Morning sun evaporated the damp and dew, clothing the woodlands in a brief gauze of mist. The three travelers trudged steadily onward as the trees and foliage became more luxurious and dense. They had been on the move for several days now.

Bella sniffed the air. "I smell the great waters. We're not far from the mountain now."

"I can't wait to see the home of my ancestors," said Sunflash.

"Our family has ruled Salamandastron for generations," said Bella. "The blood of many Mountain Lords runs in your veins. Boar the Fighter, Lord Brocktree, Bluestripe the Wild, Ceteruler the Just, Spearlady Gorse. You come from a long and proud legacy. Always remember that."

"Well, I'm descended from Commander Hurricane, who used to be the ruler of all the Pegasus Ponies," said Rainbow Dash.

As they tramped, or in Rainbow's case, flew, southward, Sunflash took the medallion Celestia had given him in his paw and inspected it, musing, "This must be a very powerful omen. Celestia told me that all of Equestria's allies would aid me if I wore it. But why?"

Rainbow Dash explained the significance of the talisman. "Thousands of years ago, the Pegasi, Unicorns, an' Earth Ponies in Equestria kept themselves to themselves, never botherin' with each other until one year, a harsh winter forced them to band together. But there were still power struggles among the three races of ponies, each one thinking they had the right to rule the others. Then one day, Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna, came to Equestria. Because they weren't either Pegasus, Unicorn, or Earth Pony, but a pentagram of all three, the ponies asked them to be their leaders."

"Wait, was this the same Celestia and Luna I saw at Ponyville?" Sunflash interjected.

"Yeah."

"But you said this was thousands of years ago. A year is four seasons, right? How could they possibly still be alive after all that time?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Alicorns live a long time, I guess. It's just the way they are."

Bella shook her head. "Great seasons! And I thought we badgers had long lifespans."

"Anyway," Rainbow continued. "At the princesses' coronation, the ponies presented them with a medallion with a picture of all three kinds of ponies, to show that they had authority over all of them. That's the same one you're wearin' now. So now y'know why anybeast wearing that medallion commands the respect an' loyalty of all ponies and friends of ponies."

They descended a steep wooded hillside, and the earth grew squelchy as they progressed downward. When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a swamp. "Let's stop here for a bite," said Bella. She sat down on a rock, while Sunflash seated himself on a stump. Rainbow Dash perched on a tall foxglove tree.

Sunflash unpacked apple scones and flasks of cider from the sack of provisions. They ate and drank slowly as they evaluated the land, the great swamp they would be forced to cross. In front of them, and as far as they could see from left to right, dark treacherous ooze showed between the tall foxgloves, funguslike growths clung parasitically to half-sunken logs, and clouds of midges swarmed about the mosses and liverwort that abounded everywhere.

"How are we ever going to get across?" wondered Sunflash.

"Tell ya what," Rainbow said. "I'll fly ahead and scout out the land, find us a safe route."

"Okay," said Sunflash. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off.

"Be careful!" Bella called after her, but this was an ironic statement. The two badgers were the ones who would shortly be in real danger.

From the shelter of clumped elderbushes, they were being watched. Many reptilian eyes stared unblinkingly from their hiding places. Sunflash was stoppering his drink flask when a strange sound reached his ears; looking around swiftly he identified the source of the odd noise. It was a reed flute, played by a small skinny newt. The creature had painted itself orange and bright blue with plant dyes. It hopped and frisked about with scant regard for the treacherous surface of the morass, skipping from plant to twig, from rush to flower, tootling and twiddling tunelessly. It popped up alongside the badgers.

Bella greeted the newcomer. "Good day to you, little sir…"

Further conversation was interrupted as the newt scrambled to get inside the provision sack. Sunflash nipped the invader neatly by its baggy neckskin and held it aloft. Indignantly, it kicked in mid-air, snarling nastily in a high pitched squeal, "'Ey yew, 'ey yew, gerroffofme an' giz me vikkles, 'urryup!"

Sunflash gave the impudent reptile a warning shake to silence it. "Hold hard there, cheekyface, who d'you think you're talking to?"

It tried to strike at the badger with its reed flute. "Stripeydog thicky'ead badjerpadjer daftdog…!"

Sunflash had put up with enough. He stunned the newt with a tiny flick of his free paw beneath its chin. Unknown to him the myriad of reptile eyes still watched him and his mother from the cover of the elderbushes. Sunflash laid the newt carefully on the stump and waited for it to recover. Slowly, it stirred and opened one eye.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you any manners?" Bella lectured. "You come here, diving into our bag, demanding food, and then you start insulting my son. Have you got no respect for others?"

The little reptile swallowed, its throat rising in a gulp. "A wiz 'ungry, yew got vikkles, giz Smerc sum.. pleez."

