Warriors: The Next Three: Book 1 - Different Perspective

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Allegiances

Prologue

"Petalpaw."

Petalpaw awoke. Groggily raising her head, she yawned and looked around. This was not where she fell asleep; not behind the ferns of the medicine cat's den. She took in her surroundings, realizing that she was in a dense forest with plentiful undergrowth. The trees were of a different color than what she was used to and towered higher that the pine trees back home. She wanted to ask the cat who had awoken her where she was, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. She tried to make out the scent that she logically associated with the mysterious cat. It smelled of ShadowClan, but mingled with other scents; that of the ThunderClan, WindClan, and RiverClan. Petalpaw gaped her jaws to try to make out the scent more clearly. Still no luck.

"H-Hello?" She called out, walking now to try to find the mystery cat. Getting spooked, Petalpaw padded onward until she came across a clearing, mottled with dim sunlight. The sunlight seemed to have come from nowhere, until she looked up and saw a sky of many, many bright and beautiful stars. It wasn't sunlight; it was starlight.

StarClan! She thought. I'm in StarClan!

Petalpaw shuddered. The sky back in the pine forest would have never had this many stars, and she had not in all her life seen a sky this bright and beautiful. She heard paw steps. She whipped around to face who was approaching her.

A large tom padded toward her. He had a dark brown pelt and amber eyes. Petalpaw instantly recognized her old clan leader, whom died right after she was kitted. She had no memories of him, save for him introducing himself to her litter.

"Greetings," The massive tom spoke, words booming like thunder. "My name is Sproutstar of StarClan."

Sproutstar! Petalpaw's eyes sparkled with apprehension. I remember the stories of him! I can't believe I'm finally meeting a member of StarClan! Sproutstar noticed the fear and amazement in Petalpaw's eyes.

"Do not worry, I mean no harm, I am here to pass on a message." He flicked his tail to a bright light. Petalpaw's eyes adjusted after a moment and saw three shapes, all different colors. Puzzled, Petalpaw studied them carefully, noticing that they were cat silhouettes.

"I don't understand; no cat can be pink, violet, or blue, so why're these cat silhouettes these colors?" Sproutstar's ears twitched with amusement. Petalpaw tilted her head in confusion. "What's so funny?"

He purred gently. "Sharp as ever." Petalpaw waited for an explanation, but Sproutstar only stood there, his gaze burning into her pelt.

"Um... Is there something bad about the silhouettes that I should know?" Petalpaw inquired. "And why would you tell me, and not Flingtail? He's been a medicine cat longer then me. Is it because I'm more special? Or- Oh! Is this a prophecy? Is this my first prophecy as a medicine cat?" She was practically bursting with excitement now. Sproutstar rested his tail on Petalpaw's back. Petalpaw's heart raced with anticipation as she realized that Sproutstar was about give her the biggest step in becoming a true medicine cat. She faced him as he spoke chillingly and powerfully.

"There will be three, kin of no cat's kin, who will come from beyond the sky to save what the clans hold dearest."

Petalpaw was right. My own prophecy! But as she saw Sproutstar fading, she had a multitude of questions.

"Wait!" She called. "How will I know who the three are?" Sproutstar's fading image flicked its tail to the silhouettes. He fully vanished as Petalpaw reflected on what he had said.

He said that the three will become from beyond the sky... but what is beyond the sky? StarClan reaches across the sky for countless forest-lengths! She began to hear a faint voice urging her to wake up.

Find the three... find the three...

"Petalpaw!"

She awoke for the second time. She saw Flingtail staring down at her. Grateful to see a familiar face, she rose and started to purr and stretch happily.

Flingtail blinked. "You're awfully chipper this morning. And after you slept like a rock, too." Petalpaw walked over to the herb storage to where her mentor headed. She followed him through the sleeping log to a circular room with stone walls. In the walls were clefts formed by twolegs who Petalpaw and the rest of the clan presumed to be the ones who dug the cavern out. The clefts held coltsfoot, cobwebs, burdock roots, and many more that Petalpaw had tediously learned the names and usage of.

Flingtail began to move a clove of sorrel as Petalpaw looked over her mentor's shoulder and noticed that they were dangerously low on catmint. Catmint was by far the most important herb in their storage. It was the only cure to the deadly greencough, and, with leaf-bare approaching, the Clan would grow sick quickly without the herb.

"Do you want me to go see if we have any catmint?" She offered. "I can see if we didn't pick all of it. I'm only going to the Garden, it's not far."

Flingtail nodded. He spat the sorrel out and added, "Sure, but could you help me first? Amberfur told me a new organization method at the last medicine cat meeting."

"Sure," Petalpaw replied as she padded over to help. "What's this amazing new technique?"

"You make it sound more interesting than it is," He joked. "Just sort them by use. For example, put the chervil and horsetail together since they--"

"--both treat infection," Petalpaw finished. "You know, I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I mean, I pretty much know all the herbs."

Flingtail was silent for a moment. "So tell me," he said at last, "tormentil: what does it do?"

Petalpaw hesitated. She had never heard of the herb before, nor was she completely sure if it was real. "Er... it treats rat bites?"

"No, it extracts poison and treats most wounds."

"Oh." Petalpaw felt very embarrassed.

"Goes to show you, Petalpaw," Flingtail began. Oh no, Petalpaw thought, Not another one of his lessons!

"You can't be right about everything. When things appear that you don't know or aren't sure of, it's okay to ask. The best tool a medicine cat has is knowledge, but it's no good unless you know that a cat never stops learning. You'll see, something will come up. And, when it does, don't act by yourself--get help. Okay?"

Petalpaw nodded. She actually didn't mind his speech, as she did have things that she didn't know about. Like the prophecy.

"The prophecy!" Petalpaw blurted the words out loud and then realized her mistake. Like she feared, Flingtail gave her a quizzical look.

"What prophecy?" Flingtail furrowed his brow and Petalpaw shrank back. What should I tell him?

"Oh, uh... the prophecy to... get catmint! I assigned myself a prophecy to get... catmint. I, uh, must be off now to fufill my prophecy! Farewell!"

Petalpaw backed out of the den and blushed furiously. Feeling very awkward, she glanced at the sky to see what time of the day it was. Dawn, she deduced. She nodded to Dripnose guarding the camp and climbed over the stonewall.

What did Sproutstar say? Petalpaw thought back to her dream. Kin of no cat's kin? What does that mean? Is that just exclusive to clan cats? Are they loners? And what loners would have those weird colors?

Petalpaw gave a loud sigh. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open.

Chapter 1

Sunlight shone through the blinds, lighting the room up. A warm breeze drifted in through the open window, and birds flew by the house. The cloud walls allowed even more light and warmth in, making it almost impossible for a normal pony to keep sleeping. Rainbow Dash kept sleeping, however, as she was no normal pony. It was only Tank's breakfast that would get her up.

Rolling out of bed, Rainbow Dash yawned and trotted over to her pantry. Grabbing a premade salad of alfalfa leaves, bananas, and apples, she poured a serving into Tank's food bowl. Grabbing a bowl of her own, she poured the last of the salad into her bowl. Making a mental note to get more later, Rainbow sat down on her sofa and grabbed her book. She smiled as she picked up where she left off. She was just starting to read when a knock at her door confused her.

That's odd... Rainbow Dash thought as she padded to the door. Why would anyone be here at 7:36 in the morning? She opened the door to a very cheerful looking Pinkie Pie. The look on Pinkie's face indicated that she was excited, and also thinking about pie. It was a weird expression.

"Hey Pinkie! Do you want to..." Rainbow started to talk until she glanced up at Pinkie Pie's hat. "That's a very, er... cool hat, pinkie!" The hat in question was a plush cat with a scarred nose and a torn ear. There was also a bruise on the front left leg.

"Its cool, right?" Pinkie said, bouncing so much that Rainbow thought she'd fall through the cloud porch. Then Rainbow wondered why she hadn't fallen through yet. Maybe she got the cloud-walking spell from Twilight...

"Nah, I didn't get a spell from Twilight," Pinkie said. "I used my helium." Rainbow blinked. Had she said that out loud? Rainbow glanced at the cat hat again. Something about the scars and bruises seemed familiar... Then it clicked.

Rainbow used her tail to stop Pinkie's bouncing. "Is that Plumfrost from the Warriors series?" Rainbow was sure of it, but was shocked when Pinkie shook her head. "Then what or who is it?" She questioned. Pinkie shrugged.

"I dunno. It was at your front door. Oh, let's share it!" Pinke smiled. She obviously liked the hat. Rainbow grimaced. She hated sharing, and especially hated it when a friend liked a belonging of hers and wants to wear or play with it. Her mind flashed back to the time when Rainbow Dash and her old friend Gilda the griffon tried to 'share' a Hayburger kid's meal toy. Gilda hogged it and when Rainbow complained to her dad, he said that sharing was caring. Rainbow growled.

"Well, I'm sorry then." A very deflated Pinkie Pie was staring her in the face. Snapping back to reality, she realized that she had growled after Pinkie asked the question. Uh-oh She thought.

"Pinkie Pie, wait! We can share!" Rainbow shouted. After a moment, Pinkie pie bounced up from nowhere looking refreshed. Looking down, she realized that there was a trampoline at the bottom of her house.

Huh. Weird.

Looking back up, Rainbow found Pinkie with two more hats on. She was taken aback.

"Pinkie Pie..." She said cautiously, as if something was going to jump out of the hats and devour her. The two extra hats were both cats. The first one was a sky blue with rainbow markings on the tail and above the eyes. The second one was dark-pink with a light-blue tail and a light-pink underbelly. She realized with a creeping feeling of dread that these were cat images of her and Pinkie Pie. "You have two more hats on." She observed carefully.

"Oh, really? I do?" Pinkie looked up, but she wouldn't be able to see them. "I don't... they weren't..." It wasn't often that pinkie was at a loss for words. Holding back a snort of amusement, Rainbow started to get worried.

" If you didn't put them there," she said slowly, thinking while speaking of who could of put them there, "who did?"

Pinkies eyes grew very large. She gasped. She took in a deep breath and screamed:

"TWILIGHT!" Pinkie jumped off the building and missed the trampoline. Rainbow was horrified, until Pinkie Pie got up with no injuries and started to race toward Twilight's castle at a very fast speed. Rainbow dash shuddered. She had been chased twice by Pinkie Pie, both times Pinkie Pie had caught up. Rainbow went inside, grabbed her book, and said goodbye to Tank before flying in the direction of the castle.

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Twilight set down her coffee, grimacing at the taste of it. She didn't enjoy drinking it, but it was the only thing that would wake her up after an all-night study session. Well it was going to be a study session... Twilight reflected. She had spent the whole night reading the Warriors series. She had read 10 books in total and wanted to read more, but she had many papers to sign.

She sighed as she took another swig of the coffee. She had to admit she was feeling more awake. At 7:41 in the morning, it was very quiet in the castle. Twilight didn't like it. She missed Rainbow Dash crashing into the walls while doing stunts, and missed the thin wood walls that let in talk from outside. Hearing an earsplitting crash, she spun around and saw Pinkie catapult though her castle wall and scream the same thing over and over again.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Twilight noticed at once she was trying to scrape four very weird looking hats off of her head. Panicking, Twilight cast the time freeze spell. It took a moment for Pinkie Pie to realize she wasn't moving. She brightened when she saw Twilight.

"Hi, Twilight! I was looking for you." Her smile faded and a worried look crept onto her face. "I need your help with these three funky hats." Twilight blinked. She recognized they were from the Warriors series. Plumfrost was on the bottom, but Twilight was surprised to see that she couldn't recognize the three on top. The one at the very top reminded Twilight of herself; the same lavender color, with a dark pink ear. As she undid the spell, she noticed something odd about what Pinkie had said.

"Pinkie, there are four hats on your head," Twilight pointed out. Pinkie's eyes widened, and she sucked in air, about to scream. Before she could do this, Twilight put a hoof in Pinkie's mouth.

"Please don't scream, Pinkie," Twilight said. "I don't think my ears can handle any more noise." When she removed her hoof from pinkie's mouth, something crashed into the wall on the other side of the room, and when Twilight and Pinkie spun around, the wall crumbled and let Rainbow Dash fall through.

"Twilight, cool, you're here. Pinkie has these weird-" She broke off as she stared at Pinkies head. "This is not good. What does all this mean? And why am I a cat on Pinkie's head?" Twilight realized she was right; the second cat on the pile looked a lot like Rainbow dash.

Twilight mulled over the hats for a heartbeat, and then came to a conclusion. "I dunno."

Pinkie Pie looked shocked, as did Rainbow Dash. "But, you have to know! It's freaky and magical and I don't like it." Pinkie said this as she slumped down with her hooves crossed. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"I have to agree with Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said. "This magical whoseitwhatsit is right up your alley." Twilight got mad. Why did she have to be the one with all the answers?

Twilight took a deep breath, realizing something. "I think," Twilight said, finally remembering an old lesson by Celestia, "that this is a way of communication from another world." As Rainbow and Pinkie both looked shocked, she carried on. "Long ago, Princess Celestia received several packages filled with plush dogs and weird writing. It turns out another world where all inhabitants were dogs needed help, so the dogs sent over things to multiple worlds try to convey a message that they needed help. The dogs used their writing though, so scientists only discovered this recently. They didn't have proper funding, so they didn't pursue the SOS."

Rainbow looked interested. "So you're saying that the magically appearing hats are actually an SOS from another world? Filled with cats?" Her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh, it would be so amazing to visit the other world and help them!"

Pinkie Pie, who had remained silent, stood up. "But Plumclawfacecat or whoever was on the stack with them." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Do you think the cats in trouble are those from your book series?"

