It was baking hot out on the flat scrublands. Dry heather, furze, and teasel dotted the landscape, grasshoppers everywhere kept up a dry chirruping, butterflies in swarms visited every scrap of flowering vegetation. Bees hummed busily as they bumbled around the blossoming heathers. Moon and Felch strode out energetically, their eyes on the mountain shimmering in the distance. Hollows, hummocks, and rises, combined with dry watercourse beds, made it extremely lumpy going. At midnoon they stopped for lunch in the lee of an oddly shaped hillock. They found wild onions, sorrel, and cornsalad leaves growing there.

"Feels very lonely out here, don't it?" Moon asked Felch. Before the fox could answer, a large snake reared its head out of some weeds, hissing venomously.

Wide eyed with horror, Felch whispered, "Moon, I think it's an adder. What do we do now?"

The snake leapt at Moon, wrapping itself around her and trying to crush her to death. Felch had always considered himself a coward, but now he sprang into action and jumped smartly in to help Moon without thinking. He stamped down on the snake's tail, pinning it to the ground. The snake unwound itself from Moon and turned to face Felch. Felch could see the fangs in its wide-open mouth. He closed his eyes in fear. As the snake lunged for him, Felch swung his fist blindly. Whap! He felt his fist connect with the side of the snake's head. The snake fell to the ground and went limp.

Slowly, Felch opened his eyes. He couldn't believe it. He had knocked the snake out with one punch.

Moon had just gotten her breath back. "Dat's put him out for da long count," she said. "Dis time, you saved my life."

"I didn't know I had that in me," Felch panted. "But when I saw you in danger, I just couldn't help myself."

"He'll have a rare old headache when he wakes," said Moon. "Come on, let's get goin' before he does."

They set off again. A little while further on, they came upon the skeleton of a harvest mouse and decided it must have been the adder's previous victim.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the summer evening shades began falling that night, Joshy and Madd were approaching Redwall Abbey. Old Hoarg, the ancient dormouse Gatekeeper, came out to meet them, holding a lantern high. He recognized Joshy. "Well, well, Joshy Stag Hare. This is a surprise. What brings you here?"

"Urgent business," Joshy said. "I have to talk to your Abbot or Abbess immediately!"

"We don't have one right now, but I can take you to Lady Cregga. I think she's in the kitchen with Friar Bobb."

"Okay, lead me to her!" said Joshy.

Hoarg opened the gate and Joshy and Madd stepped through. Just as he was about to follow them, damp spots fell from the sky. "Hmm, that rain is goin' to get heavy," he remarked. "Wouldn't surprise me if a storm broke soon."

Cregga was in the kitchens with Meera, Filorn, Friar Bobb, and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight was fully recovered now; alicorns heal fast.

"Oh Mama, say you'll bake your apple and raspberry flan, with meadowcream and the pattern of mint leaves on top," Meera was saying. "Oh, please, we haven't had it for ages!"

Filorn fussed with her apron ties. "I'm not sure I can remember how to do it. The apples are very important, but it's the wrong season for apples, is it not, Friar?"

The fat Friar chuckled. "Not at all, marm. What sort o' Friar would I be if'n I didn't keep a good stock of last autumn's russet apples in my larders? Nothin' like a nice russet!"

"Oh yes there is," Joshy said as he came in with Madd. "Two nice russets, wot!"

Twilight was startled by his sudden appearance. "Joshy! What're you doin' here?"

Joshy introduced his squirrel companion. "This is Madd. She has a story to tell."

"Last night, I found two vermin sleeping in my den," said Madd. "One was a fox and the other was a winged unicorn like you."

"A winged unicorn? You mean an alicorn?" said Twilight. "Alicorns aren't vermin."

"You didn't see this one. She was wearing the tattoos of a Juska clan member."

Cregga stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Juska, eh? I've heard of the Juska afore. They go in clans, tattooed murderin' thieves. But Juskabeasts are all vermin: rats, stoats, an' the like. I've never heard of a pony Juska before."

"Her face was all tattooed up, even more'n an ordinary Juska," Madd said. "And when I told her and her fox friend to get lost, they beat me up. See? I've got the bump on my head to prove it!"

