A Walking Chestnut - Rewritten

Chapters

Chapter 1: Home is where the family is
Chapter 2: Whole New World
Chapter 3: A Chestnut goes for a Jog
Chapter 4: A Broken Window and a Butterfly
Chapter 5: A Chestnut thinks of Food
Chapter 6: A Chestnut Meeting Chicks

Chapter 1: Home is where the family is

Down the street of a small city near the edge of nowhere, between nothing junction and dead dream boulevard, walked a young man wearing as unassuming a getup as a man could ever wear under the hot sun of late spring.

A black v-neck t-shirt, a pair of knee-length olive green shorts, and a grey cap. The only article of clothing that differentiated the man from any other run-of-the-mill person out on the street, was a steel chain necklace with a small Star of David attached, the tiny metal hexagram tucked under the man's shirt, away from the sun's rays.

And that man's name was Samuel Cohen.

And he was a piece of work...

Samuel Cohen, or Sam, sometimes Sammy, had a normal early childhood.

He grew up in a loving home with loving parents and had an adorable loving little brother who was just a bit over four years younger than him.

He had an awesome uncle and amazing grandparents, and everything was perfect.

Until it wasn't.

It was a foggy autumn day, sometime in the middle of October, when Sam returned home from school only to find the house empty.

That wasn't that unusual for the boy, his mom worked long shifts at some no-name warehouse, his father basically spent half his life at the local synagogue, and his little brother liked to visit his friends and hang out at their place instead of coming home from school, so Sam simply assumed to himself that that day was one of those rare instances where everything fit together to make him the only one home.

And you know what that means? He's got the television all to himself!

As soon as Sam finished his homework, he turned on the TV and entered the streaming service his Uncle decided to get the family, he opened up some random action movie about spies, a mission-impossible clone, and started his real study session.

Sam liked to watch these types of movies and also shows about police officers that for some reason have Ice-T in them.

He knew the movie sucked, you didn't need to be a cinematic connoisseur to understand why the film got 61 on Rotten Tomatoes, but Sam didn't care about the movie. As far as he was concerned, the real movie started when the characters started to run.

He watched that chase scene from that movie four times in a row, having to turn back the film every ten minutes just so he could rewatch that one scene, noting down in his mind all the little details he could about where the stunt performers placed their hands, the position of their bodies before they jumped, which actors had wires and which didn't, he noted it all.

That movie, that cheap 6/10 clone of a much more successful and better-directed movie, would end up being Samuel's most hated movie.

Not because it was that bad, it was a boring movie that would in any other case be a forgettable moment that he would not remember. No, the reason that the movie earned its place as Sam's most hated work of fiction is because 1 hour and twelve minutes into the movie, The phone rang.

"Hey, That ringtone's the same as our landline," Sam pointed out with a chuckle, And he was correct, the phone in the movie had the same ring as Sam's house's landline.

And it was because of that tiny little detail, that Sam did not hear the actual phone in his house also ring at the exact same time, and thus did not answer.

It was getting late, The sun was already setting, and his parents and brother weren't home yet.

Sam decided that they must have had some issues with wherever they were, and everything was fine. At times like these, it was Sam's duty as the eldest in the house to lock the windows and door, make sure the spare key was in its place, make his own dinner, shower, and end his day on his own.

It was the start of the weekend anyway, it's not like his brother's going to be late for school tomorrow if he doesn't come home in time.

And so Samuel Cohen went to sleep, seeing nothing wrong with the day.

When he woke up the next day, getting out of bed in order to turn off the alarm on his phone that screamed at him to wake up, Sam quickly entered the shower and got himself refreshed before putting on some sporty clothes and entering the living room.

Seeing that nobody was there, Sam assumed that his parents were still asleep and that his brother stayed the night at a friend's place.

Drinking a morning glass of water and putting on his shoes, Samuel went outside, grabbed the spare key to the house and put it in his wallet, before he started running.

"The Deli should be open," He told himself with a smirk as he made his way to his Uncle Moshe's Deli.

But not in any regular way, no, Samuel had to actually exercise this morning.

He started it off by running down the sidewalk, and when the turn in the road came, he kept running straight ahead, crossing the street and the sidewalk on the other side, onto the lawn on the house in front and jumped over the fence at the side of the house, entering the backyard.

"Good Morning Miss Mable!" Samuel yelled in greeting to the old lady who lived in the house he was currently trespassing on.

"Are you going to the Deli? Bring me something vegetarian! Okay?" The old lady called to him, a soft smile on her face as she sat in the rocking chair, watching the teenager jump out of her backyard over the fence on the other side.

On the other side of the fence was a small slope, Sam pulled into a roll as his feet touched the ground before he jumped back up and kept moving as if he wasn't on the floor moments beforehand.
The slope led to a small river that passed by, Sam jumped onto a stone that someone, definitely not Sam a few months back, placed in the stream to act as a way to pass the river without getting his feet wet.

Jumping off the stone, still running, Sam made his way up the slope on the other side of the river, jumped over a shorter fence that led to another street, He turned left the moment his feet touched the sidewalk, running down the street before taking a sharp turn to the right, sliding over the hood of a parked car and running over the road and into an alleyway between two buildings.
His eyes took one glance at the metal fence in the middle of the alley before they looked for his path over the fence.

Without slowing down, Samuel jumped, his right leg landing on an old pipe jutting out of the wall, using that as a springboard to go even higher, Samuel landed on top of a metal dumpster, running on top of it from the right side of the alley to the left before jumping again, his hands latching onto a fire escape ladder which he quickly pulled himself up on, taking two steps up before jumping back down, over the fence, and dropping on to a roll on the other side of the alley from the side he entered in before calmly standing up and checking the time on his phone.

"Tch, so close to a new record," Sam complained to himself before he pocketed his phone and exited the alley, mentally taking a note of the time it took.

Stepping onto the sidewalk and turning right, Sam reached his destination for the morning.

"Hey! Uncle Moshe!" Sam said loudly with a smile, uncaring of the looks he was getting from the other people inside as he walked up to the cash register, "Two cheese and veggie sandwiches," Sam made his order and waited for his uncle to get it for him.

Moshe Cohen was your stereotypical Deli worker, and he wore that badge with pride. He was middle-aged, balding, single, and Jewish, and he didn't care about what anybody said about him.
But most importantly, he always wore a smile on his face.

"Why aren't you smiling? Did something happen yesterday? Is it Jerry? Did you have to fire the guy?" Sam shot rapid-fire questions at his uncle, taking note of the look on his face, the fact that some of the workers weren't there, the missing voices in the back, and other easily identifiable clues as to why someone like Moshe might not be smiling this morning.

"You-" Moshe started to speak before he paused, took a look at Sam's face, and shook his head with a sad exhale, "You know what, It's not my place to ruin your morning today Sammy," Moshe tried to give his nephew a smile, but his lips couldn't quite make it, "Take your sandwiches, they're on the house today, Just go home,"

"Huh?" Sammy sounded, already halfway in opening his wallet, "Why?"

"Just... Just go home Sammy, Get Ms. Mable her breakfast, and then go home..." Moshe shook his head sadly, placed the two sandwiches in a bag, together with a complimentary Bagel, before he turned his back away and walked into the back of the Deli, leaving Samuel confused as to what just happened.

"Okay..." Samuel whispered as he took the bag and left the Deli, taking the long way back to his house, crossing the bridge over the river, and stopping by Miss Mable's house to give her the Sandwich before he finally made it home.

Samuel was hungry, his morning workout made sure of that, and the smell from the bag he was carrying wasn't helping much.

However, instead of opening the door to his house, ready to eat sit at the table and eat his breakfast, Sam found his parents already sitting there.

Sam Froze.

Their clothes and the look in their eyes told him all he needed to know.

Samuel Cohen wasn't hungry anymore.

Sam hated that movie.

No, Hate is a strong word.

Sam wished that movie never existed.

The phone call he missed? It was from his parents. Calling him to tell him to get to the hospital as fast as he could. But he didn't hear it.

That movie... That stupid ringtone... He wanted it gone.

If the ringtone was different, he would have heard his parent calling him, telling him about what happened, he would have dropped everything else he was doing and he would have ran as fast as his legs could take him.
But he didn't hear it.

He didn't hear the phone.

And he didn't hear his last words.

His younger brother, Daniel Cohen, was run over by a drunk driver and rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He wasn't hanging out at a friend's house, he was laying in a hospital bed.
His parents weren't out late at work, they were with him, holding his hand in his final moments.

And Sam wasn't there.

His older brother wasn't there.

Sam didn't hate that movie... He simply wished it never existed.

After the Shiva, during the Sheloshim, when Sam returned to school, it wasn't with the deductive wit and sharp banter his friends knew him for.

He was quiet, detached, lost in his own world almost.

After the bell rang, when the students started going home, Sam stayed in class, just... sitting there, doing nothing.
As if he was looking for any way to delay his return home.

His friends started to distance themselves from him. Screw them, he doesn't need them.

It was near the end of the Sheloshim, 22 days after the funeral, that Sam returned home.

His mother was home, he could tell by her shoes near the entrance, and his father was at the synagogue as usual.

"I'm home..." He grumbled as he took off his shoes and walked inside, dragging his feet on the ground as if he were wading through ankle-deep mud.

He entered his room and slowly started to go through his homework.

He hated it. This feeling. As if he was stuck in a swamp and each day the mud he was standing in was reaching higher.

No, Hate is a strong word.

Sam merely wished that feeling didn't exist.

Once he was done, he exited his room and took a look at the hallway, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mother. She wasn't there.

