Episode 24: All's Awful That Ends Awful
The sun had come out again, shining down on the Dock of Shame as it always did. But instead of Discord being present, Nightmare Moon was standing there instead. And from the expression on her face she looked as if she would rather be anywhere else. Still, after letting out an unhappy sigh she declared as best she could. "Last time on an... 'unusual' episode of Total Magic Pony Island."
The clips from the previous episode began to roll, even while they were accompanied by Nightmare Moon's less than enthusiastic narration. "Discord thought it would be a good idea to summon rains and make the contestants wait a whole day for a buried treasure challenge. Yeah, I didn't think it was a good idea either but the boss is the boss."
Soon, the camera was depicting clips showing where it had all gone wrong. And Nightmare Moon was narrating the whole time. "Unfortunately, those good for nothing contestants of ours got swept away by flood waters because a certain someone didn't bother to check the foundations. But hey, it meant I finally got a day off so it's a win for me."
Nightmare Moon's explanations only slightly changed their tone as clips were shown of the four ponies fending for themselves in the cabins that had been separated. And the wicked mare of darkness only described. "The pink one made a new friend, who promptly destroyed what little sanity she had left. Too bad, so sad. And the rainbow one, well she was so competitive she thought it was a challenge and had to fend for herself. That left those two useless unicorns to try to work together, which went about as well as you'd expect."
The clips started to change, showing how the four castaway ponies had managed to meet up. And the dark coated alicorn was just explaining the whole time. "Eventually, by some stroke of luck, they all found a way to get back together. It seems like they're destined to be together or whatever. Is it any wonder why they drive me nuts?" Then she paused and coughed into a hoof. "Oh, sorry. Getting lost in my thoughts. Where was I? Oh yes!"
Nightmare Moon's narrations changed up a little, she was now clearly "trying" to sound enthusiastic about what was being shown on the cameras even after what she had said earlier. "Well, the pink one convinced them they all had to 'confess' about what they'd done in the past or something so they could all carry on with a clean conscience. What did they talk about? I don't know and I don't care."
After that, a clip was shown depicting a dramatic rescue of the four mares as Nightmare Moon's voice indicated how displeased she was with the development. "Discord just couldn't leave well enough alone though. He just had to mount a search party to rescue our contestants. And then he decided to spare them all at a marshmallow ceremony that he has instructed me to declare he 'Didn't steal from anyone!'," She promptly folded up the note card in her hooves as she remarked. "Seriously, who writes stuff like this?!"
The final clip depicted what had happened that night, with the dark coated alicorn explaining. "So it was that the pink's one new friend got voted off instead in order to snap her back to her senses. Sometimes I really don't get that Discord."
The clips ended soon afterward as Nightmare Moon glared at the cameras. "So yeah, there's your little 'recap'? You got a problem with that?! Well too bad, I don't really care! It's my recap, so I'll do it my way thank you very much!" She snorted, steam escaping from her nostrils as she added. "'Where's Discord?' you ask? Oh, he's off tending to some 'chaotic emergency' somewhere or something. And he left me in charge. Yeah, I'm not happy about it either. But at least that means I have free range to run the show my way!"
Nightmare Moon started to rub her hooves together! "I say Discord's gone soft on these contestants for long enough! And since he isn't here to stop me, I'm going to make these contestants truly suffer!" And she gazed into the cameras. "Excited, aren't we? Well it doesn't matter if you aren't. Sit down, shut up and watch this episode of Total Magic Pony Island!"
The four surviving ponies had no advanced warning about what would be in store for them. When they went to sleep the night before they knew Discord had still been in charge. But upon waking up they found themselves all separated once more.
"Not this again!" Twilight groaned in annoyance as she sat up in her bed, finding that it had been removed from the cabin and that there was no sign of any of her fellow contestants anywhere.
Rainbow Dash suffered a very rude awakening when she rolled out of her bed and fell to the hard ground outside, jolting herself wide awake in the process! "Gah!" She shouted and would've leapt into the air if she still had access to her pegasus magic.
Rarity had taken to throwing the sheets on her bed over her head, both to block out the sun's harsh glare and to try to pretend that she hadn't seen what she'd saw. "Why does this keep happening?!" She whined.
And Pinkie Pie snorted. "Hey, we didn't get to eat breakfast yet! You can't skip breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day!" Of course, no one but her was around to hear her complaints.
Suddenly, all four ponies saw a projection of Nightmare Moon appear in the sky! It was so big that it could be seen from just about anywhere on Paradox Island, or so it seemed. And the wicked mare of darkness was anything but pleased if the scowl on her face was anything to go by! "Silence, all of you!" She demanded!
Twilight forced herself to sigh, she had a pretty good idea of what was going on. "Don't tell me you're running things now, Nightmare Moon."
The dark coated alicorn grinned. "Indeed I am," Then she added in a noticeably less enthusiastic tone of voice. "And just so we're clear, I don't much like it either. But someone's got to take over in Discord's absence. The network and sponsors still want a show. So it's up to me to give 'em one!"
"Does that mean there's no elimination this episode since Discord's not around?" Rainbow Dash questioned as she yawned. "Because if so, I'm just gonna go back to sleep and wait."
