Firestar's Birthday Surprise Firestar's Birthday Surprise
Summary: ThunderClan throws a party for Firestar's birthday. But with Cloudtail trying to save the party with a few twists of his own, and Ashpaw bringing back a few unexpected visitors, the party could go completely wrong.
A/N: This takes place during Darkest Hour, but pretend Longtail and Darkstripe don't exist, 'kay?
Dustpelt, Sandstorm, Ashpaw, and Brackenfur were on a hunting patrol. Normally, this wouldn't be strange. But of course, the fact that it was the day before Firestar's birthday changed everything.
Dustpelt stopped and turned to his apprentice. "What do you smell?" he asked.
Ashpaw stopped and lifted his head, tasting the air. "Uh… Uh… Uh… Uh… Uh…"
Sandstorm twitched her tail. "Out with it already!" she snapped.
Ashpaw's eyes widened as he spotted something in the undergrowth. "Ooh! Ooh! A vole!" He ran towards it, but he tripped and the vole scurried away.
"Nice try," Brackenfur muttered.
Dustpelt rolled his eyes. "Okay, Brackenfur and Ashpaw, the two of you go patrol the ShadowClan border. Sandstorm and I will go see if we can find anything."
The two of them quickly tracked down a few squirrels.
"Do you think this is enough?" Sandstorm asked.
Dustpelt shrugged. "Who knows? Firestar might invite Graystripe to eat with him, in which case we'll never have enough."
Sandstorm snorted. "You got that right. Let's take this back to camp."
Together, they brought the fresh-kill back to camp and dropped it onto the ever-growing fresh-kill pile. Dustpelt inspected the four foot high pile with a look of disappointment on his face.
"Somebody got a fish," Dustpelt muttered with a sideways glance at Graystripe. "But other than that, the pile seems good enough."
"Should we move it?" Sandstorm asked.
"Not yet," Dustpelt said. "Let's get all of the warriors into the warriors' den and we'll discuss the rest of the plan."
"You mean, the plan," Sandstorm said.
Dustpelt blinked. "That's what I said. The plan."
"No," Sandstorm said. "The plan."
"Okay… Sure," Dustpelt said. "Anyway, you get the warriors together. Meet me in the den. I'm going to go find out if Brackenfur and Ashpaw are back."
Sandstorm snorted. "How much you wanna bet that Ashpaw forgot about the ShadowClan border, ran over, and got caught?"
Dustpelt shook his head. "Ashpaw wouldn't—"
He broke off. He had been interrupted by a loud wail coming from the entrance to the camp.
"MY LEG HAS BEEN DESTROYED!" Dustpelt turned, and sighed. Ashpaw was screaming as loudly as possible. Brackenfur was carrying him by the scruff.
"Shut up!" Brackenfur snapped. "I'm taking you to Cinderpelt!"
Ashpaw gasped. "No! I can't go there! Cinderpelt will make me eat poppy seeds!"
"What do poppy seeds have to do with anything?" Dustpelt muttered to himself.
He turned around and saw Sandstorm walking along a line of warriors. Cloudtail reluctantly passed her a mouse; Thornclaw passed her a vole, and so on.
Dustpelt blinked. "What'd you do?" he asked.
"We took Sandstorm's bet," Cloudtail meowed sullenly.
Dustpelt blinked again. "Not very smart," he said.
"Got that right," Cloudtail agreed. He sighed. "I'm gonna go to the warriors' den and wait for you guys."
"You do that," Dustpelt said. Then he turned and stalked into the medicine den to check on his apprentice.
Ashpaw was lying on his back, refusing to take poppy seeds. "NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! I HAVE FREE WILL! THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY! BACK OFF! STALKER!"
Dustpelt blinked, again. "Ashpaw!" he snapped. "What in the name of StarClan are you doing?"
Ashpaw looked up. "Oh!" he said. "Hello Dustpelt. I'm refusing to take poppy seeds!"
"Why?"
Ashpaw blinked. "Because they're bad for kits," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You aren't a kit anymore," Cinderpelt pointed out. "You're an apprentice."
Ashpaw shook his head. "That's not what I mean," he said.
Cinderpelt turned her head to one side. "What in the name of StarClan are you talking about?" she asked.
Ashpaw glanced over at Brackenfur and Dustpelt. "I can't tell you in front of them," he whispered.
Cinderpelt sighed, and then turned to the two warriors. "Out, both of you," she said. "Ashpaw has something to tell me."
Ashpaw nodded happily.
Dustpelt sighed. "All right," he said. "Come on Brackenfur."
The two warriors sat outside the medicine den. Finally, Cinderpelt emerged, a troubled look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Dustpelt asked.
"Your apprentice Dustpelt," Cinderpelt began. She broke off. "Well, uh… How do I put this? He thinks he's having kits."
Dustpelt blinked. "Why?" he asked.
"Because he has a bit of a large stomach," Cinderpelt explained.
"Oh," Dustpelt said. "Uh… Tell him… Tell him not to eat so much fresh-kill."
"I'll do that," Cinderpelt said. "Now, don't the two of you have a meeting to go to?"
Dustpelt blinked. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "Come on Brackenfur!"
When they reached the den, the warriors were all talking excitedly. One high voice pierced the air.
"OMG! I like, can't wait until the party! I'm gonna like, paint my nails, and like, get all dressed up!"
Everyone was silenced, and turned to where the voice was coming from. Cloudtail was jumping up and down, looking extremely excited. Next to him, Brightheart was trying to pretend she didn't know who he was.
Dustpelt exchanged a glance with Brackenfur.
Cloudtail blinked. "Why's everyone looking at me?" he asked.
