FSE

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Foreward: Thank you for choosing to read this story, I've been working on this chapter for a couple weeks and I've had a lot of help from old friends to get this finished. Right off the bat I want to thank Sun Tzu1 from Fanfiction.net for helping me edit this so it read and sounds much better, hopefully he'll be able to do so with future chapters. I also want to thank Phoenix Audubon, Fauna Greywolf, Mariel1/Contrary Heart Liger, Take Care Bear/Amber, and Silver Wolf16 (from FF.net as well) for helping me by allowing me to use their ideas and characters to help shape this story. Lastly I'd like to Thank Krystalvix for doing the cover art for this story. I can't thank you all enough for helping me make this but without further ado, the story.

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A long time ago, there was a man consumed by immense sadness. In the hopes that he would never again feel such sorrow, he tore his heart from his chest and cast it into the heavens. There it became a star.

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Through the eons, as the star hurled through the sky, it inspired many great deeds on Earth as people in need and with good hearts saw it and wished. After centuries have passed, a being will be born to take its place in the sky and then, his heart will fall back to Earth where its power will change the world.

Care Bears Family Adventures

Book 1: Founders

Chapter 1: The Star That Fell to Earth

It was cold and dark. There was no Moon on this end of winter night.

A brown bear lay in her den, hibernating beneath the roots of a great pine tree. Her recently born cub nursed from her as she slept.

There was bright flash of light that penetrated the layer of snow covering the den's entrance. The cub's eyes opened for the first time, and she looked at the snow toward the light outside. The glow intensified until it blinded the cub and surrounded her and her mother. When the light faded, the mother and her cub were forever changed. Unable to grasp what had happened to her, the now transformed cub turned back to her mother and instinctually latched back onto her to resume her nourishment.

Weeks passed and spring finally arrived, bringing the slumbering forest back to life. The mother bear awoke, shook her head and looked down to her still sleeping cub. Something didn't look right, but in the near pitch black of the den she couldn't tell exactly what it was. The mother bear dismissed the thought and moved to push what was left of the now wet and heavy snow aside as she emerged into the spring sunlight.

Once the momentary blindness had cleared, the mother bear stood up on her hind legs, stretched, yawned and then froze in place, her eyes snapping open as she dropped her gaze to stare at her own body.. She was much smaller than when she had gone to sleep, even considering having given birth and the body fat she had consumed during hibernation. Her fur had changed to a deep blue and her front paws... she held them up to her face; they looked like human hands; she was even standing upright like a human!

"What happened to m-!" Her eyes widened as her hands flew up to cover her mouth. Human noises had just come out of her mouth, more shockingly she understood what had once been meaningless sounds!

Terrified, she turned around and dug back into her den, crawling back in to find her cub. The cub was sitting up and staring back at her in confusion. The cub looked very much like her mother did now, except her fur was a pale yellow, cream colored some might say, with a tuft of multicolored hair in the middle of her forehead and on the tip of her snout there was a small pink heart.

The mother just stood on all fours, watching her cub for a moment before the cub reached for her with its human-like hands, its eyes pleading with her. The mother bear snapped out of her stupor and reached out to pick up her cub.

She held the cub close, rocking her in her arms, "There there, it's all right," she spoke softly. The cub responded by grabbing at and latching onto her mother's chest. "Oof, still hungry I see. Well I should go out and see what I can find." It took a little more effort to extricate herself from the cave while she held onto her cub with her right arm; thankfully her smaller size made the entrance to the den large enough to exit without much trouble.

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Over the next couple of weeks, foraging proved far easier than the mother bear had expected despite her new shape. Her front paws, or hands rather, were just as strong as they had been the previous spring, and it wasn't long before she had unearthed enough food to fill her belly. Her cub was thankfully not as helpless as she had seemed and had followed her closely, after she finished nursing.

One afternoon, after a particularly filling meal, the mother bear sat down with her back to a tree, her cub following and lying down next to her. The mother smiled and rested a hand on her daughter's head, then closed her eyes and listened to the forest.

