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!