Bambi, the young fawn, woke up, and yawned. He looked around, curious, wondering what was going to happen that day.

He was alone; his mother had died last winter, leaving Bambi's father, the Great Prince, to care for the fawn himself. Bambi often thought of his mother and how he missed her; but his friends, Thumper, Flower, Faline, Amber and Cassie kept him busy.

Bambi decided it was safe to walk out. He walked carefully out of the burrow, listening and watching. He took a step, a careful, silent step, and froze. He looked around carefully; he was naturally and instinctively cautious, as he was a deer. A young deer, but he was still a deer.

At last, he raised his tail quickly into the air, and his ears cocked. He broke into a gallop, and leapt around playfully, as if Joy were grabbing him and controlling him.

At last, he stopped and fell over dizzily, smiling and laughing. he fell over at the base of a large tree and lay there on his back, laughing. At last, he calmed down and rose up to his feet. His father was around here somewhere; he could feel it.

He strolled off down the woodland path, his tail raised into the air with high dignity, his gait graceful. He at last started to trot rather than walk, and he walked along happily, trotting silently down the path, and into the woods.

He suddenly stopped. His tail lowered and his ears flattened. He looked around, with perhaps a bit of alarm. He was alert and ready to run.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in the bushes next to him, and he froze in fear. The rustling got louder, and his eyes widened. He froze in place like ice, still as death, waiting for the Thing to pop out at him.

And it did... or, they did. Suddenly, out of the bushes burst two laughing fawns that Bambi knew well. Amber and Cassie. The small does rolled down the hill, laughing. Bambi immidiately saw that his fear was for nothing, and he laughed as well, then trotted down the small hill, next to Cassie and Amber.

"Hello, you two," he said.

"Hi, Bambi," the fawns gushed.

"What are you doing here?" Amber asked. "Exploring?"

"You bet," chuckled Bambi. He leapt around in a circle. The girls laughed.

"We were just playing tag," Cassie said.

"I got her," Amber said to Bambi.

"Yeah, you did!" Cassie cried. "You got me even though I was hiding in the bushes!"

Amber laughed.

"Anyway," said Bambi. "What have you been up to?"

"We have been playing all Summer," giggled Cassie. "We've been so busy playing, we've hardly had time to stop and talk!"

It was true. Since the three fawns had been busy that summer, they hadn't seen each other in quite a while. Since the summer was so long, the fawns hadn't talked for about a month, and before summer arrived, they usually talked daily.

"You're right," said Bambi, a bit suprised. "We'd better go play in the meadow!"

"Why not?" said Amber, shrugging. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah," cried Cassie, jumping up. "Let's go!"

"Race you!" Amber cried, tensing. Cassie galloped off.

"No fair!" Amber cried, smiling. "You got a head start! Disqualified!" She galloped after Cassie, and Bambi watched, then ran after them.

The three friends galloped off to the meadow, with Cassie in the lead, Amber at her heels and Bambi bringing up the rear. The Great Prince watched them from the shadows. He sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Autumn," he told Bambi's mother's spirit. "Why did you need to go? I can't care for Bambi his entire life, but... I don't want him to leave to a new place." The Great Prince watched as the three fawns played joyfully in the meadow. He sighed. "What should I do?" he asked his mate's spirit. There was a gentle whisper in the wind, but it wasn't a normal whisper, it was like a gentle voice, as if Autumn was responding.

The Great prince stood up silently. He sighed, then turned and started to slowly leave to another part of the meadow.

Amber leaned down at the stream to drink. Suddenly, a huge wave of water soaked her. She cried out, her eyes widened, and she looked up.

It was Faline. Faline laughed loudly, and Amber scowled. "Very funny," she said.

"It was," laughed Faline. Bambi and Cassie walked up to Amber's side, looking angrily at Faline.

"Go away, Faline," said Cassie. "No one wants you here."

Faline looked upset. She suddenly smacked Cassie with her hoof and Cassie tumbled backwards, landing with a splash into the pond. She looked up, humiliated.

Faline laughed again, only harder this time. Faline laughed so hard that, at last, she fell over, still laughing, and she rolled about crazily in the grass before sighing and closing her eyes.

