In the evening, Burble moored the Swallow, tying it to a slender oak on the shaded side of the river.

"Do we have anythang ta eat?" Apple Bloom asked.

Burble produced a bag from the floor of the boat. "I loaded the Swallow with provisions before I woke you girls up. We've got apples, some scones, and a flagon of cold dandelion and burdock cordial."

"Oh, thank you, Burble," Song said gratefully. He might have been a loudmouth and a rogue, but the vole was proving to be a helpful companion.

Wearily they hauled themselves onto the mossy bank and began eating, groaning as they stretched aching backs.

"That was a narrow escape earlier," said Scootaloo. "Those Riverheads wouldn't have accepted any excuses. We'd be deadbeasts now if they'd caught us!"

"Oh, yiss yiss, that's true pal," said Burble. "Ole Jeff's missin' both the Swallow an' 'is Leafwood now. There'll be no mercy in that'n's 'eart!"

"No, I don't imagine there would be," said Ocellus. "Why did you steal the Leafwood from him?"

The watervole made a derisory gesture with one paw. "Yah, that ole Jeff was far too big fer 'is coat. River'eads never 'ad one leader, just a council, but he appointed hisself 'ead of the council an' now 'e calls hisself Chieftain. Taint right. Jeff was allus a cheat an' a liar. Bullied 'is way in, he did."

Song was holding the Leafwood. She looked at it pensively. "All that trouble just for this. Strange, isn't it? Last night we were the best of friends with the Riverheads, now they're out for our blood. All because of a boat an' a stick."

Sweetie Belle had finished her meal. She yawned. "Well, I'm goin' to get a bit of shuteye. See if you can't keep your debatin' down to a dull roar."

Scootaloo tossed an apple core into the water. "Good idea, Sweetie Belle, but don't snore, it keeps me awake."

"Listen who's talking, the champion snorer of Ponyville!" said Sweetie Belle.

"Clearly you've never slept in the same room with Songbreeze Swifteye," said Apple Bloom.

Song snorted. "Oh, spare me, missy, I'm only a Dibbun compared to you at snorin'!"

Before another half hour had passed, they were all curled up on the mossy bank, deep in slumber. An observer would not have been able to tell which of them was snoring loudest; they were all pretty loud.

Unfortunately, evil eyes were watching them.

Raventail and his gang of ferrets were wanted for crimes in 27 different cities. Now they watched the six sleepers from their position behind some trees. Peering slit-eyed between a gap in the rotten trunks, Raventail slowly drew his switchblade out of the pocket of his black leather jacket. "Don't dose little broilers look peaceful, lyin' dere? It'd be a cruel, cruel shame ta wake dem up."

One of the other ferrets brandished a piece of metal pipe. "No need ta wake dem up. I can make 'em sleep forever!"

Raventail pricked the other ferret under the chin with his switchblade. "You do dat only when I say so. I wanna have some fun wid 'em foist."

The ferret gang crept up on Song and her friends. Just as they got close, Song's eyes flickered open. She saw about two dozen ferrets closing in, all wearing leather jackets, jeans, and tennis shoes. She shouted a warning to her companions. "Look out, ambush!"

The others woke up then, but the ferrets had them outnumbered four to one. There was no chance of escaping. In a trice, the ferrets jumped on them and grabbed them all. They lifted them into the air and tied them to tree branches that hung over the water.

Raventail lit a cigarette. He swaggered up and down, taking puffs on it. He blew smoke right into Song's face. "Well-a-well, little friend, ya want a drink a water?"

At his signal, four grinning ferrets leaned down on the branch Song was tied to, causing it to bend so far that her head was forced under the water, which amused the ferrets greatly.

"Give 'er lotsa lotsa drink for a long time!"

After what seemed like an eternity to Song, they released the branch and she could breathe again. Then the ferrets did the same thing to each of her friends, one by one.

"Tell me now when ya got enough ta drink," Raventail said. "Den we'll cut ya loose… from your necks!"

Burble spat out mud. "Please! We have a Leafwood! Let us go and we'll give it to you, so we will!"

"A Leafwood?" said Raventail. "What's dat?"

"It's lying right there." Burble pointed.

Raventail bent and picked up the stick. "What would I want wid a hunk a junk like dat? You can find twigs like dem all over da woods." He tossed it away.

Then a blast of magic hit one of the ferrets, knocking him down. Raventail saw him fall and cocked his head quizzically. "Whatsamatta wid him?"

Before he could inquire further, another ferret went down. This time Raventail looked over and saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Joshy crouched behind a log. "Look, more ponies an' a hare over dere!"

The ponies and Joshy leaped out from behind the log and sprang into battle mode. Joshy brandished his wand. "CREAM PIE FLING!" he shouted. A bunch of pies appeared in the air and hurled themselves into the faces of the ferrets.

Joshy was just getting warmed up. "EGG TOSS!" This made a bunch of eggs fall out of the sky and onto the ferrets' heads.

He had one more spell. "EGG BATTER!" This caused a giant eggbeater to appear in his paw that was the size of a baseball bat. He ran at a ferret and walloped him with it, sending him flying.

