The morning sun peeked out from its starry bed, creating a shadowy silhouette on the pelts of a few warriors, as the apprentices were still sound asleep. They all gathered around one cat in particular, eyes expecting as she opened her mouth to speak.
"M'kay, guys. Ya'll know what today is, and we need to be as quiet and as fast as possible in order to make this the best day ever for her. Today is her sixteenth birthday, so this needs to be as special as possib-"
"Wait, why are you in charge of this? And how is she sixteen? We're cats. We can't be sixteen," argued a golden tabby. "This is impossible. I would know."
"Well, I'm in charge because this is my story," the black she-cat hissed. "Yah don't get to write everything here."
"Shadowheart," a voice piped. The medicine cat was thrashing his tail, though he looked slightly amused. "Furth wall."
Both the golden tabby and Shadowheart snorted, a smile coming to both of their faces. "Heh, furth wall."
A russet she-cat rolled her eyes. "Guys, seriously. This is important. We all know this is important. So stop questioning her, Honeysong."
The she-cat pouted, but soon she flattened her ears. "Okay, fine. But only for you."
"Thank you. Please continue, deary."
"Thanks, Otterstar. As I was sayin', this needs to be special. When a girl turns sixteen, it's the biggest step in her life. She's gonna be a woman, or at least that's how it works in this stor-"
"Furth wall," the medicine cat said again.
"Oops, sorry, Cloudstorm." Shadowstorm clapped her paws together. "Okay, so who's in charge of food? That includes fresh-kill and the cake."
"That would be me," Otterstar said, her russet pelt rippling as she got to her feet.
"Okay, awesome. Who has decorations?"
"That would be the apprentices and myself," Honeysong informed her.
"And entertainment?"
"That would be myself," Cloudstorm meowed. "With help from you, of course."
"Purrfect," she purred, getting a snort out of Prin- Er, uh, Honeysong. "We have until Mousestep wakes up, which knowing her, means that we have all day. So get a move on-"
"Wait!" interrupted Honeysong. "You aren't even halfway through the one-shot yet. This is bad writing, very bad. There needs to be more description and maybe some more stuff on Mousestep. This is bad, very bad."
"Furth wall," Cloudstorm hissed, which went ignored by the she-cats. Wow, could girls talk.
"I'll go back and edit later. I promise. I want to get a skeleton goin' first without scarring my characters forever." She frowned. "Mousepaw didn't deserve it," she added quietly.
"Furth wall," the medicine cat hissed again, this time louder. Being the only male, he once again went unheard.
"I know you, Shadowheart. You aren't going to remember to edit later."
"It's already been stated in the story multiple times! Of course I'm goin' to remember. I can do it right now if that will please yah."
"It won't," the golden tabby stated.
"It should."
"But it won't. You have to do it later, when you've gotten all the general stuff down."
Shadowheart rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Just remind me later."
"I can do that," Otterstar meowed quietly.
"Thanks," the black she-cat purred before glancing towards the sky. "We should get a move on. I mean, Mousestep won't be up for quite some time, but that doesn't mean we get to laze around. Go, go, go, and make sure ya'll are quiet about it. Also make sure not to break the furth wall. I think Cloudstorm has had enough of it."
The tom nodded sharply, smiling as he was finally acknowledged. "Come on, then. Let's take care of entertainment, Shadowheart."
"Just a sec." The she-cat turned to the cats, who still had not left to do their jobs. Wow, what lazy cats. "Remember, ya'll, that today is about Mousestep, not about partying. This is for her because we love her like she's our sister. Remember that she's not only the deputy, but a great friend. Do your best for her."
The group of cats nodded. "Got it," they piped up in unison, which made them all laugh.
Shadowheart purred. "Good, good. TacoClan, roll out!" The she-cat skipped away, leaving Cloudstorm to chase after her.
After a lot of unnecessary walking, Shadowheart skidded to a stop. "So, any ideas for entertainment?" she asked the medicine cat.
"Well, I snatched her iPod, so if I can figure out this password, we'll be set on music," the tom said, reaching from a pocket in his pelt and taking out a small squared device. "See?"
"Purrfect. Good job, Cloudy. Let me see it. I bet I can crack the code." Cloudstorm tossed the iPod, and by some miracle, Shadowheart caught it. She smiled before pressing four numbers. '0 0 0 0'. The iPod clicked before unlocking. The she-cat rolled her eyes. "Figures."
"Wow, how predictable. Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you're a medicine cat," she stated matter-of-factly. "And I'm a teenager."
