WARRIORS - The Pony Prophecy

Chapter 10

Trixie's POV 

The dark brown tom with ginger patches, who I now knew was called Redshadow, stepped forward to address Ripplestar. "They handled the fox well yesterday," he meowed calmly, "My patrol watched them for a while before we intervened, and..." Redshadow paused, looking at Starlight, "Starlight, was it?" The silver she-cat nodded, and Redshadow turned back to Ripplestar. "Starlight made a smart move in climbing up a tree to get away from it with her friend."

Ripplestar twitched his ear as Leafwing spoke next. "Dawntail has shown her approval, and she does make a good point about their courage. I see no reason not to let them join the Clan. They have the potential to become strong warriors."

"Very well," the leader replied, "Then I shall perform their apprentice ceremony when we get back to camp. For now they will be permitted to stay here until we leave." I nodded my thanks before Starlight nudged me, gesturing toward a group of cats sitting near some bushes. The two of us padded toward them, and Firepaw as well as another she-cat, who I recognized as Applejack, followed behind us. As we got closer, I was able to recognize certain features, such as tabby stripes, swirls, and other markings. 

I then understood why Starlight wanted us to come here. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were the cats she'd noticed, along with three other cats. A small gray she-cat who sat close to Fluttershy, a sand coloured apprentice with a ginger chest and paws, and a blue-gray and white she-cat. 

Twilight's ears perked up as we approached, and I knew she and the others recognized us. "Starlight! Trixie! There you are!" she called, "We got worried when none of the leaders mentioned you two."

"Yeah, I guess Ripplestar isn't very accepting of cats who aren't part of a Clan," I replied. Firepaw nodded, confirming what I said.

It was the blue-gray and white she-cat who spoke next. "By the way, you should probably start referring to each other by your Clan names now," she meowed, "That's what Firepaw, Fernpaw, Featherpaw and I have been doing. I'm Bluepaw by the way." Twilight and Rarity nodded and introduced themselves as Duskpaw and Snowpaw. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy said they were now called Dashpaw and Softpaw. And Applejack and Pinkie Pie were Spicepaw and Bubblepaw. 

"Trixie and I don't have our Clan names yet," Starlight told them, "Ripplestar said he'd do the apprentice ceremony when we got back to camp."

"That's fine," Fernpaw, the sand coloured she-cat, meowed. "You can tell us later along the border." 

I nodded and looked toward the large tree in the middle of the island where the leaders sat. The four cats were talking very quietly amongst one another, and to my surprise, they kept glancing directly at us. The black and white tom looked toward where the medicine cats were sitting and turned back to face the other leaders, nodding at something one of them said. 

After a few moments, each of the four leaders leapt down from the tree. Seeing this, many cats began rising to their paws and rejoining their Clans. 

"I'm guessing that means the Gathering is over?" I asked, turning back to face Duskpaw and the others. They all nodded and stood up.

"We'll have to stay with our Clans for now, but we'll see each other along the borders, and at the next Gathering," Softpaw mewed as she and Dashpaw began to join the other WindClan cats. Starlight and I headed toward the rest of ThunderClan, quickly catching up with them. 

As we were led through the forest, I began observing as much of it as possible, knowing that very soon, Starlight and I would have to learn the territory anyway. When we finally arrived back at the ThunderClan camp, Ripplestar jumped up onto a large stone ledge where his voice rang out clearly through the camp as he called the Clan together.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!"