It was raining the next morning, but that didn't bother Ghost Scar a bit. He couldn't feel raindrops now that he was dead.

In the courtyard of Castle Marl, he gave a speech to all the slaves and guards. "You all should have heard my name, but if you aren't, my name is Scar. I was the fiercest lion in all of Africa, and now I've come to conquer Mossflower, starting with this island. I killed Queen Silth and her daughter Lantur, so now this place is mine to rule. From this moment on, this is no longer Marlfox Island, I'm calling it the New Pridelands!"

There was a noise that sounded like thunder, but it was just the flapping of many enormous wings as a flock of vultures came flying into the courtyard. They landed next to Ghost Scar, flanking him in a semicircle.

"These vultures are from my native land," Ghost Scar said. "They will guard the sky over the New Pridelands, so that nobody can escape or enter without being seen."

Athrak the magpie spoke up. "But that's my job!"

"Yeah, you're being replaced," said Ghost Scar. "I don't need you. I've got bigger and better birds. So, hit the road- get a move on- beat it!"

He floated toward the magpie and made a snap at him with his ghost teeth. Athrak squawked in fright and he and his flock took off, fleeing the island.

Ghost Scar turned his attention back to everyone else. "I'm not a divider, I'm a uniter. I hope that we can all get along under my rule. I'm not a woodlander, so you water rats have no reason to hate me. I'm not a Marlfox, so you slaves have no reason to hate me. Work hard and well, I may free you from slavery and promote you to be soldiers in my army. And you soldiers, if I find you to be slow and lazy, then I'll take away your uniforms and make slaves of you. But remember this, all of you, even think of playing me false and you'll find out the lake still possesses teeth. Make sure everyone knows that!"

He ghosted off. The slaves were left in a bewildered group by the door, murmuring quietly to each other. "Never 'eard nothin' like that in all the time I been 'ere," an ancient mouse said.

"Huh, I'd sooner be a slave than a Marlfox, you live a little longer!" a lean tired-looking otter said. "And I'd sooner be dead than serve that thing as a soldier!"

"Who's bothered about wot we think?" said a hefty hedgehog maid. "Nobeast asks a slave anythin', mate, they tell them!"

A water rat soldier prodded her roughly with his spear. "Stow the gab there. Silence, you lot! Down t'the fields with yer, quick march. One two, one two…"

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Mokkan was testing out the new powers the Alicorn Amulet had given him. As he sailed down the river on the raft, he kept pointing his paws at two rats named Toolam and Durrlow, zapping them and turning them into various creatures.

Disguised as a rat, Coccyx the changeling watched jealously. She whispered to Gorm, the rat next to her, "Why do you guys let him treat you like that?"

Gorm merely shrugged. "We serve the kin of the High Queen Silth. That's the way it's always been."

Coccyx curled her lip at the water rat scornfully. "Remember what happened yesterday? We were going over those rapids and one of us fell off an' drowned, but Mokkan didn't care. All he thinks of is that charm around his neck. But there's twelve of us and only one of him. If we all jumped on him at once, we could wrestle the amulet away from him, and then we'd have the power!" She was wrong about that. She didn't know that only the creature wearing the amulet could remove it.

"You must think I'm really stupid," said a voice behind her. Coccyx jumped with shock. Mokkan was standing right by her. He had heard every word she said. He touched her with his finger, giving her an electric shock. Coccyx screamed.

"Pain is the best teacher for stupid idiots," Mokkan said, and then he used the amulet to turn her into a stone. He flung the stone into the water.

But even in her enchanted form, Coccyx still had her changeling powers. She waited until the raft had sailed away, then she changed back into her true form.

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Ascrod stood before Grogar with an idea to propose. "It most likely won't help us capture anypony," he said, "but I assure you we shall not come back empty handed."

"Oh…?" hissed Grogar. "And just what is it you had in mind, Ascrod? It had better be good…!"

