Twilight smiled as the final preparations were made as the guest judges arrived. "Welcome." She said quickly, moving to greet them. "We're glad you expected our request to judge the contest."

"Hunny. When you get to where I am. You don't turn down a chance to show support to inspiring performers." Sapphire said in her normal energetic toan.

"Yes. I too am eager to see if the performers can bring… THE MAGICS." Photo Finish added as she finished in her classic pose.

"That's great to hear. I was told you both worked with Romeo." Twilight mentioned as she walked them to the table.

"Oh that was an amazing show." Sapphire replied with a laugh. "Once we started singing. It was like magic for the ear."

"Yes. He has… The magics." Photo added. "I just point the camera and capture… the magics."

Twilight smiled and handed out the folders of the contestants. "That's great. Then you would be able to see who best reflects his style."

"Come again?"

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Well… he thought it'd be nice to give his fans a chance to shine. So… he decided to make a contest for viewers to guess which singer was him."

The two looked at each other before glancing through the folders. Looking at Twilight, they smiled and nodded.

It wasn't long before Luna arrived that Twilight sent out the signal to let everyone know the contest was starting.

Rainbow sat with some of the other contacts waiting for their turn to perform. She honestly did enjoy the show. Some of her favorite performances were the ones that her friends were a part of. Like several of the other backup singers, she talked with her friends while some of the… more obvious eliminations were on stage.

The first few rounds were basic, "sing one of his songs", "show off your dance moves", and the one she liked most was "the duet". Normally Rainbow wasn't into lovey-dovey stuff. But when it came to Romeo. She couldn't help but to smile. However, in their performance, she didn't feel it the same way she did back in the maze of rooms.

A part of her was surprised they made it through the round. But she chalked it up to over performers doing worse than them. Even still. She started to wonder. Was that voice right?

Up next was Ray. And Rainbow smiled at seeing Fluttershy and surprisingly Scootaloo got on stage with him. Her jaw hit the floor at how close the three seemed. She had her suspicions about Scootaloo liking older ponies. Even if only by a few years. But she thought Fluttershy wasn't into stallions. What was even more shocking was that they were good. Really good.

There were only a few rounds left and Ray knew the time was drawing closer to make the grand reveal. The next round was to involve the crowd. Something he did in nearly every one of his shows. He'd normally go all out. But for the sake of hiding, he decided to focus on getting the crowd to sing along as several of the other contestants let their proverbial mask slip.

It wasn't much of a surprise that the masked stallion and Rainbow made it. And as he finished his song. He had a feeling he made it too. Smiling, he laughed with his team and talked about what they would do for the next song.

"Due to the number of contestants and a few disqualifications!" Twilight announced. "We'll be jumping to the final round! A battle!"

Ray sighed and looked over at Rainbow before glaring at the masked stallion. This was it. He hoped there was still time to chip away at whatever wall was blocking her from seeing the truth. But now they had no choice.

As the two teams got on stage, ponies gathered along the edge of the stage to see who would win. Song after song the two performed as the guys took turns with their chosen lead backup. Twilight and her friends were shocked at the vocal range Scootaloo had. And more importantly her dance moves.

With her final song, Scootaloo had gotten both guys to join her in the middle of the stage. Neither side noticed the clouds forming overhead. However, as Scootaloo jumped up and ripped the masks off the stallions, a crack of thunder sounded as rain practically drenched the stage as she sang. Ray stood confident as the other stallion quickly covered his face.

The jig was up and everypony had seen his face. It was time to… Ray looked in shock as Rainbow wrapped her wing around the imposter. "Come on hun. Let's get you out of this rain." She said, walking him away from the contest.

The crowd looked in shock and confusion as Ray hung his head and flew off to Scootaloo's place. Not knowing what else to do, the other ponies simply started to leave until the remainder of the elements and judges were left.

"So… what are we going to do about the fake with Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"There's nothing we can do." Twilight sighed. "At least not yet."

The judges whispered to each other as Luna got up and left them in deep thought. This was indeed bad. But if she acted fast. She may be able to minimize the damage. And if not her. Then maybe Twilight and her friends will be able to.

Scootaloo stopped off in the bathroom to grab some towels before going to the bedroom where Ray was laying on the floor. She paused for a moment before laying a towel on him before laying against him. No words were said. Neither of them really knew what to say. It was hard to believe that Rainbow didn't see his face. And even harder that she'd be protective of him after learning it wasn't him. And yet…

Scootaloo sent a silent prayer to Luna to help Rainbow. After a few moments, Scootaloo looked at his face and saw that he was crushed. Her idol had broken him. And it was up to her to help him any way she can. All she had to do was think of how to do that. And fast.

Author's Note

OK. I may have jumped the shark with this chapter. But I didn't exactly know how I was going to have Rainbow react to simply being tricked. But with the new level of drama that has formed. There is a very good chance that a favorable reaction will come. But this chapter does bring up several questions. What do you guys think?