Twilight felt a twinge of irritation. Why didn't I think of that? Her irritation was soon replaced with amazement as she realized what this meant. She could feel herself smiling.

"OK," Twilight said. "Let's go then!"

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"Go?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Go where?"

Rainbow realized that Twilight was grinning like an ape. "Isn't it obvious?" When Rainbow and Pinkie both shook their heads, she carried on. "We have to go to the world as cats and help them."

"What?"

Rainbow felt sick to her stomach. Moments ago, she wanted nothing more that to go to a world full of cats, but after learning that the world is probably from her favorite books, she would have to become a cat, and the feat was actually possible made her very, very reluctant. Ever since she was a breezie, she had dreamed of becoming another creature, like a dragon.

Pinkie Pie looked skeptical, too, Rainbow noticed. Pinkie started pacing, obviously thinking deeply. She's actually considering it! She realized with a jolt. Rainbow couldn't believe that one of her closest friends was considering becoming another creature.

"But we can't," Rainbow pointed out. "We have families and jobs, not to mention we're the bearers of the elements of harmony. What if Tirek comes back, or Discord turns evil?" Remembering the two villains turned Rainbow's blood to ice. She would never let somepony else think she was a scaredypony, but she got freaked out thinking about them.

"I'll just cast a time-freeze spell!" Twilight said. "It makes time stop for the user and its targets but not for anyone else. To other ponies, nothing happens; life doesn't skip a beat. If we were in the cat world for 3 years, when we came back and deactivated the spell, we would be older but no one else would." Rainbow was still a little confused. Great explanation, Twi...

More questions flooded Rainbow's mind. "OK, that's all fine and dandy, but how would we get back?" There was no way Twilight had an answer to this one. Rainbow was shocked when Twilight smiled. That meant another explanation was coming.

"I'll simply say the code words that I can set." When Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue, Twilight continued. "I'll make it something that no cat would ever say since they don't know about our culture."

"What are the code words?"

"Hayburger burgers are tasty, yum yum yum."

Rainbow Dash snickered. "And how are you sure you wont say that while dreaming about them?" Twilight blushed. At the same time an enthusiastic yelp came from across the room.

"I'M IN!"

Rainbow gasped, while Twilight nodded, obviously trying to remain calm. Rainbow could tell she was giddy.

Rainbow sighed, knowing she had to go. Rainbow Dash had experience fighting villains as a superhero, and hunting for rats with Gilda. Without her, Twilight and Pinkie would be lost. On the other hoof, she was still concerned Twilight's spell would not work. If it did work, however, and they made it there, they wouldn't know the first thing about anything. She took a deep breath and spoke two words.

"I'll go."

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Chapter 2

"Here's what I don't get," Rainbow Dash began. They had been sitting in the castle library while Twilight researched the spell that would get them to the Warriors world. "The Warriors books are just books. I don't care what book it is, books are just stories. Made up." Rainbow waved her hoof in the air. "Fiction!"

Twilight spun to look at her, but before she could speak Pinkie Pie jumped in between them. She smiled crazily, as if she felt she was the smart one and everyone else was an idiot. Sometimes that was the case.

"Duh!" Pinkie said, still having the four SOS hats on. "She's going to use the magic in here-" she pointed to the Warriors book "-and put in there!" She then pointed to a closet in the corner of the room. Rainbow Dash snorted.

"Right. Well, while you put a book into a door, I'm getting something to eat." She turned to leave only to have her tail be dragged back by Twilight's magic. She frowned. It didn't hurt, but tails weren't meant to stand still, they were meant flap around. At least I'll still have a tail when I'm a cat... Rainbow frowned even more. She still wasn't sure whether she wanted to go through with it or not. Being another creature would be cool, but a cat? Twilight cleared her throat to get Rainbow's attention. She realized she had been staring at the ground while thinking.

"Well, Pinkie Pie is somehow correct," Twilight said with an edge with her voice, as if she was mad at Pinkie for deducing her surprise plans. "The plan was to use a duping spell on the Canterlot High portal. which is in that closet." Rainbow Dash kept her frown. "Then we'll simply do what we did with Sunset Shimmer's Journal, and create a gateway between the two worlds."

Rainbow had more questions. "Right, but you said that you have to speak a code for us to go back home. Instead of that, why can't we just go through the back through the portal when we're done, like you did in High School land?" Twilight looked stumped for a heartbeat, but then responded very confidently.

"Because it doesn't work like that," Twilight said. Rainbow Dash waited for more, but Twilight kept her confident expression. Giving up that question with a sigh, she moved on to her next one.

"OK, whatever, but where will the portal leave us?" Rainbow was getting worried now. "What if other pon- er... cats see us emerge from a tree or something?"

"Well we have to hope that won't happen. If it does," Twilight added, "We'll say that we're cats sent by StarClan." In the corner, Pinkie raised her hoof as if they were in school.

"I have a question," Pinkie said loudly so that the other two could hear her. "What is StarClan?"

Rainbow Dash blinked. She had totally forgotten that Pinkie Pie hadn't read any of the Warriors books She wasn't entirely sure if Pinkie had ever read a book besides a Cookbook. It would be a pain to explain everything to her.

"Well, there are four Clans around the lake," Rainbow begun. "ShadowClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and the one the books focus on: ThunderClan. These four battle for territory, in which they catch prey and drive off intruders in. A full grown cat who battles and hunts and is fully trained is called a Warrior, hence the name of the series."

"What about the kitties and the oldies?" Pinkie questioned, obviously getting interested.

"Well, kitties are called kits. At birth, the mother names them something. Lets say 'Ciderkit'." Rainbow licked her lips. "'Ciderkit', after six moons, which are about 1 month each, will go on to be an apprentice, then named Ciderpaw. He would get a mentor, lets say 'Burgertail'." Twilight kept quiet, but Rainbow knew she was way more interested now. "When Ciderpaw has passed an assesment, he becomes a warrior, and gets a name like 'Ciderpelt', or 'Ciderfur'. Then, 'Ciderpelt' can become an elder after he has hunted and battled to his limit. He will then be fed by other cats and be taken care of."

Rainbow Dash hoped she had covered everything, and she breathed a sign of relief when Pinkie had a satisfied look on her face. "Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing away to the corner of the room. Why are those hats not coming off, I wonder...

"OK," Twilight said, startling Rainbow Dash. "Preparations are complete. Pinkie? push that portal over here from the closet, will you?" Pinkie did as she was told, and she watched Twilight perform a spell on the portal. It looked like Twilight might not pull it off, but suddenly there was a bright flash of light and there were two portals. Rainbow noticed that there were not two journals, though.

Twilight took the Warriors book and hovered it into a slot at the top. Magical electricity hummed and whirred, pistons pumped furiously, and there was another bright flash of light, and a dark green portal opened up in front of them.

"Ready, guys?"

Twilight's words made Rainbow Dash aware that her legs were shaking. No, she thought. I have to be strong. For them. She and Pinkie spoke the same words simultaneously.

"Ready."

They all stepped through the portal.

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Bright light was filtered through the trees of the pine forest, leaving splotches of shade all through the woods. Petalpaw was dozing by a creek on the border of WindClan, when a croak woke her up. Instinctively, her eyes flapped open, but she didn't move. It was a frog; a plump one at that, as it moved slowly and hopped fewer times that a skinny one. Pinpointing its location by angling her ears, she waited. The frog began to hop into the creek, pausing on a lily pad.

Petalpaw sprung at it. Flinging herself at something while laying on the ground was a ShadowClan specific battle move. The frog tried to hop away, but Petalpaw was faster. She scooped the frog up with one paw and threw it on dry land. When a nip to its neck missed, she had to chase it again, doing the same thing but killing it this time. Embarrassed by her clumsy catch, she scraped dirt over it, wanting to get back to her nap.

It had been a busy moon, thus far, with a fight with three foxes, and Petalpaw got special permission to nap by the creek since she had treated so many injuries. There was also an outburst of whitecough, so she was glad she was having a nap. She was also glad she was in shade, as the sweltering heat made her uncomfortable in the camp.

"Hey!"

A meow sounded from across the stream. Blinking open her eyes, she saw a patrol of WindClan cats. She recognized Thrushpaw as the one who woke her, and Rushbreeze, Yellowfrost, and Creeknose, the deputy, rushing after him.

"What are you doing on our border?" Petalpaw was very confused. I haven't crossed it!

Rushbreeze, who was probably his mentor, padded over to him. "I'm sorry, Petalpaw," She said, looking at her apprentice. "This is Thrushpaw's first time out of the camp. He appears to need more time in it, as he has no sense." She hissed. "Confronting a napping medicine cat apprentice who's not even tresspassing, what's wrong with you?" Just as Thrushpaw opened his jaws to reply, a large crash sounded in Petalpaw's ears, making her flinch. The other cats must have heard it, too, as they looked concerned.

"Come on, patrol," The deputy said. "Lets leave her to take care of whatever that was." As Creeknose padded away with his patrol, Petalpaw realized that they had only left because they thought that the crash was something dangerous. Cowards! Petalpaw wanted to call a jeer at them, but she held her tongue. Instead, she hurried in the direction of the crash.

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It was a very strange sensation. As Rainbow fell through the portal, her world went one color: blue. She could not hear anything, nor smell anything. Her entire body went numb, and her hearing came back in the form of a loud ringing sound. Suddenly, she felt herself collapse. Rainbow had fallen to the ground plenty of times in her life, but this time it was a lot more graceful. She realized it with a jolt:

I'm a cat!

She stood up, surprised to see she could stand with no problem. She was a creature with four legs before being a cat, but Rainbow expected some sort of struggle. She realized she could not see herself past her paws and her tail, so she started there. She looked at her new paws: they looked like what she had expected them to look like, but she completely blanked on the fact that she had claws now. Just thinking about them made them unsheathe, and she yelped.

I bet I'm the first cat ever to get scared by her own claws... Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She realized she was blue. This was strange, as she was quite sure cats were indeed not blue. Rainbow moved her tail around so she could see it, and noticed rainbow markings on her tail.

She heard breathing beyond a bush. She tried walking, and realized it was no problem. Wanting to be more confident in her new body before she checked the breathing, Rainbow tried jumping. She was surprised at the strength in her hind legs, as they carried her far off the ground. Rainbow landed, then realizing there was movement in a bush opposite to her. The ferns rustled, and out came a cream-colored tabby she cat. Oddly, Rainbow picked up her gender by her smell. She was very pretty, but Rainbow realized that she did not look friendly.

"What are you doing on our territory?" She took a defensive crouch. Rainbow struggled not to show her amazement. While the other cat meowed, her cat-brain translated it into words. The cat looked her up and down. "And what is with your fur?"

Rainbow was right. So cats really aren't blue! She realized two things: she was going to have to come with an excuse, and she was going to have to talk to this cat.

"Er..." She meowed, trying to find her voice. "I... um... you see," She was still fascinated at how she talked: by mewing. She swallowed. Somehow this cat had to believe Rainbow wasn't a threat.

"Me and my friends were just... passing by." Rainbow kicked herself for making such a lame excuse up. The cat hissed.

"So there's more than you?" Rainbow gasped.

"Oh, right! My friends!" She bounded away to the other side of the bush, where she had heard breathing. It was then that she saw Twilight and Pinkie for the first time. They were both on the ground, asleep. The cat who Rainbow assumed was Twilight had a lavender coat. Her fur was sleek, and very glossy. Rainbow was surprised once more that Pinkie looked like the cat on the hat; same pink fur and blue tail. She realized Pinkie had fewer whiskers then Twilight.

"Are these your friends?" The cat's mew sounded in Rainbow's ear. "They have weird pelts, too!" The cat listened to their breathing for a moment, and then turned to Rainbow. "Are your friends all right? Rainbow didn't know what to say, so she didn't respond. This only made the cat more worried. She padded over to the bodies of Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

"What are your names?"

"Um, my name is-" Rainbow realized she couldn't say her full pony name. "My name is... Rainbow. The pink one is... Pinkie, and the other one is Twilight." Rainbow was satisfied with her pretend names, but the other cat was not. She shook her head mumbling.

"Of course they're kittypets." She hurried over to Pinkie and pressed her ear on Pinkie's chest. "Get me some water, will you?"

Rainbow blanked. How am I supposed to get water? For the life of her she couldn't remember the way cats got water. Rainbow stood there not moving. The other cat sighed. "Fine I'll do it." The cat padded off deeper into the woods.

"Will they be okay?" The other cat turned around and quickly shrugged. "Wait! What's your name?"

The other cat turned around one more time.

"The name's Petalpaw of ShadowClan."

Chapter 3

Petalpaw retraced her steps back to the river she was sleeping by. Glancing at the sky to see where the sun was, she reflected on the strange kittypet she met.

What did she say her name was? 'Rainbow'? Petalpaw was not unfamiliar with what a rainbow looked like; in the nursery, she was told a distinct tale of a rainbow leading Sproutstar home when he was alone as an apprentice. She doubted that a twoleg would give a cat that name, as she had met five kittypets before, all with names that are based in reality: Daisy, Rose, Max, Fern, and Plum.

Petalpaw realized she had been focusing on the strange kittypet's name rather then the color of Rainbow and her friends' fur. She had see cats at gatherings with a pelt tinted with blue, but this kittypet was completely blue. Also, her friends were strange colors as well, and they seemed to be hurt. This last realization drew her back to her quest to get water. Although they weren't clan cats by any means, Petalpaw knew she had to uphold the medicine cat's duty. Though not as urgent as the cases back at camp, she nonetheless quickened her pace in order to get there sooner.

Sighing, she spoke out loud. It was something she did to clear her head. "So in a clearing right now there are three cats who are hurt, have odd names that don't seem twoleg-appointed, and are the colors of pink, violet, and blue-" Petalpaw halted in her tracks. The colors she listed sounded awful familiar. Her eyes widened."Are they..."

