Firepaw, Your Mentor Shall Be Longtail

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“From this day forward, until he has earned his warrior name, this apprentice will be called Firepaw, in honor of his flame-colored coat.”
Bluestar stepped back and, with the other cats, waited silently for his next move. Without hesitating, Rusty turned and kicked dust and grass over his collar as though burying his dirt. Longtail growled and limped out of the clearing toward a fern-shaded corner.

"Longtail, stay where you are, if you please!" Bluestar meowed, sporting a grim smile. "We're not quite finished here."
Longtail felt the urge to growl again, but thought better of it. Although Bluestar appeared composed, he knew that what she was about to tell him was quite serious. Perhaps a reprimand for attacking the newcomer, who was now known as Firepaw. The tabby glanced at the ginger tom in disgust, determined to view him as nothing more than a pathetic - albeit lucky - kittypet, regardless of his name. Firepaw only looked back at him apologetically, which only fed his anger. Anger that distracted him from the pain of his injured ear.

"Longtail, you challenged Firepaw to prove his worth as a Clan cat," Bluestar announced. "Not only did Firepaw respond appropriately to your challenge, but he handled himself well and ultimately proved more than a match for you. Not only that, but it was you who freed him of his Twoleg collar. I take this as a sign from StarClan that you are destined to be his mentor. Longtail, you were Darkstripe's apprentice. He has taught you well and you have become a fierce and loyal warrior. I hope you will pass some of these qualities on to Firepaw."

Longtail's jaw dropped, and a deathly silence ran through the camp. A far cry from the aftermath of most of these ceremonies. The cats around them began to mutter but they were not the kind, excited mutterings of congratulations but amusement and scandal. Out of the corner of his eye, Longtail saw Darkstripe - his former mentor - whisper something to Mousefur and the pair of them snickered unkindly. He glared at Firepaw, his new apprentice, who looked equally uncomfortable. Bluestar's eyes darted between the two expectantly, imploring them to complete the ceremony and touch noses. All Longtail could do was glance at the stunned Firepaw and bristle visibly.
"How do you think I feel? My first apprentice is a kittypet! Not exactly something I should thank StarClan for!"

-

An AU that explores the idea of Longtail becoming Firepaw's mentor, in light of him being the one to challenge his entry into ThunderClan.

It's always kinda bothered me how the relationship between these two was never fully explored. It would've been cool to have actual development of them becoming proper Clanmates and learning some actual respect for one another. The moment where Longtail saves Fireheart from drowning should've served as a powerful moment but it's cast aside very quickly and no real development went into their relationship up until that point and afterwards. Longtail went from mocking Fireheart for being a kittypet to saving his life with no real explanation. It's not stated that it's only friendly teasing (as was the case with Shrewclaw and Talltail) or that Longtail was really a jerk with a heart of gold who, while not liking Fireheart, did not want to see him dead. The latter would've been easy to cover in a few lines of dialogue but it never is.

So, yeah, I like the idea of these two being forced into a situation where they have to get along, work together and ultimately learn to respect one another. I also like to think that Longtail would take no shit as a mentor to Firepaw, especially since Firepaw isn't as rash or as vicious as he is. 

Forest background is by Chantalwut: Forest background
I would've made my own but my old tablet was glitching pretty bad and I really wanted to finish this, so there you go. c: