAHAHAHAHA! I THINK I’M GOING TO BURST! GILDA, QUICK, GET ME ON LIFE SUPPORT! I NEED AIR, RIGHT AWAY! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Cheerilee watched Dash’s childish actions for a moment, before angrily stomping her hoof and whipping her head away. “You’re despicable, Rainbow Dash! Fine, forget I said anything! I’ll go and check on Trixie instead, you heartless Pegasus!” Completely disgusted with Dash’s uproarious laughter at her stern, yet heartfelt concerns, Cheerilee stomped away from the Pegasus to go and see why Twilight and Vinyl were checking on Trixie. Gilda was left staring down at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow. 

Gilda: Man, that was…kinda… *she winces, grits her teeth, and looks like she has to force herself to speak the next word* …mean. *she then hacks and shivers a little bit* I’ve known Dash for quite some time, and she always did love to laugh and act like a little fool for attention, but…dang. That teacher pony may be a bit too polite for my liking, but that was just uncalled for. What’s with Dash?

“Uh…what’s Rainbow Dash laughing about?” Twilight questioned, having heard Rainbow’s laughter, but not having heard exactly what Cheerilee had said to her that had gotten her laughing in the first place.

Cheerilee calmly took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s nothing. She’s just…being herself. Her true self…that I highly doubt anypony else sees…” 

“Er…alright then?” Twilight looked at Cheerilee curiously, but shrugged and pushed it aside, figuring it was just Dash being Dash. 

“WILL ALL OF YOU STOP CROWDING AROUND TRIXIE?!?! SHE’S FINE!” Trixie, normally loving attention and taking in every bit she could, found the two unicorns and earth pony around her rather suffocating at the moment, and didn’t know how to handle it. 

Trixie: Ugh, what is WITH these ponies? This has never happened before! Usually Trixie is basking in her deserved spotlight of being the greatest and most powerful of ponies ever, but nothing like this! Twilight Sparkle, Cheerilee, Vinyl Scratch…why in the world are they concerned with such minor injuries that Trixie may’ve sustained? *blinks* And…and how did Trixie actually bother to learn all their names?!

“I GOT IT!” Derpy happily flew back into camp, dripping wet and finally holding the key proudly clutched in her hooves. “And it only took exactly…uh…” She glanced up at the sun and tilted her head, letting her eyes roll back and forth as she tried to count up how many tries it took her to dive until she found her key. “Uh…uh…oh! It only took exactly…a really, really lot of tries! But, it was fun! Do I win muffins now?”

“I think a brain and a couple of screws to help your eyes stay in place would be a better bet,” Gilda muttered, watching Derpy in a rather mystified fashion. “Or…actually, you know what? I don’t think that dweeb needs anymore screws inside her ditzy little skull. I have a feeling she has enough of them loose inside her already.”

“WE’RE BACK, EVERYPONY! And Gilda!” Pinkie Pie bounced into the campsite, Scootaloo bounding along happily right by her side. The moment Cheerilee saw the look on Scootaloo’s face, the teacher’s smile grew almost as big as Pinkie’s. 

“I’m back as well!” Fluttershy called out, happily flying in with her new bee friends buzzing around her. The queen had given the Pegasus the key free of charge, and despite the stunned expressions on all the faces of the current campers back at camp, they decided to not question just how Fluttershy had worked such a miracle.

“Ow…my aching back…” Celestia moaned, limping out of the mess hall with her key wrapped tightly around her limping left front hoof. When she saw Twilight quickly start over to see what had hurt her, the princess gulped and quickly gave her oncoming student a pained smile. “Oh! Uh…yes, my back is quite in a bit of pain…from having to crawl on my hooves and knees underneath everything in that kitchen! It’s a lot harder on a pony’s back than one would think.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, Princess?” Twilight asked, again worrying about a pony she cared deeply about. She carefully rubbed the princess’ back, trying to find the place where it hurt the most. “If you have been crawling around all day, that means your lower back should hurt the most, right?”

“T-Twilight, my dear student, I’m fine, really!” Quickly and gently pushing Twilight along with her head, Celestia tried to change the subject. “Come on, let’s see what prizes we earned thanks to all our hard work, alright?”

“Well, if you say so, Princess…wait, Rarity?” Twilight turned around and saw a very pale Rarity trotting in last to join the other eleven campers. For the most part, she looked perfectly alright, except for her entire right foreleg. It looked nothing more than a little soggy, but the look on Rarity’s face instantly made Twilight start to worry for her as well. 

