//------------------------------//
// Episode 16: Sonic Stealthboom 
// Story: Total Magic Pony Island: The Lost Episodes 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Discord stood at the edge of the dock on Paradox Island, looking into the cameras that were broadcasting his image and his surroundings all over Equestria. "Last time on Total Magic Pony Island," He began as clips from the last show began to play. "With Spike gone, Rainbow Dash set her sights on knocking out her former friend Gilda. And Gilda opted to pull Scootaloo aside for a little talk about idol worship. Too bad it all went in one ear and out the other."

It wasn't long before the camera's images began to change, depicting the contestants in their most recent challenge while Discord continued to narrate. "I took the liberty of hiding keys to treasure chests and since I was feeling generous I let the contestants keep whatever was inside. But if I'm being honest, most of them weren't worth the effort." Among the clips shown were Rarity trying to retrieve her key from a toilet and Princess Celestia being sat on by Nightmare Moon.

The camera then began to show how the contest had ended as Discord explained. "I did enjoy slamming the chest on Rainbow Dash. She doesn't think I'm gonna make it that easy for her to win invincibility, does she?" Then a clip of Trixie opening her chest to find a gift basket that contained an immunity card inside of it was shown. "Trixie winning invincibility gave Cheerilee hope that she could swing an alliance to get rid of Rainbow Dash."

Day turned to night in the blink of an eye as the camera depicted a campfire ceremony where all the contestants sat on tree stumps, while Discord and Nightmare Moon stood before them and everyone but Trixie waited with worry (and in some cases anticipation) to find out which of them would be voted off. And Discord's narration continued to play, showing the results. "Unfortunately, Cheerilee's hopes were dashed when the votes came up just short for Rainbow Dash, and Gilda was eliminated again instead."

From there, the camera was showing Gilda being led away to a rickety old boat at the end of the same dock Discord was standing on. Said boat taking the griffon away from the island before the scene changed back to the campfire and the eleven contestants that had survived. And Discord kept narrating. "Cheerilee was thus left with no allies to call her own and her future looking grim. But Scootaloo might have just committed an even bigger blunder by accidentally revealing her secret pact with Rainbow Dash."

The clips ended as Discord stood in front of the cameras and dramatically announced. "Which contestant will be the next to take a one way boat ride off Paradox Island and kiss their chance at a million bits goodbye? Find out now on Total Magic Pony Island!"





The boat carrying Gilda had hardly been out of sight, and yet all anypony could think about was the shocking revelation from Scootaloo that Rainbow Dash had apparently promised to take her all the way to the final two.

A brief flicker of the camera played a clip of Rainbow Dash groaning in the confessional about this slip up. "Really, Scoots?" She remarked while putting a hoof up to her face. "You just had to go and open your big mouth! Did I not mention it was supposed to be a secret?!"

Then, just as quickly, the camera cut back to what was happening in real time as several sets of eyes fell on the two pegasi. Scootaloo opting to nervously giggle and duck behind Rainbow for safety.

"Rainbow Dash, just what is up with you making such a promise?" Twilight berated her friend turned temporary opponent because of this game.

Rainbow did her best to feign ignorance. "Come on, Twilight. You're seriously gonna take the kid's word for it? You know how fillies her age are, they've got such active imaginations."

Scootaloo, however, spoke up in protest. "But Rainbow Dash, you said we were gonna..."

The brash speedster quickly moved to shush the tomboyish filly. "-Kid, you're making it worse for yourself."

Cheerilee couldn't help but growl and snarl upon seeing this. This was exactly the kind of behavior she'd become worried about and why she had been hoping so hard to get rid of Rainbow Dash in the last vote session. "Rainbow Dash, you're just using Scootaloo as a pawn to give you the win! You know she'll throw the game to you!"

Rarity then scoffed. "That's quite an accusation to be making after what you just tried to do, Cheerilee."

Even Princess Celestia could only remark. "I don't know that I can trust your word either, Cheerilee. Not anymore. Your secrecy is just as bad as Rainbow Dash's. For all I know, you only want Rainbow Dash gone because you view her as a threat."

It was quickly becoming apparent that tensions were starting to boil over among the contestants, something that troubled Twilight greatly. "H-hey now," She spoke up. "Let's not start fighting. This is exactly what Discord wants. Ever since he started this little 'show' of his he's been trying to pit us against each other. He wants to make it so that no matter who wins, we'll be too divided against ourselves to stop him."

The shrunken down sun princess blinked. Somehow that thought had never crossed her mind before. But a flicker of the camera showed her worrying greatly about this in the confessional. "Could it be true? Could this be why Discord started this whole thing?" She thought aloud. "I know Spike said he got rid of Applejack, but what if that was because of this island? Ever since we got here, every contestant's been acting strange."

The camera then cut back to the present as Twilight went on to say. "Whatever our disagreements might be about who tried to do what, we can't allow it to take control of us. In the end, this is just a game, right?" Everypony seemed to more or less agree on that statement given that they nodded their heads in agreement.

However, a clip from the confessional showed that not everypony was necessarily onboard with Twilight's unofficial truce. "Even if it's a game, it's a game I'm playing to win," Rainbow Dash declared to herself. "And if Twilight, Cheerilee or anypony else has a problem with that then that's on them! I'll do whatever it takes to win and deep down I'm sure everypony else feels the same way."

