Poppykit's Pain

## Summary

### Summary:

Poppykit and Icekit were sister and brother. All they needed was each other. Could sickness stand in their way?

*"Love can make anyone do evil, even the ones with the nicest of hearts..."*

-Magpietail to Blackstar in the prologue

**Poppykit's Pain** is the first super edition of the MidnightClan series.

## Blurb

*Poppykit and Icekit were sister and brother. All they needed was each other. Could sickness stand in their way?*

## Plot

Blackstar is walking through a green forest, where a squirrel begins to run away from him as if it wanted to be chased. Magpietail approaches Blackstar and asks why he's so glum. He says he's enjoying a peaceful walk, but she then repeats the word "enjoy" sarcastically, since he looks troubled. Blackstar admits he's worried about the prophecy, but Magpietail reminds him that Bramblekit and Fluffykit can keep a secret. He says he's also worried about his granddaughter, Bluelight, but Magpietail reassures him that Sunstar will make sure she's fine and reminds him that he was the one to appoint him deputy in the first place. Blackstar sighs that he's worried about Poppykit and her brothers. Magpietail says that love can make even the nicest cats evil.

Poppykit and Icekit are pretending to be warriors, as they rush up to their mother, Silvercloud, while yowling battle cries. They act as if Silvercloud is an attacker while leaping and pouncing on her several times, until Silvercloud tells them to go play outside with Bramblekit and Fluffykit. The kits noticed the very large fresh-kill pile and Icekit suggested to hide in it and surprise the warriors. Poppykit says that's a mouse-brained idea, but finally gives in and follows her brother into the fresh-kill pile.

The kits giggle as they wait for their first victim. Snownose suggests for Foxstrike to have a quick snack, where he says he really can't wait to sink his teeth into a meaty squirrel he saw. Icekit and Poppykit stay silent when they hear Foxstrike approach the pile. The siblings jump out of the prey and leave Foxstrike in shock, until he realizes that it's Silvercloud's kits. He doesn't seem pleased, until he hears the apprentices giggling behind him. He turns his head around and Poppykit and Icekit run away quickly to the nursery, where Bramblekit and Fluffykit are.

Bramblekit tells them to get into the corner of the nursery so Sandfur, Winterfang and Silvercloud won't hear. Poppykit waited to hear what Bramblekit did, since he always did things he wasn't supposed to. She recalls one time when Bramblekit climbed into a hole in DryOak and hooted like an owl until all the queens rushed their kits into the nursery, in fear of their kits being taken by the "owl". Bramblekit says he snuck out of camp and went into the forest, where he said there was several thin trees that didn't have leaves, but Poppykit says that was probably grass. He said he then scented an unusual smell and followed it, where he found a large fox den. Bramblekit said there was a fox, but it was a cub. He said the fox cub started to sniff him, and says that its breath smelt like a bunch of yucky stuff mixed together, so he left and came back to camp. Poppykit suggests that they play "Foxes vs. Warriors" and that two of them will be foxes and the other two will be warriors. As they begin to play, Winterfang says to Silvercloud that although kits can be a nuisance sometimes, they can also be outright adorable.

Sunstar and the cats going to the gathering begin to depart. Poppykit felt envious that she and her friends couldn't go to the gathering, but Bramblekit says that they can go to the gathering too. Poppykit thought that Bramblekit was planning to follow the patrol from behind so they could get to RedStone, but he says they'll hold they're own gathering as warriors of "BeetleClan", with Bramblekit as they're leader, "Bramblestar". Pinekit approaches them, pretending to be a ShadowClan warrior, and creates a threat. Bramblekit tells BeetleClan to attack Pinekit, but Winterfang says they should already be sleeping by now.

Poppykit wakes up in the night, and sees two amber eyes glowing. She tells herself that it's just her imagination, and remembers Bramblekit's story. The kit then smells fox and springs to her feet, but turns out there was no fox. Feeling embarrassed, she tries to go back to sleep, but lets out a cough. She thinks that it's the bedding, but realizes that the bedding is still fresh. Poppykit remembers her dreams of becoming a loyal warrior, but then wishes she could stay in the nursery by her mother forever, rather than having to fight foxes or badgers. Fluffykit then appears under her mother's fluffy tail, and squeezes past it, flopping down next to Poppykit. She asks if Poppykit is excited to become a warrior, but she doesn't seem happy about the idea. Fluffykit assures her that foxes don't like living in Clan territory and that seems to calm Poppykit. They notice Pinekit holding leaves in his mouth and ask him what he's doing. He replies that Squirrelpaw got a thorn in her paw and that he's holding chervil and marigold. Fluffykit remembers one time she had a cough and had to eat some catmint and another herb, saying it was disgusting. Pinekit says it's not that bad and he's going to be Bluelight's apprentice, which shocks Fluffykit. He responds that he gets to heal cats and see StarClan every half-moon, he then leaves since Bluelight is probably looking for him.

Poppykit is surrounded by trees in the forest, being all alone. She calls out if anyone is there, but no response. Several pine trees that sparkled in the moonlight stopped shimmering and dark clouds rolled over the dark blue, but bright, sky. Thunder boomed while lighting struck, frightening Poppykit. She wonders why there was lightning and thunder, but no rain falling. The clouds got lower and lower until the she-kit could fell them at the tips of her fur. The clouds then started whirling like a hurricane around Poppykit. Several voices speak of a tabby warrior who will rise above the stars and rule the Clans. Poppykit is confused and hollers that she doesn't understand. Suddenly, the lightning, thunder and clouds disappeared and Poppykit felt a paw prodding her and realizes it was only a dream. Bramblekit tells Poppykit that they're going on an adventure and Poppykit gets up to follow along.

The air was so chilly that Poppykit could see her own puffs of breath. Bramblekit says that they should try and climb on top of all the dens. The kits all squealed with excitement. As their adventure started, hopping and tripping on sticks and stones. They hid in the bushes every time a Clanmate passed by them. Fluffykit said that they were almost at the medicine den. The kits climbed up the rough boulder cave and were then looking at the camp from a bird's eye view. Icekit says they should come up here everyday, while Poppykit says this is how Sunstar must feel like on DryOak. Bramblekit inclined that the bramble bush on the apprentices den is more higher. Poppykit and Fluffykit says it wouldn't hurt to try and that they should do it. They climbed over the warriors den and the elders log and then made it on the den. Poppykit feels a large tickle at the back of her throat and let out a few dry coughs and found herself still coughing and gasping for breath. She dropped to the ground in a coughing fit, Fluffykit asks if she alright but Poppykit only coughs in response. Suddenly, the ground beneath the kits broke as the den broke down.

*More Coming Soon!*

## Characters

### Major

* Poppykit
* Bramblekit
* Fluffykit
* Icekit
* Pinekit

### Minor

* Blackstar
* Magpietail
* Bluelight
* Sunstar
* Silvercloud
* Foxstrike
* Snownose
* Fawnpelt
* Lilywhisper
* Sandfur
* Winterfang
* Eaglesoar
* Squirrelpaw
* Silverpaw
* Dawnspots
* Birchpaw
* Blazepaw

## Trivia

### Mistakes

* Silverpaw is called 'Emberpaw' frequently throughout the book