Mara and her friends landed on the shore of the island that evening. Rainbow Dash was the hero of the hour.

"Three cheers for Rainbow Dash, the pony who punched out the Deepcoiler!" Log-a-log declared.

Even Tubgutt said, "Maybe you're not so bad after all, horse."

"I'm sorry about all your friends that died," said Rainbow Dash.

"Well, half of us might have died, but half of us lived, thanks to you," said Log-a-log.

"And you saved my life too," said Klitch. "You and Mara. Why?"

"Because we're not like you," said Mara. "We're good guys. I doubt your evil father would have done as much for you."

"Sure, he would," said Klitch. But he wasn't really sure.

"I doubt it," said Rainbow Dash.

"Well, let's not argue about it," Klitch said. "I owe my life to the two of you. And I'll tell you something. My father wants to attack Salamandastron so he can get his paws on the treasure inside."

"But there is no treasure," said Mara.

"Well, I guess Farrago doesn't know that. But I was planning to bring you to him as a hostage. We would have traded you for Lord Urthstripe's treasure. But I'm not gonna do that now that you've saved my life. If we get back to Salamandastron in one piece, I promise I won't hand you over to Farrago. I'll let you go free."

"You're a fine one to talk about letting other creatures go free," said Log-a-log. "Seems to me we're the ones holding you prisoner."

Suddenly a long echoing howl rang out. "EEEE… YOOOOOO… LAAAY… LEEE… AAAAHHHHHH!"

Klitch's ears stood up. "Hellteeth and Darkgates! What was that?"

"It's the ghost!" said Nordo.

"I ain't afraid of no ghost," said Rainbow Dash. "He can't be worse than the Deepcoiler."

Mara pointed into a copse of trees. "It sounds like it came from those woods."

"Well, what are we waitin' for? Let's go get him!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

They all rushed into the forest, even Klitch.

The island was thickly wooded, and it was growing dark. They couldn't see any sign of the ghost.

"He could be anywhere, waiting to jump out at us and kill us," said Tubgutt.

"I never heard of a ghost that physically harmed anybeast," said Rainbow Dash.

Again, the loud haunting cry came. "EEEE… YOOOOOO… LAAAY… LEEE… AAAAHHHHHH!"

"Sounds just like my father's battle cry," said Mara.

They headed in the direction of the sound. They pushed through the trees until they came upon a clearing. In the clearing were two badgers. One was an old lady badger. The other was a big male badger. Instead of being black with a white stripe, like most badgers, he was completely white from head to toe. He was wearing a stone around his neck on a string.

"EEEE… YOOOOOO… LAAAY… LEEE… AAAAHHHHHH!" the white badger roared.

"Very good, Urthwhite," said the old female badger. "You sounded just like your father." Then they saw the newcomers.

The white badger grabbed Klitch by the scruff of his neck. "A weasel!"

"Put him down," said Mara. "He's with us. He's our prisoner."

Reluctantly the badger dropped Klitch on the ground.

"A-a-are you the White Ghost?" Nordo stammered.

The big badger smiled. "I'm not a ghost. Just an albino. My name's Urthwhite, and this is my grandmother Loambudd."

Mara scrutinized the badger intently. "Except for your color, you look just like my father, Urthstripe."

"Urthstripe?" the grandmother, Loambudd, repeated. "That was my other grandson's name. His parents were killed by an evil weasel named Farrago the Assassin."

Klitch gulped.

"I came to their house one day to find my son and his wife dead and Urthstripe missing," Loambudd said. "So, I rescued Urthwhite and brought him to this island. We never knew what became of Urthstripe."

"I know what happened to him," said Rainbow Dash. "He's the Lord of Salamandastron now. He's fighting a war with Farrago and his Corpsemakers."

"Salamandastron- I've heard of that place, but never been there," said Urthwhite.

"Well, we can take you there and you can help Urthstripe in the battle," said Mara.

Urthwhite jumped up and down in excitement, shaking the ground. "I can't believe it! I'll finally get to meet my brother. Maybe after we win the war, we can rule Salamandastron together."

Log-a-log approached him nervously. "Uh, if you don't mind, I think that stone you're wearing belongs to my tribe."

Urthwhite pulled off the necklace and handed it to the shrew. "Sure. Here you go. I've got a million stones like that."

"Looks like this trip wasn't such a waste of time after all," said Rainbow Dash.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They set off back to Salamandastron next morning. It was a tight squeeze, fitting three badgers in the boat with all the shrews and Klitch, but they managed it.

As they sailed back up the stream, none of them noticed the trail of bubbles following behind them…