And a second clip showed Twilight letting out a deep breath as she started to nervously pace back and forth within the confessional's narrow walls. "Oh, it's time like this that make me wish Applejack hadn't been voted off. She's always the best at keeping a level head in these situations. She'd know how to make everypony listen."

Then the clip ended, and as the camera cut back to the present the eleven surviving contestants all went their separate ways more or less. The only exception was Scootaloo, who opted to stick close to Rainbow Dash. "We're still going to the final two together, right?" She asked her idol, hoping for confirmation.

Rainbow nodded. "Count on it, Scootaloo. As long as you stick by my side, nothing and nopony will stand in our way!"





Nothing more was said about the developments of last night the following morning. It seemed nopony wanted to reopen the wound and reignite debate. But it was clear from the way some contestants looked at each other that they were silently wondering who might be their biggest threat. It did not go unnoticed that Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo sat together in the mess hall, while only Trixie seemed willing to even be near Cheerilee.

A clip from the confessional showed Trixie appearing to smile. "First the Great and Powerful Trixie wins invincibility, and now Rainbow Dash foolishly announces her intention to go to the final two with Scootaloo. If Trixie can build an alliance with the right ponies and keep winning invincibility, Rainbow Dash will fall and the Great and Powerful Trixie will be the one to win it all!"

As for Cheerilee, she had her own confessional clip showing how worried she had become as a result of her failed ouster of Rainbow Dash. "Why did Gilda have to be eliminated instead? I could've really used her vote. If only I had convinced more ponies," She unhappily sighed to herself. "I guess now it's up to me to save myself. No matter what happens, I can't afford to lose the next challenge!"

When the clips ended, the ponies ate their breakfast in relative silence. But Celestia couldn't help but wonder. "Where's Nightmare Moon? It's not like her to just leave food out for us."

As if the universe itself had felt a need to respond, the loudspeakers in the mess hall crackled to life as the familiar voice of Discord made an announcement. "Attention, contestants. Please finish your breakfast and report to the dock ASAP for today's challenge! Tardiness will be grounds for disqualification. I'm not kidding!"

"Aw, bummer!" Pinkie lamented aloud, before she began to scarf down her food even faster than she might have normally. And soon, she was the first one out the door of the mess hall, bound for the dock! Yet it wasn't long before all ten of her fellow contestants were joining her in the mad dash!

When the contestants had gathered on the dock as they had been instructed to, they found Discord already waiting for them. And Nightmare Moon was by his side. "Ah, nice to see none of you have lost your competitive edge. That's good, for me that is!" He grinned while rubbing his paws together, before gesturing to his fellow baddie. "Now, since you all had so much fun the last time Nightmare Moon ran a challenge, I figured I'd be nice and let her run another one."

Nightmare Moon flashed a toothy smile. "Why Discord, how very noble of you. And how very fortunate for me."

Princess Celestia struggled to hold back a gulp. She'd been on the receiving end of this mare of darkness' powers too many times already. "Whatever she and Discord have planned it's not going to end well for any of us!" She thought and shuddered at the images already coming into her mind.

The shrunken sun princess was not the only one beginning to worry, poor Fluttershy was practically shivering with fright. "W-what are you g-gonna do w-with us?" She reluctantly asked Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon grinned. "I could tell you, but I don't wanna scare you all away before I've had my fun. So I'll let Discord explain it."

Rarity could only scoff. "It's hardly original, Discord. Letting Nightmare Moon run a challenge again? That's only slightly better than making us hunt for keys or just try to stay awake."

Discord immediately retorted. "Hey, I'll have you know I can be very creative under the right circumstances!" And he then explained. "Nightmare Moon's going to be doing something a little bit different this time. Think of it as my own little twist on hide and go seek. I'm sure all of you are familiar with it."

Vinyl Scratch just casually remarked. "Whatever. So who's supposed to be the seeker? Are we all taking turns trying to track down Nightmare Moon or something?"

"Actually, Nightmare Moon is the seeker," The witty spirit of chaos explained. "Let's just say that it came to my attention that there's a certain 'holiday' that's all about dressing up to hide from Nightmare Moon. And when she heard about it, she was more than a little bit angry."

Nightmare Moon's toothy grin seemed to grow wider by the second. "He's right, you know. I don't take such insults lightly. So now I'm going to get my revenge by hunting you all down one by one."

Discord went on to add. "You'll all get a minute's head start to run all over the island and find a place to hide. Then I'm letting Nightmare Moon roam free. If any of you can manage to stay out of sight, make it all the way back to the dock and touch this little post here," He gestured a paw to a small tower that had undoubtedly not been there a second ago. "You'll win invincibility. But if Nightmare Moon catches you before you can make it there, you can kiss invincibility goodbye."

The mare of darkness cackled. "Of course, there's always my way of doing things. If any of you help me bust one of your fellow contestants, I'll let you have invincibility for this round. But it's first come first served. And if you try to lie to me," She proceeded to make her horn spark with an ominous dark aura. "You might end up having to leave the show early due to an unfortunate accident. So if you know what's good for you, you won't try to pull a fast one on me."

Discord then held up a stopwatch. "Alright, I think that's enough chitchat. All of you had better go hide now, because you're now officially on the clock!"

Without any hesitation, the eleven contestants all bolted and ran as fast as they could, each beginning to try to make a plan for how they would avoid capture by Nightmare Moon!