Without skipping a beat, she took off running and blazed past trees, their trunks whizzing by as she pushed her muscles to their limit. Leaping over a log, she spotted the river. Nothing was more important to her in the world than finding some moss. Locating some under a pine tree a few fox-lengths away, she arched her claw and scooped moss out, careful not rip up any dirt. Petalpaw then bounded back to the river side, skidding a multitude of pebbles into the water. With grace, she lowered the moss into the water and allowed the water to sink through the moss. After tripping on the frog she killed and deciding to bring it back for some food, she balanced the fresh-kill on her back and quickly paced back to the clearing where she found the the kittypets, careful not to drop the frog.

Petalpaw couldn't believe she didn't make the connection before. She heard a whisper in her ear, recognizing the gravelly voice of Sproutstar.

"The three have come."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As Rainbow watched Petalpaw meander off, she felt a prick of frustration. Why is she walking so slowly? My friends are hurt! Rainbow was initially surprised that she was a part of ShadowClan, as the books she grew to love focused on cats from ThunderClan. She shrugged it off as the portal probably didn't know the focus of a series of books, thus it dropped them off wherever. She sighed, as though she would never admit it, she could recite the names of most of the ThunderClan cats, but not ShadowClan. In fact, Rainbow Dash didn't recall a 'Petalpaw' being mentioned at all in the books.

Why am I so caught up in the techincals? She mused. My friends are hurt! Get in the game, RD!

Rainbow Dash went to inspect her friends more closely. Her inspection of Pinkie Pie ended abruptly when she realized that she was simply pink with a light blue tail. True, it was interesting to see her pink friend as a cat, but Rainbow didn't see a reason to linger; Twilight, she observed, was very different from her pony form. Her once alicorn friend was now not only a cat, but Rainbow Dash saw that she was larger than Pinkie Pie. Not by much, but she assumed the same was true between her own size and her Twilight's. Twilight had a lavender coat and one dark-pink ear. She wasn't sure, but Rainbow was willing to bet twenty bits that it was the same color as the pink features in her old mane's highlight. Her friend had horizontal, dark-purple stripes on her back and a light-purple underbelly. Rainbow Dash also noticed how her horn was gone. Rainbow imagined her surprise when she found out that she didn't have her trusty horn, or her wings for that matter. Rainbow Dash froze.

Her wings...

Rainbow whipped her head around as far as her neck would allow and noticed that yes, she was indeed missing her wings. She couldn't fairly say it was unexpected, but she felt like a major part of her was missing. She sighed at a loss of part of herself. Rainbow would miss being high in the air and diving down to impress roaring fans. Well, maybe that last part was never a solid reality.

Wait... Rainbow though. Cats always land on their feet, right? She immediately located a pine tree and rested her paw on the trunk, somehow expecting her paws to carry her up the tree. She waited for a second, feeling rather silly as she just gave a tree a high-hoof. Or is it high-paw, I wonder...

She deduced that her claws should be out. Just as Rainbow had the idea, she felt her claws unsheathe and hit the trunk. Satisfied with 'Step 1', Rainbow Dash realized she would have to get her footing next. She dug her claws into the tree with one paw, and quickly dug the paw diagonal to the one in use's claws into the tree as well. She repeated the clunky motion until she had reached a branch. She leaped from the tree on to the edge of the branch and pulled herself up onto it. Out of breath, she looked down to see how much progress she had made, and shuddered.

The ground was a far way away, and Rainbow realized that she is now a cat that is rescued by the fire ponies; stuck in a tree with no way down. But cats always land on their feet, right? With a deep breath, Rainbow leaped off the branch, careful to fall with her four paws facing the ground. She felt air whiz past her fur as she noticed an increased sense of balance. Swerving her body around in midair, she shifted to an ideal position out of instinct and barely had to think about it. When the impact came, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did when she fell out of a tree back in Equestria. Still, Rainbow winced in pain when she got up.

Hearing what she assumed to be Petalpaw returning, she turned around and saw her burst into the clearing, frantically looking around for Rainbow's friends and dropping a frog off of her back in the process. Rainbow Dash was incredibly confused as what changed with Petalpaw's level of caring and why she had a frog.

"Petalpaw," Rainbow meowed, "is something the matter?" Petalpaw ignored the question and rushed over to Twilight, putting her ear to the lavender cat's chest, presumebly checking if there's a heartbeat. Rainbow Dash padded over to her and saw Petalpaw squeeze water out of some moss in to Twilight's ajar jaw. Rainbow felt like a complete moron. So that's how they get water! I guess it was only mentioned 20 times per book, so I can't really feel much shame in forgetting.

Twilight reflexively swallowed the water and let out a groan of pain. This surprised Rainbow, as she though her friends were just unconscious, not in pain. Petalpaw heard the groan as well and mewed softly to Twilight.

"It's okay," she whispered. "I need you to roll over, okay?" More loudly she asked Rainbow Dash, "What happened to your partners that has her in such pain?"

"We sort of... fell."

Petalpaw looked skeptical of Rainbow's admittedly lame excuse. Both of their gazes shifted back to Twilight as she rolled over to her other side. Petalpaw leaned in and she seemed to notice something on Twilight's leg. "Rainbow," Petalpaw called. "I need you to comfort your friend while I fix her leg. It's dislocated currently."

Rainbow couldn't help but feel sorry for her purple pal, but she followed instructions and leaned in to comfort Twilight.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Petalpaw watched as Rainbow padded over to her friend and sit down. She examined the leg more closely, and saw that it was badly bruised as well. She blinked as she realize that Rainbow's suspicious story of having "fell" checks out; this wound was from a serious fall. Quickly, she glanced over to the pink cat laying a few tail-lengths away and noticed no obvious damage to the cat. Petalpaw saw the purple cat raise her head and softly mew Rainbow's name. It seemed odd that she spoke with confusion, as if something was wrong with Rainbow.

"It's okay, Twilight. It's me." At least Petalpaw knew the cat's name now; she had forgotten what Rainbow told her earlier. Rainbow went on, "You're safe. Small thing, I need you to stay strong right now, okay?" Rainbow nodded at the medicine cat apprentice, indicating to go ahead. Flingtail had shown her how to do this once before, when Firpaw had fallen out of a tree a few sunrises earlier. She grasped the leg in her jaw, feeling the warm, bruised skin throbbing, narrowed her eyes, and...

CRRRRZCKK!

Twilight let out a blood-curdling yowl of pain that sounded through the whole clearing as the bone snapped back into place. Twilight sucked in gasps of air as she whispered Rainbow's name. Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she crouched down and determinedly whispered comforting words.

"Twilight..." She breathed, "don't you dare leave me. I need you to stay awake and- HEY!" Rainbow used her paw to lift Twilight's head up. "Don't put your head down! You are going to get through this." Rainbow looked up to Petalpaw as if for support. Petalpaw didn't know what to do. Although letting this cat die would ultimately doom her first prophecy, Petalpaw couldn't promise anything to Rainbow. She looked back with sorrowful eyes. Rainbow's eyes widened, then clawed angrily at the ground.

"No! Twilight- TWILIGHT!" Rainbow let Twilight's head sink into the dirt floor. Moments passed while no cat said a word. Petalpaw wasn't sure that a Warrior from StarClan could help Twilight now; her breaths were getting slower. Rainbow let out a wail of despair.

What was to happen to the prophecy now?

"Hiya!" A high pitched mew sounded in Petalpaw's ear. Petalpaw, jumped out of surprise and turned around. She expected the shrill mew to belong to a kit, but a cat as old as she was faced her. The cat had a pink pelt and a light blue tail, and she instantly realized that this was Rainbow's other friend! What was her name? Pinkie?

"Pinkie! You woke up!" A relieved meow from Rainbow sounded behind her, and Petalpaw spun around to speak to Rainbow.

"Is this your other friend?" She asked. "Why was she passed out?" Pinkie let out a mrrrow of amusement and answered Petalpaw's query.

"I was tired! Traveling between dimensions sure makes you sleepy!" Pinkie lowered onto her back and rolled around, stretching. Petalpaw reflected on Pinkie's wording.

'Traveling between dimensions'? What's a dimension? Is that another name for a twolegplace?

"Pinkie!" Rainbow hissed. "Ix-nay on the imension-day alk-tay!" Petalpaw blinked with confusion.

Are they speaking in code? Petalpaw considered addressing it, but before she could ask Pinkie what she meant she had disappeared out of sight. She looked around until she spotted her beside Twilight. How did I miss her moving? Last time I checked she was rolling around on the ground!

"Twilight! Wake up, silly!" Pinkie stared expectantly at Twilight. Petalpaw considered how to tell her that Twilight's outcome looked bleak, but Rainbow spoke up first.

"Pinkie... I don't think Twilight's going to wake up." Petalpaw looked at Pinkie for a reaction, but Pinkie just purred in amusement.

"Silly Rainbow, she's okay! Look!" Pinkie gestured to Twilight who had lifted her head and looked at Pinkie. Petalpaw gaped. How did Twilight get up? She was barely breathing before, but now she had the strength to lift up her head.

"Pinkie?" The violet cat meowed. "Is that you? So then..."

Twilight surprisingly got up and shook her back leg. Petalpaw was amazed. Twilight shouldn't be alive right now, let alone standing! Twilight looked at her two friends.

"It looks like we all made it!"

Chapter 4

Twilight examined the scene that was in front of her. She recognized Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie; their pelts gave them away. She didn't recognize the cat that was beside her. She was a cream tabby she-cat, and she was staring at Twilight with wide eyes.

"I'm glad we made it here!" Pinkie's mew focused her attention onto her. She tried not to remain marveling at the communication. She and the other cats didn't use words, but rather meows that her brain translated into language. She was used to it now, and was surprised that talking came so naturally to her.

"Me too, but I feel we owe her an explanation." Twilight gestured toward the unfamiliar tabby next to her. "Though, do mind introducing yourself?" The tabby nodded.

"Well, my name is Petalpaw," Petalpaw meowed shakily. Why was she so spooked by Twilight? "I'm a medicine cat apprentice for ShadowClan. I've been in training for about 5 moons, and-" Petalpaw was cut off by Pinkie Pie.

"I'm confused," Pinkie Pie mewed while raising a paw like a school filly asking a question. "From what Rainbow has said, ShadowClan is the evil Clan and ThunderClan is the good Clan, right?" Twilight was stunned at Pinkie's foolishness.

What a smart thing to say to a ShadowClan cat, Pinkie! Twilight glanced at Petalpaw, expecting her to claw her into next week, but Petalpaw simply looked confused and, once again, very spooked. Seriously! Twilight thought to herself, Why is she so frightened by the sight of me?

"How do you two know about ThunderClan?" Petalpaw queried. "I haven't mentioned them." Twilight bit her lip. She couldn't lie to Petalpaw anymore; she had to come forward She did say that an explanation was in order. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Well... um, we've lived around this area for a while as loners. We know about the four clans because we've lived in this area since we were kits. You cats were legends to us. While other loners stopping by for food would purposefully avoid the borders, us three have dreamed about becoming clan cats ourselves." Twilight was impressed with Rainbow's storytelling; it sounded believable. She was obviously giving Petalpaw a backstory that would explain everything. Rainbow continued, "We devised a plan to sneak through the treetops to try and find a patrol of cats. We wanted to ask them about more Clan traditions and maybe ask to join. Unfortunately, Twilight here fell from a branch and dragged Pinkie down with her, leading to this mess."

Twilight was satisfied. That seemed to explain everything. Then she realized the motive Rainbow explained. I only see one flaw with her fake explanation, Twilight thought to herself. How in the name of Celestia are we supposed to explain that we came from another world?! If their story was proven wrong or they came forward with the truth, other Clan cats would probably not trust them anymore. Twilight never intended to join the clans, but it seems that they would have to in order to remain faithful to the story. Rainbow had put them in quite a position. She wasn't sure how well Petalpaw would buy it, but she nodded slowly.

Petalpaw sighed. "I'll be honest so you'd better do the same with me," she mewed. "I assume you know of StarClan, so I have to confess that a StarClan warrior, my old leader Sproutstar, came to me a prophesied that three cats would help the clans somehow. He showed me the silhouettes of three cats that were the colors of pink, violet, and blue. They're you three, right?" When no one said anything, Petalpaw added, "Can you at least tell me why your pelts match my dream?"

Twilight didn't know what to say. She glanced at Rainbow for another fake explanation, but she was looking just as worried as Twilight did. Petalpaw was still looking at Twilight for an answer. She opened her mouth for an impromptu response, but she heard a yowl coming from a few trees away before she could reply.

"Petalpaw?" The voice meowed. "Are you done with your nap? Duskpelt got whitecough from Cloudfern; I need your help!"

"Mouse-dung," Petalpaw cursed. She turned to Twilight, Rainbow, And Pinkie. "I need to go and help Flingtail; he's calling." Twilight assumed that he was probably another medicine cat. "Promise me you'll be here when I get back?" The three nodded, and Petalpaw breathed a sigh of relief as she gestured to a frog on the edge of the clearing. "You all look starved; have that."

Petalpaw bounded off into the forest. Her assumption was correct; Twilight did indeed have an appetite, but looking at the frog made her lose it faster than she could blink.

Rainbow grimaced. She turned to Twilight who was still staring at the frog. "We're not actually going to eat that, right? Please tell me we're not going to eat that!" Twilight bit her lip. On one hoof, she understood where Rainbow Dash was coming from; eating animals in Equestria was considered cannibalism. Only griffons ate meat, and even then, meat was found nowhere in Equestria, so Griffons could only eat it in the Griffon Kingdom. On the other hoof, Twilight was so hungry that she was getting desperate. She felt like could eat a whole cake without trouble. On the though of cake, Twilight glanced at Pinkie Pie. She was the only one out of them that had any experience in being a food connoisseur.

