One day, Tootie left her house to go for a walk. She liked to go for a walk every day to get some fresh air and discover new things. Along the way, however, she discovered a place that she had never been to, with residents that would change her life.

While she was walking, Tootie found a large group of trees and stopped moving. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen these trees, but maybe she had just strayed a little too far from home. In front of the trees was a sign with some text on it. Tootie read the sign. "You are now entering the Forest of the Happy Tree Friends."

"Who are the Happy Tree Friends?" Tootie raised an eyebrow as she asked herself that question. "I've never heard of them before... Maybe I should go in there and see if I can find them. Or at least, see what this place is like..."

Without thinking twice, Tootie slowly walked into the forest. As she did so, she looked at the environment around her. She seemed to be surrounded by miles and miles of trees. But after a few minutes of walking, she saw a few buildings a few feet ahead of her. She smiled and kept going until she made it to the buildings. There were less trees here than there were in the forest itself. She thought she had reached a clearing, but she hadn't; she had reached a whole town.

"Wow..." Tootie thought to herself as she looked around. She didn't know that a whole town could be built in the middle of the forest like this. And she couldn't help but wonder who those so-called "Happy Tree Friends" were...

Suddenly, she saw a light blue moose with light yellow antlers laying on the ground, with some flowers growing close to him. Tootie couldn't help but blush and giggle to herself from his appearance. That sky-blue color of his fur, one antler pointing up and one antler pointing down, and that dopey look on that face... They just made him look adorable. Tootie couldn't resist walking up to him.

As he saw Tootie approach her, the moose smiled at her and spoke. "Oh, hi! I'm Lumpy!"

"Hi, I'm Tootie," Tootie greeted him.

"You know, you don't look like the rest of us," Lumpy said. "Are you new in town?"

"No, not really," said Tootie. "I was out for a walk, and I stopped by this sign that said, 'Forest of the Happy Tree Friends,' whatever that means, and I ended up walking in here."

"You did, huh?" Lumpy asked.

"Yeah." Tootie nodded. "I personally don't know who the Happy Tree Friends are..."

"I'm one of them," said Lumpy. "And there's about 20 or 21 others who live here, too. And they also call themselves part of the Happy Tree Friends."

"That seems like a lot of people who live here."

"Yeah, but they're all usually pretty nice," Lumpy said. "Even if some of them can be a little, um... mischievous...?"

The last word that made it out of his mouth sounded like he was a bit nervous.

"What's wrong with that?" Tootie wanted to know.

"Um, nothing." Lumpy sweated a little. "I thought maybe some of them heard that..."

"I don't think so."

Lumpy sighed with relief when he heard her response. He looked down at the flowers that were growing out of the ground and smiled. He reached down, picked a flower out of the ground, held it close to his nostrils and took a sniff. Tootie couldn't help but blush a little as he did so, it looked so cute.

As soon as the moose smelled the flower, however, his nose began to wiggle a little. His nostrils began to grow and shrink. One moment they were smaller than they were, and the next, they were about twice their normal size. Lumpy pulled the flower away from his nose, sniffling slightly. Tootie could tell what he was going to happen just by looking at his expression, and watching his nose closely. He was going to sneeze.

"Aaah..." Lumpy rubbed underneath his nose with his forefinger, but it was pretty obvious that it wasn't working. He tilted his neck back as he continued to inhale, his nostrils flaring up more. "Aaaaaah... Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh..."

Tootie's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk as she heard Lumpy's inhales get louder. She backed up, trying to get out of the way, and plugged her ears gently with her forefingers.

"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!" Lumpy tilted his upper body as far back as it would go as he took a gigantic inhale. His snout quivered madly, his nostrils flared up to several times their normal size, and then... he exploded.

"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of spray firing out of his mouth. Tootie cringed and gasped in concern as she heard the sneeze. Even though her own sneeze was pretty loud as well, she didn't think Lumpy's sneeze would be that loud.

Lumpy recovered from his sneeze and caught his breath. He sniffled loudly and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. Tootie thought he looked adorable when he did that, but she kept that opinion to herself.

"Oh, my goodness..." Tootie said to herself, and then blessed Lumpy. "Bless you, Lumpy."

"Thank you." Lumpy continued to rub his nose as he sniffled. "And excuse me. I'm allergic to flowers, and my nose is really sensitive. In fact, it's so sensitive, I feel like just about anything can make me sneeze."

"I'm so sorry." Tootie felt bad for Lumpy now that he had said that.

"It's okay, though," said Lumpy. "I like to sneeze, sometimes."

