Chapter 3
Fluttershy took in the scene around her. Her and her friends were standing just inside a large clearing, with a barrier of thorn bushes and oak trees. Around the edge of the clearing, hollow oak trees or large bushes seemed to make rooms. Closer to the center of the clearing, a large rock with an overhand stood tall, with a dip in the ground under the overhand.
"Stay here." instructed Nightleaf. Nightleaf then padded up to the dip in the ground, said a few words, and came back with a large golden tabby tom following her. The tom's amber eyes shone bright, and seemed to hold authority in them. "Lionstar, here they are." Nightleaf said.
"And you are?" asked Lionstar.
"Fluttershy..."
"I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"Rarity." Upon saying this, Rarity posed.
"Ah'm Applejack."
"Hello, Lionstar. I'm Twilight Sparkle."
"And I'm Rainbow Dash!"
After each one said their named, Lionstar nodded. "Badgerfang!" he called. A large, muscular, black tom with a white stripe from nose to tail tip padded out from one of the large bushes. Upon coming close, he closely inspected the six newcomers, and nodded slowly. When Lionstar twitched his tail, he, Badgerfang, and Nightleaf padded a few paw steps away and began discussing something.
Fluttershy glanced around nervously. From some of the bushes and hollow tree, cats padded out into the open, curious of what was going on.
Finally, Lionstar turned around. "Would you care to join WoodClan?" he asked. "It would do you well. After all, you don't know these parts as well as we do, and we can answer some of your questions while teaching you to train and hunt." The word 'hunt' echoed in Fluttershy's mind for a moment, but she shook it away. He must be meaning something else.
The six friends glanced at eachother, and then Twilight Sparkle stepped up. "We will accept your offer, Lionstar." she meowed.
"Very well." meowed Lionstar. "Come along." Lionstar leaped onto the top of the rock, and yowled, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"
"Prey...?" Fluttershy gasped. "They catch... p-prey here?!" At home, she had been friends with the wild critters, and was quite fearful for the small critters of this forest. She slowly padded closer towards the rock and sat down between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. As soon as she sat down, a horrible thought crossed her mind; Will I have to hunt prey?!
Lionstar began speaking from the top of the Highrock. "Nightleaf, Badgerfang and I have made a decision to admit these newcomers into our Clan." he meowed. "Their current names are Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash." A few cats meowed approval of them, or murmured opinions, before quieting down again. "We will admit them to our Clan as full warriors, although they will still have mentors." Upon hearing this, a couple of cats momentarily looked confused until others whispered to them, and they were no longer confused.
Lionstar continued to speak. "Fluttershy, please step forward."
Fluttershy stepped forward, but only a mouse-length. "I-I can't..." she meowed.
"What?" asked Lionstar. "Why not?"
"I-I... I can't hunt the critters... I just can't..." she replied. To her surprise, Nightleaf flicked her tail, and Lionstar nodded. Nightleaf then walked right up next to Fluttershy.
"Lionstar," meowed Leafshade. Her meow rang out around the clearing, so that each cat heard her. "If she will not fight, then I'd like to take her on as an apprentice. She can train in that of healing and interpreting signs, if she wishes."
"Oh, yes!" meowed Fluttershy. "I'd much rather do that! I-If that's okay with you."
"Very well, Fluttershy." meowed Lionstar. "From this day forward, until you are a full medicine cat and accepted by StarClan, you will be known as Brightfeather." Nightleaf then came up and touched noses with the newly named Brightfeather. They then sat together at the front of the crowd of cats, just as Pinkie Pie was going up.
"Pinkie Pie, do you wish to be an apprentice warrior?" asked Lionstar. Once Pinkie Pie nodded and began bouncing, he continued. "From this day forth, you will be known as Dawnlight. Your temporary mentor will be Crowtalon." A sleek, black tom with small, brown eyes padded up to the newly named Dawnlight. Just as they were touching noses, Dawnlight accidentally bounced forward and hit both of their noses.
"Yow!" yowled Crowtalon, holding his nose with one of his front paws. "Be more careful, will you?" He glared at Dawnlight, although she seemed to take no notice. He quickly touched noses with her and padded with her to the edge of the crowd. Now Rarity padded forth.
"Rarity," meowed Lionstar. "Do you wish to become an apprentice warrior?" Rarity nodded. "From this day forth, you will be known as Icefur. Your temporary mentor will be Badgerfang." Badgerfang quickly touched noses with Icefur, and padded with her next to Nightleaf and Brightfeather.
Brightfeather was then distracted. She wasn't quite sure from what, but she saw rustling in a nearby thorn bush. She watched it closely, and thought she heard hissing and irritated meowing. However, when she looked back at the meeting, Rainbow Dash was padding back to the crowd with a silver tabby she-cat.
"Brightfeather! Dawnlight! Icefur! Appleheart! Duskshine! Rainpelt!" the Clan yowled. Brightfeather quickly understood who was who. Eventually, the clearing quieted. Cats were doing their own things, and the new warriors were padding up to Brightfeather. But as Dawnlight opened her mouth to speak, a loud yowl rang out, and every cat in the clearing turned to see rows of cats streaming into the clearing.