Pinkie was rolling around on the ground, happily purring. "Uh... Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie looked up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"What do you need?" I look up from rolling on the ground. If the Element of Laughter is in a new body, you know I'm going to enjoy it! I get up, still purring. Purring was funny; not funny like avocados or tangerines--now THOSE were funny! No, purring happened involuntarily when I felt happy. So did laughing, I suppose. I guess I'm the Element of Purring now! I wonder what element Twilight or Rainbow are now; magic doesn't seem to exist, after all. I wonder how Twilight is coping with no horn, or how Rainbow is coping with no wings. Coping is a funny word! I realize my two friends are staring expectantly at me, obviously awaiting an answer of some sort. Oops! I forgot to listen!

I give my go-to response. "Duuuuh! Of course! Why think otherwise?" They seem to buy it, and I roll back over and happily stretch.

"Well," Rainbow says, "If Pinkie says so..."

"Yeah..." Twilight meows. "I guess she would know best..."

I wonder for a moment what they asked me, but my silent question is answered when I get up and see them walking over to the frog that Petalpaw pointed out. My eyes go wide with realization. I can't well go back on my word; I hate admitting that I don't listen sometimes!

Well, we're cats right? Cats digest meat just fine! They'll be fine; I'm sure of it.

I wonder how it tastes though...

I walk over to the dead frog as well and notice my two friends being hesitant. Shrugging, I unsheathe my claws. The sensation surprises me, and I would love to sheathe and unsheathe them in repetition but it seems that they don't work like that. I dig my claws into the frog's thigh and cut a leg off. I can only imagine this is what scissors feel!

Twilight and Rainbow both stare at me. I kneel down and sink my teeth into the fattest part of the leg, earning a gasp from Twilight. The warm tang of blood hits my tongue as I feel it slither down my throat. It didn't taste all that bad, and I start to purr as I realize how silly that sounds coming from a former pony! The meat is full of flavor and the texture is like nothing else I've ever eaten. The skin of the frog is rubbery but surprisingly doesn't have much flavor. I spit the skin out and take another bite. I feel my teeth crunch down on a small bone and I feel a wave of satisfaction. It's probably not morally sound, but I really start to relish at my place now in the food chain.

I look up and notice my two friends looking awfully queasy. Oh. I think to myself. They're probably disturbed by me purring while devouring a wild animal... I blush as I try to come up with an excuse. Weighing my options, I simply tell them,

"It's not that bad, girls!"

Rainbow Dash shares a look with Twilight and hesitantly leans in to follow my technique of cutting off a leg and biting in. I notice a surge of pleasure shoot into Rainbow's expression, while Twilight remains to stare in awe. Rainbow Dash takes another rapid bite followed by another swift one. I can't believe it myself. She seems to be enjoying this far more than I did. I take another bite as Twilight examines the scene and reluctantly speaks up.

"Is it really that good?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After we all eat, Twilight admits, "Celestia forgive me, but that was simply scrumptious."

"I know!" Rainbow Dash immediately adds. "I've never tasted anything like it! Salad can kiss my rump, I'll take a frog any day!"

What about when we go back? The thought pops into my head, but I dismiss it. Enjoy things while they last, right?

"Oh, and guess what?" Rainbow excitedly mews. "The books say that frogs are considered not as good as mice! I can't wait until we get to eat a mouse!" Twilight furrows her brow.

"Rainbow," She meows, "It was divine; I agree. But why are you so excited about cannibalism?"

This shuts Rainbow up as she stares at the ground. She opens her mouth several times to give a reply but no words ever come out. I break the awkward lull. "So!" I mew. "We're in a book now!"

Twilight's expression brightens as she says, "I know!" She sits up and licks one paw, then dabs it over one ear. "Isn't it amazing?"

I let out a loud mrrrow of amusement as my throat rumbles into a purr. "Twilight, you really enjoy being a cat don't you?"

"What do you-" Twilight stops as she realizes she's been licking her paw to clean herself. She stares me straight in the face. "I'm not sure why I did that..." She sits back down slowly, lost in thought. She shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts. "In any case, we need to come up with a game plan. We need to figure out two things: what to tell Petalpaw and how to approach the Clans."

Rainbow speaks up. "Well, I can offer a solution to the former: we lie." I raise my eyebrow hoping she elaborates. "Look; if we tell her, we lose our only ally at the moment due to her thinking that we're crazy. If she does believe us, we can't guarantee that we'll be able to join the clans."

"Join the clans?" I repeat in confusion. Rainbow Dash nods.

"The only way to save the clans is to be around them at all times; we need to learn what cats know and don't know and gain trust from important cats, like clan leaders and such. We can only ever come clean if we're in a corner or if we trust someone else enough."

I was stunned. Sure, Rainbow has led before, but this leadership came from a true passion. She obviously cared deeply about the fate of this world. I think of something. "Can't we stay loners? Not that we'd be lonely; we'd have each other, but why do we have to gain trust at all?"

"Because we can't have Petalpaw as our only ally," She explains. "If trouble arises and some war breaks out, we can't count on Petalpaw being able to find us and bring us to the battle, nor can we rely on being able to convince the cats that we're on their side. Plus, we wouldn't know how to fight if push comes to shove."

"How do you know that it will end in a battle?" Twilight queries.

"Because I've read the books," Rainbow Dash replies. "It always ends in a brawl betwixt the clans. We're in the book, right? So that applies here."

Twilight shakes her head. "No, I don't think we are." When me and Rainbow looked befuddled, she added, "I don't remember a Flingtail being mentioned in the books. I can recall all four medicine cats, and ShadowClan's medicine cat should be Mistcloud."

"So what does that mean?"

"Well," Twilight answers, "It means that the books are fiction, but we traveled to a dimension extremely similar, bur not the same. We're probably not in the same territory, either."

Rainbow considered this for a moment, and I spoke up. "That doesn't change anything, right?"

"No, but it is interesting when you consider that-"

"Hello!" A voice rang.

Petalpaw must be back, I mused. But the scent that hit my senses was male.

Wait, what!?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Petalpaw trudged through the forest after the summoning voice. She met up with Flingtail as he purred.

"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up!" Flingtail beckoned her forward with his tail and began to pace back to camp. Petalpaw followed, wondering how real the explanation that Rainbow gave was. It seemed to check out, but she couldn't help but feel like something was off. She'd never heard of any loners as old as she was that evaded clan notice for their entire lives. Also, Petalpaw had to face the awful and confusing truth.

Twilight had died and come back to life.

Only clan leaders could do that! They had nine lives granted to them by their old clanmates; that made sense. How did this loner come back to life? She was dying to go back and talk to them more, but she was stuck going back to camp. Then she had an idea. An awful idea. Petalpaw knew, however, that she had to do it.

"Flingtail, do you trust me?"

Chapter 5

Flingtail blinked and halted padding towards the camp. Petalpaw could understand why; ‘do you trust me?’ is not a common question to ask a clanmate. He thought for a heartbeat, as if scared of a deeper meaning, and then nodded.

Well… She thought, here goes everything.

“So, um… well, you see.. in the clearing over there I found some cats and they say that they’re loners but they have strange fur and weird names and seem to be part of a prophecy that Sproutstar gave me and they didn’t deny it and they’re speaking in code and were travelling across ‘dimensions’ and then one cat died but came back to life-” she took a moment to gasp in air, the went on, “-which I thought was strange but none of the cats seemed aware that this one cat died and then then they said that they want to join the clans but I don’t know if that’s allowed so I wanted to question them more but then you called me so I came and then told you and now we’re here.”

Flingtail didn’t react. The silence that hung in the air was deafening. Petalpaw's mind raced furiously with questions. Would he believe her? Would she be seen as crazy and told to get some rest, sealing the fate of her first prophecy? What would Flingtail do to the cats if she brought him there? Then, Flingtail nodded brusquely and gave Petalpaw a dead stare.

“Well, prove it.”

Petalpaw stared back. “Excuse me?”

Flingtail shrugged as he groomed his fur. “I have no reason to declare you a mouse-brain until I rule that you have no solid proof.” He flicked Petalpaw's nose with his tail and padded in the direction Petalpaw came from. "They're over there, right?"

Petalpaw nodded uncertainly and led Flingtail back. They had padded for a few mouse-lengths when Flingtail picked up the pace very subtly. Petalpaw glanced at him to realize that his eyes were lit with excitement. Is he… actually looking forward to meeting them? Curiously, she caught up to his pace.

"Awful eager to meet the loners there," she stated nonchalantly, hoping not to seem nosy. Flingtail gave a small mrrrow of amusement and turned to her.

"You have no idea, Petalpaw." Purring, Flingtail padded forward. Petalpaw gave him a few moments to elaborate on his answer, but got no such thing. Frustrated, Petalpaw plodded onward. There had been so many secrets, mysteries, and unanswered questions since she got up from her nap that she decided to block out new ones.

They walked through the forest until eventually coming to the edge of a small dip in the lamdscape. Petalpaw glanced at the familiar surrounding pine forest. The pine trees clawed to the top of the skies and the wind whistled in her ears as she looked for the odd-colored pelts. Although it was leaf-fall, the leaves weren’t tumbling to the ground like they did in the adjourning ThunderClan territory as the pine tree’s needles stayed ever green. Petalpaw shuddered, imagining living in a forest where she’d have to trudge through a layer of leaves every time she wanted to go somewhere.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Petalpaw narrowed her eyes and noticed a blue pelt several tree-lengths away.

“Come on!” She bounded away and heard Flingtail following behind her.

She broke through the ferns on the edge of the glade and spotted the three loners laying around an eviscerated frog while having a discussion. She opened her mouth to say something, but Flingtail beat her to it before he was even in the clearing.

“Hello!” Flingtail’s meow rang across the clearing.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Rainbow swiveled her head to greet Petalpaw, but instead saw a male cat next to her. He was a light-orange tabby with a white underbelly and brilliant amber eyes that almost seemed intimidating, despite his friendly stance. He had an abnormal tail, as it was only half a tail's usual length and had a pink tip.

Wait, a pink-tipped tail?

Rainbow Dash was aghast; she had read all of the books and she didn't recall any of the cats having pink anywhere on their body. It wasn't just skin, it was pink fur.

The cat moved forward and greeted them. "Greetings," he declared. "I am Flingtail of ShadowClan, what do you need from the clans?" Flingtail spoke very calmly, which was strange as Petalpaw seemed freaked out by them.

Why is this cat acting differently than Petalpaw?

Why was he here anyways? Did Petalpaw confide in him? If so, she thought to herself, how much did she tell?

Twilight, being the royal that she was, greeted Flingtail very formally.

"My name is Twilight, and my friends are Pinkie and Rainbow respectively," She mewed while gesturing towards her two friends. "We come on... friendly terms." Rainbow could see that Twilight was trying to stay faithful to her plan.

Flingtail nodded, and went on, "As Petalpaw tells me, you wanted to join the clans?"

Twilight was hesitant, but Rainbow spotted Pinkie in between Flingtail and Petalpaw.

"Well of course!" She purred. "We would love to be warriors! It'll be so much fun! I'd get to learn so many cats' names! I have lots of friends back home but none of them are cats." Rainbow was irritated at Pinkie once more. How can you say you have not cat friends when we're cats?

Flingtail glanced back and forth between where he last saw Pinkie Pie and where she was positioned now, then hesitantly went on, "Well, our leader, Whitestar, is not very friendly to loners. I'm sorry, but I can't guarantee you a place in our clan."

Rainbow's heart sunk like a brick. They had to join the clans; the plan wouldn't work if they weren't clan cats!

"Well," Rainbow meowed, "can we at least have a meeting with your leader? I'm sure he'd come around."

Flingtail thought about it, then nodded. "I can arrange a patrol to escort you to camp if that's your wish."

Yes!

All Rainbow needed to do was convince Whitestar that they were fit for clan life.

Rainbow agreed, and as Flingtail left for the camp, he turned around.

"Oh, another thing," he mewed, "would you happen to have a fourth oddly colored cat with you? Another pink cat?"

Rainbow shook her head. Another cat? Did Flingtail expect someone else? Rainbow thought back to Ponyville and realized she knew no pink ponies that could have become cats as well, so the pink cat couldn't have come from Equestria. So, were there other oddly colored cats besides them?

"Oh..." Flingtail turned around slowly, very disappointed. Now Rainbow Dash was suspicious; why was Flingtail sad about not seeing a pink cat? And why did he not think that Pinkie Pie was the pink cat he was looking for? Flingtail bounded off into the forest, leaving Petalpaw with Rainbow and her friends.

"So," Petalpaw mewed, "can you please explain the connection to my dream? The three cats I saw have to be you three, right?

Rainbow shook her head. "I'm sorry, we've had these pelts since we were kits." Thinking back to Flingtail knowing of a fourth oddly-colored cat, she added, "Our respective families had pelts like ours, too. Is it possible your dream was about three of our relatives?"

Petalpaw sighed. "I suppose," she conceded, "but do any of your relatives match my description?"

Twilight answered for Rainbow Dash. "Not that I recall, no."

Petalpaw sighed. "Well, I'm stumped, then." Petalpaw's gaze drifted to the frog that they had eaten and chuckled. "Have you three never eaten a frog before? It looks like a fox got to it!"

Rainbow and Twilight purred as Petalpaw went on, "I'm sorry to bother you with all of this prophecy talk. I'm glad you three are thinking about clan life; you seem fun!"

"Thanks!" Twilight chimed. "Would we join as apprentices?"

Petalpaw looked uncertain. "I assume so." She looked around. "Say, where's Pinkie?"

