Applepaw's Moonstone Journey

The moon was pale and low as morning crept up onto the sky. The clouds sported soft pink outlines, making the sky above glow with an odd kind of youth. It was still far too early for any reasonable cat to be awake, but today was special to Spiderquill. His first day 'on the job', so to speak. A real Moonstone journey, his first of hopefully countless others. His heart raced with happiness and excitement as he swallowed his share of herbs, a wide smile covering his grimace at the bitter taste. He grabbed another swathe of herbs and trotted put of the medicine den, heading for the apprentices' den. He had to hold himself back from running, there were cats asleep after all. He poked his head into the den and placed the herbs next to a ginger tom. "Hey Applepaw, you all ready to go?" He spoke in a soft whisper so as not to wake the others.

Applepaw looked up. Standing up, he ate the herbs. ”Ugh!” he spat, gagging on the last one. Shaking his head, he looked at the medicine cat. ”Yep! I’m ready. he said. Spiderquill has just been named a true medicine cat, and Applepaw was happy for the tom. He had been anxious for his Moonstone Journey, as both Poppypaw and Nightwolf has taken theirs. Of course, he had always been last of the litter. He had been the last apprenticed, and now the last for the Moonstone. He assumed he would be the last to become a warrior. Poppypaw’s ceremony could be any day now.

Spiderquill smiled at Applepaw's disgusted face, remembering his first time taking herbs. He had been so, so small back then. He'd come so far. His smile faltered a little as he led the apprentice out of camp, preparing to once again make the arduous journey to Highstones. "So, Applepaw, are you excited? You must've worked really hard to get to this point, right? What does it feel like, being so close to becoming a warrior?"

Applepaw nodded. ”It’s been a lot of hard work. But I’m proud of myself! It’s exciting be at the point where I will be a warrior very soon!” he grinned. Once he got home, Ivystar could have his ceremony any-day, and he would be a strong warrior, like Addershade, and Nightwolf. Spiderquill has just become a medicine cat, so he understood somewhat the feelings Applepaw was experiencing. Although he would miss training with his father, he could still patrol with him anytime.

Spiderquill smiled warmly at the apprentice, relating to what he was feeling. The temperature rose with the sun as they travelled, making the journey a lot warmer and more comfortable than his first had been.

--Time Skip--

As they finally approached Highstones, Spiderquill faced the young tom who accompanied him. "Okay Applepaw, it's gonna be pitch black in that tunnel so stick close to me. If anything happens, uh, just yell. You'll be fine though, it's just a straight path. Er, right. Onwards." He cringed a little at his 'pep talk', he hoped he'd get better at this with time. He descended into the tunnel, making sure Applepaw was close behind.

Finally, the glowing blue Moonstone came into view. As they approached it, Spiderquill looked at Applepaw and smiled. "Alright then, this is it. Lay down and press your nose against the stone whenever you're ready, you'll fall asleep and... Well, you'll see. It's really cool, I promise." He really hoped it would go better than his medicine cat ceremony, hopefully StarClan were kinder to apprentices of the warrior type.

Applepaw nodded excitedly and touched his nose to the glowing stone. Soon, he was in Starclan’s territory. Excited to meet one of his ancestors, he looked around, ready to meet a Starclan cat. Soon, he saw the tom approaching.

"Good to see you up so fast; some cats take a little longer," a gravelly voice meowed with curt observation. The tom was a dark-coated tortoiseshell with amber eyes the wide paws and shoulders of a RiverClan warrior. His face had once borne a crisscross of scars from a raccoon, but the evidence was removed upon becoming a celestial being and now his face was simply a stern expression. He dipped his head. "My name is Mottledspark, son of Reedclaw and Songleap. I was a warrior under Jaystar, leader before Ivystar." His eyes glinted as he examined Applepaw. He knew his name, and some about him, but he wanted to hear it from the tom himself - the all-knowing aspect of being a StarClan cat could feel so patronizing sometimes. "Who are you?"