She was probably sleeping.

Sam turned to his parent's bedroom, noticing the door wasn't closed the whole way.

It's going to be hard to sleep like that.

Sam grabbed the door handle, planning on closing it for his mother, but first... He wanted to see her.
To see if it's normal to cry yourself to sleep sometimes.

Sam opened the door-

He couldn't get that image out of his head.

Even after his father came home and tried to get his attention.
Even after he woke up in that hospital bed, having blacked out.
Even after seeing the second casket enter the ground.
Even after the Shiva and Sheloshim.

He could not get that image out of his head.

That image of the kindest woman he ever knew and a jute rope.

Four years passed, Sam was now 19, Graduated from school, and on his way to the University of Michigan.

Or at least, he would be if he accepted that athletics scholarship.

"I can't leave Dad alone here," Was what he told Moshe when his uncle asked.

"But what about your dream? Didn't you want to be a Stuntman? On a Big screen in Hollywood, doing backflips for action movies?" The Deli owner asked his nephew, the two sitting in the back of the Deli, wearing the uniform of the place.

"Eh," Samuel shrugged, "It is what it is, Maybe I'll try and get a job as a fitness instructor in the future, God knows anybody can get that job," he stood up, ready to resume his shift.

"You know, This might sound a bit annoying coming from me, a man in his early fifties running a Deli, but you need to start dreaming a bit, Become a Stuntman, if anybody has the work ethic to make it, it's you," Uncle Moshe tried to speak with him, give him a familial pat on the back and push him in the right direction.

God knows his father wasn't doing that.

Samuel merely shook his head, ignoring his Uncle's words as he grabbed a mop and started cleaning the dining area.

Sam was making his way down the street, wearing a black v-neck and olive green shorts, a Star of David necklace halfway hidden underneath his shirt, and a grey baseball cap on his head.

"Become a stuntman," Samuel thought back to that dream he had, all those years ago, where he would practice parkour by running through his neighbors lawns and jumping over fences.
He smiled at the memory of those times.

Better times. When Samuel could enjoy his life without needing to worry about if his father would stop eating, or washing himself, or just sit on the balcony alone without moving for hours at a time.

Uncle Moshe comes by to check on him, he is his brother after all, but Sam can't just leave his father behind.

He already left his Brother and Mother, it would be cruel of him to do the same to his father.

...Sam hated it.
This feeling.

This feeling of walking through a swamp, the mud up to his hips, his legs barely responding as he forced them to wade through the pool of mud and filth.

"Hey, Dude, are you okay?"

This feeling of drowning, of suffocating, as if the mud was climbing ever higher, over his shoulders, and his arms could barely move as they tried to push through the walls of mud.

"Hey, My Guy, Blink twice if everything's fine,"

Going home, just to see his father stare into the distance as if there was something there, passing by a room where everything was covered in white sheets, pass the family photos, that just looking at made him want to puke.

"Dude! Hold on, I'm calling an ambulance, everything's going to be fine!"

But that's where his family was. His father lived there, and his Uncle lived on the other side of town, he can't just throw it all away to follow some silly dream of being a stuntman.

"Is he okay?"
"I don't know! I think he's having a stroke or something!"

Heh, A Stuntman, as if he could ever make it in that field. Yeah, UMich wanted to get him, but he couldn't accept, and he was fine with that.
He hated it.
He could work at the Deli, help Uncle Moshe run the family business, stay close to home, and keep making sure that Dad was fine.

It was basically the perfect job for him!
He was drowning in a swamp.

And there was no way that Sam was ever going to leave his father behind just to follow some silly dream like becoming a professional stuntman.

"My Guy, hold on! The ambulance is on its way! You're going to be fine, just hang on a bit longer!"

He hated it.
No.
Samuel Cohen didn't hate it.

He just wished it never existed.

Samuel Cohen let out a nice and relaxed sigh escape his lips as he felt the morning sun hit his body.
He turned his body and pushed himself out of his bed, He rubbed his eyes and-

"...What the fuck?" Samuel said, his eyes opening, all semblance of tiredness and sleep disappearing from his body as he took a look at the world around him.
"What the fuck?!" He repeated, louder than before, his breath starting to quicken as he took in the scenery surrounding him.

Green Leaves and large trees, roots the size of his forearm piercing through the ground, bushes the size of buildings towering over him, the blue sky above the treetops, where the fluffy white clouds sat in the air like sheep in a flock.

"What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck-" Sam started to panic, he looked at his arms, seeing two brown paws where his hands were supposed to be, "-fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-" He looked at his legs, seeing a pair of large nails where his toes were supposed to be, his feet replaced with light brown paws.

"Heya! You're new around here!" Samuel turned to look at the voice, it reminded him of a plucky kid, like one of those cartoon characters you would see carry a skateboard everywhere.
It was a small white rabbit, "Name's Angel! But there are like four of us named Angel around, so everyone just calls me Angel Bunny, because last I checked, I'm not a Dove,"

Sam stared blankly at the talking rabbit.

"I didn't see ya arrive, so you probably got here in the middle of the night while we were still sleeping! What's your name?"

Sam took a deep breath to try and relax himself, before he opened his mouth in order to answer the question.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
Never mind, he was screaming in panic.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" Surprised at the loud yell escaping the new animal he found, Angel the bunny also started screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"Angel Bunny, is everything okay- AHHHHHHHH!!!" Even the Yellow pony with the pink butterflies on her flank started screaming once she got close enough.

Samuel Cohen was in a nightmare.
That was the only explanation his mind could think of.
And so, instead of thinking of a more realistic explanation, Samuel Cohen's brain decided that it would be a good idea to go back to sleep.

The Wild Chespin has Fainted.

Author's Note

Yo, Many of you probably read my Original run of 'A Walking Chestnut' and so I'm happy to introduce this rewrite! Things are going to be different! No more of that unfunny meta-comedy, this is serious business.
There will still be some comedic moments here and there, but what I'm really going to change here is how I dealt with characterization.

Sam was really flippy-floppy in the original, and I didn't like how his character ended up.
There are going to be many changes from the original run, but I'm telling you now, the other humans-turned-pokemon are going to stay, this story has the Mystery tag after all, they are integral to the plot.

Another thing I didn't like was how fast the plot seemed to be going, I want to take things much slower this time around, and really get to flesh out the characters and their interactions with one another.

The world does not revolve around Samuel, with him as the Axis, I'm going to try my best to make this version of the story feel like a breathing world, with the humans being as human as I can make them, no two-dimensional characters here!

This chapter had some dark themes, but I promise you, things will be a lot lighter for a lot longer before they reach this same level of dark and depressing.

I really hope you all do enjoy. I'm not planning on getting too graphic with any descriptions or details of things, so I can probably keep this Rated-T, but I might change it to Rated-M down the line when serious things really start to hit the fan.

Thanks for Reading!

Edit: We made it to features on the first chapter! Let's fuckin' GOOOOOO!!!!!

Chapter 2: Whole New World

Fluttershy was a special pony.
That isn't saying much, Every pony was a special pony.

But even among all the special ponies in the world, Fluttershy stood out.

Not because she was the strongest or the smartest or the fastest or the tallest or anything.

Fluttershy was the kindest.

At least, that's what her parents told her.

Each pony was special in a different way, each pony had a special talent that they were the best at doing.

Her talent was handling animals.

But more than just being the best at handling animals or being the kindest, Fluttershy could understand them.

Well, not necessarily understand what they were saying, she still only heard chirps or squeaks or barks or growls, it was closer to an understanding of the vague intent behind what they meant.

Her best friend Rainbow Dash compared it to almost being able to talk to animals, Fluttershy disagreed.
She wasn't talking to animals, she was speaking to them.

"Talking with somebody is a two-way street," as her father used to say, "You need to both understand each other, To listen to each other, Otherwise, you're just speaking to them, and when you're just speaking to them, the meanings get lost," He then said something about a work conference he went to in Prance and how he couldn't talk with many of his colleagues because he didn't understand the language.

Fluttershy was similar. She understands a squeak that tells her it's hungry, or a growl that's telling her to stand back, but she doesn't understand the precise meaning.
One growl can tell her to stand back because something dangerous is coming, another can tell her to stand back or they'll hurt her if she doesn't, and most of the time Fluttershy is unable to differentiate between the two.

That's not talking with animals, but speaking with them.

And Fluttershy was fine with that, she had her own cabin, her own little critter friends, she had her own animal sanctuary in the back, and even though she and her animal friends couldn't speak as well as she wished, there was still that level of understanding between them.

So when she heard her pet, and second best friend, Angel Bunny, start to scream from behind her house, she was initially worried.
She quickly walked outside to check if everything was alright, and that's where she found it.

A new Critter, one she had never seen before.

It was screaming, emotions of fear and confusion reverberating through it's voice, it was a lot for Fluttershy to listen to.

She was an emotional pony, perhaps more than most, just hearing the sounds of those cries, well... Fluttershy might have joined the two critters in screaming as well.

She would admit, that wasn't one of her proudest moments.

But seeing the creature faint, Fluttershy felt her body move before she could even notice.

One moment she and Angel were standing outside near the edge of the Everfree Forest behind her house, and the next she found herself laying the strange creature on a pillow inside her cottage, covering it with a blanket, and entering her kitchen to make it some salad for when it wakes up.

"!!!" She turned to see Angel Bunny tap the salad bowl, reminding her that he also hadn't eaten lunch yet.

