Total Drama Friendship is Tragic

by YourUncleFuncle

The Big Sleep

“Last time on Total Drama, the sixteen campers faced their first ever challenge, which was to cliff dive into water. While some of them chickened out, most of them managed to do it, and the Draconequui of Discord came out on top, receiving wagons to carry their supplies onto build a hot tub. The disadvantage proved to be too much for the Elements of Harmony, as they got to their destination a full thirty minutes behind the other team for reasons including not having wagons, Derpy getting lost, and Cheese carrying Rarity. After they got there they were foiled again by bolts that ended up being tightened too much by Trixie. The team blamed Twilight, however, for the loss. Despite this, an annoyed Rainbow Dash of the Draconequui had enough of Derpy and convinced some of the Elements to vote her off. And so it was Derpy Hooves who’s dream of being 100,000 bits richer went up in flames. One down, fifteen to go. Who will be next? Find out right now on Total Drama Friendship is Tragic!”

Sleeping Car

All of the contestants are asleep. It’s five in the morning, and everypony is sleeping. Spike is mumbling something about Rarity and ice cream, Rainbow Dash is snoring really weird, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are all dreaming about how to get their cutie marks.

Chris walked down the hallway with a loudspeaker in one hand, a blow horn in the other, and earplugs. He then proceeded to put the blow horn to the end of the loudspeaker, smiled, and hit the button.

Cabin 4

HOOOOOOOOOOOONK

Everypony was suddenly woken up by the sound of the horn, and were all looking around in a very confused manner. Twilight had hit the bunk on top of her when she jumped, and Rarity just seemed very mad.

“Don’t these ponies know what beauty sleep is?”

Cabin 1

“Why does Chris think it’s a good idea to wake us up this early?”

Rainbow Dash had quite literally rolled out of bed and onto the floor in alarm. She was muttering complaints to herself and the others while they also got out of bed. However only she and Pinkie seemed to be having trouble doing it. Spitfire was up and doing push-ups and Fluttershy was huddled up in a corner in fear.

Cabin 3

All three of the young fillies were all struggling to get out of bed.

“Ah don’t know how my brother and sister do this everyday,” Apple Bloom complained.

“I don’t know how anypony can do this anytime,” Scootaloo responded, stretching her wings out.

Cabin 1

Spike was still curled up in bed, obviously hoping to get back to sleep. Shining Armor and Cheese Sandwich were both slowly moving around, while Big Macintosh was the only one who wasn’t fazed.

Shining Armor walked over to Spike’s bunk and nudged him a little with his hoof. “Spike,” he said softly, “it’s time to get up. We have a game to play.”

“Five more minutes, Twilight,” Spike muttered before turning away and facing the wall instead. He kept trying to wake him up while Cheese was finding his balance. He looked to see that Big Mac looked perfectly normal. “You seem to like getting up at five in the morning. Does farm life do that to you?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said before opening the door and going out in the walkway, becoming the first contestant to emerge from a cabin.

Sleeping Car

The rest soon followed in the span of five minutes. Everpony seemed very drowsy and sleepy still except for Big Mac, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spitfire, who were all used to getting up that early anyways. At last Spike and Shining Armor walked out and Chris was finally able to talk.

“Good morning, campers,” he exclaimed, “are you ready for today’s challenge?”

“Chris! It’s still early,” Rainbow whined.

“We haven’t had breakfast,” Scootaloo complained.

“I’m going back to bed,” Spike said, turning to walk to his cabin door. Before he could go through a giant red hoof slammed it shut.

“Nnope,” Big Mac said, staring down at the purple dragon. Spike groaned and turned back toward Chris.

“Are you all done complaining?” Chris paused and looked around before smiling again. “Good! Well the first part of today’s challenge is an easy one! Follow me!”

The contestants followed Chris out of the train and onto the station. He then pointed to a dirt trail that was lined on either side by red flags.

“That track is ten miles long, and it loops around back here. Your challenge is to be the first team to run the track and get everypony back here. Ready! Go!” He said that so fast that all of the competitors had to process what he said for a second before it looked like they were all shot out of a cannon. They all scrambled to get to the start of the course and were off.

Race track

After a few minutes it seemed like all the contestants were starting to form groups, with ponies like Spitfire, Applejack, and Cheese at the front, Twilight, the CMC, and Shining in the middle, and Rarity, Spike, and Rainbow in the back.

