MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/1/4

### Chapter 4: Zebrapaw & Stonepaw

A moon had passed since Snowstar became leader. It hadn't occurred to the Clan his name would be the same as the founder of SnowClan, but nobody seemed to care.

Snowstar ran the Clan pretty well, and had chosen Sealbranch as deputy. Her sisters, Hailstream, Sandleap & Rainkit congratulated her, and so did her brothers & mother, Birchkit, Quailpaw & Petuniaheart.

Zebrakit felt tired. He had wondered when it would be time for his & Stonekit's ceremony. It was now six whole moons away from their birth. He looked at his cousin, Mountainkit, and he was talking eagerly with Birchkit, Rainkit & Swankit.

*If only I was that talkative to other kits,* Zebrakit thought longingly.

He thought about his namesakes. His grandmother through his mother, Peonyclaw, a kittypet named Wendy, had went to the savanna before with her Twoleg and told Peonyclaw about zebras, striped animals. Wendy said her Twoleg called them "zebras", otherwise she used to call them "striped horses."

Zebrakit felt a little embarrassed his name was just something his grandmother's Twoleg called them, which wasn't even a cat word.

He scratched the nursery floor, out of impatience, and finally decided to look for Stonekit. She wasn't necessarily nice to anyone but her littermate, himself. She wasn't even nice to their parents, Blazesky & Peonyclaw, or Violetpaw & Firepaw, their brother & sister in their parents' first litter.

So he was the one to look for her.

*You are the only one to tame the beast,* said a voice in Zebrakit's head. It was Peonyclaw's voice, but he wasn't sure *she* was the one who actually said that.

He shook that off and kept looking. He finally found her by the rock slicing up a bunch of prey.

"What are you doing?! You're not supposed to do that!" Zebrakit yowled. Stonekit was about to protest but seemingly remembered who she was talking to, and swallowed. Then she replied calmly, "I can do whatever I want since I'm a kit, right?"

"No, you have to *eat* it. Not play with it! Like this!" Zebrakit protested, and then took a chunk of prey and dropped it into his mouth. "See!" he said, swallowing. Stonekit yawned in boredom and said, "Whatever. When is our ceremony, anyway?"

"I dunno," Zebrakit replied, his anger fading away. "We're exactly six moons old."

Then he spotted Snowstar talking to his father, Blazesky, and Snowstar nodded. Then he leaped up to Highrock, and did the formal StarClan sayings. Zebrakit & Stonekit looked elated, and cats started gathering. Zebrakit remembered that it was also his siblings' warrior ceremony.

"Zebrakit & Stonekit, you both have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, under the moon, until you receive your warrior name, you will both be known as Zebrapaw & Stonepaw. Your mentors will be Sandleap & Nightnose. I hope they will pass down all they know on to you."

*"Zebrapaw! Stonepaw! Zebrapaw! Stonepaw!"* the Clan cheered.

Zebrapaw spotted Birchkit staring warily at him & Stonepaw. He simply ignored him and touched noses with Sandleap. It felt weird that his mentor was the leader's daughter, and his much older cousin.

Snowstar continued , "I, also call upon our warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices, Violetpaw and Firepaw. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. By the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names." He continued the ceremony and they were Violetrain and Fireclaw.

*"Violetrain! Fireclaw!"* the Clan repeated.

Snowstar concluded the ceremony, and Zebrapaw wondered what he should do now. "Do we train?" he asked Sandleap.

"Sure, if you want to," she answered calmly. "We can do fighting training."

"Well, I do," he replied, thinking about what his warriorhood would be like.

Then they trained for about an hour in a quiet, secluded area, where no one would usually bother them. But then he noticed Birchkit eating a mouse and watching them. It made him feel uncomfortable, so he asked Sandleap if he could take a short break, and she agreed. She must also have felt uncomfortable with her brother watching them, seeing this was her very first time as a mentor.

"Birchkit, can you please play with your friends? We're training right now," Zebrapaw requested Birchkit.

*"Why?* When your father trained Sealbranch as an apprentice, he let me watch!" Birchkit said defiantly and walked away.

"Phew, I felt nervous with him watching! Let's continue," Sandleap said calmly.

After another hour or so, Sandleap said, "Wow, you have very interesting methods, indeed, Zebrapaw! Keep up the nice work!"

"Thanks, Sandleap," Zebrapaw replied quietly.

Then four kits went up to Zebrapaw later when he was eating a snowshoe hare. Three of them were his cousins, Birchkit, Rainkit & Mountainkit, but one was a kit he didn't know much. He tried to remember the name. Finally it came to him.

"Swankit? Birchkit, Rainkit & Mountainkit? What are you doing?" he asked nonchalantly.