It wasn't long before Rainbow Dash had drawn ahead of most of the competition with her natural speed, and it also wasn't long before some of the ponies who had previously voted with her against Spike and Gilda began to grow worried.

"Rainbow Dash, wait for me!" Derpy frantically called as she frantically trotted along. Her less than stellar vision made things like finding a suitable hiding place more of a challenge than usual.

But all Rainbow could think about was a certain pony that was part of her now not so secret alliance. And anything or anyone that prevented her from reaching that pony was an obstacle. "Derpy, I don't have time for this!" She did her best to hide how annoyed she was with the wall eyed mare. "I need to find Scootaloo and make sure she's okay."

Derpy continued to trot frantically as she pleaded. "But what about me? I need a good place to hide, I don't know where to start looking!"

The brash speedster just groaned, audibly shouting! "Derpy, please! Just find someplace suitable and leave me alone! I can't protect you and protect Scootaloo. And Scoots needs my help more because she's still a child. You're a grown mare, so act like it!"

"But!" Derpy tried to protest.

"But nothing, Derpy! Goodbye!" Rainbow shouted and was soon dashing out of sight, leaving her fellow pegasus mare far behind.

The camera flicked once more, showing Derpy in the confessional as she was shaking all over. "Please don't let her find me! Please don't let her find me!" She was saying over and over again.

The only pony more frantic in their pursuit of a hiding spot than Derpy was Princess Celestia. She knew that she would be a likely first target of Nightmare Moon. "I'm not gonna let you get the last laugh this time, Nightmare Moon!" She vowed aloud as she ran right back into the mess hall, straight into the massive walk-in freezer. It was incredibly cold, but she would manage.

But not everypony was in a rush to find a good hiding place. Pinkie Pie was just bouncing all over the island on her own pace, humming a little tune to herself. She already knew of a place to hide where nopony could find her. "They won't say a word." The pink party pony said with a grin.

A brief clip showed Pinkie trying to enter the confessional, only to find a panic stricken Derpy already inside it. "Oopsie!" She blushed as Derpy ran out, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Wait, Derpy, come back! I'm sorry!" She tried to apologize.

The camera in the confessional kept on rolling as Discord happened to pop in and remark straight to the camera. "It'll be a miracle if either of those two win invincibility," And he gave a knowing wink. "I'm expecting Nightmare Moon to find them all. I just hope she doesn't do it too quickly, gotta have time for those commercial breaks. A show like this isn't cheap."





The minute passed all too quickly as Nightmare Moon half playfully/half menacingly called out in a deep, booming voice that echoed everywhere! "Ready or not, here I come!"

Discord quickly snapped his talons, producing a lawn chair and a pair of sunglasses as well as a drink with a little umbrella sticking out of it. "Nothing left to do but sit back and watch the show. All you folks at home better be doing that as well."

Nightmare Moon thus began her search for the eleven contestants, looking over every nook and cranny of all of Paradox Island for any traces of any of them. Her first instinct told her to go check the mess hall as something in the back of her mind told her that some contestants might have tried to hide there.

A quick scan of the mess hall revealed that there was no one there. But there were a suspicious set of hoofprints leading to the back. "Aha! What have we here?" Nightmare Moon grinned as she followed the hoofprints all the way through the mess hall and into the kitchen, soon coming upon the huge walk-in freezer. And what should her wandering eyes discover shivering in the corner but the shrunken stature of Princess Celestia?

The shrunken down sun princess eeped and tried to run away, which only resulted in her slipping on the ice and sliding straight towards Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon could only sigh as she used her magic to pick up the princess. "Honestly, Celestia, were you even trying? It's almost like you enjoy spending time with me or something."

Princess Celestia just groaned as she was led away by the very pony she'd hoped to outsmart. "If this is your idea of trying to make me feel bad about Luna, it's not working. I already regret banishing her and we talked about it," She told the mare of darkness. "All is forgiven. So why do you keep targeting me? Is it really just because Discord tells you to?"

The dark coated mare only coldly hissed. "Shut up! I don't have to do anything! If Discord is kind enough to let me run a challenge, I don't ask stupid questions I just say yes. I don't like him anymore than I like you, as soon as this whole 'show' of his is over he can have Equestria for all I care," And then she stomped a hoof down. "Now don't try to confuse the subject. You wouldn't happen to know where the others are hiding, would you?"

Princess Celestia only replied by sticking out her tongue, taunting the mare. "Even if I did know, which I don't, I would never rat out my subjects to the likes of you! You'll have to find them yourself!"

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "You're a fool, Celestia. You've already seen how quickly your subjects will turn on each other. It's only a matter of time before they do it to you. At least you could rat them out while it still benefits you."

The alicorn with a majestic, snow white coat only kept up the taunting. "Don't tell me the big bad Nightmare Moon is suddenly afraid she can't track down a bunch of magicless ponies on an abandoned island they've never been to before."

The wicked mare of darkness paused and spun around, blinking in surprise before grinning at her first unfortunate victim. "I know you're trying to get under my fur, and it's working. Looks like your mind is finally starting to catch up to that body of yours. Took long enough."

That comment caused the sun princess to gasp as she realized that she was indeed acting rather childish!

Nightmare Moon smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be permanent. Once you lose the game, Discord will let you go back to normal, for a price." And then she set off to resume her search for the remaining ten contestants.