“Why is this so much harder than flying?” Rainbow Dash was already running low on energy and was sweating.

“Maybe because you spend all your time flying and little time running, darling,” Rarity replied. It seemed like she was just jogging so that she wouldn’t start sweating and look gross. Spike was currently in last because he was still very tired.

Meanwhile the CMC were all running together in a line, being about the same speed.

“I hope you’re not lonely without us, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said, through breaths, “your team seems pretty nice.”

“Well, Ah’m glad that we have Applejack and all. Ah just hope she doesn’t start to boss me round like she usually does.”

“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said, looking forward “she seems a little busy at the moment for that.”

The other two crusaders looked forward and saw that Applejack was running backwards toward the back of the line. Her and Rarity exchanged a few words and the crusaders could tell that they weren’t kind words. After a minute Applejack rolled her eyes and bursted forward again.

“(Applejack) That girl would rather take her sweet time and have our team lose than get a little bit sweaty. Ah swear if we lose she’s going home.”

Ponyville

Spitfire made it back to the station to find Chris was standing there waiting for everypony to arrive with a newspaper in his hands. Spitfire flew over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Chris, I’m the first one here!”

“But you can’t be the first, silly filly, I made it here before you!”

Spitfire cringed and looked over her shoulder to see Pinkie looking up at her with her usual Pinkie smile.

“How? Nopony went past me the entire time,” Spitfire thought for a second before shaking her head, landing on the ground, and shook her head.

“(Spitfire) Never try to understand Pinkie Pie logic. It never goes well.”

Spitfire turned around only to see a confident Rainbow Dash blow past her and stop with a cocky smile on her face. “Rainbow Dash,” she started to ask, “how did you get here so fast? You were far behind when we started.”

“I had a burst of energy at the end and passed everyone up,” she said, turning to sit down and rest.

More runners showed up after this, including Twilight, Applejack, Shining Armor, and Cheese Sandwich. So far there were four Elements and three Draconequui.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I employed the same technique I used in the running of the leaves to give myself a big boost at the end.”

“There’s only three of us here?” Shining asked the question through pants and turned back toward the end of the track.
“Well we better hope that the rest of our team gets here before the last Element.”

A minute went by before the CMC made their way to the finish, followed closely behind by Big Mac and Trixie.

“Alright teams, both of you have six runners here, leaving Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity out there,” Chris announced, staring in anticipation as the last competitors were still yet to be seen.

“(Apple Bloom) All we need is for Rarity to not come in last and we win. Easy...I hope…”

“(Scootaloo) How can they all be so slow?”

“(Trixie) The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't like to be left waiting to claim her victory.”

After a minute they see Spike come over the horizon panting and waving his arms around. After he crossed the finish line he looked to his, “Fluttershy was right behind me. She should be here any second.”

As he said that they saw the creamy yellow pegasus approaching, with no Rarity in sight. The Draconequui cheer as she crosses the finish line and looks to them apologetically. “I’m sorry I was so slow in getting here, everypony.”

“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, “we won!”

The Draconequui were cheering in celebration while the Elements were waiting for Rarity to walk across, and Applejack in particular was looking ready to kill her as soon as she did.

“Are you alright AJ?”

Applejack turned to Twilight who stepped back after seeing the look on the earthpony’s face. “No I’m not Twilight. It’s clear that we have a pony on our team that’s not willing to at least try. At least Derpy tried her best, even if it wasn't always perfect, she still tried! See! Look at her!” She pointed a hoof toward the track and they saw Rarity walking across the finish line. Rarity smiled and nodded to her team.

“I’m baaaaack!” Her expression changed when she saw the looks of sadness and anger from her team. Then Twilight stepped forward.

“Rarity, we-“

She was cut off by Applejack stamping her back hoof in frustration. “Rarity, do you even care about this competition?”

Rarity stood there with a dumbfounded expression staring at Applejack. The orange pony waited for a response, but upon not receiving one she continued.

“Ah personally have not seen an ounce of effort come from you for these first few days. You refused to jump of the cliff, you had poor Cheese drag you around while we were hauling crates, you barely helped build the dang hot tub, and now you just made us lose the race. How can you explain this pattern of uselessness, Ah wonder, besides being lazy and not having a care in the world!”

