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Defending Appledusk and Reedshine by Sparktooth

Sparktooth defends Appledusk and Reedwhisker’s relationship.

Artist unknown

Hey bloggers! Sparktooth is back! I hope people won’t stop reading my articles just because I wrote this one. I get there are a lot of people who hate these two, but give this article a chance. I have nothing against people who hate them, but it surprised me how much people hated them just because Appledusk ‘cheated’ on Mapleshade with Reedshine. So I’m gonna list three reason why you should re-consider hating them. Also (as I state in almost all of my articles) this is my opinion. I respect yours so please respect mine. 🙂

First things first: these two aren’t a bad couple if you think about it. Reedshine had no idea Appledusk originally was with Mapleshade. She just liked him and since he didn’t seem to have any mates in the clan, (that’s because he had a Thunderclan mate at the time) she wanted to get his attention. Like at the Gathering. Plus, she was brave and defended Appledusk when Darkstar was considering exiling him. I’m pretty sure Appledusk loved her back. Only because he jumped in front of her and sacrificed his life so she and her unborn kits would live. That’s actually really sweet.

Okay, on to number two: Appledusk had a right to turn his back on Mapleshade. Like I stated in my last article about Mapleshade, what would you do if your so-called mate killed your kids? You’d think she’d at least wait until the storm was over to cross the river. Perhaps Appledusk saw this behavior as a bad sign. Maybe he ended up loving Reedshine and wanted to stay with her (that’s true love right there if you ask me). But the reason I think is most likely that he stayed, was that Riverclan was his true home. Just like how Graystripe ended up in Thunderclan after living in Riverclan for a while. It was his true home. So, in some ways, I’d say Appledusk made the right decision.

Don’t worry. This is the last reason. Number three: If Appledusk and Reedshine were never a couple, some characters would’ve never existed. Mapleshade herself says in Crookedstar’s Promise that Reedshine had a daughter, and she had a son. And that son was Shellheart, Crookedstar’s father. If Shellheart never existed, Crookedstar and Oakheart wouldn’t have, so Silverstream or Feathertail and Stormfur wouldn’t have either. Even Mistystar and Stonefur wouldn’t have been alive, etc. So this couple helped some big characters come into the story. And I’m certain about one thing: the story wouldn’t be the same without those characters.

So what did you think? Did I prove my point or do you still hate this couple? (Please, no rude comments). What should I do for my next article? Until next time! 😀

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53 comments

  • Wow this has made me look differently at these two! I still like Mapleshade but you made very good points. I like how you pointed out how Reedshine defended Appledusk and then how Appledusk sacrificed himself to protect her so that their kits could live (since his other kits died and MaplexApple never worked out). That is very sweet. 😊 I love mates who are very loyal to each other and would die for them, cause that’s got to be a great relationship for that to happen. Great job! 👍🏽😉🙂

    • Tysm! 😀 I also like mates who stick together and are willing to die for each other, too. Glad to know you liked it!

  • Great article! You brought up some good points, however I’m still not a fan of this ship. (But you made me like it a little ) 🙂

  • Nice article!

    I think Mapleshade, Appledusk, and Reedshine should not be respected at all. Yes, this includes Mapleshade. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MAPLESHADE’S VENGEANCE.

    Mapleshade shouldn’t have killed all those cats, whether in hallucination or not. But she wasn’t as bad as some cats who killed cats for no reason at all. Appledusk shouldn’t have blamed Mapleshade for the death of their kits, which is the part where I disagree with you here. She had not choice but to leave during the storm. Appledusk rejected any help from Mapleshade when she needed it. Mapleshade felt betrayed when he rejected him. Reedshine is the one that I really don’t like. She just told Mapleshade that Appledusk loves her. I might be wrong, though. I haven’t read the book in a while.

    But of course, all this wouldn’t have happened if Oakstar wasn’t there.