By now, Rainbow Dash had managed to catch up to Scootaloo. And Scootaloo was in turn greatly relieved to see Rainbow Dash. "I guess it's not quite everypony for themselves now." The tomboyish filly declared as she and Rainbow opted to hide in some bushes in the middle of a forest.

Rainbow seemed to sincerely smile while whispering. "You just stick with me, kid. Do as I do and we'll make it through everything Discord can throw at us."

A flicker of the camera revealed Scootaloo breathing a much needed sigh of relief in the confessional. "I really don't see why Miss Cheerilee is getting on Rainbow Dash's case all of a sudden. If Rainbow wants to take me to the final two, what's wrong with that? Even if I win the million bits I'm obviously gonna share it with her, she wins no matter what at this point."

And another flicker showed Rainbow Dash in the confessional, talking to herself. "As long as I can keep Scootaloo by my side and keep winning, nothing can stop me! Of course, I have to make sure that I get invincibility. The more I keep winning the more ponies are going to start viewing me as a threat."

"So, what's the plan?" Scootaloo whispered to her idol as they continued to do their best to stay out of sight in the bushes.

Rainbow whispered back. "As soon as the coast is clear, we make a run for it back to the dock. We just gotta tag that post and nopony will be able to touch us." And in her mind she began thinking. "But who do I wanna eliminate next? Trixie's a threat, but Cheerilee's starting to bug me. And there's Twilight with her whole 'Let's be friends' attitude. Doesn't she realize this is a game? And that the only rule is to play to win?"

However, the two pegasi hadn't been hiding for very long when suddenly a rather powerful and awful stench began to reach their nostrils. It was a stench that they were certain could only be from one particular source. Turning around slowly, their worst fears were realized when they both found themselves face to face with a family of skunks.

"Oh my," Fluttershy sheepishly blushed as she called out from a nearby tree. "Looks like you may have unnerved my new skunk friends a little. But it should be okay as long as you don't-"

"-Run!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the top of her lungs and immediately grabbed Scootaloo by the hoof, dashing out of the bushes as fast as her legs would let her!

Scootaloo began to pant! "But Rainbow Dash, you didn't say the coast was clear yet!"

Rainbow groaned in annoyance. "Some things are worse than Nightmare Moon! Getting skunked is one of them! Oh, why does Fluttershy have to make friends with every animal she meets?"

A clip from the confessional showed Fluttershy looking down at the floor, hiding her face behind her bangs. "I didn't mean to spoil Rainbow Dash's plan. I just didn't want the skunks to spray me and give away my hiding spot. I was gonna join Rainbow when she and Scootaloo made a run for it. Even if I can only get to the final three, I'll do whatever I can to help them out."

When the clip ended, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were running straight towards the camera. But unfortunately, they hadn't gotten very far when who should up in their line of sight but Nightmare Moon?

Although both pegasi skidded to a halt and tried to run away again, it was of little use. Nightmare Moon only grinned, lighting up her horn. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me." She told them before firing off a blast.

Rainbow almost leapt into the air when the blast hit her square on the rump, and she let out a high pitched, girly scream that made her blush!

"Well, whaddya know? That didn't hurt me all," Nightmare Moon grinned again, right before she happened to sniff the air. "Ooh, and it looks like somepony else has just given them away. I don't know if it's fear I'm smelling but I know I smell something."

Scootaloo quickly insisted in an anxious tone of voice. "It's not me, I swear!"

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Of course it's not you. And it's not that other loser I just busted," She trotted towards the source of the smell, soon looking up and spotting Fluttershy hanging from a tree branch. "Well well, looks like I've found another little skunk that's been trying to hide."

Fluttershy whimpered as she was pulled down from the tree branch via Nightmare Moon's magic. "Oh, shoot!" She softly complained and kicked the ground. But her kick was so light it barely even brought up dust.

The mare of darkness then grinned. "Alright, that's four of you already. Just two more and I'll be halfway done. Honestly, are any of you ponies at all good at this game?"

Rainbow Dash then declared. "Well, I know another pony who isn't. I saw Cheerilee hiding out back by the cabins earlier."

Everyone gasped in shock at the announcement (except for Nightmare Moon and Scootaloo)! None of them would've imagined anypony would rat out another to Nightmare Moon just to gain invincibility.

Nightmare Moon eyed the rainbow maned pegasus with an eyebrow arched upward in skepticism. "Is she actually there? You'd better not be wasting my time. I have no patience that sort of behavior."

Rainbow firmly declared as her own eyes narrowed. "I know saw her! It couldn't have been anypony else! So what are you waiting for, Nightmare Moon?! Go bust her and give me the invincibility I deserve!"

"Patience, Rainbow Dash. I'll grant your wish once I know for sure Cheerilee is there and catch her," The wicked mare of darkness instructed before telling the four ponies gathered. "All of you stay with me and keep a sharp lookout. Remember, you only have to rat out one other pony to get invincibility for yourselves. Might wanna hurry, once I find Cheerilee there will only be five other ponies left."

Yet just then, who should come quite literally running into Nightmare Moon but Derpy herself? "Oops, my bad!" She blushed, not realizing at first who she'd struck. But once she did she screamed anew! "Oh no!" And she tried frantically to run away.

Nightmare Moon let out a sigh of annoyance. "Why do you ponies always have to run away? It doesn't make it any harder to catch you." And to demonstrate that fact she lit up her horn, soon pulling Derpy close to her and tagging her, taking her out of the game.

Derpy looked to Rainbow Dash and apologized. "Sorry, I let you down."

