Author Notes - I really need to learn better time management skills... ANYWAY, we have not only the continuation of the bed-building scene, but also the beloved scene with the silly song and wonderful dancing! Whereupon I actually use a song from the movie for the first time ever.

CHAPTER EIGHT - CELEBRATION TIME!

The production of the bed went… surprisingly well, all things considered. Melancholy stitched together the pieces of all seven blankets into a great big patchwork quilt, Ebony and Whiskers had nearly the entire mattress stuffed, Spring and Sunshine had given the bed some lovely patterns, Rose sat around waiting for something to do, and Flash had long since fallen asleep.

'And… there we go!' Melancholy announced to no one as he finished the last stitching. 'One amazing blanket for one amazing birthday girl!'

He carried it off the ground with his mind, and shook it about to get all that dirt and dust out. With a spring in his step, he pranced over to where the bed was being built. Spring had finished carving a little bedknob out of some leftover wood, Blaze spat on the one bed-leg that wasn't finished yet, and Sunshine placed the bedknob on the end and made sure it was as straight as possible.

The Flareon wiped his brow and groaned. 'Finally…'

Melancholy stopped in his tracks and stared at the bed with his mouth agape. Yes, it wasn't quite finished yet, and was still missing the mattress and blanket. Yet, despite that, it had to have been the most gorgeous bed he had ever seen. It was the size of all of their beds combined, with its head reaching up for the skies. Long ribbon-like patterns of burnt wood travelled across the planks, with little carved flowers to add some detail. The foot spelled out Snowy's name in big bold letters, and it was clear that Spring had a little too much fun adding a lovely background with a waterfall, a big forest, and a bunch of little Pokémon populating it.

And the whole thing was stuck together with Blaze's shockingly strong mud-spit glue, a fact that she seemed quite proud of it.

'I can guarantee you guys,' She said, puffing out her chest. 'That this bed oughta last for a hundred years! If it doesn't, I owe a lifetime supply of berries.'

Sunshine chuckled. 'I will remember that.'

Melancholy dropped the blanket onto the ground in his awe. He stared at the bed for a few more seconds, before…

'EEEEEE!'

He jumped onto the foot of the bed and hugged it in a manner akin to a Slakoth on a tree branch while emitting sounds so loudly happy and high-pitched that any Whismur would blush. Spring, Sunshine, and Blaze all gave him odd looks as he rubbed his cheeks against the wooden frame.

'Is that normal?' Blaze asked.

'Depends on your definition of normal.' Sunshine replied. 'And I doubt that any definition you can think of would result in the answer being yes.'

The Espeon's high-pitched squeal of excitement ended up awakening the nearby Jolteon, who lifted her head slowly with a yawn. She grumbled a little to herself as her third afternoon nap had been interrupted, and she looked around for the perpetrator. Her tired eyes couldn't tell who made the sound, but they easily spotted the yellow patches in the patchwork quilt. She made her way over to the quilt in her usual sluggish manner, but when she sniffed one of the yellow patches her eyes went wide open.

'This is my blanket.' She muttered. 'Happy used my blanket.'

Her head snapped to Melancholy, and although he didn't see her he could still feel her glare and fell off the bed with a yelp. He landed back-first on the ground, and when he opened his eyes he saw Flash staring down upon him. Her expression may have only conveyed mild annoyance to any outsiders, but it was the most rage that she ever had on her face.

Melancholy gave her a nervous smile as he jumped to his paws. 'H-Hey Sleepie! I figured that maybe you'd be fine with me using your blanket to make the quilt for the bed, b-but you don't seem very, erm, happy about that…'

Sunshine investigated the blanket for himself, and growled when he noticed the familiar red patches. 'Happy used our blankets for the quilt. Every single one of them!'

Spring smiled sheepishly. 'I-I'm okay with Snowy having my blanket. She really likes it.'

'Well, I'm not!' Flash yelled.

Every nearby Pokémon, even Blaze, gasped. It was the most emotion that Flash had expressed since her banishment from the kingdoms, and her white spikes sparked with rage. Her fur bristled and turned as sharp as needles, brimming with electrical energy. Melancholy backed himself up against the foot of the bed as Flash's glare looked into his soul.