“Rarity, what happened?” Celestia joined in, noticing the ghastly look that Rarity was exhibiting. While the mare was clutching her key in her trembling right foreleg hoof, she didn’t look at all happy. “Are you hurt? Did Discord do something to you? Did a wild animal go after you? What happened, dear?”

Almost robotically, Rarity slowly shook her head in a perfect horizontal line, back and forth. “Horror. The horror. Nightmare. Complete terror. Scarred. The horror. The horror.”

Twilight: Nightmare? Did Nightmare Moon do something to Rarity? She better not have, or else she’ll have ME to deal with! *she makes her usual cute, scrunched-up pouty face of determination at the camera* I don’t care if I don’t have my magic, nopony terrifies my best friends like that! Whatever Rarity had to do, it must’ve been downright horrifying! Huh…she wasn’t very dirty, though. That’s kinda weird.

“HA! GOT IT!” Having eventually stopped her laughing fit, Rainbow Dash had went right back to trying to find the correct treasure chest for her key. She finally heard a loud click as she turned her silver key in the lock to the treasure chest farthest to the east. “Get ready, everyone! For once I open this chest, you all will be outta luck! I’m Rainbow Dash, and I’m the luckiest mare alive!” She eagerly bucked open the top of the chest as everyone watched with annoyed anticipation. “Feast your eyes, losers, as my chest gives me…” She peeked into her chest, and her eyes bulged out of her head. “…NOTHING?!?!”

All the ponies that had gathered around Dash looked at one another, then glanced back at the stunned Pegasus staring down into her empty chest. Cheerilee wore a look of absolute glee at this wonderful news, while Gilda curiously flapped over the top of the chest to make sure that Dash was telling the truth. Indeed, the inside of the treasure chest was completely empty. 

“Ooh, tough break, Rainbow Crash,” Gilda mocked, reaching down and jabbing the crestfallen Dash on the head with a talon. “What was that about us being losers? It looks like the only REAL loser today is none other than YOU! Things never change, isn’t that right, Dash?”

“This…this has to be some mistake…I won’t accept this! DISCORD!” The moment Rainbow Dash screamed out the host’s name, she instantly stood on her hurt hind legs and shook her hooved fist up at him. “What in the world is THIS?” She gestured behind her at the chest.

“That…would be an empty treasure chest, Rainbow Dash. What is so difficult to understand about that? Do you perhaps need glasses? I can help you with that, if you want.” Discord snapped his fingers, producing a pair of glasses with wide, square lens that he presented to the enraged Pegasus. 

Angrily smacking the glasses aside, Rainbow Dash continued to shake her fist up at the draconequus. “I know what it is, smart guy. I meant how come my key opened it? I had to fight a stupid bear just to get this key! How is that fair giving me such a hard key and it ends up unlocking an empty chest?”

Discord stuck out one claw. “First off, Rainbow Dash, you were the very first one to pick a map, so you chose to go for that key. You simply had bad luck.” Discord stuck out another claw. “Second, the map clearly read that the key was in the cave on the other side of the river, not in the bear’s cave that you went into. So, again, that was your own fault with reading your map wrong.” Discord stuck out a third claw. “Finally, finding that key took the least amount of effort, since the cave it was in was completely empty and very safe, and you can easily fly across rivers, so naturally such an easy-to-find key was given the empty chest. Anymore asinine questions that you would like me to answer?”

“Yeah, I’m not happy about this, and I won’t stand for it. I demand a prize, and I’m not going to stop pestering you until you give me one, bub!” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves over her chest and stomped one of her hind legs on the ground, wincing at bite near her right ankle.

Discord’s eyebrow slowly rose up over his forehead as he heard Dash’s threat. “Oh? Very well. Here’s a prize for you.” Reaching down, Discord grabbed Rainbow Dash firmly around the middle and proceeded to cram her right into her empty chest. “It’s none other than a new bed for you to sleep in! It’s rather cramped and very tight, but for such a rude and entitled brat like yourself, I think it’ll do just fine.” Slamming the top of the chest down and turning the key back in place, Discord nodded his head and crossed his arms. “There we go! Now everyone gets a prize today! Aren’t I just the nicest?”

“Indeed, Discord,” Cheerilee giggled, “I think that’s the perfect prize for Rainbow Dash.”