"I have a plan that will not only gather ye vast amounts of energy, but also perhaps lure Princess Celestia into our clutches."

Grogar liked the sound of Ascrod's plan, and the two of them laughed maliciously together.

Bray started laughing too. "HAHAHAHAHA! I don't even know what the plan is but I'm laughing because evil villains do that all the time without any prompting. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Grogar turned to him. "As for you, Bray, I have a little task for you. I want you to go out and find more creatures to join our army, like rats, weasels, ferrets, and stoats."

Bray saluted. "Yes, sir! I won't let you down!"

Pharynx listened to the entire conversation in alarm. As soon as he got the opportunity, he snuck away.

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Celestia was standing on Twilight's balcony when Pharynx came flying in. "Hello, Pharynx," Celestia said. "Do you have any news to report?"

"Yes!" he said. "Ascrod and Grogar are plotting something. I don't know all the details, but they're going to sneak into the waterworks!"

"Oh dear. That doesn't sound good," said Celestia. "I'll get Starlight Glimmer and we'll try to get there before they do. Meanwhile, you've got to get back to the Marlfox camp before you're missed."

Pharynx hung his head. "I don't know how much more I can stand! Those foxes fight with each other constantly. It's pretty much the only way they interact!"

"Well, that's what it's like when you're evil," Celestia said.

"Hey, us changelings used to be evil too," Pharynx said, "and we didn't spend all day arguing. I never would have dreamed of talking to my brother the way they talk to each other." He sighed. "But I've got to go back, I guess. You never know when I might learn something important." He hurried off.

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The Ponyville Waterworks was the very source of all the clear drinking water for the entire kingdom of Equestria. Technicians and workers helped keep the place shining bright, and made sure nothing bad happened to the water. What no one noticed was Grogar and Ascrod could slink about the place while hiding in dark places, and slink under the doors without being seen.

They peeked up from the floor, and then they saw the main power-switch that controlled all the power in the building, and Ascrod slinked along the wall and turned it off which turned out all the lights, making it pitch black, and impossible to see inside for all the technicians, and when the emergency lights came on, the technicians were all tied up and gaged with dark wraps, and Grogar and Ascrod were in control of things now.

"Hmm, mm, mm, mm, mm…! And now… to work," Grogar sniggered as he gazed at the tanks of water that came in, and using his shadow-magic he conjured a small vortex causing the water to flow into the vortex, instead of passing through the rest of the works to supply the kingdom.

He would use the water to harness more energy, as well as combining it with the magic he had already stolen from the technician unicorns he had tied up. "So much energy, so little time," he said to himself.

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Celestia and Starlight entered the waterworks building, where they found it was dark, and pretty much deserted. At least the emergency lights were on.

"Hello?" Celestia called out.

"Is there anyone at all? Please answer our call!" added Starlight.

As they trekked deeper, they found some of the guards, literally, laying down on the job.

Starlight could recognize that their rest was not natural. "Their magic and energy must've been drained."

The sound of sinister sniggering followed that statement. "Hmm, mm, heh, heh, heh…! You are correct, young filly."

"That voice!" snapped Celestia. "Come on out, Grogar! I know it's you."

"Do you, now…?" Grogar hissed as he and Ascrod appeared before the intake tanks. "And do you also know what I lured you and your little colleague here for, Celestia?"

Celestia gritted her teeth angrily, but before she could say anything, Grogar merely stepped aside revealing his vortex taking all the water away. "Even if I fail to capture you, I've already drained quite a lot of energy from this water."

Starlight Glimmer smacked her forehead with her hoof. "Why is this a thing? Why are you attacking a government-controlled facility to get water when you're camped next to a river?"

Grogar rounded on Ascrod. "She's right. Why didn't that occur to you?"

"Never mind about that," said Ascrod quickly, and he threw his bag of magic dust into the water tank, and the water began to bubble and stir and it began to rise up and take the shape of a monster with many watery tentacles- a monster that was actually made of water.

