Sawney wasn't trying to track Flurry anymore. After what he'd done to the shrews, he knew it was only a matter of time before she came after him.

Early the next morning, he, Gruven, Rawback, and Ribrow were sitting around a campfire. Rawback held up two pancakes in his paws, announcing triumphantly, "Lookit these beauties, chief. I done a whole bunch of 'em!"

Sawney held up a paw to silence him. "Quiet. I t'ink I hear Vallug an' Eefera comin' back."

Vallug and Eefera appeared out of the woods. They seemed excited. "Chief, you won't believe what we saw!" Eefera said. "In a clearing not far off, there's some creatures camping. Three alicorns just like Moon, a stripedog, a waterdog, a treemouse, and a fat rabbit. They were all still sleeping when we saw 'em."

Sawney stood up. "Okay, lead us to 'em." He turned to the three stoats. "C'mon, you three, follow me. Keep your mouths shut, an' hold your weapons ready!"

The six vermin sneaked along until they came to where Twilight, Fahari, and the others were dozing. Sawney rubbed his paws together. He recognized Princess Cadence; he had seen her face in Grissoul's fire. "Dat's Moon's mother. An' da little alicorn must be Moon's sister, she looks just like 'er. We could use her."

Vallug thought a moment before he caught onto the idea. "Yeah, we could capture her an' use 'er as bait ta trap Moon!"

Sawney drew his dagger. "All right. Let's get 'er. Be quiet now."

Eefera tied a loop in a piece of rope he had to make a halter. The vermin crept forward until they were right next to Fahari.

Fahari awakened to find the point of Sawney's dagger pressing against her throat. Her eyes widened.

"Don't make a sound," Sawney hissed in her ear, "or I'll cut your head clean off. Come along wit' us, an' no monkey business!"

Eefera slipped the rope around Fahari's neck. Sawney gestured to her to get to her feet. Terrified, Fahari obeyed, and the vermin began to lead her away.

Suddenly, Cregga stirred. She started to sit up.

Vallug didn't know that she was blind and couldn't see them. He panicked. He shot an arrow into her chest. Cregga let out an inhuman wail that woke everybeast up. The vermin dashed off into the trees, dragging Fahari with them.

At first, Twilight and the others didn't see that Fahari had been kidnapped, because their attention was immediately drawn to the dying badger. They all gathered around Cregga.

"Cregga, what happened?" said Twilight. "Who shot you?"

Cregga was lying on her back. "I didn't see them," she said miserably. "I'm blind, remember?"

"She's hit really bad!" Joshy said.

Cregga's old face broke into a weak smile. "I'm not like the seasons. I cannot go on forever. It has to finish sometime."

Tears rolled down Deyna's cheeks. He clutched Cregga's paw. "Don't say that. Hang on, Cregga. We'll get you help."

Cregga sighed. "When you get back to Redwall, tell your sister Meera… I wanted her to become the new Abbess. She's a wise and compassionate otter. I know she'll look after my creatures for me." Then she died.

Everybeast was silent for a minute. Then suddenly Cadence whipped her head around. "Fahari! Where's Fahari?" There was no sign of her anywhere.

"She's been pony-napped!" Joshy exclaimed.

Madd stamped her foot. "I bet it was Nightmare Moon and her gang of vermin that took her! And they must have shot Cregga, too! Death's the thing for them, good 'n' slow!"

"We should have left Fahari behind at Redwall," Cadence said to Twilight. "I was afraid something like this would happen."

Just then, Celaeno's ship appeared in the sky overhead.

Deyna's jaw dropped. "Great seasons, a flying ship! I've never seen that before!"

"I have," said Twilight. "That ship belongs to my good friend, a parrot named Captain Celaeno. Though what she's doing here I have no idea. Let me fly up there and talk to her. Maybe she can help us."

"I'll go too," said Cadence. The two of them flew up to the ship.

When they got up to the deck, they saw Celaeno and her crew, plus their old friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, as well as three creatures they didn't recognize- a fox, a tailless rat, and a pink alicorn. All three of them had tattooed faces.

"Twilight Sparkle!" exclaimed Celaeno. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," said Twilight.

Cadence and Flurry Heart stared at each other. Apart from their age difference and Flurry's tattoos, they were almost identical.

Flurry recognized Cadence's face. It was a face she had seen in her dreams for fifteen years. "Who are you?"

"I'm Cadence, Princess of the Crystal Empire," said Cadence. "Who are you?"

Flurry took a deep breath. Even though she had just learned her mother's identity yesterday, she felt like she'd been waiting for this day all her life. "My name's Flurry Heart. If you're Princess Cadence, den I'm your daughter."