Twilight was also firing spells right and left, and Rainbow Dash was thwacking ferrets with her hooves. The ragged ferret horde fled. Scrabbling and biting at one another, they dashed off.

Raventail remained, yelling at his retreating friends, "Get back here an' fight! I'm not afraid! You're a bunch a jive squares!"

Then Rainbow Dash came thundering at her. Like a sonic rainboom she flung herself on Raventail. The force of the impact was so great that they both crashed into the water. Still hanging upside down, Song and her friends watched in awed silence as Rainbow Dash proceeded to beat the crap out of the ferret, pummeling him with all four hooves. Finally, she grabbed Raventail and hauled him over her head, flinging him bodily across the river and onto the opposite bank. The ferret picked himself up and crawled away, heading north, the same direction his friends had run.

"Swart Sixclaw was 20 percent cooler than you!" Rainbow shouted after him.

"Great seasons, what a fighter y'are, Dash," said Joshy. "I never saw anythin' like that in my whole life. You were like a badger lord in bloodwrath."

Rainbow smiled. "You didn't do so bad yourself."

"Yiss yiss, but are yer goin' t'talk about it all night an' leave us hangin' 'ere like apples waitin' fer autumn?" Burble burbled.

Rainbow turned to him. "Oops! Sorry, pals, we forgot about you for a minute. Hang on, we'll get you down."

They cut the children down and set them free. "You showed up in the nick of time," Song said.

"Did you really think we were gonna leave you to go off searchin' for a dangerous criminal by yourselves?" said Twilight.

"But what about the war back at home?" said Scootaloo. "Who's gonna defend Ponyville? The two of you are the best fighters in town."

Twilight said, "Princess Celestia is in Ponyville now, and she's got things well in hoof."

"Who's this guy?" Song asked, pointing to Joshy.

Joshy made an elegant leg. "At y'service! My name is William David Truman Joshua Stag Hare an' I'm a wizard!"

"Oh, yeah," said Song. "I've heard of you."

"And who's this?" Rainbow Dash asked of Burble.

Apple Bloom said, "That's Burble the watervole, the only critter on earth who actually talks more'n Pinkie Pie."

"This is so awesome, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cheered. "We're going on another adventure together!"

Rainbow Dash ruffled her hair. "Wouldn't have it any other way, squirt."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lantur's first night as queen was also to be her last.

She was sleeping in her mother's bed when she was jarred awake by a scratching at the door. "Who's there?" she called.

There was no answer. Only more scratching.

Lantur began to get scared. What if there really was a White Ghost? She wanted to call for help, but she was too afraid. She only or merely pulled the covers over her head, hoping whatever was outside would go away.

The scratching got louder and louder until all of a sudden it stopped. Cautiously Lantur sat up and peeped out from under the covers. The room seemed empty. She saw nothing amiss…

Until she looked at the foot of the bed and saw two transparent paws there.

Slowly, the ghost rose up from the floor until it was floating above Lantur. And it wasn't a badger. Nor was it her father. It was the ghost of a lion with a scar over one eye!

Lantur was baffled. What could a ghost lion be doing on this island? There had never been lions in Mossflower. "W-w-who a-a-are y-y-you?" she muttered.

"My name is Scar," said the lion.

"What do you want with me?"

"I used to be the king of a country called the Pride Lands," Ghost Scar said. "Until my traitorous nephew Simba overthrew me." His face would've darkened at the memory if he hadn't been a ghost. "But I didn't let that stop me. I had placed parts of my soul in various enchanted objects, so that when Simba killed me, I became a ghost instead of fading away completely. So, my spirit traveled all around the world, searching for the evilest creatures I could find, hoping to build an army and take the Pride Lands back. That's where your family comes into the story, my dear. Two of the creatures I had enlisted were Marlfoxes, ancestors of yours. A male named Urgan Nagru who wore the skin of a dead wolf and called himself the Foxwolf, and his wife Silvamord. Together, we reconquered the Pride Lands in my name, but thanks to them, it all went wrong and I was defeated yet again! Nagru and Silvamord hated each other. They spent as much time fighting each other as they did fightin' our enemies!"

"That sounds par for the course with my family, all right," Lantur had to admit. "But what's that got to do with me? I never even heard of those ancestors before. They must have lived long, long ago. You can't blame me for what they did."

"Your ancestors spoiled my hostile takeover bid," said Ghost Scar. "I can't punish them because they're dead, so I'm going to punish you instead. They caused me to lose my kingdom, so now I'm going to take your kingdom away from you! I'll kill you like I killed your mother, and then I'll be ruler of this island!"

And then he sliced open her belly. Lantur had time for one scream, no more.

Ullig and Wilce came running in then, but they were too late to save Lantur. When they saw the ghost, they screamed louder than Lantur had.

"Right, listen up, you rancid rodents," said Ghost Scar. "There's a new sheriff in town now. I just killed your queen, so that makes me your new king. You'll take orders from me, if you don't want to end up like her!"

The rats were too terrified to disagree. They nodded their heads wordlessly.

"Excellent," Ghost Scar said, rubbing his paws together. "Tomorrow, gather all the other rats and all the slaves together for my coronation. And when the other Marlfox children come back, I'll have a few surprises waiting for them!"