Good question, Rainbow thought to herself. Pinkie Pie never sat still; she always had to be doing something.

"Over here!" Pinkie Pie leaped from behind a bush. Before Rainbow could ask what she was doing, Pinkie added, "I was practicing pouncing!" She purred. "That leaf over there experienced full-on Pinkie's Prime Pouncing Power! That's just what I call it, though!"

Purring at Pinkie Pie's antics, Rainbow Dash turned to Petalpaw. Petalpaw looked very interested.

"Show me," Petalpaw meowed.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie lowered into a stalking position and crept forward, haunches raised, belly low.

"Not bad," Petalpaw commented, "but your paw steps are louder than a badger's. Step very gently so each leaf isn't crumpled beneath your paws. Pinkie Pie nodded and tried again. She went much slower this time and made sure to lay each paw down softly.

"Better," she mewed approvingly, "but your tail is dragging along the leaves. Lift it up so the there's no noise to warn prey of a cat approaching. Also, lower your chin and flatten your ears. You'll want to disguise your shape."

Pinkie tried once more, raising her belly when it rustled the leaves. Amazingly, Rainbow realized that this was most likely the quietest Pinkie Pie had ever been in her entire life. Rainbow stifled a purr as she wondered how impatient Pinkie was right then.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ugh, this is boring! I wait and wait for a signal to stop but get none. I just keep creeping forward slower than a snail. I swear, I'm seriously 5 seconds from- oh, wait...

I hear a set of claws skidding on bark as I stand still. The clearing falls silent and I realize that the others must have seen me stop. I perk my ears reflexively and pinpoint the location of what I can only assume to be a squirrel. Realizing that the squirrel can't see me, Celestia knows how with my pink pelt, I sit still for several heartbeats and see it drop down in my line of sight from a branch above. It has a nut in it's claws and is trying to crack it open. I ponder for a moment if I should really kill a creature as innocent as this, but I decide that I need to keep of the facade of me, Twilight, and Rainbow being cats for our entire lives.

I creep forward, Petalpaw's advice flashing through my mind a gazillion times a second. I make sure to keep my light-blue belly above the leaves as I stalk closer and closer to the unaware squirrel. My heart beat pumping so furiously that I'm surprised the squirrel can't hear it, I get so close to the squirrel that I can practically hear its claws scratching on the nut.

I hold my breath as I come to a halt. I don't stop to question how I know how to, but I press my backside against the ground, tense my back legs' muscles, and...

Now!

I lead forward catching the squirrel entirely by surprise. It has no time to react as I bite its neck and kill it. The taste of blood rushes into my mouth as I let it dangle in my jaws. I turn back to face the others.

"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash meows, "That. Was. AWESOME!"

I purr as I flood with a warm feeling only praise gives me. Petalpaw purrs and nods in approval.

So quietly I'm surprised I heard it, Twilight lifts her head and utters four words I forgot to consider.

"What's happening to us?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sunlight came in penetrating rays through her window as Celestia's sun forced her to get up. She lifted her head out of bed and went to her dresser and grabbed a comb. Brushing her mane, she realized she'd been asleep for a long time, as she was incredibly well rested. She glanced at her alarm clock and saw it's 8:46 AM.

Blinking, she wondered how it was so early when she went to sleep at 3:28 AM but had the feeling of a night of rest more than 5 hours long. She shrugged it off and went downstairs. She brushed her teeth and rinsed with water as she went to her kitchen to get breakfast. She opened her cabinet and grabbed cereal. She was very excited, since it was book club day! She and her friends got together every Tuesday to discuss a book. This week was Warriors, her new favorite series. Rainbow Dash had mentioned it in passing when she went to visit her in her cloud home. She and her friends were on the third book of the fourth arc.

Speaking of my friends... she thought to herself, I should probably feed them.

She grabbed the food from the cabinet and poured it into a bowl as she realized something wrong. There in his basket, her favorite bunny was stationary; not breathing. She looked around and noticed none of her animal friends were moving. Out the window, no clouds moved, no wind blew, and leaves were frozen in midair. She picked up her pet rabbit and noticed that when she wasn't holding him, he froze, whether on the ground or in midair. She was in full fledged panic now as she shook her pet.

"Angel?" Her speech came in sobs. "Angel! Please wake up! Please, it's Fluttershy; please wake up!"

Chapter 6

"Angel? Why are you-"

Fluttershy stopped shaking Angel when she realized that Angel wasn't dead.

Putting her head on his chest, she saw that his heart wasn't beating. Fluttershy had a sixth sense about the health of animals, and she could tell that Angel was still very alive. Once again, she let go of him when he wasn't on the ground and observed his motion. He didn't fall to the ground with the help of gravity, and Fluttershy realized that she was the only force that could alter his position or pose. She laid Angel down in his basket and hovered over to her birdhouse. She peeked through the hole and noticed that her birds had their beaks in the feed dispenser but weren't eating.

"What the..." Fluttershy breathed. Melody and Treble, her two favorite bird friends, were frozen in place. They weren't eating and didn't move an inch. Looking outside her window again, Fluttershy confirmed that no wind blew, no leaves fell, and no clouds moved.

This almost feels like... Fluttershy gasped out loud. Discord!

This explains everything, she thought to herself.

Fluttershy stormed over to the guest room where Discord was stayed for the evening, fuming. Why, I cant believe that he would- She gasped again when she saw Discord frozen on the bed. This wasn't discord doing; time seemed to have stopped by itself. She walked backwards out of the guest room.

Stepping outside, the timid Pegasus went to inspect her bees and gasped when she saw them stopped in midair. They weren't flying, nor were they falling.

Fluttershy landed on the dirt path. No dust blew when she landed on it, nor did it get picked up by the wind when she pounded her hooves down on the path. She didn't know what to do. Nothing was moving. But then, she mused, why am *I able to walk around?*

Fluttershy walked towards Ponyville. After about five minutes of trotting and gazing around at the landscape, she took in the odd nature of it all. When she reached Ponyville, she gawked. Not a single pony in Ponyville was moving. Some were stuck in mid trot, while most Pegasi were in midair, completely frozen. There weren't that many ponies outside, but Fluttershy was still freaked out. She decided to check on Twilight, as maybe it was an experiment gone wrong and she was fixing it.

She went to the far edge of town to Twilight's castle. She tried the door to no avail. Locked. Shoot!

Fluttershy walked around the castle until she noticed a hole in the wall. Stopping for a second to question why it was there, she shrugged it off and stepped through the hole and began walking towards the second floor stairway. She was halfway to the stairwell to the second floor where she hoped her alicorn friend would be, when she tripped on something.

Hitting the ground with a loud THUD, she got up and observed what she tripped on. It was a line of wires running to...

Wait...

The line of wires ran to a Warriors book. But what is it connected to? she wondered.

Tracing the wires to the source, she came to an odd sight. It was the portal that Twilight used to go to Canterlot High. The top of the portal still had Sunlight Shimmer's Journal, but the Warriors book was linked to the Portal as well. Fluttershy was incredibly confused. She looked on a table very close to the portal where she spotted a packet entitled:

'PLAN: ENTER WARRIORS WORLD - TWILIGHT SPARKLE'

Fluttershy was speechless. Suddenly, the Warriors book linked to the portal made complete sense; Twilight was in the book's universe!

Is that such a good idea? How could she talk to the cats if she's a pony? She grabbed the packet and went upstairs. Finding a beanbag chair in Spike's room and surprising herself by not batting an eye at the baby dragon's frozen state, she settled down and began reading Twilight's lengthy plan.

Hopefully, this will explain a few things.

'STEP 1: CAST TIME-FREEZE SPELL'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight watched as Petalpaw and Rainbow Dash walked over to Pinkie Pie, who had a squirrel in her jaws, and congratulate her pink friend on the catch she just made. She was hesitant to participate in the praising, as she saw squirrels every day back in Equestria and loved to watch them climb trees and be adorable. They looked just about the same in this world, so Twilight felt wrong in hunting them. She realized, though, that she had to get used to it. Cats in the Warriors series didn't live off of berries, after all.

Thinking back to Pinkie stalking the prey, Twilight did have to admit that it was a skilled catch for a cat who had just learned how to stalk.

Urgh! She mentally groaned as she realized she had mentally referred to Pinkie Pie as a cat, not a pony. We're ponies, not cats! Why can't I think straight?

She realized it would be weird if she didn't congratulate Pinkie Pie as well, so she padded over and rumbled her throat into a fake purr.

"Wow," Twilight mewed, "that was a really skilled catch!"

"Thank you so much, Twi!" She lowered the squirrel to the ground gently as her eyes glowed with the praise she was receiving. "I can't believe I just hunted! Like, a real hunt! And did you see my finishing move? I call it 'Pinkie's Snappy Snapping Jaw Snap!'"

Petalpaw purred and commented, "You sure do like to name things don't you?"

Pinkie Pie huffed. "Looks like someone's being a Jury of Judging Judges Judging me, eh Twilight?"

Petalpaw chuckled and rolled her eyes. Then, she grabbed Pinkie's catch and moved it to the roots of a pine tree and used her hind legs to scrape dirt over it.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash padded over to the prey and sniffed it. "Do you not want it?"

"She doesn't want other prey in the area smelling a dead squirrel, alerting them of a predator," Twilight explained, having read many non-fiction books on the subject. "I'll remind you to get it before we leave for the camp," Twilight told Petalpaw.

Petalpaw nodded, then froze in place.

Petalpaw glanced at Rainbow Dash. "Did you not do that with the prey you caught as loners?" Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. Silence hung like fog in the clearing as Twilight tried to think of a speedy excuse, but before the medicine cat apprentice could question further, ferns on the edge of the glade rustled and a patrol of cats stepped out.

"Can't I just ask a question and get a response?" Petalpaw asked the rhetorical question then rushed up to meet the patrol. Twilight wondered if Petalpaw saw the irony in her query.

"Hi!" The medicine cat chirped happily.

Getting a better look at the patrol, Twilight saw a total of four cats, including Flingtail.

By the looks of it, they're getting a better look at us, as well... The patrol studied Twilight and her friends for a heartbeat, before an orange and gray tortoiseshell she-cat stepped forward and addressed Petalpaw.

"Hello, Petalpaw," she mewed. "Can you introduce us to your... friends?"

Petalpaw nodded and gestured towards each of them. "This is Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow."

"Why are your pelts so weird?" A young cat stepped forward. She was a blue-gray cat with a white-tipped tail and a white splotch on her front-left paw that looked remarkably similar to a star. She also had blue eyes and a tuft of fur between her ears.

The cat next to her, a large gray tom, hissed. "Midnightpaw," he said in annoyance, "what have I told you about butting into to conversations that don't concern you? Especially when it's something as rude as that!"

Midnightpaw rolled her eyes. "I know, Stonewind. You told me not to do it. But, I mean, come on. How could I not ask?"

Stonewind sighed, then continued, "I'm sorry, ignore her. You don't have to explain if you don't feel comfortable."

Twilight gave a small mrrrow of amusement, amused by Midnightpaw's transparency. "No," She mewed. "It's quite alright. You see..." Twilight thought back to Rainbow's backstory for them and came up with an excuse. "We come from a family of cats with differently colored pelts. We've never questioned it. As loners, we don't interact with many cats, so we always thought the few that stopped by were the oddly colored one, not us."

The patrol nodded, and the tortoiseshell stepped forward. "Well, we're part of ShadowClan, as you would've probably guessed. I'm Owlbriar, and this is Stonewind, our deputy, and Midnightpaw, his apprentice. You already know Flingtail, I presume?"

Pinkie Pie stepped forward. "Yup!" She cheerfully mewed. "We met him earlier, he's a pretty cool cat!"

Flingtail purred in response. "Stonewind," he mewed, "could you lead us back to camp?"

"Uh, sure," he said, "but I really can't guarantee your requests will be met."

Twilight nodded, already knowing that fact. Stonewind flicked his tail, beckoning the patrol forward. The cats fell into a single-file line and Twilight intentionally brought up the rear. She wanted some room to herself. After walking for half a minute, she made a realization.

The squirrel!

She had forgotten to remind Petalpaw! Twilight quickly bounded back to the clearing and scraped the dirt off of the squirrel. Feeling her pony spirit weaken as she placed it in her jaws, she walked back to the group.

Before she could move even a fox-length, she heard a crash from behind her. It was faint, but it sounded like something fell from out of the tree tops and crashed through branches. She took a step towards the source of the noise, but she heard Petalpaw's mew.

"Twilight, come on! We're waiting!"

Twilight had no choice but to dismiss the noise and run back towards the patrol.

After all, she thought to herself, what could it be that would be as pressing as making it to the ShadowClan camp?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

'STEP 17: RE-MEASURE THE ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF THE PORTAL'

Fluttershy groaned. She wasn't one to judge, but Twilight used so much science babble that the plan had barely made sense to her thus far. Not only that, but four of the steps were re-doing parts of earlier steps.

Apparently, Twilight along with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, at this point in her reading, were preparing to go to the Warriors universe to save all the cats there from some threat that Twilight didn't specify. Twilight did explain one thing, though; why the world around Fluttershy was frozen in place. Twilight had cast a time-freeze spell, which, unbeknownst to citizens of Equestria and the sun, freezes them in place until the user disables the spell. Life never skips a beat to those frozen in time.

Well that makes perfect sense, Fluttershy thought to herself, but why am I unaffected?

Fluttershy shook her head. She ignored the confusion and skipped the step. It didn't seem important, so she saw no reason to read it. She turned to the next page and read on.

'STEP 18: DETERMINE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PONY AND CAT ANATOMY'

Well, this looks interesting, Fluttershy mused while continuing to read.

