Not so Wonderful
Through the Looking Glass
A couple months have passed since the day of the snow monsters invasion. Over all things were going better for the Care Bear Family. Everyone was thrilled to have Valiant Heart home once more and the new members were becoming well assimilated to their new lives. They day began with all members being called to the Hall of Hearts because True Heart and Noble Heart had some exciting news for everyone.
"All right settle down, settle down," Noble Heart said, smiling, "I told you True Heart and I have exciting news and you'll have to calm down if you want us to tell you."
"Just tell us already!" Valiant Heart called from where he was sitting with Love-a-Lot.
"We'll tell you, we just want to be sure everyone hears us!" True Heart shouted over the usual din in the meeting room.
Sitting together Swift Heart and Defiant Heart were waiting for the room to come together by continuing their conversation. Defiant had been asking Swift Heart how many piercing she had and she had lifted the hem of her shirt to show him her belly button ring. He had placed his paw near it to get a better look which had tickled Swift Heart, causing her to laugh and slap him playfully on the arm.
Noble Heart finally conjured a megaphone and shouted to get everyone to quiet down. "Thank you," he said, once the room was quiet, "Now True Heart, I believe you wanted to give the good news."
"Yes," True Heart stood up, practically beaming as she gave the news, "I'm Pregnant, Noble Heart and I are going to have a cub of our own!"
Swift Heart laughed, leaning back in her chair, "Well holy crap, looks like none of the Cousins can keep it in their pants." She grinned up at the founders letting them know she was happy for them and only teasing.
"Congratulations," Brave Heart said, "Got any name ideas yet?"
"No not yet but we'll be thinking on it." Noble Heart told him.
"Well, now that we've spread the good news, does anyone else have something they'd like to say," True Heart said, once everyone else had voice their approval and in some cases excitement.
Playful Heart promptly put his finger on his nose, "I call nose goes for not ever changing any diapers!" Funshine promptly followed suite as did Cozy Heart, Swift Heart, Birthday, and a couple of the others.
"Very funny," Noble Heart said, rolling his eyes, "We will be looking after our own. Seriously does anyone have anything important they're like to bring up?"
Grumpy had hardly been paying attention to the meeting. His focus was on Defiant and Swift Heart sitting two seats away from him. He had watched the whole belly ring situation and had not liked the flirting taking place. Lately there seemed to be an awful lot of flirting going on between the two and it made him extremely jealous. "Can we please just go and get on with our days?" He voiced since no one else was saying anything.
All right, meeting adjourned," True Heart said. The family dispersed, going about their usualy business.
"Hey Swift Heart," Defiant Heart said, catching her before she took off, "I don't think I ever thanked you for saving me from that snow monster a couple months ago."
She smirked at him, "You don't have to thank me. It was no big deal."
"Even so," he said, "want to catch a movie? It's the least I can do, you pick and I'll pay."
"It's a date. Just give me a half hour to change and clean up and I'll meet you outside my burrow." Tweaking his nose she turned and walked away.
"No problem, I'll see you there," he called after her, deciding to go home and get into something different, he had thrown on the clothes he had worn the previous day when he got up.
Grumpy scowled harder as he watched the two separate. The use of the word "date" had sealed it for him. He wasn't going to let Defiant Heart take Swift Heart away from him. As the badger walked past him, he muttered "Real smooth using her saving you as a cover."
"Cover for what?" Defiant Heart asked sarcastically, stopping and looking Grumpy in the eye.
"She's not interested in you that way. She's just being nice." Grumpy glared back at him.
"And what makes you think I'm doing any different," Defiant looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot, "maybe it's because you have a crush on her."
His eyes widened as he stepped back, "How did you know tha- I mean I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't try to deny it, Grumpy, I went to public high school on Earth for two years, I was around romantically awkward teenagers that whole time so I can read the signals a lot better than most people up here," he rolled his eyes and folded his arms, "did you forget how easily I pieced together the reason behind Fauna's rage on valentines day even though I never really got to know her all that well, I know how to gather information and put the pieces together so don't try to deny it, I figured it out some time ago I just never said anything."
"I appreciate that. No one needs to know my business but me and obviously, that doesn't always happen up here." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I think I need to talk to her."
"Then go talk to her, I won't get in your way," Defiant said, "I like Swift Heart, she's nice and she's a lot of fun to hang out with, but I don't have any feelings for her so you don't have to worry about me taking her from you." Defiant turned and walked back to his home.
Hurrying to Swift Heart's house Grumpy started to plan out what he was going to say. Meanwhile, Swift Heart stood before her bathroom mirror brushing her teeth with one hand and finger combing her flop of hair with the other. Spitting into the sink and swirling water around to get the extra out, she began to straighten up her sink. Swift Heart was so distracted by her cleaning that she didn't notice a second pair of eyes peering at her from inside the mirror.
