Warriors: Beyond the Stars

"I can't believe that I'm stuck with Lionblaze!" Rainpaw moaned.

"Lionblaze isn't so bad, darling. I have that Squirrelflight as a mentor." Gempaw flicked her tail.

"Dovewing seems nice. Kinda zoned out, but nice." Twilightpaw contributed.

"Ivypool is quiet and seems sorta... dark." Applepaw remembered the suppressed darkness she had seen in Ivypool's eyes. She shivered.

"Foxleap is awesome! He's chatty, and funny, and-" Skypaw bounced with every 'and'.

"Hold on there, P- Skypaw. If I remember correctly, you weren't in front of Twilightpaw's contraption. How did you get here?" Rainpaw narrowed her eyes at Skypaw.

"I uh," her eyes nervously flicked from one accusing face to the next. "Came through the Fourth Wall! I saw you were gone and followed you!"

"Then why can't you go back and get help?" Twilightpaw asked.

"The Fourth Wall is already fixed! Something else will need to break it for me to go back! And it needs to go to Equestria, not some other universe!" Skypaw protested.

"Uh huh, sure. I'm going to see Lionblaze about training." Rainpaw backed away without breaking eye contact.

"There's one thing I don't understand. Actually, two. One, how did we change shape? Secondly, why Skypaw?" Twilight relentlessly questioned.

"When you break the Fourth Wall and travel to another universe, you change shape to whatever you are needed by. And I'm not ready to answer the other one. I feel like I've done enough explaining for one day." Skypaw dodged Twilightpaw's second question.

"Fine, but this isn't over." Twilightpaw left Skypaw alone.

Applepaw glanced at Skypaw, then ran after Twilightpaw.

"Phew." Skypaw sighed. That was a close bullet.

Jayfeather led Flutterpaw to the medicine cat den. A familiar scent hit his nose.

"Hello, Briarlight." he meowed pleasantly.

"Hello Jayfeather. Sometimes I swear you can see me." Briarlight replied.

Flutterpaw gasped. "Y-you're blind?"

"No, really?" Jayfeather answered with two tablespoons of snark.

A wave of emotion engulfed him. Embarassment, withdrawal, and... fear.

"Sorry, I'm just like that," then Jayfeather went back to the matter at paw. "In a few days we go to Moonpool to share tongues with StarClan."

"Lionblaze told us about StarClan and sharing tongues. What's Moonpool?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"Briarlight could you please get- oh thank you. Moonpool is kind of a bridge between StarClan and the Clans. Medicine cats go there every half-moon to share tongues with StarClan," Jayfeather answered. "I'll tell you more about medicine cats. Medicine cats can cross Clan boundaries. Don't do it often, or the other Clans'll get antsy and threaten all out war. Medicine cats also learn about herbs, which ones heal, and what poultices to make. A medicine cat may never have kits. Believe me, I know the consequences." Jayfeather's eyes darkened.

Silence filled the den.

"Weeeell, I'll just go get some moss," Briarlight said cheerily.

"Okay," Jayfeather replied absent mindedly.

Flutterpaw just stood there, dragging her front paw through the earth.

More silence.

Finally Jayfeather couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm going to harvest some herbs. Would you like to come?"

"Yes."

The blue she cat paced in front of the warrior den. A golden tom stepped into the sunlight, blinking in the sudden brightness.

"Finally, you're up! I've been waiting forever. When are we gonna start training?" Rainpaw asked impatiently.

Lionblaze chuckled. "My, you're certainly as excited as a Clan-born apprentice. I'll take you out with Dovewing and Ivypool," his ear flicked. "She's still sleeping. I wonder..." he muttered almost to himself.

"Um, hello? Wake her up and I'll get Twilightpaw and Applepaw." Rainpaw dashed across camp to find her friends.

Lionblaze shook his head. He padded back into the darkness of the warrior den and gently shook Ivypool.

"Ivypool," he whispered. "Are you in Dark Forest?"

"Ivypool." he shook more vigorously.

Ivypool blinked awake.

"I'm up, I'm up," she yawned. Catching a look at Lionblaze's intent expression, she cocked her head. "Is something wrong?"

"Were you in Dark Forest?" he asked quietly.

"No. It's nice to get a full night's rest again." she stretched. "Where's Dovewing?"

"Somewhere with Bumblestripe, I think."

A mrow of happiness escaped Ivypool's lips. "Lovebirds."

"Yeah, well Rainpaw wants to get training with Applepaw and Twilightpaw. Maybe we should teach them Dark Forest moves?"

The question hung in the air as Ivypool fumbled for options.

"You mean you want me teaching them battle moves that the most evil cats the Clans have ever known taught me?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. Apparently, Jayfeather had a dream and Firestar told him to accept these cats into the Clan. Probably another looming battle."

"I just don't think I'm ready to teach anyone those moves. Maybe later, but just not now." Ivypool shook her head to clear bad memories from her mind.

"Okay, just the easy stuff." Lionblaze backed out of the den with Ivypool in tow.

Once again blinking in the bright sunlight, Lionblaze scoured the camp for the three apprentices. At the edge of camp, near the tunnel, stood the apprentices. They had an animated conversation and he spotted Jayfeather and Flutterpaw leaving.

"Come on." he told Ivypool and set off toward their apprentices.

"I sure wish Dovewing was here." Ivypool said loudly and for no apparent reason.

"Hello, Applepaw and Twilightpaw. Hello, Rainpaw." Lionblaze greeted.

"Hiya, Lionblaze." Applepaw said brightly.

"Are we going now?" Rainpaw scowled.

"As soon as my sister gets back." Ivypool replied.

Dovewing raced through the forest, faster than ever before. Bumblestripe was pressing at her heels. Hitting sand, they slowed. At the water's edge, they stopped.

"That was fun, Bumblestripe." Dovewing grinned.

"Yeah. You're fast, too." Bumblestripe panted and lapped water from the lake.

Dovewing took the opportunity to expand her hearing. A kit was whining in RiverClan, Blackstar was taking some fresh-kill to his den, a cat she didn't recognize caught a hare in WindClan. She checked the ThunderClan camp.

"I sure wish Dovewing was here." she heard Ivypool say.

Dovewing rubbed her ear.

Bumblestripe gave her a concerned look. "Ears hurt again?"

"No, not really. I just think I should get back," Dovewing said a little sadly. "I think Twilightpaw would want to train. Kinda weird having an apprentice, even weirder to have one older than me."

Bumblestripe looked disappointed.

"We can hang out later!" Dovewing promised.

"Okay," Bumblestripe said dejectedly.

Dovewing toned her hearing down to that of a normal cat. She ran back to camp dodging trees and brambles.

Eventually, the gorse tunnel came into sight. Dovewing burst into camp, seeing Twiligthpaw.

"Hello, Twilightpaw. Hello, Rainpaw and Applepaw." Dovewing purred; she was in a good mood.

"Where's Bumblestripe?" Ivypool teased.

"Probably at the lake," Dovewing answered. Then, more quietly. "I heard you." she added.

"Let's go already. Dovewing's here, so let's a-go." Rainpaw impatiently kneaded the soil.

"We're going." Lionblaze told Rainpaw. Rainpaw is gonna be a lot harder than Dovewing. Lionblaze thought sullenly.