"You do? Really?" Tootie couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"Yeah, it feels good." Lumpy nodded. "Also, one of my closest friends likes to make me sneeze a lot... Would you like to meet him?"

"Sure," Tootie nodded in agreement.

Lumpy got up and started to leave the area, with Tootie following him from behind. After a couple minutes of walking, the two of them came to the house of who Lumpy was talking about. Lumpy rang the doorbell, and they waited a few moments. Tootie couldn't help but wonder to herself who this "friend" of Lumpy was.

After a little bit, the door opened to reveal a teal-colored anteater with glasses and a pocket protector. Lumpy was the first to speak.

"Hey, Sniffles," he said, unknowingly revealing the anteater's name to Tootie.

"Hi, Lumpy, how are you?" the anteater responded.

"I'm good, and I'd like to introduce somebody to you," Lumpy said, and then gestured to Tootie. "This is my new friend. Her name is Tootie."

"Hi," Tootie said, politely.

"It's nice to meet you, Tootie," said Sniffles. He moved out of the way so that Lumpy and Tootie could come inside. "Why don't you two come on in?"

The two of them proceeded into Lumpy's house, and then Sniffles closed the door behind them.

"So apparently, Tootie was out for a walk when she found this sign leading into our forest, and then I met her," said Lumpy.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I got here." Tootie added.

"I see," Sniffles said. "Well, she does look like a very nice person..."

Tootie blushed a little in response.

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do." Sniffles blushed as well. "And, um... Tootie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Tootie said with a nod. "What is it?"

Sniffles thought for a few moments, and then asked her the question.

"How sensitive is your nose?"

Tootie's eyes widened as she heard the question. She thought for a few moments, but she didn't know exactly what he meant.

"Um, what do you mean?" she asked.

"How likely are you to sneeze when something bothers your nose?" Sniffles clarified his question.

"Oh." Tootie understood now that Sniffles had told her what he meant. "I'm not really sure."

"Oh, really?"

Sniffles didn't hint this to her, but he couldn't believe that she had just said that. But as he thought about it, he got a fun idea, and a playful smile appeared on his face.

"Um, yes?" Tootie looked a little uneasy at his expression. What was he up to?

"Is there anything that does make you sneeze?" Sniffles went on.

Tootie thought for a moment, and several things popped up in her mind.

"Actually, I've sneezed from lots of things before," said Tootie, "like pepper, feathers tickling my nose, smelling flowers, getting dust in my face..."

"You know, all of those make me sneeze, too," Lumpy mentioned. "Though you probably already remember when I sneezed from that flower..."

"Yeah," Tootie replied.

"Well, in that case, would you like me to make you sneeze?" Sniffles asked. "If you don't want me to, I won't."

Tootie thought about this for a few moments. She wanted to refuse, but a small tickle made its way into her nose. She looked at it for a moment as it twitched a few times... and then stopped. She sulked a little in disappointment.

"What's the matter?" Sniffles asked, despite that he was pretty sure he knew what the answer was.

"I thought I was gonna sneeze, but I guess not," said Tootie.

"Well, don't you worry." Sniffles placed a hand on Tootie's shoulder. "I've seen this happen before, I know exactly how to fix it."

"I guess I'd like that, please."

Sniffles removed his hand from Tootie's shoulder, then reached into his pocket protector and pulled something out. Tootie's eyes widened when she saw what it was. It was a long, white feather that looked pretty soft to the touch. She was pretty sure she knew what he was going to do with that.

"Are you gonna... tickle my nose with... that?" Tootie sounded like she was nervous. It didn't help that Sniffles nodded in agreement. "Are you sure...?"

Lumpy put his hand on Tootie's shoulder for a moment, trying to calm her down.

"He's done this to me, too," he told her. "But don't worry, the feather doesn't hurt. It just does what it's supposed to, and really fast. But boy, does it tickle..."

"Trust me, Tootie. I'll be really gentle to your nose," said Sniffles, responding to both Lumpy's words and Tootie's thoughts. "And besides, I kind of want to hear your sneeze..."

Tootie blushed visibly in response. She couldn't remember the last time someone had said such a thing to her. But she quickly decided that if it wouldn't feel so bad, and if it was going to help her sneeze come out, she didn't have much of a choice. So she nodded her head in acceptance, without realizing what she was doing.

Sniffles held the feather right underneath Tootie's nose and began to wiggle it back and forth. Needless to say, it tickled, and the effect was instant. Tootie's eyes twitched as her nose froze for a moment, and then began to twitch as well. She lowered her eyelids as her nostrils flared slightly. Her mouth fell open as her breath hitched.