Joshy elbowed her. "You still haven't told them the most important part. Guess what her name was? Nightmare Moon!"

Twilight gasped. "Nightmare Moon?"

"I'm glad you're here, Twilight. You of all people understand how serious this is. If Nightmare Moon has returned to Mossflower, the whole country is in danger!"

"Wait a minute, this doesn't make sense," Twilight said. "First of all, Princess Luna isn't evil anymore. We healed her with the Elements of Harmony. And second of all, she's dead!" (Luna died in my story OF PONIES AND RATS.)

"Well, maybe my father Discord brought her back to life an' turned her evil again, like he did with Swart Sixclaw. Remember that?" (This happened in my story OUTCAST OF EQUESTRIA 2: ALL HELLGATES BREAKS LOOSE!)

"Oh yeah, that was a mess," Twilight recalled. "I would've thought Discord learned his lesson about bringing people back to life after that, but I guess I can summon him here and ask him." She took a deep breath and yelled "DISCORD!" at the top of her lungs.

Discord appeared right there in the kitchen. He was an odd-looking creature, made from the body parts of a dozen different animals with the head of a pony. Right now, he was wearing a bathrobe and a shower cap. He looked annoyed. "Why did you have to call me right then, Twilight? I was just about to hop into the bath. With Fluttershy!"

Joshy made a face. "That's more information than I needed to know, Dad."

"Did you bring Nightmare Moon back to life?" Twilight demanded, getting straight to the point.

"Nightmare Moon?" said Discord. "You mean Princess Luna? I haven't thought about her in years."

"Well, there's somepony runnin' around Mossflower Wood right now callin' herself Nightmare Moon," Joshy said. "You sure you don't have anything to do with it?"

Discord spread his hands. "Not a thing, I swear. Now if you'll excuse me, Fluttershy is waiting for me." He disappeared again.

"Well, that's that," said Twilight. "If he's telling the truth, then this Nightmare Moon must be some other pony. Or maybe another rogue changeling like Coccyx."

Thunder exploded overhead.

Cregga said, "Tomorrow morning, we can go to the spot where Madd saw this pony and search for clues. It'd be a waste of time trying to track anything tonight, with this storm coming down."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sawney and company had been tracking Moon all day. Towards evening, they'd found a bridge which crossed the river, and picked up her hoofprints on the other side. Grobait, the rat who had been bitten by the burbot, kept falling behind. The wound on his bottom was hurting him more and more as time went on.

When the first drops of rain started to fell, Sawney turned moodily on the other vermin. "See dat rock ledge up yonder? I'm gettin' under it. Da rest o' ya best do da same if ya don't wanna get caught in da storm!"

The others followed him, but Grobait could not keep up. All of a sudden, he collapsed by the riverside. "Lend me a paw 'ere!" he called as he struggled to get upright.

Gruven could not resist snickering an answer. "Why? You've already got four like the rest of us."

Try as he might, Grobait couldn't get up. He lay by the swelling stream, almost battered flat by the heavy downpour. He could see the other vermin huddling under the ledge, but none of them were making a move to help him.

Eefera stared callously at Grobait. "That wound must've gone bad on 'im. He's been limpin' all day. Looks like 'is back leg has stiffened up an' gone useless."

Dagrab could see that the rain was making the water level rise. Soon Grobait would be swept away. "Don't lay out there," she shouted to him. "Come in 'ere!"

Sawney sneered. "Grobait ain't goin' anywhere, unless da stream swells up an' sweeps 'im away in da night. Save your breath, Dagrab."

"We can't just let him die," said Dagrab. She stepped through the curtain of rain spilling from the ledge.

When she got to Grobait, the river was already overflowing, and Grobait was partly submerged. Dagrab held out her hand. "Take my paw!"

Grobait was able to reach out and grasp it, but that was all he could do. He still couldn't stand, and he was too heavy for Dagrab to lift.

SPLASH! A wave of water crashed up onto the shore, pulling Grobait away from Dagrab. She had to jump back to avoid getting carried away herself. She watched Grobait float away with the current. A tear went down her face.