> Starlight’s Dimensional Drama: A World Tour To Remember > by Starlight Fan > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Failures > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A hole sprouted from the outside grounds of the School Of Friendship and soon a giant mole had dug out of the ground with Sandbar, Yona, Gallus, Smolder, and Silverstream on it’s back, all tired and charred before it turned back into the reformed Changeling we all know as Ocellus. Though they were able to bring most of Equestria’s magic back and save the world, there was one thing that they failed to save. “S-She didn’t… oh Celestia, she didn’t actually get sucked in, did she?” Sandbar began panicking. “Sandbar, I hate to say it, but I saw it happen too.” Ocellus rubbed her front right hoof sadly. “M-Maybe we didn’t see the situation correctly. Maybe the portal spat Starlight out at the catacombs after we brought back the magic or-“ Silverstream began to speak optimistically before Smolder interrupted angrily. “Silverstream! We all saw it happen! Counselor Starlight literally got sucked in a magic portal! She’s gone!” Smolder yelled furiously, although she was visibly shaking at what had transpired. “Yona can confirm.” Yona nodded solemnly. “Counselor Starlight… actually got sucked into a portal…” Gallus’ eyes were wide with shock. The students didn’t know how it happened, one minute they were helping evacuate students from the catacombs so they could get the artifacts to save the magic of Equestria, and the next second, Starlight is screaming for her life and getting sucked into a portal to another dimension. They tried to save her by using the artifacts but all they could do was bring back the magic. Starlight was gone. “At least magic is back.” Silverstream tried to brighten the mood but she could not have chosen a worse time. “Yeah! But at what cost?!” Smolder said angrily. “You ruined everything!” Cozy Glow’s voice was heard from behind them, mane and tail with their tips burnt, “Now Twilight and her ridiculous friends can escape from Tartarus.” Right on cue, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike all appeared, glaring furiously at Cozy Glow when they saw her which caused her eyes to go as wide as saucers before putting on a phony smile, “I mean… yay. All my friends are safe.” “You can drop the act, Cozy Glow! Your pen pal Tirek told us all about how he helped you suck up all that magic!” Applejack lectured furiously. “But I still don’t understand why.” Twilight said, hurt and betrayed by the child’s actions. Cozy Glow growled before smirking, “Why?! Because friendship is power! You might be the Princess of Friendship, but as headmare of this school, I can collect even more friends than you!” Twilight sighed sadly, “You're the one who doesn't get it, Cozy. Friendship is powerful, but power isn't why you make friends. I'm sorry I couldn't teach you that.” “You definitely taught us though.” Gallus said reassuringly, he was doing this partly because he believed he was right and he also might as well soften the eventual blow that would soon come. “You can’t one bad apple think you failed.” Silverstream added kindly. “Besides, we couldn’t have stopped her if it weren’t for what you taught us about friendship.” Sandbar pointed out. “Oh yeah. Well what’s the point of friendship when you don’t HAVE all your friends with you?!” Cozy Glow snickered malevolently. The Young Six immediately widened their eyes at this, they knew exactly what she was talking about, while the Mane Six and Spike were confused. “What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily, given she was already pretty annoyed with the psychotic filly. “Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Do you not realize one of your bestest friends is missing when it’s right in front of you?! You’re more idiotic than I thought.” Cozy Glow said with nothing but pure joy. It took a few moments for Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity a bit to figure it out but to Twilight and Spike, it hit them immediately. “Starlight!” Twilight gasped in horror. “What did you do to her?!” Spike asked, nostrils flaring with rage, Starlight and him were very close, if Cozy had hurt her, he would not hesitate to advocate for a harsh punishment from Celestia. “Oh, all I did was trap her in a magic orb that sucked her into another dimension, nothing TOO serious.” Cozy Glow said not so innocently. “You did what?!” Fluttershy said, shaken from the core at what she just heard. “Where is she?!” Applejack asked incredulously. “Heck if I know. I just knew the magic of Equestria would go somewhere.” Cozy Glow shrugged uncaringly. Twilight felt her life flash before her eyes when she heard that. Starlight Glimmer, her former pupil and one of her best friends in Equestria, was gone. Why? Why did she not see through Cozy Glow sooner? Why did she leave Starlight alone with her? Why?! “I see you’re speechless. I guess I got something out of my plan.” Cozy Glow snickered malevolently to which Spike breathed fire at her to make her back away. “Shut. Up.” Spike said lowly, fists forming with his knuckles shaking furiously. Cozy Glow backed off but gave a glare, however, her bravado soon faded as Celestia, Luna, and Chancellor Neighsay made it to school grounds while royal guards flew everywhere and restrained Cozy Glow, much to her protest as she was led away from the premises by Luna, the guards, and Neighsay. Celestia was the quick to notice Twilight’s tearful gaze and softly approached her. “Twilight? Are you okay?” Celestia asked carefully. “Sh-She’s gone.” Twilight said solemnly. “Who’s gone?” Celestia raised an eyebrow in worry. “Starlight. Cozy Glow banished her to another dimension when trying to drain the magic. She’s gone now.” Twilight said miserably. Celestia gasped in silent shock, she had never expected this. In all of her years as Princess, she had to endure many things, but none were as serious as being banished from the realm. She took a look to see the rest of Twilight’s friends and students. Everyone of them had solemn and hurt expressions on their faces. Applejack was closing her eyes and looking downwards, Fluttershy was bawling while Rainbow Dash tried her best to comfort her even if she was also containing her sadness, Rarity was pacing around aimlessly but tears were in her eyes, Pinkie Pie just stared at the ground with her mane straightened and her face was full of misery, and even Spike had lost his earlier rage and was huddled up into a floor and crying. Celestia could not stand to watch this. She was not as close with Starlight as the rest of her friends but she had helped her and Luna before and greatly respected the mare so this was a loss for her as well. “This is terrible news.” Celestia sighed miserably before Luna walked up to her big sister. “Celestia, I hate to interrupt when you are all rightfully grieving, but the guards are wondering what fate befalls Cozy Glow.” Luna spoke up awkwardly. Celestia was unsure if this was the right time as well but Cozy Glow’s sentence must be carried out eventually. As such, Celestia turned over to Luna and spoke, “She will be banished to Tartarus. I know it seems unfair but she not only nearly drained all of Equestria’s magic but banished another pony from this realm and did all of that as a mere filly. We cannot trust her to roam free.” “Understood.” Luna nodded before walking off as Celestia turned back to Twilight. “Twilight, I am so sorry for this. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now.” Celestia apologized remorsefully, even if she knew that this would change nothing about what happened to Starlight. “No. It’s my fault.” Twilight sighed miserably, “It’s all my fault.” > Starlight’s Discovery > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight felt woozy. That was the first thing that came to her mind when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was that Cozy Glow had trapped her into a magical orb for days and the students came to save her and then she… Starlight’s eyes immediately widened when she realized what happened. She actually fell into the portal. She then realized she was tied to some sort of chair in some sort of green and orange room much to her horror. What had she gotten herself into. She tried using magic to teleport but found she was still drained and could barely light her horn. Great. Suddenly, the door opened and Starlight watched as some scrawny tan skinned human boy with brown hair, wearing sunglasses and a red sweater vest walked in and sighed in relief. “Oh good, you’re awake. For a moment I thought you were dead.” He spoke in a relieved but dry tone. Starlight just glared at the human, she knew most humans were harmless given her adventure in Sunset’s world but considering she was tied up, she felt she had a right to be angry. “Yeah… sorry about the binds. My bosses found you laying unconscious downtown and didn’t want to risk the chances of you attacking. Apparently you came falling from the sky in a portal and caused a huge panic and it’s not everyday you see a unicorn on Earth.” The human explained awkwardly. Well