Moonlight beamed through Twilight's guest room window, bathing the walls in a soft radiance. Warm summer night cast its drowsy smell over Ponyville, not a breeze stirred the leaves of the trees, and peace lay over all. Slipp lay staring at the ceiling, listening to the silence and formulating plans in his mind. He was still fully dressed and in possession of a carving knife he had stolen from the table. In the next bed, Blaggut snuffled noisily, then turning onto his back he began to snore uproariously. Slipp flung a pillow which caught Blaggut in the face, enveloping his head. The former boatswain of Pearl Queen came awake, thrashing about as he was tangled by bedlinen.

"Whuhhh mainsail's fallen, up the riggin', mates!"

Rising hastily, Slipp tugged his companion's ear. "Stow that noise, y'great oaf, you'll wake everybeast!"

Blaggut sat up scratching his head. "Wot's up, Cap'n? You woke me out o' the middle of a good ol' sleep there."

Slipp looked contemptuously at his boatswain's comical figure. "Get yerself out o' that bed, an' keep yer voice down. Now listen t'me, I've got plans."

For the short time he had been acquainted with it, Blaggut liked his little truckle bed very much. As he dressed he sat on the edge of it, bouncing happily. Slipp, fast running out of patience, aimed a kick at Blaggut, hissing, "Will you keep still, bucket belly? I'm talkin' t'you!"

Blaggut pulled a face and continued bouncing. "I kin 'ear you, Cap'n. Ho-ho, this is the life; better'n some ole 'ammock or deckplank this bed is. I never 'ad me own liddle bed. If we're goin' to steal things, I'm gonna pinch this an' take it wid me when we go…" His voice trailed off as Slipp drew the carving knife menacingly.

"Let's git somethin' straight: I didn't pick you t'come with me, but yore 'ere whether I like it or not. I'm still Cap'n, though, an' if yore not still an' quiet right away I'll see to it that yore silenced fer good!"

Miserably Blaggut stopped bouncing and listened to his captain's scheme.

"All this fancy vittles, nice rooms, an' whatnot, stands to reason a place o' this size must 'ave a great store of treasure 'idden away somewhere. Right?"

Blaggut nodded dumbly as Slipp continued. "So we looks fer it by night an' keeps our noses clean durin' the day. Come on, foller me."

"Where are we goin', Cap'n?"

"Where d'you think, cloth'ead, pickin' daisies? We're startin' our treasure search. Now come on, an' stop callin' me Cap'n!"

"Righto, Cap'n, but what'll I call yer?"

"Call me Slipp, that's me name."

"Righto, Cap- er, Slipp. Sounds funny, me callin' you Slipp. Nice name, though, Slipp. I likes it. Righto, let's go, Slippy!"

The carving knife pricked Blaggut's nose as the irate captain snarled at him, "I'll Slippy yer- I'll slip this blade between yer ribs if yer calls me Slippy once more, understand?"

The searats found a candle and lit it. They crept about the castle, searching the alcoves and crannies. "What're we searchin' for, Cap'n?" Blaggut whispered.

Slipp rapped lightly on a wall. "Some 'idden door or secret panel. That's where I'd stow me loot if'n I owned a place like this."

They searched the room with the great big table without success. From there the two searats progressed to Twilight's library and again they found nothing. Blaggut smelled food.

"Nothing but books in 'ere, Cap'n. Let's try that place where the nice smells are comin' from."

"What, you mean the kitchens? Who 'ides treasure in kitchens?"

Blaggut shrugged. "I dunno, who does?"

Slipp stared strangely at him in the candlelight. "May'ap you got somethin' there. A good place to 'ide loot would be a place nobeast'd think of looking fer it. Come on!"

The kitchen was dark, and the candle cast a glancing light filled with flickering shadows. All of a sudden, Blaggut gave an exclamation. "Wow, look at this, Captain! Twilight Sparkle's got sugar cereals! Her mom must be really cool!" He grabbed a box of cereal from a counter and started eating right from the box.

"I don't care about some stupid food," Slipp growled. "Help me look for treasure!"

"Aye, Captain." Blaggut put the cereal down and opened a cupboard below the sink. "How's this for treasure, Captain? They've got a trash compactor!"

Slipp put a hand on his forehead. "You're hopeless. If it wasn't for you I could live so nice and easy."

Blaggut pressed the button and watched the trash get mashed up. "Ho-ho, look, Captain, it compacted it all!" He began to look around for more things to put in there.

"Idiot, you're making too much noise. You're going to get us caught…" Just then they heard hooves clopping in the hallway. The two rats stood absolutely still as the footsteps drew nearer.

Suddenly the kitchen door swung open, and a dark figure appeared in the doorway. "It's the black shadow again!" Blaggut yelped.

As suddenly as it appeared, the shadow was gone. Slipp and Blaggut fled the kitchen, hearts pounding madly as they tore down the hall and up the stairs to their room. Slipp closed the door as quietly as his shaking limbs would allow him to.

"Quick, get inter yer bed an' snore!" he croaked.

Blaggut needed no second bidding. He hurled himself into bed, swept the sheets over his head, and began snoring. Slipp followed suit. A moment later he heard Twilight, Starlight, and Joseph come into the room. They were investigating the noises.

"Well, whatever it was, it wasn't these two," said Twilight. "They're snoring like a pair of stuffed hogs."

"Aye, hogs at the table and hogs in bed," said Joseph.

"Let's go down to the kitchen," said Starlight Glimmer. "I know I heard the trash compactor running."

They all went downstairs, leaving the rats alone. Slipp sat up in bed. He was about to make some indignant comment on being called a hog when he remembered something odd. "Blaggut," he said, "when you jumped in bed just then, was yore bedlinen all upset, the way you left it?"

"Upset? No, Cap'n, it was all tidy an' shipshape."

Slipp ran a trembling paw across the neat counterpane. While he and Blaggut had been downstairs, somepony, or something, had visited their room and remade the beds!