"I'll make you your salad right after I'm done with our guests, Angel, Can you please watch over them until I'm done?" She asked the small white bunny, who nodded his head and hopped out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Fluttershy had an animal in need, she had to help it.

When Samuel Cohen opened his eyes, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar wooden ceiling.

He didn't care about the ceiling, He rolled to the side, flinging the blanket off his body as he fell from the coffee table he was sitting on onto the floor before landing on all fours.

He stared at his hands. Or at least, at where his hands were supposed to be.

"This has to be a dream..." He whispered to himself as he quickly stood up and started running towards the window, moving his short legs as if he always had them, and then he jumped towards the window.

And fell onto his face.

"Can't jump that high..." He grumbled to himself as he laid face first on the floor before pushing himself back up.
He raised his arms above his head and grabbed onto a nearby couch cushion. Swinging his lower body left and right as he started to generate momentum.
Before he pushed himself up onto the couch, using the swinging of his body to lift himself higher into the air, allowing him to land on the backrest of the couch, his face centimeters from the window.

He looked at his reflection, and he paused at how familiar it looked to him.

"Isn't this... One of those creatures from Daniel's show?" He whispered to himself as he moved his arms, watching the creature in the window reflection follow his movements.
"What was it called? Pokemon, right?" He touched his face, watching the reflection in the glass do the same, as he started feeling up this new body.

The short legs, the pawed arms, the small nose, the back and tail covered in hardened green scales, like some sort of half-hedgehog half-pangolin. With the shell around his head resembling a cartoonist depiction of a chestnut.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" He whispered to himself, "I died and this is my punishment, to live the rest of my years as this thing..." Sam sighed tiredly as he slid down the couch cushion, turning away from the window.

Sitting on that large couch... No, the couch was normal-sized, it was he who was smaller... Sam stared at the ceiling, a single thought passing through his head.
"I didn't say goodbye."

"You don't look dead to me!" Only to jump as a small white bunny popped his head into his field of vision and started speaking perfect English.

"Whoa, Who are you?! Stay back, I got a scholarship to UMich, Don't mess with me!" Sam didn't point out how UMich was a public university, or how he turned down the scholarship, but that didn't matter.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Calm down, I'm staying back, chill," The bunny told him, lifting his paws to show he wasn't a threat.

Sam took deep breaths, steadying himself as he stared at the bunny, keeping a healthy distance between himself and the talking rabbit, his eyes quickly roaming around the room in search of the quickest way out in case he proved to be dangerous.

"You can calm down, we're not trying to hurt you," The rabbit said, waving his arms softly in an attempt to calm him down, "We found you outside and you fainted, we're trying to help you, Well, Fluttershy is trying to help you, I'm just helping her help you," The bunny looked to the side, his ears picking up the sounds of someone else coming, "There she is right now, Hey Fluttershy! The weird guy woke up!"

Fluttershy walked into her living room, hearing Angel calling for her.

"I'm right here Angel," She said as passed through the door frame between her kitchen and living room, carrying three bowls of salad on her back.

"You! Butterfly or whatever! Stay the fuck away from me or I pluck your eyes out!" Fluttershy let out a shocked 'eep' as the brown and green creature she picked up less than an hour ago threatened her, jumping slightly in the air and dropping all three salad bowls onto the floor, breaking the ceramics and flinging the vegetables and leaves everywhere.

It wasn't the threat that shocked her, but the fact that she perfectly understood what the critter was saying.
Not like how she Understands her other critter friends, but actually understand.
Actual words left his mouth, even though all he said was "Ches Chespin Ches Pin Pin Chespin!"

"You can speak." She said as she stared at the creature, eyes widened in shock.

"I can speak? Wow, Thanks for noticing Captain Obvious! Now tell me where the fuck I am before I stab you with one of those ceramic shards you just dropped!" Fluttershy didn't need to be able to fully understand his speech to know that the creature in front of her was afraid.

It was a normal reaction for many critters who only just arrived at her cottage, they were scared and confused and didn't know what was happening.

"Please don't threaten me with physical violence," Fluttershy tried to give her warmest smile, this critter wasn't going to hurt her, he was just lashing out in fear, everything was going to be fine, "You're in my house, Angel and I found you near the Everfree forest, and you passed out, so we brou-" Fluttershy couldn't finish her sentence as the critter pointed at her.

"The Fuck you mean this is your house? This can't be your house, you're a miniature horse, who are the real owners?" Fluttershy tucked her wings closer to her body to make herself look smaller than before and she slowly started to inch closer to the critter.

"!!!" She heard Angel Bunny squeak, the critter's attention turning to him as she seemed to watch with rapt attention as Angel gave him an impromptu lecture.

"You're lying, She's not a human, she can't be the owner of the house- I SAID STAY BACK!" The critter quickly turned away from Angel and yelled her, his eyes dashing all around the room around him as if he was looking for something.

"There's no need to worry, I only want to help you-" Fluttershy tried to placate him as she slowly took a single step forward.

And then he burst into action.

Fluttershy watched as the critter grabbed onto the armrest of her couch and pulled himself up it, only to immediately jump off of it and grab onto the top of her couch's back cushion, swinging his body into a hasty scramble up the cushion before-

CRASH

He jumped out of the window!

Fluttershy started moving again, her legs taking her from the living room to the front door, hastily exited her house and watched the critter slide down into the creek beneath her house, his paws briefly splashing in the water before he jumped, grabbing onto an exposed root extending from the ground on the other side of the creek and use it to swing up onto the dry land on the other side.

"???" She heard Angel ask why he didn't just use the bridge, but Fluttershy didn't have time to answer. The critter was panicking and running away, it could get hurt, or worse!

She quickly followed the creature, watching as it used its environment like a playground to create more distance between it and her, jumping and swinging and sliding and all sorts of maneuvers she rarely sees animals do.

It was as it crossed the top of a nearby hill that it seemingly stopped, frozen in place, eyes locked onto something in the distance.

Fluttershy breathed heavily, unused to such a workout, as she slowly followed the creature up the hill, and gently sat down beside it, trying her best to give off an approachable aura.
Seeing that the creature wasn't running away, she followed its eyes to see what it was looking at.

Ponyville. The town she lived in. Well, she didn't technically live inside Ponyville, seeing as her cottage was at the edge of the Everfree, but legally she lived there.

"This is hell..." She heard the critter whisper as he stared at Ponyville, "God isn't real, and this is my Hell..."

"There's no need to be so dramatic," Fluttershy said softly as she gently moved her hoof to pet the critter's back.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Only to quickly retract it as he slapped her, his eyes wide and glaring at her as if she was the source of all evil in this world.

Fluttershy met his glare with a soft gaze, watching as the creature's heavily breathing chest slowly calmed down, his head slowly turning away from her to stare back at the small town down below.

She stayed there for almost twenty minutes before the critter stood up and started walking back to her cabin.

There were no fancy maneuvers, no jumps or anything of the sort, just a slow and silent walk back to her cabin.

Fluttershy followed the critter, making sure to let it lead the way as she followed it back into her own house, watching it get up onto her couch and lay on its back there, staring at the ceiling.

"Do you want some salad?" Fluttershy tried to speak to it, expecting it to shout at her for daring to address it or something along those lines.

"..." The creature's eyes turned to glance at her before he returned to staring at the ceiling, "I'm not hungry, Don't talk to me, I'm going to sleep, If you touch me I'll stab you," And with those words leaving his mouth, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Fluttershy watched him for a moment longer before turning to see Angel holding up a broom for her to clean up the broken ceramics on the floor.

She grabbed the broom and started sweeping, briefly glancing at the clock on the wall to check the time.
It was only six o'clock.
Fluttershy still had a few more hours before her usual curfew, but she was already tired.

Not just from having to make all this salad and then clean it without having the opportunity to eat it, but also from having this new Critter around that she could somehow miraculously understand, and the short fiasco that followed him.

Fluttershy shivered as she felt a brush of cold wind touch her wing, causing her to promise herself to get someone to fix the broken window tomorrow morning.

Miraculously, Fluttershy somehow never had a critter break her window, so she didn't know who she should look for in order to fix it.

"Rainbow Dash probably knows someone," Fluttershy nodded to herself as a plan for tomorrow morning formed in her mind.

And with all her cleaning done, Fluttershy went upstairs to get some early shut-eye.

She had a long day tomorrow.

Author's Note

Sam is doing the normal teenager thing that all nineteen-year-olds do when they find themselves in an alien body in an alien world, and that is lashing out in a panic at the people around you.

Chapter 3: A Chestnut goes for a Jog

Samuel woke up sometime in the early hours of the morning, the cool wind from the broken window brushing against his fur-covered skin.

The sun hadn't risen yet, and the moon was visible through the open window.

The craters on its surface were visible and dark, creating the illusion of a horse's head being painted over the white rock in the sky.

"This really is an alien world..." He whispered to himself as if the sight of small colorful horses flying through the air against all laws of physics didn't prove it before, trying to convince himself to do the impossible and let go of the past, to go out there and start running, jumping, exploring this new and alien world he found himself in! Like an action hero from one of the movies he loved to watch.

As If.

What was the point of this? Why was he here? Why not just let his spirit drift to Sheol? Why here? And why as a fictional animal from a cartoon he barely even watched?

"Does it matter?" No, It doesn't.

But does anything matter? "I don't know."

Sam kept staring at the moon through the broken window, uncaring for how much time passed. He wasn't going back to sleep.

"...I'm going out for a run." And with those whispered words leaving his mouth, Samuel got off the couch and made his way out of the house, frowning at the lack of lock on the door as he opened it, ignored the skittering mouse peeking its tiny head out of a hole in the wall, and exited the cottage.