A voice called from somewhere. "Because you were just talking like a girl!"
Cloudtail turned bright red. He looked almost exactly like Firestar right then. Dustpelt blinked, and then groaned. "Why me," he muttered. He turned to Sandstorm. "Is everybody here?" he asked.
"Yup!" Sandstorm said. She sat down. "Okay, Dustpelt. You're the one who came up with the plan, so you get to tell the plan to the Clan."
"That rhymed!" Frostfur said happily. Dustpelt blinked.
"Right," he finally said. "This is the plan."
"You mean the plan," Sandstorm interrupted.
Dustpelt growled quietly. "Fine. The plan. This is the plan. Tomorrow, Sandstorm, Brightheart, and I will take out a hunting patrol to get more fresh-kill for the fresh-kill pile. Then Cloudtail will—"
"Ooh! Ooh! I know this!" Cloudtail exclaimed. "I, Cloudtail, noble warrior of ThunderClan, will rush to Firestar's sister, my mother, Princess, noble kittypet of Twolegplace, and ask her for—"
"Cloudtail!" Dustpelt interrupted. "Let me tell it. Okay. So Cloudtail will go to Princess and ask her for some of Firestar's old kittypet stuff. Then someone will get Ravenpaw and Barley. Then, when Firestar comes out of his den, we'll all jump out and yell, 'Surprise!'"
"That's all?" Goldenflower sounded surprised.
"Well, of course," Dustpelt said. "We don't need anything else."
Goldenflower shrugged. "I'll go hide." She disappeared. No, she didn't run off. No, she didn't step behind a rock. No, a giant stick of dynamite didn't fall from the sky and blow her up. She just disappeared.
Dustpelt blinked, but tried to hide his confusion. "Okay," he said, turning to the others. "Everybody get some rest. Sandstorm, Brightheart, and I will be hunting until sunhigh."
Everybody nodded, and, as if they had all taken sleeping drugs and they had started to take effect at exactly the same time, they all fell to the floor asleep.
Dustpelt looked up at the sky. "Great StarClan." Then he too fell asleep.
The next morning, Cloudtail woke early. He blinked his eyes open tiredly. Suddenly remembering everything that had happened the previous day.
He jumped up. Dustpelt had never told him when he had to do things. He ran out of the den, and then out of the camp, heading for Twolegplace.
When he reached, he spotted Princess sitting outside her Twolegs' nest.
"Princess!" he called. His mother's head snapped up, and a grin spread across her face.
"Cloudtail!" she exclaimed. "Oh, why are you here? I didn't expect you!"
"I know," Cloudtail said, running up. "Well, guess what? Today is Firestar's birthday, and I'm supposed to get some stuff."
"Oh really?" Princess said, sounding extremely happy. "Cloudtail that's wonderful! I have to come!"
"I dunno," Cloudtail said. "Dustpelt said –"
"Oh, forget Dustpelt!" Princess said. "Think about it! Firestar will be so happy! You'll be the savior of the party!"
Cloudtail's eyes sparkled with the thought. "I'll be Cloudtail, noble warrior of ThunderClan, savior of the party, son of Princess and Unknown, nephew of Firestar, noble leader of –"
"Yes, yes, we get it," Princess interrupted. "So what else do you need?"
"Oh yeah! I need some of Firestar's old kittypet stuff," Cloudtail said.
Princess looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh!" She turned and ran into the Twoleg nest. In a few moments she reappeared, holding a strange item and a Twoleg bowl in her mouth.
"What's it say?" Cloudtail asked, looking at the bowl.
"Rusty," Princess said, setting down the bowl. "So, you ready?"
"Yup!" Cloudtail said. He picked up the bowl and took off toward the ThunderClan camp. He left Princess there and then turned to go get Ravenpaw.
It was sun-high. Firestar blinked his eyes open tiredly, and looked around him. His den was empty, except for himself of course. He got up and stretched, and then headed out of the den.
The camp was deserted. At least, it looked deserted. Firestar narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly, Dustpelt, Sandstorm, Cloudtail, and the rest of the ThunderClan cats jumped out from their hiding spots.
"Surprise!" they yelled. Firestar blinked in surprise.
He turned to Graystripe. "What kind of weird dream is this?"
"No dream!" Graystripe said, walking up to him. "We're having a birthday party for you! And look who's here!"
The crowd parted to show Ravenpaw sitting there, smiling. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIRESTAR!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I GOT YOU A PRESENT!"
Firestar blinked. "Um…"
Ravenpaw ran up. "So what do you think?" he gestured with his tail toward a huge, gigantic cake.
"Well, it's…" Firestar trailed off. "It's very nice Ravenpa—" He was suddenly cut off by an exclamation from the camp entrance.
"I'M BACK!" Firestar turned to see Ashpaw at the entrance. "And I'm not alone! Look who I brought!"
Firestar's eyes widned and his jaw dropped when he saw Leopardstar, Tallstar, and Tigerstar standing at the entrance to the ThunderClan camp.
"Ashpaw, what were you thinking?" Dustpelt groaned. "You're insane!"
"No I'm not," Ashpaw argued. "I brought Firestar's leader friends! And Tigerstar brought a present!"
"Tigerstar brought a present?" Firestar exclaimed. "What do you mean –"
"Enough jokes at my expense," Tigerstar growled. "Here's your present." He stepped to one side, and a massive St. Bernard puppy ran into camp.
Firestar's jaw dropped.
Tigerstar smirked. "Happy birthday Firestar."
A/N: How was it? Good? I hope so. Anyway, R & R!
Off to take over the world,
Crazy Girl