FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A/N: Please be honest when you review this chapter, I'm iffy about some of the events here.

Chapter 5: Overload

"Try again, Love Heart," Life Heart watched her son Love Heart Bear, who was 18, stand while facing a target some distance away. Love Heart took a deep breath and focused. His tummy symbol flickered as he screwed up his face before it finally started glowing. Love Heart finally stopped after a minute and his symbol dimmed.

"Why can't I do it!" Love Heart kicked the ground, crossed his arm and glared at his symbol.

"You'll get it, just keep trying," Life Heart assured her son. She stood up next to him, though Love Heart was half-a-head taller than her now.

Love Heart turned to watch where Sweet Heart Pegasus, now 10 years old, was practising the same thing with their father. She planted her feet and stared hard at the target down range of her, before breaking into a fit of giggles, shaking her head, then concentrating just as Love Heart had. It took only a few seconds for Sweet Heart to fire off a white energy beam from her tummy symbol at the target, nearly bowling her backwards only to be caught by Sage Heart, who had been standing behind her.

"You just have to get used to that, Sweet Heart," Sage Heart said as he helped her stand upright again.

"I'm almost twice her age and I still can't do it," Love Heart sighed. "Why is this so hard?" Love Heart conjured a wooden sword out of his tummy symbol and swung it a couple times, "Creating things like this is so easy." He let the sword dissipate.

"It's a different skill but I know you can do this, Love Heart, here." She took her son's hand and re-oriented him to face the target. "Let's try something else. Think about the moment in your life you're the proudest of."

Love Heart thought for a minute then shuddered. "When I saved Sweet Heart from drowning," he spoke quietly, sounding somewhat ashamed.

Life Heart shuddered at the memory but smiled, "You were very brave that day, and we're all proud of you." She stepped back to give Love Heart some space. "Focus on how you felt during the whole thing and try to pinpoint when you felt the best about it."

Love Heart took a deep breath and thought back to that moment, the fear as Sweet Heart took off towards the mainland, the rush of panic as she fell, the adrenaline rush as he swam out to her, the exhaustion as he used his magic to force the water to push him back to shore, and finally the relief and pride when he dragged the both of them up to the grass. He smiled at the last thought then opened his eyes and saw his tummy symbol glowing, brighter than it had before.

"There you go, now try pushing that feeling out towards the target."

Love Heart exhaled and relaxed, trying to do the same thing he'd done before. He felt the kick and stumbled then opened his eyes to see a thin beam of light shooting from his tummy symbol.

"You did it!" Sweet Heart cheered, having turned to watch her brother's practise. Causing him to lose balance and fall to his back.

The beam cut off and Love Heart shook his head, panting, "Not for long though."

"But you've done it. It gets easier after the first time," Life Heart helped her son to stand. "It just takes practise."

"I think that's enough for today," Sage Heart said. "Lunch?"

"Yes!" Sweet Heart raised her hand in the air, bouncing in on her hooves.

"Definitely," Love Heart said.

OoOoO

No-Heart stood on a dark purple cloud hovering over the ocean between the island home of the Care Bear Magi and the mainland. With him was the care-golem, standing rigidly at his side. No-Heart pointed towards the island "GO! Destroy the island and kill everyone there!" The golem created a sphere of wind, lifted off the cloud and flew towards the island.

Life Heart shuddered and turned to face the direction the sudden wind had come from. Sweet Heart stopped beside her and asked, "Mom? What's wrong?"

"This wind... something's here!" Life Heart's eyes widened and she turned around, just as a fiery explosion blew down several trees and set part of the forest ablaze. Love Heart and Sage Heart whirled around to see what happened, and they saw the golem.

It had the right arm of blue bear, the right torso was that of a pink and black striped zebra, the left torso of a green and brown spotted giraffe, its left arm was a yellow hawk's wing, the right leg was a brown elephant's, the right leg a thin red deer's leg, and its head was a stitched together amalgamation of an orange wolf, purple panther, and teal rhino.

The golem raised its right hand and a ball of fire formed. Sage Heart only needed a moment before he jumped in front of his family, throwing up a wall of stone to protect them. "Run! Get off the Island!" he shouted as the fireball exploded and shattered the wall in front of them.

Life Heart was rooted to the spot with terror and it took Love Heart grabbing her arm to snap her out of it. "Mom, let's go!" he shouted before taking off. Life Heart galloped after her son, who let go of her arm as he ran. Sweet Heart was close behind them, jumping up and flying low to the ground when her short legs proved unable to keep up.