Nightmare Moon shook her head. "No can do! We blew our safety net in the last episode thanks to you four utterly incompetent fools. So there's no more 'non-elimination' legs that could possibly exist, and no more previously eliminated contestants that can come back. Tonight, one of you four will be walking down that Dock of Shame even if I drag you down it myself!"
A brief flicker of the camera showed Pinkie Pie in the confessional with an unusually bright smile upon her face! "Ooh! Nightmare Moon's hosting a challenge again?! I had so much fun the last three times she did it! It's too bad no one else seemed to think that way."
Another flicker showed Rainbow Dash in the confessional, giving her own thoughts. "Ugh! I just can't catch a break, can I?! Ever since Scoots lost the scooter race, everything's been going wrong for me!" She complained with narrowed eyes! "I was so close to an automatic victory! But now I'm stuck with Nightmare Moon as a host and no allies to call my own," She stomped a hoof down. "Well, fine! A win is a win! I'll do whatever it takes to make to that finale all by myself!"
Then the camera cut back to the projection of Nightmare Moon as she continued to speak to the contestants. "Now, I'm only going to say this once. I'm not going to repeat myself!" And the wicked mare of darkness paused to clear her throat. "Each of you should've received a piece of a map, and a locator device that will lead you to one other contestant. Your goal is to make it back to camp and touch this totem pole that I've marked," The projection changed to show a rather ugly looking totem pole that had noticeable singe marks on it. "The first pony to touch the pole wins invincibility for the round."
"And if none of us make it back?" Twilight questioned.
Nightmare Moon just grinned. "Then nopony gets elimination, you'll all be losers!" And she was quick to warn. "You have until nightfall. I'll have to bring you all back by then since the island too dangerous, and if I let anything happen to you Discord will have my hide. If it comes to that, none of you will be safe. The only good news is, I can only eliminate one of you."
The fashionista rolled her eyes. "That doesn't inspire much confidence."
The dark coated alicorn only snapped back. "Would you rather I just eliminate you right now?" When she received no reply she declared. "I didn't think so," And then she went on explaining as though she hadn't been interrupted at all. "Now, pay attention, ponies. This is the most important part: You're all free to either work with each other or on your own. All that matters to me is who makes it back to camp and touches that totem pole. I'll be waiting for you there. The rest is up to you." And with that, the projection faded away.
Not long after Nightmare Moon's parting words, the four mares all noticed something on each of their beds that hadn't been there the night before as far as they could recall. Each rushed to grab the object, discovering it to be a large saddle bag (each bag's symbol matching the cutie mark of the pony that found it: A star for Twilight, gems for Rarity, a rainbow for Rainbow Dash and balloons for Pinkie Pie). Opening up the saddle bags revealed a piece of a map that had clearly been cut up into four different corners, as well as a little orb that flashed and showed a location.
Each pony thus set off, using their map piece and the flashing orb along with whatever memory they had of Paradox Island to begin their journey back to the camp grounds. They were all also quite relieved at the fact that the saddle bags given to them provided food and water (albeit in small snack sized portions for the food and tiny plastic bottles for the water).
By a stroke of luck, Pinkie Pie was the first to meet another pony. Owing to her faster than normal rate of travel, she found who her orb was leading her to: Rainbow Dash. "Hiya, Dashie!" The pink party pony cheerfully greeted as she tackled the brash speedster into a hug the second she lay eyes on the mare!
But Rainbow Dash only groaned, shoving Pinkie right off of her as she stood up. "Must you do that every single time you greet somepony?" She remarked in an annoyed tone.
"Hey, there's no need to be rude," Pinkie protested. "I found you. And that means we can put our map pieces together and find the others. Then we can all go back to camp together and share the invincibility. Won't that be nice?"
Rainbow just rolled her eyes. "Yeah right! Twilight and Rarity don't need our help, Pinkie! They'll just regard us as dead weight!" She bitterly complained. "They'll take our map pieces and leave us behind so they can claim invincibility for themselves."
The pink party pony blinked in disbelief. "That's not true, Rainbow Dash. They're our friends still, even after all the not so nice things you've been doing since we got here."
"Yeah, and they've at least once or twice tried to get rid of me!" The pegasus mare protested back! "Face it, Pinkie! You need to face the facts! There are no friends anymore, not at this point! It's everypony for themselves! After all, only one of us can win it all, right?"
"Well... yeah... but..." Pinkie Pie began.
Rainbow didn't bother to wait for a reply, she just took the flashing orb she'd found in her saddle bag and threw it as far toward the horizon as she could! "-But nothing, Pinkie Pie!" She snapped and swished her tail as she turned her back on her friend! "I'm not relying on anypony else from this point onward. If you wanna waste your time with our 'friends' then go right ahead! Don't come crying to me when they double cross you and leave you behind. You can keep my map piece, I'll find my own way back!"
Frantically, Pinkie tried to chase after her brash and head strong friend! "Rainbow, wait!" She desperately pleaded only to receive no reply. Eventually, she stumbled and by the time she had picked herself back up, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen.
All Pinkie could do was stand in the clearing she was in, blinking in confusion as she looked right at the cameras and questioned. "What just happened?"
Meanwhile, Twilight had already made considerable progress on her end despite having only one fourth of a map to really help her. She didn't know to whom the flashing orb who lead her, so it wasn't very reliable. But she did remember a few vivid details from previous trips out into the wilderness.