Dropping off the bottom rung of the ladder Grumpy came face to face with Swift Heart's door. "Deep breath, don't back out now man." Raising his paw he knocked 5 times. "Swifty it's me, can I come in, we need to talk." Hearing him she turned her back on the mirror to answer the door. Suddenly, the surface of the mirror rippled and black shape jumped out at Swift Heart. The rabbit found herself grabbed roughly from behind by one arm and lifted off the ground, keeping her from running away.
"Gahhhhh!" She gave off a strangled yell as her legs kicked wildly, trying to find the wall so she could push off it. Unfortunately she wasn't tall enough and she only resulted in knocking things off. Hearing her yell and the sound of things breaking, Grumpy burst through the door. Once inside he saw her legs flailing and headed for the bathroom.
"Swift Heart what's wrong?"
"Stop struggling, you're not getting free," the being said coldly. It was a female bear in a close knit black body suit that hid everything about her except her eyes.
"Says you." Her eyes met Grumpy's as he entered the bathroom. "Let go of her!" He grabbed one of Swift Hearts feet and began to pull.
"Sorry, but I don't have time," The strange bear moved Swift Heart aside slightly, exposing a tummy symbol, a silver five pointed bladed star with a small hole in the middle. She seemed to grab the symbol and pulled an exact replica out, throwing it at Grumpy's arm, where it stuck fast.
Grumpy let go of Swift Heart, cursing as the star buried in his arm and he started to bleed. "Grumpy!" was all she could say before the strange bear pulled her all the way through the mirror.
Grumpy saw this and rushed forwards, trying to push through the mirror, but the surface was solid once again, "Swift Heart!" he cried in distress. He could make out their receding images for a moment, and then they were gone. Grumpy slid to the floor, shocked at what had just happened. His eyes drifted around the trashed bathroom as he tried to collect his thoughts. He had to tell the others. They needed to help Swift Heart. Before he got up one broken frame caught his attention. Sitting beneath shards of glass was the blue rose he had given her on True Heart's birthday. Picking it up he held it briefly taking a deep breath. Getting up slowly Grumpy placed it gently on the sink before grabbing a towel to wrap around his bleeding arm. Hurrying back to Care-a-Lot he whispered "Don't worry Swift Heart, you know I'd always come for you."
Playful and Funshine was roaming near to Swift Heart's burrow when Grumpy emerged. They could see he was in great pain and that the towel he had wrapped around his left arm was bloody. Forgoing their usual instinct to pull a prank on the blue bear, Playful and Funshine dashed forwards and helped him out.
"Grumpy Bear, what happened, why are you bleeding?" Funshine asked, worried.
"It doesn't matter. Swift Heart was taken and we have to rescue her."
"Taken!" Playful was shocked, "I'll go get everyone together, Funshine can you get Grumpy to Take Care's."
Funshine nodded as Playful took off, "Who was she taken by, and where?" the yellow bear asked.
"Some ninja bear pulled her through the mirror. And I'm not going to Take Care, I have to find her." He winced as he bumped his arm.
"Do you even know where she was taken?" Funshine asked.
He paused, "No but..."
"But nothing," Funshine said, "We'll ask the others first but you need to get the injury properly taken care of or you won't be of any help to Swift Heart." Groaning in defeat Grumpy went with Funshine.
Some time later, the Hall of Hearts was abuzz. Everyone knew that Swift Heart had been taken, and even more shocked that the person who snatched her appeared to have been a ninja Care Bear of some sort. Noble Heart and True Heart were having difficulty keeping order.
Grumpy, his injury now cleaned and dressed by Take Care Bear, was the one who finally managed to get everyone to quiet down when he shouted, "Does anyone know where Swift Heart was taken!"
Guidance Heart raised her hand, "I'm not sure if this is real or not, but I did read a story where a girl goes through a mirror to another world, and she ended up in a palce called 'Wonderland'." she said.
"You think she was taken to Wonderland?" Good Luck asked, "well how would we get there."
"Well," Guidance Heart was still not used to having all attention on her, "the only other way there is down a rabbit hole on earth."
"Then that's where we should be. We need to find the right rabbit hole to go through though and I have no idea where it is." Grumpy placed his head in his hands.
"Rather ironic oui? De one person who would be de expert on dis is de one who was snatched." Grumpy glared at Illusion Heart.
"I could try and find it," Bright Heart said.
Valiant Heart put his hand up, "Grumpy, could you tell me more about that bear that took her?" he asked.
"She was a Care Bear in a ninja suite. That's all I got. And she threw this into my arm." He held up the star. "She pulled it right out of her tummy symbol."
Valiant walked over and took the star, "Hmm, if she was able to hit you while holding Swift Heart," he mused for a minute, "they're probably expecting us to come after her, there might be more unexpected surprises so we need to be careful who we pick to go there."
Suddenly the entire hall was roused as virtually every member of the family was volunteering to go. Tender Heart grabbed the gavel that Noble Heart used and banged it as hard as he could to restore order, "Care Bears, we can't all go we still have to look after the world!"
"I agree," Valiant said, "Only a few of us should go, and only those of us who can handle what might come at us, so I elect myself, Loyal Heart Dog, and Snowy Heart Fox to go."