Hopefully, a run will clear his head.

Sam started to jog down the road, noting down in his mind everything he passed by in order to not get lost.

He steered clear of the colorful town at the foot of the hill, content to run around it, perhaps a lap around the slumbering village was all he needed.

Running like this, simply jogging to clear the mind, feeling the morning dew on the grass, the cool wind brushing against his face, No stunts or Parkour, just a light jog before the sun rises, It's one of the few things Sam can say on the top of his head that he actually enjoys, especially in the fall and early winter, when there aren't any tourists around. Sometimes, when he just wanted to get out of the house for a long time, he'd jog through the entirety of the local nature preserve, just him and the sounds of nature, without having to think about his home life.

One time, Sam joined his Uncle in jogging all the way to Pontiac and then back to West Bloomfield. As much as he disliked his home, he was at least thankful for being raised in the suburbs instead of the Urban city.

Sam didn't know how much time passed since he left the cottage, But he was already halfway around the town, stopping to rest his legs next to a large lake when the first rays of the sun finally started to rise over the horizon.

He sat on a stone at the edge of that lake, watching in silence as the sun's rays reflected on the clear water of the lake, something that Sam would have admitted to be a beautiful sight if he had been raised in any state other than Michigan.

Now, he's not saying that the sight wasn't pretty, but growing up in a place called The Great Lake State meant he saw a lot of sunrises over lakes, what was probably a breathtaking sight of natural wonder to one person becomes a regular day-to-day sight to another, there's nothing Sam could do about it.

"Good Morning~" Sam heard a voice call out as the sun's rays passed over him, followed by more voices singing out with a "Good Morning~ The Sun arrived, the Night is gone~" and so on and so forth.

Sam decided he rested enough and picked himself up from the rock he sat on and returned to his jog, giving the lake behind him one last look before he turned his back and kept running.

"Good Morning~ Good Morning~ To you~" Sam turned his head to see where the singing was coming from, watching a group of colorful songbirds stretch their wings and ruffle their feathers as they jumped off of the branches and holes they slept in.

He started moving his legs quicker, hoping to get far enough away he wouldn't hear the birds start singing Dancing in the Rain.

With more vigor in his steps, Sam's jog took him by an orchard blocked off by a wooden fence. Seeing as he hadn't had anything to eat since he found himself in this new world, he ducked under the fence and made his way towards the orchard.

"Good Morning land dweller, I never seen you round 'ere," Sam kept walking as a red Tanager started following him, speaking with a cockney accent reminiscent of that of a young man from downtown London, late teens or early twenties if the voice was anything to go by.

"That's because I'm not from around here," Sam mumbled as he reached a tree with fresh-looking apples, "Hey, buddy, you mind dropping a few of these apples here for me?" He pointed at a branch, not bothering to try and climb up the tree.
If his earlier attempt to jump was anything to go by, Sam would need a rope to get to that branch, something which caused him to scowl at the knowledge that if he had his Human body he could have easily grabbed a hold of the branch with just a small hop.

"My name isn't Buddy, It's Red!" The Tanager chirped as he flew up to the branch in question and started pecking at the stems connecting the apples to the branch, letting them into Samuel's waiting paws.

"Yep, These look good," Sam nodded to himself as he turned away from the tree, three apples held in his arms as he made his way out of the orchard.

"Where are you going now?" Red asked, the small bird following Sam as he ducked under the wooden fence and returned to making his way around the outskirts of the town.

"To Butterfly's place," Sam told him as he tossed one of the apples into the air, catching it in his paw as it returned down.

"Butterfly... Oh! You mean Fluttershy! She's like the kindest pony around! She doesn't yell and wave her legs angrily when I try to eat," Red chirped happily as he followed Sam, flying short distances ahead before waiting for Sam to catch up, only to fly ahead again once Sam passed him.

"Sure." Sam tried to ignore the talkative bird as he started walking up the hill leading to the cottage, planning on giving his apples a wash in the small stream outside the house.

"Oh! I almost forgot, what are you? You look like an 'Edgehog, But you also look like a Badger, but at the same time you don't look like either of them, while also looking like both!" Red chirped.

"I'm a Chespin-" Sam froze, he didn't mean to say that, he didn't even know what a Chespin was! Was Chespin the name of the fictional animal he turned into? He knew it was a Pokemon or something, but he doesn't remember anything from that show, he hasn't touched that shit since Daniel- It doesn't matter!
"I'm a Human, But I'm also a Chespin..." Sam took deep breaths as he calmed himself down, "It's complicated..."

"A Chespin and a Hyoomen? Never 'eard of either" Red tilted his head as he flapped his wings, landing on the Cottage's door knob, watching the weird new person in the valley wash his apples in the freshwater stream.

"Uh huh," Sam tried hinting to the bird that he wasn't in the mood to keep the conversation going as he picked his freshly cleaned apples and walked to the door, grabbing the doorknob, causing Red to jump up in order to not interfere, and pushed the door open.

Sam didn't bother closing the door as he walked inside, preferring to leave the door open and let clean air enter the place, despite the fact that there was a broken window doing the same thing.

He made his way onto the couch, letting the three apples tumble onto the cushion beside him before he grabbed one and took a bite.

"Ooh~ That looks juicy~" Sam groaned as he noticed the bird was still following him, and worse than that, he was standing on the coffee table in front of him.

Sam stared at the bird, watching as Red stared at the apple before he raised the hand holding the apple above his head, watching with some amusement as the Tanager's head followed the fruit as he moved it about.
"Do you want this?" He decided to ask the bird.

"You'll give it to me? Wow Land Dweller, that's really generous of you~ I'll make sure to tell the other Tanagers to show you the proper respect!" Red exclaimed in chirp, his tiny feet bouncing side to side on the coffee table as Sam passed the apple over, the Tanager starting to peck at the meat of the fruit from where Sam took his bite.

Sam watched the bird pecking out small pieces of the apple to eat before he shook his head and moved his hand to grab the second apple, only to instead feel his paw land on something warm and fluffy.

Sam turned away from the bird to see what he grabbed, only to stare in silence at the smug face of a white bunny, holding an apple underneath his foot.

"Hey there, Window Breaker, good to see you up and about~" Angel Bunny said as he stared at Samuel.

Samuel met his stare with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah, I'm awake, got a problem with that?"

"No, None at all," The bunny said, the voice of a scrappy youngster leaving his mouth as he smugly smiled at Sam.

"...Look kid, give me the apple-"

"Nope~" Angel popped the P as he crossed his front legs over his chest as if they were tiny arms.

Sam let out a tired sigh before he shook his head "...I really don't feel like arguing so listen up," He pointed at the apple Angel was standing over, "I brought three apples, One of them is currently being eaten by this guy," He pointed over his shoulder at the red bird, "And the other is currently under your foot, so just pass me the third apple and you can keep the one you're standing on, deal?" Sam extended his hand towards Angel as if waiting for a handshake.

Angel kept the smile on his face as he squinted his eyes, trying to ascertain why the new visitor in the cottage was acting way nicer than he did the previous day.

"...Deal." Angel reached out and shook Sam's paw, only to pause as the human-turned-Pokemon grabbed hold of his front leg and lifted the young rabbit over his head, using his other paw to grab both apples before he placed him back on the couch.

"Dude! You just stole my apple!" Angel squeaked out as he pointed an accusatory paw at Samuel, the Chespin now holding both apples.

"No I didn't~" Sam smirked as he bit into the second apple, smiling as the fresh juices of the fruit flowed down his throat. It was a bit too sweet, Sam preferred sour apples, but the apple was good nonetheless.

"Yes you did! We shook paws and everything!" Angel stomped his leg onto the Couch, indignantly complaining at the theft of the apple he himself stole from the person who originally stole the apples.

"Here." Angel stopped complaining as Sam grabbed the third apple with both hands, dug his nails into the fruit before he pulled them apart, splitting the apple in half and passing one of the halves to the bunny, "You get half, I get the other half, and this full apple~"

"Why do I get half and he gets a full apple?" Angel pointed at Red before taking a bite from his apple half.

"Because buddy over here helped me pick them, You didn't," Sam said as he finished his half apple and returned to the full apple.

"...Fine. But if you're bringing apples again, you better bring me a full one, ya hear me?!" Angel commanded Sam, the bunny trying his best to look intimidating to the Human.

"Whatever you say~" Samuel waved him off, letting the room fall into a comfortable silence, with only the sounds of singing birds outside the window and of apples being chewed and pecked ringing out in the living room of the cottage.

When Fluttershy walked down the stairs in the morning, she was surprised to find her pet, Angel, talking with the new critter. She was even more surprised to see the critter leaning back on the couch, much more open and laid back than he was the day before as he answered the questions Angel was throwing at him.

Fluttershy didn't want to intrude and make the critter hostile again, so she quietly entered the kitchen to begin working on her breakfast, only to pause as she passed by the open trash bin.

"I don't remember eating these apples..." She whispered, turning to look behind her at the animals on the couch, watching them talk about something she was too far away to properly hear "Maybe I just forgot?" She shrugged and returned to preparing her breakfast.

Not noticing the small red bird flying out of the open front door.

Author's Note

Who would have guessed that having an internal discussion with yourself in regards to the concept of the afterlife followed by a jog outside where you watch the sunrise and steal a few apples would be all it would take to make Sam less of a grumpy asshole to all the creatures around him.