Bambi crashed onto Faline's body. The two fawns rolled over, until at last Faline regained her feet. She certainly looked upset.

"Go away," said Amber.

Faline growled angrilly and leapt on Amber. The two little fawns rolled over and over, crying out.

Bambi growled and lungedv at Faline. He pushed Faline away with trememdous force. Faline rolled away about 10 feet, and Amber got to her feet, then ran up to Cassie's side.

Faline got up, sighing. She looked angry, but didn't leap at Bambi nor attack Cassie or Amber again. Faline simply gave an upset face and started to walk away. She stopped and turned around, expecting one of them to call for her to come back. The three fawns just watched, and didn't call for her. Faline scoffed, and walked away.

Amber shook her head disapprovingly. "That girl's crazy," she said.

"Agreed," sighed Cassie.

"You're right," said Bambi sadly. It was too bad. Bambi really liked Faline, but she kept attacking his friends. How could he keep liking her if she wouldn't leave his friends alone?

"Anyway," began Amber, changing the subject, "why don't we all take a nice drink from the stream?"

"That's a wonderful idea," Cassie smiled.

The three fawns looked at the stream that was next to them. They all lapped up the cool, refreshing water. It tasted good, especially on such a hot day that summer.

After drinking, Amber raised her head. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

Bambi rose his head. "Sure," the young fawn said. Amber and Bambi started to play and romp around, waiting for Cassie, who was still drinking.

Then the three fawns ran on down through the meadow, the gentle breeze blowing in their fur, and their joyous cries carried on through the wind, and eventually reached the Great Prince's ears. He smiled at the sound, and raised his mighty head to watch the playful fawns. He chuckled, then left the meadow.

The fawns continued to play around. Amber and Cassie were giggling around, leaping around the meadow with such quickness that they were just little blurs in the grass.

Bambi and the girls ran until they tired of it. They ate some grass, and rested under a tree.

The girls fell asleep, but Bambi lay awake. He yawned, and lowered his head sleepily, until he snoozed, too.

Bambi dreamed. He found himself in a beautiful place, perhaps the most beautiful place he ever had seen. The trees were shining, and the air was crispy, lovely. Leaves of gold showered down from the trees, and the gentle sounds of the babbling brook were peaceful and kept to a sweet tune.

Bambi looked around in amazement. He rose to his feet and watched as the gentle golden leaves slowly fell to the ground. He watched them in awe, unable to speak. He smiled eagerly, and started leaping immidiately. He ran around playfully, spinning in a circle, and then fell over, resting under a great oak tree, with bark the color of the shining sun.

Bambi sighed happily and rested under the tree. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice.

"Bambi."

The voice was femenine, and, although he hadn't heard it recently, it seemed suprisingly familiar. Bambi raised his head, and saw a beautiful doe standing on a hill before him.

Autumn. His mother, the one who had been killed and taken away last winter. But how?

Bambi looked up at Autumn, his mother, in amazement.

"Mother?"

"Bambi." And then he knew. Only his mother could have such a sweet, gentle voice.

Bambi smiled eagerly, and stood up, rushing to the hill. He embraced Autumn, and she hugged him.

"You... you were gone," he said shakily.

"Shhhh," she shushed. "Quiet, my love."

Bambi lowered himself to the ground next to her, his eyes closing.

"How is this possible?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Your dream, Bambi," Autumn told him.

Bambi looked startled. "You mean... this..." he looked around at the beautiful landscape, "is just a dream?"

"I'm sorry, Bambi," his mother told him.

Bambi sighed and lowered his head to the ground.

"It's okay," his mother assured him. "Don't worry, I'm here. I'm here..."

Suddenly, the beautiful landscape was gone. Everything blurred, and Bambi couldn't see straight. When the landscape adjusted itself again, Bambi was in the meadow again, his mother was gone, and Amber was standing in front of him, a frightened look on her face.

"Bambi!" she cried. Bambi could hear great fear in her voice. "We need to go!" She tried to pull him up to his feet. "We need to go!! Now!!!!"

Bambi was still dazed by this sudden change of tone. Then he saw Cassie behind Amber, looking just as scared as Amber was, and he then snapped back to reality. He