Twilight even bragged about this in the confessional. "There's so many things on this island that you can't find anywhere else," She said with a smile. "And every wilderness survival guide I've ever read states that the key to surviving is to memorize your surroundings. Find a landmark that no one could possibly miss and use that as a starting point. Worse comes to worse, the guides say you're supposed to cling to that landmark until help arrives."
As the camera cut back to normal, the studious unicorn kept one eye on her map piece and another on her immediate surroundings. She had to be prepared in case anything might unexpectedly emerge to attack her. She couldn't afford to be chased, least she lose track of her surroundings and get lost.
Alone with only her thoughts for company, Twilight tried hard to keep her mind focused on the challenge at hoof. But she couldn't help but think back on so many things, so many regrets. In particular, wandering around in the wilderness reminded her a lot of Trixie. "I never did get to thank her properly for helping our team win the camp out challenge," She thought to herself. "And I never did get to understand just what makes her tick. She seems to have been the only pony who wasn't adversely affected by the island."
Twilight dwelled on these thoughts so much that she almost didn't notice when she bumped into the pony her flashing orb had been directing her to: In her case Rarity.
Rarity locked eyes with her fellow unicorn and smiled. "Oh, Twilight. Thank goodness you're the first pony I ran into out here. I don't know what I would've done had I encountered Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash," And she whispered. "Don't take this personally, but you're the only one I can truly trust in a situation like this. We both know what Rainbow Dash is like and Pinkie Pie can be... hard to read at times."
Twilight slowly nodded. "Yeah, that is true I guess. Rainbow Dash anyways," She put a hoof to her chin. "I thought she would get better after Trixie left, but she seems to be getting worse."
The fashionista firmly nodded in reply. "Indeed. But we can worry about that later," She promptly opened up her saddlebag and pulled out her map fragment. "Let's at least put our pieces of the map together before we do anything else. I'm not much of an outdoors type of pony."
Twilight reluctantly agreed even though she knew Rarity could potentially just be using her. Any extra knowledge that could be obtainable would be greatly appreciated in a situation like this.
But much to the two unicorns' dismay, they found that their fragments were for completely opposite corners of the whole island. Twilight carefully examined it, but after only a little bit of looking she groaned. "Well, that doesn't help us! It only really shows us where camp isn't."
"Oh, I was hoping to at least be more on the right path," Rarity groaned as well and then sighed. "But I guess it can't be helped. We'll just have to find our friends, or hope they find us."
"Well, I was trying to find you. My orb was directed to you after all," Twilight explained. "Don't tell me your orb was leading you to me."
Rarity shook her head. "On the contrary, darling. It's been leading me to Pinkie Pie. Bumping into you was just a very fortunate stroke of luck for me," And then she brought her flashing orb out, showing it to Twilight. "See? It's still flashing, but yours isn't anymore, is it?"
Twilight quickly found out that such was indeed the case. "Then I guess we track down Pinkie Pie, wherever she is," And she couldn't help but remark. "Kind of funny how even though the teams have merged, she's been on our side in almost every challenge compared to Rainbow Dash."
Rarity chimed in. "I had the same feeling as you, Twilight. And I think we can both agree that, if at all possible, we must vote out Rainbow Dash when this is all over. Pinkie Pie would be a far more worthy opponent compared to Rainbow Dash."
The camera then cut to show Rarity in the confessional as she was saying to herself. "Working with Twilight works just fine for me. Even if our alliance can only natural hold for two more challenges, it's quite preferable to the alternatives."
Twilight showed up in the confessional next, giving her own thoughts about the situation. "It's so weird knowing that no matter what I'm gonna have to vote out one of my friends when this is over," And she briefly contemplated. "I could just vote myself out... but then I wouldn't be able to figure out whatever it is Discord's planning. And I owe it to Princess Celestia to do so, even if I don't win the final challenge."
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was trotting (or rather prancing and bouncing) all about as she continued to glance down at her map fragment from time to time. "This would be so much easier if I had my 'Pinkie Sense'." She thought to herself, but knew that such wishful thinking wouldn't bring it back.
Opting to keep her spirits up, the pink party pony was humming a little tune to herself in her head. "I don't think I like this challenge as much as the other Nightmare Moon ones," She said aloud even though no one could hear her. "It's just not as fun wandering around by yourself." But then she remembered why it was that she had been left to tackle the challenge on her own, why she was stuck with two map fragments that didn't match up at all.
Pinkie ceased her bouncing upon remembering this. "Oh, that's right," She said to herself. "Rainbow Dash wanted to go alone," And she shook her head. "How does she expect to find her way around without any kind of map? Even I'm not that crazy!"
A flicker of the camera had Pinkie Pie standing in the confessional, wondering aloud. "Huh, I never noticed how much I talked to myself," She slowly blinked in realization. "I should stop doing that. I just came back from crazy town with Boulder II after all. Boy, I haven't felt that silly since my surprise birthday party," The mare looked into the camera while blushing and declaring. "You had to be there. Trust me."
So it was that Pinkie opted to more or less fulfill that promise to herself about keeping quiet, though she still kept humming that little tune in her head. It was the only thing to take her mind off her worries, because something told her night fall was a long ways away.