By this point everypony was watching the scene, even Chris. Applejack took a breath after letting herself go on the lengthy rant and then acknowledged the look on Rarity’s face. Devastation. Her face was scrunched up in a way that looked like she was trying her best to not cry. She ran back up the track with tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

“(Trixie) Wow, that was harsh. Even for Trixie.”

Spike ran after her, shooting Applejack an ugly look, and the rest of the group watched them go.

“Actually you guys won.”

Everypony that was still there turned to Chris in confusion after he interrupted.

“But Rarity finished last, and she’s an element,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Well, I got word that a certain pegasus flew through most of the track.”

The Draconequui all simultaneously turned to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened when this happened for a second before her expression morphed into a sheepish smile.

“(Rainbow Dash) So I flew a little. So what?”

“I only did it for a few miles,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“But this was a ten mile run, not fly.” Chris said, “therefore the Draconequui forfeit, and the Elements win!”

There was not a lot of enthusiasm from the Elements who were staring after Rarity, worried about their friend.

“(Shining Armor) Gosh dang it, Rainbow! We were so close and she just had to break the one rule we were given.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) Remember kids, cheaters never win.”

“As your reward, Elements of Harmony,” he snapped his fingers, and an unenthusiastic Chef Hatchet appeared, carrying seven mugs on a platter. “you will all get a cup of coffee, which should help you through the next challenge.”

The Elements stared at the coffee in confusion, expecting a better reward, but each of them took a cup and drank it.

Then a white hoof came out of nowhere and snatched a cup angrily. The hoof belonged to Rarity, who had just come back with Spike, and had mascara running down her cheeks and was glaring intensely at Applejack. The orange earth pony noticed and walked up to her, but Rarity turned away, refusing to face her.

“Rarity, Ah’m truly sorry about going off on you. Ah just wish you could take this game a bit more seriously, because your team needs you.”

The rest of the Elements of Harmony nodded their heads in agreement. The only response they received was a “Hummph,” from Rarity and she turned away sipping the coffee. Meanwhile Spike made it back to his Draconequui team and smiled expectantly.

“So where’s our reward for winning the challenge?”

Campfire Pit

The teams walked to the campfire pit following Chris, but were clearly confused considering it was still very early in the morning, and the bonfire ceremony wouldn’t take place until nighttime.

“I still can’t believe we lost,” Spike said as they approached the pit. He then let out a loud yawn. “I wasted whatever energy I had on that race. I don’t know if I can deal with another challenge.”

“It’s okay, Spike, you can do it,” Spitfire encouraged.

“(Spitfire) My job as leader is to motivate those that lack confidence. Spike may be one of the weakest on the team, but that doesn’t mean he’s the weakest out of all of us. He’s stronger than about half of the other team.”

Pinkie was bouncing forward in excitement. “Oooo, I can't wait to hear what the challenge is! Do you think it’s a marshmallow roasting challenge? Or a staring contest? Or,” she gasped sharply, “maybe it’s a party throwing contest!”

“If it is, we totally got it in the bag,” Cheese said excitedly.

“Not even close!”

At this point they had just gotten to the pit, and Chris was standing right next to the pit. It wasn’t lit, seeing as how the sun was in the air, the lanterns weren’t on, and there were no marshmallows. The campers stood perplexed at the scene, especially to the Elements of Harmony, who less than twelve hours ago, had watched one of their own exit in a very dramatic scene.

“(Twilight Sparkle) I still remember the cold feeling I got when I was waiting for that marshmallow.”

“Okay, teams, this challenge is the awake-a-thon! The goal is-“

He was cut off when Spike suddenly collapsed from exhaustion, and as soon as he had, he started snoring loudly.

“-don’t do that. All of you must try to stay awake as long as possible. The last pony awake wins it for their team, and will receive a well deserved reward. The losing team will put somepony up for elimination here tonight. Now that Spike is out, the score is tied, so go!”

The teams stood around in confusion, looking at each other.

Then Apple Bloom asked, “So...we’re just supposed to sit around and not fall asleep?”

“Correct! Just stay by the fire pit, and no funny business! We have Princess Luna on speed dial in case anypony tries cheating, good luck!”

Chris then walked away to Celestia knows where. The teams then walked over to the campfire pit and sat down.