"But so am I-"
"Furth wall," she hissed playfully, tossing the iPod back to him.
"Okay, so that's music. Anything else?" he asked.
"Well, let's think." And think they did. For the next few hours they discussed entertainment, setting up playlists in Mousestep's iPod and complaining about the fourth- excuse me- furth wall.
When they arrived back at TacoClan's camp, it looked like a party god had graced it. There was a big banner that said 'Happy birthday' hung up above the warriors' den. Streamers and balloons were everywhere. How cats managed to hang all that up was a mystery, but they did it. There was also a table set up, where the cake and a big pile of presents resided. It was just how Shadowheart had imagined it. Now all they had to do was wait for Mous-
"Surprise!" the cats suddenly yelled as the deputy emerged sleepily from the warriors' den. Mousestep's fur was bristling and her eyes were wild. That was one heck of a surprise, that's for sure.
The brown tabby's eyes were locked on the group of smiling cats. She was silent for too many heartbeats. "Wha? It's not my birthday."
"What?!" Shadowheart screeched.
"Haha, just kidding." Mousestep smiled. "Thanks, guys, but you didn't have to."
"Of course we had to. You're special to us, and this is the most important birthday of your life." She added quietly, "Or at least that's what society wants us to think." The black she-cat smiled. "You're a great friend and amazing perso- cat, and we definitely had to do this for you because we love you."
The deputy purred. "Love you, too, but seriously, you didn't have to. My birthday was a couple of weeks ago."
"Of course we- Wait, what?" Shadowheart blinked a couple more times than she should have. "Last week?"
"Yeah, last week…"
"FFFFFF-"
ATTENTION. THIS PORTION OF THE ONE-SHOT HAS BEEN CENSORED TO PROTECT YOUR INNOCENT MINDS. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS THAT SHADOWHEART HAD THE WORST BREAKDOWN OF HER LIFE. NOW PLEASE, CONTINUE THE STORY WITHOUT WONDERING WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN.
"Anyways, happy berated birthday!" Shadowheart smiled. Her eye was twitching, and her whiskers were drooping. Her ear twitched as she heard a cough, and she turned around and faced the cats behind her. "What?"
"It's belated, darling," Otterstar told her.
"Oh…" Shadowheart collapsed on the ground. "Ugh, I give up. Just go open your presents and eat your cake so I can go to sleep and post this one-shot. And I swear to StarClan, Cloudstorm, if you tell me that I've broken the furth wall one more time, I'm gonna snap."
"You mean you haven't already?" piped up Honeysong.
"Shush, you." Shadowheart looked over to the birthday girl again. "Go do whatever. It's your party."
"Uh, okay… Thanks?" Mousestep padded towards the table and pawed through it. Eventually, she settled on grabbing the cake and tearing off a piece. She tossed a piece at Honeysong, and it hit her straight in the face.
The golden she-cat yelped, which was weird since cats don't yelp? Or maybe they do. The author isn't very sure. "Wasteful," she said, pouting. "Wasteful, wasteful, wasteful."
Shadowheart smiled and got back to her paws. She ran over and tackled Mousestep, who yowled and laughed as they tumbled into the table. Presents fell onto them, and they laughed harder. "Smooth, Shadow."
"I know I am," the black cat purred. "I'm so amazing."
The deputy smiled. "Go to sleep, dearie. I'll wake you up when we decide to eat cake or something."
"Okay, thank you." Shadowheart stumbled away, ears twitching as she heard the sound of laughter behind her. She dropped into her nest in the warriors' den and passed out.
"Shadowheart? Shadowheart, wake up. Wake up… Wake up!"
She blinked her eyes open and yawned. Looking around, she realized that she couldn't see. After looking more carefully, she realized that there were cats blocking the entrance. "Brightpaw?"
"Finally! We've been trying to wake you up since forever! You sure are a heavy sleeper. You missed the cake." The small she-cat smiled. "We saved you some, though."
"Uff, I missed the cake? Damnit!" Shadowheart leaped to her paws and pushed past the apprentices to see a whole cake (minus the chunk Mousestep had thrown earlier). She turned around and hissed playfully at the apprentices before skipping over to where the warriors were gathered.
"Though today is not technically my birthday, this is the best birthday I've ever had. It's all thanks to Shadowheart. Without her, none of this would have been possible. I love all of you."
"Ohpah!" Shadowheart screeched.
Mouseheart rolled her eyes. "Ohpah indeed."
AN- Happy belated birthday, Shimmertail!
I wanted to finish this on your birthday but I ended up not and I'm sorry love. :c