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!