All of a sudden though, the pink party pony heard the distant sound of hoofprints approaching her location! Could it be?!
Without bothering to wait to find out who it was, Pinkie rushed towards the direction she could hear the hoofprints coming from! "Rainbow Dash! Oh, I just knew you'd come to your senses eventually!" She declared, only to stop right in her tracks upon realizing that it was not Rainbow that she had found.
Twilight immediately deduced what had probably happened before she and Rarity had arrived on the scene. "Rainbow Dash went off on her again, didn't she?" She needn't have asked given that she received a confirming nod mere seconds later. "That pony! I swear! It's just like the horror challenge with The Smooze!"
Rarity quickly reached out a hoof to console her fellow unicorn. "Now, now, Twilight. We can worry about Rainbow Dash later on. It's a pity, but someponies just have to learn their lesson the hard way."
The studious unicorn couldn't help but sigh despite the reassurance. "I know, Rarity. But I also know that she's going to get herself hurt or something at this right. Like really hurt. Worse than Silver Spoon."
"And if that does happen it'll be her fault for being so stubborn and reckless," The fashionista declared. "Now come on, let's not worry about her. At least, not before we find out what Pinkie Pie knows."
Pinkie Pie happily declared. "Oh, I guess that means you've been looking for me! Well that's great, because I haven't been able to look for either of you," And she happily reached into her saddle bag, pulling out the two pieces of the map that she had. "Dashie decided she didn't need her part of the map, so I figured I'd hold onto it for her."
Twilight's eyes lit up like a Hearth's Warming tree upon hearing that statement! "That's actually really good news for us, Pinkie! Rarity and I have two pieces of the map as well! If we put them together, we should have the complete picture."
Rarity smiled. "Excellent! And then the three of us can head back to camp, meaning Rainbow Dash will almost certainly lose by default."
However, the pink party pony protested. "No way, you guys! We can't leave Rainbow Dash behind! We've gotta go after her!" She then reached into her saddle bag again, showing off her glowing orb. "My orb led me straight to her, and it still is!"
The studious unicorn tried to explain to her friend the decision not to go after Rainbow. "We won't be leaving her behind forever, Pinkie. It'll only be for this challenge so that hopefully she can cool down."
The fashionista added with a humph and a swish of her tail. "Quite frankly, if she's going to be this much of an idiot then I say she's brought whatever fate awaits her on herself. She's been overdue for karma ever since she wouldn't give up her invincibility to save Scootaloo. Not to mention taking advantage of our friendship to make us vote off the likes of Gilda and Cheerilee who did nothing to deserve it."
Pinkie Pie wasn't convinced, she thoroughly shook her head and glared at her unicorn friends. "So, just because she's been a big old meanie pants doesn't mean we have to be the same. We got this far in the game because we're better than her. Because we didn't do what she did."
"We weren't saints either, Pinkie," Twilight protested. "This island's been getting to us all and made us all do things we regret."
Pinkie continued to insist. "So, that means we just gotta try even harder to break through to Rainbow Dash and make her see things our way," And she added. "If she doesn't, we can all band together and vote her off tonight."
Rarity nervously inquired. "And if she somehow manages to win invincibility because of this?"
The pink party pony only replied. "Then you can vote me off since apparently you think being nice isn't a good thing anymore," And she narrowed her eyes. "I'm still mad at you two for letting Derpy talk you into voting her off. You knew I had feelings for her!"
A flicker of the camera showed Twilight breaking out into a nervous sweat in the confessional. "Why did she have to bring that up?" She asked while shaking a little.
Just as quickly, the camera flickered back to the three friends "argument" about whether or not to find Rainbow Dash. But it came to an end rather quickly after Pinkie Pie brought up what had happened with Derpy. Twilight and Rarity didn't say a word as they looked at each other, but it was clear from the expressions on their faces that they now regarded Derpy as another eliminated contestant they'd regretted voting off (even if at the time they'd believed it to be the right decision).
So it was that Rarity reluctantly replied to the earth pony mare. "Very well, Pinkie Pie, darling. If you really think we should save Rainbow Dash, then Twilight and I will help."
"Great!" The pink party pony cheered, all but leaping into the air with delight! "Now come on! Boy is she gonna be surprised to see us. But we'll show her what true friendship is all about!"
Rainbow Dash had no way to know what her friends were thinking about her or what they had agreed to. Perhaps if she had she might not have been so determined to keep going it alone like she was doing. Especially since the brash speedster was now realizing just how foolish and short sighted of her it truly was to go off without even a piece of a map.
"Stupid nature!" The tomboyish mare grumbled and groaned aloud as her eyes scanned her surroundings. "Why does everything have to look the same? Can't something be different?!"
These complaints carried over to the confessional as Rainbow was all but pulling out the hairs on her mane in frustration. "I just can't win, can I?! When I try to build an alliance it all goes wrong! And when I try to go it alone for once, stuff like this happens!" And staring directly into the cameras she complained! "Does the universe have something against me?! If it's because of what happened to Scootaloo, I'm sorry already! Is that what you wanna hear?! Are you happy now?!"