"Incredible…!" remarked Celestia.

"Not really," said Starlight. "You yourself established that this dust turns anything it touches into monsters. So why is one made out of water something that blows your mind?"

Ascrod started to chuckle. "Seize them, Vaporizer!" he commanded, and the monster breathed out a thick cloud of fog.

"Look out!" cried Starlight Glimmer, and before long the whole place was coated in a fog so thick everyone was lost and couldn't see where anyone or anything was.

"Oh, my!" cried Celestia. "My eyes are steamed up. I can't see a thing!"

Ascrod laughed triumphantly, until he found himself consumed in the fog as well. "I… can't see!" he growled.

"It looks like you didn't think this through, Ascrod," called Grogar. "Now we're all lost in here."

The monster, however, was the only one who didn't seem lost and was able to squirt powerful pulses of water into the fog, shooting at everybeast. Even Grogar and Ascrod got hit and were totally drenched.

Celestia could see somebeast through the fog and assumed it was Grogar. She fired a spell at the figure. "Ah ha…! Hoo-WHAA…!"

And she just missed, and a good thing she did. "Celestia! It's me," shouted Starlight.

Celestia was instantly apologetic. "Oh! Oh! Please forgive me, do. I could not see to tell it was you."

"It's okay," said Starlight. "Let's be sure and keep together so we won't lose each other again."

The monster continued to fire more water pulses, and one of them hit Grogar, who staggered backward right into an open drum of water.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE…!" he shouted as he spit out the water in his mouth. "Do something, Ascrod!"

"It's no use…" said Ascrod. "I don't know what can stop it."

The monster hissed and growled, in a gurgling bubbly sound, and was preparing itself for one final washout, when suddenly it began to shiver. The fog dissipated and reduced to a mere floor mist. Now they could see again.

"Look…!" cried Starlight. "The water… in the tank… it's freezing."

The water was slowly turning into ice, and Vaporizer was beginning to freeze up, until it was nothing but a solid frozen statue. "Celestia…!" Starlight called out. "Try and finish it off now!"

WHAAAOM! WHAAAOM! Celestia blasted the monster with her horn and it exploded, sending chunks of ice flying everywhere.

The monster was gone. The power and systems were reenergized. The water was flowing normally again, and the other unicorns who were attacked were waking up after a long rest.

That's when Florian Dugglewoof Wilfachop came toward them. "Oh! That was a stupendous performance, Celestia. Bang on!" he complimented.

"But… what happened?" asked Starlight.

Florian explained that he'd seen the two of them go inside and had followed them. He noticed the intake tanks where the monster was sitting had temperature controls, and he found the console, and turned the temperature below freezing. This way, the monster would freeze, be weakened, unable to move, and have a solid surface to strike.

"Florian… you're a genius," said Starlight.

"And you saved all of us," added Celestia.

Florian bowed thankfully. "Thank you, ladies."

"Uh… excuse me?" called Grogar. "Have you forgotten about us?"

They all turned to see Grogar and Ascrod standing behind them. Celestia charged straight for Grogar, but he grabbed Ascrod and the two of them teleported back to their campsite. Celestia couldn't stop in time and crashed into the wall.

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"YEE… YEE… YAH-SHOO!"

Grogar had caught a cold after being sprayed by the water monster. He glared at Ascrod. "Well," he said, his nose stuffed, "You failed do cabture Brincess Celestia, bud you did fulfill pard ob your promise. I managed do drain quite a bid ob energy frob da wader before dose ponies showed ub. Dis brigs me wud step closer to da day when I shall strike agaid! Ad I'b sure whed Bray returds, he'll hab lots more so'diers for us."

(Translation: You failed to capture Princess Celestia, but you did fulfill part of your promise. I managed to drain quite a bit of energy from the water before those ponies showed up. This brings me one step closer to the day when I shall strike again! And I'm sure when Bray returns, he'll have lots more soldiers for us.)