Warriors: Beyond the Stars

The squirrels scampered up into the safe haven of trees as seven cats loudly tromped through the forest.

Fluttershy ran from tree to tree, staring up after the squirrels.

"Come back, I won't hurt you" she desperatly told the trees.

Lionblaze laughed, then saw that Fluttershy was serious.

"You don't eat squirrel in your 'Equestria'?" he asked curiously.

"No, we eat daffodil sandwiches, hay fries, apples, apple pie, apple fritters, apple..." Pinkie cut in, listing off all the food in Equestria.

"Ah think he got it, sugarcube." Applejack stopped Pinkie.

"Lionblaze!" Twilight caught up with their guide. "What did you mean before about Rainbow not being able to beat you?"

Lionblaze froze for a moment. When he recovered, he meowed "In the Clans we train all the cats. Most end up being warriors, but once in a while a medicine cat takes on an apprentice," Silence befell the group. "My brother, Jayfeather, is a medicine cat." he said with a note of pride in his voice.

"That's interesting. What does a medicine cat do?" Twilight asked.

"A medicine cat heals sick and injured cats and shares tongues with StarClan." Lionblaze answered without missing a beat.

"Sharing tongues? StarClan?" Twilight pressed.

"Sharing tongues is when you gossip while grooming a Clanmate or during a Gathering, a cat from another Clan. StarClan is where a cat goes when he dies," Lionblaze meowed. Suddenly, his tone darkened as he continued. "But if you were evil, you go to the Dark Forest."

Twilight fell behind after she notice the change in Lionblaze's mood.

"Who crapped in his cornflakes?" Rainbow Dash muttered.

Fluttershy was trudging behind. Rarity took note of the her disappointment.

"What's wrong, darling?" she asked.

"Nothing." Fluttershy mumbled.

"There's obviously something wrong. Now tell me, I won't take no for an answer." Rarity persisted.

Fluttrshy took a deep breath.  "ThesquirrelsarescaredofmeeventhoughIwon'thurtthemandAngelbunnywillbegettingworriedandIhavetogetback!"

Rarity was taken aback. "Of course  the squirrels are scared of you. Fluttershy, have you seen yourself? That gorgeous shade of yellow, your paws and tail? Darling, you are a cat now. As soon as Twilight finds a way back home, I'm sure out duties will be temporarily taken over," Rarity comforted. Then her tail tapped her chin. "I hope Sweetie Belle doesn't do my job."

Pinkie merrily bounded ahead, circling back every now and then.

Lionblaze stopped, raising his tail as signal for them to stop. Ahead, Pinkie halted in midair and fell straight down.

"Is she alright?" Lionblaze whispered in Applejack's ear.

"Naw, that's jus' Pinkie." Applejack whispered back.

Lionblaze looked startled, then cleared his throat. "We're almost to camp. I reccomend that you tone it down a little,  we don't get visitors outside of Clans that often. Well, good ones anyway," he gave the group a hard look. "You are good, right?"

"Duh!" Rainbow Dash snorted. "It's not like we saved Equestria or anything."

Lionblaze gave Twilight a look that asked for verification.

"It's true. We're the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony." Twilight confirmed with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

Lionblaze had more questions, but held his tongue. "Stay here."

He ran to the tunnel into camp.

"Bramblestar!" Lionblaze spotted Squirrelflight. "I need to speak with Bramblestar." he told her.

"Why? Did something happen?" Squirrelflight asked in a low voice.

"No, we have six cats outside of camp claiming to be from a place called Equestria." Lionblaze's eyes searched around Squirrelflight.

"Take me to them. Now, Lionblaze." Squirrelflight commanded.

"Where did he go?"  Rainbow Dash growled.

"Hold on. He told us to stay here, so we're stayin' here!" Applejack grabbed Rainbow's tail with her teeth.

Rainbow Dash yowled. "Hey! That hurt!"

Applejack released her tail. "Sorry, hon."

A ginger cat padded into sight follwed by Lionblaze.

She stopped abruptly and turned to Lionblaze. "What are their names?"

Rainbow Dash bristled. "Are we not here?"

The ginger cat's cold gaze fell upon Rainbow.

"Cool it, RD," Applejack commanded and faced the new cat. "Ah'm Applejack, that there's Rainbow Dash, the purplish one's Twilight Sparkle, the fluffy white one's Rarity, yellowish cat is Fluttershy, and that one is-"

"Pinkie!" Pinkie somehow made a sound like a kazoo and her party cannon.

The ginger cat jumped a little. "My name is Squirrelflight. I am deputy of ThunderClan."

"Really? That's cool, 'cause then when-" Pinkie babbled.

"Piiiiiiinkiiiiiiiie," Twilight warned.

Squirrelflight gazed frostily at the visitors. After several minutes, she looked to Lionblaze. "They can come into camp. But," she flicked her tail toward Rainbow Dash. "You have to keep an eye on that one."

"I don't-" Rainbow began but shut up when she saw the evil look Twilight was giving her. "Fine."

They walked through the woods, leaping over fallen branches when necessary.

"We're here," Squirrelflight announced. "Welcome to ThunderClan."

They crawled through a tunnel in a bush and a huge clearing full of cats milling about.

A small brown kitten bounded over. "Who're you?" he asked. Then he looked at Pinkie. "You look weird."

"Molekit!" Squirrelflight scolded.

"No, it's okay. I get that a lot back at home." Pinkie meowed rather happily.

"This is amazing! The architectural prowess you possess is incredible for using only natural occurrences!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What?" Lionblaze gave her a confused look.

"She thinks your house is cool." Rainbow Dash translated flatly.

"Oh. Our dens are made from a fallen tree. The nests were prickly for a while." he joked.

A tabby tom appeared from a hole in a wall up the cliff from them. He was followed by Squirrelflight and a gray tabby tom.

Squirrelflight and the gray tabby jumped down from the ledge that the tabby stood upon.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Highledge for a Clan meeting!" the tabby yowled.