"If you think you're going without me you are out of your caring minds." Grumpy confronted him.
VAliant Heart shook his head, "I'm sorry, but the mroe people we take the more dangerous things get and it's best if we take those who are able to defend themselves."
Proud Heart looked over at Loyal Heart, "What is he talking about, Loyal Heart," she asked.
"Valiant Heart has been training Snowy Heart Fox and myself ever since the snowman attack," Loyal Heart said. He extended his hand as if holding a sword and a glowign blue sword formed in his hand.
Snowy also stood up, "The day that Valiant Heart had his little meltdown, he was actually experiencing an overload of spiritual energy, and when Loyal Heart and I grabbed hold of him, we were inadvertently imbued with powers as well. Valiant's passed on the knowledge his teach gave to him to us so we can learn to control our own powers." Snowy Heart lifted his left arm, showing the pentacle he usually wore around his neck was around his wrist like a very loose bracelet, as everyone watched the pentacle raised and bow that seemed to be made of white light formed in his left hand, which he held easily.
Valiant looked back to Grumpy Bear, "So I'm sorry, but it's too big a risk and you have no more claim to go than anyone else here."
"I have more of a claim then anyone! You all love Swift Heart but none of you are in love with her!" He froze after he said it. He'd let his temper get the better of him and now everyone knew his big secret.
"It's about freakin time you admit it." Fauna trotted into the Hall of Hearts. Everyoen turned to the door, surprised that the Pegasus was there.
"Fauna, you're back," Valiant Heart said, surprised.
She did a double take, "Valiant, you're back too!"
"Yeah, apparently we just missed each other by one day," he said, "from what everyone told me it sounded like I'd never get a chance to see you again."
"Yeah...about that. I sorta missed you guys a little so I came back to see how everyone was doing. It looked pretty deserted up here so I figured this was the place to be. Lucky me I got to hear that," she nodded to Grumpy, "But can someone please clarify one thing for me? What do you mean Swift Heart is gone!"
"A strange ninja Care Bear came through her mirror and dragged her to Wonderland," Playful said, "ask Grumpy, he saw the whole thing, got a ninja star stuck in his arm for his trouble too."
"Well," True Heart said, "if that's truly how you feel, then you can go as well, Grumpy."
"Guess I can't refuse you now," Valiant said, sighing.
"Great now that that's all resolved let's go." Fauna trotted to Grumpy and began to nudge him towards the door
"Hold it!" Bright Heart said, "Do you even know where to go?"
"I can find out," Snowy said, "just give me a few minutes to focus. My shamanistic powers have gotten stronger since I began developing my powers so I should be able to direct us once we're there."
"And I can sense strange magic when we get close to it." Fauna told them.
"Loyal Heart," Proud Heart grabbed her husband's arm, "I know you have to go, but promise me, you'll be back in time for our son's birth," she said.
"I promise you I will do my best to be back in time for that occasion, Milady," Loyal Heart, kissing her and placing a hand on her pregnant tummy.
Noble Heart and True Heart decided that now was the best time they had to speak to Fauna, and walked over to her.
"Fauna, we have something we'd like to say before you leave again," Noble Heart said, his voice full of regret.
She looked down at them, "Yeah?"
"We, wanted to say that we're very very sorry for what we did," True Heart said, sounding equally regretful, "we should have told you about your mother's killers as soon as we found out."
"I take it you saw the news broadcast?" They nodded. "I'm not sorry for that, but I am sorry about how I blew up at you. You two did more for me then I could ever say, I just lost it."
"We won't ask you to apologize for that," Noble Heart said, "We're just happy to see you again. I know you want to spend your time with Blue but we'd like it if you could stop by from time to time to say hi."
"You should have heard the lecture we got from Defiant Heart," True Heart said, placing her hand on her tummy, "we had a lot to think about after that."
Fauna's eyes flicked from True Hearts hand, to her face to Noble Heart, and back to the hand. She took a step back, wings puffing up, "By Night Shade you're pregnant too aren't you?"
"Yes, I am," True Heart smiled, "but enough of that, I guess you should get going."
"Valiant Heart, you've only been back a couple of months," Love-a-Lot said, "do you have to go?"
"I'll be back, don't worry," Valiant kissed Love-a-Lot, "I'll be back before you know it."
Snowy had managed to get a sense of where the entrance to Wonderland was and turned to leave, but not before turning back to Share, giving her a goodbye kiss, and promising he'd be back. Grumpy waited impatiently by the door for everyone to finish saying goodbye. He had already said his farewells to Cozy and Jolly and was watching now as Fauna softly nudged Noble Heart and True Heart in a farewell before joining him.
"Well, let's go," Valiant Heart said, summoning a cloud car for them to ride in and getting in the driver's seat. Snowy grabbed a small bundle of clothing he'd brought with him to the meeting, feeling he'd need it, as he got in along with Loyal Heart and Grumpy Bear. Fauna stood next to the cloud mobile, hoof stomping wings flexing as she waited to take flight. Valiant started the engine of the car, and they were off, with Fauna following behind under her own power.