After a moment of sitting in the confessional though, Rainbow blinked as if realizing what she'd just said. And soon, she was putting her hooves on the camera! "Come on, give me the tape! How do you open this thing?!" But her efforts failed to yield any sort of outcome, and she was forced to abandon them before long.
Left with an unsatisfied feeling (and feeling rather hot, sweaty and just generally uncomfortable if she was being honest with herself), Rainbow trudged on, her pace slowing considerably from where and what it had been earlier. She was more than certain she was going around in circles, but she was too stubborn to admit that she was wrong. Plus, without her glowing orb she had no way to even begin to look for anypony else.
Minutes ticked by in slow agony. Rainbow Dash continued scanning her surroundings for anything that looked new and/or promising. Any lead at all she would happily follow at this point.
Suddenly, Rainbow's ears could hear leaves rustling and the ground began to shake rather ominously! She spun around fast, just in time to see a sight that would make even the bravest of hearts tremble and shake with fear! A huge, ferocious bi-pedal creature with white fur was now face to face and snout to snout with her!
As a result of the encounter, Rainbow Dash did the only thing she could think of in her situation: She let out a girly scream and took off as fast as her hooves would let her! Unfortunately for her, the bi-pedal creature gave chase as it followed her with ease and continued to roar as it did so.
The brash speedster screamed at the top of her lungs as she was pursued by this unknown creature! She didn't know where she was going, where she was running to. All she knew for sure is that she had to get away from that... whatever it was!
By a stroke of luck, the screams from the tomboyish athlete ended up alerting her friends to her location. In fact, they saw her run right past them without blinking or even acknowledging their presence at all.
"What was that all about?" Rarity pondered. "She looks as if she'd seen a ghost or something."
But seconds after Rainbow had run past, the three other mares found why she'd been running and they too became stricken with dread!
Twilight was the one to recognize what it was. "A yeti! But... what is doing here?!" She gasped as her eyes widened!
"I don't know, but I don't think it's friendly!" Pinkie Pie ominously gulped! "Yetis eat ponies!"
Rarity screamed and jumped behind Twilight! "Twilight, do something! You know what it is, so you must know how to defeat it."
The studious unicorn nervously answered. "I don't know! I only remember reading about them once, I don't remember their weaknesses."
The pink party pony asked while slowly backing away. "Uh, is there a Plan B?"
Twilight nodded and then declared. "Run!" And she took off as fast as her hooves would let her, prompting Rarity and Pinkie Pie to follow her!
The three mares soon caught up to their friend as they were all being chased together by the yeti! "What are you girls doing here?!" Rainbow Dash growled even while she continued to run. "I had things under control until that yeti showed up."
Rarity humphed. "Is that any way to thank us for coming back to save your sorry behind?"
Pinkie Pie added. "Come on, Dashie, we're all in this together!"
Twilight insisted. "Pinkie's right, you know," And then she looked back and added. "Besides, I have a feeling that yeti is here for a reason. Somepony must've brought it here!"
Rainbow Dash snorted. "I don't care! Just make it go away so I can get out of here and get back to winning!"
But Pinkie Pie protested! "We gotta lose it! And we have to work together!" Then she spotted something up ahead. A fairly large cave. And seeing it gave her an idea! "Hey, let's hide in there until the yeti goes away!" She insisted to the others.
Rarity gulped. "Into that dark cave? You must be kidding!"
Twilight, however, just shook her and sought to dispel any arguments before they could take hold. This was not a time for such back and forth bickering. "It's better than just running and running and running!" She firmly insisted in reply. "Let's at least give it a try."
Rainbow took one look at the cave and shuddered. "This is not going to end well. I've got a very bad feeling about this."
The pink party pony ignored the remark from her rainbow maned friend, instead declaring! "Into the cave, quick! The yeti's right on our tail... er tails!"
So the four mares all hastily dashed into the entrance of the rather large cave that Pinkie Pie had spotted earlier! It was very dark inside, no natural light could shine through. All four ponies could only see each other's eyes, that's how thick the darkness was.
"Is everypony okay?" The studious unicorn called, hoping for quick responses.
Rarity's voice echoed back. "I think I'll live. But I want to get out of this cave as soon as possible! It's all damp, dark and smelly, it's messing with my allergies." She then sneezed to emphasize her point.
Rainbow Dash's voice rudely remarked! "Say it, don't spray it!" And then she added. "I'm fine too! I probably would've found this hiding place anyway," But her voice did take on a softer tone as the pegasus admitted. "But thanks for coming back all the same. I... kind of appreciate it."
Pinkie Pie's voice could be heard giggling. "See? And you thought you'd be better off on your own. We already have the map all put together, we just needed to find you before we read it."
Rainbow gasped! "No way! You mean you can figure out how to get us back to camp?!"
Twilight's voice answered. "Well, I'll need some time to analyze the map. But hopefully, yes. As soon as we get out of this cave and get away from that yeti, we can see what the map has to say."
Suddenly, however, the pink party pony's voice could be heard questioning. "Say, is anypony else seeing another pair of eyes besides ours?"
And just as soon as that had been said, there came a fierce roar as the four mares realized that somehow the yeti had ended up in the cave with them! All they ran out of the cave's entrance as a result, screaming at the top of their lungs!
The four mares kept on running, wondering how it was that the yeti had managed to end up in the cave with them even though they hadn't seen it enter!