now Starlight felt a little guilty for being so hostile, only a little though. So much for keeping a low profile in this new world. Wait… new world. “Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.” Starlight cried out in shock and horror. “Geez, calm down.” The boy rolled his eyes, “As far as the media knows, this happened because of an experiment gone wrong in Area 51. No other portals have shown up so the panic’s died down.” “No, you don’t understand. I’ve lost everything! I’m trapped here!” Starlight cried out hysterically as tears began flooding out of her eyes. Suddenly the door opened up and what seemed to be a middle-aged man with black hair and a blue shirt walked in seemingly annoyed. “Noah! I thought I told you to check up on that… thing, not scare it!” Chris said angrily. “It’s a unicorn Chris and I didn’t do anything.” The boy known as Noah quipped angrily to the man known as Chris, “She started crying on her own.” “Geez, what’s her deal?” Chris asked with a raised eyebrow. “Apparently she’s trapped here. She’s obviously not from this world and has no way of getting back to her own.” Noah explained. “Huh?” The middle-aged man hummed before putting a finger to his chin, this could easily be a problem. If this unicorn was left unchecked she could cause a whole lot of chaos. Wait a minute… she could cause a whole lot of chaos. Chris McLean had a very fun idea of what to do with her. “Noah, keep the pony calm. I have to pitch an idea to Chef.” Chris said happily before leaving the room much to Noah’s annoyance. “Oh yeah, leave my scrawny self with the emotionally volatile extraterrestrial. Great choice.” Noah muttered to himself before turning over to Starlight who was struggling to not cry. For some reason, he actually grew to feel bad for the unicorn, yeah her crying was a little annoying but if what she was saying was true, then she was really trapped in a whole new world, scared and alone without anyone to help her. Noah couldn’t help but feel some pity. “Look… I understand you’re going through a lot right now.” Noah sighed as he faced Starlight who looked up to see Noah’s sympathetic gaze. “You probably had some really close friends and family back in your dimension, so I got that right?” Noah guessed. “Yeah, that’s the basic gist of it.” Starlight sighed. “I’m not the most emotional guy around but I understand how you feel. If I were separated from my family via dimensional rift, I’d probably lose it.” Noah admitted reluctantly before speaking again, “Look, it may be none of my business, but how did you even get stuck here?” “Well, it’s a long and complicated story.” Starlight admitted sheepishly. “Hey, considering what’s going on, I’ll believe anything.” Noah smirked back. While Noah was getting to know Starlight’s past, Chris and Chef were having a discussion outside the green room about what to do with her and Chef was not pleased with Chris’ newest idea. “What?” Chef asked incredulously, “People will lose their minds if they see her Chris. Are you out of your mind… well more than usual?” “Oh come on Chef. The media already is aware of her existence. Either way, she’ll be a ratings gold mine if we let her on the show. A real life unicorn appearing on our show would be HUGE.” Chris smiled ecstatically before adding, “And besides, it’s not like she’s got anywhere else to go.” “Dammit Chris, I guess you have a point.” Chef sighed before glaring sternly at his friend, “But you’re the one who has to explain this idea to the producers.” “Dude, I’m very okay with that. Don’t need to be a drama queen about it.” Chris scoffed in mild annoyance before smiling again, who knows if it was fate that led him to this new development but Chris certainly wasn’t complaining. Noah was kinda shocked to hear about how Starlight got stuck in their dimension to be honest. “So let me get this straight, this evil filly tricked everyone your ‘friendship school’ and was seeking to drain the magic from your entire world and that’s how you got stuck here?” Noah asked incredulously before rubbing his head in astonishment, “Man, if you weren’t a living unicorn right in front of me I’d assume you were crazy.” “Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.” Starlight nodded. “Well from what you told me, your friends sound like decent people, albeit sappy as hell, what astounds me is that you befriended a princess and six heroines of all things. How’d you do that?” Noah asked curiously. “Uh… well…” Starlight gulped, she wasn’t sure if she could share that story yet. Suddenly, Chris McLean walked in again with a smile and spoke up, “Okay, I’ve talked with Chef and the producers and here’s what we’re going to do. Starlight, you’re gonna be with us for quite a while but we have some things to discuss. Noah, you can go now.” “I guess I’ll have to answer that later.” Starlight smiled awkwardly before Noah shrugged. “Whatever.” Noah said before walking off, “I did my part. See ya around Starlight.” As Noah left the green room and roamed the hallways, he had a skeptical look on his face. Starlight seemed nice and he had no doubt he was being genuine in her story she told, but there was definitely something off about her, her reaction to his question about how she befriended the “Elements Of Harmony” proved that. “What is she hiding?” Noah wondered. > A Chance To Compete and To Mourn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight really couldn’t believe her current situation. One minute she was at the School Of Friendship hoping that Cozy Glow would be stopped and the next minute, she and a human known as Alejandro were serving pancakes to a bunch of teenagers after they got caught up in some high speed car chase for fame. Surprisingly not the strangest thing she’s been through in her life. She noticed all the looks she was getting from the cast but none of them seemed too surprised to see her. She was guessing that news spread about her inter-dimensional journey pretty quickly. The only one who didn’t look at her weirdly was Noah, and to be honest, she was very appreciative of that. Starlight was made aware of Chris’ new plans to integrate her for a new season of his hit reality show Total Drama, so she had watched a bit of the first two seasons to at least recognize some of the contestants that were in the room with her right now. The only one she didn’t recognize was the purple haired girl, but she would cross that bridge when it came down to it. Suddenly her thought process was interrupted by Chris’ voice. “I have an announcement to make. We all know nobody does drama like you guys.” Chris said happily. “Duh,” the raven haired girl known as Heather rolled her eyes, “but what happened to Total Drama Dirtbags?” “It was a trick.” Alejandro explained from Chef’s counter, “There never was any Total Drama Dirtbags.” “Is that true?” Heather asked curiously. “Well… mostly.” Chris shrugged, “I did come up with the name, but anywho, I needed to make sure you kids still had it.” “What about Alejandro and also, why is that unicorn with you?” Heather raised an eyebrow at both Alejandro and Starlight. “Alejandro’s a dupe, just like the rest of you.” Chris gave Heather a playful noogie much to her annoyance, “I needed someone on the inside, but to make it up to him, I told him he could join you guys next time in a no-hold bars race around the world in a jet and as for Starlight, she’ll be joining you guys as well.” “Wait, seriously? We get to compete against an inter-dimensional creature? That’s so cool.” A red headed female known as Izzy smiled crazily akin to a way that reminded Starlight of Pinkie Pie. “After all the crap you put us through? As if.” A pale skinned goth girl known as Gwen scoffed. “Don’t you wanna be famous again?” Chris asked temptingly. “Pass.” The delinquent with a green mohawk known as Duncan leaned back dismissively. Considering these guys literally tried to hijack an interview for fame, Starlight wasn’t so sure if she could believe these teens were being serious. “What about cash? The chance to win One! Million! Dollars!” Chris asked happily. The cast began cheering much to Starlight’s confusion, they changed their tone quite quickly. “Hey wait, why is Starlight competing with us anyway? Shouldn’t she be getting back to her own world?” Heather asked with another raised eyebrow. “She doesn’t have the means to and has nowhere else to go, soooooooo you’re pretty much stuck with her.” Chris smirked. “Whatever.” Heather then rolled her eyes. Starlight sighed a bit and put a hoof to her chin as she sat at the table with a forlorn expression. The other contestants began celebrating their spots on the new season but Starlight didn’t know if she could share that same sentiment. She’d much rather be home at Equestria, but even if she got eliminated, there’d be no Equestria to return to. “Not happy to compete?” A familiar dry voice spoke from next to her to which Starlight turned her head to see Noah. “I guess the idea of winning money is enticing but we both know where I’d rather be right now.” Starlight chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not exactly thrilled with competing