The sun hung over the Pride Lands like a hot merciless eye, watching two small creatures huddled in the shade of a baobab tree. The mousemaid Mariel shook an empty flask over the outstretched tongue of her friend Spike the dragon. Two single drops fell slowly, then no more.

"Put your tongue away," she said, sadly. "The sun will think you're mocking him."

Spike nodded skyward as he withdrew his parched tongue. "Huh, he's been mocking us for the last week."

Mariel and Spike had been inseparable ever since he had helped her rescue her father from the evil rat king Gabool the Wild. Now the two of them roamed all over the world, going on adventures together.

Mariel pulled two stale cupcakes out of her slack haversack. "D'you fancy one of these?"

Spike smiled ruefully. "No thanks. Pinkie Pie baked those ages ago. They're the two you said you'd keep as a memento of Ponyville. I'd break every tooth in my head trying to chomp on them. Besides, I'm too dry to eat. Whew, it's too hot even to talk!"

Mariel closed her eyes, settling back into the shade. "Sleep then; we'll carry on tonight when it gets cooler."

Spike lay down clasping his hands behind his head and called out to the sun, "Did you hear that? We're going to sleep, turn the heat down a bit, will you!"

He didn't remember going to sleep, but the next thing he knew, Mariel was shaking him awake.

"Listen. Can you hear it, Spike? Sounds like somebeast doing a bit of roaring and shouting somewhere."

Spike sat up, snuffling and grumbling. "Call yourself a friend? Huh, won't even let a young dragon have his sleep. You'll stunt my growth wakin' me up like that." But now he could hear the noise too. "It sounds like creatures fighting," he said.

Mariel pointed to a big hill a few yards away. "I think it's comin' from over there." She picked up her Gullwhacker, the knotted rope she always used as a weapon. "Come on. Let's go check it out."

They crept cautiously over to the hill and peeked down.

A fat white hare was surrounded by rats. They were trying to bind him with grass ropes. The hare was giving a good account of himself, but the rats were overwhelming him, prodding him with spears as they looped the coils about him and struggled to get a halter round his neck.

"You can't keep this up forever, Joshy," the leader of the rats taunted. "You might as well surrender now."

"If you strike me down now, I'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, wot wot!" the hare shouted.

Mariel recognized that voice. "That's Joshy Stag Hare!" Joshy was a hare who was a wizard. He and Mariel had both once been held prisoner by the evil rat king Gabool the Wild.

"What's he doing here?" Spike wondered. Spike had never actually met Joshy before, but he had heard a lot about him.

"I don't know, but he needs help," Mariel muttered. She dug one of the cupcakes out of her sack again and flung it at the rat leader. It bounced off his head. Instantly all the vermin froze. The leader whirled around. "Who did that?" he demanded.

Mariel had her Gullwhacker ready as she strode down the hill to confront the rats. "You, frog nose, get your paws off that hare!"

The leader leered crookedly at her. "Well, well, what have we here, a little mouseymaid? What's your name, pretty one?"

The Gullwhacker belted him square in the mouth and he sat down hard, spitting out a broken tooth. Mariel smiled. "Should have whacked you over the ears; it would have cleared some of the muck from them. I'm Mariel of Ponyville, and I'm telling you to let the hare go."

"You're not in a position to give orders, mouse," said the rat. "There's six of us and only one of you."

"She's not alone!" Spike shouted, stepping from behind the hill. "She's got me!"

Some of the other rats gasped at the sight of Spike. "A dragon!"

"Aw, it's just a little dragon. He can't interfere with us," said the leader. "Get him, lads!"

He charged Spike with his spear, but Spike tripped the rat with his tail. As the rodent fell, Spike grabbed the spear from his claws and whacked him with the butt. Mariel tangled the footpaws of another in the coils of her Gullwhacker, whipping it free to punish him with the hard, knotted end.

Joshy got out his magical wand and shouted a spell. "Quee… Fee… Mae… Mo… Bo-bo!" It knocked three rats senseless at once.

"I think we're winning, Mariel!" Spike cried excitedly.

But the last rat scrambled away and blew a sharp blast on a bone whistle which hung from his neck. Instantly ten hyenas came charging over the hill.

Joshy spoke up. "I say, don't look now, but I think we are about to be killed, wot!"

The hyenas formed a circle around Mariel, Joshy and Spike. They looked mean and hungry. Mariel could see spit dripping from their fangs. It looked like for once she'd found a situation that she couldn't fight her way out of.

Just as the hyenas were about to pounce, two mighty roars rang out across the plain. The fur on the hyenas' backs stood up. Suddenly they were absolutely terrified. They took off as fast as they could, and the rats who were still conscious weren't far behind.

Two young lions, just barely into adulthood, appeared on top of the hill. A golden female lion and a brown lion with a red mane.

The girl lion held out her paw for Mariel to shake. "Hello. I'm Savannah and this is my brother Saba."