Fluttershy, for her part, opted to reach out a hoof to her fellow pegasus to console her. "You lasted longer than I did. That has to count for something."

Rainbow, for her part, said nothing. She was too busy focusing on other things to take any notice of Derpy's perceived failure (or how it was affecting her).

A flicker of the camera showed a worried Princess Celestia deep in thought within the confessional. "I can deny it no longer, something is definitely up with Rainbow Dash," And she let out an unhappy sigh. "Cheerilee must've been seeing it too. And I'll bet this is what led Spike to rig the votes against Applejack. This island has to be getting to all of my friends," Then a look of worry flashed across her face. "Twilight was right to warn us! I can only hope she finds a way to stop all of this before it's too late! Otherwise, there's not going to be any harmony left in Equestria!"

Then it was Nightmare Moon's turn to use the confessional. The mare of darkness didn't seem to be anywhere near as worried or concerned as the ponies that had been by her side. "Why are these ponies acting so shocked? Of course one of their would turn on them for the sake of the game. That's how you win. Besides, this is Total Drama not Total Friendship."





Nightmare Moon trotted all the way back across the island, ignoring the groans, moans and complaints from some of the ponies already out of contention about how far they were walking.

And Rainbow Dash was gleefully rubbing her hooves together at the prospect of winning invincibility after it had already been denied to her three times since the teams had merged. "I'll take whatever I can get if it keeps me in the game." She thought to herself.

At last, Nightmare Moon reached the cottages where the contestants had been staying since their arrival on the island. "Where did you say she was again?" She inquired of Rainbow Dash.

"Go around back first," Rainbow encouraged. "I know I saw her at least contemplate hiding there. And there's no way she could've run for it. She's not as smart as I am. I know Cheerilee enough to know she's too paranoid for her own good."

"I am not!" A familiar female voice cried out, and everypony knew to whom it belonged to!

A knowing smirk crept onto the brash speedster's face. "Ha, I knew you'd fall for that, Cheerilee! Oldest trick in the book."

Reluctantly, Cheerilee trotted out from where she had been hiding and let out an unhappy sigh. "You may have outsmarted me this time, Rainbow Dash. But now everypony knows what you've become, even Scootaloo."

Rainbow protested by gesturing a hoof. "I'm doing more for Scootaloo than you're doing, Cheerilee. You should've been protecting her. But she doesn't trust you anymore, not after that stunt you pulled last night to get rid of me. If you've got a problem with me, you can say it to my face! Don't drag the kid into this!"

Cheerilee only sighed and shook her head as she approached Nightmare Moon. "You just don't get it, do you? This isn't about you or I. And it's not about winning some silly contest either."

The rainbow maned pegasus only grinned in reply. "You tell yourself that while I enjoy my well deserved invincibility. If you wanna get your own, you just gotta be willingly to play the game."

The earth pony mare shook her head. "Never! I'll never stoop to your level, Rainbow Dash!"

Scootaloo briefly looked up. "Miss. Cheerilee..." But she couldn't bring herself to say anything more.

A brief flicker of the camera showed Scootaloo struggling to hold back tears in the confessional. "She's lying! She has to be!" She insisted even as her tone of voice betrayed her. "Rainbow Dash isn't being nasty by trying to win this game, right?"

Nightmare Moon just tapped Cheerilee on the shoulder and then used her magic to float a small pendant over to Rainbow Dash. "Here's your invincibility. Enjoy it for all it's worth."

"Sweet!" Rainbow cheered!

Nightmare Moon then cautioned. "But I'm not giving out any more to you. Although, if you wanna rat out more contestants for the fun of it, go right ahead. It'll make my job easier."

But the brash speedster waved a hoof. "Nah, I'm good. I got what I needed out of this. Can't wait to see the look on Trixie's face when I end up being the only one with invincibility tonight!"





With Cheerilee having been found and Rainbow Dash having obtained her invincibility, Nightmare Moon resumed her search for the other contestants. It quickly occurred to her that with the exception of a certain pink party pony who often got on her nerves, all the contestants that had yet to be found were unicorns.

Well that just meant it'd be even more amusing for Nightmare Moon to track them down and tag them out using her magic whereas none of them could do the same. Being one of only two creatures on the island who could still use magic had its benefits.

As she was close by the cottages, Nightmare Moon opted to check inside both sleeping rooms in case any contestants might be hiding in painfully obvious places. To her surprise, there was one. A certain unicorn with a pale blue coat gave herself away to Nightmare Moon via a series of noticeable shakes beneath some hastily staked up blankets.

The alicorn with a coat as black as a starless night quickly pulled back the covers to expose a very frightened and powerless Trixie. She yawned as she tagged the wannabe magician out with her magic. "I can't believe you lasted longer than over half of your fellow contestants despite such an obvious hiding place," And she shook her head from side to side. "I'm really not impressed. I thought you ponies were made of sterner stuff than this, but I guess I gave you too much credit. It's a miracle any of you have survived this long."

Trixie only whimpered. "T-The Great and Powerful Trixie will yet prevail!" But even she didn't sound so convinced of her statement.

Rainbow Dash couldn't resist sticking out her tongue. "Ha! In your dreams! I've got invincibility, and I didn't even need to tell Nightmare Moon about you to do it!"

Trixie groaned in annoyance. "The Great and Powerful Trixie would gladly join you if she knew where any of the others are. But nopony bothers to tell Trixie anything."