The sound of more explosions reached them as they arrived at the shore. Life Heart sat down panting as Sweet Heart landed next to her. Love Heart was bent over, hands on his knees, trying to regain his breath.

Sweet Heart stared out across the ocean and pointed at a purple robed figure standing on a dark cloud hovering over the ocean. "Who's that?"

Life Heart looked up at the figure and shuddered as she caught a glimpse of his red eyes. Memories from 20 years ago bubbled back to the surface of her memory and she wrapped her arms around herself, averting her gaze from the figure. "It's him! He tried to attacks us 20 years ago. He wants us!" Sweet Heart moved to pat her mother on the back, trying her best to smile despite the situation.

"I'm here mom," Sweet Heart said. Life Heart looked up and gave a weak smile to her daughter

Love Heart stood up and stepped forwards onto the sand. He stared down the robed figure. "Why is he waiting?"

"He can't get through the barrier," Life Heart said. "It only allows Care Bears to enter."

"So he sent that thing here," Love Heart glared out at the figure, teeth bared.

Life Heart yelped and pulled her head down as another explosion from the direction of their home caused the island to shake. A visible ring of energy poured out which made a dome-shaped barrier appear overhead. "He's trying to break it," she whispered just loud enough for her children to hear.

"What are we gonna do, mom?" Sweet Heart asked, but Life Heart said nothing. She had practically curled into a fetal position as the sounds of battle behind her grew louder.

Love Heart turned and walked towards his mother and sister. "You two stay here, I'm going to get dad."

"What?!" Life Heart raised her head, eyes wide with shock.

"Don't go, big brother!" Sweet Heart latched onto Love Heart's side, holding him back as she cried.

Love Heart carefully unlatched Sweet Heart and crouched down in front of her. "Sweet Heart, stay here and look after mom. If that man tries to hurt you, then I know you can protect her."

"B-but," Sweet Heart sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye.

"I believe in you," Love Heart smiled, "I'll be back with dad in no time, I promise."

"OK," Sweet Heart pumped her fists and flared her wings, "I can do it!"

"Thank you," Love Heart stood up and ran back towards their home.

OoOoO

Sage Heart stood among the conflagration that had been his home. The golem had wasted no time in setting fire to the forest, a fire that was spreading with each passing second. The golem was easy to predict, it raised an arm, created a ball of lightning and shot it towards Sage Heart which gave him ample time to create a stone barrier that shattered when the lightning struck it. It had gone like this for the last several minutes. While it was predictable, the golem had seemingly limitless energy. Sage Heart dove aside, managing to shake off the golem's aim as he created several shards of metal in mid air and hurled them at the golem. While a couple of the shards stuck fast most of them bounced off the golem's solid flesh.

Sage Heart dropped to one knee, holding his sword point-down in the earth and panting heavily from the heat. He watched the golem search for him before it turned to face him and raised a hand towards him. Sage Heart tried to stand and stumbled and dropped back to one knee as the golem charged for a killing strike. "At least they're safe," he said as he tried to create one last barrier to defend himself.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A loud scream broke through the sounds of fire as Love Heart leapt into the air, assisted by a push from the wind, and rose up behind the golem, both his swords alight with lightning. The golem stopped and looked upwards in time to see Love Heart slash down at its body with both of his swords. The force of the blow sent Love Heart over the golem's head and he landed facing away from the golem. He whirled around to face it, swords at the ready.

"Love Heart?!" Sage Heart finally found the strength to stand.

"Dad! Are you OK?" Love Heart shouted back, keeping his eyes on the golem.

Sage Heart groaned, "Love Heart, why are you here?"

"I came back to save you, just hold on!" Love Heart charged at the golem, swords still crackling with blue lightning, and began to lay into the creature with both weapons. Sage Heart shook his head and couldn't help but smile at his son's bravery. The golem stumbled backwards under Love Heart's assault, despite the fact that the swords were failing to penetrate its rock-hard skin.

Love Heart grunted with each swing, striking at the golem with his electrified blades as sparks jumped off with each hit and small cracks began to spread in the blade. The golem was unable to react under the barrage of swings and was pressed back eventually slammed against a burning tree. Love Heart crossed his hands and swung outward at the golem with all his might, and both his swords snapped in half as they struck the golem's skin.