"Does this yeti ever stop?!" Rainbow Dash demanded as even she was beginning to struggle to keep up her frantic pace!
"We just have to... keep going..." Twilight furiously panted. "That yeti can't chase us forever."
Pinkie Pie then blinked as she commented. "That's funny, because it looks like it's stopped chasing us already. Guess it must've found something more interesting."
"What?!" Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight all questioned at the same time! They had to stop and turn around just to be sure. And indeed, they saw with their own eyes that the yeti had inexplicably ceased to chase after them. As mysteriously as it had appeared it was gone.
Twilight was thinking about such a development in the confessional as the camera flickered, showing her with a hoof to her chin as she was now deep in thought. "There's no way that yeti keeps appearing and disappearing of its own free will," She declared and looked deep into the camera. "This has to be the work of Discord or Nightmare Moon somehow. I just know it."
An exhausted Rarity also appeared in the confessional, heavily panting while fanning a hoof across her face. "I'm willing to put up with getting dirty and sweaty if it's for a good cause, but this is just too much!" She dramatically declared! "I am so glad this challenge will be over soon thanks to Twilight."
Rainbow Dash was grumbling in the confessional about everything that had just happened. "Just when things were finally going my way, that stupid yeti had to show up!" She complained! "Now I have to depend on Twilight to get me through this challenge, and I've got a target on my back," The brash speedster then rubbed her hooves together. "I can't take any chances! I HAVE to get invincibility, otherwise I'll have to convince Pinkie Pie to vote with me and hope I can win a tiebreaker."
And even Pinkie Pie had her own two cents to give in the confessional! "All of my friends, together! This is perfect!" She happily declared while jumping up and down. "I don't even care if I win this challenge or if I get eliminated. At this rate, getting everypony back together after we got split up at the start of this whole game is a win for me."
The camera then cut back to the four mares as they skidded to a halt. Where they were exactly, they had no clue. But it was still as good a place as any as far as they were concerned (or at least Twilight was concerned) to stop and look at the map. Said map now having all four segments of it for the first time since this challenge had begun.
The map was laid out on the ground so that all four mares could see it. And Twilight scanned over it with her eyes, checking every detail possible.
Rainbow Dash, however, impatiently made her back hooves tap while she fidgeted with her front hooves. "Come on, Twilight! Hurry up and tell us where to go already!"
"Don't rush me, Rainbow Dash! I need time to make sense of everything," Twilight explained. "Now if I can get back to where I was before I was rudely interrupted..." And then she went back to scanning over the map.
An uncomfortable silence began to fill the air as the other three mares waited for Twilight to inform them of her findings.
At last, Twilight stood up and cleared her throat. "Okay, I think I've got the map figured out more or less," She gestured a hoof, pointing to a spot in the top left corner. "This is where we are now based on what I can see," Then she moved said hoof over to a large red circle towards the center but leaning towards the right. "And I would assume this is where camp is, if only because I can't think of anything else on the map would warrant such a label."
"Great! So we're a good ways away from camp!" Rainbow sarcastically remarked. "So now what? We just head to the center using the map?"
"More or less," Twilight nodded as she moved to pick said map up. "It's not an exact estimate, you understand. This is the best educated guess I can make. This map is really hard to make heads or tails of."
Rarity frowned. "That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in you, Twilight. I thought you of all ponies would good at this."
"I'm trying, Rarity! Honest!" Twilight protested with a snort. "A map like this isn't very detailed. It looks like it was just put together overnight. But it's the best lead we've got!"
However, at that very moment Pinkie Pie stood up and shouted! "Wait!" She brought her snout up towards the air and started to sniff. "Hey, you guys smell that?"
"Smell what, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash pondered.
"It's... hang on... I think I recognize that smell," The pink party pony realized as her mouth began to water! "Oh goodie! Somepony's making cinnamon buns! I'll bet it's Nightmare Moon." And having caught a whiff of this delicious aroma, Pinkie immediately took off as fast as she could!
"Pinkie, come back!" Rainbow shouted as she rushed to get ahead of the pink party pony. If Pinkie's nose was indeed correct, the smell of cinnamon buns could be the best lead back to camp (and by extension invincibility)!
Twilight and Rarity took off too, a task made rather difficult by the fact that neither of them were physically gifted or fast on their hooves.
Miles and miles away, back at the campsite, Nightmare Moon was relaxing in a beach chair. The wicked mare of darkness had a plate of cinnamon buns that had just been brought out of the oven, the perfect mid-day snack as far as she was concerned.
Nightmare Moon was kicking it back and taking it easy. Nothing for her to worry about, or so she thought. "This has to be the best idea I ever had," She thought to herself. "Just send those ponies into the wilderness and leave them there to fend for themselves all day."
However, the peace and quiet Nightmare Moon was enjoying was suddenly and abruptly broken as she heard the sound of hoofsteps in the distance! The dark coated alicorn looked up to see four very recognizable ponies approaching her location, with a certain infamous (at least to her) pink coated earth pony leading the pack. "Oh great," She grumbled as she stood up and sighed. "Well, might as well get this over with." And she teleported to the marked totem pole, prepared to offer invincibility to the first pony to touch it.
