I don't own Harvest Moon, blah blah blah.....

Gwen yawned as she ate her Lucky Charms. She stared blearily at the newspaper, shoving little marshmallow rainbows in her mouth. Her eyes scanned the Wanted Ads, looking for a decent job.

"WANTED! Model!"

"WANTED! Veterinarian!"

Her puppy, Sirius, nudged her leg with his wet nose, distracting her so her kitten, Ichigo, could steal the page.

"Hey! Ichigo!" Gwen laughed. "Eh?" There was a large ad on the other page.

"WANTED! Caretaker of the grounds of Forget-Me-Not Valley," she read. "Free Farm. Call #^-&%^-0#* for details."

"Forget-Me-Not Valley. That sounds cute," she said. Suddenly, she had a vision of herself skipping through meadows, wearing adorable overalls and holding a basket full of herbs and beautiful wildflowers.

She picked up the phone.

-Two weeks later-

Gwen put all her clothes—and her three new pairs of overalls—in the dresser. After a moment of thought, she put on a long-sleeved red-checked shirt and the blue pair of overalls.

"Wow, these are actually really comfortable," she said with surprise. Ichigo rubbed against her leg and purred in agreement.

She turned around when she heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" she yelled.

A fat man in a red suit opened the door. "Miss Guinevere?"

Gwen smiled widely. "That's me!" She shut the dresser drawers and walked over to him.

He giggled like the Pillsbury dough boy. She wondered why he was laughing. "I'm Thomas, the mayor of Mineral Town! But I'm also the shipping person here in the Forget-Me-Not Valley."

"I see," Gwen said, not really getting any of this at all.

He giggled again. "Just put your produce in the shipping bins or in your horse's saddlebags and I'll pick it all up from the main shipping bin at 5:00 p.m. sharp!"

"How does it all get into the main shipping bin?"

"Magic," Thomas said mysteriously. "Harvest magic."

Gwen stared at him. Magic? "Er...right."

"Anyway!" he said, switching from mysterious to cheerful so fast it made Gwen's head hurt. "I'll see you tonight at five o'clock sharp!" He whistled a tune as he walked out. Gwen stared after him, bemused.

"Kinda a weirdo, isn't he?" said a voice behind her.

Gwen spun around with a gasp. A girl about her own age was suspended in the air. Well, not suspended, really. She had white wings that fluttered very quickly. A pointed teal rasta cap with a yellow puffball at the top covered most of her short auburn hair. Her green eyes were shrewd and calculating under raised eyebrows. She wore an odd outfit consisting of a dark green hoodie with primary stripes, a long leather vest with teal buttons marching down the sides, brown cargo shorts, a pink belt with a skull buckle, an orange sweatband with a blue water drop on her wrist, and rainbow-striped combat boots. The ensemble made Gwen's eyes hurt.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"I'm the Harvest Princess." Gwen's face was blank. The girl rolled her eyes. "Have you ever heard of the Harvest King and the Harvest Goddess?" When Gwen shook her head, the girl sighed. "We have a lot of work to do."

She flew over to the bed and settled on it, Indian style. "Okay. So—sit! I can't talk with you hovering over me like that!"

"O-okay!" Gwen plopped herself down in front of the bed. She felt some serious Kindergarten déjà vu coming on.

"So, as I was saying"—she shot Gwen a look—"I'm the Harvest Princess. I, along with the Harvest King and the Harvest Goddess, help maintain harvestual harmony in Mineral Town and the Forget-Me-Not Valley, amongst other places."

"Is harvestual even a word?"

"Shut up! I'm the teacher right now, not you!"

"R-right!"

"So, anyway"—another nasty look—"we help plants grow and stuff. Oh, and we also order farmers around and occasionally marry them if they give us enough good gifts."

"You're married?"

"No! But that's beside the point! So—"

"Are the other two married?"

"Yes. Now—"

"To who?"

"Does it matter?" the Harvest Princess shrieked. "I'm trying to explain the detailed infrastructure of the farming world as we know it! Now shut up and stop asking questions!"

Gwen nodded.

"Good! So, we don't do this all by ourselves, of course. The Harvest Goddess can't get her divine hands dirty, and the Harvest King is too much of a prat to do anything himself. So, instead, they get the Harvest Sprites and me to do their dirty work. Yes, we are not all that creative. The sprites take care of the livestock and the crops while I supervise. A couple of them also run a casino. And there's one baby. He's Pink."

She took a breath. "But there's one problem. The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest King don't exactly like each other, and since the Harvest Sprites worship the ground the Harvest Goddess walks on, the Harvest King doesn't exactly like them, either." Gwen raised her hand. The Harvest Princess lifted an eyebrow. "Question?"

"Where do you fit into all this?" asked Gwen.

The Harvest Princess rolled her eyes. "They both boss me around because I'm youngest. The Harvest Sprites like anyone who gives them colored grass in their favorite color, and I give them plenty of that. Makes them work harder." She thought for a second, and then said, "But I am friends with the Witch Princess. So I don't think that increases their fondness at all. The Witch Princess is the one who messes up crops and makes livestock sick and breaks apart lovers. She's pretty cool.