"We're talking about how you made Birchkit sad!" blurted out Rainkit. Zebrapaw sighed.

*Kits are so emotional,* he thought. But then again, these kits were only two moons younger, Swankit and Mountainkit a quarter-moon younger than Birchkit and Rainkit.

"You were making me and Sandleap uncomfortable, Birchkit, and you didn't even ask her if you could watch," said Zebrapaw casually.

"So? How am I doing anything?" Birchkit yelled.

Zebrapaw sighed in exasperation. "Do you know what it is like to be watched when you are doing something that needs incredible focus? And if you make a mistake, everyone who is watching you will judge you based on that stupid mistake. But you aren't an apprentice yet so you won't understand until you *do* become one."

The four kits looked surprised but it didn't seem to calm them down. Instead Birchkit and Rainkit seemed to look angrier.

"That is a dumb explanation! *I won't judge you!*" Birchkit yowled. Rainkit fiercely nodded.

Zebrapaw shrugged in resignation. "Whatever! I am not going to waste any more precious time arguing with an immature kit! I will eat in *peace!*" Then he took his snowshoe hare and sat in his new den, the apprentice den. Then Stonepaw came up to him with a mouse.

"How was your training? I bet it was terrible," Stonepaw teased. Zebrapaw sighed. "Don't be so negative, please. Was *your* training terrible? Hopefully not otherwise you will take out all your frustration on me."

Stonepaw just raised her eyebrow and shrugged. "Fine, whatever. But Nightnose is just a tad bit weird so I got frustrated." She flicked her tail and sat down next to him with her mouse.

"But I did spot you with those really younger kits. What were you doing? Arguing with them? I doubt their mothers would be happy with you," Stonepaw continued, smirking. Zebrapaw sighed in exasperation again. "No, they were arguing with *me!* About how I didn't let Birchkit watch me while I was training with Sandleap. I thought it was ridiculous."

Stonepaw looked a little surprised but she just shrugged and replied, "Really? Well, then I agree with you. Kits like them are dumber than *newborns.* They shouldn't be so sensitive otherwise they will want to run away from the battlefield once they see AdderClan's fierce and killing glares."

Zebrapaw shrugged in reply, but in an appreciative way. His littermate was really annoying at times (and sometimes with extreme descriptions, too), but she was the only one who sided with him sometimes. He wanted to change the subject to something more meaningful, though, so he talked to her about their training, and Stonepaw complied.

After a while, they took a nap, and woke up the next day. Zebrapaw ate a mouse at the prey pile and looked around for Sandleap. She was talking to Sealbranch.

Then Swankit came and took a mouse, too, but she glared at Zebrapaw. Zebrapaw ignored her, of course. *I never thought these kits would have a grudge against me,* he thought angrily. It was annoying to him.

Then Sandleap went to Zebrapaw and asked him to train, and he was glad, so he did training with Sandleap again. Swankit was still glaring at him, though.

When he was finished, he decided to drink some water from a soaked moss ball. But then suddenly, he felt something pounce on him.

"Hey! Who in Silverpelt is that?!" Zebrapaw exclaimed and tried to throw it off. Then he turned around and saw it was Birchkit.

"Hmph, I learned some pouncing moves! See, I can also be an apprentice, too!" Birchkit yowled indignantly.

"That isn't what I said at all, I am pretty sure!" Zebrapaw groaned. "If you have nothing better to do, bother someone else like Quailpaw."

Then Birchkit's friends came. *Oh, great, what is their problem,* Zebrapaw thought, really bugged off by them now.

"Look, if you want to pick on someone, pick on Stonepaw," he told them. "She is probably more annoying than I would ever be to you."

Stonepaw was sitting at the prey pile somewhere within earshot and she glared at Zebrapaw, except in a nicer fashion, since she was only ever nice to him.

Then Rainkit told him something surprising. "Well, Stonepaw said that you were being weird, too."

Zebrapaw blinked. "Come again? What do you mean by being weird?"

Swankit pointed to a mouse at the prey pile and then pretended to snatch an invisible one harshly and eat it.

"Are you saying I stole a mouse?" Zebrapaw responded, somehow understanding what she said. "I am pretty sure the only mice I stole were from the prey pile itself, not from another cat because that would make no sense."

"Your sister, Stonepaw, stole a mouse from Birchkit yesterday and said that you told her to!" Rainkit fully explained, with a little anger in her voice. Mountainkit nodded.

Zebrapaw blinked a few times before understanding what she said. Then he looked at Stonepaw and back at Rainkit. "What are you even talking about? Why would I tell her that?" he exclaimed in disbelief. He didn't think kits were so gullible as to believe anyone, even if it was wrong. He never remembered him or Stonepaw being gullible like this. "Why would you believe her anyway?" he continued.