“DISCORD, NO! SHE’LL SUFFOCATE IN THERE!” Twilight desperately tried racing over to unlock the chest again and free her friend, but Discord quickly snapped his fingers and made a large steel cage appear around the chest, making the key out of reach for Twilight to grasp when Discord removed it from the hole and set it atop the twitching chest.

“Dear Twilight, she still has the keyhole to breathe through!” Discord explained, patting the frantic purple unicorn on the head. “You simply must learn to relax. Nightmare Moon knows how to relax in style; you could take some lessons from her.” The draconequus flashed an evil grin over to Celestia, who immediately widened her eyes and felt her cheeks darkening. 

“THIS STILL ISN’T RIGHT, DISCORD! GET HER OUT OF THERE!” Twilight reached through the bars of the cage, but her hooves fell way short of reaching the isolated key.

“Tut-tut, not until after all the chests are opened. Once they all are, then my cage will vanish and you’re free to unleash your obnoxious friend.” With a rather high-pitched and spirited cackle of chaotic glee, Discord vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Twilight grieving over having Rainbow Dash trapped in a chest and Cheerilee trying to suppress her happy giggles.

“Come on, everypony, hurry up!” Scootaloo cried, racing around and trying her key in every lock she could, “We can’t leave Rainbow in there! Keyhole or not, she could easily suffocate!”

“I think I’ll be taking my time,” Gilda yawned, purposely making her descent to the ground as slow as she could, and making her trip to her first attempted treasure chest to unlock even slower. Scootaloo glared at her for this.

Cheerilee: Ah, such wonderful justice! That’s called karma, Rainbow Dash. It always comes back to bite you in the end. I tried to show sympathy to you, and you spat in my face. Well, looks like you get your punishment in the form of a harsh timeout. Not bad on Discord’s part. *she gives the camera an innocent smile* Please don’t think of me as mean or anything. Dash simply had that coming, that’s all.

One by one, each unopened treasure chest was attempted to be unlocked by each pony or Gilda. Vinyl was the next pony to get a chest open, and found nothing but soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, and other toiletries waiting for her inside. Fluttershy found her chest containing an overhaul of every type of berry, including strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, and huckleberries. Cheerilee’s treasure chest contained nothing but pictures of Discord posing in a number of places, including on Celestia’s throne in Canterlot.

Cheerilee: *rolling her eyes as she looked at the pictures* Not…the greatest prize in the world.

Fluttershy: Mmmph! *chewing with a mouthful of berries, a lot of juices racing down her chin*

Vinyl: *giggling and applying deodorant to one of her foreleg pits* I like smelling nice for Twi.

Twilight’s chest ended up containing a complete set of How To Take Over The World books, and included was a small magazine on how to be evil. Rarity’s treasure chest contained a gold plunger. Gilda’s treasure chest contained fresh bread and other pastry products, including noodles, tortellini, pizza rolls, and muffins. 

Gilda: I’m not exactly crazy about bread. It’s too tasteless. I prefer meat products more. Meh. 

Rarity: *exploding in a very fiery and very deadly rage* IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE?!?!

Twilight: Er…normally, I’d be thrilled with new books, but…yeah, this is kinda awkward. 

Celestia’s chest contained special boxes of cookies shaped like large alicorns sitting on what seemed to be smaller alicorns. Scootaloo’s chest contained piles of Discord’s favorite bubblegum, which allowed for every explosive bubbles to be blown. Derpy’s chest contained broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and other veggies in the shape of Princess Celestia.

Derpy: *with her clam earrings still on, she holds up a broccoli shaped like Celestia* What is this?

Scootaloo: Aw, so cool! I love chewing gum! *she pops a black piece of gum into her mouth*

Celestia: *narrowing her eyes at the camera* I strongly think that my treasure chest was rigged. 

Gasping loudly, Pinkie Pie found that her key ended up unlocking the chest that she had wanted from the very beginning. The moment the key turned in place and the loud click echoed out, Pinkie squealed in complete and utter excitement. She threw the top of the chest off and peered inside. The squeals she let out easily outmatched the aforementioned squeals of delight at getting the chest she wanted. Reaching inside the treasure chest, Pinkie pulled out a small doll. It was a unicorn doll, colored purple and owning a very familiar cutie mark.

“Twilight, look! My prize is a doll, of YOU!” Peeking back into the chest, Pinkie blinked a little bit. “Oh, and there’s also some needles in there. I don’t really know what those are for, but who cares? I GOT A TWILIGHT SPARKLE DOLL! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” The eager pony squeezed her new doll into her chest and began cuddling it and petting it and almost starting to cry in joy.

