Rainbow lay, curled up in the apprentice’s den with her fur pressed against her friends’. Brownpaw and Blackpaw were lying nearby. The apprentices’ den was cramped with eight cats in.

Brownpaw suddenly stood up, stretching. “Dawn! C’mon, Blackpaw, I’ve got hunting and you got the dawn patrol.”

Rainbow opened one cerise eye grumpily, “Could you be a bit quieter, please? Geez, who wakes up at sunrise? Sheesh!” Turning so her back was to Spottedpaw’s siblings, she closed her eyes again and tried to get a bit more sleep.

Only seconds later a paw was prodding her in the ribs. Sighing, Rainbow opened her eyes again and sat up. “Whaaat?” Lionblaze stood in front of her, Dovewing beside him, “Time for training.”

“Seriously? Celestia has only just raised the sun!” Rainbow frowned and flopped back down.

“Celestia?” Lionblaze snapped, “For StarClan’s sake, I know you were kittypets but cats can’t move the sun!”

Rainbow jumped up one last time and growled, “Don’t you talk about the princess like that! And she isn’t a stupid cat!”

“THEN WHY’RE YOU CALLING YOURSELF STUPID?”

“I’M NOT!”

“YOU JUST CALLED CATS STUPID!”

“WELL I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO– hey!” Rainbow gasped as she jumped backwards, just in time to avoid Lionblaze’s clawed paw scratching her flank.

“Lionblaze!” Dovewing gasped, swatting the golden tom over the head, “You heard Bramblestar! Why are you being so impatient? You’re not usually like this.”

Lionblaze grunted, eyes blazing, and sheathed his claws grumpily. “Whatever. Come on.” He turned his back and walked out of the den. Dovewing sighed and padded out after him, followed by the six new apprentices.

After an hour-long tour of the territory, the eight cats were joined by Brightheart, Bumblestripe, Whitewing and Spiderleg. The group of a dozen made their way to the training hollow, Fluttershy dreading what was coming up next.

“Now we’re going to practise the hunting crouch, then test it out in the territory.” Whitewing told them. Then she lowered herself into a crouch, head down, tail straight, hovering slightly above the ground. “Now you try.”

“Okay, easy now, remember, head down, tail low but not touching the ground. You don’t want to stir up leaves.” Lionblaze told Rainbow. The cyan she-cat lowered into a crouch, tail stiff and chin brushing the moss on the ground.

“No, no, no, not like that! Keep your tail loose, not like a twig! And chin up, kittypet.” The golden tom hissed.

Rainbow growled slightly, loosening her tail so that it hovered very slightly above the ground. Her head was down, but her chin was above the ground, the very end of her chin fur tapping the ground.

“Better, but keep the power for your jump in your hind legs. Bunch your muscles!”

Grumpily, she shifted her weight to her haunches, tensing her legs.

“Perfect.”

Being one who doesn’t back down from a chance for revenge, Rainbow bunched her muscles, aimed, then leapt straight at her mentor. Taken by surprise, Lionblaze let out a yowl and struck out with a clawed paw. Rainbow felt a sudden impact on the side off her head and she was sent flying to the side. The ground hit her hard and she tumbled head over tail across the mossy floor.

Stumbling slightly, Rainbow rose to her paws. “Oh, it. Is. ON!”

She leapt once more, this time expecting the swipe, and ducked under his paw. Rainbow slid under her mentor and kicked upwards, dragging her hind claws across his stomach. But, they didn’t break the skin. Once behind him, she lashed out at his flank, claws unsheathed. Once again, Lionblaze’s skin didn’t break. How? It was like he was invincible!

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Rainbow muttered angrily, preparing to leap once again. Suddenly, a figure slammed into her side and pinned her to the ground. Rainbow struggled angrily, until she realised the cat holding her down was Twilight.

“Rainbow! What are you doing?” Twilight hissed.

“He called Celestia stupid!” Rainbow stared up at her friend.

Twilight froze for a few moments, before sighing and stepping off of Rainbow. The blue cat rose to her paws and shot Lionblaze a dirty look before leaving the clearing at a run. She pelted through the trees, darting side to side to avoid the oddly common bramble patches. Every now and then, she would take a second to long, and was rewarded with a scratch along her side. While none actually hit her flank, they were getting dangerously close to the slightly scarred patch of skin and fur.

When she felt she’d left a somewhat safe distance between her and the clearing, she slowed to a trot, to a walk, eventually stopping. Rainbow sat down and began trying to sort her thoughts. Whenever she got angry enough to lose her bearings, she played a little mind game with herself, where she stated everything she knew was true, and used the facts to figure out the fiction. In all honesty, she'd learnt it from Twilight.

My name is Rainbow Dash. I am the Element of Loyalty. I was born in Cloudsdale. My friend Twilight used a spell on me. We were teleported to another world and turned into cats. The cats here hate us. No. Only some of them do. Like Lionblaze. I don’t want him as a mentor. He called Celestia stupid. He’s invincible. Or does he wear armour? Invisible armour?

Lost in thought, she didn’t hear the pawsteps until they were right beside her. She knew instantly she was in danger. The cat flew out of the bushes at her, barrelling her over and pinning her forcefully into the ground.

“What are you doing in ShadowClan territory, kittypet?” her attacker seethed. It was a tom with amber eyes. He was grey with a black stripe running from his head, down his back, to his tail.

“I’m not a kittypet!” Rainbow growled, wriggling beneath the tom’s claws.

“Then why have you got a collar?”

“It’s not a collar!” Rainbow yelled. She twisted her head from side to side in attempt to snap at her attacker’s legs.

The tom above her hissed and swiped at her muzzle, winding her. “Liar! Even if you’re not a kittypet, which you are, you reek of ThunderClan. You wouldn’t smell like that unless you’d been around ThunderClan cats for a long time. Wait…” he smirked. “So ThunderClan’s taking in still-owned kittypets, huh?”

Rainbow laid her head back against the thin grass. ShadowClan… In her haste to escape, she’d ran straight across the border. A sudden thought occurred to her. It was her turn to smirk. “You know, I can prove I’m not a kittypet.”

“Oh yeah? And just how are you gonna do that?”

“Scratch my flank.”

Author's Note

Lionblaze's anger issues in this will make sense in about... four chapters?