The ponies are playing a game of hide-and-seek, and to keep things fair — having evidently learned their lesson from last episode — they decide that unicorns cannot wink out. Baby Ribbon, however, panics when she's almost found and winks out — and doesn't wink back in. The ponies grow concerned, and when Ribbon winks out as well to find her daughter she, too, doesn't come back. She instead appears somewhere else, in a dark and fog-shrouded city, as a sinister patrol approaches…
Back at the estate, Megan declares a state of emergency and puts a ban on winking until they know what's going on. However, the warning reaches the unicorns too late and they all vanish as well, leaving Buttons, who witnessed the original disappearances, as the last unicorn. A search party is organized to find the missing ponies, but none are found and, when Buttons winks out of the path of falling rocks, she's lost as well.
That night, Megan has a dream where she finds Ribbon in a cave, who tells her a single word — "Tambelon" — before a sinister goatlike figure approaches and Megan wakes in a cold sweat. She realizes that Ribbon must have used telepathy to send her a warning, and calls another meeting to discuss this. Paradise recalls reading the word before, and tells the others that it's the name of a legendary lost city that appeared from the Realm of Darkness 500 years ago, when its ruler Grogar tried to conquer Ponyland, before he was defeated and vanished back into the Realm of Darkness with his city. She speculates that, as Tambelon slowly phases back into reality, it interferes with unicorn teleportation and draws them into itself.
In Tambelon, a donkey named Bray gloats over the unicorns now held in a dungeon and leaves to report to Grogar, his master, in the latter's throne room. Grogar announces that Tambelon will soon phase fully back into reality and orders the Bray to prepare the invasion. Once Tambelon fully reappears, the invasion is swift and efficient. The troggles rush from the gates, wielding lances that shoot beams that materialize cages around their targets, and soon almost everyone in Ponyland has been captured.
This episode provides examples of:
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Megan has a dream where she clearly sees her missing friend, hears the name of Tambelon and sees Grogar. Justified, as it's explicitly a psychic message that was sent to her.
- Teleportation Misfire: As Tambelon comes closer to reality, it interferes with unicorn winking. They can wink out just fine, but don't wink back in and instead reappear in Tambelon.
