Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying over Mossflower, on their way to visit Redwall Abbey. They saw three otters on the ground below them.

The lead otter waved up at the two ponies. "Well, sink me if it ain't Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy! You showed up at just the right time. We could use your help."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew down to the otters. "Skipper, you ole streamwhomper!" said Rainbow. "What's up?"

"We're searching for two missing Dibbuns," said one of the other otters. Her name was Chirk and she was Skipper's niece. "A mole called Ruggum and a squirrel named Bikkle. They disappeared last night."

"Aye," said Chirk's brother, Rumble. "There's not a whisker of them t'be seen in the Abbey. They must've slipped out through a wallgate."

"Oh, dear," said Fluttershy. "I hope they haven't come to any harm."

"Well, we'll help you find 'em if they're out here," said Rainbow. "An' then when we bring 'em back, the Abbey cooks'll reward us with double helpings of everything. Yum!"

"Rainbow Dash!" said Fluttershy. "I'm surprised at you! We don't need rewards for helpin' friends. That's not the pony way."

Skipper chuckled. "No offence, mate, I know wot yore pal meant. We'll all get double 'elpings if'n we find the Dibbuns. Come on." They struck off into the woods.

The sunny day clouded slowly. All around them the silent vastness of Mossflower seemed to be closing in. Chirk pointed off to the sky eastward. "Lookit them clouds, might rain by dark."

Rainbow Dash had instinctive feelings about weather conditions. "I think you're right. Breezes are starting to move the treetops."

As often happens with springtime weather, the change was sudden. Low breezes gathered force, scurrying through the random ranked trunks of oak, beech, alder, sycamore, elm, and other forest giants. The tree canopy began swaying, creating a forceful rustling of twig, branch, and leaf. Late noontide darkened as lowering clouds raced to cloak the previously bright day. After an all too brief spit spot of damp, the rains came sweeping in, thick and heavy, driven by the gale, slanting through the leafy canopy and drenching the loamy ground.

Breathless, the ponies and otters took temporary refuge against the massive trunk of an ancient spreading oak. They stood with their backs against the rough bark. Rainbow Dash cast an angry glance at the skies, resentful of the trick played on her by the elements. She wished she was back in Equestria, where the Pegasi controlled the weather.

Fluttershy, scared out of her wits by the stormy event, began to whimper. "I don't like this, oh no, not one little bit!"

Skipper was scooting around to the other side of the tree. "Follow me. Bain't so windy this here side."

When they got to the other side, they all saw a little door carved into the tree. "What's that doing there?" Fluttershy wondered.

"I don't know, but there's a word written on it," said Rainbow. "I can't read it, though. It's kinda faded."

Chirk pushed forward and examined the word written on the door. "I think it says… Brockhall."

This meant nothing to Rainbow Dash. "What in the name of my aunt's pinfeathers is Brockhall?"

Chirk explained patiently. "Brockhall was once the home of a badger named Bella, who was one of the creatures who helped Martin the Warrior overthrow Tsarmina."

"Oh yeah," Rainbow Dash remembered. "I knew Bella, and her son Sunflash."

"Get out of here!" said Chirk. "You couldn't have! They lived in the seasons long before my great-grandsire's ancestors were born."

"Well, ponies have longer lifespans than other creatures," said Skipper. "Time moves faster for them."

"It's true," said Fluttershy. "That's the horrid part about coming back to Redwall- often when we return, we discover that all the friends we made the last time have died."

"But at least we always get to make new ones!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Maybe we can hide from the rain down 'ere," said Rumble. "And maybe we'll find those two Dibbuns hiding down there too."

Moss, soil, and dead vegetation had built up under the door. Rumble found a stout stick and levered it open. The door scrunched against the ground as it gave way, fraction by fraction.

Inside, an old flight of steps ran down into darkness. Rumble led the way, and the other two otters and the ponies followed. "It sure is dark down here," said Rainbow Dash. "Can't see my own hoof in front of my face."

"Isn't there a light anywhere?" Fluttershy asked.

Chirk ran her paw along the wall. "This feels like a light switch. Hang on." She flipped it.

When the lights went on, they found themselves standing in a hallway. Brockhall was in a sad state of neglect. Cobwebs clung everywhere and tree roots hung like tentacles from the walls and ceiling. The whole ancient place was deeply coated in dust. There were chambers leading off the hall, some with the doors broken down, others screened by curtains, which crumbled and disintegrated at a touch. Rainbow Dash entered one of the rooms. A second later she came back out. "Uh, didn't you say the two Dibbuns you were looking for were a mole and a squirrel?"

"Yeah," said Skipper.

"Well, I think I've found them." But she didn't sound too happy about it.

Skipper went to the doorway of the room Rainbow had just exited. He looked in. There were two statues standing there. A baby mole and a baby squirrel.

"That is Ruggum and Bikkle!" he gasped. "But they've been turned to stone! How?"

"My guess would be it was a cockatrice," said Rainbow. "We have them up in Equestria. A cockatrice is a snake with the head of a chicken. One look at its eyes turns you to stone."

"Then the cockatrice could still be lurking around?" Fluttershy said.

At that moment, from a room at the far end of the hallway, they heard a noise which sounded like the crow of a rooster, but was really something much worse.

"Come on!" cried Rainbow Dash. "Let's get out of here, quick! Don't look back!"

Wordlessly the five of them ran back down the hall and up the stairs, out into the woodlands. None of them looked back, but they could hear the cockatrice slithering along behind them. When they got outside, they slammed the door behind them, and the cockatrice crashed into it.

"I think we're safe now," Rumble panted. "And it's stopped raining."

"What are we gonna do about poor Ruggum and Bikkle?" cried Chirk. "We can't just leave them in there."

"There's only one way to reverse the curse of a cockatrice," said Rainbow. "You've gotta have a unicorn turn the victim back to normal with her magical horn."

"But there are no unicorns here!" said Skipper.

"Then I'll just have to go and find one," said Rainbow Dash. "I'll fly back to Equestria as quick as I can and bring Twilight Sparkle here to help. Fluttershy, you go back to Redwall with the otters and warn everybeast that there's a cockatrice on the loose in Mossflower."