A Look at Dustpelt’s Life by Briarpaw

Briarpaw shares the story of Dustpelt’s life.

Hi! It’s Briarpaw, but you can call me Ria, and I’m back with another article! I thought I should write one about Dustpelt. Ideally, Dustpelt would get a Super Edition, but since I don’t have time to write one of those, I decided to just write an article. Dustpelt is a character who many don’t like because he is supposedly grumpy and grouchy all the time. I can’t say I blame him. He has gone through a lot during his life, and he is underrated. I wanted to give him a chance to be in the spotlight.

Dustpelt has been confirmed to be the son of Robinwing and Fuzzypelt, and his brother is Ravenpaw. Well, towards the end of Bluestar’s Prophecy, Fuzzypelt Retires to the elders’ den. And neither Robinwing nor Fuzzypelt are in Into the Wild. Which means they died. Dustpelt was a very young apprentice in Into the Wild, so he was probably was still a kit or had just left the nursery when they died.

Then, at the beginning of Into the Wild, Redtail, Dustpelt’s Mentor, is murdered. That was devastating to Dustpelt, and he was grieving for a long time. Redtail was brave and loyal, not to mention the deputy. Darkstripe, who he was apprenticed to after Redtail’s death, was probably just not the same.

At the end of Into the Wild, Ravenpaw flees ThunderClan from Tigerclaw, and is dead to the clans. I feel Dustpelt was probably grieving for him, too. He does mention that he doesn’t like Ravenpaw, but I think he was secretly sad.

Now we are going to skip to The New Prophecy arc. Between The Darkest Hour and Midnight is a happy time for Dustpelt, as he and Ferncloud become mates, and they have two litters of kits: Spiderkit and Shrewkit, and Hollykit, Larchkit, and Birchkit. They will end up having seven kits, the most of any Warriors couple. Then things start to go downhill again.

In Midnight, it is a harsh leaf-bare and there is not much prey to be found. One day, Shrewkit who is now Shrewpaw, goes out with his mentor Thornclaw on a hunting patrol. While there, he sees a pheasant big enough to feed the whole clan on the Thunderpath. He chases it across, but does not watch for monsters… In the end, he is struck by one and dies a noble death, fighting to feed his clan. The first of five kits to die during his lifetime was dead.

Now to Moonrise. The leaf-bare combined with the destruction of the forest does not help matters with prey. Ferncloud does not have enough milk to feed her litter, and little Larchkit dies of starvation. Ferncloud and Dustpelt grieve for her.

Next we have Dawn. Still a cold leaf-bare with not much prey to be found, along with the destruction of the forest being worse. Hollykit is too weak too deal with this, and she ends up dying of the cold. Dustpelt and Ferncloud are filled with grief, and they hope little Birchkit, the strongest of the litter, will survive to become a warrior. Fortunately, he does (and he is still alive, as of Lost Stars).

Not much happens in Power of Three, except that they have another litter of kits, Foxkit and Icekit, so let’s skip to Omen of the Stars.

A lot happens in OotS. Mostly in The Last Hope. To Dustpelt’s despair, Ferncloud is cruelly slaughtered by Brokenstar while protecting the nursery. Dustpelt sees Ferncloud’s spirit before it joins StarClan.

Dovewing’s Silence. Dustpelt is still shaken by the loss of Ferncloud. Unfortunately, more is about to happen. Foxkit, now Foxleap, is seriously injured in the battle with the Dark Forest. He is with Jayfeather in the medicine den for a while, but then dies from his injuries. Poor Dustpelt.

Now, in between Dovewing’s Silence and Bramblestar’s Storm, Icekit, now Icecloud, succumbs to greencough. I am assuming that Dustpelt was very upset about this.

Now on to Bramblestar’s Storm. There is a big battle with badgers, and Dustpelt dies of his injuries. His spirit rises up to join the ranks of StarClan, but you see Ferncloud’s Spirit weave around him, and all of his lost kits welcome him. While I was sad about this, I was happy he could be with his family again. Only two of his kits were still alive when he died, and Spiderleg joined in A Vision of Shadows.

I hope you liked this article. Thanks for reading! Ria out!