"Why not?" retorted Birchkit. Zebrapaw just sighed. *I will have to talk to Stonepaw about this,* he thought angrily, except his anger was redirected towards Stonepaw now.

But then Stonepaw came towards him first. "Hey, you said those kits were bothering you, right? So I gave them a taste of their own medicine," she explained casually.

Zebrapaw glared at her. "I didn't say you had to do anything. And why did you even throw me under the dirt? Did I ask you to?"

Stonepaw just shrugged. "Whatever, you did seem pretty annoyed about the kits."

Zebrapaw flicked his tail uncomfortably, since she didn't answer his second question. But he just decided to drink the water from the moss ball and left. The other five cats watched him leave. Zebrapaw went to the mouth of the apprentices' den and watched them to see what they would do. Then he heard a voice, which somehow seemed familiar.

"What were you doing?" asked Shadowpaw, coming up from behind him. Then he sat next to him. Shadowpaw's sister and littermate, Icepaw, also came up to him and sat next to Zebrapaw.

"I agree, what were you *doing?!* Were you *arguing* with them?!" Icepaw said to Zebrapaw loudly, which made him think that she was probably angry, too.

"They were arguing with me over something that Stonepaw did!" Zebrapaw answered her in a firm but respectful tone. "I thought it was ridiculous so I left the scene."

Shadowpaw perked his ears up. "Really?" he asked, a little bit confused but intrigued at the same time. "What was it about?"

Zebrapaw told him about how Stonepaw stole a mouse from Birchkit, and she did it because the kits were annoying him previously.

Icepaw looked astonished and exclaimed, "Really! She is a piece of dirt, then. But did you tell her to do it?"

Zebrapaw sighed. "No! Why does everyone think that? Do you think I would do that?"

Birchkit, Rainkit, Swankit and Mountainkit started running away from Stonepaw and she was chasing them. Shadowpaw and Icepaw noticed too and looked at Zebrapaw skeptically.

Zebrapaw groaned loudly and shouted, really pissed off by now, "You know what, let me end this once and for all!" Then he ran out of the den and asked, *"What are you doing?!"*

Birchkit yowled in reply, "She said that she would claw us up! And you are her brother and littermate, you know!"

Stonepaw growled, "They called me a piece of crowfood." Then she looked at Icepaw and hissed, "I also heard what Icepaw said about me being dirt!" Icepaw just shrugged dismissively.

Then Shadowpaw came to see what was going on. Other cats around them started to notice what was going on. "Stop yowling otherwise cats will hear you and be disturbed!" hissed Shadowpaw quietly.

Swankit looked between her older siblings and Zebrapaw and Stonepaw warily. Rainkit yelled at Zebrapaw, "Well, you still didn't apologize to Birchkit!"

*"For what?!"* Zebrapaw snapped. *"Shouldn't you be saying that to Stonepaw or something?!"*

Stonepaw just snorted and said firmly, "They could, but I will never oblige. And besides, you did start it."

Shadowpaw looked confused. "How did he start it?" he asked no one in particular.

Rainkit explained how he didn't let Birchkit watch him while he was training. Shadowpaw looked at Zebrapaw in a puzzled way again. "Well, that doesn't seem extreme."

Zebrapaw groaned very loudly that it could be heard across the camp. He yowled very loudly at everyone, *"You don't understand! I told him politely to play with his friends instead of watching me and Sandleap since we were getting nervous! What if we make a mistake while training?!"*

Shadowpaw raised an eyebrow, then rolled his eyes. "Really? As if *other* cats aren't looking at you while fighting." Most of the other cats that were there seemed to agree, including Stonepaw herself, which made Zebrapaw even more angrier.

He groaned even louder this time, getting the attention of everyone in the camp, and yowled, *"So?! I am not a seasoned fighter and Sandleap isn't a seasoned mentor! So that is why we were nervous because we didn't want to make mistakes! For full warriors it's fine but I just started out a day ago! We even went into a secluded place in the camp to train but Birchkit somehow found us!"*

Everyone looked startled then, including Sandleap, who was just talking with her sisters, Sealbranch and Hailstream. "Um, what are you talking about, Zebrapaw?" Sandleap asked with great puzzlement, since she recognized her name was said.