Looking very uneasy and a bit unnerved, Twilight took a step back. “Er…did you say…that there are needles in the treasure chest to go along with that…doll…that looks like me?”

From nearby, Trixie snickered a little bit. “Such a shame Trixie didn’t get that chest. It would’ve been a very nice prize that Trixie would’ve made sure was put to good use.” Twilight’s tail drooped far between her legs as she tried to hide her face, while Pinkie completely ignored the needles and just continued to snuggle her new Twilight doll.

Pinkie: I couldn’t have asked for a better prize! I knew that chest was special. It was totally meant for me! *making sure no one was looking, Pinkie planted a gentle kiss right on the top of her Twilight Sparkle doll’s forehead, before closing her eyes and gently rocking it back and forth against her chest* Now…I’ll have Twilight with me no matter where I am…what more could I have asked for?

“Huh…wait, where’s the immunity pass?” Cheerilee asked, suddenly realizing that all the chests except for one had been opened. Everyone except Rainbow Dash looked over at Trixie, who was just unlocking the final chest and peering inside to see what she had gotten.

“What is this? All Trixie gets is a piece of paper? What a rip-off!” Reaching down deep into the chest, Trixie pulled out a shiny piece of silver cardboard and was about to throw it away. However, the moment she saw the words Immunity Pass written neatly across it in big, bold letters, Trixie’s frown turned upside down. “IT’S THE IMMUNITY PASS! TRIXIE WINS IMMUNITY!”

“Indeed you do, Beatrix!” Discord called out, reappearing in a flash of light and allowing the bars around Dash’s cage to finally fall. While Scootaloo and Twilight hurried over to help the locked Pegasus, Discord watched the bouncing blue unicorn instead. “The immunity pass is all yours. That means, everyone but Trixie is up for elimination tonight at the ceremony! As I stated before, all of you may keep the prizes that you have won, or share them with the others. The choice is yours. If there’s no other questions, I’ll just be…”

“Discord, don’t you ever lock a pony up in a chest again!” Twilight interrupted, staring up at the host and scolding him, “That is very dangerous and possibly life-threatening, and while you are already a monster with a love for chaos and destruction, I will not stand by and let you harm my friends in such a manner! Furthermore, I must protest against the prize I got, since it’s not really something that suits my…” 

Reaching down and poking Twilight on the nose, Discord interrupted the mare right back by making a cherry appear where he touched. “You talk too much, dear. Try to work on that, would you?” While Twilight looked at the nearest camera with a confused expression and a new cherry on her nose, Discord vanished for real. Rainbow Dash was ultimately let out of the chest by Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie eagerly raced over to inspect Twilight’s new accessory. 

“GAH! FINALLY!” Taking a huge gulp of air and painfully stretching her sore wings, Rainbow Dash quickly looked down at Scootaloo. Even before telling her thank you for freeing her, Dash had other matters to ask about. “Who won immunity?”

“Trixie did.” Scootaloo’s ears drooped a little at not getting thanked, but she didn’t say anything. 

“Meh…she did, huh? Lucky unicorn.” Dash frowned over at the giddy unicorn clutching her immunity pass, but just shook her head and yanked Scootaloo’s ear towards her lips to whisper into it. “You and I have some strategizing to do. Meet me in the infirmary so we can talk about tonight.” Before Scootaloo could even give an affirmative, Dash pushed the filly aside and stomped off towards the medical building that was becoming a second home to some of the more accident-prone ponies.

“Don’t you worry about a thing, Twilight,” Pinkie smiled, placing her hooves on Twilight’s shoulders and leaning her mouth in towards her friend’s. “I’ll get that cherry off you nice and gently.” With Twilight too confused and befuddled to really give a reasonable protest or comment to such a weird situation, Pinkie softly started to nibble away at the stuck cherry to Twilight’s nose, and it wasn’t long before Pinkie was nibbling nothing more than Twilight’s own nose itself.

Twilight: *giving the camera a blank stare* Pinkie…just ate a cherry…off my nose. And…I’m pretty sure her tongue ended up going inside my left nostril. I’m…not entirely sure…but I think that happened.

Trixie: *showing off her sparky immunity pass to the camera* Trixie won immunity, Trixie won immunity! Yes, yes, yes! Dumb luck or not, it means that Trixie is very lucky and isn’t going anywhere!