    • I agree. Especially with Oakstar, he treated her kits like monsters when he found out the truth. Well, except with the Reedshine part, I don’t dislike her, but I don’t think she’s very smart.

  • I accept your opinion, but I have to disagree.

    Firstly, did you want her to live alone with three helpless kits in the wild? Is that what she should have done? Hmm? It’s not Mapleshade’s fault that Oakstar decided to banish her. In fact, it’s Oakstar’s fault for banishing a mother and her three kits into a storm.

    It’s okay that Reedshine loved Applebutt.

    But Applebutt cheated on both of his mates, then. He was a butt who couldn’t think twice about anything but his own happiness. He coldly rejected Mapleshade when he very well knew that it wasn’t her fault that the kits died. And then he immediately jumps onto Reedshine for support and used her love for him against her so that he wouldn’t be exiled. He was probably establishing a relationship with her while he “loved” Mapleshade, so that he had someone to carry on his blood if something happened to Mapleshade and their kits.

    Oh, and also, don’t you think Mapleshade and Appledusk could have had another litter together HAD DARKSTAR AND APPLEBUTT LET HER STAY? And a kit of that litter could give birth to Shellheart, and so on.

  • Wow, I never remembered how much I may have overdone it by saying stuff like ‘I hope people won’t stop reading my articles just because I wrote this one’ or ‘please, no rude comments.’ Sorry about that. 🙂

  • I have nothing against Reedshine, I personally don’t like Appledusk and don’t agree with number two. The Thunderclan cats might have killed her if she waited to cross. We know that Frecklewish was watching, who knows what she could have done. Great article btw!

    • Aha! Caught you mod! Icy, Chickendance or Russet? Or some other speedy mod? What, no of course I wasn’t stalking the page!

    • I totally understand why you don’t agree, and you made pretty good points. But I have to disagree with your disagreement.

      I know Mapleshade was in a hurry to get out of ThunderClan territory. But if I was her, I would’ve head out of Clan territory and waited until morning to cross into RiverClan territory. Only because I would never risk the lives of young kits. She sort of dug her own grave when she had the kits cross the river and they drowned. But, you know, that’s just my opinion. I can see why you made your points. 🙂

      I’m glad you liked it! 😀

    • Yeah, Reedshine wasn’t at fault for really anything.

      But Appledusk… I really, really despise him. He had every right to do what he did, but the way he handled it he was so rude and cruel, and I think he started seeing Reedshine while he was in a relationship with Mapleshade…

      (Also, we have pretty similar names! How cool is that?!)

  • Nice job!!!!!!
    i have a soft spot for half-clan couples anyway, but the way her kits died is just sad.
    but yeah, Appledusk had his reasons!

  • Another brilliant article Sparktooth!!

    I like Mapleshade, but I DO NOT ship her with Appledusk so yes I support ReedXApple

  • whoa! I never though about these two being responsible for my favorite character, Stormfur! this article has amazing points, much better then what I can do! Amazing job, Im starting to understand them more!

    however, I see Mapleshade as a mother driven to insanity by loss. But I don’t think it was just the loss of her kits, It was the loss of the one she loved, Appledusk, I now understand appledusks decision to reject her, but I don’t think he should have automatically assumed she killed the kits, though your right, she should have waited to cross the river/ call for help

    • Thank you so much, Spoopy Whomping Willow! (Lol that username is halarious 😛 ).

      I totally see your points. But killing is just plain wrong, no matter what drove you to do it. I understand that her kits kept calling to her and she wanted to avenge them, but you still shouldn’t kill cats and say “I hope you die in agony!” Which is very cruel. Also other queens have lost their kits in the series, but they never went mad or started going on a murder spree. Plus if you were Appledusk, what else would you think? He was blinded by fury thinking Mapleshade murdered their kits, and that gave him a right to leave Mapleshade. 🙂

      • Doesn’t change the fact that Appledusk never loved either of his mates. He most likely just jumped in front of Reed because she was carrying his kits and it’s the goal of every male to pass along his bloodline especially when it comes to felines. He still lied to his clan by saying the kits weren’t his which wouldn’t have mattered either way because they were dead. Thunderclan was in a very bad place back then and I wouldn’t put it past them to have tried to kill Mapleshade if she waited any longer. I hold nothing against Reed because she didn’t know but Apple didn’t deserve any of them.