"Oh no!" Love Heart stared at the broken blades of his swords and got buffeted hard by the golem's left wing. Love Heart threw his broken weapons to the ground, as the hilts and blades dissolved back into nothing. Love Heart shot a blast of blue lightning at the golem that struck dead on but only scorched the fur on its body. Love Heart ran back to Sage Heart to help him stay on his feet.

"Why did you come back for me?" Sage Heart asked.

"So we don't have to go on without you, whoa!" Love Heart threw both of them sideways as a burning tree trunk crashed next to where they had been standing and putting a barrier between them and the golem. "I can't let you die here, what about mom and Sweet Heart? They need you, I need you!" Love Heart eyes started tearing up, though whether that was from sadness or the smoke and heat was unclear as Sage Heart was tearing up as well.

"I was trying to protect you from that thing," Sage Heart said, rubbing the water from his eyes. "It's my job to protect you!"

"I can protect you too! If I can't then what was the point of learning how to fight?" Love Heart replied. The tree split in half and the golem reappeared. Love Heart turned to face it, letting Sage Heart stand on his own. "I'm here to protect all of you, mom, Sweet Heart, and you dad!" As the golem raised its hand and began to form a large collection of razor sharp ice shards, Love Heart felt a warmth spreading across his tummy. His tummy symbol was glowing bright, even against the light of the fire and the death facing him.

Love Heart closed his eyes, 'Is this it?' he thought to himself, 'that feeling mom and dad told me about? What Sweet Heart says she feels when she uses her tummy symbol?' He opened his eyes and stared down the golem as readied its hand to throw the shards. The light from Love Heart's tummy symbol grew even brighter as he shouted words that sprung unbidden to his lips.

"CARE BEAR STARE!"

A bright blast of white light shot from Love Heart's tummy symbol and hit the golem dead on, breaking its concentration and dispelling its attempt to attack him. The golem stumbled back, writhing and raising its arms to protect itself from the beam. Love Heart poured his all into the 'stare' until the golem had been pressed back, near the tree where Love Heart had broken his swords. Love Heart panted as the stare faded and turned back to his father, who was staring at his son, mouth wide in surprise.

"I did it!" Love Heart jumped in the air, fist raised in triumph

"Celebrate later, we have to go!" Sage Heart shouted.

"OK, let's-" Love Heart was cut off by a groan from the golem.

Father and son turned to face the golem which was standing and staring at its hand and wing. The dead glassy look had left its eyes and it was now staring at itself in shock. It turned where it stood, looking over its entire body before it looked towards the two bears, eyes full of hurt, anger and confusion.

"What happened to me?" the golem spoke in a raspy voice, coming from vocal chords that had never been used. Neither Love Heart nor Sage Heart knew what to say but a burning tree branch fell and struck the golem on the head, and it flinched.

"What am I? What's all of this?! What's going on!!!!" The golem shouted as energy began to gather around it's body.

"Oh no! Hold on!" Sage Heart summoned up the last of his strength and pulled a disk of stone from the ground underneath him and his son. Love Heart almost fell off as the disk sped towards the shore.

Love Heart was on his hands and knees, holding the edge of the disk as it hurtled towards the shoreline. "What's going on!?" he shouted as they raced past where the fire had reached.

"I don't know, but if something that powerful is having an emotional meltdown then we don't want to be near it when it happens!" As the beach came into view Sage Heart shouted, "Life Heart! Sweet Heart! Jump!"

Life Heart and Sweet Heart whirled around in time to see Sage Heart and Love Heart come blasting towards them on the stone disk. Sweet Heart reacted faster and grabbed her mother around the waist, using all her wing power to lift them just enough to let Love Heart grab them as the disk changed from stone into a wooden raft and they landed on the water, skidding outwards towards from their home shore.

A moment later, a loud explosion ripped through the island, scattering burning trees stone and other debris everywhere. Life Heart barely had the time to create a magical shield to protect them from the rain of their former home as she watched the barrier around the grove shatter into nothing behind her. "Out home..." she whispered. There was almost nothing left, just a few rocks poking out of the sea where an island had once stood.

"So it seems my golem did its job." The four of them turned to face the purple robed figure, who was standing on his cloud only a few meters from where they floated. "And now I will finish it. You will die at the hands of No-Heart!"

Purple lightning lanced down from No-Heart's fingers, shattering the barrier around them. Love Heart did his best to stand on the raft despite the rough water and shot blue lightning at No-Heart from his fingers. No-Heart didn't even flinch as the lightning struck him and he glowered at them. "You are pathetic!" he hurled more lightning at the raft. Love Heart stepped forwards doing his best to deflect the bolts with a barrier of electricity, only to be knocked flat onto his back.