Rainbow Dash: Trixie winning immunity? That’s a slight curveball, but not that big a deal. She was mostly a Plan B for tonight anyway. My prime target is still set up for another downfall: Gilda.

~~~

With Nightmare Moon having quickly fixed up Rainbow’s body, the Pegasus was resting on one of the infirmary beds with Scootaloo sitting bolt upright next to her. “First off, Scoots, I don’t know or really care what Gilda told you when she pony-napped you. Just know that it was all lies and that I’m the only one that you need to listen to, alright?”

“Y-yes, Rainbow Dash. But…uh, why didn’t you come to rescue me?” 

Dash shrugged. “That would’ve made things a bit too obvious and would’ve made it look even more like we were in an alliance. If I had just chased you around everywhere, it wouldn’t have looked good. What, are you saying that Gilda hurt you or something? You’re a big girl, right? You didn’t need me to rescue you. Besides, it was your chance to get some information out of Gilda! Did you?”

“Um…I guess.” Suppressing her hurt feelings at Dash caring more about the game than her wellbeing, Scootaloo quickly discussed what Gilda had told her about Dash herself. “She was basically saying how horrible you are, and how you’re lying about taking me to the final two, since you would never backstab your element of harmony friends, and…”

Quickly raising a hoof, Dash shushed the filly. “That’s all I needed to hear, squirt. That just confirms how twisted Gilda is! Trying to manipulate you like that and turn you against me! Well, it’s time for her to go tonight. That’s who you’re to vote for, alright? I’m pretty sure most of the others are onboard with that plan, since Gilda isn’t well-liked, but I’ll go and chat with them just to make sure.”

“But…Rainbow Dash…Gilda actually had a good point,” Scootaloo protested, trying to stand up for herself, “How can you take me to the final two if you still have four other elements of harmony here? AND Princess Celestia for that matter? I…I really struggle you seeing voting off THEM instead of a little filly like…”

“No time for idle chitchat, Scoots. Just trust me, alright?” Dash hopped out of the bed, ignoring Scootaloo’s concerns and hurrying to get out the infirmary door. “Come on. The ceremony will be soon. I can’t wait to see Gilda’s face when she gets sent off for a second time!”

“But, Rainbow…” Scootaloo’s pleas went unheard, as the filly was once again left in the darkness. 

Rainbow Dash: Alright, all my loyal and awesome viewers, the plan is simple for tonight. Gilda is going home for a second time, and this time she had better STAY gone! Even if I don’t have that stupid teacher, that ignorant Trixie, or that crazy disc jockey onboard, it won’t matter. With the princess by my side, my four remaining elements of harmony friends, Scoots, and Derpy, that’ll be more than enough!

~~~

The moment she saw Rainbow Dash leave the infirmary, Cheerilee rushed over and caught Scootaloo before she could follow. “Scootaloo! Great to see you, sweetie!” Pulling her student into her hooves, Cheerilee lovingly nuzzled the saddened filly and gave her back a few rubs. “Nice prize you got today, by the way. Er…but, you might want to read the label when you want to blow a bubble, alright?”

“I don’t really know how to blow one anyway, Miss Cheerilee.” Scootaloo smiled at her teacher, returning all the affection as much as she could. “Oh, I’m voting for Gilda tonight. Is that who you were voting for, too?”

Widening her eyes at this news, but realizing it was just as she thought, Cheerilee shook her head. “No. Scootaloo, dear? Could you…please vote for Derpy instead?”

“What? Derpy?” Scootaloo was completely taken aback by this request. “But, why?”

Clearing her throat to buy a little time, Cheerilee hurried to come up with an excuse. “Because…she is in danger of…inflicting further harm upon herself! Did you not see the clams that are fastened painfully onto her ears? The poor dear is so accident-prone and clumsy that the more she stays on this dangerous island, the more liable she is to sustain a very horrifying injury! We must send her home, for her own good. You understand, right?”

Scootaloo gave her teacher an odd look. “Are…are you sure?”

“Yes, Scootaloo, I swear to you. Please, vote for Derpy. I’ve already got Twilight and her friends onboard, and they all agree with me. We must do this. As they say, you must be cruel to be kind.” When Scootaloo still looked like she had doubts, Cheerilee pulled her a little closer and stared into her eyes. “Scootaloo, please, just trust me. I love you, okay? I’m your teacher, and your best friend, and I have always been there for you. Just do it, alright?”