'Do you know how hard it was to get a blanket like that?' She demanded. 'Do you know how hard it is to steal from the neighbouring kingdoms, having to stay perfectly hidden or you could get executed? Do you know how painful it was to find a blanket just for me without getting killed?!'

Melancholy glanced at his wrist, which was odd considering that almost no one had any watches. 'Oh boy, look at the time! Looks like I better get going.'

He flashed the Jolteon one last nervous grin before he dashed away faster than the naked eye could see. Unfortunately, the small flash of lilac was all that Flash needed, and she charged right after him.

'I'm going to get you for this, Happy!'

Rose was in the middle of her own afternoon nap when she saw the screaming Espeon gunning towards her. It snapped her out of whatever sleepy mood she was in, and she dashed away as fast as she could while screaming as loudly as her hefty lungs could handle.

'Why are we running?!' She shouted.

'I used Sleepie's blanket to make the quilt!' Melancholy shouted back.

'Oh my Arceus, you're insane!'

And, right at that moment, Ebony tossed the last batch of feathers into the mattress. Prince Whiskers had the idea to tie two ends of the hole to some nearby trees, so he and the Umbreon could easily fill it. They had spent the better half of the day gathering flowers and feathers to stuff it with, and Ebony wiped her brow with her tail and sighed as she finished it. She flicked her tail to fling the sweat away, only for Whiskers to jump out of the way.

'Ebony, please be careful with that sweat of yours.' He said. 'It's quite poisonous.'

Ebony smirked at him and giggled, relishing the fact that he apparently didn't know the difference between 'poisonous' and 'toxic'. Her sweat was toxic; quite the difference! The conversation couldn't go on much longer - not that it would go smoothly anyway, seeing as Whiskers was not yet used to Ebony's way of communicating - for they heard two screams approaching them fast. By the time they turned their heads, all they saw was a brief flash of a panicking Glaceon running right between them.

And directly into the mattress.

Melancholy, who just a moment ago was screaming for his life, came to an abrupt stop. 'Wait, did Sneezie just run into that pile of fluffy stuff?'

Flash, too, came to a dead stop. 'Ah. Not her smartest decision.' She glared at the Psychic-type. 'We'll discuss the quilt later…'

Spring and Sunshine rushed to the scene, only to hear groaning from inside the mattress. The Leafeon gasped with a squeal and leapt behind the Flareon for protection against… something. Ebony, blissfully unaware of the obvious conclusion, dove into the fluffy mess after Rose.

'Ah… AHHH…!'

The outcome of this situation, once again, was surely one that you can easily predict.

'WAAAHHH-CHOOOOOO!'

And, with that, all of the feathers and flowers inside the mattress burst out like a bag of popcorn going off all that once. Some of it drifted down slowly from the air, where Ebony pranced about underneath like it was some sort of discount snowstorm. Most of it had ended up on every single other Pokémon in the vicinity, and Blaze laughed at the lot of them from afar.

'Oh Arceus, I almost sneezed my lungs out…'

Rose stumbled out of the mattress and collapsed to the ground, her lungs exhausted and her nose as puffy as ever. She gasped when she saw her brothers and sisters - and the prince - coated in white fluff.

Sunshine growled and turned the stuff covering him to ash with just his temper alone. 'You kidding me?! Can we go one day without any incessant sneezing?'

Just as he remarked this, Spring - who was standing right next to him - felt his nose getting tickled by a wayward dandelion tuff. He tried to fight against it, but, well…

'AH-CHPHMT!'

All the feathers and dandelion tufts on his body went everywhere, most of them landing on the Flareon who looked as if he wanted to murder everyone within a five mile radius.

'Evidently not.' The Fire-type muttered.

The Leafeon sniffed. 'S-Sorry…'

'This is fine.' Flash said. 'We can handle this.'

While the workers dealt with cleaning up all the scattered mattress stuffing - a difficult task as Rose kept accidentally sneezing it away - Rivers had fetched a photo album from the bedroom to show the birthday girl. What awed Snowy the most wasn't even the photos themselves, but the backgrounds. Auroria was practically at the foot of the mountain range.

'I'm so glad that Melancholy knew how to work a camera.' Rivers said as he flickered through the pages. 'I'm too old to understand any of it.'