'TO PROPERLY TRANSPORT TO OTHER WORLD THROUGH PORTAL, DETERMINE BODY PARTS OF CATS THAT NEED TO BE DRASTICALLY ALTERED FROM AN EQUINE'S. TO PROPERLY ACHIEVE FELINE FORM, STUDY THE FOLLOWING:

1.) BONE COMPOSITION

2.) MUSCLE STRENGTH

3.) INSTINCTS

4.) DIGESTIVE ORGANS

5.) COMMUNICATION

FLIP TO NEXT PAGE.'

Fluttershy slowly lowered the packet to the ground and stared at the wall. There was no denying it; her friends had been turned into cats.

Was this... permanent?

Fluttershy realized that the portal, unlike when Twilight went to Canterlot High, did not transform Twilight into a cat; it was Twilight casting a spell that achieved this. This meant that when they came back, Twilight had no horn to change them back into ponies since they would still be cats. So, did Twilight want to stay in that world forever? She couldn't have overlooked a flaw in her plan that big.

Then, surprisingly, she felt a twinge of jealously. Fluttershy quickly dismissed it, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed that she couldn't be a cat with them. Fluttershy sighed, knowing that there was no other questions she had about Twilight's plan. Except one.

Why am I not frozen in time?!

It didn't make any sense. Twilight stated in the packet that she cast the spell on all creatures in Equestria, as well as the rest of the world. Why was she the only one not affected? Twilight's mission, by the estimate in the packet, would take, at a minimum, 3-6 moons. She couldn't just sit around for that long with no pony interaction! She couldn't reach Twilight and ask her to cast the spell on her, so she was stuck. The princesses were no doubt frozen as well, and even if they weren't, Spike was frozen as well, so there was no way of getting a letter to them. Breaking into the castle wasn't allowed, and Fluttershy didn't want to break the law. She walked downstairs and laid the packet on the table. Fluttershy started to tear up. She was in a corner. A dead end. A point of no possibilities.

Unless...

Fluttershy looked at the active portal to the Warriors world.

Well, I won't have to be jealous anymore.

Chapter 7

Rainbow felt a tail on her shoulder. Looking to see whose it was, she saw Stonewind looking at her. She halted walking and realized that he was telling her to slow down.

"Why did we stop?" Rainbow turned to the patrol and saw Petalpaw a ways back from where the rest were. The cream tabby appeared to be waiting for someone.

Midnightpaw huffed. "We're waiting for Twilight to come back. She ran back to the clearing a few moments ago." The apprentice curled her lip. "What could be so important? I thought you three wanted to get to the camp."

Owlbriar sighed in annoyance. Rainbow stifled a purr; Midnightpaw was as brash as she was. She looked back to Petalpaw and saw a purple figure bounding towards the group. Midnightpaw muttered something that Rainbow didn't catch as Twilight got ever closer to them.

Rainbow realized that she had Pinkie Pie's catch in her jaws. When Twilight was only a few fox-lengths away, Rainbow took a moment to notice how large the squirrel was relative to Twilight. She put it down and slumped over in exhaustion.

Must have been heavy, Rainbow Dash mused.

"Wow!" Midnightpaw breathed, appearing to forget about her annoyance towards Twilight and putting on a much more friendly exterior. She padded forward to greet the former alicorn. "Did you catch that? It's almost as big as you!"

Twilight shook her head. "No," she informed the patrol, "Pinkie did."

Owlbriar beckoned the patrol forwards while remarking, "The queens will be very thankful."

Pinkie Pie purred and continued forward. Rainbow turned to walk onward, but heard an exasperated sigh from Twilight. Spinning around, she saw her friend placing the squirrel back in her jaws and straggle towards the group.

"Want me to get that?" Rainbow Dash offered. Twilight gave an excited nod and spat it out onto the ground. Rainbow picked it up and almost choked on a heavy heap of fur. She wondered how Twilight of all cats could manage to carry it with no problem, but dismissed it when she remembered that Twilight was slightly bigger than she and Pinkie Pie.

Trudging forward, she could barely see in front of the furry brown mass she was carrying. After a few minutes of walking, she bumped into Owlbriar. Muttering a curse, she spat the squirrel down on the ground and confronted the stopped patrol.

"What gives? Why did we stop again?" In response, she got a stern hush from Flingtail.

"Do you you hear that?" The medicine cat perked his ears. Rainbow did the same, and heard faint footsteps. She wished she could get a better look; her curiosity was clawing at her.

Ugh, Rainbow silently groaned, if I could fly then this wouldn't be a problem. Rainbow realized something. Wait a second...

Rainbow found a pine tree and silently tiptoed to it. Remembering her practice, she dug her front claws into the bark and awkwardly shifted up the tree as silently as she could.

"What do you see?" The hushed question came from Petalpaw.

"Not much," Rainbow dash answered. "There's some trees, obviously, a stream, and- oh!" she yelped, earning her a hush from the patrol. She ducked her head with embarrassment and reported, "there's a patrol of cats heading for what looks like the camp!" Rainbow saw a dip in the landscape way in the distance and could she sticks built up, signifying the presence of cats.

"Describe the patrol," Stonewind ordered. "How big is it? What cats are in it? Is it possible it's a friendly patrol?"

"There's about... I'd say eight or nine," she reported back. "It's mostly big cats and what looks like a cat with herbs. So, I'd say this is a patrol meant for battle." She narrowed her eyes almost into slits and gazed beyond the patrol. She hissed when she saw more pelts.

"There's a second group headed towards the camp as well!"

"Petalpaw," Stonewind commanded, "run to the camp and warn of an attack." The ShadowClan deputy turned to Owlbriar. "I need you and Midnightpaw to ensure that Flingtail gets to the camp. He'll be able to treat wounds."

Rainbow Dash shuffled down the tree as Stonewind gave a commanding yowl. "Move!"

Stonewind turned to Rainbow Dash and her friends. Her heart raced furiously. What kind of things would she be ordered to do? Would she get to fight, or even just watch? Stonewind appeared to ponder for a moment then nodded.

"I need one of you three to join in the battle if there is one. Don't take on any cat bigger than you. The other two stay back and help if they're needed, okay? I'll explain who you are to any cats that ask."

He bounded off deeper into the woods as Rainbow Dash turned to her two friends.

"Why would he assume any of us have battle experience?" Twilight questioned.

Rainbow Dash awkwardly shuffled her paws. "Loners most usually have battle skills, and so do cats in general," Rainbow Dash nervously mewed. "So, yeah. My fault."

Pinkie Pie purred. "Don't be down, Dashie!" Her pink friend groomed her own fur and reminded her, "You enjoy fighting, right? Why don't you go ahead and fight! I'm sure you're a natural!"

Rainbow nodded uncertainly. She did enjoy fighting, but she typically didn't deal with teeth or claws. Rainbow bounded off towards what she assumed was the camp and heard battle cries from cats as she approached.

"Good luck!" Her two friends shouted as she neared the camp with every paw step.

She reached a small hilltop and peeked over to see cats battling. Cats dug into each other and blood pooled throughout the forest. The yowls of fury were fierce as Rainbow sneaked closer to the fighting. Hiding behind a bush, she heard racing paw steps behind her and reflexively rolled out of the way. Getting up swiftly, she saw a gray tom with green eyes. He was about the same age as her and Rainbow noticed the cat's slender figure. He was fast, as Rainbow barely had time to get out of the way.

He almost seems like a cat from... Rainbow realized who was attacking with a jolt. It's WindClan, isn't it?

The cat took a step back and glared at her. He must be observing my blue pelt.

"What kind of cat are you?" The cat hissed.

"The kind you don't want to meet in battle!"

Rainbow lunged forward, catching the other cat completely by surprise. They rolled across the ground as Rainbow managed to swipe once at him, missing in the process. It left the other cat time to get control of himself. He kicked Rainbow off of him with his hind legs.

Rainbow tumbled to the ground but got up in time to dodge a swipe aimed at her. She ducked and tried to remember the moves the cats had performed in the books. She thought of one as she slid under the cat's stomach and unsheathed her claws, raking them into his belly. The cat screeched in pain and jumped back. Rainbow shuddered as blood fell on her pelt as she awkwardly got back up from on her back when the cat managed to pounce on her, taking her to the ground. He ripped his claws across her chest as Rainbow felt a pain more intense than she had ever felt before. She hissed and stretched her neck forward and dug her teeth into the cat's ear. Rainbow Dash tugged furiously when she felt him rip away as part of his ear was still clamped by Rainbow's jaws.

Blood splattered on the ground as she spit the chunk of his ear out. She looked up and saw the tom breathing heavily. He growled as he slowly backed away, waiting for Rainbow's next move. There was a scent coming off of him that was alien to Rainbow Dash until she figured it out.

He has fear-scent! she realized. He reeks of a wuss!

Not wanting to give him a break, she circled around him, imitating a common action performed in the books. He mirrored her motion. The cat lunged forward, but Rainbow was ready. Such a foolish mistake he made, Rainbow reflected.

She easily moved out of the way as he made no attempt to catch her off guard. He landed behind Rainbow weirdly as she turned around and jumped on his exposed chest. His eyes widened as Rainbow sunk her teeth into his side and ripped away with fury. He let out a wail of agony as blood seeped from his wound. He turned and fled into the bushes. Rainbow considered chasing him but decided against it as she was made suddenly aware of the pain in her chest. Her pelt was stained with blood, not all of it hers, as she collapsed from exhaustion and gazed out on the battle scene.

Cats were beginning to drive other cats off, and Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was WindClan cats that were being driven off. Rainbow Dash listened intently as two cats confronted each other in the middle of a clearing.

"Emberstar," A large white tom growled, "why have you organized this attack on my clan?"

Emberstar, a she-cat with one white paw and a faded orange pelt, replied, "Oh, Whitestar. Every cat knows that your clan won't make it through leaf-bare. You've had few kits and have few warriors." The cat circled around Whitestar. "We were just speeding up the process."

Rainbow growled as Emberstar yowled, "WindClan, retreat!"

Several cats ran off as Rainbow Dash realized that she felt very woozy. She realized that blood was seeping from her and she had made no attempt to tend to it. The world seemed to fade to black as she felt her consciousness slip from her.

I'm not dying, Rainbow realized. Blood loss, as she remembered from her biology class, didn't kill a pony--or cat--immediately. She fought to open her eyes but failed and relaxed her body. She heard someone call her name before the world went dark. She could rest assured knowing that at least a cat was coming to her aid.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Okay, Fluttershy," the yellow pegasus told herself, "time for the last step."

Fluttershy had decided to role play as Twilight and make a checklist. She giggled as she realized how similar her checklist was to one of Twilight's. She had intentionally made the last three steps checking, re-checking, and re-re-checking her list.

Step One, she mentally read, Cry

Fluttershy frowned as she remembered crying at the thought of having to go through the portal. She realized that going though the portal was her only option, as she couldn't live in Equestria while every single pony was frozen in time, but it still made her shudder, even if she got to become a cat.

Step Two: Research

She had read up on the spell Twilight has cast to freeze everypony in time, and one book stated that anypony with a magic level equal to or below the caster's. Twilight had told Fluttershy over tea a while ago that, since she possessed all three alicorns' magic when combating Tirek, her average magic level was 'boosted' slightly past the princesses', and the average magic level, as the book told Fluttershy, was the level of magic the spell took into consideration.

But why am I unaffected?! She silently fumed, then went on to check the third step.

Step Three: Find Way to Become Cat

Fluttershy had given up on this step, only managing to find the spell that Twilight used while at the same time not being able to cast it herself. Her best course of action was to go through the portal as a pony and use her natural animal prowess to hopefully communicate with Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie that way. It sounded like a horrible plan in her mind, but she couldn't do anything else.

If I had another Unicorn to cast the transformation spell, then-

"Good morning, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy froze as a drowsy voice sounded from behind her. She couldn't recognize it, but she had heard it before for sure. She remained still for a few moments before she lamely responded, "Um... hi, I think?"

She spun around and saw a pony walk from one corridor to another one. The shadows made it difficult to make out whom it was, but Fluttershy saw that the pony was a unicorn and the voice she heard was female.

Who did Twilight have over last night?

"Um, who are you?" Fluttershy asked the awkward question and received silence, most likely due to her hushed tone. Mustering a great sum of courage, she trotted into the hall and walked down the hall into the kitchen. As she creaked open the door, she could see clearly who it was.

"Starlight Glimmer!"

Starlight turned around with a quizzical look. "Am I not allowed to have coffee?" She questioned.

"B-But..." Fluttershy stammered, "how are you here?"

Starlight furrowed a brow. "Twilight let me stay here until I get a place in Ponyville," she said, her gaze softening with realization. "I thought Twilight would have told you; I didn't mean to scare you. Sorry!" She pushed the button on the coffee maker but the machine made no noise. "Hey, where is Twilight, anyways? I don't think this thing's working right."

Starlight reached behind the machine and fiddled with the back of it as Fluttershy reflected on the situation. Fluttershy had no idea how Starlight Glimmer was here; the time-freeze spell should have frozen her as well. But here the unicorn was, trying to fix a coffee machine that was stuck in time.

"Um..." the timid pegasus began, "She went on... um... a vacation." She awkwardly added, "With Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash too, I think..." Starlight gave up trying to fix the machine with an exasperated huff.

"Where's she go?"

"Um..."

This was it; the decision. She had to give Starlight an answer, but she had to figure out what to tell her. Fluttershy could either tell her newly-reformed friend the truth of where Twilight and friends were and possibly recieve aid, or lie and worsen the situation.

Wait, Fluttershy realized. What's the upside of lying, again?

"So, um..." she said quietly, "I have quite a bit of info on Twilight's location."