Hearing those three sacred words be uttered by her own teacher before Rainbow Dash had ever even dared think of such words, Scootaloo choked and felt tears appearing in her eyes. Very slowly, she nodded her head and gave her teacher a look that said that she would do as she asked. The two then shared a deep, passionate hug with one another, with Scootaloo’s tears rushing down Cheerilee’s back.

Scootaloo: F-forgive me, Rainbow Dash…b-but, we can get G-Gilda out next time. *she wipes her nose on her left foreleg* If Miss Cheerilee w-wants to get out Derpy…I-I have to go with her…I’m sorry.

Cheerilee: I feel really terrible about this, but like I said, you must be cruel to be kind. I lied to Scootaloo about voting off Derpy; I simply had to talk her into spoiling her vote. See, my plan is to pull off a huge blindside and vote out Rainbow Dash tonight! Trixie, Vinyl, and Gilda are all easily onboard, but now I need Princess Celestia, Derpy, and Fluttershy to help out as well for this big plan to work right.

~~~

“So…you want me to vote for Scootaloo?” Celestia asked, peering curiously at Cheerilee. “But, don’t you care deeply for her? Why are you wanting to vote her out?”

“Because the poor dear cannot take the stress of being here much longer,” Cheerilee explained, “Haven’t you seen how worn-down and depressed she’s been? This place is simply not good for her. It turns you into somepony that you don’t want to be, or it makes you lose yourself inside! Just look at what Rarity ended up doing to Silver Spoon.”

“Well, I do suppose you have a point…” Celestia didn’t look very confident on this, but she did give a nod to Cheerilee. “Okay, very well. Let’s vote off Scootaloo and send her home. She’ll be safer there. After all, the closer this game gets to the end, the more danger I think we might all be in.”

Cheerilee: I know the princess wouldn’t fall for the same story that I told Scootaloo about Derpy having to go due to her being a danger to herself, so I instead played at Celestia’s motherly instincts. She looked over Twilight since she was a filly, so while she may not admit it, Princess Celestia is a very caring pony. Telling her about Scootaloo’s depression was the perfect way to make her spoil her own vote.

~~~

“Vote for Scootaloo? But…that’s not what Rainbow Dash told me to do…” Fluttershy shook her head, sighing deeply after listening to Cheerilee’s plea. “I know what you’re saying might be true, but…I can’t go against Rainbow Dash like that! She’d be…very upset…that I lied to her.”

“Please, Fluttershy, will you at least think about it?” Cheerilee urged. 

“Yeah…I’ll think about it. I’ll make a decision by the time we have to vote tonight. I promise.”

~~~

“Derpy, if you write down Rainbow Dash’s name tonight, I’ll buy you all the muffins you want when we get back to Ponyville! How does that sound?”

Derpy’s eyes spun around curiously in their sockets, while her head tilted and made her clam earrings brush against her cheeks. “That sounds really nice! But…um, isn’t writing down somepony’s name…like, not a good thing? Don’t we write down names of those we DON’T want here?”

“Er…um…you’re thinking too much on it, Derpy!” Cheerilee chuckled nervously, “Just write down Dash’s name and I’ll buy you a lot of muffins, okay?”

“Okay!”

Derpy: Rainbow Dash already promised me a whole trainload of muffins if I wrote down Gilda’s name! But, now Cheerilee is promising me a lot of muffins, too! Ooh, so many muffins…so little time!

~~~

“So, the vote tonight is rather easy, right?” Twilight stated, looking at Rarity and Pinkie. “Rainbow Dash says to vote for Gilda, and I have to agree. She’s just the logical choice at this point. You two agree?”

“Yes, darling.”

“I suppose so. It’s still sad having to vote anyone out at this point, though.”

Twilight patted Pinkie on the back. “It’s the name of the game, I’m afraid, Pinkie Pie. Only one can ultimately win, apparently. We’ll all have to go eventually.”

~~~

“That Rainbow Dash is so not the wild pony that likes to party! She’s going down, dude!” Vinyl winked at Trixie and lifted up her goggles a little. “You’re down with that too, right?”

“Of course, you obnoxious oaf. Eliminate the competition, and Rainbow Dash is the competition. She must go down. Preferably go down hard, since Trixie can’t stand her.” The unicorn flashed her immunity pass in Vinyl’s face. “But, with this, all Trixie knows is that she’s as safe as a whistle tonight!”

~~~

“Gilda, I know that you have personal ties to her in the past, but…”

“Those times are long gone, geeky teacher. I’m ready to boot her to the curb once and for all.”