Also, for those who haven't read the original A Walking Chestnut, Red the Scarlet Tanager was a character in that too, If you can even call what he was a character. Going back to rereading that story, I can't help but cringe at how I wrote a lot of it.
This version of Red is obviously going to be different, just like basically everything that I'm bringing in from the OG.

I really want to focus a lot more on the Animals, something I think I really neglected in my original version, I think I made Sam's relationship with the Ponies grow too quickly, I barely gave the Critters any depth before I turned the story into a generic HiE, something I do not wish to do.

Which is why this story has started before the show did! If the Mare on the Moon is anything to go by ;)

In the OG I started off in the Summer Sun Celebration, Here, there's some time before it all begins, time for Sam to explore the area around Fluttershy's cottage and build his repertoire of acquaintances.

Thanks for reading :)

Chapter 4: A Broken Window and a Butterfly

"You need help fixing your window?"

Sitting at a table inside one of the few restaurants in the Town of Ponyville, Fluttershy nodded to the Light Blue Pegasus with a Rainbow Colored Mane.

"Mhmm," Fluttershy hummed with a nod, "A new critter I picked up yesterday jumped out of it," She told her best friend before she pulled the tall glass with a banana and cream milkshake closer to herself, putting the straw in her mouth.

"Do your other critters not jump out of the window?" The other Pegasus asked as she scooped a bit of a strawberry sundae, rolling the strawberry inside her mouth to clean it of cream before she spit it into the air and caught it in her mouth on its way down, a proud smile on her face at the impressive if a bit disgusting trick she just pulled off.

"They're always so gentle..." Fluttershy tried to explain, "But this new one... He was really aggressive. I'm not sure how else to explain it, He was... Angry? Scared? He was definitely confused, don't get me wrong here, He threatened to stab me if I got close to him..."

"Wait- He threatened to stab you? Like, Did he growl at you and showcase his claws?"

"No, Rainbow Dash, he talked, I understood what he was saying... I just don't really know how to explain it..." Fluttershy muttered as she spun the straw in her cup.

"...You gotta show me!" Rainbow Dash barked out a laugh before she slammed her hoof on the table, dropping a few bits to pay for their meal, before grabbing onto Fluttershy's leg and dragging her out of the building.

"Oh, Wait Rainbow Dash! I didn't finish yet-" Fluttershy tried to tell her, only to quiet down as a waiter came over and cleaned the table, taking the half-finished glass with him.

"Is it a bird? I know some birds can learn how to talk! Is it a rabbit? I know you like rabbits! I need to see this talking critter Fluttershy!"

Samuel sat beneath a tree inside a fenced-off area behind Fluttershy's house, his eyes blankly staring at all the different animals around him.

Usually, he'd question why there's a Flamingo in a climate like this, or why the Bald Eagle on that tree over there didn't try to eat any of the small animals on the ground, or whether that animal over there was a Weasel or a Stoat.

Instead, Sam was busy asking himself "What now?"
Because what else was there to ask? He has no home, no family, no reason to wake up and leave the bed every morning.

Back when he was alive, he had his Uncle supporting him, and his Father was there for him to take care of, a reason to wake up.
But here? What was he going to do?

"So, Window Breaker, what's your deal?" Sam turned his eyes to look at the white bunny that sat down beside him.

"I don't have a deal," Sam said as he let out a tired sigh, his back resting against the tree trunk behind him.

"You definitely have a deal, No normal person threatens to hurt the first person they see after they wake up, then jump out of the window to run away, only to stop running away shortly after. What's the deal?"

Sam didn't answer, he simply stared blankly up at the branches and leaves above him.

"I mean, you could at least give me your name so I wouldn't have to keep calling you Window Breaker, Right?" Angel raised an eyebrow.

Sam sighed as he turned his head away from the branches in order to look at Angel, "Fine, my name is-"

"So, Fluttershy, where's the new critter? Is it a cool one? Like a Leopard Crocodile Hybrid?!" Before Sam could give his name, a loud and obnoxious voice entered the area, causing Sam to scowl at the new annoyance.

He just wanted to ponder his existence in peace, Was that too much to ask?

"Rainbow Dash, I really don't think you should be-" Sam turned to look at the small opening in the fence, watching as Fluttershy tried to speak to the rainbow-haired loudmouth, only to be ignored as Rainbow Dash talked over her.

"Come on, you know I'm great with animals, those creepy critters of yours love me! I'm awesome!" Rainbow Dash boasted, smiling confidently as her ego almost visibly inflated in front of everyone's eyes.

"Who's this bitch?" Sam turned away from the colorful pygmy horses and raised an eyebrow at the white rabbit beside him.

"Bitch? She doesn't look like a Dog at all!" Angel said, "And her name is Rainbow Dash, she's Fluttershy's best friend! She comes by every once in a while to boast about doing something stupid that nobody but her cares about, forcing Fluttershy to sit with her and nod along instead of doing her job."

"And what is Butterfly's job anyway? She must be paid loads to live in a two-story cottage by herself. Unless she has a roommate who gets paid a lot of money, I don't see how she can afford this place," Sam changed the topic, no longer caring about who the annoying rainbow-haired pony was.

"Why do you think she needs a roommate to afford this place?" Angel tilted his head, "And why do you keep calling her Butterfly? Her name is Fluttershy, We already told you that."

Sam opened his mouth to answer the Bunny's question, only to pause as he felt a shadow cover him. He looked up, the small black buttons that were his eyes looked into reddish-pink, the Rainbow pony staring down at him as if he was an item in a museum.

"Is this what chicks feel like?" Sam cringed under the stare from the winged horse, watching as she over at Fluttershy, Sam following where she was looking to stare blankly at the pink-haired girl.

"I dunno' Fluttershy, It sounded like he just said Chest and Pin, that's not a sentence." Rainbow Dash asked her friend, "Are you sure you can understand what this thing is saying? Also, what is he? A hedgehog? His spikes don't look that pointy." Rainbow Dash brought her leg forward, tapping one of the green spikes extending from the top of Samuel's head, watching it bend before springing back into place.

Samuel stood up and smacked Rainbow Dash's hoof away, "Don't fucking touch me! Who do you think you are?!" He yelled at her, his loud voice causing the other animals to either turn to look at him or hide behind branches and bushes.

"Woah! Fluttershy, what's going on, why is he mad all of a sudden?" Rainbow Dash took a step away from Sam, glancing at Fluttershy as she asked her question.

"Fuck you! What, did you never learn what personal space is? Do you think it's fine to just flick someone's hair like that? Bitch." Sam yelled at her before turning away, "I'm outta here, I'll be back in an hour, Later~" Sam turned away from the two ponies and walked to the other side of the backyard, passing by a group of brown rabbits before he reached the fence, grabbed onto it, and swung himself over.

"...I don't think I should translate what he said," Fluttershy whispered as all the animals turned to look at her.

"So the angry green hedgehog thing was the guy that broke your window?" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were sitting inside, staring at the hole in the living-room window.

"Yes, But I don't think he meant it, he was scared and confused," Fluttershy explained, her head resting on the crook of her elbow.

"More like loud and mean," Rainbow Dash grumbled, "You still didn't tell me what he said,"

"He was angry that you entered his personal space, and said he'll be back in an hour..." Fluttershy paused as she thought back to how the new guest in her house acted the day prior, "I think he holds his personal space as something very important, he got very defensive when I tried to approach him as well, and you just went ahead and-"

"I'll apologize to him," Rainbow Dash waved her concern off, "What does he like, Nuts? Berries? I don't know what Hedgehogs eat."

"I'm not even sure he is a hedgehog," Fluttershy muttered, "He walks on two legs, he acts like a very grumpy pony, he only speaks by repeating the word Chespin in different ways, I really don't know what he is." She sighed before turning to look at her pet bunny.

"What about you Angel, do you know what he is? Did he give you his name?"

Angel shook his head before opening his mouth as if he had something to say, only to shake his head again and say nothing.

He wanted to tell her about the Tanager that followed him, but then he remembered he promised to give him an apple.
Meaning he needed to remain in his good graces if he wanted to keep getting bribed with food from the outside.

"Let's ignore the little guy for now," Rainbow Dash piped up in order to change the subject, "So, the window, let's fix it!"

Roughly four hours after Rainbow Dash helped fix the window, Fluttershy finished feeding the animals outside, wiping the sweat off her brow as he flapped her wings, flying back into her house.

Only to find herself staring at the green and brown Hedgehog-like creature she picked up the day before, sitting on her couch, arms crossed, staring at her.

"Do... Do you need something?" Fluttershy asked carefully, making sure to not sound too loud to the creature.

"Sit." Instead of answering her, he pointed at the sofa beside the couch and ordered her, his eyes not leaving her own.

"..." Fluttershy looked at the sofa he pointed at before she looked back at him in confusion.

"Do you need me to spell it out for you? We need to talk." He told her, and Fluttershy nodded in understanding, moving to sit on the sofa he pointed at.

"Are you going to tell me why we found you alone in the forest?" Fluttershy tried to ask.

"We're not playing twenty questions here, I talk, you listen, Understood? Good." Fluttershy wanted to interrupt him but decided to let him speak instead.

This was the most communication the two of them had in the 24 hours they'd known each other.

"My name is Samuel Cohen, my family calls me Sammy, Some people call me Sam, you can call me Samuel or Sam, don't use Sammy. I am a Chespin, I am nineteen years old, turning 20 in August, meaning I am an adult. I do not want to be here, but until I find a place to live in, I am going to be using your couch as if it's my bed. You do not need to worry about feeding me, I can take care of that myself. Once I find a place to call my own here I'll leave you and we can all act like we never met. We are going to agree to this, shake hands, and everything is going to be Gucci. Yes?" Sam told her. His eyes still locked onto hers as he extended his right paw towards her.