Seeing as he needed the Espeon to work the camera, all of the photos could only go back as far as a newly-evolved Melancholy. Still, many of them depicted Rose, Spring, and Ebony still as Eevee even after they joined Rivers's family. It made them a little hard to tell them apart, but only a little. When one was constantly mid-sneeze, another unable to look at the camera without blushing, and the last always making some sort of silly expression, it wasn't that hard. In some photos, they weren't there at all.

'If it's alright to ask,' Snowy said. 'I know how Flash and Sunshine ended up joining you, but what about the others?'

'Oh, that's just fine to ask!' Rivers replied. 'Melancholy was the next member to join.'

He turned to a photo depicting Melancholy and the three older Eeveelutions. The Espeon looked as happy as could be, while Sunshine looked just the opposite.

'Unlike the others, Melancholy didn't really have anything going on in his life.' Rivers said. 'In fact, he only evolved into an Espeon because he was just that dang happy about life, and the only reason he didn't become an Umbreon is because - and don't tell him I said this - he's scared of the dark.'

Snowy giggled. 'I won't tell him a thing.'

'He only joined because he saw the three of us living together, and wanted to add himself to the collection as he worded it. Flash and I welcomed him in, but Sunshine reeeally didn't.'

The next photo he showed was one of a dwarf-sized Eevee with a goofy grin. Melancholy had her in a tight embrace, and Sunshine looked even more annoyed than before.

'Ebony arrived soon after him.' Rivers explained. 'And really young too. Since we struggled at first to communicate with a Pokémon who couldn't talk, we're not entirely sure what her story is. We haven't met her parents, but we don't think they're dead because she's been happy-go-lucky since the day we found her.'

'You don't think that her parents abandoned her, do you?' Snowy asked.

'The thought has crossed my mind. We try not to think about it. She evolved into an Umbreon a few years after we welcomed her into the family. Apparently she thought that it was the coolest of the evolutions, or maybe it was the same reason as Melancholy except she actually adores the dark.'

On that same page was a photo of a pair of Eevee twins, one male and the other female. Spring was hiding behind Flash like the camera was a big scary monster, while Rose was sneezing into the face of a very unlucky Flareon.

'As for Rose and Spring, well…'

'You don't need to say anything else. I think I get it from what I've been told.' She paused. 'Spring told me why he evolved into a Leafeon. Can you tell me why Rose evolved into a Glaceon?'

'She liked the snow, a lot. She loved playing in it, and, well… when winter comes along and blankets everything in snow and ice, her allergies don't affect her nearly as much. So, she evolved into a Glaceon to be closer to her favourite season.'

The both of them would've loved for photo time to keep going, but they got interrupted by a-

THUD!

-right at their door. Had Rivers not been used to the misadventures of his younger siblings, he may have been more surprised. He just sighed, and made his way over to the door. Whatever he was expecting to be on the other side was most certainly not what he got when he opened the door.

'Oh my!' He exclaimed.

He came face-to-face with the foot of a massive bed, with Snowy's name carved into it.

'Alright!' Sunshine yelled. 'Who's smart idea was it to try to fit the bed through the door?!'

'I believe that was yours, Sunshine.' Whiskers replied.

'SHUT UP!'

Indeed, the builders - with some help from Blaze - had pushed the bed all the way from the forest to the foot of the door. Clearly, none of them had taken the dimensions of the bed and the door into account, or in fact the house in general, seeing as the bed was probably as big as the dining room.

'Oh, so this is what you used my blanket for.' Rivers said, unable to say much else on the matter.

Snowy ran over to the door and stared upon her bed with awe, or at least upon what she could see of it through the open door. To say the least, the bed was so much more magnificent that she ever could have expected, and she already adored it because of one thing alone - that gorgeous carving with her name on it. Without a second thought, she leapt over the foot of the bed and landed on a familiar soft green patch in the quilt.

Somehow, it felt even nicer than it looked. She rolled around in it and soaked up every little bit of comfort that the patchwork quilt had to offer. The craftsmanship was nothing like anything she had ever seen, and she didn't even care that the whole thing had been 'nailed' together with nothing but Mudsdale spit.