either but a million bucks is a million bucks.” Noah smirked back, “Any plans to win?” “Not in particular.” Starlight shrugged, “I’m just wondering how my friends are feeling without me.” Meanwhile, back in Twilight’s castle, the alicorn herself woke up from her bedroom and sighed, by now, her emotions had calmed down considerably since she heard the news about Starlight but she was still depressed. Twilight soon walked around the castle when she saw that Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were all sitting in the throne room. “Girls?” Twilight asked curiously, “What are you doing here?” “I let them in.” Spike explained solemnly, “I figured you could use some company after… y’know…” “Twilight, we know you well sugarcube and there’s no way that what happened to Starlight did not hurt you.” Applejack said stern, yet calm. “Of course it hurts, why would I deny that? Starlight’s one of my best friends and now because of me, she’s gone forever!” Twilight said, tears starting to brim from her eyes. “Darling, you have no reason to blame yourself.” Rarity said reassuringly, “Cozy Glow did this to her, not you.” “But if I had been more careful with Cozy Glow, I could have stopped her from getting as far as she did and Starlight would still be here and safe. What kind of Princess am I? What kind of friend am I?” Twilight said sadly. “One of the bestest friends in Equestria.” Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight’s face as she spoke sternly. “Yeah! You can’t let this bring you down… completely.” Pinkie Pie added as bubbly as she could given the circumstances, “You still improved Starlight’s life while she was still here and affected a lot of creature’s lives positively too. Even Neighsay admits he was wrong about the school.” “Besides like you said in the Changeling invasion, she didn’t just fool you, she fooled everyone.” Fluttershy reminds the alicorn, “If you’re at fault, all of us are.” “I guess you’re right.” Twilight sighed, “But I still feel terrible. Starlight’s gone and I doubt she’s ever coming back.” “Well, we should probably tell you this. We’re planning on having a memorial for Starlight.” Applejack spoke up, “Given everything that happened, we feel it’s fitting.” “We feel it’s warranted, for all we know, we’ll never see her again.” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly. “You’re right.” Twilight sighed sadly, “It’s what she deserves.” > Tour Of The Jumbo Jet > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight was nervous. To be fair, she’s been a nervous wreck before but she was literally on the bus about to be competing on Live TV in this brand new universe to compete for a million dollars. That’s kinda nerve wracking. However, she did take the time to analyze her fellow contestants as she sat next to Noah. Firstly, there was Noah’s friends who were sitting nearby, Owen and Izzy. From what she saw, Owen had won the first season of this show and was mostly friendly and sociable with all of the cast despite all of his eating and farting habits. Currently the big guy was in a panic about being on this new season, which Noah reminded Starlight of Owen’s fear of flying. His girlfriend Izzy, was trying to comfort her boyfriend but did not seem successful. Interestingly enough, Izzy still reminded Starlight of Pinkie Pie with all of her wacky antics she put on in the show. Those two would definitely be wild cards for sure but Starlight doubted they’d mean any harm. At the front of the bus were five of Total Drama’s biggest heavyweights, the bad boy-good girl showmance of Duncan and Courtney, goth girl Gwen who was runner-up of season one, Queen of Mean Heather who made the final three, and Leshawna who was a pretty tough competitor overall. Starlight knew she’d have to watch out for Duncan, Courtney, and Heather given how ruthless they were but she could see herself befriending Gwen and Leshawna. Sitting nearby were DJ and Harold, from what Starlight saw, DJ was a good friend who loved animals while Harold was a bit of a nerd with some “mad skills” he liked to fall back on. In a way, those two reminded Starlight of Fluttershy and Twilight respectively but there were definitely some differences, DJ was a bit more bold than Fluttershy while Harold had a bit more of an ego than Twilight. Safe to say, she found them decent. Sitting to the right of them were Lindsay and Bridgette, both kind-hearted blondes though the differences were big. While Lindsay was more… airheaded so to speak with a knack for fashion, Bridgette was more level headed with a passion of surfing and animal life. Both seemed very nice in Starlight’s opinion. Starlight then looked to see Cody, Tyler, and Ezekiel sitting behind her. She couldn’t really get a good read on those three mostly due to their early exits in season one and not coming back until this season. She found Cody a bit creepy, she wouldn’t lie about that, but she understood that he was a good person deep down, she didn’t know much about Tyler other than the fact he had a crush on Lindsay, and all she knew from Ezekiel was that he made some sexist remarks that got him booted first. She also saw the newbies known as Alejandro and Sierra sitting at the back. She knew nothing about those two but she wasn’t going to judge them right off the bat. Suddenly the bus came to a screeching stop. Looks like the season was about to begin. Chris was excited for this season. He had just finished introducing all fifteen of his past contestants and now was the time for his favorite part, introducing the newbies. Sure their entrances won’t be grand due to the human pile of Tyler, Ezekiel, Bridgette, and Izzy being klutzes and falling on the road but it could still work out. “And now to mix things up and keep it all fresh, we’re adding three new competitors. He’s an honor-roll student with a diplomate for a dad and an amazing ability to charm the pants off most species: Alejandro.” Chris said happily. Alejandro then got off the bus with sunglasses on, and smirked before promptly taking them off and reaching to help Bridgette and Izzy up, “Perhaps I can assist.” Bridgette and Izzy look at the Spaniard mesmerized before Bridgette stammers, “I-I have a boyfriend.” “And amigos, allow me.” Alejandro went to help Tyler and Ezekiel up in which Tyler announces his sexuality about how he “likes girls”. “And she’s a sugar-addicted super-fan with sixteen ‘Total Drama’ blogs: Sierra.” Chris introduces. “OMG, I love you guys, and this is the greatest day of my life and-“ Sierra looked around giddily before breathing heavily, “Anybody got a paper bag I can breathe into?” Sierra smiled in Cody’s direction before running up to him, “Oh my gosh, Cody. I dreamt of this moment, only you weren’t wearing a shirt.” “Moving on.” Chris smirked at the geek’s discomfort before announcing, “And finally, she’s an inter-dimensional traveling unicorn: Starlight.” Starlight sheepishly walked out of the bus with a sheepish grin and wave but said nothing. However, she did catch the friendly waves of people like DJ, Lindsay, Izzy, and Sierra so maybe she didn’t need to be too scared. Suddenly squeaking was heard as Chef drove the barely kept together plane to the runway much to Courtney’s discomfort. “Excuse me, but I’d like to express some concern about the safety of our plane.” Courtney complained. “Relax, it’s perfectly safe.” Chris assured but a piece of the plane falling off seemed to say otherwise, “All aboooooooooard!” Owen begins freaking out about the plane much to Starlight’s sympathy before Chris yells at the big guy to shut up and soon they all begin getting on-board. This was going to be a long season. Singing? Really?” Gwen asked as Starlight and the rest of the contestants all entered what was the mess hall on the plane, “I thought Chris was joking about that.” “Well I don’t have a problem with it.” Courtney smiled. “At this point, I’m kinda used to it.” Starlight admitted with a shrug to Noah. “What? Does your world have musical numbers happen sporadically or something?” Noah rolled his eyes in amusement. “Actually yes.” Starlight smiled back at Noah whose eyes widened when he heard that. “Learn something new everyday I suppose.” Noah acknowledged. Starlight and Noah’s conversation was interrupted by Heather yelling out to Chris, “Why are you doing this to us?!” “Singing reality shows are huge. And the worse the singing, the higher the ratings, which is why on this show, there will be no vocal coaches or rehearsals or warning.” Chris smiled enthusiastically. The teens complained while Starlight just shrugged. She honestly wasn’t bothered by this. “Anywho, this is the dining area, where you’ll enjoy in-flight meals.” Chris introduced the area. “Not for long, eh. Prepare to lose to the Zeke.” Ezekiel bragged which made Starlight cringe a bit. “Okay, so not trying to be mean here but you do know you got booted out first last time right?” Gwen reminded the homeschooler. “Word. And I spent every minute since making sure that don’t happen again. I’m stronger, faster, smarter-“ Ezekiel began bragging before Chris interrupted. “Chattier, blabbier, can’t-shut-uppier. Now