"Oh, It's nice to finally get your name, Sam," Fluttershy said, "You can stay on my couch for the night, no problems, You don't need to go look for a place if you don't want to either, I'm sure I can buy you a small house or-"

"I'm not a pet, I'm a person, I will not be sleeping in a fucking doghouse. Now shake my hand and let's get this over with," Sam interrupted her, "The sooner I can find a place for myself, the sooner I'll be out of your hair,"

"If that's what you want..." Fluttershy said softly, extending her hoof towards his paw and shaking it.

"Great, now that that's out of the way, here are some ground rules. You do not touch me, You do not ask about my past, You do not treat me like a pet, If your friend comes back here and touches me again I will stab her... I'll think of other rules later, Don't worry about food, I already had dinner." And without waiting for her to ask another question, Samuel got off the couch and walked outside, sat down beneath the tree, and stared at the sky.

"..." Fluttershy did not know he she was supposed to react to it all, but what she did know was that she had a new animal friend to take care of, and she was going to be helping him, even if he was going to be a rude grump about it.

She might not know what a Chespin is, but she did know how to be kind. And with enough kindness, even the most closed-off creatures will open up.

All it would take is time.

Author's Note

Samuel Cohen, AKA Mr Grumpy Pants, has found a place to sleep in (If by "Found" we mean just taking someone's couch)

At least Fluttershy, and through her, Angel, now know he's Sam the Chespin. And that he does not like strangers touching him.

He resorts to threats really quickly... Must be a Chespin thing!

He's also quickly coming to accept that "Hey, I'm not a Human anymore, Not much I can do about it other than forlornly stare at the sky, Better skip over most of the stages of grief and reach Acceptance already..."

Thanks for reading :)

Chapter 5: A Chestnut thinks of Food

A week has passed since Samuel started living on Fluttershy's couch. His spiky responses slowly shifted into tired apathy at the realization that Yes, this was indeed not a Dream.

Now, with the realization that he can no longer spend his time sitting under a tree doing nothing while hoping to wake up from this horrible nightmare, Sam has decided that he should at least try to get along with the people around him.

By people, he means the animals, not the ponies.

People like Angel, the White Bunny that lives with Fluttershy, or Red, the Scarlet Tanager that comes to visit once a day.
He even got to know the other residents who live in or outside Fluttershy's cabin.

Well... Got to know is a bit generous. It's more accurate to say he learned their names. Like Elizabeak the Chicken, or Hummingway the Hummingbird.
Their actual personalities? Eh~

Sitting at his usual spot under the tree outside, Sam thought of what he should be doing today.
"I should probably search for a place outside of this cabin to stay at." He thought for a moment, but then quickly changed his mind at the thought of sleeping in a hole in the ground.

"Maybe I should get some more apples? I think I saw a carrot farm next to that orchard too..." He thought about the idea a bit more but decided to shelf it for when he had more arms available, Nothing like a good old-fashioned heist to get the blood pumping.

Or something along those lines.

He always wanted to rob a casino, Ocean's 11-style, In a movie of course, perhaps Stealing Apples will be the closest thing he'll get.

Really, now that he was thinking about it, there were a lot of things he really wanted to do back on Earth that he never really thought about. After Daniel and Mom were gone, he had to put all his dreams to the side to take care of his Dad.
Sure, Uncle Moshe helped a lot, and the Deli paid enough to live off of, but Sam never wanted to do those things.

If his Brother and Mom were still around, he wouldn't have had to stay at home, making sure his father took his pills and slept on time. He could have followed his dream, become a Hollywood stuntman, visited all the places he wanted to go to, and actually lived the life he wanted to live.

And here he is instead. Sitting underneath a tree, staring at the sky, not working, not contributing to the person who's letting him sleep under her roof. Doing Nothing.

Sam hated this feeling. This feeling of uselessness while being surrounded by all these options.

He can't help clean the place, he's too small, and he can't lift a broom.
He can't cook food for her, he's too short, he can't reach the kitchen counter. And if he somehow managed to, he wouldn't be able to operate all the equipment without burning himself, his arms were still too short.

He's only 40 centimeters tall, that's not even half a meter!

Do you know how irritating it is to be shorter than someone's hair!? He was 188 centimeters when he was human! That's 6 foot 2! Now he's 16 Inches tall!

"This sucks," Samuel said as he stood up, stretching his small body. Without saying anything else, he left the garden behind the Cabin and went on a stroll.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do, Might as well check if Red had something to talk about.

God knows the bird always had something to chirp about.

"Two weeks might not be enough time..." Fluttershy whispered as she sat inside her cottage, reading the letter she was sent.

As she was reading through the contents of the letter, she heard a knock on her door.

"Fluttershy! It's me, I'm coming in!" Without waiting for her response, Fluttershy's front door opened and her best friend entered her home.

"Did you also get a letter?" Fluttershy asked as Rainbow Dash walked over and lay down on the couch.

"The entire weather team got a letter," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk, "Can you imagine, The Summer Sun Celebration, Right here in Ponyville? Ahh! I'm so excited! Princess Celestia is going to be Here!"

"Oh... Yes, that is exciting." Fluttershy smiled at the image of the Princess of Equestria visiting the town, giving a speech, and then lifting the sun in front of everypony to mark the first day of Summer.

"So, Which team are you in? Cleanup? Venue Prep? I know you're not on the Catering team." Rainbow Dash asked, lying on her stomach, her head resting on her front legs, her hind legs swinging in the air behind her.

"They want me to be in charge of the music..." Fluttershy said slowly.

"Music? I didn't know you could play an instrument!"

"No... They want my Birds to sing-"

"Really?! That's awesome! You'll be great at that! A choir of songbirds, really Princess-like if you ask me." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"But I only have two weeks... What if I can't make it in time?" Fluttershy asked, her mind already thinking of a horrible outcome, "Oh no... They'll banish me into the darkest depths of the Everfree forest, where I'll be eaten by Monsters..."

"Come on~ They won't do that!" Rainbow Dash tried to clap her hoof on Fluttershy's back, only to miss thanks to the fact that she was still lying on the couch, and Fluttershy was out of reach, "You'll do great, I know you can!"

"I don't know..." Fluttershy muttered, "I'll try..."

"That's the Spirit!"

"Hey Hey! Land Dweller! Look 'ere!"

Sitting at the edge of the lake some ways outside of Ponyville, Sam looked at the small red bird flying above his head.

"I haven't looked away since the last four times you told me to look, Red. I still can't tell what you're trying to show me." Sam said, his elbows resting on a rock, his feet dipping in the shallow water at the edge of the lake.

"I'm showing you how fast I can fly, With this I'll surely be able to get Scarlatina's attention!" The Tanager chirped, still flying in circles above the Chespin, "She'll see how I can get the bugs the fastest, and then she'll definitely love me!"

"Red, If she's only going to love you if you provide food for her, then I don't think she's the one." Sam lazily said, sliding his body down the rock he leaned on until his back started floating in the shallow water, like a short green-shelled sea otter.

"How can she not be the one?!" Red chirped loudly, almost sounding offended at the idea, "She has the prettiest feathers, she has the most beautiful voice, she makes the best nests! She's the one!"

"Nah~" Samuel closed his eyes as he let his body float on the water, "Those are all superficial things that anyone can do, Every bird can work on their feathers, their voice, their nests. Finding a girl isn't about any of those. It's about the Personality~" Sam opened his eyes as he felt a small pair of feet land on his stomach, meeting the small bird's stare.

"Unless she has a great ass of course!" Sam said loudly before spinning his body, forcing Red to jump off of his and land on a nearby rock, Watching Samuel dive into the water before returning up for air, a wide smile on his face as he started swimming close to the shore of the lake in a freestyle stroke, causing Red to fly after him.

"What do asses have to do with it? Does the Ownership of Donkeys make a female Hyoomen more attractive?" He asked the Human in the body of a Chespin.

Samuel flipped his body again, now doing a backstroke as he chuckled a bit, "Eh~ Something like that, sure!"

"What are we doing now?" Red asked as he followed Samuel, the duo making their way along the fence that surrounded the apple orchard.

"I'm just scouting out the place, for the future," Sam said as he slid under the fence, making his way into the orchard.

"Why?"

"To know what's around here," Sam answered, "I want to know how big the place is."

"But why?" Red tilted his head in question as he landed on a nearby branch.

"Because," Sam said.

"Because of what?"

"Just Because! You don't always need a reason to do things." Sam told the bird, "Can you fly up a moment and tell me if you see anything?"

"Sure." Red told him before flapping his wings, flying up above the trees for a moment before coming back down, "I saw something."

"And... What did you see?" Sam urged the bird to keep talking.

"I saw more apples!" Red chirped happily.

"Not the orchard! This is a big fenced-off area, right? Can you see something that isn't more apple trees?" Sam rephrased his request.

"Oh, sure!" Red said before flying back up, doing a few turns to look all around him before flying back down, "Yep, I saw something." he chirped.

Sam waited for the bird to continue, "..." He let out a sigh of defeat, "What did you see?"

"There were a few buildings up ahead!"

"Okay, So there must be a warehouse of sorts, perhaps a cellar, maybe even the house of whoever runs this place..." Samuel nodded to himself, "Okay, here's the plan." He told Red, "Me and you take the apples on this branch you're standing on, and tomorrow we come back here and check those buildings out, Deal?"