Cheerilee nodded her head up at the griffon. “I’m with you all the way. Hopefully, Rainbow Dash will be taking the dock of shame to the boat of losers and leaving us for good tonight!”

Cheerilee: I’ve done everything I could to try and make this work. This is all for the sake of Scootaloo, or else I would never stoop to such levels. If it all works out, Celestia, Fluttershy and Scootaloo will spoil their votes. Then, that leaves me, Derpy, Gilda, Trixie and Vinyl all to vote for Dash, which would mean that Twilight, Pinkie, Dash and Rarity’s votes for Gilda won’t matter! This can work!

~~~

Assembling at the bonfire ceremony again was just a routine by this time for some of the campers. The only ones who didn’t seem to mind them was Cheerilee, Derpy, Pinkie and Vinyl. And Discord, for that matter. As such, when the twelve remaining campers trotted over to the roaring campfire for the night’s elimination, most of them were in moderately low spirits. Cheerilee was calmly excited at the thought of finally allowing Scootaloo to enjoy herself on the island without being manipulated and forced to be a slave to Rainbow Dash after voting her out.

When all the ponies and the one griffon were sitting on the wooden bleachers, Discord appeared on the scene in a flash of sparklers and other fireworks, most of which ended up nearly striking several ponies. Ignoring the yells of rage and furious outcries from the campers, Discord put his claws on his hips and waited for everyone to calm down. It took nearly five full minutes for Rarity to finally calm down and remain seated where she was, having had a very traumatizing day as it was and not wishing for anymore drama until she went to bed.

“Well, my little ponies and griffon, it’s time to once again vote off one of your own,” Discord sang out, pretending to sob a little bit. “Oh, such a tragic time indeed, when you must so thoughtlessly write down the name of someone that you want to see go bye-bye and lose their chance at becoming rich! Ooh, it’s just so evil, don’t you think?”

“Just shut up and get on with it,” Gilda snapped.

“Alright, alright! Bossy bird. If there’s no questions, then let the voting begin! Dear seat…oh, I mean, dear Celestia, do take your turn in the confessional first, won’t you?” While the entire cast gave Celestia a strange look at Discord’s odd miswording insult, Celestia’s face turned beet red as she hurried off to make her vote.

Celestia: *showing the camera that she voted for Scootaloo* This seems like an odd vote to make, but nopony knows you better than your teacher, so I guess it’s your time, dear. *she puts the ballot in the box*

Cheerilee: *showing the camera that she voted for Rainbow Dash* Finally, with you out of the picture, Scootaloo will open her eyes and learn to have fun! Goodbye, Dash. *she puts the ballot in the box*

Rainbow Dash: *showing the camera that she voted for Gilda* Stepping up to the plate for the second time, it’s Gilda! And…it’s another strikeout! Ooh, such a shame. Loser! *she puts the ballot in the box*

Scootaloo: *showing the camera that she voted for Derpy* I don’t really fully understand this vote at all, but if Miss Cheerilee says that this is what is needed, then okay. *she puts the ballot in the box*

When Vinyl made her way back to her seat, Discord snapped his fingers and had the ballot box appear in front of him. “All twelve votes have been cast! Once a decision is reached, the vote is absolutely, positively, undeniably final! The loser who is voted off must say bye-bye and get onboard the boat of losers. And, this time, they CANNOT come back! Not now, not tomorrow, not yesterday, not seventeen days from now, not EVER! So, with that, I shall read the results.”

“Hey, Pinkie, you forgot to do your ‘forever’ yell,” Twilight commented, turning to look at her friend, but after seeing that she was busy cuddling her Twilight doll, the real Twilight paled a little bit and decided to not persist on the matter. 

“First vote…Derpy.” Discord showed the ballot with Derpy’s name written upon it with Scootaloo’s usual sloppy writing. Derpy just blinked and tilted her head, while Scootaloo tossed a smile to Cheerilee. 

“Second vote…Scootaloo.” Discord showed the ballot with Scootaloo’s name written with Celestia’s royal and very neat signature. The filly herself, who had just looked proud of herself, was now saddened.

“Third vote…Rainbow Dash.” Discord showed the third ballot with Rainbow Dash’s name written on it.

“Fourth vote…Rainbow Dash.”

“Fifth vote…Rainbow Dash.”

“Sixth vote…Rainbow Dash. That’s four votes Rainbow Dash, one vote Scootaloo, and one vote Derpy.” At this point, Scootaloo was looking at Cheerilee with a confused expression, but Cheerilee was much too busy bouncing in place and grinning excitedly for Dash’s ultimate elimination.

