“I am?” Twilight said. “By Rainbow, right? Because otherwise that sounds traumatising.”

“It’s the metaphorical sense, like the one that means ‘doomed’,” Lyra said.

“Oh. Well, that still sucks.”

“You misunderstood something and you’re Twilight!”

“I know....”

Applejack came out of the mandatory forest. “Ah got the mail.”

“Read it or else,” camerapony #3 said.

“Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll read it.”

“Menacin’... anyway, it says ‘There are six ah you left, as you already know; Zecora can’t think up a rahme, so just go.’.”

“I guess we should go, then,” Twilight said, since even though it was obvious, someone had to say it.

“Welcome, Withstanders! Today’s challenge is the archery challenge!”

“But we’re quadrupeds,” Twilight said.

“They’re called challenges for a reason, Twilight. If they were easy, we’d call them a word for something easy. Like pieces of cakewalks or something. Since you’ll only be going one at a time, we’ve decided you can all take turns with one bow and one arrow.”

Octavia raised her hoof.

“What questions could you possibly have?”

“What if we lose the arrow?”

“Another one can be delivered within two hours. Who’s going first?”

“Wouldn’t it be more of an advantage to go last?” Octavia said.

“Um....” She put a hoof under her chin for exactly two seconds. “Then Twilight can go first for not understanding what a challenge is.”

Twilight grabbed the bow and the arrow. The target wasn’t a standard ten-ring archery target; it was the size of one, but had five rings, marked π, (10^6-1)÷142857, .11×10^2, love+1, and 4/5*antilog5(2). Twilight fired the arrow as she went bipedal, managing a (10^6-1)÷142857.

“Who’s next for round 1 of 1?” Pinkie said.

“I’ll go,” Lyra said.

The arrow was retrieved by a relative of Silver Spoon’s, Silver Retriever, who was in shiny silver armour for arrow protection.

“Okay...” said Lyra. She got bipedal and slipped as she fired the arrow, sending it straight up then straight down, for Twilight to catch it with her levitation centimetres before it hit her in the knee.

“Twilight! You saved my... well... not my life, but probably something important! You don’t secretly love me, do you?”

“So because I didn’t let you lie there and die, I’m romantically interested in you?”

“No. I was asking.”

Lyra got up and Octavia took the bow and arrow, in that order. Octavia gave Lyra a neutral but maybe a bit sad look.

“I don’t love her,” Lyra said.

Octavia turned away and looked at the bow and arrow on the ground, thinking about how she would do this.

“Honestly, I don’t!”

“I believe you.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I need to concentrate.”

“Sorry.”

Octavia went bipedal, then immediately fell down without getting a shot off.

“Is that it?” Octavia said.

“You didn’t actually fire,” Pinkie Pie said, “So you can go again.”

She fired the arrow about ten centimetres (just 4.9m short of the target—for ungulate quadrupeds with no archery experience, five metres is a long way), and immediately fell down.

“Aren’t there usually some sort of practice supplies sent before one of these challenges?” said camerapony #3.

“Next you’ll be asking for enough water to survive upon,” Pinkie said. “Real pony’s game. I would say real stallion’s, since that’s how the saying goes, but most of you aren’t stallions. In fact, Big Mac’s still a colt for a few more months and also forever. Camerapony #3, you’re next.”

Camerapony #3 got up and was able to stand for more than one second. She got a .11×10^2.

“Wow,” Pinkie said, “An actual good shot. Who’s next, Big Mac or Applejack? Hey, your names rhyme! You know, I never noticed that before.”

“Ah’ll go.” She took the bow/arrow combination pack and stood up for a whopping three seconds. During that time, since she’s a designated physically precise pony, she got a love+1.

“Holy cra... n... berries...” Pinkie said.

“You know,” Lyra said, “‘Crayon’ is a word.”

“Big Mac’s next.”

Big Mac did the exact same thing as Octavia’s second try.

“Welperdoozerwhatzits, that means AJ wins invulnerability!”

Back at Jambalaysland, logues of varying number.

“I’m fucked,” Twilight said.

“It’s okay,” lied camerapony #3, “Sixth out of twelve is good, right? And you’ll get to see Rainbow Dash.”

“Sixth out of twelve is average. It’s just as average as seventh out of twelve.”

“It’s okay for some reason I suspiciously can’t articulate.”

“I guess you have a point about Rainbow... still, though, not to insult her, but that doesn’t outweigh the being out of the game thing.”

“So I asked why a couple of the minerals at the exhibit were gone,” Lyra said, “And he said they lost them when they were rearranging some stuff. Then Rainbow appeared out of nowhere and said

‘Looks like the owners are suffering from...’

and she put on her sunglasses,

‘Loss of apatite.’.

“Then there was ‘yeeeaaahhh’ out of nowhere and then I pointed out that they didn’t lose any apatite. Then Rainbow said she didn’t even know what apatite was besides a mineral and she just learned it from being around Twilight and thought she just had to use it in a pun somewhere.”

“Continue.”

“That’s it.”

“Oh. That didn’t seem particularly ending-like.”

“I know, but after that it was boring. Well, not boring, I had fun, but you know.”

Applejack was felinely curled up on the ground, which I just thought was worth mentioning.

“Ah miss Rainbow,” she said.

“It’s been two days,” Big Mac said.

“Ah miss Rainbow.”

“You’ve been away from her for longer before.”

“Ah miss Rainbow.”

“It’s been two days.”

“Ah miss Rainbow.”

And so with everyone covered, it was time for Teamal Council. Dramatic establishing shots ensued.

“Welcome. There are six of you here. But at the end of tonight,” she held up a revolver, “There will only be five. We’re going by number of romantic partners tonight, which means camerapony #3, you’re first.”

“You don’t have to remind me.”

Voting: it’s the one thing you’re not supposed to show.

“I’ll tally the votes,” Pinkie decided right then. She got the votes. “Whoever gets the most votes loses. First vote: Twilight.”

“Second vote: Twilight. That’s two votes Twilight, four votes left. Hey, what’s this plate of marshmallows on the ground?” There was indeed a plate, perhaps a platter, of marshmallows behind the podium. She took one of the marshmallows and ate it. “Mmm, sugar. Uh, vote #3: camerapony #3.”

“Twilight.”

“Seventh pony voted off Withstander: Corvidae Islands and second member of our jury: Twilight.”

Twilight walked up to Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight, all your friends hate you.”

She walked off for Sequestria.

“Now the game gets interesting... mwahahahahaha! Good night.” Next Chapter: Chapter 11X: Tea Time Featuring Octeavia and Raritea Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 60 Minutes