Zebrapaw didn't really have time to explain. *"I don't know why they were bothering me anyway!"* he yowled at everyone at the top of his lungs. *"WHILE I WAS JUST TRYING TO EAT, THEY SUDDENLY CAME AND STARTED ARGUING WITH ME ABOUT IT FOR NO REASON! THEN SOMETIME AFTER THAT STONEPAW STOLE A MOUSE FROM BIRCHKIT WHILE HE WAS TRYING TO EAT, AND THEN-AND THEN-AND THEN-"* He growled very explosively and lost control. *"THEY STARTED BOTHERING ME AGAIN AND BEING ANNOYING! THEN THEY TOLD ME EVERYTHING WHICH IS WHY I WAS SO ANNOYED!"*

Everyone was silent for a few seconds and looked stunned by his words. Swankit and Mountainkit looked fearful of him. Peonyclaw and Blazesky, his parents, looked shocked at this, especially. Then Peonyclaw asked, "Um, Zebrapaw, maybe you need to cool down a little, and try to get away from them."

Zebrapaw listened to her and shrugged. *"I suppose so! But they better not follow me again!"* Then he stomped out of the scene and over to the nursery which he thought was the safest place to be, leaving his tense words hanging in the air. He saw a queen which was about to give birth soon looked a little skeptical at him, but she just smiled. Zebrapaw didn't feel like returning it and mostly just ignored her and fell asleep quickly.

Sometime later, he woke up from his short nap and remembered what happened. *Hopefully it doesn't happen again,* he hoped.

He went out to get a mouse but then he noticed his mother talking to all of the apprentices and kits that had bothered him, including Stonepaw.

"Don't try to escalate simple conflicts about kit fights again, because MoonClan is a Clan of peace, as Moonstar intended it to be," Peonyclaw told them strictly, especially Stonepaw. "And don't try to fight other cats' battles without their permission unless they are in desperate need of help."

She padded away from the young cats and they were still a little confused. Then Stonepaw stalked away grumpily as her mother did.

Then the group of cats left noticed Zebrapaw watching them. Birchkit padded up to Zebrapaw with a mouse and put it down, and nudged it towards him.

"Peonyclaw told us to apologize to you for making a big deal out of it. I suppose I shouldn't have watched you without permission, but I thought that you would be like other cats who usually train out in the open," Birchkit explained apologetically. "I just wanted to be friends..." Rainkit nodded, and Swankit and Mountainkit followed.

"Well, I also thought that you were being rude to him which is why I was angry but you were actually being okay," Rainkit added in the same tone.

"Yeah, it was mostly Stonepaw's fault for escalating everything. You were just trying to mind your own peace but then your sister went behind your back and did that," Shadowpaw agreed with slight remorse in his voice. "We probably should have tried to understand your situation."

Zebrapaw was speechless as he hadn't thought about their quick apology. His mother, Peonyclaw, had a knack for making other cats' egos crack and making them submit to her, especially with kits and apprentices, but he hadn't thought about their reaction. He searched their faces for any signs of sarcasm or falsity but there was none, only friendliness. Then he forced himself to smile and he nodded.

"No, it's okay, I should have more polite with you, too, and tried to understand it from your perspective. You or Stonepaw aren't the only ones at fault," Zebrapaw replied understandingly and with humility. "I also should have let you watch so we could have become friends. I also shouldn't have yelled at the top of my lungs." He apologetically looked at Swankit and Mountainkit who he remembered looked fearful of him a few hours before.

"Well, we all have ego, right?" Shadowpaw joked. "We should all just learn how to lower it at the right time!" Birchkit, Rainkit and Zebrapaw chuckled, because they understood.

"What is ego?" Mountainkit asked Shadowpaw, and Swankit nodded. He simply replied that it was a thing which helps someone be self-appreciative and proud of themselves, and think of themself as a great cat. He also said that if ego was too high, then they would consider other cats as lower to them, and be too proud of themselves when they shouldn't be, and Zebrapaw thought that Mountainkit and Swankit understood Shadowpaw.

Zebrapaw thought that he could finally be friends with someone other than Stonepaw, as she definitely had different tastes than him. He was also very happy that he was accepted by them despite his loud outbursts and tough behavior with others, but he also had a good heart, which he figured was the reason why they connected.

He hadn't made friends with them before due to his thinking that they were too much younger than him, and neither with Shadowpaw, Icepaw or Quailpaw because he figured they were too much older (despite being only one moon older), and neither did Stonepaw. So he was only friends with his mother and littermate.

*Maybe I need to stretch my legs outside of the box,* Zebrapaw figured, and he asked the kits and Shadowpaw, "Do you want to play Moss Fetch?"

The kits and Shadowpaw eagerly agreed, and they swiftly went to playing the game. He thought his time as an apprentice was going to be much better than his kithood.
**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 3: AdderClanNext Chapter: Chapter 5: Primrosekit & Dandelionkit →*

*← Previous Part: Prologue: Beginning of the Mountain ClansNext Part: Part 2: Birchpaw's Training →*