Cadence did not reply immediately. Flurry couldn't tell if she believed her or not. Then her dream of a few nights ago came back to her. She began chanting, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves an' do a little shake!"

Cadence looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "Where did you hear that rhyme?"

"I hoid it in a dream," Flurry said. "You were dere, an' you were standin' before me an' singin' dat song."

Cadence rushed to Flurry and hugged her. "It's true, then! You're my daughter! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Where did you guys find her?" Twilight asked the others.

"In a shrew village east o' here," Applejack answered. "She was hidin' out from a gang o' vermin called the Juskarath. It turns out they were the ones who kidnapped 'er all those years ago, an' she's been livin' with 'em ever since. But now she's run off, an' the vermin are chasin' after her. These two critters used t'be part o' the Juskarath, too, but they quit, jest like Moon did." She indicated Felch and Dagrab.

Twilight wrinkled her brow in confusion. "Moon?" she repeated.

Pinkie nodded her head. "Yeah! The vermin changed Flurry's name to Nightmare Moon so that nopony would know who she really was!"

"That explains everything," Twilight said. "Cadence and I were staying at Redwall Abbey when we heard there was a pony named Nightmare Moon travelling through Mossflower. We've been tracking her for the past few days."

"But now we know she was really my daughter Flurry Heart all along!" Cadence said. "It's a miracle!"

"Yeah," said Flurry. "Say, where's my sister Fahari? Dese other ponies told me she was here in Mossflower, too."

Cadence's face fell. "She was with us, but she just disappeared. We think she was kidnapped. Whoever took her also murdered our friend, a badger named Cregga."

Flurry could feel anger coursing through her veins. "It musta been da Juska vermin! If dey hoit my sister, I'll croak every last one of dem!"

Celaeno brought the ship down for a landing. Everybeast got off.

Madd, Joshy, and Deyna were waiting below. When Madd saw Flurry again, she jumped on her, seizing her mane with one paw and punching every inch of the alicorn's body she could reach with the other. "You again! Came back t'get yourself killed, eh, Nightmare Moon? Death's the best thing that can happen to vermin like you!"

Twilight and Cadence pulled Madd off of Flurry. "Madd, it's okay!" Twilight said. "We just found out, she's not evil, and her name isn't really Nightmare Moon! She's actually Flurry Heart, Cadence's long-lost daughter!"

"Well, that's a relief, wot," Joshy said.

But Madd wasn't listening. She ranted on. "Killed my family, vermin did, left me for dead. Three days I lay there, with a wound in my head, deep, so deep. When I woke up my husband was dead and my daughter was gone." She held up the baby shoe that hung on a chain around her neck. "This shoe was all I had left of her!"

"Look! Look at this too!" Dagrab exclaimed. She reached into her pocket and pulled something out. It was another shoe that looked just like the one Madd had.

Madd stared. "Where'd you get that?" she demanded.

Dagrab shrugged. "I've always had it, ever since I was a Dibbun. It's my good luck charm."

Twilight had only taken a quick glance at Dagrab before, but now she examined her more closely. "Wait a minute. I thought you were some kinda rat, but you're not a rat at all. You're a squirrel, just like Madd!"

"You're crazy!" said Dagrab. "Of course I'm a rat."

"How do you know?" Twilight challenged.

"Because I've been told I'm a rat my whole life."

"Anybeast have a mirror?" Twilight asked.

"I do!" said Rarity. She rummaged in her bag and pulled one out. Twilight took it and handed it to Dagrab.

"Take a look at yourself," she said. "Then look at Madd."

Dagrab looked at her reflection in the mirror. Then she looked at Madd. She had to admit, there was a strong resemblance. "I… I don't understand."

"You know what I think happened?" said Twilight. "I think the Juska stole you when you were a baby, just like they stole Flurry. They must have cut off your tail so nobeast could tell you were a squirrel. Then they raised you as a rat."

The more Dagrab thought about this, the more it made sense. "I always did feel like an outsider in the tribe, but I never knew why. And if I'm really a squirrel, that would explain why I'm so good at climbing trees."

Madd had tears in her eyes. "You… you're my daughter?"

"I… I don't know," said Dagrab. This was a lot to digest. "Maybe?"

Pinkie elbowed Applejack. "I said she didn't look like a rat. Remember that?"

But Flurry was inspecting Cregga's corpse. "I reckonize dis arrow stickin' out o' her. It's one o' Vallug's."

Cadence came over to stand beside her daughter. "Your father was killed by an arrow that looked just like this one."

"Den Vallug Bowbeast musta croaked my dad, too! Well, dat's one more score I gotta settle wid dose vermin."

"Come on!" said Celaeno. "Let's all get back on my ship, and maybe we can catch up with them."

"I hope Fahari is still alive," Cadence said.