“Well this is boring,” Rainbow Dash said after waiting in silence for a minute.

Twenty four hours later and Spike was the only one to fall asleep. As soon as he woke up, he drowsily stood up and walked back to the train.

“(Spitfire) Told you he was one of the weak ones.”

The other contestants mostly just looked really tired, with some having dark circles around their eyes. Pinkie, Cheese, and Apple Bloom were the only ones still wide awake. They had been playing party games and talking the entire night, and Apple Bloom had even taken Applejack’s hat away from her and ran around with it for ten minutes before her older sister caught her.

“(Applejack) This is why we don’t give her coffee normally, but for this challenge it’s fine.”

“(Sweetie Belle) This challenge is pretty easy, but only if you get past the fact that you’ll be a zombie for the entire thing.”

“This is lame,” Scootaloo cried, “why can’t we have a fun challenge instead of waiting for everypony to fall asleep?”

“Don’t worry, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said, “as soon as we win this challenge, we’ll be able to move on and hopefully do something fun next challenge.”

“(Scootaloo) It better be.”

Meanwhile Applejack was trying to talk to Rarity, who continued to ignore her.

“Rarity, Ah already apologized more time than Ah can count. What more do you want from me?”

“I would just like to be left alone right now if you don’t mind, please.”

She then got up and walked toward the other side of the pit and sat down next to Fluttershy. The pegasus looked to her friend with concern.

“Rarity? Are you alright?”

Rarity then caught her friend in a big embrace and buried her face in the long pink mane, “Oh, Fluttershy! What should I do? I don’t think I can handle this game!”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t been any good at the challenges so far. I really do try, but I either get tired or am just no good at it. I’m not fast or strong or anything. Maybe I’m just not made for this game.”

“Well, you never know when your skills will come in handy. If you make it through this challenge it could end up being a fashion competition!”

Rarity sniffed, sat up, and rubbed a few stray tears out of her eyes. “I just don’t know if I’ll be able to make it until then, darling.”

“You have to try. Otherwise I’m not sure Applejack will like it very much.”

“Alright, I’ll try to push through the ugliness I feel.”

Fluttershy gave a sad smile and nodded, watching Rarity walk back to the other side.

“(Applejack) Ah should really thank Fluttershy for knocking some sense into that girl. Way to go!”

“(Spitfire) I’m not really sure how I feel about her helping the enemy, but it’s Rarity so I don’t know how much it helped exactly.”

Thirty six hours into the challenge, and it seemed like a few contestants were nearing the end of their trek. All of a sudden Shining Armor fell asleep, with his sister Twilight following close behind. Both sides had six ponies awake still.

Rainbow Dash was currently sitting with Big Macintosh “I think I’m so tired I’m not even tired anymore. Does that make sense?”

“Nn-Eeyup,” he said, yawning at the end.

“(Rainbow Dash) The stallion may not talk a lot, but he’s probably the best listener I know. Except Fluttershy, but she sets the bar pretty high.”

Apple Bloom was lying down and looked like she was about to drift off when she received a light tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sweetie Belle standing over her with her eyes as open as she could make them.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting...now.”

Apple Bloom nodded and stood up, stretching for a second and following Sweetie Belle behind a rock by the campfire pit, which was now lit since it was night. When the were on the other side they saw Scootaloo waiting for them.

“Took you both long enough,” she said, “are we ready?”

“I think so,” Sweetie Belle said, “why did you want to talk to us anyways?”

Scootaloo, who seemed to be the more awake out of the three, started to speak. “So as you both know, Apple Bloom is on a different team than Sweetie Belle and I. This doesn’t mean that the Crusaders will fall apart right?” All she received in response was a small nod from Sweetie Belle and a yawn from Apple Bloom. “Right! So clearly we need an interteam alliance of some sort. I’m not the best at strategy or planning, so that’s where you girls come in-“

She turned around to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both passed out. Scootaloo looks around before awkwardly leaving.

“(Scootaloo) Alright! Good talk!”

“(Apple Bloom) The first night Ah was wide awake, but then Ah crashed. Stupid caffeine. No wonder my family doesn’t let me have none.”

An hour goes by after the two crusaders go out when suddenly Rarity starts to wobble from either side.

“(Rarity) My vision got blurry, everything I heard got muffled, and suddenly I woke up the next morning covered in dirt!”