“Seventh vote…Gilda.” And, just like that, Cheerilee’s smile vanished from her face.

“Eighth vote…Gilda.”

“Ninth vote…Gilda.”

“Tenth vote…Gilda. That’s four votes Gilda, four votes Rainbow Dash, and two votes left.” Gilda herself just frowned and shook her head, while Scootaloo was now glaring at Cheerilee, since it was obvious that she had lied to her about Derpy going home. Celestia also was frowning over at Cheerilee. The teacher herself, though, was looking very nervous as she awaited the final two votes.

“Eleventh vote…Gilda. That’s five votes Gilda, four votes Rainbow Dash, and only one vote left.” As soon at that vote was read, Cheerilee’s ears drooped, and she hung her head. She knew her plan had failed.

“Ninth overall loser of Total Magic Pony Island…” Discord flipped over the final ballot. “…Gilda.”

Rainbow Dash immediately pumped her hooved fist and cackled in delight. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy were all nodding expectantly to one another. Gilda looked furious, but a lot calmer than she did the last time. Trixie and Vinyl both looked disappointed. Derpy was too busy tapping her clam earrings to really care. Cheerilee looked absolutely crestfallen, and the glares she was getting from Celestia and Scootaloo sealed the deal of her huge failure. 

“You lied to me, Miss Cheerilee!” Scootaloo snapped, angrily turning her back to her teacher and stomping off back towards the cabins. “I can’t believe I listened to you over Rainbow Dash.”

“You and I are also going to have a little chat later on, Cheerilee,” Celestia said tartly, shaking her head in disapproval at the earth pony.

“What exactly is wrong with them?” Twilight asked, looking to Cheerilee for answers, but the teacher looked sick to her stomach and couldn’t listen to anything from the unicorn right now.

Leaning over, Rainbow Dash whispered into Cheerilee’s ear. “Nice try, nice try. Almost, but not quite. Sadly, almost doesn’t count around here.” She mockingly patted the teacher on the back, then snickered before turning to bid farewell to Gilda. “Guess this is it for you, Gilda. Yet again, I outlasted you. It really must stink to be in your position, huh?”

“At least I can leave with my dignity intact this time, which is less than I can say for you, Dash!” Gilda got up, turning around and growling at her former friend. “Not only a flip-flop, but also a total jerk. And that’s something I never thought I’d say! Sure, I may be heading outta here, but who’s the real loser today, huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You lost! I outplayed you! YOU’RE the loser, and always will be!”

Gilda grunted, just shaking her head and slowly rambling down the path towards the dock of shame. “Sure, whatever. Good luck, by the way, trying to take that little filly to the end with you. I only wish I could be here to watch that plan blow up in your face and watch you fall in flames. I’ll be laughing the entire way, Dash.”

“Wait a minute. Rainbow Dash, you said you’d take Scootaloo to the end with you?” Rarity narrowed her eyes at the Pegasus, putting her hooves on her hips. “And where exactly does that leave us, huh?” She motioned towards Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie. 

Before Rainbow Dash could give an answer, Discord appeared in front of the camera. “Sadly, we don’t have any more time to find out. With Gilda voted off for the second, and hopefully final time, that leaves us with eleven campers again. Is there a division within this so-called group of ‘friends’? Will Cheerilee manage to bounce back from her failed plan? Can Scootaloo ever do anything for herself without having to listen to someone? Find out all these answers next time, right here, on…”

“HEY, I HAVE A ROCK IN MY EAR!” Pinkie gasped, reaching up and finally feeling what had been lodged in her ear all day long. She cuddled her Twilight doll some more and giggled while removing the rock. “Thanks so much for telling me it was there, Twilight #2! You know everything, don’t you?” 

“…Total…Magic…Pony…Island!” Discord flung his arms out and struck a pose, but stomped his foot and looked very annoyed. “No, that will not do! That was absolutely terrible! Pinkie Pie, girl, you just ruined the end of the episode, and I demand to know what you’re going to do about it!”

Pinkie held up Twilight #2 in response. “Ask Twilight! She knows everything, so she’ll be sure to fix it!”

Discord stared at Twilight #2 for a very long time, with Twilight herself sitting there dazed and confused as ever. Very slowly, Discord just covered his face with his claws and motioned for the cameras to fade.