"Aaah..." Tootie tilted her neck back slightly, but Sniffles continued to tickle her nose. He was watching her reaction with sparkles in his eyes and a red tinge appearing on his face. He had high expectations for this sneeze. "Haaaaah..."

Sniffles gingerly moved the feather underneath Tootie's nose several times, watching as her nose twitched and her nostrils flared up. He didn't realize that Lumpy was also looking a bit excited, and blushing a bit as well. He must have wanted to see her sneeze just as much as Sniffles did.

"Haah, heeeeeh... Aaaaaaahhh..." Tootie tilted her neck back more and more as she inhaled. "HaaaaaaaAAAH..."

As her inhales got louder, her nostrils started to flare to a larger size than they already had been. Sniffles became convinced that she was on the brink of releasing her sneeze. He tickled her nose just a little more, brushing the tip of the feather under her nostrils, which irritated them even more.

"HeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEH... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!" Tootie was tilting her head and neck as far back as they could go, her nose quivering and her nostrils growing and shrinking madly.

It was at this point that Sniffles was convinced that she had had enough. With a final nose-tickle, he pulled the feather away from Tootie's nose and backed up a few steps. He looked at Tootie with a smile of excitement, while Lumpy put his forefingers to where his ears would be. With her nose and nostrils rumbling madly, like a volcano about to erupt, Tootie shut her eyes tightly and tilted her upper body as far back as possible. She gave a gigantic final inhale, and then exploded.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Tootie shot her upper body forwards as she released the sneeze, with a good amount of saliva spraying out of her mouth. Lumpy and Sniffles both cringed in disbelief as they heard the sneeze, but then they giggled to themselves. That sneeze may have been loud, but once they got past that, it was actually pretty adorable. Given that the one who released it was already pretty cute, that wasn't surprising.

After quite a few seconds, Tootie recovered from her sneeze and groaned slightly, but audibly. Her throat was hurting a little due to the sneeze, and there was still a very small tickle in her nose. Tootie sniffled and rubbed her nose several times with her forefinger. As she did this, the tickle slowly faded away from her nose. At the same time, just seeing her rub her nose like that made her look even cuter.

"Wow! Bless you, Tootie!" said Lumpy.

"Thank you..." Tootie said as she sniffled and continued to rub her nose.

"EEEEEEEEE!" Sniffles squealed with joy the moment he saw Tootie rubbing his nose. "Oh, my goodness! That was ADORABLE!"

Tootie blushed in response, both in embarrassment and out of being flattered, at Sniffles' unexpected reaction. "W-was it?"

"Yes, it was!" Sniffles nodded in agreement. "Gesundheit, Tootie~!"

Tootie looked at him with an expression of confusion, while still rubbing her nose with her forefinger.

"Um, what?"

"He says that a lot when he hears a sneeze," Lumpy said. "It's pretty much the same thing as 'bless you,' but he prefers to say that instead. I guess it's because he's smarter...?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Sniffles blushed as he heard that.

"Oh." Tootie nodded in understanding. "I guess I'm not used to hearing that word he said..."

"It's alright, Tootie, I understand," said Sniffles. "Your nose must be really sensitive if a little tickle can make you sneeze that loud!"

"Yeah, I guess it is..." Tootie blushed a little. "I'm sorry. A lot of my sneezes are really loud, but sometimes they're a lot quieter."

"It's fine, Tootie. You don't have to apologize," Sniffles said.

"I tend to sneeze loudly myself," Lumpy said.

"Me too," Sniffles agreed. "And I should mention, all the things that make you sneeze, Tootie, make me sneeze as well."

"They do?" Tootie raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Yes, they do." Sniffles nodded his head. "In fact, even letting someone touch my trunk will tickle it. It's alright, though; it feels good when I sneeze."

Tootie thought about what Sniffles had said for a good while. Then a mischievous smile appeared on her face. Sniffles couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw her do that.

"Um, Tootie..." he started. "What are you thinking about...?"

Without thinking, Tootie reached over and poked Sniffles gently on the trunk. His reaction was almost instant; the anteater inhaled as his trunk twitched.

"Ah, hah... Heh-chy!"

Sniffles doubled over as one of his normal, quiet and feminine sneezes erupted from his trunk. Almost immediately afterward, he sniffled and rubbed underneath his trunk with his fist.

"Cute!" Tootie commented as she blushed and giggled. Lumpy was blushing slightly as well.