zip it and let me finish the tour so we can get this bird in flight!” Chris shouts at him much to Starlight’s annoyance. Yeah, the kid was a bit obnoxious but that was a little harsh. After Leshawna ends up going to the bathroom(only to find a confessional), the tour continues with everyone now at Economy Class. “Losing teams will enjoy luxurious economy-class accommodations between destinations.” Chris said happily, which Starlight would disagree with given there were leaks everywhere and the area was just benches on the sides. “Okay. But, where are our beds?” Lindsay asked. “No comfort for losers. Safety harnesses and an emergency exit, but no comfort here, here, or here.” Chris points around the room as Sierra goes up to him. “OMG Chris, I am just LOL.” Sierra laughed hysterically. “We should hit the winners compartment, eh. ‘Cause I ain’t never gonna sit back here. Ha! Never!” Ezekiel bragged once again. “Is never your policy on mouthwash, too, homeschool?” Noah held his nose in annoyance. Starlight took a whiff and yeah, she kinda agreed with Noah there. Starlight and the rest of the contestants moved onto the first class compartment of the plane which had yellow walls and actually looked quite luxurious. “This is the first-class cabin, the domain of each week’s winners.” Chris commented. “Now this is the kind of luxury ladies deserve.” Alejandro told Lindsay. “They get ladies in first class too?” Lindsay asked in awe before smiling at the Spaniard, “Oh! Me! You meant me!” “That guy’s as smooth as Momma’s gravy.” DJ remarks from besides Tyler much to Starlight’s intrigue. “What do you mean?” Starlight asked curiously as she stood next to them. “Well he’s pretty gentlemanly all things considered.” DJ explained. “But Lindsay’s supposed to like me.” Tyler said miserably. “Wait, how long have you two even been together for?” Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not that long, but we kinda had a fling. I tried talking to her but she doesn’t even remember me.” Tyler said sadly. “Oh wow, I’m sorry about that.” Starlight said sympathetically, being forgotten about had to have hurt, she would know. “Thanks dudette.” Tyler smiled back before frowning remorsefully, “By the way, I heard about your situation. That has to suck.” “Tyler.” DJ elbowed the jock angrily, “That’s probably a sore subject.” “No, it’s fine. It sucks for me, but I’m trying to make the most of it. Noah’s sort of been helping me out.” Starlight said gratefully. “Wait, you mean our Noah. The guy who doesn’t do much but make snarky remarks?” DJ raised an eyebrow, “I don’t mean to judge Starlight, but Noah’s not the most empathetic person.” “Yeah, I know. I get that, but he does seem to care when it comes down to it.” Starlight explains. “Well if you’re saying the truth, that does seem pretty cool of him.” Tyler smiled at the unicorn. “Yeah, it’s nice to see him broadening his horizon.” DJ nodded. Meanwhile Noah was looking over behind his shoulder to see Starlight talking with Tyler and DJ and smiled a bit before Izzy spoke up nearby. “Awwwwwwwwww, is someone happy their little friend is getting along well with the others?” Izzy cooed teasingly. “Pfft, relax. I’m just making sure she doesn’t kill anybody.” Noah rolled his eyes playfully. “It’s okay to be happy for her Noah, from what you told us she’s going through a tough time so it’s good she’s making friends around here.” Owen said with a smile. “Yeah, hopefully it’ll take her mind off of her friends back at home.” Noah admitted sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I can’t believe she actually made friends with literal heroes and a princess.” Owen chuckled, “That sounds so cool. How did she pull that off?” “Yeah, that’s the thing. Last time I asked her, she seemed almost nervous to tell me and before she could, Chris dragged her away.” Noah answered as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh she is DEFINITELY hiding something.” Izzy chuckled, “Probably some embarrassing secret she doesn’t wanna share in fear that we’ll abandon her.” “Well if it’s personal, we probably shouldn’t bother her with it.” Owen advised, “I’m sure she’ll tell us when she’s ready.” Noah couldn’t argue with Owen’s point, but deep down, he wasn’t sure if Starlight’s secret was worth knowing. After their journey to first class, all the contestants sat back at the dining hall as Chris spoke, “And that’s pretty much it. I skipped the cargo hold and the galley, but I’m sure you’ll find those exciting destinations later, when I ‘accidentally’ lock you in them.” That wasn’t disturbing at all. “One more thing, I’m sure you remember a little something called the elimination ceremony. Takes place right in there, my friends.” Chris said happily as he led Starlight and the others to the elimination room which was a set-up of bleachers and where the plane exit door was. “If you don’t receive a barf bag full of airline-issue peanuts…” Chris began speaking before Ezekiel interrupted much to Starlight’s fear. “I got a peanut allergy, yo or more like a sensitivity.” Ezekiel raised his hand. “Just don’t eat the peanuts and you’ll be good.” Starlight advised the guy who gave a thumbs up at the advice. “You’ll be forced to go down the Drop Of Shame.” Chris glared angrily at the both of them before smiling again, “Now that we’re all acquainted with the rules, it’s time you head to the dining hall again.” Starlight walked by Ezekiel as they headed to the dining hall again so the unicorn took the time to whisper to Ezekiel, “Just try and tone down the interruptions when Chris is speaking, he looked pretty annoyed.” “That’s fair, eh.” Ezekiel nodded, “He did seem really mad at me.” Meanwhile Noah watched this scene with a curious look, why was Starlight talking to homeschool? Did she take pity on him or something? After a while, Noah shrugged, he supposed he was going to have to get used to Starlight surprising him in many ways. > Walk Like An Egyptian Part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight sat in between Ezekiel and Noah as the plane began preparing for lift off. Both didn’t seem to be ready to converse but after a moment of silence, DJ finally spoke. “Every second, we’re getting closer to adventure… and further from mama.” DJ sighed solemnly. “Cody Emmet Jameson Anderson, I also happen to know that your birthday is April First, you’re my very own April Fool.” Sierra sighed wistfully as she leaned towards Cody at the other side of the table. Well that wasn’t creepy at all. Suddenly a dinging noise brought Starlight to attention and she was surprised to see Chris wearing a tuxedo and top hat, “Whenever you hear that friendly little bell. It’s musical number time. So… let’s hear it.” “But what are we supposed to sing?” Courtney asked curiously. “You have to make it up as you go. Wouldn’t be challenging otherwise, now, would it?” Chris smirked. https://youtu.be/Xaslr8mvppY?si=FA4QA8OUgibInTEk (Song begins) “Up, up, up, up!” Courtney, Starlight, Sierra, Lindsay, and Izzy sang together with only Courtney and Starlight smiling as they sang. “Sing, sing, sing, sing.” Harold, Cody, DJ, and Tyler sang along. “We’re flying.” The girls minus Gwen sang together. “And singing.” The boys minus Duncan joined the chorus. “We’re flying and we’re singing!” Everyone except Gwen and Duncan sang at the same time. We then cut to Sierra pushing a drink compartment with Cody sitting on top of it. “Come fly with us!” Sierra sang happily. “Come fly with us!” Sierra and Cody sang in unison. “We’ve got a lot of crazy tunes to bust, haha!” Izzy laughed as she jumped out of the luggage compartment. “Come fly with us!” Bridgette sang as she stood on the couch of first class. “Come fly with us!” Lindsay smiled as she stood on the first class seat. “It’s a pleasure and an honor and a must.” Alejandro grabbed the two blondes’ hands and pulled them towards him causing them to blush and giggle into their hands much to his satisfaction. We then see Duncan lounging on a bench and staring blankly into space. “Dudes this is messed. You’re singing in a plane.” Duncan spoke in monotone. “What did you expect Chris is freaking insane?” Harold sang incredulously as he swung his nun-chucks around before accidentally hitting himself in the face and stumbling backwards. “Yeah, but guys, you’re singing in a plane.” Gwen said angrily. “Haven’t you always wanted to,” Courtney sang happily as she danced around Gwen and Duncan before tapping away, “It can’t just be meeeeeeeee.” “Come fly with us.” DJ began dancing around the first class bar with Leshawna who began singing along, “Come fly with us.” The plane began shaking as Heather sat in the cockpit with Chef lazily looking through the sky. “Do you know how to steer this thing?!” Heather asked incredulously. “I try.” Chef shrugged. We then see Ezekiel at the cargo hold rising from inside a suitcase while singing his own solo, “They think they can eliminate me and depart, but this stowaway’s got winning in his hearrrrrrt.” Little did he know was that Starlight was watching this go down with a shocked look on her face. “Come fly with us! Come die with us!” Noah sang as the camera