"What's a deal?" Red asked before he turned his head and started pecking the apples, disconnecting them from the branch and dropping them for Samuel to catch.

"It's an agreement, when I ask 'Deal', I mean to ask 'Do you agree?'" Sam explained as he picked up the apples, "And don't forget one for Angel,"

"Okay!"

Sam and Red made their way back to the Lake, where they sat down and ate their food. Red pecked at his own apple while Sam took a bite out of one of his, leaving a few extra for later, plus the one meant for Angel.

"You know, Sam, I don't know what your species eats," Red spoke up halfway through his apple.

"I eat Kosher-style food. It's the closest I can get while living in the US." Sam said as he finished his apple, throwing the core into the lake and watching it float away, "There's a bunch of rules and stuff that I kind of follow,"

"Like what?" Red asked before he flew off for a moment, returning a few seconds later with a dragonfly in his beak.

"Well, There's a bunch of stuff regarding how an animal dies that needs to be followed before I can eat it, and all these different parts of the animals that I'm not allowed to eat even if the animal itself is, but that's boring stuff. I'll tell you what animals I am allowed to eat and keep it simple," Sam stood up and picked up a small rock, throwing it at the lake and watching it bounce once before sinking.

"Mammals, need to both have Cloven Hooves and chew cud," Sam picked up another rock and tossed it at the lake, "Which means Pork isn't allowed because pigs don't chew cud," He explained, picking up another rock.

"Basically all birds are allowed outside of ones specifically mentioned in the Torah, Meaning I don't eat birds of prey, Ostriches, and Fish-eating water birds." He tossed the rock before picking up another, "We usually stick to Chicken, Turkey, Pheasant, Duck, Geese, and Quail," He explained, turning to see Red stare at him with his beak open.

"I'm not going to eat you, you're my pal." Sam told him before he returned to skipping stones on the lake, "I doubt I can eat any animal I had a conversation with now... I'll probably go vegetarian If I don't find a solution if I'm being honest..." Sam clicked his tongue before he moved to the next category.

"Fish... I can only eat ones that have fins and easy-to-remove scales, Like the Carp or Salmon. Sturgeon aren't Kosher because it's hard to remove their scales, and Catfish don't have scales to begin with so they're out as well... Actually, I can't hold a conversation with a fish, I could probably keep eating those!" Sam chuckled, his mind wandering to the thought of a nice pan-fried Bream, causing his stomach to growl.

Another rock was thrown into the lake.

"I also can't eat shellfish like Clams, Oysters, Crabs and Shrimp. Some people include kelp and seaweed on the list because there could be microscopic crustaceans, but I don't count microscopic things as food, so Sushi is good to eat." Sam shrugged before throwing another rock onto the lake, watching it skip twice before sinking.

"Anything else?" Red tilted his head, asking Sam to continue.

"No amphibians or Reptiles are Kosher either, so I can't eat those. And the only insects that are Kosher are the cricket, the grasshopper, and two types of locust that I cannot identify by sight alone so I don't count them." Another rock was thrown, "All fruits and vegetables are fine as long as they don't include something none-Kosher in them, so anything fresh is Okay to eat because there are no preservers in it." Another rock was thrown. "There's a bunch more rules but that's the gist of it."

"How do you do that?" Red asked after a moment.

"You start learning it when you're young, It's easy to remember after enough time." Sam explained.

"No, not remembering the food rules, That!" Red repeated the question, pointing with his beak at what he was talking about.

"What are you-" Sam turned around to look at what Red was talking about, only to see a rock fly next to his face, skipping on the lake's surface for a moment before sinking, "HOLY SHIT!" Sam nearly jumped in fright at the fast-moving object that flew next to his face.

Fully turning to see what was happening, Sam's eyes widened at the sight of two green tendrils extending out of his shoulders, moving around and picking up rocks to throw at the lake.

"WHAT IS THAT!" Sam yelled, the vines going limp at his voice, laying on the ground like two pairs of green rope.

"Why did it stop moving?" Red asked innocently, bouncing closer to one of the vines.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Sam yelled at him, the vines suddenly being pulled towards Sam, twisting around him before disappearing once they reached his back, hitting him with the force of a tape measure.

"What were those things?" Red asked as he hopped closer to Samuel.

"I don't know... But I feel like I was just caught naked~" Sam shivered at the thought, "I don't want to think about this right now, I'm going back to Butterfly's place." Sam picked up the apples and started walking, trying to ignore the scene from moments prior.

"Hey, Sam! Did you bring me an apple agai-" Angel jumped over to the Human in the body of a Chespin, only to shut up as an apple rolled to his feet, watching the person carrying it silently walk away.

Angel turned to ask the bird that always seemed to be around the Chespin whenever he went outside, "Did something happen?"

"I think so," Red answered simply before he flew after Sam, landing on the coffee table as Sam lay his back on the couch and silently stared at the ceiling.

"..." Sam said nothing for a few minutes before he finally opened his mouth for the first time since he walked away from the lake, "...I want Sabich..." He whispered, as if dreaming of the most mystical object in the world, so rare it could barely be touched by mortal hands.

"...What is he talking about?" Angel asked Red.

"I don't know!" The Tanager chirped happily, unable to read the mood.

"Rugelach..." Sam kept whispering, "Tzimmes... Jahnun... Schnitzel..."

When Fluttershy entered her cabin, she found Angel and Red sitting on the coffee table, watching Sam stare at the ceiling, whispering the names of dishes he wanted to eat.

"...Shawarma..."

Fluttershy, while curious about what was going on, cleverly decided to give them some space. Besides, she needed to start working on her bird choir for the Summer Sun Celebration.

"...Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs..."

Author's Note

Name: Samuel Cohen.
Species: Chespin.
Type: Grass.
Ability: ???
Move 1: Tackle.
Move 2: Growl.
Move 3: Vine Whip.
Move 4: ???

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 6: A Chestnut Meeting Chicks

In the early hours of the morning, with the morning sun making its crawl over the horizon behind him, a certain songbird made his way toward a cabin at the edge of a forest to the southwest of the lake he lived by, following the river upstream as he flapped his black wings, feeling the wind brush beneath his feathers, giving him lift to keep flying.

Yesterday, his friend decided that they will look at the buildings behind the apple fields, something he was told was called an Orchard.

His heart was beating in excitement at the thought of spending the day with his friend, exploring the buildings behind the orchard, and learning new and funny words, such as Hyooman, or Falafel. Such funny words!

Reaching the cabin, the songbird, a Scarlet Tanager, landed on the windowsill besides where his friend slept, and tapped at the glass barrier between the two of them.
And he kept tapping the glass, waiting for his friend to respond.

"Maybe he didn't 'ear me?" The bird asked himself before he started tapping the window louder, his beak bouncing against the glass barrier.

After a few seconds, the barrier slid open, revealing behind the reflective glass the disgruntled and tired face of his newest friend.

"Good morning, Sam!" The songbird chirped happily.

"Red, It's like five-thirty in the morning. What the fuck do you want from me?" Samuel Cohen, Red's newest and bestest friend asked him, "It better be good or I'm going back to sleep." Said the grumpy Chespin.

"You said we'll be checking out the buildings behind the apples, it was a deal!" Red chirped excitedly, his legs bouncing on the windowsill as he tried to contain his excitement for the day.

"...Dammit." Sam whispered as he dropped his head, holding it in his hands and shaking it slowly, "I can't get mad at you when you're like that..." He let go of his head and looked at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and then let it all out slowly, "Fine," he said as he turned to look at the Songbird, "Let's go grab breakfast while we're at it."

"Breakfast? What will we be havin' this time?" Red asked as he moved aside, letting Sam climb out of the window and close it behind him before dropping into the grass below.

"...I need a book about the local flora, Maybe I'll find some wild onions and tubers... Try and grow some Turnips or something so I wouldn't need to walk all the way to the Orchard every time I go out..." Sam whispered to himself before looking at Red from the corner of his eye, "We're going to an Apple farm, try to guess what food we'll be having this time."

"Ooh! Are we having raspberries?! I haven't had some in so long! Maybe worms? Nothing beats a fresh and juicy worm! Ooh ooh, Are we getting both raspberries and worms?!"

"We're getting more apples..." Sam grumbled.

"Oooh! Those are good too!" Red chirped happily as the duo made their way out of the Cabin's garden and in the direction of the orchard.

Making their way through the orchard of apples in the direction of the buildings that the songbird spotted yesterday, the two boys talked about what their plan was.

"We're just here to scout the place, We don't want to make a scene and we definitely don't want the owners to catch us snooping around. You got that?" Sam asked the Tanager before he took a bite out of a sour green apple, the acidic taste hitting him like a good cup of coffee in the morning.

"Yep!" Red chirped before wiping his beak on his feathers to clean off the remains of a beetle he caught on one of the branches.

"That means that while I'm checking the place, you need to be on guard and warn me if the owners, okay?" Sam asked, taking another bite of his apple.

"Sure!" Red said happily, his feathers ruffling in excitement as he flew slightly ahead of the Chespin before stopping and waiting for the Human turned Pokemon to catch up.

"Which means that while Bilbo is distracting Smaug, the Dwarves need to get ready for their fight against the red dragon." Sam stared tiredly at the Scarlet Tanager, watching him nod his head again.

"Okay!" The Scarlet Tanager chirped in excitement.

"Fucking... you weren't listening at all. Fine, we'll wing it." Sam groaned before he finished the apple, throwing the core behind him as Red flapped his wings and landed on the Chespin's head, his body bobbing up and down with every step Samuel took.