"Um, thanks," Sniffles replied with a couple more sniffles.

"I don't know why, but Sniffles pretty much always sneezes like that," Lumpy said to Tootie. "Even if he sneezes really loudly, too. And it's adorable."

"It sure is," said Tootie. "It wasn't that loud, though..."

"Yeah, I know it wasn't." Sniffles blushed a little, and then offered the feather he had been using to Tootie. "But if you try tickling my trunk with this..."

Without even thinking, Tootie gently took the feather from him and began to wiggle it on his trunk. Sniffles' trunk began to twitch as his breath hitched.

"Aaah... Heeeeeeeeh..." Sniffles inhaled as he tilted his neck backward. He tried not to do it too much, since he wanted to let Tootie keep tickling his trunk, but he just couldn't help himself. "HaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAH..."

As soon as she heard Sniffles' inhales get louder, Tootie's eyes widened and pupils shrunk in surprise. She quickly pulled the feather away from his trunk and took a few steps backward. Lumpy backed up a little as well, plugging his ears with his forefingers. Sniffles tilted his neck as far back as he could, his trunk twitching hard, and then he exploded.

"Eeeehhhh-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- CHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Sniffles shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze, which fired a good amount of spray from his mouth. Just hearing it caused Lumpy and Tootie to wince in disbelief. It was a lot different than that first sneeze Tootie had caused him to release earlier.

After a few seconds, however, Sniffles recovered and sniffled loudly. He rubbed underneath his trunk several times with his forefinger, looking adorable as he did so.

"Oh, my!" Tootie said. "Bless you, Sniffles!"

"Ugh, thank you..." Sniffles continued to rub his trunk.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah..." Sniffles let out another sniffle.

"That was some sneeze you did there..." Tootie looked at him in concern.

"Yeah. Sometimes they can be really loud, like Lumpy's sneeze," Sniffles explained. "I'm afraid I just can't help myself..."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Sniffles replied with a smile. "I like being made to sneeze."

"Oh..." Tootie blushed a little and giggled sheepishly. It looked adorable to see her do that.

Tootie and her new friends continued to hang out for the rest of the day. She had a good number of conversations with them to get to know them better. She told them some interesting things about herself as well. At the end of the day, Tootie walked out of Sniffles' house, smiling at Lumpy and Sniffles.

"Thanks for playing with me today, guys," Tootie said. "By the way, would you please do one more thing for me before I leave?"

"Sure, Tootie," Lumpy agreed.

"Would you please show me the way back to my home, if you know it?"

Lumpy walked up to Tootie and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to her.

"Sniffles wrote this," said Lumpy. "It's a list of steps on how to reach our forest. It also tells you how to go back home."

"He knows where my house is?" Tootie sounded like she couldn't believe it.

"Well, he does go for a lot of walks like you, so... yeah." Lumpy nodded.

"It should help you out the next time you want to come and visit us," Sniffles added. "Try not to lose that paper until you can figure it out by memory."

"Okay, thank you." Tootie smiled at Lumpy and Sniffles.

With that, she walked out of the house. She kept her paper with her as she made her way out of the forest. Even though she wasn't with Lumpy or Sniffles now, she couldn't stop thinking about them. They must have liked being with her just as much as she liked to be with them. They had so many similarities and interests. And every day that Tootie was with them, she would learn more and more about them. They had become her new friends - and before long, they would become her best friends in the world. Tootie was looking forward to having that happen one day.

When Tootie finally returned home, she pushed the front door open, proceeded into the house and closed the door behind her. She walked into the kitchen to find that her mother had already prepared her dinner. Tootie sat down at the table and began to eat, smiling to herself as she did so. It was one of her favorite meals.

A couple of hours after she had finished her dinner, Tootie looked at the clock. It was very late, and it was time for her to get ready for bed. She brought her favorite light blue pajamas into the bathroom. She took off her clothes as her mother started a bath for her. Tootie climbed into the bathtub, sighing as she felt the warm water. She relaxed, taking all of the time she needed to clean her body off. Soon she finished and stepped out of the tub, drying herself off. She slipped into her pajamas and placed her used clothes - except for her shoes - in the clothes hamper, and then walked into her bedroom.

Yawning quietly into her hand, Tootie crawled into her bed and hugged one of the blankets that was covering her. She took off her glasses, reached over to her lamp and switched it off. The next thing she knew, she was on her side, snoring quietly as she slept through the night.

Today had been the beginning of the rest of Tootie's life.