Spring, after much hesitation, hopped onto the bed with her. 'So… d-do you like it? I-I was the one who had the idea to make you a bed, s-so if you don't like it, you can blame me.'

Snowy stopped rolling around to address him directly. 'Like it? I love it! It's been so long since I've been given any gift for my birthday, and this one is the best of them all! Thank you, Bashful.'

She couldn't help but give him a big ol' hug, burying her face in his chest and letting his tuft of grass tickle her skin. He, as could be predicted, brushed intensely, but he still managed to return the warm embrace despite his nerves. The only hugs warmer than the one he received that day were those from his sister and mother. Most of the other Pokémon erupted into a chorus of 'awww!'s, except for the Flareon and the Mudsdale, who both merely rolled their eyes and groaned.

'Hey, not to point out the blindingly obvious or anything,' Blaze said. 'But how are we gonna get this bed inside the cottage, exactly?'

Sunshine smiled. 'Blaze, it is great that I have met another Pokémon who isn't nearly as stupid as everyone else in my life.'

She grinned. 'Thanks for noticing.'

'Oh, that isn't a problem!' Snowy replied. 'I don't need to sleep in the bed yet. And the doors of both the castles in Auroria and Forressidon are more than big enough. We'll just deal with it when we get there.'

Flash smirked. 'That's my kind of philosophy.'

Rivers sighed. He wished he could say that the Jolteon's response surprised him, but frankly he'd be more surprised if she mentioned anything about future planning.

'Hey look!' Melancholy cried, pointing off into the distance. 'The sun's already setting. Time sure flies when you're having fun!' He gasped. 'Hey, you know what we should do? We should have a party or something to celebrate our princess's sixteenth birthday!'

Sunshine groaned. 'Happy, why do you always make things hard for me?'

'That sounds like a great idea!' Snowy said. 'Can any of you guys play any instruments?'

'Well, there's a wooden organ in the spare room that I can play spectacularly, so if you want, I-' He growled. 'No, no, no, no! I'm not doing this. I just broke my back over making this stupid bed, and I am not playing for a prissy little princess like you!'

'How do these idiots keep talking me into this?'

Unsurprisingly, Sunshine was indeed playing for a 'prissy little princess', sitting upon a wooden stool in front of his wooden organ. The pipes of the grand instrumental had also been carved by Spring, depicting all sorts of small Pokémon whose mouths were used as the holes. Despite the look of utter rage and hatred on his face, he poured effort into playing his beloved organ. His paws were full of passion as they pressed down on almost every key, creating a song far more melodious than most Pokémon would expect from such a short-tempered Flareon.

He wasn't the only one playing an instrumental in the brightly lit room. Anyone passing by the cottage that night could easily hear the music booming with so many Pokémon playing at once.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay!' Melancholy sang from in the middle of the room, showing off his impressive yodelling skills.

He didn't just have a good set of pipes either. That Espeon had a guitar in his 'arms' and played it just like a professional, pouring his heart and soul into it.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay!' Rivers joined it, still doing a good job despite his age.

The Vaporeon sat next to the wall, for his glorious swanette - carved in a way that it resembled a Swanna - had to be leaned up against a wall for him to play it at all. Snowy sat in the middle of the room and clapped along to the fast beat, while Rose and Ebony danced circles around her with a spring in every step.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay!'

And speaking of Spring, he sat right next to Flash and played a concertina with nothing but his forelegs. He had an awkward smile on his face, but that was just his usual smile and he loved joining in on the song-and-dance almost as much as everyone else. As for the Jolteon, she was lying down on the floor but wasn't quite asleep yet, as she half-heartedly played a Magikarp-themed flute that hung rather carelessly from her jaw.

Prince Whiskers sat on the sidelines, on a little pink pillow that Rose had given him. Just like Snowy, he clapped along to the beat of the song. He sat by an open window, and who else was sticking her head through the wall and stomping the ground to the beat but Blaze? Not that she would ever admit it to anyone back in Auroria.

Rose placed her paw on her chest and belted out a line that put those before her to shame. 'Ho-la-la-ee-ay-ee-la-ee-ay-ee-lee-ay!'