Rarity then fell over, clearly exhausted, and started snoring.

A few minutes later Fluttershy yawned, and was closing her eyes before opening them suddenly again. Rainbow Dash saw this and flew over to her, shaking her.

“Stay with me Fluttershy. Don’t quit on me now.”

“Rainbow-“ she suddenly fell asleep in the blue pegasus’ arms. Rainbow Dash tried to gently shake her awake, but then layed her down slowly instead.

“(Fluttershy) I was really tired. I just got so tired by that point that I think even if I was being shaken by Rainbow I still wouldn’t have stayed awake.”

Forty eight hours in, and by this point all of the remaining eight campers were dead to the world. Cheese was mumbling stuff to himself, Scootaloo was curled up facing the campfire pit, and Trixie was nodding her head back and forth before falling asleep finally.

“(Trixie) You can’t say Trixie hasn’t been helping her team. Trixie has done more for this team than any of the others. She just got too tired to stay awake any longer.”

“Hey Cheesie! How are you doing?”

Cheese Sandwich looked up and saw Pinkie Pie standing over him with a big smile on her face. Cheese smiled back before answering, “Pretty good! A little tired but I’m getting through it!”

Another hour went by before Chris came to check on them for the first time in the challenge. “What is wrong with you ponies? Go to sleep already! If you don’t I’ll have to use extreme measures.”

“(Spitfire) What could he possibly have that’s worse than what we’re already dealing with?”

It seemed like the line from Chris had hypnotized Scootaloo, and she suddenly fell over, knocked out herself. There were only three ponies per team left now.

At noon on the third day, the campers were each now fighting to stay awake, and it seemed like any of them could fall over in exhaustion. Then Applejack stood up.

“Ah’m going to use the last bit of energy that Ah have to go to the bathroom.” She stood up and took one step before freezing and falling to the ground, going asleep.

Sixty hours into the challenge, and Big Mac, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Cheese Sandwich, and Pinkie Pie looked, for a lack of a better word, dead. Then Chris walked up with a wheelbarrow, and inside was the biggest book that any of the ponies had ever seen.

“(Rainbow Dash) It looked like the kind of book that would leave Twilight foaming at the mouth.”

“(Twilight Sparkle) I asked Chris if I could borrow the book after the challenge.”

Spitfire looked up and saw Chris stop with the wheelbarrow and smile suspiciously. “Oh what now?”

“Well,” Chris explained, “Chef and I were talking about you five earlier and we decided that this challenge was a little to easy for you all.”

“(Spitfire) He’s not the one that stayed up for more than two days straight.”

“So,” he continued, “I found the most boring, sleep inducing thing that I could find which is…” he hesitated as he struggled to pick up the giant book and place it on the barrel where he puts the marshmallows.

“The Unabridged History of Rocks, By Maudilenna Pie.”

“Nope! I’m out!”

Chris turned to see Rainbow Dash quickly lay down and fall asleep, not even daring to hear about such an uninteresting topic to her. Chris then shrugged and opened the book to chapter one.

“In the beginning there was nothing. Equestria was just a simple abyss with nothing inside it.”

Cheese Sandwich listened for about ten minutes before covering his ears, walking slowly over to the rock, and banging his head on it in annoyance. His plan backfired, though, and he fell unconscious. Chef Hatchet then picked him up to carry him to the infirmary.

“(Cheese Sandwich) Got a little real there for a second! I was just so tired I couldn’t think straight.”

After about an hour all three of the ponies looked to be on death’s door. Chris’ voice was droning on in their heads, and even though they tried to ignore it, the words were still sinking through.

“...and that is why there are three types of rocks known to ponies now.”

Spitfire, Big Mac, and Pinkie took a deep breath as silence finally hit their ears.

“Now onto chapter two!”

The big red stallion started falling to the side, landing with a big crash. Spitfire and Pinkie Pie looked at each other weakly, realizing the winner won for their team. Chris looked at the two of them with a smile.

“This is it everypony! Spitfire for the Draconequui of Discord, and Pinkie Pie for the Elements of Harmony! Who will win it for their team? Who will spare their team from the campfire? Who-”

“Chris,” Pinkie Pie interrupted, “she’s asleep.”