  • I can agree that Reedshine is innocent and undeserving of hate. After all as far as she knew Appledusk had seemingly no mate and Appledusk did nothing to spur her advances. Reedshine like Mapleshade fell in love with a guy who really was more concerned with his own happiness. The only reason we could see her as bad is because Mapleshade’s the narrator and we’re reading the story from her POV.

    Also one thing I want to add, Mapleshade didn’t KILL her kits. I don’t know where you got that idea, but her kits died because it was storming and she wanted to get her kits to RiverClan as soon as possible while on a time crunch courtesy of Oakstar for kicking her out. Sure maybe Mapleshade shouldn’t have braved the river but what other choice did she have? It was either brave the river or leave ThunderClan territory and hope that nothing outside the territories gets her kits while she searches for a way to get into RiverClan WITHOUT going through ThunderClan. Ultimately Mapleshades kits died because of Oakstar throwing them out. While he was upset he shouldn’t have thrown 2 moon old kits to the storm.

    Anyways now onto Appledusk. I don’t see him as justified in anything. He mated with Mapleshade, and when she’d lost her kits and her home he tossed her aside. He didn’t even know his kits names, didn’t care that he was tossing his grieving and miserable mate aside, because he already had a new one and he didn’t want to lose his clan. I know the Erin’s have apparently said Appledusk loved Mapleshade, but clearly he didn’t love her enough to be there for her and clearly he didn’t suffer any when their kits died cause Reedshine was already on the way to having more.

    If Reedshine was already pregnant by that point, I think he may have betrayed Mapleshade’s love long before she came to RiverClan after losing her kits. So essentially he cheated, his actions of mating with Mapleshade cost Mapleshade everything including her kits, and he came off scotch free. Is he the most evil cat in existence? No, but he’s a cheating jerk who abandoned the mother of his kits and spared his dead kits no mind. So his defending Reedshine in the end does little since he already abandoned one mate and kits and said mate was now back for revenge. Plus Mapleshade was gunning for him anyways. But lashed out at Reedshine after Reedshine aggravated her.

    So in the end Reedshine I will agree did nothing wrong here, but Appledusk is a grade a jerk who abandoned his mate and kits.

    • Agreed.
      Lol sorry I change my mind a lot but let’s just say I’m neautral on both sides of this debate. I like how Appledusk died defending Reedshine and how she defended him. However I hate how Appledusk tossed Mapleshade aside like she was nothing and totally get Mapleshade’s desire for revenge.
      “I have no quarrel with Reedshine or Mapleshade. Appledusk will always be my problem (he’s so complicated that I don’t know what to think of him).” 😛

    • How exactly did Appledusk abandon his kits?? He was extremely excited when he found out Mapleshade was pregnant, and he stated several times he was proud of his kits. He even attempted to rescue them from the dangers that Mapleshade put them through! He obviously cared for them a lot and was devastated when he pulled them out, dead. And the reason he was mad at his former mate was because it was her irrational decision that lead to his children drowning.

      He may be a bad mate but he’s still a good father.

  • Sparktooth, you stepped on my soft spot this time.

    Talking about Feathertail not existing is enough to make me like these characters more. (Heehee)

    • XD that’s really funny. Someone commented earlier something similiar about Stormfur not existing. I agree, though. Feathertail not existing would be really sad.

  • im not mad at reedshine but i don’t like appeldusk. he lets mapelshade alone after she got his kits. and he was cheating on her.( another thing. you could say mapleshade loved to much. ashfur could also have killed 4 cats. why mapleshade dark forest ashfur starclan?)