"But anyway. Back to the problem. You see, yesterday the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest King got in a big fight about who was younger and more attractive. The Harvest King got so riled up that he accidentally sent the Harvest Goddess and all her Harvest Sprites to some other world. It's up to you to get them back. I'm here to be your guide and support system."

"Ah," said Gwen. She felt a little overwhelmed, but she thought she could handle it. "How do I save the Harvest Goddess and all the sprites?"

The Harvest Princess inspected her nails for dirt. "Farm. There's 101 Harvest Sprites, and each of them is saved in a different way. Once you save sixty, the Harvest Goddess comes back." The Harvest Princess glared at Gwen. "And don't even think about guys until then! You have too much work to do! Do you understand?"

"Yes." Gwen nodded for emphasis.

"Good. I'll give you today to meet the townspeople and find your way around town, but tomorrow the work begins! I'll see you at six o'clock! Ciao!" She disappeared with a snap of her fingers.

Gwen stared at the place where the Harvest Princess had sat. She felt dazed. The whole thing seemed so surreal! She forced herself to stand up. She only had today to meet the townspeople and get used to Forget-Me-Not Valley. She had to make the best of it.

After cuddling with Ichigo and Sirius, she knocked on the door of the house next to hers on the farm. A grizzled old man answered.

"You must be Guinevere," he said gruffly. "The new farmer. Welcome to Forget-Me-Not Valley. I'm Takakura."

"Hello, Takakura. You can call me Gwen."

The old man surveyed her with shrewd eyes. "Just tell me if you have any questions." He bowed and left.

Gwen leaned out the doorway. "Anyone else?" she muttered. No one else seemed to be coming, so she put Sirius and Ichigo outside and left the farm to explore.

The Forget-Me-Not Valley was an adorable town. Gwen admired the blossoming trees and the clear blue sky. The river meandered through the town like a lazy silver ribbon. Gwen strolled down the path. On an impulse, she went north. Blue lanterns dotted the path that led to a still pool. It was beautiful but lonely somehow.

The Harvest Princess appeared beside her. "That's where the Harvest Goddess usually hangs out. When she was here, there always seemed to be Harvest Sprites climbing all over everything. This whole clearing would have a calming, nostalgic feeling." Her face hardened. "The Harvest King's an idiot," she muttered so quietly Gwen almost didn't hear her.

"So there's no sprites left at all?" whispered Gwen.

"Well, there's Guts."

"Guts?"

The Harvest Princess nodded and walked over to the huge tree beside the pond. "This is the Harvest Sprites' base. If you ever need one, he'll be here." She pushed open the door and yelled, "Yo! Guts! You here?"

There was a crash, a thump, and an "Ouch!" before a small, rotund, humanoid creature with pointy ears and wearing a beanie and round sunglasses appeared above the short counter. "Harvest Princess!" squeaked Guts. "Have you rescued any of the sprites yet?"

"No, I'm not a farmer," the Harvest Princess retorted. "But I found you one. Gwen, Guts; Guts, Gwen."

"Hello," Gwen and Guts said at the same time.

"Please save the rest of the Harvest Sprites! I am so lonely here by myself! All I have is the Television Sprites, and they are all too busy!" begged Guts.

Gwen nodded, a determined look on her face. "I will save all the Harvest Sprites as soon as possible. Don't worry, Guts."

"Thank you very much," Guts said sincerely. He bowed to both of them. "Harvest Princess, Gwen."

"Later, Guts."

The Harvest Princes led Gwen outside. She turned to face the blonde girl. "When you're meeting the villager, stop by the stove outside the Inner Inn, the fountain outside Romana's mansion, and the well outside the Blue Bar. While you're at the bar, stop for a drink. I'll meet you there at 10 p.m."

"Ah...okay."

The Harvest Princess disappeared again, leaving Gwen all by herself. Well, not totally by herself.

A little blonde boy with a Band-Aid on his cheek was staring at her. "Who were you talking to, Lady?" he asked in a loud, brash voice.

Ah! He saw me talking to her! "Erm, this, erm, tree!" she said hurriedly, laughing nervously and rubbing her head.

The boy gave her a weird look. "Riiiight.... I'm Hugh."

"I'm Gwen. It's very nice to meet you, Hugh," she said politely.

"Why are you so formal? It's kinda funny!" He laughed loudly. "Whatever! You're weird, Lady!" He walked away and was confronted by a little girl with brown pigtails.

"Kate!" he growled.

"Let's play a game to see who's smarter, Hugh. If you lose, I'm not going to play with you because I don't play with stupid losers," Kate said.

"Okay!" yelled Hugh.

Gwen snuck around them and returned to the main part of town. She saw the Inner Inn and ran over there. She hopped the fence and looked inside the stove. There was a flash, and a mustachioed Harvest Sprite appeared.

"Thank you for saving me, Gwen! I'm Tep, and I'll help you however possible! But please, save the other Harvest Sprites!" he said.

"But—"

There was another flash of light, and he disappeared.

"One down, one hundred more to go," she muttered.

This was mostly the explaining chapter since my story is a little different than the normal Harvest Moon...what with the Harvest Princess and all.... Please review! I want to know your honest opinion! And I'll add more as soon as possible....