Nightmare Moon groaned, putting a hoof to her forehead. "Great. So you're of no use to me. I try to do a nice thing for you ponies by letting some of you have a chance to earn invincibility, and you just throw it back in my face like it's a joke. I really don't know what Discord sees in you all."

So Trixie joined the rest of the eliminated contestants as they were led away by Nightmare Moon, who then opted to check in the communal bathrooms. Imagine the surprise of her and of everyone when they found Rarity "hiding" in the shower stall.

Rarity screamed as Nightmare Moon barged right in and tapped her on the shoulder, officially designating her as "Out" too. "What do you have against a lady trying to shower?!" She complained!

"Nothing, really," The alicorn declared as she led Rarity out of the shower stall. "Aside from the fact that I expected better. It's almost as if you weren't taking this challenge seriously," And then she added. "Oh well, I've just gotta find three more ponies and then it's all over. Now, where are the others? Did you happen to see any of them by any chance?"

As if in response to that question, Nightmare Moon and everypony in the bathroom heard a high pitched scream! And then suddenly, Nightmare Moon was knocked to the floor by an unexpected blow to the backside. "Ha! You'll never take me alive, Nightmare Moon! I'm not scared of you!" The familiar voice of Vinyl Scratch taunted.

But Nightmare Moon quickly stood up, brushed off the dust and blasted Vinyl Scratch. "What a waste of effort," She rolled her eyes. "You would've been better off telling me where your fellow contestants were."

Vinyl Scratch just smirked. "Well, I haven't seen hide or hair of Pinkie Pie since this challenge began. She could be anywhere for all I know. And you're too late to stop Twilight! She's probably already won the challenge by now and..." Then she put her hooves to her mouth, realizing that she'd said more than she should've!

Something snapped inside of the mare of darkness upon hearing that! "You were just a diversion! Twilight Sparkle used you to distract me! Oh, I should've known!" And she took off as fast as she could! "She's not gonna get away with this! Nopony outsmarts Nightmare Moon! Nopony!"





Sure enough, as Nightmare Moon neared the dock she and everypony else could see Twilight making a desperate beeline for the tower Discord had designated as the safe spot!

Twilight seemed laser focused on that tower, so much so that she ignored the sound of Nightmare Moon's fast approaching hoofbeats! At last, she shut her eyes and made a daring leap, hoping beyond hope to make it!

Alas, to the horror of all but Nightmare Moon everypony saw Twilight misjudge her approach. She didn't reach the dock and instead dove straight into the waters below, landing with an audible splash! She swam up to the surface only to find Nightmare Moon waiting for her. "No... I... failed." The studious unicorn hung her head in shame.

Nightmare Moon just grinned. "Oh, don't feel too bad, Twilight. You were the only pony who put up an actual fight if I'm being honest. I barely even broke a sweat tracking down the others. Still, you weren't good enough to beat me. Nopony is!"

"Maybe, but you still have to find Pinkie Pie," Twilight pointed out. "And I'm not gonna tell you where she is."

The mare of darkness pressed her snout up to Twilight. "Really, is that because you're gonna try to be a hero like all your friends except Rainbow Dash? It's only fair to warn you, Rainbow Dash got invincibility by helping to rat out Cheerilee."

Twilight shook her head. "I'm not telling because I don't know where Pinkie Pie is. I haven't seen her anywhere, and I've been all over the island looking for the ideal hiding place," And she pointed out. "After all, the rules didn't say I had to stay in one place until I saw you. So I figured as long as I kept moving I could stay out of your sight, and run to the dock when the coast was clear. Vinyl Scratch proved to be a useful diversion in that regard."

"Well as you can see it just didn't work out," Nightmare Moon smirked. "So surely you must've seen Pinkie Pie somewhere."

Twilight answered with a straight face. "No I haven't. But you're supposed to be the seeker, so you should able to track down one pony."

The alicorn mare sighed, sensing that Twilight was a dead end for leads. "Fine, be that way. It's your only chance for invincibility. But I guess if you'd rather keep your honor, who I am to judge?"

Just then, however, Discord happened to pop up in front of Nightmare Moon and declared. "Alright! Today's challenge is over! We have a winner!"

"WHAT?!" Nightmare Moon blinked in disbelief. "But that can't be! I haven't found everypony yet! Pinkie Pie is still missing!"

Discord just gestured a claw down the dock. "Actually, she's been here for almost half an hour. She was the only one who reached the tower."

Pinkie Pie then came bouncing over. "Yesarooni, it was me! I thought for sure somepony would beat me to it, but nopony did. Oh well, a win is a win. And that was so much fun!" And to Nightmare Moon she said with a smile. "Hey, don't feel too bad. Next time, I bet you'll find me. Ooh, or maybe next time I'll be the seeker and you can hide."

Nightmare Moon growled, picking Pinkie up and holding her by the tail! "You! Where were you hiding?! Did you cheat?! You must've cheated!" And she stomped a hoof down while declaring to Discord! "I want her thrown off this island right now! I know she had to have cheated somehow! There's no way she could've hidden from me without me knowing it!"

Pinkie just innocently replied. "What are you talking about? I was right over there the whole time."

"What do you mean 'over there'?" Nightmare Moon questioned in confusion.

Pinkie grinned and giggled. "Duh, you know, over there." She gestured a hoof to what appeared to the far off distance from the dock.