Starlight's expression filled with interest. "Do tell."

"Well, she's a cat, for starters."

Starlight chuckled and then noticed Fluttershy's serious albeit nervous gaze. "Wait, are you not kidding?"

Oh dear, she silently fretted, this will be difficult!

Chapter 8

"I see."

Starlight Glimmer took a sip of her water while Fluttershy caught her breath after the long winded explanation she gave. Starlight got up and walked to the window before seeming to ponder.

I wonder what she's thinking, Fluttershy asked herself, then shook her head. She wouldn't like me invading her privacy.

"So Twilight and the gang," Starlight began while turning to face Fluttershy, "went into a book's universe and are now cats. Twilight was the one who turned them into cats, correct?" Fluttershy nodded and Starlight sighed. "Well, they're anything but okay."

Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no! What will happen to them?"

Starlight thought it through for a second, then responded, "I'm not completely sure, but seeing as the portal was merely the gateway and not any other variable, say the things that transforms them," she paused to drink her water, "when they return to Equestria, not only will they still be in their feline form, but Twilight will be unable to deactivate the time-freeze spell." When Fluttershy looked sad she added, "Don't worry, I'll be unable to deactivate it."

Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're here!" Then a thought popped into her head. "Why are you here?"

Starlight Glimmer scoffed in offense. "I thought you trusted me! Is there a reason I shouldn't be trusted?"

Fluttershy realized how rude the remark sounded. "No, no, no! That's not what I meant, honest! I'm sorry! Do you want me to refill your cup? I will if you want me to! Oh, I'm-" she stopped as a grin slowly crept onto Starlight's face. The unicorn broke down and gave a hearty laugh. Fluttershy giggled as well.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," Starlight said. "I didn't mean to tease you." She cleared her throat and sipped her water. "I assume you meant to ask why I'm not frozen in time?" Fluttershy nodded. "Well, I've read the spell through before coming to Ponyville, and since it affects those with a lower average magic level, I guess mine must be higher than Twilight's."

She took a moment to chuckle. "What an honor."

Fluttershy shook her head. "But Twilight's studied magic her whole life!"

"So have I," Starlight pointed out. "Without sounding smug, I think that my natural ability is higher, while the skill Twilight has is mainly taught. She has high natural magic, too, but I think mine is slightly higher. On top of that, she was a breezie once, right? Well, breezies have significantly less magic than ponies, let alone Princess Twilight. When dealing with averages, a low number among high numbers severely lowers the overall average."

Fluttershy was still uncertain, but she nodded politely. Then she thought of another question.

"Why am I unaffected?" She queried.

"Well," Starlight said while sipping the last bit of her water, "I'm guessing that she's cast a spell on you at sometime in the past to make you immune to any spells she casts on you directly or indirectly." Starlight was quiet for a moment, then put in, "Can you think of a spell she cast on you that had a negative effect?"

Fluttershy thought for a moment, then gasped. "I think I know!"

Starlight leaned forward. "Do tell!"

"Well," Fluttershy began, "I'm not sure, but a while ago Twilight was trying to fix a vampire fruit bat problem at Sweet Apple Acres. We ultimately built them a sanctuary, but Twilight's first plan was to take away their craving for apples."

Starlight blinked. "Any spell I know that takes away an appetite either makes a creature hungry for something else or projects it onto another creature. I'm curious, what happened?"

"I was getting to that," Fluttershy said with an unintended dry tone. "Twilight had me use my stare ability to hold all of the bats in place while she cast the spell. The bats' apple appetite transferred from the bats to me via my stare." Fluttershy blushed. "I don't remember much of it, but, um, I starting turning into a bat pony."

"Interesting!" Starlight leaned back in her chair. "I've never heard of that happening before! So I'm guessing Twilight cast a spell on you so that a side effect of one of her spells wouldn't happen to you?"

"That's what I'm guessing happened too," Flutteshy said. Starlight nodded.

"So, I propose that I cast the time freeze spell with a timer of 6 months and I freeze myself in time, as to not live in this frozen-in-time world," Starlight declared. "Then, when Twilight gets back, she can unfreeze me."

"What about me?" Fluttershy asked. Starlight had said that she would freeze herself, not the collective duo.

Starlight gave a blank stare. "Hmm. Well, then. This is awkward."

"What is? Starlight, what happens to me in your plan?"

Starlight gave a nervous smile. "Well, you see, I've also researched that transformation spell."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide with realization. "No, not me! I can't!"

"Well, you pretty much have to," Starlight said. "I need some one to take this--" she held up a necklace with a lit crystal ball embedded in it ,"--and give it to Twilight. It essentially stores magic for one use. With this, she can deactivate the transformation spell when necessary, then, in her pony form, deactivate the time-freeze spell. Without it, she'd be a cat in Equestria with no horn and no way of reanimating the world. Besides, you were going to the world in the first place right?"

"Well, yes..." Fluttershy admitted. "But I wasn't going to go as a cat! I was going to go as a pony! Cats eat mice and rabbits, two animal species I love dearly!"

Fluttershy realized that she was tearing up while talking about going there. Wiping her face with one hoof, she said, "Can't you go, instead?"

Starlight shook her head. "I'm sorry, there's another catch." She got up from the kitchen table and trotted over to the fridge. "If I were to go through the portal and then ultimately come back, she would be unable to use transform me back into a pony."

Fluttershy wiped a tear track down her face and sniffled. "Why's that?"

Starlight Glimmer poured herself water from a pitcher. "Well, much like the time-freeze spell, the user can only cast it on those with a lower magic level. Like we've established, my magic ability tops her's by a small amount. With no horn after coming through the portal, I would be stuck as a feline."

"Why can't you use the stored spell to transform all four of you back?" Fluttershy asked in between sniffles.

"The necklace is hers," Starlight said. When Fluttershy looked very confused, she added, "The necklace was something I found in Twilight's room. For security measures, the necklace was made to where only the pony that owns it may activate the stored spell. While I was able to load one in, I am unable to release it. Also, in case you're wondering how Twilight will be able to unfreeze me, a caster of a spell can affect anything with a direct line of sight if powerful enough of a spell.

"Fluttershy," Starlight said sympathetically, "I know how much this stinks. Of all ponies, you should be the last one to have to go to this world. But, listen," Starlight said while lifting Fluttershy's chin up, "your friends need you."

Fluttershy whimpered, thinking of everything that could go wrong. She knew she could make it through the portal; she had threw an unlit candle through the portal and, from what she could tell, it didn't bounce back and instead went through. But she would have to eat animals and actually hunt them! Twilight was going to the book's universe, so there was no doubt in her mind that the new cats would join the clans, meaning Fluttershy would have to as well. At the same time, her friends would be stuck as cats, and everyone else in the world would be frozen in time forever. She wiped away a tear and spoke as confidently as she could.

"I'll do it."

Starlight nodded, then gave her the necklace and led her to the portal.

"I'll be right here when you get back," Starlight said. "I've set the transformation spell to activate when you enter the portal." She leaned forward and gave Fluttershy a friendly hug. "Goodbye!"

She cast the time-freeze spell and Fluttershy watched as all movement drained from her. Fluttershy turned to the portal and walked through.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Good luck!"

Me and Twilight give the shout of encouragement as I watch Rainbow Dash bound off. Twilight turns her head to face me.

"So," she mews, "Now what?"

I prepare to give my answer but a yowl from closer to the camp interrupts me. I can't quite make it out, but it sounds like Petalpaw. She really should be louder! I barely heard her meow. Maybe I should give her loudness lessons! That'd be really fun! I'm pretty loud myself, and I already know that Rainbow Dash coached Fluttershy on cheering back in Equestria. I wonder what Fluttershy would look like if she was a cat! She'd probably be yellow. Or maybe pink.

I snap back from my idle wondering as Twilight runs off towards the source of the noise. I follow along, though the walk to this point's already winded me quite a bit. Panting, I follow Twilight through the forest. Geez, being slightly bigger sure gave her increased stamina!

Struggling to climb my way over a fallen log, I get my body over and fall on the ground. I quickly locate Petalpaw and she's sitting next to a black and white tabby tom. I can smell the stench of blood and I scrunch my face. The cat is wreathing in pain and I can't help but feel really bad for him.

I pad forward closer and I begin to hear their conversation louder and louder.

"--has a wound above the left heel, as well as one on the neck. Do you have any knowledge of herbs?"

Twilight nods unconvincingly. Petalpaw seems to catch it, but goes on, "I need comfrey root, some cobwebs--I think there's a bunch in the tree stump where we met--and some dock leaves." When Twilight hesitates, she adds, "Large tangy leaves; got it?"

Twilight scampers off and Petalpaw turns to me. "I don't mean to boss you around, but can you press your paw over his neck wound?"

I pad over and locate the wound. I press my paw on it and the cat winces in response.

He twists his head to look at me. "What the..." he breathes. "What kind of cat are you?"

"Don't worry," I chirp, "I'm not an enemy!"

"I meant your pelt, mouse-brain," he growls.

I shrug it off. "It runs in the family. Hey!" I shout at him as he begins to roll back over. "Let's not just talk about me, what about you?"

He flinches as Petalpaw presses down on his heel. "Where to begin?" He says in annoyance.

"Well, how about your name silly!" I really hope my good mood will rub off on him; he's really grumpy!

"I'm Nightstripe," he says, struggling to speak. Before I can open my jaws and press further, he seems to predict my next question. "What else? Let's see: both my mate and my mother died while kitting, my father died in a fire before I was born, and my son fell off of a tree and broke his neck." Nightstripe coughs out blood and continues, "Any other questions for me?"

I'm a little taken back. He seems depressed! "Well, do you have any siblings?"

"No," Nightstripe responds simply. "I have no one." He weakly lifts his head and looks at Petalpaw tending to his wound on his leg. "Why can't you let me join StarClan already? Why can't you just let it be my time?"

StarClan is where cats go when they die, right? Wait, he can't want to die, can he? I've never dealt with this before! I've cheered up plenty of sad ponies, but I've never had to talk a pony out of death!

"Well," I say, thinking of a way to calm him down, "you have me!"

"What good are you?" Nightstripe growls. "I don't even know you!"

"Pinkie," Petalpaw says, "I need you to help me by his leg."

"One moment," I tell her. I focus back on Nightstripe. "Well, you don't just have me! You have your clan, right?"

"I guess," he grunts.

"Pinkie, I need your help now," Petalpaw orders.

"Yeah, hold on," I reply. "I'm thinking about joining your clan with my friends!"

He snorts with amusement. "Really? You? I'd love to see that; you couldn't get through a day of training, let alone hunting!"

"If you'd love to see it, why not hang on a little bit longer?"

He blinks, taken aback by the sense in my words. "I can't think straight," he says at last. "Could I get some food?"

"Sure!" I drag the squirrel I caught over to him.

"Pinkie, will you please stop chatting with him and--" She stops when she sees the squirrel. "Didn't we leave that in a clearing a while ago, Pinkie?"

"Petalpaw," I say in annoyance, "will you give me a moment?"

She stares at me, then goes off in the forest, mumbling something about cats not answering her questions.

"That's your name, huh?" Nightstripe asks. "Pinkie? I guess it's safe to assume that name's from your pelt?"

"No silly, It's from my tail!" He purrs at my joke and eats a bit of the squirrel. I take a bite myself, almost missing the rich taste as I focus on what to say next.

"I caught this you know," I meow. He blinks in surprise.

"Really? You?" I nod. My paw starts to get tired from pressing it on his neck for so long and I switch paws.

"Still thinking about death?" I ask the question casually, hoping to get a casual response that he doesn't have to think about.

"Not as much," Nightstripe admits, "but I still have little to live for."

"Isn't your clan enough?"

He looks at me and doesn't answer.

"Aren't I enough?" I surprise myself with the question and silence hangs in the air until I hear Petalpaw approaching.

"Sorry for that," she mumbles through a jaw full of cobwebs. "Twilight was taking too long."

She presses cobwebs over the leg wound that I realize is still bleeding. In fact, my paw isn't helping the bleeding much either. It seems he should be getting worse, not better. I guess he has more will to live now.

Petalpaw does the same with his neck and stops for a second. She seems to shrug it off as she helps Nightstripe up.

"Thanks," he tells Petalpaw.

Petalpaw nods in response as she perks her ears.

"I think I hear my name being called." Petalpaw ran off leaving me with Nightstripe.

He ducks his head. "I'm sorry for having you talk me out of death. That must have been hard."

I purr louder than I recall to have before. "You mean you're more confident about living now?"

"Yeah," he admits. "I'd better get back to camp."

He bounds off as I reflect on what I've done. I helped someone find a will to live! I'm a firm believer that a cat or pony only lives because they want to, and I also like to believe that I helped him want to continue living.

I pad in the direction that Nightstripe went as I imagine how good of friends we'll be if I join ShadowClan! We can hang out together, hunt together, play games together. His pelt blends in a lot better to the forest than mine, so he'll be a great hunting buddy! His pelt has really handsome colors, too! Now that I think about it, he actually has a really handsome pelt. And face. And ears. And tail. And--

I stop dead in my tracks as I catch my line of thinking.

"Am I..." I mew out loud. "Am I attracted to him?"

Chapter 9

Moonlight danced on the rim of the pool, giving it a warm glow that illuminated the cave. The cave, one symmetrical in fashion, was the meeting place. The place where they met to negotiate; to decide, for they protected the four clans. The cave remained empty, stunning in its silence and beauty, until a corridor lit with a faint, dim glow. Brightening, it lit up the figure of a cat--just one of the many chosen to meet that night. The glow emitted by the cat faded as he was instead met with the moonlight--the same light that guided the other seven members.