"Leave my family alone!" Something in Sweet Heart snapped and she took to the air, flying up to face No-Heart head on.

"No! Sweet Heart don't!" Life Heart called out after her, trying to magically pull her back to the raft. Something impeded her however and her magic couldn't get a grip on her daughter.

The eight-pointed star on Sweet Heart Pegasus' head had lit up as she flew at No-Heart, flying up to avoid a lightning bolt and throwing a fireball at the wizard. No-Heart raised a hand to block the fire, only to be hit in the stomach by a solid blast of air followed by a heavy basketball sized ball of mud to his face, knocking him off his cloud. Sweet Heart whooped as he fell but stopped when she saw No-Heart turn into a giant vulture.

"You have more power than I expected, but you are too young and weak to stop me!" No-Heart flew straight at Sweet Heart and struck at her with his beak, which knocked Sweet Heart for a loop. Sweet Heart steadied herself and flew back to avoid another strike from No-Heart's beak. Sweet Heart created a stream of air in front of her and shot a blast of flame into it, creating a brilliant purple stream of purple flames that engulfed No-Heart.

No-Heart screeched and changed back into his true form, his robes smouldering. He reached out and grabbed Sweet Heart by her neck as a new cloud formed under his feet. "You are becoming an annoyance!" he shouted as he tightened his grip. He stared for a moment at the glowing eight-pointed star on Sweet Heart's head as she struggled in his grip. "So you're that unicorn's offspring." He turned his gaze back to the raft where Sweet Heart's family was struggling to keep the raft close to him.

Love Heart glared right back at No-Heart's eyes as he charged up more lightning around himself. "Let my sister go!" He shouted.

"So you are as well," No-Heart turned back to Sweet Heart. "I will not let this bloodline spread!" He raised his opposite hand and prepared to finish off the pink pegasus.

"NO!" Love Heart managed to let off a bolt of lightning, but it flew wide of No-Heart. Love Heart shook his head to clear the blurriness from his vision. "One last chance," he glanced briefly down and his tummy symbol and recalled the vivid memory of facing down the golem. His symbol lit up and he grit his teeth towards No-Heart, "Care Bear Stare!"

"What?!" No-Heart turned just in time for the beam of white light to fly up and strike his raised right hand, burning his flesh and shorting out the spell he was creating. No-Heart bellowed as his left hand shot to grip his right, trying to tear the searing pain from his skin.

Released from No-Heart's grip, Sweet Heart cried out. The light from her birthmark lit up brighter along with her tummy symbol and her eyes shrank to tiny pinpricks as she charged at No-Heart, who turned just in time to see Sweet Heart swing a punch at his face with a fist covered in solid stone. No-Heart was sent reeling by the hit and had no time to react as a torrent of water blew down on him. No-Heart whirled around to see a now berserk Sweet Heart charging at him and he threw a bolt of lightning, which went right through her, dissolving the illusion. A ball of magma crashed down on No-Heart's head and he bellowed in pain, turning into a tornado and scattering the now cooled lava around him. The re-eyed tornado now moved to consume Sweet Heart, but found a barrier surrounding her that pushed the wind away. Sweet Heart let out a cry that sounded like a horse's panicked whinny as fire and water erupted from her hand, created a scorching hot cloud of steam that got sucked into his whirlwind. No-Heart roared as the steam burned him even in his whirlwind form and he was forced to pull away from Sweet Heart.

Through the haze of her rage Sweet Heart saw No-Heart attempting to flee and shouted, "CARE COUSIN CALL!" as a bright white beam of light shot from her tummy symbol, striking the tornado as it fled. Sweet Heart tried to give chase, but the haze faded from her vision and the light from her birthmark and tummy symbol faded as she lost consciousness and fell towards the sea.

"Sweet Heart!" Love Heart and Sage Heart were about to dive into the ocean to swim out to Sweet Heart, only for a whoosh of air to blow past them. They watched as Life Heart Unicorn flew towards her falling daughter with her horn aglow as she directed her magic towards Sweet Heart, slowing her descent and giving the unicorn time to get under her and catch her less than two meters from the rolling ocean's surface.

Life Heart turned and floated back to the raft, her unconscious daughter in her arms. "Just rest my little Sweet Heart, you did very well." In spite of herself she couldn't help but smile.

"Is she alright?" Sage Heart tried to check over his daughter, but stumbled and fell back to the raft having forgotten just how tired he was.