Melancholy gave her a cocky little smirk, and placed his guitar on the floor. As if the siblings all knew what was to follow, almost all of them stopped playing. The only one who kept playing his instrument was Sunshine, who switched to a slower and more simple tone as the Espeon cleared his throat.

'I'd like to tap and dance my feet, but they won't keep in rhythm!' He sang, doing a little prance before he pretended to lose control of his feet and fell to the floor. 'Ya see, I washed them both today, and I can't do nothing with 'em!'

Rose giggled. 'The minute after I was born, I didn't have a nighty.' She sang to the same tune as him. 'So I tied my dangles 'round my legs, and used them for a di… a dit…'

The (frankly kinda gross) line got interrupted by a stinging sensation all too familiar to the Glaceon. Everyone - except for the organ-player - went silent, right before…

'DAAAAHHH-CHOOOOO!'

Rose unleashed a sneeze with so much force that she flew backwards and bashed into the wall. Everyone gasped, but she got right back onto her paws.

'I'm OOO-KAY!'

Now, everyone could laugh instead of worrying about her safety. As she ran back into the middle of the room, most of the Pokémon belted out the catchy if slightly nonsensical chorus.

'Ho hum, the tune is dumb, the words don't mean a thing!' They all sang. 'Isn't this a silly song for anyone to sing?'

Ebony knelt down to Snowy's level and smiled, her tail wagging so fast that it was a miracle that it didn't go flying off. Snowy couldn't help giggling at the Umbreon's somewhat dopey face, before she added her own delightful and meaningless note to the song. It was a simple sound, like a melodious 'AHHHH!', but it was brimming with talent all the same. Since this story has no audio, you will simply have to take this narrator's word for it.

The yodelling continued, with most of the Eeveelutions singing together like a choir.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay! Ho-la-la-ee-ay!'

Snowy opened her mouth and joined in on it, as well as she could in between her giggles.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay-ee-la-ee-ay-ee-lee-ay!'

And then, Whiskers and Blaze shrugged at once and decided to join in just for the fun of it.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay! Ho-la-la-ee-ay! Ho-la-la-ee-ay-ee-la-ee-ay-ee-lee-ay!'

Like before, most of the instruments went quiet except for Sunshine's simple tune on the organ. The grumpy Flareon had a small - borderline non-existent - smile on his face as he poured his heart and soul into the beautiful instrument. Rivers left his swannette behind for a moment, and walked into the middle of the room.

'We used to have a li'l Gogoat, and had her disinfected.' He sang. 'She could have slept in Sunshine's bed, but the li'l Gogoat objected.'

'Hey!' Sunshine yelled. 'My bed isn't that bad to sleep in!'

The simple organ solo continued, implying that there was going to be a fourth verse. Except, well, there wasn't many Pokémon left. Ebony couldn't speak, let alone sing, and Flash had no enthusiasm to even get off the floor. Before the members of royalty had to improvise anything, Ebony ran across the room, and pushed Spring along over to the princess with just her forehead. The shy Leafeon dropped his concertina, and blushed as he was forced closer and closer to Snowy.

'H-H-Hi…' He said with a nervous smile.

'Come on, Bro!' Rose said. 'Go ahead and singing something!'

'I-I… I don't know if I can.'

The other Pokémon, even Blaze, erupted into a mass of confidence-boosting assurances for him to sing. But it wasn't the compliments that convinced him to sing; it was Sunshine suddenly slamming down as many keys as he could at once to create some horrible dying-foghorn-sound.

'EEP!'

Well, encouragement was encouragement.

'I-I chased a Stunky up a tree, way out upon a limb.' He sang, to the best of his confidence levels. 'And when he got the best of me… I got the worst of him!'

He chuckled to himself, and hid his reddening face behind his big leafy ears. The princess giggled the hardest she had that night, and it made his heart soar. Or have an attack; he wasn't certain.

'Ho hum, the tune is dumb,' Everyone sang at once. 'The words don't mean a thing. Isn't this a silly song for anyone to sing?'

Ebony picked up the discarded concertina and played it surprisingly well, inviting the music to pick up again. Spring stared at Snowy, unable to get rid of his blush or shaky smile. He hoped that she would look away and start singing again, but she bowed instead.

'Bashful, if it's okay with you,' She said. 'May I have this dance?'