Discord shrugged his shoulders. "There was no rule saying you had to hide on the island. She took advantage of that little loophole, just like I would've. Sorry, Nightmare Moon. But she won fair and square."

The wicked mare of darkness snarled and snorted, steam billowing out of her nostrils as she dropped Pinkie to the ground! "Oh! You really just like to annoy me, don't you?!" And she then ominously declared. "You'd better sleep with one eye open tonight, Pinkie Pie. Because I'm going to get my revenge."

The pink party pony licked her lips. "Good, because revenge is sweet!"

Nightmare Moon unhappily sighed and trotted off. "Why do I even bother with you?"





And so it was that the great hide and seek challenge came to an end. Now all that remained was for ponies to decide which one of the eleven contestants they were going to eliminate. Only Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were out of the question.

Unfortunately for Cheerilee, Rainbow Dash having invincibility now threw her plans into disarray. She was complaining about this in the confessional, all but pulling out her hair with her hooves in frustration. "What am I supposed to do now? Rainbow Dash's invincibility complicates everything!" She stopped only upon seeing how worked up she was getting, taking a deep breath. "Calm down, Cheerilee. Don't let Rainbow get to you," And she began to settle on an unfortunate realization. "If I can't get rid of Rainbow Dash this round, I'll have to get rid of one of her alliance partners."

Just as the clip ended, there came a knock on the confessional door and Cheerilee was surprised to be greeted by none other than Princess Celestia. "Cheerilee," She let out a long sigh. "I didn't want to admit it, but you were right. Rainbow Dash is a threat. I saw her behavior today, she's not the pony she was when she arrived on this island. Something has worked its way into her, twisting her and turning her into something that can't be worthy of the Element of Loyalty."

"But what are we going to do?" The off duty teacher asked the princess. "We can't vote for her, she's got invincibility."

Celestia then declared. "We have to send a shock to her system, something that'll trigger a wake-up call. And I think you know what that means."

A look of horror crossed Cheerilee's face! "No... you can't possibly mean!"

Celestia nodded slowly and reluctantly. "-I'm afraid it's the only way. She must realize she made a promise she couldn't keep."

Cheerilee's lips began to quiver. "But... but... we can't get rid of Scootaloo just because of Rainbow Dash. It's not fair! She's the only child left on this island, and you know how unfairly her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders were eliminated."

The sun princess nodded once again in reluctance. "I know. But I also know that Scootaloo will cling to Rainbow Dash, and if Rainbow's plan succeeds there'll be no hope to stop her."

"Can we... do it? Do we have the votes?" The earth pony mare questioned. "I only know for sure that you, Trixie and I will vote together. That's nowhere close to enough to stop Rainbow and her alliance."

Princess Celestia then put a hoof around Cheerilee while telling her. "Don't worry, I know of a few other ponies willing to join us." And as she finished speaking, Fluttershy and Vinyl Scratch came up alongside Trixie.

Fluttershy explained via a confessional clip her reason for defecting from Rainbow Dash's alliance. "What Rainbow's doing is wrong and selfish! I hate having to vote for Scootaloo though, but Rainbow Dash isn't going to snap out of it if I vote for myself or Derpy gets eliminated. She might be already targeting us because of today. Scootaloo is the only one who hasn't gotten on her bad side yet."

But while this was going on, Rainbow Dash was using her newfound invincibility as a bargaining chip to persuade other ponies while they were in the mess hall with her. "I'm telling you girls, Cheerilee is definitely up to something. She has it out for me and she must be stopped!"

"No, we should get rid of Trixie," Scootaloo protested. "Trixie stole your invincibility in the last challenge. If you don't stop her now, she'll do it again."

Rainbow patted Scootaloo gently on the forehead. "That's nice of you to remember, Scoots. But I'm the one in charge here. If we're going to make it to the final two, I have to be the one to make the decisions," And she went on telling the others. "Cheerilee has to go. Once she's gone, then we can worry about Little Miss 'Great and Powerful'."

Rarity let out an audible humph as she coldly declared. "After what Cheerilee did last night, I'd say Rainbow Dash is right. How can we ever trust her again?"

Pinkie Pie wasn't so convinced. "I don't know, maybe she had a reason?"

Twilight could only sigh and shake her head. "We've seen it before, Pinkie. Gilda lost control of her temper, Rarity got jealous of Silver Spoon and Spike sought to spite Rainbow Dash by rigging the votes. Cheerilee might just be the next pony who's been corrupted by this island. For her own good, we should vote her out before it's too late."

"Yeah... what Twilight just said!" Rainbow Dash firmly insisted. "Let's not forget, we don't have Applejack here and any one of us could be next. We've gotta do our part to keep the rest of the Elements of Harmony in the game for as long as we can, that way we can thwart whatever Discord has planned for when this show is over."

"I still don't know..." Pinkie Pie began, only to see Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo all looking at her. "Well, guess it was rude of her to try to knock out Rainbow Dash in such a secretive way. And she has been acting weird since the teams merged."

Convinced of her victory, Rainbow Dash openly bragged within the confessional! "Sorry, Cheerilee! You messed with the wrong pony, and now it's time to pay!"





Hours later, day had turned to night and all eleven contestants were gathered at the campfire for the elimination ceremony. Discord and Nightmare Moon were in attendance.