Rainbow Dash could see the totem pole in the distance! "This is it!" She thought to herself as she prepared to make her move! "It's all or nothing now!" And she frantically dove at Pinkie, grabbing hold of her fellow's mare tail.
"Hey, let go, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie complained as she shook her tail back and forth!
Rainbow only groaned in reply! "Never! I'm... not... letting... go!"
But Pinkie just shook even harder, ultimately managing to knock Rainbow loose! "Nopony's getting between me and what I want!" She declared as she rushed towards the totem pole!
However, to the surprise of everypony, Pinkie ran right past the pole and instead grabbed the plate of cinnamon buns out in the open! "It's not every day you get to have cinnamon buns!" She declared as she scarfed down the plate and headed back to the totem pole.
Alas, it was too late for Pinkie to make up for her mistake. Twilight had taken advantage of the chaos to trot past a disoriented Rainbow and touch the totem pole first. "I... did it..." She wearily panted.
Nightmare Moon just snarled! "Really?! You had all just had to spoil my day off, didn't you?!" And she glared at Pinkie Pie! "And you, stealing my cinnamon buns like that! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
"I'm sorry, they were so good," Pinkie sincerely apologized. "I just couldn't resist."
The wicked mare of darkness only sighed, putting a hoof to her forehead in response. "Why do I even bother?" Then she turned to Twilight. "Congratulations on winning invincibility, Twilight. Now you and the rest of your 'friends' better scram! Meet me back at the fire pit tonight."
"But what about the vote?" Rarity inquired. "Aren't we going to have a vote?"
Nightmare Moon just flashed a toothy smile at the four mares as she told them. "Oh, there will be. Just not in the way you're expecting. All will be explained tonight, assuming I'm able to get into a decent mood by then."
The uncertainty following Nightmare Moon's announcement hung like a dark cloud over the four contestants for the rest of the day. They knew one of them would be eliminated, but apparently it would be out of their control as to who that pony would be.
At last, night time came, and with Discord still nowhere to be seen the four mares reluctantly journeyed out to the fire pit to find out what Nightmare Moon had planned for a "vote".
"Ah, good, you're all here!" The dark coated alicorn declared, her tone of voice indicating a rare hint of enjoyment. "I was thinking some of you might chicken out."
Rarity scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well as you can clearly see, we don't scare that easily," And she quickly demanded. "So, what are we doing tonight for the vote?"
Nightmare Moon shook her head from side to side. "There's no need for one, actually. It's my show, at least until Discord comes back. And that means I can do things my way," And the wicked mare of darkness explained. "I'll decide for myself which of you so and sos will be staying and which of you will be leaving."
Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and even Rarity couldn't help but start to sweat a little as a result of the announcement. If it was up to Nightmare Moon, it was anypony's guess as to who she would choose for elimination. Heck, for all they knew she could revoke Twilight's invincibility or say it didn't matter.
The evil alicorn proceeded to look over the contestants one by one, apparently sizing them up and making mental notes since she spoke not a word the whole time. And none of the four mares seated on the stumps said a word either, all of them intimidated into silence.
At last, Nightmare Moon began making her announcement. "Alright, let's start with our big 'winner'," She delivered the last word with a noticeable hint of malice. "Twilight Sparkle, you were able to figure out a way to thwart all of my efforts to keep you and your friends away for an entire day."
"So the yeti was your doing all along!" Twilight realized! "And the map?"
Nightmare Moon nodded. "Yup. Designed it on purpose so that it'd be difficult to read for somepony who doesn't know the island inside and out," Then she let out a groan. "But of course, you just couldn't let me have one day to myself. No, you had to round up everypony and make it back to camp. Still, invincibility is invincibility. I know Discord's really hoped you would lose, but even he would be hard pressed to justify kicking you off after you won the challenge."
Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief, knowing that she at least was safe for another round. Now it was just a matter of which of her three friends would be unlucky enough to be eliminated.
Nightmare Moon approached Rarity next and told her. "Rarity, you're safe too. Of all the four contestants still left, you're the one pony who hasn't really done anything to get on my bad side at all."
The fashionista blinked. "Really?"
The wicked mare of darkness nodded and flashed a sincere smile. "Yes, really. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind if you won the whole thing."
"Uh, thanks... I guess?" Rarity slowly blinked in reply, unsure of how to respond properly to such a comment. Still, if it meant she was safe she would gladly take this little "reward".
Now it was down to just Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, both of whom knew Nightmare Moon had plenty of reasons to want to eliminate as an act of "revenge".
Nightmare Moon looked at both mares, before clearing her throat and declaring. "Rainbow Dash, you're tonight's big loser!"
"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in dismay as Pinkie happily rushed over to join Twilight and Rarity in celebration! "But... but... I was playing to win!" She accusingly pointed a hoof! "Pinkie Pie ate your cinnamon buns! She threw away victory! She deserves to go, not me!"
The wicked mare of darkness only replied. "I'm keeping her around specifically so I can pay her back for the whole cinnamon buns thing. You, on the other hoof, I've been meaning to get rid of for a long time. You have repeatedly mocked and insulted me at every turn, not to mention blowing off most of my challenges."