The Leafeon gulped. Every part of his mind screamed 'no' at him about hundred thousand times, so it took him by surprise when he blurted out:

'YES!'

At the same time, Rose approached the prince with a light smirk and a strut in her step.

'Your Highness the Litleo,' She said. 'May I have this dance?'

Before Whiskers could even think up a response, Ebony - seemingly out of thin air - jumped onto the Glaceon's back and stood there like she was just standing on solid ground. Rose flinched and glared at her, but figured it wasn't worth arguing with.

'Dopie is asking if you wanna dance with her too.' She said.

'I don't see why not.' Whiskers replied. 'After all, a good king must have some dancing skills, and how could I say no to an Umbreon stacked upon a Glaceon?'

Ebony couldn't contain her excitement, and her mouth opened up into a smile much bigger than seemed possible for a pygmy Umbreon like herself. Her tongue hung out, resulting in a tiny drop of saliva falling off and landing on the top of Rose's head.

'Ah! DOPIE!' She yelled. 'You know you're capable of not drooling all over me.'

The Dark-type just chuckled at her and wagged her tail again.

'Hey D.J.!' Rose called to the Flareon. 'Crank up the tunes!'

Sunshine rolled his eyes and sighed, and as much as he would've loved to burn her down like a forest, he complied to her request and played his organ a little bit faster. The other instrument-playing Pokémon saw this as their cue to play their own instruments even louder and faster to match. Rivers pushed his aging bones to their limits to pluck those swannette strings as fast as he could manage. Melancholy played his guitar so quickly that he needed to use his mind instead of his legs. Flash sat up and lifted herself up, playing the flute at a medium pace.

The music boomed from their tiny cottage, so loudly that any Pokémon passing by could've easily heard them and followed the source of the sound. Perhaps that was a terrible idea considering the princess's situation...

'And a tiny dash of Leppa berry…'

Queen Nymphia placed every single ingredient gathered by Karasu into her cauldron. The liquid inside bubbled from the heat and began to turn a sickly shade of green, and Nymphia adored her own grin through her reflection on the liquid's surface.

'Perfect…' She muttered. 'This is wonderful! One little sip of this, and you'll see a Sylveon before you no more!'

Karasu was in no situation to celebrate or even cower, thanks to the Attract overwriting any thought process other than 'must obey Nymphia'. He watched with a completely blank expression as Nymphia used one of her feelers to scoop up a cupful of the mysterious liquid into an old goblet. The Sylveon licked her lips, and gulped down the liquid in a matter of seconds. To anyone else, the drink would've been so vile that they would've spat it out immediately, yet to her it was one of the most delicious drinks she ever enjoyed. That was just the power behind her family's magic.

When she swallowed the last drop, her entire body glowed and sparkled with a green light the same colour as the liquid. She laughed to herself as she thought about her stepfather, who had handed all these magical items down to her. That Primarina had too good a heart. All this power was wasted on a Pokémon like him. Her laughter turned to cackling, just as her fur turned black. She screamed as her ears shrunk until they disappeared into her head, and spiked horns grew in their place. Pain erupted in her back as spikes grew out of her spin, and she wailed as her tail got stretched out to its very limit.

Karasu snapped out of his Attract from the sight alone. 'OH MY ARCEUS! WHAT IN THE DISTORTION WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!'

Nymphia lifted up one of her paws and got a good look at it. Despite the pain she endured through this slow transformation, she continued to cackle. She witnessed her pink paw change to a black darker than night as her claws grew longer and sharper.

'It's happening!' She cried. 'IT'S HAPPENING!'

Her cackling got so loud that the entire castle would've heard her if this room wasn't so detached from the rest of the world, before it stopped suddenly. She collapsed onto the ground, and Karasu gasped.

'Q-Queen Nymphia? A-Are you okay?'

Slowly but surely, Queen Nymphia got to her feet and flashed the poor frightened Murkrow a smile that would make any Gengar run for their mother. Karasu flinched so badly that he nearly fell out the window he was perching on. There was no more Sylveon to be seen anywhere in the room, and in her place was instead a Houndoom grinning like she was about to bring everyone down to the Spirit World.

'I-Is that even you anymore, Nymphia?' Karasu asked.