One by one, each contestant went up to cast their vote for the pony they wanted to eliminate. Cheerilee was up first, and the camera in the confessional (where the votes were cast and guarded) showed her holding out a stamp over the ballot for Scootaloo for the longest time possible. But at last, she stamped a red x on it and placed it in the box. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo. I hope one day you can forgive me." She said and willed herself to be strong as she left the confessional to take her seat by the fire.

Rainbow Dash went in next and without hesitation stamped Cheerilee's ballot. "School's out, teach! So it's time for you to hit the road! Scootaloo doesn't need you when she's got me!"

Princess Celestia entered the confessional next, stamping Scootaloo's ballot with a fair deal of hesitation. "I wish there was another way to do this, I really do. But it's the only thing I can think of that'll benefit Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo." She unhappily sighed.

The process repeated itself until everypony had cast their ballot, though the camera didn't focus on each of them (as most opted to keep their vote a secret). Scootaloo was the last to enter, and the camera showed her weighing her options with great uncertainty. She even briefly moved the stamp to Rainbow's ballot despite knowing it would be a futile gesture. But she ultimately brought the stamp down on Cheerilee's ballot instead. "I just don't trust you anymore, Miss. Cheerilee. If Rainbow Dash says she can take me to the final two, that's good enough for me."

When Scootaloo take her seat by the fire (sitting next to Rainbow Dash), it was time for the votes to be tallied. This was it, the heart pounding moment that would decide which of the eleven contestants would not be moving on to the next round.

Discord cleared his throat as he brought up the old wooden box in which all eleven votes were kept, even down to them having a heavy metal padlock to prevent tampering. "Alright, everypony! The votes are in! Let's see which of you is getting the boot. Hope none of you wasted your votes on Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, because at this point I'd say a wasted vote could have huge consequences."

The box was soon opened and Discord started tallying up the votes one by one. "The first is for... Scootaloo," He held it up for a moment before moving on to the next one. "The next is for... Cheerilee," And he repeated the process for each vote that came up. "Two, three, four, five for Scootaloo!" He declared at last. "One more vote and she's out," Then he read off more votes. "Two, three, four, five for Cheerilee! We have a tie!" There was only one vote left. "And the last vote is for..."

A tense silence filled the air as Scootaloo and Cheerilee both nervously sat there, waiting to see which way the voting had gone.

At last, the final vote was flipped over and Discord declared for all to hear. "Cheerilee."

Cheerilee felt her heart sink. Her attempt at swinging the vote in her favor had failed once again, this time causing her to be eliminated. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was practically beside herself with relief and Rainbow Dash was smirking with triumph!

The witty spirit could only shake his head and make a tsking sound with his paws. "Oh Cheerilee, our poor unfortunate teacher. It would seem you've learned a little lesson in failure."

Reluctantly, the earth pony mare rose from her seat. "Well, I guess it was silly of me to expect to make it much further in the game. At least one of my students will out last me though," She briefly looked across to Scootaloo only to see that the tomboyish filly wouldn't look back at her. "I won't put up a fight. At least I'll give a good lesson in how to say goodbye. Maybe someponies," She briefly glared at Rainbow Dash. "Will learn a thing or two from it. But I doubt it."

"Just go already!" Rainbow impatiently called.

Cheerilee could only sigh. "One day you'll get it, Rainbow Dash. And I hope that day comes soon," She then began to trot down towards the dock. "Until then."

"Alright, Cheerilee, I think you've said more than enough," Discord remarked. "The Dock of Shame isn't waiting all night, and neither is the Boast of Losers."

Cheerilee trotted across the dock and onto the boat, sitting down in the seat as Nightmare Moon prepared to drive the boat off the island and take Cheerilee away.

Everypony from Cheerilee's own team were on hoof to say goodbye to her, Twilight especially. "Sorry, Cheerilee," She called out to the distance. "You were an amazing teammate."

But only Princess Celestia was there to represent the team that Cheerilee's team had so often defeated. "Your efforts won't be for nothing, I promise you." She told the off duty teacher.

The earth pony mare just smiled, waving back at the ten contestants still left even as the boat's engine revved up and the boat left the Dock of Shame. It wasn't long before she was out of sight, disappearing from view.

Scootaloo had watched the whole thing from afar, riddled with guilt as she couldn't stop the tears that were now flowing through her without end. It had been her vote that had sealed the deal for Cheerilee. "What have I done?" She pondered aloud.

Rainbow, for her part, did her best to console Scootaloo for the sake of the alliance. "You did the right thing, Scoots. She was a bad influence that would've only held you back."

And then a confessional clip showed Rainbow gloating about her victory! "YES! I'm three for three on this voting stuff! First Spike, then Gilda and now Cheerilee! I.AM.UNSTOPPABLE! The million bits are as good as mine!"

Another confessional clip displayed Princess Celestia lamenting the loss of a valuable ally. "If only I had seen this sooner, I could've prevented this. All this time, how did I fail to realize what Rainbow Dash was becoming? I don't even recognize the mare she's become now. Spike must've figured it out. How many more must fall before Rainbow learns her lesson?"





Discord, meanwhile, was standing before the cameras with a smile on his face. "How's that for drama?! Even I didn't see that vote tally coming," Then he cleared his throat. "So now it's down to ten, half of the contestants are gone. And the ones who've survived are going to be in for a rude awakening when the challenges get even harder. What kind of pain and torment could I possibly put them through next? Stick around to find out on Total Magic Pony Island!"