every shecat is innocent

every time i remember splashtail is in top tier of my character ranking i get very embarrassed. i cant remove him though because hes up there for a reason and i am an honest person

i talk more about my issues with the newer arcs than i do the older because even when i strongly dislike a plot point the more time passes and the more cemented into canon it becomes the harder it is for me to see the story going any other way. the biggest example of this is probably leafpools death (not even that long ago!) i mean we all know the decision to kill her off in a super edition via random rockslide was deeply evil but squirrelflight choosing to live without her sister and consequently experiencing absolute misery for the rest of her days has become so fundamental to her character for me that i just struggle to conceptualize a world where it didnt happen

after bramblestar dies at the end of ALITM squirrelflight tries being leader for a week or two really she tries. but the entire clan is a mess& they do nothing but undermine her again and again and when she goes to get her nine lives and maybe she sees leafpool and her family and comes to some kind of realization shes been putting off her whole life. or not her whole life, maybe this is what shes wanted all along but now that its here she suddenly doesnt realize why she wanted it so badly to begin with. (this is assuming a lot of her ability for personal reflection and change at this point in her life) either way something clicks and she doesnt tell anybody what it is but this is how we get cinderstar. bless