The Houndoom laughed. 'Are you really that blind? You just watched this magnificent transformation before your very eyes.'

Karasu gasped. No longer could he hear her lovely royal voice. Now, it sounded broken, like she hadn't drunk anything for decades. Not a shred of her original voice remained. It didn't help convince him that it was indeed the same Pokémon.

'Isn't this amazing?' Nymphia said. 'I don't look anything like a Sylveon anymore, do I? They won't suspect a thing. And that forsaken Espeon won't even be able to read my mind or anything like that. Rivers is far too old to battle with me, and that Eevee has no battle experience. This couldn't be any easier.'

'So, uh, what's your plan again?'

The Houndoom groaned. 'I'm not going through this again. But, if only so you'll be of use… just follow me down to Chevalier's room, and you can take me to the cottage from there. Then, after that, I'll find a more capable friend. That way, I can-'

She cut herself off when she realised that her Murkrow 'friend' had flown away. Seeing this minor setback, she merely groaned.

'Alright Karasu, be a coward. It shouldn't be that hard to find a cottage in the middle of the woods anyway.'

Spring couldn't believe it. He had Snowy's paws in his own, and the physical contact didn't make him want to cry. If anything, he wanted to hold onto her paws even tighter, so the world could never separate them ever again. His mind stopped processing the wonderful music, for Snowy's delightful giggles and sparkling eyes were the only things he cared about.

One step forward, one step back… one step forward, one step back. Sure, he tripped over his own paws every five seconds, but so did Rose. He didn't even notice his own clumsiness for once, too lost in the shiny Eevee's eyes, as cheesy as that might sound. Not even the Umbreon on the Glaceon could take him out of the experience.

'Ho-la-la-ee-ay! Ho-la-la-ee-ay! Ho-la-la-ee-ay-ee-la-ee-ay-ee-lee-ay!'

Whiskers's dance with Rose was nearly as formal, if only because they couldn't easily hold paws if Rose had another Pokémon riding on her back. Still, she managed to prance all over the room and Whiskers struggled to keep up. Both girls looked as happy as could be, with Ebony even lip-syncing to the yodelling.

'Be honest with me, prince!' Rose said. 'Have you ever had a dance as epic as this one?'

The prince stopped to take a breath. 'I must admit… I don't think… I've ever seen… anything like it…'

If Spring could notice anything in the world except for his dance partner, he would've seen the dopey Umbreon use Rose's head as a stepping stone to get onto her hindlegs. Ebony stood up just like a Machoke and spread her arms out like a surfing Alolan Raichu. Everyone else noticed, and stared at her with gaping mouths.

Flash launched to her feet. 'D-Dopey?!'

'I hear ya.' Sunshine said with a groan. 'Let's crank up the music, fellas!'

And that they did. As Ebony 'surfed' her Glaceon-surfboard around the room, the music cranked up even louder. Flash put effort into playing her flute for once, and everyone else played their instruments even louder and faster. Everything came together to create a cacophonous delight, and Spring noticed none of it. He didn't even see Ebony take the plunge and balance her entire body on a single leg, while still riding on the Glaceon's back.

'You're a really good dancer, Bashful!' Snowy said.

'Y-Y-You too, Snowy!' Spring replied.

It seemed as though nothing could interrupt his magical little fantasy. The Leafeon had become detached from the horrors of the outside world, now where the only things left were him and his partner. Even his nerves hadn't followed him, and he felt as though he could do anything. He had no idea what this feeling was, and neither did Snowy, but the both of them accepted the wonderful feeling and didn't question it. In fact, only one thing managed to bring them back into reality.

'Ah… aahhh…!'

The music stopped. Only a sound like that could make everyone stop and their blood go cold. All attention fell onto Rose, and the stumbling Umbreon who was still trying to keep her balance even as her 'surfboard' became to jerk and shudder.

'AAHHH…!'

Whiskers gasped. Perhaps opening up a window so Blaze could see what was going on was a terrible idea.

'Don't mind me!' The Mudsdale yelled, stepping all the way back and unwilling to receive the brunt of an Ice-type's breath.

Ebony got both her hindlegs onto Rose's back, and gulped. She was all but certain that, somehow, what was sure to come wasn't going to be pleasant for her.