The cat looked behind him, irritated as his partner's absence. This was not a meeting that could be missed, nor could it be glossed over. This was the meeting that the cat hoped would bring the four clans to agreement, the one that would unite them against a common enemy.

A long time they had warred--the clans would never stop feeling unjustified resentment towards others not of their kind--but it was time that there be a change, or rather a solution. The cat pricked his ears, picking up a faint set of paws padding for him. A moment passed and another set approached from behind him. He watched as two representatives from each clan came to the center room, save for the two from RiverClan.

"I see you're already here," his partner observed. "One would think that the almighty Sproutstar would be the last to make his belated entrance."

"One would, yes," Sproutstar meowed, "but tonight is too important to miss. With time, I'm learning that spending my nights in StarClan sleeping is not helpful to my clan. You've figured that out too, right Goldmist?"

She purred. "I should've by now, yes." Goldmist stretched and looked around the room. "Where are Hazestar and Stoneflow?" She searched for the two former RiverClan cats to no avail. "Why aren't they here yet?"

"Be careful what you say," Sproutstar warned, "RiverClan has been through a lot recently. They've had to give up almost half of their territory to WindClan."

"Is it really half by now?"

"I'm afraid so," Sproutstar mewed. "Let's wait patiently--they can't be far." He leaned forward and touched noses with her.

At last, a blue glow lit the walls of the fourth tunnel and the two RiverClan cats emerged from the light. Sproutstar gestured Goldmist forward. The eight cats stepped forward and greeted each other warmly. Giving the cats enough time to give greetings unto one another, he stood atop a stone and called to the group.

"Cats of StarClan, there is no question why we are here," he meowed, feeling the lost power of addressing cats return to him. "The tension between the Clans is not getting better. WindClan is forcing RiverClan out of their own territory, leaving RiverClan on the verge of collapse. On the other side of the territories, ShadowClan and ThunderClan are becoming dangerously close, leaving WindClan to further dominate RiverClan with no support."

"That is not my fault," Rosestar put in, nervously avoiding blame. "ThunderClan makes its own choices now."

"While we thought that the new friendship between ThunderClan and ShadowClan was a good thing," Sproutstar continued to report, "the archetype of having four clans is weakening, as the two new allied Clans will no doubt further close themselves off from interaction outside of their own clan."

"If I may ask," Rosestar mewed, "has the situation of communication gotten any better?"

Goldmist shook her head. "To our knowledge it has not."

Stoneflow blinked. "Communication?" He echoed. "This is the first I'm hearing of this."

"Really?" Rosestar inquired. "I would have thought everyone knew."

A gray tom stepped forward. "It only arose very recently, Rosestar."

"Stormeye is right," Sproutstar agreed. "Cats from StarClan are now unable to communicate with alive cats. We're blocked off from those we have to protect," he growled, heavily annoyed.

"The last known meeting between a Clan cat and a StarClan member was between Sproutstar and Petalpaw a few nights ago," Stormeye explained.

"Ah, thats the other thing," Sproutstar meowed. "The three we wanted for support are now here."

Murmurs of shock and confusion engulfed the group. "How did they come so quick?" A voice spoke up.

"I am unsure, Redbelly," Sproutstar said. "The messages we sent for help must have reached them quicker than I anticipated."

"What messages?" Hazestar growled. "We agreed to a spoken word with the other cats!"

Yowls of agreement arose from the other cats. Sproutstar waited for silence before speaking again. "We did, but many complications made themselves known. Firstly, the help we wanted is in those of another world. Spoken word would not reach."

"Then how did the messages you sent reach?" Goldmist asked.

"I walked in the dreams of one of them and altered their perception of reality," he explained. "What they saw was up to them to interpret but ultimately led them to realize that they needed to come here."

"Looks like Sproutstar is using his powers again," a cat muttered.

"Gorsestar, it's for a good cause," a she-cat reminded her clanmate. Sproutstar had been granted powers by StarClan upon entering the postmortem realm, but found little use for being able to manipulate cats' way of seeing things, for the power of making objects appear to exist and then seem to fade away was not apt in everyday activities and the skill became further recluse from usefulness as he slept most of the days away.

"It was in their dreams I learned the second issue," Sproutstar went on. "The appropriate support I found is not going to be given by cats."

Silence lasted in the room. "I'm sorry?" Stoneflow asked.

"The help I found is what we need--they are strong, willful, smart, and experienced--but come from a different world. One where the inhabitants are ponies."

"Ponies," Goldmist repeated. Sproutstar nodded. "But you said they were cats!"

"They are now, yes."

"That isn't possible," Gorsestar argued. "My WindClan cats see horses everyday on the fields, and they are far larger than us cats! How did ponies turn into another animal?"

"I'm not sure," he said simply.

"Was it your doing?" Stormeye queried.

Sproutstar felt a prick of annoyance. "Of course not, or else I would turn the badgers into mice!"

"Are we sure we even want this help?" He muttered in response. "The Clans can manage fine on their own."

Sproutstar hissed. "We unanimously agreed upon help! While I thought it would be as simple as walking the skies of cats far away, it is more complex than that."

"So what do we do next?" Hazestar asked. "Do we let them join StarClan?"

"That wouldn't do anything," Goldmist retorted. "It is obvious that they have to join ShadowClan and convince the clans to not form allies nor attack others."

"What's obvious is that that plan is insane," Gorsestar rebutted. "The clans wouldn't let outsiders join the clans. If the three cats say that they're loners, then they'll be persuaded to remain as such. If they say they're rogues, they'll be seen as a threat and chased from the territory. If they say they're kittypets, then no clan would let them join out of principle!"

"Have them join ThunderClan," Stormeye growled. "Then the plan is secure if they say they're kittypets."

Rosestar's throat rumbled. "Do you want to say that to my face, dirt-eater?"

"Why?" he said. "It seems you heard me well enough, fox-heart."

She lunged at Stormeye, taking him by surprise. Sproutstar's heart thumped as he saw the gleam of Rosestar's claws. Stormeye twisted on the ground and squirmed free, leaping onto her back and raking his claws across it as soon as he had free range. Rosestar howled in pain, unsure of what to do. She at last summoned her strength and ran at the stone wall, crunching Stormeye's leg between her side and the cave wall. Stormeye slipped off and ran at her again. Sproutstar crouched, preparing to leap in the middle of them to break up the fight.

"Stop!"

The two cats stopped feuding and looked at Goldmist whom had given the call. She was staring in the puddle in the center of the room. Curious, the other cats padded over and stared into the puddle too, as they saw the living world.

"What are we looking at?" Sproutstar asked, leaping down from his stone perch.

"The sky."

Stoneflow scoffed, walking to the center of the cave. "Do you see a cloud you like? What shape is it; do tell!"

"Just look."

Sproutstar watched intently. A few seconds passed with no movement, until his eye caught a flash of light. It made itself present again as he could see it as a bolt of lightning. Sproutstar waited in silence, fully aware that this shouldn't have been happening. Finally, another bolt tore through the sky, followed by another and yet another, all touching the ground but to no sound or destruction. They became more frequent until a giant flash of light blinded Sproutstar. When he could see clearly again, he was confused by what he saw and was convinced he was seeing things. A ball of light descended from the sky, slowly lowering to the ground. At last, it reached the ground and exploded outward, inducing a second blinding flash.

Focusing in on what the ball had left, Sproutstar's eyes continued to defy his reasoning as there, laying on the ground, was a cat.

A pink cat.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight leaped over a log and felt the enjoyment of having wind in her fur. Pausing to catch her breath, she reflected on how big an idiot she was.

Why did I have to say I was knowledgeable about herbs? She mentally kicked herself for just saying something to pretend to know everything. I don't know everything, and that's what kills me! Twilight's mind raced to think of the way back to the clearing.

It was over the stream and through the log to get to here, she thought as she walked through her path so far. So now it's over past this rock, right?

Twilight's memory paid off as she not only found the clearing, but managed to find the cobweb-holding stump in question. She instinctively readied her horn for levitation, but stopped upon realization that she had no horn. Ashamedly walking to the stump, she paused as she heard a hum. She stopped walking to hear it better, but she heard it no longer. She waited until she was confident she imagined it, and then peered into the hollow stump. Seeing the cobwebs, she dabbed her paw into the tree but realized it wouldn't go deep enough.

She whipped her head around upon the sound of the hum again. It was faint, but she noticed it was getting louder. She narrowed her eyes when she saw a flash of light, as she knew that it shouldn't have appeared. Is it a lightning bolt? Well, it's not raining...

She jumped back when a large lightning bolt split the sky. It made no noise, but a second one followed soon enough after to make Twilight realize that this was an effect of a spell.

How is this possible? Another bolt flashed soon after. We arrived in this world an hour ago! Two lightning bolts lit up the sky.

Finally, a giant flash blinded Twilight. She stumbled around until her vision returned, at which point a gasp escaped her. A yellow ball of light fell from the sky at a slow pace. She froze, unsure of the next course of action. She decided upon hiding in the stump in time to act upon it, at which point a deafening crack pierced the forest.

Twilight waited for her ears to stop ringing to emerge from the stump. Upon seeing what was in front of her, her knees felt weak. There was a pink she-cat with a yellow belly and yellow ears. She had an excess of neck scruff, of which was yellow as well. The shade of yellow confused Twilight, as it looked so familiar. Too familiar. Twilight realized she was staring at the color that one of her best friends possesed.

The cat groggily rose and stared at her. "Twilight?" The cat breathed.

Twilight was sure of it.

She was staring at Fluttershy.

Allegiances

ALLEGIANCES

SHADOWCLAN

Leader:

Whitestar -- Large white tom with blue eyes

Deputy:

Stonewind -- Powerful gray tom with long fur

Apprentice, Midnightpaw

Medicine Cat:

Flingtail -- Light-orange tom with amber eyes and a short, pink-tipped tail

Apprentice, Petalpaw

Warriors:

Duskpelt -- Large smoky gray tom

Cloudfern -- White and brown tortoise-shell she-cat

Dripnose -- Small brown tom with a white belly

Apprentice, Firpaw

Ashcloud -- She-cat with silky gray fur and a white chest

Nightstripe -- Black and white tabby tom with brilliant green eyes

Scarfang -- Orange tabby tom with a white muzzle and a distinct scar across one eye

Credit goes to: Halo40KInquisitor

Sandfoot -- Tan she-cat with large paws

Apprentices:

Midnightpaw -- Blue-gray she-cat with a white-tipped tail and a star-like white splotch on front-right paw

Credit goes to: Twilight Shine

Firpaw -- Large dusty brown tom with a bushy tail

Petalpaw -- Beautiful cream-colored tabby she-cat

Queens:

Thrushwing -- Sandy gray she-cat with white fur on chest and blue eyes. Mother to Lilykit (cream she-cat with green eyes) and

Pinekit (Brown and gray tabby tom)

Elders:

Mudface -- Large dark-brown tom with a white ear

Fogpool -- Light-gray she-cat with wispy, long fur. Oldest cat in ShadowClan

WINDCLAN

Leader:

Emberstar -- Large she-cat with one white paw and a faded orange pelt

Apprentice, Sparkpaw

Deputy:

Bumblenose -- Orange tabby tom with yellow eyes

Medicine Cat:

Goldenfall -- Orange she-cat with yellow eyes and one white paw

Apprentice, Fuzzpaw

Warriors

Reedclaw -- Brown tabby tom

Yellowfrost -- White she-cat with yellow eyes

Apprentice, Vinepaw

Rushbreeze -- Small tom with sleek gray fur

Apprentice, Thrushpaw

Finchtail -- Light brown tabby tom with blue eyes

Hawkstripe -- Large cream tom with blue eyes

Rosewhisker -- Tan and gray tortoiseshell she-cat

Apprentices:

Vinepaw -- White and tan tabby tom with green eyes

Fuzzpaw -- Light-brown tom with bushy tail and long fur

Thrushpaw -- Gray tom with green eyes

Sparkpaw -- Orange tabby tom with yellow eyes

Queens:

Grasstuft -- White she-cat with green eyes. Mother to Fernkit (Cream tom with white muzzle and white underbelly) and Talonkit

(White tom with curved claws)

Waspspring -- Brown and white striped she-cat

Elders:

Willowheart -- White she-cat with wispy fur and green eyes

Ferretclaw -- Brown tom with large claws

THUNDERCLAN

Leader:

Mintstar -- Light gray she-cat with warm green eyes

Deputy:

Acornfoot -- Brown tom with a bushy tail

Medicine Cat:

Amberfur -- White tom with amber eyes

Apprentice, Honeypaw

Warriors:

Sootwhisker -- Smoky gray tom white with yellow eyes

Ashdrop -- Light gray she-cat

Rainfur -- Gray she-cat with blue eyes

Barkfall -- Long-legged brown tabby tom

Plumfrost -- Black tom with green eyes

Mousebrook -- White tom

Apprentice, Graypaw

Whiteheart -- Beautiful white she-cat with a long tail

Apprentice, Silverpaw

Brackentail -- Orange and tortoiseshell she-cat

Hazecloud -- Massive light-gray tabby tom with long fur

Apprentices:

Silverpaw -- Beautiful gray she-cat with smooth fur

Graypaw -- Large tom with shaggy dark gray fur and yellow eyes

Honeypaw -- Cream she-cat with yellow eyes

Queens:

Flamefur -- Orange she-cat

Elders:

Oakfoot -- Brown tom with black paws

Thorntooth -- Brown tabby tom with green eyes

RIVERCLAN

Leader:

Mothstar -- Black she-cat with white paws and yellow eyes

Deputy:

Cloverjaw -- White tom with green eyes

CATS OUTSIDE OF CLANS

Razlad -- Light gray tom with yellow eyes and one very large tooth.

Beaut -- Plump she-cat with a mottled, dark brown tabby pelt