Princess Twilight Sparkle stared into the hole in the ground.

"I came into work today and there it was," the brown earth pony next to her explained.

The brown pony's name was Digger and he had a shovel cutie mark. He was the Ponyville groundskeeper, and he was also in charge of the cemetery. "We've got grave robbers on the loose," he said.

"I don't know if you can call them grave robbers," Twilight said. "Vandals, maybe. After all, nothing was ever actually buried here. This grave was just symbolic."

Twilight well remembered Veil, the ferret her friend Fluttershy had adopted some time ago. Everypony knew Veil was the son of the evil Warlord Swartt Sixclaw, but they decided to give him a chance, hoping if Fluttershy raised him he'd turn out to be good. Instead, Veil had grown into a loud and nasty ferret, always lying, stealing, cheating, and creating bad feeling among the ponies. He finally went too far and ended up poisoning Princess Celestia. Celestia recovered, but her sister Luna was so angry that she banished Veil from Equestria forever. Fluttershy went after him, still hoping to reform the ferret, although Twilight kept telling her he was a lost cause. They ended up meeting Swartt, Veil's evil father, and having a strange time travel adventure. In the end, Veil had died, throwing himself in front of a bullet meant for Fluttershy. Apparently there was some good in the ferret after all.

After Veil died and Fluttershy and Twilight came back to Ponyville, Fluttershy had asked Digger if he would put up a headstone for Veil in the cemetery, even though his actual body had been left behind in the past. Digger agreed. He was always happy to please. But now there was a gaping hole in front of that headstone.

Twilight examined the hole more closely. "Hmmm, this is a strange hole. It doesn't look like it was dug with a shovel."

"No," Digger agreed. "Y'know what it really looks like? Like somepony, or somebeast, dug it up from the inside. Like they were buried alive and had to claw their way out."

Twilight shuddered. "Oh, don't say that. That's horrible. Besides, you know Veil was never buried in here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fluttershy had just returned home after donating blood. The kindly yellow Pegasus was in her cottage, feeding her pets, when there came a knock at the door.

"This must be one of my friends," Fluttershy said to herself. She opened the door and it was… Veil!

The ferret was naked and covered in dirt, but otherwise he looked just as Fluttershy remembered. The Pegasus gave a cry of joy. "Veil! You're back! How did you get here?" She gave him a hug.

"I don't know," Veil said. "The last thing I remember is my father shooting me."

"He was a real nasty ferret," said Fluttershy. "You don't still want to be like him, do you?"

Veil shook his head emphatically. "No! Now that I've seen real evil, I realized that I can't follow my father's path. What happened to him, anyway?"

"He died."

Veil whistled softly to himself. "Stripedog finally killed him, eh?"

"Oh, Veil. Don't say stripedog. That's racist. No, Sunflash didn't kill Swartt. It was Martin the Warrior."

"Martin the Warrior?" Veil cried. "The mouse that founded Redwall Abbey? But he's been dead for seasons!"

"We went back in time, remember?" Fluttershy said.

"Oh, yeah." The ferret let out a sigh. "It's good to see you again, Fluttershy. You're the only friend I've ever had."

"You could have had a whole bunch of friends if you'd just been nice to everypony," said Fluttershy.

She led him inside.

"You don't have a bite to eat, do you?" Veil asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. "I feel like I haven't eaten in years." This was literally true.

Angel Bunny came into the kitchen and hissed at Veil. He remembered the ferret all too well.

"Angel! Be nice!" Fluttershy scolded. To Veil she said, "I was just about to start making dinner." She bent over the stove.

"I'm so glad you came back, Veily," she said. "This is like a dream come true!"

"But we have to be careful," Veil said. "I don't think any of your pony friends will be too happy to see me."

"They'll get used to you in time when they see how you've changed. Like they did with Discord."

Veil wrinkled his brow. "Who's Discord?"

"That's right, you've never met Discord, have you? He's a wonderful creature. He looks like a pentagram of all sorts of different animals, with the head of a pony. He can do magic. He used to use his magic for evil and terrify everypony, but I taught him how to use it for good. Now everypony in Ponyville is his friend, and they'll all be your friends too, just wait…" Suddenly Fluttershy noticed that the ferret was being oddly silent. She turned around.

A change had come over Veil. He had a scowl on his face, and when he stood up, he walked with a malicious swagger.

"What's the matter, Veil?"

"Dat's da second time in a day dat somebeast has called me Veil," said the ferret. Now he was suddenly talking like a stereotypical gangster from a bad 50s movie. "My name ain't Veil, ya dig? It's Swartt Sixclaw!"

"No, no, no," Fluttershy gasped. "You're not Swartt Sixclaw, you're my little Veil, you said you were going to change…"

The ferret seemed lost and confused. "How did I get here? Da last t'ing I remember is goin' through dat portal… Wait! I remember you. You're dat liddle horse-boid who stopped me from killin' da stripedog when I was alive da foist time!"

He grabbed Fluttershy and started to choke her. Fluttershy tried to scream for help, but she didn't have the breath.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash came crashing through the window and smashed into Swartt. She knocked him out cold.

"Fluttershy, are you all right?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

Fluttershy regained her breath. "I'm fine," she panted. But the ferret's fingers had left marks on her throat.

Rainbow Dash inspected the unconscious mustelid and then she saw who it was. "This is Swartt Sixclaw! How'd he get here? I thought he was dead!"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, this isn't Swartt Sixclaw. This is Veil."

"I'm tellin' you, it's Swartt. I've seen him too many times to make a mistake."

Fluttershy looked at the ferret again. "Well, maybe it is Swartt, but when he came in, he was Veil. He must have turned into Swartt somehow."

"How can that be?" Rainbow Dash said.

Just then Twilight Sparkle came bursting in through the door. "Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! Something strange is going on!"

"I think we already figured that out for ourselves," said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight saw Swartt lying on the floor. "We need to find the rest of our friends right now."