Chris turned toward Spitfire to see that the Wonderbolt captain was indeed out cold. “Oh, well then, congratulations Pinkie, you and the Elements of Harmony win the challenge!” He then pauses for a second after his gaze fell on Pinkie, “actually I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“How did you manage to stay awake so long without getting really tired? I mean, you look tired, but I wouldn’t say you’ve been awake for two and a half days if I saw you.”

Pinkie Pie thinks for a moment before answering. “I’ve always had high energy! How do you think I manage to throw my super duper parties?”

“Alright then.” Chris shrugged and pulled out a walkie talkie and held it up to his cheek. “Chef, please wake up the contestants in the train and have them come to the campfire pit, pronto!”

A grunt of affirmation was heard on the other end.

About ten minutes later all of the contestants had gathered by Chris at the campfire pit. It was around eight at night so there was still a little light out. Half of the campers still looked tired, although the ones that went out early like Spike, Shining, and Twilight looked fully recovered. Big Macintosh, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire were still asleep in nearby places, and Cheese Sandwich was sitting on the ground with bandages on his head, rocking back and forth.

“(Cheese Sandwich) Turns out I gave myself a concussion. I’ve heard of rock and roll, but this is ridiculous!”

“So as you have no doubt heard already, the winners of the challenge are the Elements of Harmony!”

The team cheered and high hooved each other, congratulating each other. “Your guys’ reward is a night in Manehattan Hotel, where you guys can recover from this challenge in peace. We’re going there for the next challenge and tomorrow is a day off for both teams, but you’ll be enjoying it in luxury.”

The Elements happily cheered at the news.

“(Rarity) Manehattan. Next to Canterlot it’s perhaps the most fashionable city in Equestria!”

“(Apple Bloom) Whew! Ah need this! The perks of actually winning!”

“As for you guys,” Chris said turning to the five conscious Draconequui, “time to put someone up for elimination. You have two hours to decide and meet back here. Have fun!” Chris turned around and walked a few steps. “Oh yeah! And take your teammates with you.”

They looked at the sleeping Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, and Spitfire.

“Well,” Shining Armor started, “they tried.”

Cabin 3

Back at the train, Scootaloo is resting on her bed while Apple Bloom is sitting on her own watching Sweetie Belle pace around.

“I can’t believe we lost,” Sweetie Belle squeaked while turning around to continue her pacing. “What if I’m the one everypony wants to send home! I really don’t want to go home now! We just started!”

Apple Bloom got off her bed and stood in front of Sweetie Belle to stop her and get her attention. “Why would they send you home? You haven’t done anything bad yet.”

“I know, but I’m still scared that they’ll find a reason.”

“Apple Bloom’s right,” Scootaloo interrupted, jumping off her bed. “There’s really no reason to send you home. Speaking of which, who do you think we should vote off?”

They all thought for a moment before Scootaloo spoke up. “Well, definitely not Rainbow Dash because she’s awesome. Not either of us. Not Spitfire because she’s an amazing leader…”

“And if you vote out my big brother Ah’ll kill you.”

“...right. So that leaves Spike, Fluttershy, or Shining Armor.”

Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Well, I think we should vote out Shining Armor. He’s trying to be a leader when we definitely don’t need one. Besides I don’t really think he’s all that good.”

“No, we need Shining Armor. He’s really strong and fun. I say we vote out Fluttershy, who’s kind of the opposite.”

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin in thought. “You know, Shining Armor did win the challenge yesterday, so I guess he’s got that going for him. But we can’t drop Fluttershy. She may not be strong, but she’s kind and she can do things nopony else can.”

“Oh yeah, right,” Scootaloo said, defeated, “well then I guess we’ll have to compromise.”

“Yeah.”

Observatory Room

Most of the Elements of Harmony are hanging out doing whatever. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are playing cards, Twilight is reading a book, and Trixie is practicing her magic.

However, in one corner of the room, Shining Armor, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire were in the middle of a conversation.

“I don’t think I should be going home tonight,” Rainbow Dash said, “I made it further in the challenge than most of the team.”

“But you still cost us the first part of the challenge,” Shining Armor said, “and that could have given us such a big advantage.”

“He has a point, Rainbow,” Spike said, with a claw pointed at her, “you shouldn’t have flown ahead.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the comment, “Do you seriously think I should go just because of that one mistake? I’m really sorry, and I promise I’ll work 20% more in order to make it up.”