"What happened?" Love Heart asked, slumped down and barely able to move.

"She's just exhausted and I think her emotions overloaded, like what happened with me when we first met, dear." She smiled at Sage Heart, "But with more aggressive results." Life Heart turned her magic to the raft and guided it towards the mainland.

As they approached closer, all three of them gaped at the sight that greeted then. Along the beach a crowd had gathered. All the people were staring and most of them were cheering, having been alerted by the explosion on the island and also witnessing the entire battle between the Care Bear Magi and No-Heart. Life Heart's pride was immediately replaced with embarrassment as a pair of lifeguard waded up and helped pull the raft up to the beach.

"That was so cool! Lightning, Fire and Magic!"

"Can you do more tricks like that?"

"Who was that?"

Questions and comments from the onlookers poured in until Life Heart shouted. "Stop!" her magically amplified voice quickly silenced the crowd. Life Heart blushed slightly, "I'm sorry but we're exhausted. Is there somewhere we can rest?"

"You can come to my house."

Life Heart blinked then smiled as Miranda stepped forwards from the crowd. She had aged, had a few grey hairs and a few age lines on her face but Miranda was very much the same as Life Heart remembered her.

"Is that little Sweet Heart Pegasus?" Miranda asked upon seeing who Life Heart was carrying. "What happened?"

Life Heart looked down at her still unconscious daughter in her arms, "It's a lot to say here."

"I understand, here let me carry her," Miranda knelt and Life Heart passed Sweet Heart to her. The crowd parted to allow Miranda to lead the Care Bears away from the shore with Sage Heart and Love Heart supporting each other's weight as they walked. Two people rushed to pull their crude raft to shore, only for it to dissolve into nothing as they tried to grab it.

"What the?" one of them turned to the other, who just shrugged. After what they had seen today this didn't really surprise him.

OoOoO

Sweet Heart had been laid down on Miranda's guest room bed and Love Heart followed suit, falling asleep as soon as he collapsed onto the bed. After they made sure the two were undisturbed, Miranda, Life Heart and Sage Heart retired to the living room.

Sage Heart yawned and slumped back on the couch next to Life Heart. "Are you worried about Sweet Heart too?" he asked.

Life Heart nodded, "I am. I didn't think she could do something like that, what if the same thing happens to Love Heart?"

Sage Heart put a hand on Life Heart's shoulder, "I know what you mean, but we should still be proud. They saved our lives today because of what we taught them."

Life Heart smiled and removed her hand from her heart to take Sage Heart's hand in her own, "You're right. I am proud of them."

"But what happened? What was that thing that attacked you?" Miranda asked, seated across from them in her armchair.

"He said his name was No-Heart," Life Heart said. "He knew we were Care Bears and said he wanted to kill us," Life Heart shuddered and leaned up against Sage Heart.

Sage Heart nodded, "He sent this strange Care Bear golem to destroy our home and it... exploded after Love Heart attacked it."

"That explains the explosion," Miranda sat back. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," Life Heart shook her head. "Our home is gone and I don't know how to live in the human world."

"We need to find the Care Bear Family," Sage Heart said. Life Heart looked over to him and he smiled, "The Great Wishing Star said we were supposed to join and protect them. After what we did against No-Heart I think we can protect them just fine."

"But how do we find them?" Life Heart asked, "The Great Wishing Star never told us where they are."

"Umm... good question," Sage Heart yawned again as he felt his eyes drooping.

"Actually I've heard more about the Care Bears recently," Miranda said. Life Heart looked over to her, "The Care Bears sometimes appear to help children in need. You might have a good chance of finding them if you went to a larger city."

"It's a start at least," Life Heart said. "Where do we go."

"I can give you a ride to the nearest city if you like, but after that you're on your own. I have roots too deep to move away from here," Miranda said.

"Thank you, Miranda," Life Heart smiled.

Sage Heart yawned again as he slumped back into the couch, "Thank you. I need to tuurnzzzz..." Sage Heart's eyes drooped closed and he fell back against the backrest of the couch, snoring.

"Oh dear," Life Heart smiled. "I hope you don't mind if we sleep out here."

"You can have my bed," Miranda offered.

Life Heart shook her head, "No, we can't. We've slept in a cave for the last 20 years, this will be fine." She carefully pushed Sage Heart over and propped a pillow under his head.

"What about you?" Miranda asked.

"I can stay up a while longer. Can I help you with anything?" Life Heart asked.

Miranda smiled, "You can help me plan for your trip."