cut to him looking through a window. “We’re flying! I hate flying! Stop the plane!” Owen frantically freaked out before Noah shushed him. We then see Gwen and Duncan crossing their arms as Sierra, Cody, Heather, and DJ began singing, “Come fly with us! Come sing with us!” “No!” Gwen and Duncan denied before Chris walked over. “You guys want a copy of the season three rule book because in order to survive instant elimination-“ Chris began showing a rule book before Bridgette took it. “All contestants must sing in each show.” She chorused. “Duncan do it. Let’s go.” Courtney commanded the punk. “Gwen, sing it. Don’t go.” Cody begged the goth. “Well, I don't wanna go home.” Gwen looked away awkwardly before gaining a determined look and awkwardly singing, “Come fly with us! Come fly with us! Come and fly with us!” “Duncan, c’mon. Please.” Courtney begged. “This suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.” Duncan finished. “Yeah!” Starlight and the rest of the contestants ended off the song. (Song Ends) “Enough singing, fruitcakes.” Chef spoke from the intercom, “Strap yourselves in. We are now beginning our descent into Egypt.” “Musical numbers,” Chef muttered, not realizing the intercom was still on, “worst idea ever! Chris is such an idi-“ Chris gasped in offense before Chef spoke again, “Hey! Why’s the PA light still on? Oh sh-“ “We’ll be right back.” Chris narrowed his eyes as Starlight worried for the fate of Chris’ assistant. After a while, Starlight and the rest of the contestants finally made it to Egypt standing near a starting line where Chris was sitting on an Egyptian throne being carried by two of his interns. "You guys ready for a little fun, huh? Wow, it's a score-ture around here, huh?" Chris said happily before saying, "I call today's challenge: Pyramid Over Under." "An 11-hour flight, Chef's in-fly cuisine, a forced musical number, now we've got a challenge?" Leshawna said angrily. "Don't you just love this game?" Chris asked before explaining the challenge, "Pyramid over under means you choose how you'll get to the finish line, either over or under the pyramid, got it? On your marks get set go." Chris blew the air horn. Starlight began running with the rest of the contestants to the pyramid and decided to follow Noah, Owen, and Izzy inside the pyramid when the four of them stopped along with Ezekiel, Owen, Cody, Harold, DJ, Leshawna, Heather, and Sierra when they see there are three pathways open. “Oh great. Our friendly neighborhood host dude failed to mention there were different paths.” Noah said in annoyance. “Hey Sierra, which way should we go?” Heather asked in a falsely sweet tone much to Sierra’s happiness. “Me?!” Sierra asked happily before humming in thought. “How do we know which way is right?” Owen asked curiously. “Yeah, it could be any of these paths.” Starlight agreed. "I know, okay, I saw this in a spy movie once, you lick your finger and hold it up to find the airflow." Izzy said before licking her finger, "Mmm, the sand really crunches in your teeth, fun, DJ, give me your hand." "Don't do it, DJ, you might catch a case of crazy, come on, Harold." Leshawna told DJ and Harold before DJ and Harold follow Leshawna as they walk into the middle path with Ezekiel following them for some reason. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, let's take the scary mummy door!" Izzy proclaimed as she pointed to the left path. Noah and Owen shrugged as they went to follow Izzy. Starlight shuddered, she really hoped Izzy knew what she was doing. To Starlight’s annoyance; the path Izzy chose was pretty dark. Not that it would’ve made a difference even if she had chosen a different path but the path was dark all the same. Starlight tried using her horn and to Noah, Owen, and Izzy’s surprise, a dim teal light began surfacing the room much to Owen and Izzy’s awe. “Wow! That is so cool!” Izzy said excitedly, “I thought you lost all your magic.” “I didn’t.” Starlight admitted with a chuckle, “My magic’s been slowly coming back ever since I first came here but I don’t think I’ll be as powerful as I used to be.” “Either way, thanks for lighting up the room. Now we just gotta find a way out of this place.” Owen smiled before the group continued walking along. Eventually Starlight, Owen, and Noah had lost Izzy during the journey much to Owen’s dismay as he started frantically calling out her name, “Izzy!” “Dude, she’s lost. We gotta go.” Noah told the blonde. “Aw, poor Iz.” Owen said solemnly. “Poor Iz?!” Noah asked incredulously, “She kept insisting we go around in circles because she ‘smelled something lucky’.” “Oh, I think that might’ve been my fault.” Owen chuckled nervously before farting, “Airplane food.” Starlight’s face turned green for a moment before shaking it off and turning to Noah, “You sure we should go without her? Izzy could be in danger?” “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Noah reassured the unicorn as he walked ahead, “I’ve seen her participate in this show and she’s survived a whole lot worse.” “Okay… if you say so.” Starlight gulped before sharing an awkward glance with Owen before both of them start following Noah. After a while, the trio of oddballs finally reach the exit of the pyramid and see Ezekiel, Leshawna, DJ, Harold, Lindsay, and Bridgette on the left of the finish line while Alejandro and Tyler were standing on the opposite side of them. Tyler was currently brushing sand off of him. “Owen, Starlight, Noah, glad you could join us. Go stand with Alejandro and Tyler, you three are on team two.” Chris smirked. “Awesome! Hey guys!” Owen said happily as he gave a high-five to Tyler. “Hey dude.” Tyler said happily before turning to Starlight with a smile, “Oh hey. Looks like we’re on the same team!” “Hm, I guess so.” Starlight smiled back before turning to Alejandro. “You’re Alejandro right? Nice to properly meet you?” Starlight held a hoof out to shake which Alejandro smirked at and shook. “Ah, nice to meet you as well Starlight. I trust we’ll all be a great team.” Alejandro complimented. Suddenly, Sierra came running out of the pyramid with Cody in her arms and Heather following her. “Oh I'm so happy we found you, Heather aren't you so happy?!” Sierra said happily to both the geek and the Queen Bee. "I'm so happy I could scream." Heather glared at Sierra as she ran. The three of them crossed the finish line which caused Sierra to begin cheering and embracing Cody, “We did it! Group hug! Come on Heath, you too.” Heather rolled her eyes before reluctantly smiling and joining the group hug with Sierra and Cody. "And hugs over, Sierra, you're on team two, as for Heather and Cody you're on team three." Chris said happily as Sierra walked over and waved to her new team and Heather and Cody stood on the right side. "In Egyptian it's-" Harold began before Chris interrupts him, "No one cares Harold." "Where's Gwen?" Cody found himself asking, before Heather looked at him annoyed, "Not that I care, just curious." Starlight looked at the top of the pyramid and pointed upwards, “Uh… she’s up there.” She said awkwardly as she watched Gwen and Courtney argue while being tied to Duncan. "Oh kiiiiiids." Chris said in a sing-song voice through his megaphone towards the three argumentative teens before the music bell dings, "Remember that tune? Time for whoever’s not done yet to give a musical reprise." "You said one song per episode!" Duncan yelled out. "Yeah, but this is a musical reprise, so if you don't sing, you're out." Chris smirked. "You know what no!" Duncan told Chris and he began hopping off the pyramid dragging Gwen and Courtney along with him, making Starlight cringe at the sight. "No no no no no no!” “Three hours of these two squawking and you want me to sing?! Forget it!” Duncan yelled out furiously. “Dude, it’s in your contract.” Chris shrugged happily. “Eat it McLean!" Duncan screamed as he cut the rope connecting him, Gwen, and Courtney, "If you need me, I'll be on the plane waiting for a ride home, because I'm out, done, I quit!" Gwen and Courtney gasped as Duncan walked off into the distance. Starlight wouldn’t admit it but she was also shocked. Duncan made the final four twice during his runs in Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action, so she was surprised to see him being so willing to quit. After that, Starlight soon saw Izzy walking like a mummy while also being wrapped up like one as she walked over to the finish line and stood next to team three. She didn’t get what was going on but she wasn’t going to question it. “Okay teams, talk amongst yourselves and determine a team name, you have three minutes, while I enjoy this ice cream cone." Chris instructs. Starlight soon went into a huddle with Sierra and the boys, trying to come up with a team name. “So what should we name our team?” Starlight asked curiously. As they talked, she could hear the words “Team Victory” and “Team Amazon” being chanted from teams one and three respectively. Wow, that was fast. “I was thinking we name our team, team number one.” Tyler said. “I’m not sure if that’s the most creative name Tyler.” Noah criticized. “Got it!” Sierra