“Yeah guys,” Spitfire stepped in, “everyone deserves a second chance, so let’s give her one.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her idol in awe.

“(Rainbow Dash) Did you see that? She stood up for me! Yes!”

“I don’t know Spitfire, what would you do if one of your Wonderbolt fliers messed up the routine trying to make it better?”

“Well, then I would...put them on probation…” her voice got quieter and quieter as she continued.

“My point exactly.”

Just then Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof on the table, inadvertently drawing the attention of the entire car to her. Shining Armor’s confident grin turned to a frown as he looked wide eyes at the sudden anger he saw in her eyes.

Then Rainbow Dash’s eyes softened, and her anger subsided. She looked at the hoof that she used to slam the table and retracted it.

“M’sorry,” she mumbled before walking to her cabin with a shameful look on her face.

“(Rainbow Dash) I don’t know what happened! All of a sudden my vision went blurry and I almost slammed my fist through the table. I wonder if this is how the Hulk feels.”

Campfire Pit

The sun has set and the two hours is up. The Draconequui of Discord are all sitting around the fire. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are next to each other, and they give each other a nod. Shining Armor is sitting with Spike and Big Mac, who is still drifting in and out of sleep. Fluttershy looks absolutely terrified, and Rainbow Dash put a hoof of comfort around her to calm her. Spitfire was standing at attention, trying to hide the bags that were under her sunglasses.

Chris then stepped forward with his platter, and proceeded to put it on the barrel. On it stood seven marshmallows. Chris pauses before a moment, eying the losing team, before he proceeded.

“Since this is your first elimination ceremony, and because the writer is lazy, I’m just going to give the same intro that I gave last night.” He cleared his throat. “Draconequui of Discord,” hecontinued, “at camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, marshmallows represent life.” He paused for a second to let the message sink in before continuing. “You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only seven marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name come up and claim your marshmallow.”

He paused and saw a few frightened faces, waiting a few seconds before saying the first name.

“Big Macintosh.”

The red stallion slowly stood up, and walked forward with his eyes narrowed in exhaustion. He claimed the first marshmallow before immediately lying down next to Chris to rest and eat.

“Spitfire.”

She nodded and ran up, claiming her marshmallow.

“Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo smiled and bolted for the plate, grabbing the first marshmallow she could reach and shoving it in her mouth.

“Sweetie Belle.”

Sweetie Belle cheered silently and ran up next to her friend, almost forgetting her marshmallow, and needing to turn back around to get it.

“Shining Armor.”

He slowly got up and walked over, standing next to the other Draconequui.

“Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy stood up and cast a sad look over her shoulder at the only two campers without a marshmallow, then slowly made her way to the tray to get the penultimate marshmallow.

“Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening.”

Spike and Rainbow Dash were frozen in their seats, eyes glued on the final marshmallow on the platter.

Chris then eyed an unmoving Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I got word that a certain pegasus flew through most of the track.”

The Draconequui all simultaneously turned to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened when this happened for a second before her expression morphed into a sheepish smile.

He turned to Spike, who was chewing on his claws and fidgeting.

“The goal is-“

He was cut off when Spike suddenly collapsed from exhaustion, and as soon as he had, he started snoring loudly.

“-don’t do that.”

He held onto the suspense a little longer, waiting until the very peak of drama before announcing the last name.

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash flew up as soon as he said her name and knocked over the tray. She still picked up the marshmallow off the ground and ate it while glaring at Shining Armor.

The team then turned to Spike, whose expression was one of shock. “Me? But why? I thought I was doing alright!”

“Spike,” Chris caught the attention of the baby dragon, “I’m sorry, but you’ve been eliminated. Time to go.”

Spike exhaled and stood up, arms slumped down, and started to slowly walk down the path back to Ponyville. He shot his team one final look with his eyes full of tears. “Bye guys. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

Fluttershy flew up to him, and gave him a sad hug. “I’m sorry you didn’t win, Spike,” she whispered. The hug lasted for about a minute before Spike let go and walked up the path.

“(Spike) I’m seriously bummed to go, but at least I didn’t go first, right? Well, I just hope that Rarity ends up winning this thing now. If you can see this, I’ll be rooting for you, my love!”