"That's better. Always nice to hear a 'please,'" said Bella. "My name is Bella and this is my son Sunflash the Mace. You want food- good, tell you what we'll do. Obviously you know your way about this swamp. If you agree to lead us through it, we'll feed you. Is it a bargain?"

"Barrgin, barrgin! Giz Smerc vikkles, I show yadda way!"

Sunflash was not happy. "I thought Rainbow Dash was finding a way across for us."

"Yes, but Smerc here actually lives in the swamp, so he can show us the way even more easily," Bella responded. "We can catch up with Rainbow on the other side."

Reluctantly, Sunflash broke a scone in half, twirled a leaf into a cone, filled it with cider, and gave them both to Smerc. The skinny little creature ate as if it had lived through a seven-season famine, sucking the drink noisily and chomping at the scone until crumbs flew. To the badgers' amazement it demolished the food and finished the drink.

Holding out the conical leaf cup, Smerc shook it in Sunflash's face. "Yehhhh! A like it, goodgood, giz me summore!"

The badger eyed it coldly until he heard the word.

"Pleez!"

Refilling the leaf cone, Sunflash gave it to Smerc with the other half of the scone. The newt's table manners were utterly appalling. When it had finished eating, it grabbed at the amulet that Sunflash had hung around his neck, hissing, "Luvly meggle giz me it, for showyer across swampy!"

Sunflash understood Smerc completely. He had spent a lot of his young life in a vermin camp where creatures behaved like that as a matter of routine. The only thing such creatures respected was brute force, and now he decided to show the newt a bit. Picking Smerc up, Sunflash set him on a low laburnum branch.

"So then, your name is Smerc. Watch and I'll show you why I'm called Sunflash the Mace!

Sunflash seized the great hornbeam mace and swung it.

"Eulalia!"

One sweeping sideways blow at the rotten beech stump caused it to disintegrate, exploding into a shower of damp wood, powdery dust, slugs, and wood lice. When the debris settled there was no sign of the stump. Smerc stood open-mouthed, quivering all over with fear. Sunflash shouldered his mace, saying, "I've fed you, that's our half of the bargain. Now will you guide us through the swamp."

Slow worms, eels, and newts in a silent slithering procession followed as Sunflash and Bella negotiated a passage through the wide morass. They followed Smerc, sometimes waist deep as the newt skipped carelessly over lily pads, other times gripping the moss-covered limbs of long-submerged tree trunks. It was tough going. At the center of the swamp a jutting oak branch stuck up at an angle. As they moved toward it, the badgers felt the shifting ooze gripping and sucking at their bodies. They floundered, tasting the foul mud in their mouths, unable to wipe it from their eyes.

Smerc's voice rang out from somewhere nearby. "Grab 'old o' d' branch, stripedogs, or yer sink!"

Summoning his strength, Sunflash made a mighty surge forward, grabbing blindly at where he knew the tree limb to be. There was a moment's cold panic, then he felt his paw grip wood. Looping the cord of his mace handle over a gnarled burr, he pulled himself from the sticky morass and up onto the log. Then he took hold of Bella's paw and pulled her up there too.

"Thank you, my son," Bella panted. Sunflash was about to reply when he looked up and saw that they were now surrounded by eels, slow worms, and newts. Smerc was perched on the head of a big eel. He pointed at Sunflash and giggled insanely.

Sunflash tried reasoning with him. "Come on, be fair, you haven't completed our bargain. Get us out of this swamp. Which way do we go now?"

Smerc was delighted. He had lured the badgers into a trap. "Yeeheehee! Which way ya go now, stripedogs? Yeeheeheehee! This's yer deepest part o' th' swamp, on'y one way t' go, badjerpadjer! Yeeheeheehee! Down!"

Hot rage engulfed Sunflash the Mace. The sack of food was still hanging on his belt. He pulled an empty cider flask out of there and hurled it at Smerc. The flask struck a glancing blow to both the newt and the big eel on whose head he was perched. Smerc flopped senseless on the eel's head, which was now sporting a livid bruise and a rapidly rising bump.

The eel reared up, opening its mouth to reveal two rows of greeny-yellow, needle-pointed teeth. "Sink 'em!" it hissed.

The whole mass of reptiles moved backward, and the oak limb began turning on its side. The two badgers threw themselves flat, clinging tightly to the branches. To their horror they saw a thick vine hawser rise clear of the mud. It was attached underneath the oak limb and the reptiles were pulling on it.

"Stop! Stop!" Bella shouted. "What do you want?"

The big eel sank back and, wrapping itself around the hawser, it pulled with the others as it answered, "Want you… sssssink!"

Sunflash held on to the tree limb as it was pulled down, turning slowly into the fathomless depths of mud.