"Yeah, 'cause they suck! The only good one was the hide and seek one, and that's 'cause you had two ways to earn invincibility," Rainbow remarked, before sighing. "But you know what? At this rate, I don't even care anymore! I'm tired of all these stupid rules! I'm tired of having to compete against others to prove I'm better! And I'm tired of all these attempts at 'drama'!"
Nightmare Moon just grinned. "Then I take it you won't object to a ride on the Boat of Losers?"
The brash speedster sighed again. "Anything's better than putting up with stuff like this. Plus, maybe I'll be able to finally get away from that Mare-Do-Well that keeps haunting me."
Rainbow Dash was led down the Dock of Shame by Nightmare Moon, soon walking onto the Boat of Losers as its engine roared to life.
The tomboyish pegasus sat down on a seat at the back of the boat, watching as the view of Paradox Island slowly receded into the distance. "I could totally make a million bits anyway," She thought to herself. "I just hope I can forget this whole experience and all that I've had to put up with."
Yet as Rainbow was sitting there and moping in silence to herself, she suddenly saw something or rather someone appear out of the corner of her eye. And that someone was none other than Mare-Do-Well!
The masked mare didn't say anything as she gazed at Rainbow Dash, perhaps silently judging her.
"What do you want from me, Mare-Do-Well?!" Rainbow grumbled and snorted, gazing right back at the masked mare. "Come to twist the knife in some more?! Thanks to your constant haunting of me, I couldn't focus and I lost the game!"
Suddenly, Mare-Do-Well spoke up as she lifted her hood to reveal the familiar face of Applejack. "Sugarcube, you don't even recognize me? You really have become blinded to what you've become!" She sternly scolded. "I'm sorry, but I don't love ya anymore. You ain't the Rainbow Dash I know!"
Rainbow blinked in disbelief! "No, it can't be! You're NOT Applejack!" She firmly insisted!
"You're right, Rainbow Dash. I'm not," The familiar voice of Spike laughed as suddenly Mare-Do-Well's hoof yanked off an Applejack face mask to reveal the little dragon's face underneath. "I'm your worst nightmare! The one you tried to eliminate just because I stood up for Silver Spoon when you wouldn't! Some element of loyalty you turned out to be! Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
"Stop it! You can't be Mare-Do-Well either, Spike!" Rainbow Dash insisted as she started to trot forward! "Stop messing with me!"
"Oh, like how you messed with Scootaloo's head?" The voice of Cheerilee declared in a stern, lecturing tone of voice as Mare-Do-Well's hoof ripped off a Spike face mask to reveal the teacher. "Your friends told me about why they created Mare-Do-Well in the first place. I didn't think it would work so well, but it seems I ultimately got what I wanted. If only I'd been able to stage this intervention sooner, Scootaloo might have been saved from a painful elimination that you caused for her!"
Rainbow put her hooves to her forehead, groaning in annoyance and exclaiming! "Stop with the insanity! I can't take it anymore!" And she demanded of "Mare-Do-Well"! "Who are you, really?! No more masks, no more games! Just tell me who you are!"
"You really want to know? Like really really want to know?" "Cheerilee" asked of the brash speedster as she looked her fellow pony in the eye. "You may not like what you see."
Suspecting nothing and desperate for any sort of mental relief, the brash speedster trotted forward again while firmly nodding. "Whoever you are, I can take it!"
"Cheerilee" seemed to grin in response as she ominously declared. "Very well, but consider yourself warned, Rainbow Dash." She then reached a hoof up to yank off her face mask, this time to reveal who she truly was underneath.
When Rainbow's moderate violet eyes caught a good glimpse of who the mare behind the mask was, she could hardly believe it! She even blinked and rubbed her eyes just to be sure she wasn't seeing things. Indeed she wasn't. Staring right back at her was none other than herself, almost like looking into the mirror and seeing one's own reflection not just looking back at them but also talking to them. "No, impossible!"
This other Rainbow Dash only firmly nodded in response. "Anything is possible," And she accusingly pointed a hoof at her "copy". "Face it, you're your own worst enemy. You've become that which you once vowed you'd never become! You've turned your back on so many friends for the sake of this game. And for what?! A million bits that you would blow threw in a heartbeat?!"
The "original" Rainbow Dash gasped! "No! No! It's not true! It can't be true! This... this is a nightmare!"
"Is it really? Or is that just what you tell yourself to help you sleep better at night?" The "other" Rainbow Dash scolded. "Deep down, you know this is the truth! You know you can't run away from this! You can't undo what you've become! But you can undo what you will become if you don't change your ways."
And while all of this was going on, Nightmare Moon was up front and piloting the boat. She didn't seem to be aware of what was going on behind her. Or if she did she took no notice. Instead, she just grinned while looking into the cameras. "Hope you all enjoyed this little change up from normal. Just stick around, because there's more to come here on Total Magic Pony Island!"
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Well, Rainbow's finally gone though will she ever get forgiveness for her actions/
Only 3 left to go. I'm nervicted.
10856440
Ya gotta realize that's not a real word right
I'm fine with whoever wins. My best guess is Twilight and Pinkie in the finale.
As for rainbow dash, good riddance. She got what was coming.
10856479
Pinkie: (holds up dictionary) It is a real word now in the Pinkie dictionary, way above Twilighting!
10856797
Okay
Ooh, now I know the final three + finale is going to be good.