As their dragon friend disappeared, and lowered their heads in sadness.

“The rest of you enjoy your marshmallows, you’re safe...for tonight.” He was about to turn around to leave them in peace when he turned around. “Oh, and Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked up at Chris nervously as he pulled a note from his jean pocket and reading it before looking up at the yellow pegasus. “If you ever vote for yourself again, that will be considered a forfeit and you’ll be eliminated.” Chris then walked away back to the train.

Fluttershy flinched as she suddenly had the whole teams’ attention on her. She stared back at the questioning eyes with her nervous ones, muttered something incoherent, and ran back to the train.

“(Spitfire) She voted for herself? That’s just asking to go home!”

“(Shining Armor) Does she even want to be here? I seriously want answers now.”

Cabin 4

Applejack walked into her cabin to see Rarity laying on her bed with a pillow over her head. Applejack could tell she was awake so she sat on the bed next to her.

“Look Rarity,” Applejack took a deep breath before continuing, “what Ah said was wrong, and Ah shouldn’t have snapped at you. Ah know that your trying and that so far you haven’t been getting any challenges that favor your skill set, and Ah should've understood that. You can do things that Ah can’t do, and Ah can do things you can’t, and that’s okay. Anyways, Ah just wanted to tell you that Ah’m sorry.”

Applejack waited a second before standing up and walking toward the door.

“You’re right, Applejack.”

She turned around to see Rarity with a soft smile spread across her face. “I’m sorry that I ran off and acted dramatic. I really do think I need to try harder, at all things. The things I do best and the things I do worse.”

Applejack paused and smiled, “Ah’m glad you said that.”

Rarity then got up and spread her arms out. “Now come here, darling. Give me a hug.”

Wasting no time Applejack went forward and accepted the white unicorns embrace. They stayed that way for a moment before they heard hoofsteps coming toward their cabin.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to go to bed, so either zip it or get out!”

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, smiled, and shook their heads before going to their respective beds and falling asleep.

Cabin 1

Rainbow Dash walked into her shared cabin to find Fluttershy laying on her bed and silently staring up at the ceiling of the car. Rainbow Dash flew over slowly to the yellow pegasus.

“Hey Flutters, what’s wrong?”

Fluttershy turned to look at Rainbow before responding, “I-I don’t think I’m cut out for this game. I know I talked to R-Rarity about pushing forward and all, but I don’t think I can handle it. That’s w-why I voted for myself. I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for anypony on our team, s-so I thought I was the only option.”

Rainbow Dash nodded to Fluttershy, understanding how the game's cruel system would clash with her friend’s kind demeanor. “You’re wrong, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked up to see Rainbow, confused, but staying silent to allow the blue pegasus to continue. “You’re a lot stronger than you think. I’ve seen it in you, and I think you can use it to push through this game and win the whole thing. You just gotta have faith.”

Rainbow Dash then turned toward the door to make sure no one was watching before she leaned in and gave Fluttershy a big hug, which she returned. It lasted a few seconds before Rainbow let go and saw Fluttershy with a small smile.

“Thanks Dashie,” she whispered before falling asleep.

Rainbow Dash smiled back and flew off the bed and into her own, turning off the light, and falling asleep herself.

Votes for Spike

“(Rainbow Dash) Try and kick me out? I’m not the weakest here, Spike. You are!”

“(Scootaloo) I guess I have to vote for Spike. I don’t want Rainbow to go home.”

“(Sweetie Belle) I hate to do this, but I think that Spike is the best option to go tonight. Sorry.”

“(Spitfire) Cutting off the weakest link. Who knew that it would be a dragon?”

Votes for Rainbow Dash

“(Shining Armor) Something about Rainbow’s attitude was off today, and that’s the least of her problems.”

“(Spike) Rainbow cost us the challenge and almost ripped Shining’s head off.”

“(Big Macintosh) …Rainbow…”

Votes for Fluttershy

“(Fluttershy) I have to vote for myself. I’m obviously the weakest link, and I can’t bring myself to upset anypony.”

Author's Note:

Spike was the last character I added. At first I limited it to ponies but decided he would be a better option than Bulk Biceps. Still, I didn’t know what to do with his character.

Comments

[DeskManiac]

Great chapter! I like the storyline going for the CMC. Who knows how far they'll go if they keep working together? 😉