cried out before yelling, “Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot.” “What?!” The boys asked. “Alright, best team name ever.” Chris smirked before speaking again, “Team Victory you win a stick," Chris said tossing Bridgette a stick, "As for Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Hot…" "I believe there were only four Reallys." Alejandro interrupted. "you win a goat," Chris continued as a goat ran over and rammed Tyler making the jock fall over. "and Team Amazon you win a camel." Chris said with a smirk as an intern walked a camel on a leash towards the newly named Team Amazon. "So the guys who come in last get a camel and we get a stick?" Leshawna said angrily. "All will be explained, if I feel like it, next time on , right her on Total...Drama Woooooorld Tour!" Chris said to close off the episode as Starlight wondered what advantages each team could end up gaining. > Walk Like An Egyptian Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Duncan left to go back on the plane, the teams were put on different colored mats. Team Victory’s was yellow, Team Amazon’s was pink, and Team Chris’ was blue. "Ooh look team colors." Izzy said happily. "Why is our mat yellow, we're no cowards." Harold asked angrily. "Relax, sugar. The mat's gold 'cause Team Victory's in first place!" Leshawna explained with pride. Starlight couldn’t argue with that one. As Team Amazon were bantering, Starlight noticed Sierra walk over to Izzy. “The Duncan and Courtney fans will be so devastated but I think you and Owen have a big shot at becoming fave Total Drama couple on my fan site." Sierra said happily. "Owen's magic, when he breathes, his nose whistles the Canadian national anthem." Izzy said. Starlight looked over to see Owen and his nose was doing just that or what she thought it was anyway, she didn’t know much about Canada, being from another dimension and all. "Super cute, but he's no Cody, did you know he slept with his stuffed emu Jerry until… well okay he still does." Sierra said happily. "And you know this how?" Noah moved over to Sierra and asked incredulously. "I called his aunt once, I pretended I was a telemarketer." Sierra explained. "Ooh, stalkericious." Noah said sarcastically. Suddenly the cymbals rang, bringing Starlight’s attention to Chris sitting on an intern while another one was fanning him with a giant leaf. Starlight rolled her eyes at the scene, the host was such an egomaniac. “Don't know about you guys, but I am loving Egypt! Mm. And I'm gonna love it even more watching you enjoy your second challenge. The Amazing Camel Race!" Chris announced. "Where are the other camels?" Ezekiel asked. "There are no other camels. It's a camel race. Not a camels race." Chris explained. "Yes." Heather exclaimed happily. "We won last time, but they get a camel, they get a goat, and we get a stick?" Leshawna said incredulously. Starlight raised an eyebrow at that remark, didn’t she say that just earlier? Each reward has it's advantages, trust me." Chris said. “Everyone, I need to pitch a team meeting.” Alejandro told his team as Starlight shrugged before she stood in between Noah and Sierra. “We need no camel. We have each other, we have the strength, the will, and together we will triumph.” Alejandro said in determination. “Yeah!” Owen clasped his hands together happily. “Yeah!” Tyler cheered. “Alright.” Noah rubbed his hands together. “I’m game.” Starlight smirked before looking to see Sierra with a blank look on her face but before she could dwell on that, Alejandro began speaking again. “Alright, so we need to get on the goat in a perfect balance. Noah and Tyler, get on the goat together, Sierra and Owen, get on Noah and Tyler’s shoulders respectively.” Alejandro commanded politely. As soon as the four teammates did just that, Owen gave a smile at the Latin, “Hey this is so cool Alehandout or Alakazam. Ah, I’m just gonna call you Al, woo.” Alejandro just gave a blank look. “Yeah, this is gonna work.” Noah scoffed. “Have faith Noah. Believe in us.” Alejandro encouraged before turning to Starlight, “I’m going to need to carry you if that’s alright?” “If you insist.” Starlight said in confusion before Alejandro grabbed her by the back and lifted her up, and then leaped on top of Owen and Sierra which perfectly balanced them all on top of the goat. “Whoa, we’re perfectly balanced.” Tyler said in shock and awe. “Okay, color me impressed.” Noah rolled his eyes in amusement. Starlight then looked down to see Team Amazon on their camel and Chris standing on a stool, “A'ight. Nile's that-a-way. Kinda big, blue, and watery. Can't miss it. Or I guess you can, but then you'll die. Probably get killed by the local scarab beetles. It's mating season and they get all... kill-y when they're in heat." The host said happily. That sounded ominous. "I am glad there aren't any out here. Those things are nasty!" Leshawna said happily. "I'll tell them you said so." Chris says before Starlight looks behind her to see Chef pouring a jug of scarab beetles on the ground. The contestants begin screaming as scarab beetles began swarming the field while Starlight found herself clutching onto Alejandro to avoid falling when suddenly the music bell dinged. "Ooh! Time for a song! Think of it as a mini-challenge. Music can soothe the savage mate-seeking scarabs, so make up a good song and maybe they won't kill ya. Or don't but you'll get disqualified and become bug food." Chris said happily. Starlight groaned along with the others but knew the show must go on lest she get eliminated like Duncan. https://youtu.be/-gLGxlGCdqA?si=xqaVY73pvQOH4JgS (Song begins) The song began with Cody, DJ, and Harold snapping their fingers in sync before Alejandro began singing. “No need to get crazy, it’s loving time at last.” “You don’t wanna eat us up.” The boys all sang in unison. “We’re mostly full of gas.” Owen finished before seeing more scarab beetles crawling near him, “No! No!” “It’s mating time for scarabs.” Starlight sang along with the girls. “So whatcha waiting on?” Leshawna smirked as she backed away from the scarabs. “Just ignore us humans.” Izzy sang as Cody whistled. “And make out till the brink of dawn.” The contestants sang much to Starlight’s bafflement, considering how straightforward that was. “It’s loving time.” The boys harmonized as the scarab beetles began nuzzling together and away from the contestants. “Loving time loving time.” Starlight and the girls chorused. “Scarab mating season.” “It’s loving time.” “Loving time, loving time.” “Scarabs, get busy now.” Alejandro said calmly. “It’s loving time.” Harold sang. “Loving time, loving time. Scarab mating season!” They all sang along. “It’s loving time.” Cody sang as he and the Amazons began silently riding their camel away causing Alejandro to inch forward, letting their goat follow. “Loving time, loving time. Scarab mating season!” They all sang along. “Seasonal eh.” Ezekiel spoke before realizing his mistake, “Oh no, WAIT!” (Song Ends) It was too late, the scarab beetles had heard Zeke and began snarling before chasing after them once again. The camel and goat immediately began running whilst carrying their respective teams, and all Starlight could do was watch as Team Victory run from the beetles in fear in sympathy. After a while, Starlight and the rest of Team Chris were far away from the scarab beetles and were quick to catch up with Team Amazon who were more than eager to taunt them about being in the lead. “We’re gonna win the race now so see ya.” Heather smirked at them before blowing a raspberry. “Eat sand losers.” Courtney fired with a smirk as well. Starlight silently furrowed her eyebrows at the girls’ behavior but what surprised her was what Alejandro said next. “Such witty remarks from such fiercely intelligent women. I am both humbled and intrigued.” Alejandro complimented which was indeed confusing to Starlight. She was all for being peaceful but it was weird how Alejandro was complimenting the two people who just insulted them. “Nice try, but I’m with Duncan.” Courtney waved him off. “And what a pity it is that you should give yourself to a quitter, who doesn’t deserve you.” Alejandro smiled back much to Starlight’s shock. “Wh- that’s not- Duncan is totally… would somebody hurry this camel up!” Courtney stammered before turning to her team angrily. “That was a bit of a low blow, don’t you think?” Starlight asked cautiously as she turned to Alejandro. “I’ll admit that it was a bit… unorthodox to bring up her boyfriend but I’m sure we all wanted to take Courtney down a peg just a little.” Alejandro explained nervously. “Yeah, that makes sense to me. She was a major pain to watch her treat Lindsay so badly last season.” Tyler admitted from below. “Yeah… Courtney’s really mean.” Owen gulped nervously, as if fearing that Courtney would overhear him. Starlight had to admit, from what she saw on the show Courtney wasn’t the best person, heck from what she saw, she bargained lives TWICE on this show but Starlight still believed that her relationship with her partner should be shown a bit of respect. “Okay, I understand what you’re saying.” Starlight sighed, “Just