"Do you think Scarlatina will pay attention to me if I sing better?" Red asked from on top of Sam's head.

"I dunno." Sam shrugged, "Fly up and tell me how close we are to the buildings, My legs are already getting tired from carrying this conversation."

"Okay!" Red chirped before darting into the air, allowing Sam to sit down on the soft grass beneath him and rest his legs.

"Birdbrain..."

When Fluttershy entered her living room, she found the window above the couch open, and the new resident grump who slept there was nowhere to be seen.

She gently closed the window before sitting down on the couch, wondering where he could have gone too.

"He's not beneath the tree outside, so he's probably with that Bird that seems to meet up with him." She told herself before she turned to her pet, "Angel, did you see Sam this morning?" She asked the young rabbit.

Angel shook his head, his squeaks delivering to her a meaning similar to "He was already gone when I woke up."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding before standing up and walking outside, preparing to feed the critters in her garden.

She had a busy day ahead of her, she still needed to find the birds for the choir she was supposed to conduct in two weeks.

As the two young men kept walking, the grass on the ground started to be replaced with worn and walked-on dirt, the overgrown weeds on the ground and branches of the trees near where they entered were steadily replaced with open dirt and trimmed branches.

The trees also had fewer apples on them, a sign that they were recently picked and that the duo was nearing the less abandoned part of the orchard.

"Look, Red, the more you talk about her, the less I give a shit." Samuel interrupted the songbird as the duo neared an opening in the orchard, a properly walked-on dirt road stretching in front of them from left to right for as far as the eye could see, "Keep your focus up, now which way are the buildings?"

"Let me check!" Red chirped before flying above the canopies, circling above the trees for a few seconds before returning and pointing Sam in the direction to go.

"I can see one!" Red said, bouncing with excitement on a nearby branch as the walls of a wooden building started peaking through the tree line.

"I can see it, stay quiet and notify me if whoever runs this place is heading over," Sam whispered loudly as he made his way closer to the building, making sure his feet were stepping on the patches of grass to quieten his approach.

"How will I notify you?" Red asked as he flapped his wings and flew forward, landing on a white fence that seemed to mark the end of the orchard and the beginning of whatever the next was.

"Just shout my name, tell me they're coming, It's not like they can understand what you're saying anyways, it'll just sound like a bird singing to them." Sam waved him off as he ducked underneath the fence made his way to the closest building.

It was smaller than a house, made out of Red-painted wooden planks, with a triangular roof made out of some metal sheets.

It had four walls, with the closest one being the back wall if the lack of windows or doorway was anything to go by. Peaking around the corner, Sam spotted a few square holes in the building, acting as windows, giving him a brief glimpse into the inside of the building, even if he could only see the ceiling.

Looking around the other corner, Sam was met with the same number of windows. Both sets of windows sat taller than the average Pony, marking them likely more for lighting and fresh air than for viewing into the building.

Sam scowled as a pair of green vines extended from his back, shivering slightly at the uncomfortable image that popped into his mind as the vines slithered carefully up the sides of the wall and into the window, wrapping around a visible wooden beam.

He felt uncomfortable with the alien feeling of controlling the vines, they were like a separate pair of limbs that he could move without receiving any feedback from. It was like an arm that lacked any sense of touch.

Pulling at the vines until they went taught, Sam started to pull himself up the wall, using the vines as a rope to climb. Once he managed to grab hold of the window, he pulled himself through, his back muscles relaxing as the vines let go of the beam and pulled themselves back into his body.

Looking around the inside of the building, Sam could instantly recognize what the place was.
He was lying on a wooden shelf, below him was another shelf, and below that shelf was the floor.
The shelf he was on was the full length of the building, the shelf below it was wider, creating a step-like formation on both walls of the building.

The floor of the building was covered in straw, extending a bit further outside the building through the doorway against the wall on the opposite side of where he and Red arrived from, a quick look let Sam see another building a bit away.

"Are you a vagabond?"

Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he finally turned to address the main indicator of what the building was.

Many pairs of eyes stared at him in curiosity, each waiting for his response to the question asked of him.

"No, I am not a Vagabond." He told them, watching the feathers around their chest ruffle as they turned away from him to whisper to each other, a few of them peaking in his direction before returning to the grouping of whispering feathers once they noticed he was staring.

"Are you a dashing rogue?" One of the creatures asked him, her white feathers bouncing slightly at the bobbing of her head, her voice heavy with a Southern twang, reminding him of a detective from a movie he watched a few years back.

"Perhaps a poet, here to sing us songs of adventure?" Another one asked, her brown feathers shaking as her beady eyes locked onto Sam's.

"Maybe songs of love more like it~" Another one spoke up, her southern drawl putting an emphasis on the O in love.

"Sorry Ladies," Sam interrupted the group of birds, "I'm not a dashing rogue or a romantic poet," He told them as he sat up on the top shelf, looking at the birds below him.

They were Hens, and he was in their coop.

"Dashing I might not be, but some might call me a rogue..." Sam said, the chickens turning to look at him, some swooning as their imagination started to soar.

"You here to steal us away?" One hen asked, only for two of the other hers to playfully push her aside, giggling to themselves.

"I'm here to look around the place, find something worth stealing, food mostly," He paused as he placed one elbow on the shelf before resting his head in his paw, looking down at the chicken below him, "You pretty ladies might know anything of the sort?" He asked them.

"Pretty Ladies~ Oooooh~" Many of the hens swooned at those words, giggling to each other and playfully pushing one another.

"I might know something," One Hen spoke up, walking forward before she stood in front of the other chickens, "But If you wanna know it, you gotta do something for me~"

"Oh? And what is it that you want?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the Chicken, watching her beady eyes lighten up as she smirked confidently, puffing up her chest and fluffing her tail feathers.

"Heh~" The Hen chuckled to herself before flapping her wings, jumping up and landing beside Sam, "I want you, Sugar. You, Me, A romantic dinner under the moon followed by a romantic night in the hay? Baby, you can just take me now and I'll tell ya~"

The hens below cheered and hooted at the words their friend was saying.

"What do ya say, Sugar? I can make ya world go round~"

Sam stared at the Hen with wide eyes, not expecting the forwardness from the bird.

"Hahahahaha!" Sam laughed at the absurdity of it, "Hahaha, Sorry sorry~" He waved off the looks the Hens were giving him.

"Is he laughing at her?" One Hen asked.

"Oh no he didn't!" Another clucked.

"Ay, Shauna! Are you gon let him treat ya like that?!" A third Hen said loudly.

"Quiet!" The forward Chicken, Shauna, shouted at the Hens below her, "I wanna hear him speak~"

"I apologize," Sam breathed out a few more laughs, "I really am, I'm sure you're a wonderful lady, But I'm in search of treasure, not love. There must be something else I can bring you to tell me where the food is being stored."

"Listen, Sugar, We girls know this farm like the back of our wings, we know where the Apples are keeping what you're looking for, but we ain't like those City chicks, we can't give ya what ya want for free." Shauna told him, "If you ain't gon' give me a night to remember, you better come back with some exciting stories of what's going on outta' the farm, eh? A girl can only get so bored, ya feel me?" She chuckled to herself, "Unless ya really wanna feel me, of course~"

"Ooooh, Girl! You did not just try that on him!" One of the Hens cried out excitedly.

"Oh Girl, yes she did!" Another one cheered loudly.

"Bring back some juicy gossip when you come back, Sugar~" Another Hen told Sam as he stood up.

"I can think of something else juicy you can bring back, if ya know what I mean~" Shauna sauntered over to Sam, her beak almost touching Sam's face as she started pushing towards the window he climbed in from, "Besides, Sugar, if you ever wanna take the easy way, out the previous offer still stands..."

"Sam! A pony is coming!" Red shouted from the roof of the coop, signaling that it was time for them to get out of dodge.

"Sorry, Shauna, But I don't sleep on the first date." Sam winked at her before he nodded at the rest of the hens, "Ladies~" he said before jumping out of the window, landing in a roll, and quickly running back the way he came from, Red flying after him.

"Hate ta see him go." Shauna sighed as she peered her head out of the window, watching the Chespin and the Songbird run away, "Love to watch him walk away~ Mama likes~" She ruffled her feathers as she turned away from the window.

"So, What was in there?" Red asked Sam as the two made their way back to the overgrown and forgotten corner of the orchard where they entered from, "And why are you smiling so much now?"

"I'm not smiling!" Sam said, a smile of excitement on his face as the vines whipped from behind his back and latched on to a low branch, swinging him onto the tree, where he started to jump from branch to branch, the vines swinging along with him like an extra set of limbs, grabbing on to the branches whenever he was ready to fall, only to swing him along as if he was a monkey in the jungle.

"Yes, you are," Red chirped as he flew over the fence at the end of the orchard.

"So what if I am?" Sam laughed as he swung off the last tree and over the fence, landing in a roll on the ground before jumping into the river, laughing excitedly as he let his body float towards Saddle Lake, scaring a few birds away at the sound of his voice.

It was stupid, it was just a dumb conversation with a chicken on a farm, but when Sam played the role of a Dashing Rogue, questioning the Hens on where the food was kept, he couldn't help but feel his heart soar.

This was what he wanted, the action of running, the drama and theatrics of cinema, the trained movements of an acrobatic stuntman.

That short meeting in the coop was almost exactly what Sam wanted to do for a living when he was a Human, and he loved it!

For the first time in over a week, Samuel Cohen was laughing.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! A bit more lighthearted than the last few.

See you soon!

Happy Hanukkah!