The forest was slowly coming to life, the sounds of little birds up in the trees were the most prominent, but the buds and tiny leaves on the trees and bushes nearby now filtered the light from the sun down on her as the last of the snow melted. The mother bear was grateful she couldn't see or hear other bears nearby. She was terrified as to what a freshly awakened male bear could do to her in her current state. True she was just as strong as she had been before, but this new body was still unfamiliar to her.

The mother opened her eyes and picked up a small stone next to her, rolling it around experimentally in the palm of her left hand. She tossed the stone up and tried to catch it but it fell to the ground next to her. She hadn't been eating as much as she had last spring, most likely because she was smaller now. But why had she changed, and how, and for what reason? She put a hand to her forehead, why was her head so full of questions? Life may not have been easy before but it was simple, even when she knew she'd have to care for a cub, her instincts would have been enough to help her find enough food for both of them but now...

The mother bear wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there when a noise nearby snapped her back to wakefulness. She sniffed at the air and was instantly alert. She smelled another bear!

The mother bear jumped to her feet, which roused her sleeping cub, and scanned the area for the intruder, her ears and eyes open as she watched and listened for any sign of movement or sound.

There was a rustling of bush branches nearby. The mother bear slowly moved to scoop up her cub and run as soon as he cub was in her grasp. The bush rustling drew closer and the mother's muscles tensed, ready to dash away at any moment, until a small bear cub tumbled out of the undergrowth. The mother bear stared at the new cub, it was male but more shocking it was just like her own cub, albeit he was iridescent blue instead of cream colored.

The male cub shook his head and put his left hand to his forehead. The mother bear stood and continued to stared for a moment before she looked down at her own cub, she was hiding behind her mother's leg and watching the new cub with a mixture of fear and curiosity. The mother bear sniffed the air again then breathed a sigh of relief, the bear she smelled before was definitely this new cub.

Now assured of her cub's safety, the mother bear approached the male cub slowly. He looked up at her and recoiled as she approached.

The mother bear knelt down, smiled and offered her hand, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," she said. Instead of running, the new cub just stared back at her for a moment, and then looked down to the female cub still hiding behind her mother's leg. The girl cub shrank back a bit more for an instant, and then peeked out and looked back at the blue cub.

Only the birds' song in the air could be heard for a time. At last, the blue cub reached out with his left hand to take the mother bear's outstretched hand.

The mother bear smiled, "Where's your mother?" The cub looked back over his shoulder then back to the mother bear with downcast eyes. She nodded and her smile turned into a sad frown. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you," she said. Carefully, she stepped forwards, reached her left arm around the blue cub, and lifted him up to her chest. She then turned around and picked her own cub up in her right arm.

Both cubs stared at one another; the girl clung to her mother's fur, trying to hide behind her shoulder. The boy cub barely moved for a moment, and then tried to reach for the other cub with his right hand. When he opened his hand they saw the he'd been holding a large heart-shaped crystal. Both the mother bear and her cub stared at the crystal in the boy cub's hand.

"Where did you find that?" the mother asked. The boy cub just pointed down at the ground in the direction he had come from. The mother turned her gaze towards where he pointed and then back to the crystal. The crystal was changing color before their eyes, first pink then blue then yellow then green...

The mother was snapped out of her trance by the gurgling of both cubs. The blue cub was rubbing his stomach and her daughter was tugging at her fur. The mother smiled, "Hungry?" she asked, "I have enough to feed both of you, but we need to go home now." She turned and walked back in the direction of their den, both cubs still in her arms.

It was hours later that the two cubs finally fell asleep, curled up on the floor of the den. The Mother Bear still lay awake, staring at the crystal the blue cub had brought with him. Despite the darkness, the crystal still sparkled in the faint moon light. Even though it was made of crystal, it felt strangely warm to the touch, comfortingly so. The mother bear set the crystal heart down next to her and slid over to lie between the two cubs. She stared at the crystal until her eyes closed and sleep claimed her.