'HIT THE DECK!' Melancholy yelled, abandoning his guitar and diving underneath the nearby couch.

Rivers sighed. 'Melancholy, there is no need to-'

No one listened to the more level-headed Vaporeon, and they all dove for cover. Sunshine hid in the tiny gap between the organ and the wall, regretting his decision almost immediately as he barely fit. Flash attempted to jump out the open window, but only got half her body outside and merely hung on the windowsill.

'W-We gotta get out of here!' Spring cried.

'You don't have to ask me twice!' Snowy said.

They ran around the corner to the other room, and the panicking Prince Whiskers - completely unsure of where else was safe - charged right after them.

'AAAHHHHH…!'

Rose fought against that tingling sensation with all of her power, but it seemed that the more she resisted it, the worse it got. If she stopped to think, she might've simply unleashed it right then and there instead of letting it build up, but that wasn't exactly a thing she did very often.

While everyone dove for cover, all Ebony could do was remain standing two-legged on Rose's back. With nothing else she could do, she folded her ears over her eyes and braced for impact. Apparently, simply hopping off Rose and running away was beneath her.

The Pokémon had only a second of silence…

'AAAAHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOO!'

… before Rose unleashed that utter behemoth of a sneeze, one that was somehow even louder than the booming music before it. The dust on the floor scattered everywhere. Mewton's Third Law reared its ugly head in and Rose went flying all the way backwards.

'OOF!'

She, somehow, smacked stomach-first into the wall behind her. Luckily, she was quite the hardy thing after experiencing this many times in her life, and merely peeled off the wall and fell back to the floor. As for poor Ebony, she had been flung clean off Rose's back and - with some impeccable aim - launched straight out the open window, soaring right over Flash and into the nighttime.

Rose stumbled to her feet. 'I-I'm okay!'

The room returned to silence. Then, after just a few seconds, Snowy began to giggle. It caught onto both the prince and the Leafeon, who joined in on the laughing. Soon, almost everyone in the room emerged from their hiding places and began a mass laughing fit. Even Rose, after she got over her dizziness and aching throat, ended up chuckling a little alongside everyone else too. Flash, after much more effort she was used to expending, unhooked herself from the windowsill and smiled. Sunshine, meanwhile, squeezed out of his spot and just groaned.

'It wasn't that funny.' He muttered. 'Or at all, for that matter.'

The laughter only increased once Blaze stuck her head back through the window, revealing both her irritated expression and a slightly-frightened Ebony clinging desperately to her muzzle. Once the Umbreon realised that she was no longer in danger, she gave the Mudsdale a friendly lick on the face before she tumbled to the floor.

Just when the laughter was dying down, Spring found out that the dust hadn't settled yet the hard way.

'AH-CHPHMT!'

And, as usual for him, he sounded more like a baby Skitty girl than a male Leafeon approaching adulthood.

Snowy couldn't help but to giggle. 'Aw! You really do sneeze like a Skitty!'

Usually, Spring would've died or at least fainted from the embarrassment. Tonight, for reasons he couldn't explain, he simply giggled with her.

If you asked the princess what her favourite part of her birthday was, it wouldn't be the bed, or the music, or even what happened between Rose and Ebony. Her answer would no doubt be the dance she shared with that adorable Leafeon.

Nymphia, still not quite used to seeing black paws in place of her old pink ones, settled down on a soft patch of grass to rest for the night. Perhaps it wasn't her ideal resting place - in the middle of the untamed forest, away from her comfortable bed - but she didn't care. After all, her new Houndoom body allowed her to make a little campfire, one that Chevalier would 'gladly' watch over all night. After all, with Nymphia's Attract in effect it wasn't like he was going to need sleep anyway.

She couldn't help but grin as she drifted off to sleep. Even without Karasu to guide her, all she had to do was listen to that booming music and she found them with ease. When morning arrived, she could finally finish what her unloyal Honedge had started.

Author Notes - Even in the already-established scene there's stuff that got deleted. The solo lines from Rivers and Rose are both based on deleted lines for the Silly Song, from Doc and Sneezy respectively. Sorry, but I LOVE spouting random fun facts about things too much to let this opportunity pass by.