try not to go too far.” “Of course.” Alejandro smiled reassuringly. Alejandro’s eyes wandered to the left where he could see the Nile just nearby and his eyes widened in shock before whispering to his team, “Hold on everyone I’m changing our direction.” Alejandro swayed his hips and soon the goat began running to the left to the Nile and away from Team Amazon. Starlight was tempted to call out for the Amazons but bit her tongue. That did not seem like the best idea if she wanted to stay in the game and if she hoped to at least make a living when being stuck in this place, she’d probably need that million. So she went with her gut and said nothing. Starlight finally was set down by Alejandro and was running along with the team to the Nile only to see the finish line was on the other side of it which wouldn’t be a problem if there weren’t crocodiles everywhere. “There’s the finish line.” Tyler exclaimed. “Yeah, on the other side.” Noah cried out in annoyance. “Welcome to your third challenge.” Starlight faintly heard Chris say. “What?! Speak up!” Owen shouted back but all he could make out was gibberish from the other side. “Did anybody get that?” Owen asked curiously. “WELCOME TO THE THIRD AND FINAL EGYPTIAN CHALLENGE, BASKET CASES!" Chris’ voice echoed from the other side from which Starlight soon saw was a megaphone. After that, Owen screamed and jumped to cower on the ground. "Each team must weave a basket of river reeds. Your basket has to be big enough to hold your whole team, including the reward from last challenge aka goat face over there." Chris explained from across the Nile. “Hey.” Tyler cried out in offense to that last part. “I believe he meant the goat.” Alejandro explained to the jock whilst pointing at the goat eating grass behind them. “Oh… cool, thanks.” Tyler smiled at the Spaniard. "Then you're gonna use the baskets to get away with those oars to row yourselves across the finish line. First team across flies first class to our next destination!" Chris finished. “This is perfect." Sierra said happily. "What? The fact that we're hosed?" Noah asked stoically. "I'm a fourth generation basket weaver, we're gonna need a lot of reeds." Sierra explained before she grabbed some of the reeds from the field and started making a boat immediately. “Perhaps we should grab more reeds so Sierra does not strain herself.” Alejandro advised to which they all nodded and began pulling out the weeds from the ground or in Starlight’s case began levitating them out. Soon, after a while of basket weaving the boat, Sierra finally began a conversation. “Hey Starlight, there’s some stuff I kinda wanna know.” Sierra began curiously catching her team’s attention. “Yeah?” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Where are you from? I mean, you’re obviously not from Earth given the fact you’re a talking pony, but I wanna hear where you came from.” Sierra explained giddily. Starlight was a little nervous to answer that question, from what she saw, Sierra wasn’t really good at keeping things to herself and from what she could tell, she was a gossip but it’s not like telling her what dimension she was from would hurt… would it? “Well if you want to know where I’m from, I’m from a kingdom called Equestria. It probably sounds absurd to you, but it’s a place where ponies like me reside in with other creatures.” Starlight explained awkwardly. “Oooh! What kinds of creatures?” Owen asked in awe. “Well, there are Dragons, Changelings, Griffons, and Yaks.” Starlight answered, smiling a bit more at how well the conversation was flowing. “Whoa…” Tyler’s eyes widened before blinking in confusion, “Uh… I don’t know any of the other creatures except dragons.” Starlight rolled her eyes fondly, she didn’t blame the jock for not knowing what those creatures were, he had to be there. “Forgive me for asking, but aren’t Changelings shapeshifting monsters who feed from the love of their victims?” Alejandro asked curiously. “How do you know what Changelings are?” Owen asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve read Ancient Mythology.” Alejandro said briefly. “Well not anymore. Apparently Starlight was able to convince the Changelings to share love instead of feeding on it.” Noah explained with a chuckle causing Sierra to gasp in shock. “How did you do that?” Sierra asked with wide eyes. Starlight blushed a bit in embarrassment before explaining, “Well… at that point Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings had kidnapped the princesses of Equestria including my friends who are known heroes there to feed off everyone’s love. So I had gotten the help of my best friend Trixie, Discord a Draconequus known as the Lord Of Chaos, and one of her former subjects Thorax to infiltrate her hive and get them back to save Equestria. Long story short, I ended up figuring out how sharing love helped the Changelings not starve so I ended up convincing them all to change for the better. It helped that they all did not like being ruled by Chrysalis.” “Why would they all defect?” Alejandro asked curiously. Before Starlight could answer that, Noah spoke for her, “Apparently Queen Chrysalis was also Tyrant Chrysalis and pretty much abused her subjects to obey her commands. Apparently she even tried to feed off of the aforementioned Thorax to punish him for wanting to befriend the ponies.” Noah explained. “Wait… how do you know all this Noah?” Tyler asked with a raised eyebrow. “He and Starlight both met when she first got here and they’ve been talking a bit ever since.” Owen explained giddily. “However, there are some things Starlight neglected to mention, like the fact Chris casted her in the new season in the first place.” Noah glared with a teasing frown. “I was sworn to secrecy. I would’ve told you if I could.” Starlight smiled with a playful roll of her eyes. “Yeah yeah.” Noah smirked back before speaking again, “I still don’t get why you tried to reform that Chrysalis though. From what you told me, she was horrible.” “Yeah… she tried to starve her own species. That’s terrifying. Imagine not being able to eat anything?!” Owen shuddered, “Who would have the will to be so awful to their subjects?” Starlight felt disheartened by that statement, considering her own past and all but she didn’t blame Owen for feeling that way. “Well I thought if her subjects were able to reform, maybe she could too.” Starlight explained sadly. “No offense Starlight, I am not sure you can really change somebody like her. Some people or creatures in your case aren’t worth wasting your time on.” Tyler said bitterly. “Yeah… I guess so.” Starlight sighed miserably as she continued working on weaving the boat. She knew that wasn’t always true but Tyler did make some points, and if Chrysalis wasn’t worth saving, did that mean she was worth saving too… Those thoughts shook out of Starlight’s mind as soon as they came. With all she’s experienced, she knew she was worth saving but even so, Starlight was unsure if she could ever reveal her past to these guys. She did like them but could she really trust them with the knowledge of her worst deeds? For now, she wouldn’t say a word about her villainous deeds, but maybe someday. > Walk Like An Egyptian Part 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a good amount of time, Team Amazon had finally arrived to the Nile and one look at Team Chris’ boat gave them an idea of what they would have to do. “Basket weave a boat?!” Heather asked incredulously before growling. “Sorry you guys are so far behind. Our baskets are nearly done thanks to my speed weaving.” Sierra apologized as she walked up to Izzy. “Plus you got Owen and a unicorn on your team. Lucky.” Izzy smiled back which gained Starlight’s attention but she kept weaving nonetheless. “But you have Cody," Sierra said, clearly love struck before embracing the geek, "I know Cody, I wish we were on the same team too." "Uh, I have to do something." Cody said before running away from Sierra. Yeah, even Starlight could tell the feeling was not mutual. "Aww you guys are so cute together." Izzy said happily which confused Starlight. Sure Sierra’s admiration was endearing but Cody’s uncomfortable look wasn’t. "Maybe we can swap teams." Sierra suggested happily which shocked everyone involved but Heather broke out of her shock and smirked. "Trade a basket case for a basket weaver, fine Sierra, you're with us, Izzy go play with the boys." Heather said happily. "What?!" Alejandro asked incredulously. Soon Sierra immediately began speed weaving a boat for Team Amazon, impressing Courtney and Gwen. "Wow! She's amazing!" Courtney said in shock. "Mmhmm, maybe you should start listening to me more." Heather suggested. Courtney and Gwen immediately began laughing, "It'll take a lot more than that to earn our trust, a lot a lot more." Gwen said, trying to hold back her laughter. "Where's Chris, he won't allow this." Alejandro protested before Chris showed up at the scene via boat with Chef driving it. "What's going on here?" Chris asked before Sierra hugged his legs. "Today's officially the best day of my life, so I really hope you allow me and Izzy to swap, but