Shadow padded noiselessly towards Redwall. When he got within sight of the Abbey, he threw himself down in the ditch. He could see the ponies standing guard on the wall, but they couldn't see him. He crept silently up to the west wall and lay flat on his belly, waiting for an opportunity.
Rainbow Dash had taken Matthias's place on the wall so he could get some sleep. She and Twilight Sparkle patrolled up and down the west ramparts.
"Nothing's gonna get by us," Twilight said. She reached the corner where the west wall met the south wall and saw Applejack approaching from the other direction. "Everything clear on your side, Applejack?"
"You betcha. Me an' Rarity ain't seen hide nor hair o' those varmints."
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie met at the northwest corner of the wall. "We're doing fine over here," Rainbow Dash said. "How about you, Pinkie?"
Pinkie yawned. "I'm doing okay, but I'm really tired. I wish they had some owls or bats in the Abbey so they could do night patrol instead of us."
"Well, just hang in there," said Rainbow Dash.
"I wonder what happened to Derpy," Pinkie said. "You don't think the rats are holding her prisoner, do you?"
Rainbow shook her head. "I didn't see her anywhere around the church. She probably managed to fly away after she crashed the cart."
They turned away from each other and headed off in opposite directions. For a split second, nopony was watching the corner of the wall. That was all the time Shadow needed to climb up the side of the wall and scramble over. He hurried down the steps that led to the ground, unseen by anybeast.
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Matthias dreamed he was standing alone in the Great Hall. A voice called to him. "Matthias, help, don't let them take me!"
He looked over in the direction of the sound and saw the tapestry of Martin moving, as if it was blowing in the wind. Then it blew right off the wall and started to float away. "Please, Matthias, you must help me quickly!" the voice cried.
Matthias woke up with a jolt. Intuition told him something was wrong. He jumped out of bed and raced down to Great Hall. And he saw Shadow stealing the tapestry! "Hey, put that back!" he shouted. "It's not yours!"
Shadow picked up a chair and threw it at Matthias, knocking him over. He ran out, taking the tapestry with him.
Matthias got up and chased Shadow outside, roaring at the top of his voice, "Stop that rat! Stop that rat!"
Immediately the creatures on sentry duty were alerted. Rainbow Dash swooped down and landed in front of Shadow, blocking him from the stairs. Cursing inwardly, Shadow headed for the next set of stairs. The change of direction gave Matthias time to catch up with him.
As Shadow started up the stairs, Matthias dived at him and managed to grab one of his legs. Shadow kicked Matthias in the head with his free foot and Matthias fell to the ground.
When Shadow got to the top, Twilight Sparkle was waiting for him. "Give that tapestry back," she said. "It belongs to the mice." Shadow saw Pinkie Pie and Basil approaching from one direction and Applejack and Rarity from the other. He was surrounded.
Twilight tried to pull the rolled-up tapestry out of Shadow's paws. They began a tug of war. All of a sudden, Shadow pulled so hard that he fell backwards and toppled over the wall, landing outside the Abbey. There was nothing anypony could do to stop his fall.
Cluny emerged from the forest. He walked over to Shadow and snatched the tapestry from his paw. "I'd help you get up, but my hands are full," he said. He ran off, leaving Shadow dying on the ground.