Applepaw nodded as the warrior introduced himself. ”I’m Applepaw, son of Addershade and Lightsong.” he said, just as Mottledsoark had. It was a bit awkward and very formal, but the ginger tom anted to make a good impression on his ancestor. He gazed at the starry figure, trying to recall the name. He hadn’t heard any of the cats the Riverclanner had said, except Jaystar. He had heard of him.

Mottledsparked nodded in acknowledgement of Applepaw's proper introduction. Maybe it was a little formal, but, well, the young tom truly wouldn't have much of a way of knowing Mottledspark. He'd died before Applepaw's parents had even been born. "Always a pleasure to meet a proud member of RiverClan," Mottledspark answered, and then he began to turn and swept his bushy tail for the apprentice to follow him. In the blink of an eye, they walked beside a starry river. Mottledspark turned to look aside at Applepaw. "Is there anythin' you want to know? You came all this way, so you must wonder somethin'."

Applepaw nodded, following Mottledspark. As they stopped by a river, Applepaw asked, ”Do you know what happened to Torrentstar?” he asked. He didn’t remember any explanation. Torrentstar returned home dead, and soon Ivystar was the new leader. He knew that Torrentstar had kits with Thornstar, but that was about it.

Hearing the apprentice's question, Mottledspark let out a short breath that sounded like something between a sigh and a snort. "Yeah, I know," he answered gruffly. "Not sure how the starry superiors'd feel about me rehashin' it for you, but I live for the excitement." The tortoiseshell warrior turned to the water and approach the edge, where he stared in. Starlight created a moving vision of the story Mottledspark told. "Long story short, he was punished for breakin' the warrior code. Short story long, he was out moping 'bout his failures when he got too near the border. He crossed, and one of the Righteous Few was waiting for him to make that one final mistake. They took his life for it - all his lives." The brutal scene was, thankfully, mostly a series of flashes of fur and claws that faded from red into the starry river once more. Mottledspark growled as it faded.

Applepaw watched the the scene as Mottledspark narrated it. His eyes widened. Atloutgh, it was good to know nothing like this would happen to him or his family, they were all pure Riverclan, He looked back at the Starclan warrior. ”Wow..” he said, not sure what to say next. He looked at the other tom awkwardly.

Mottledspark snorted mildly at the apprentice's somewhat lackluster response, though he recognized that Applepaw at least understood what he'd seen and why it had happened. Fortunately, the young apprentice wouldn't follow in Torrentstar's pawsteps - so long as he obeyed the code and let the leader's death be a lesson. Mottledspark didn't agree with how it had happened, but... sometimes extreme methods yielded desired results. Regardless, he was dead. What could he do? He said to Applepaw, "Torrentstar was a RiverClan cat through an' through, but in the end he was disloyal to his Clan. He broke the code when leaders're meant to lead others t' follow it. Maybe there are gray areas, maybe not, but matin' with the ShadowClan leader was 'bout as wrong as it could've gotten."

Applepaw nodded. It made a lot of sense. He looked at Motteldspark, wondering if he had anything else to say before the apprentice would wake up. Although it was pleasing to know what happened, it did sprout some worry in his mind. He hoped nothing like that would ever happen to Applepaw, or his family. Again, not sure how to continue the conversation, the apprentice started at his starry superior until a question struck his mind. ”Any advice? On being a warrior?” asked the tom.

Mottledspark was mildly unnerved by how often the apprentice just silently and uncomfortably stared at him. The white tip of his mottled tail twitched with mild annoyance as he wondered if he should come up with something else to say or just hurry and send the apprentice on his way. Upon hearing Applepaw's question, though, his impatience tapered. "Advice on bein' a warrior," Mottledspark echoed in a gravelly mutter, considering everything he had learned and been through when he was alive. He nodded once, looking at Applepaw again. "Yeah. I have some advice.

Know yourself. Know what you believe in, an' stand for it. Don't let anythin' change it. Your loyalty as a warrior is t' RiverClan. The cats in it are gonna change; your kin, your leaders, your loved ones, your denmates. RiverClan has been here for generations, and it'll be here for generations more. It's your duty to be strong, be true, be loyal, and be RiverClan." Mottledspark nodded sagely, looking intensely into Applepaw's eyes. "Do you know what it means to be RiverClan?"