of course, you'll make the best decision because you're the best decider." Sierra gushed. "And that's why I'm gonna allow it." Chris smirked. "Smiley face, ah!" Sierra smiled before continuing to work on Team Amazon's boat while Chef drove himself and Chris away from the teams. "As you wish." Alejandro sighed but Starlight was just confused by the whole ordeal. Was that even allowed? Wait, Chris did the same thing with Izzy and Katie back in season one. Of course it was allowed. Heather soon blew a raspberry but then Alejandro unexpectedly blew Heather a kiss. Heather gasped but looked away from Alejandro. Starlight’s eyes soon widened as she saw that Team Amazon’s boat was basically complete as Sierra finished the final touch. “Ta-da!” Sierra grinned. “Team Amazon rocks!” Cody, Courtney, Gwen, and Heather cheered. Starlight joined the rest of her team in groaning in annoyance as they were now further behind Team Amazon. "Don't give up, we still have a shot." Alejandro encourages the group. "Al's right, thanks Al." Owen said happily as he, Starlight, and Izzy kept putting reeds on their boat. Though Starlight did catch Alejandro shuddering, what was that all about? "Come on we're not too late." DJ says as he and the rest of Team Victory runs over breathlessly. “Weave a basket boat out of reeds, row to the finish, keep your reward, yadda yadda yadda." Chris said dismissively. "You heard the man, yadda yadda." Leshawna said as Team Victory began getting ready to make a boat out of reeds. Starlight tried to tune them out as she continued getting the boat ready for the water but then heard Courtney speak up. “Izzy, tell Ruby to get in the boat.” Courtney sharply commanded. “Rei-“ Izzy began calling out before Noah interrupted. “Whoa. Izzy’s on OUR team now, not yours’.” Noah commented angrily before turning to Izzy, “Not a word.” “Ooh, fun.” Izzy cheered. “Fine. We’ll do it ourselves. C’mon.” Courtney groaned as she and the rest of Team Amazon began pulling on the rope on the camel’s neck but it refused to budge. Starlight then put the finishing touches on the boat and smiled, “Alright. We’re all done.” “To the water.” Alejandro commanded before Starlight, Tyler, Noah, Owen, and Izzy each got an oar and got on the boat. “It floats! Awesome!” Owen cheered. Alejandro then whistled for the goat to get in his arms and got on the boat. The rest of the team immediately began rowing to the finish line with ease. “We’re going to win fair and square but to make sure you believe that…” Alejandro taunted Team Amazon before turning to Izzy, “Talk to the camel.” Starlight and Noah both shared wide-eyed expressions, what was he doing?! However Izzy did just as she was told and Starlight looked behind her to see the camel get on Team Amazon’s boat and from what she was seeing, Team Amazon and Team Victory were not far behind from catching up to them. “Well now,” Starlight heard Chris speak up, “Clearly this part of the challenge isn’t hard enough.” Before Starlight could question what he meant by that, another ding was heard. “Time for a musical reprise.” The host announced much to the annoyance of everyone rowing, Starlight included. “Hey, if you finished the song the first time, you wouldn’t be here now.” Chris smirked before glaring at Ezekiel, “Zeke!” Starlight watched as Ezekiel’s team glared at him and rose an eyebrow, honestly did Chris really need to call him out? “So start singing and really put your backs into it.” Chris said happily. https://youtu.be/MSX17_zMh8U?si=oyfXcSUVvG6yxCJ6 The song began in a faster pace than the last one as crocodiles began swimming behind all of them. “Mm Mm.” Alejandro hummed, “Crocodile amigos. Whatcha swarming for?” “We don’t mean to bug you.” Courtney sang as she and her team frantically rowed across the Nile. “Please let us reach to shore.” Gwen begged with the camel honking along. “These crocs are getting Killy.” Lindsay cried out fearfully. “Just bop them on the nose.” Harold sang as Ezekiel looked at the stick with a plan forming in his mind, “I learned that in muskrat boys, it vanquishes all foes.” Ezekiel then tried to bop the crocodile on the nose but it immediately ate the stick in his hand much to the homeschooler’s horror. “It’s rowing time.” Alejandro began. “Vanquishing Vanquishing. Crocodile season.” Everyone else sang along. “It’s rowing time.” DJ continued the reprise. “Crocodiles Crocodiles.” Team Victory sang along before the crocodile bit onto the front and back of their boat which immediately began sinking a little. “And now we’re sinking.” DJ sang worriedly. “Yeah, it’s rowing time.” Cody sang happily. “Sinking in Sinking in, crocodile season.” “It’s rowing time.” Alejandro and Starlight chorused. “Rowing time Rowing tiiiiiiiiiiime.” Team Amazon sang happily as they passed Team Chris and made it to the finish line. “Til the Amazons…” Sierra began before Team Chris and Team Victory finally made it to the end. “WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!” Team Amazon choruses as they spread their arms out in glee. (Song Ends) After the song ended, Chris smiled at the competitors, “Congrats, you’re alive and because of a certain quitter, there will be no elimination tonight.” “Really? Then what were we doing all this for?” Gwen asked curiously. “To fill the episode quota. Obviously.” Chris smirked which caused the teens to groan or roll their eyes. Honestly Starlight was just glad the challenge was over. The contestants immediately began heading back for the plane as Team Amazon was celebrating their win and their privileges for first class. “Thanks for getting the camel in the boat for us, suckers.” Heather taunted to Starlight and the rest of her team. This caused Starlight, Noah, and Tyler to glare at Alejandro and Izzy in which they both nervously smiled at. “No offense Alejandro and Izzy, but why did you guys give Team Amazon the leg up? We could’ve easily lost because of that.” Starlight asked incredulously. “Yeah no, Starlight’s sugarcoating it because we did end up losing.” Noah crossed his arms angrily, “We’re just lucky we didn’t get last and that this wasn’t an elimination round but we don’t even get to be in first class now.” “Yeah, that was kinda uncool guys.” Tyler admitted softly but still frowning sternly nonetheless. “Look, I understand all of your anger, but I thought that we’d be able to beat the Amazons fair and square and I suppose I got too overconfident. I apologize for that.” Alejandro sighed which made Starlight and Tyler give each other awkward looks as Alejandro did seem sorry but Noah just shrugged. “Whatever. Just don’t let it happen again.” Noah grunted before walking off. “Yeah… it was a pretty dumb move looking back.” Izzy said sheepishly before walking off with Noah, Owen immediately following. “I forgive you guys, really? I was just concerned is all.” Starlight told the Spaniard before walking off to follow Noah, Izzy, and Owen and after a while Alejandro and Tyler did the same. Once Team Chris and Team Victory made it to loser class, Starlight had caught wind of Bridgette, DJ, Ezekiel, Harold, Leshawna, and Lindsay staring at her. “Uh… can I help you guys?” Starlight asked curiously. “Oh sorry Starlight,” DJ rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “We were just taken aback because…” “Unicorns in our world don’t exist so to meet one is quite the spectacle.” Harold explained nonchalantly which caused Bridgette and Lindsay to glare at the nerd. “What?!” Harold asked incredulously, “It’s obvious!” “Oh it’s fine guys. I get why you’d be taken aback. I’m aware unicorns are a rare sight in worlds like this.” Starlight smiled reassuringly. “Worlds like this?” Tyler asked in shock, “So that means there’s MORE than your world out there?!” Starlight’s eyes widened. Crap, she probably shouldn’t have said that. “Obviously, considering she came from another dimension, there has to be thousands of worlds out there in the multiverse. I’m just surprised the multiverse theory is actually true.” Harold scoffed indignantly, “The reason Starlight must know this is because her world has access to magic.” “We get it Harold, you’re a genius.” Noah rolled his eyes. “Ooh; what other worlds out there have you seen?!” Lindsay asked happily, “Maybe there’s a whole world dedicated to candy or maybe shoes, or shoes made of candy.” “I like that last one.” Owen chirped in with a smile. “Uh… from what I’ve seen, just another world full of humans. That’s pretty much all I’ve seen.” Starlight chuckled nervously. “Darn. I was hoping to learn more about the multiverse.” Harold grunted. “Maybe some other day Harold.” Leshawna rubbed his back with an awkward smile. “Let’s just focus on the competition right now.” Bridgette advised with a calm smile. “Yeah, so that way Team Victory can dominate.” Ezekiel smirked arrogantly. “You guys literally lost the challenge.” Noah snarked. “Well…” Ezekiel trailed off before smirking again, “with me on this team, that’s gonna change immediately.” Ezekiel boasted much to his team’s ire which Starlight couldn’t blame them for, but something nagged at her brain, why was Ezekiel so insistent on being this arrogant?