magpie’s life has been difficult from the very beginning. she was named softkit by her mother, birdflight, and her father, shalestripe. along with her brother, wolfkit, she was born into a clan that valued strength and bravery above all else. however, from the start, shalestripe was not interested in either birdflight nor softkit, and focused all his attention on training his only son to be a warrior. this left softkit feeling neglected and isolated, feeling as though she had no one to rely on in her own family. wolfkit did not even get along with his father, however, and would often attempt spend time with softkit. whenever they had the chance, they would play games and have fun, but their time together was limited due to shalestripe’s constant interference. as they grew older and became apprentices, their lives became more regimented and serious.

when softkit turned 6 moons old, she and wolfkit were given their apprentice names, softpaw and wolfpaw. softpaw was mentored by her grandmother, milkystar, who she tried to impress as she trained. over time, softpaw grew into a skilled apprentice and was determined to become a loyal and respected member of rainclan. however, tragedy struck when softpaw was 8 moons old, and her mother died of greencough, along with the clan's deputy, maggottail. milkystar decided to appoint shalestripe as the new deputy, hoping he would help her grieve the loss of her daughter as they led together. to their dismay, both milkystar abs softpaw were horrified to see the tom show no remorse for his mate's death and instead dive headfirst into his new role as deputy.

during this time, softpaw met a loner named cloud by the river. the two hit it off and began to visit each other regularly, with softpaw intrigued by cloud's life and the stories she had to tell. but despite softpaw’s tales, cloud showed no interest in joining the clans. softpaw shied away from telling cloud the dangers of clan life, such as the nightly patrols and the need to protect the clan at all costs. when softpaw finally became a warrior, she proudly shared her new name, softheart, with cloud. however, softheart continued to neglect to warn cloud about the dangers of visiting the clan's territory. when cloud decided to secretly visit softheart in celebreation, she was caught and killed by shalestripe, much to softheart's horror. shalestripe claimed he had killed cloud in self-defense to protect his clan, but softheart was disgusted by his actions and him showing yet again a lack of remorse. she decided to leave rainclan for good and set out to start a new life elsewhere, away from the violent and uncaring ways of her father and clan.

she left at 12 moons. young and alone, softheart resided in cloud's old nest for the first several moons away from rainclan. during this time, the young she-cat decided to rename herself magpie to rid herself of all clan ties. she was forced to flee her nest when it burned down during a particular harsh thunderstorm only a few moons later, forcing her to move to a small ravine closer to the more populated twoleg area. she enjoyed watching the life of both twolegs and the forest, often climbing trees at the border of rainclan and spotting patrols. every so often she would spot her father, but appearances grew fewer and she stopped searching, in hopes he had died. whenever loners or kittypets came upon her, she was quick to drive them off. she preferred her solitude, getting lost in outlandish plots of revenge for her lover. this was exacerbated by the fact that she was heavily tormented by cloud, the she-cat’s ghost bitter over her death. magpie spent years like this, all alone. her patrolling of the rainclan border began to slow, losing hope in getting back at shalestripe as it was unrealistic on her own.

one day, magpie decided to travel to the clan’s celestial falls, their holy grounds to reach starclan. she hoped to communicate her rage about her family’s falling apart, but was met with no response. she angrily made her way back to her camp, figuring starclan had turned their back on the she-cat just as she did rainclan. however, that evening, magpie was visited in her dreams by a mysterious white and grey cat, donning a similar heart-mark on her pelt. the she-cat introduced herself as crystalrain, magpie’s grandmother, or more specifically, shalestripe’s mother. she informed magpie that shalestripe was not only now shalestar, but on his last life due to the tom’s frequent careless behavior. crystalrain further explained her displeasure in her son’s following of his father, as her own mate had killed her during an argument, insisting it was magpie’s duty to end the cycle. to do this, though, magpie would need a way back into rainclan.

to help, crystalrain offered to reach out to pebblefang, her daughter and shalestar’s littermate, who still resided in rainclan as an elder. the senior she-cat was equally disturbed by her brother’s actions and callousness, remembering her mother’s death and always knowing something was wrong about the circumstances surrounding. pebblefang agreed to begin falsifying omens for the medicine cat to come across in addition to crystalrain’s false prophecy, ultimately predicting something terrible was coming as a result of shalestar’s actions. at the same time, they left suggestions that this impending destruction could be prevented by a mysterious cat, leaving dead magpies to imply it would be magpie herself. these signs left rainclan anxious and uncomfortable, many losing trust in shalestar as the signs were accurate to his previous behavior.

magpie arrived once tension was high enough, strolling into camp and challenging her father. she reminded the clan of her departure and why she left before revealing that she had, supposedly, seen shalestar leaving camp frequently to meet with a secret group of cats near her ravine. with the clan already on high alert from the omens, they easily believed magpie over shalestar. however, enraged by the false allegations, shalestar attacked magpie and the two become interlocked in a brawl. shalestar had the upper-paw, being a larger tom, but magpie was much nimbler and could dodge many of her father’s blows. the two continued until magpie had shalestar pinned, ready to land her killing blow and followed through with no hesitation.