The alarm clock wouldn't stop. That was just the first omen that this day was going to be like no other in her life.

Never mind that Swift Heart Rabbit didn't know that when her blue eyes opened for the first time that day. Far as she was concerned, this was the morning she needed to train for the annual Care Bear Obstacle Course. Not that she REALLY needed to--she'd won for the last ten years running, losing only once because of her own overconfidence. Fortunately for all of Care-A-Lot, Lotsa Heart Elephant won by a trunk.

Her paw reached over for the snooze button on her alarm clock, pushing it down, a muffled groan coming from under the blanket as she realized the blasted thing wasn't going to respond to her. Tossing the blanket aside, she turned about a quarter turn on her bed, paws coming to rest on the floor of her room.

"What's with this thing today?" she muttered as she picked up the clock from her nightstand. "Seems this button is stuck...that's strange. Oh well, I'll have Bright Heart look at it later. Right now, I gotta get ready to train."

Pressing the snooze button one last time, the clock finally stopped beeping. "Whew..thought that thing was never gonna stop..." she mused as she headed for the shower.

Sighing to herself--she'd had to wake up one hour later than she'd wanted to because as luck would have it, this year's race fell on the day after her birthday--she turned on the shower and stepped inside.

Of course, her sleep-fogged mind realized one second too late that cold water comes out of the shower first. With a yelp that could have been heard about halfway across the Forest of Feelings, she squealed. "Whoa there...liiiiiitle bit too cold..." she said, wincing as she recovered from the shock of the water hitting her fur. After a minute or two, though, steam began curling from the top of the window and she stepped back in, scrub brush in paw.

As she washed up, she started idly humming a tune she'd heard back during a mission on Earth. It reminded her of home--not the Forest of Feelings, but where she was born, the home she'd never known except for briefly in her life. A home that, until recently, she hadn't even really remembered except in a fragmented memory.

Not until that mission did she remember...

I remembered that day...that day I lost everything I had left to me...Mom and Dad hadn't survived the winter and me and my sister were having to make it on our own..and I wasn't but maybe three years old at the time...That day at the river...I remembered my sister and I being chased by a wolf...we got separated when I fell off a tree and into the water...and I never saw her again...

Her eyes snapped open for a moment, then closed and she hung her head. "I couldn't do anything...I was too young, too weak...too vulnerable..." She shook her head. "No sense dwelling on the past, though. Still..."

She stepped out of the shower and dried off, then stepped outside. "Think I'll go down and train on Earth...a little fresh air might do me good, and besides, I'm a country girl at heart."

She took a walk towards the telescope to see what looked like a good spot to start. "Hmm, nothing...hey, wait..."

Something caught her eye and she froze...even to the speed of her vision it was a blur rushing by. A blur not unlike herself.

"Wait...can it really...?" She shook her head. "No, that's impossible...is it?" She checked the telescope again, just in case it was wishful thinking or her memories deceiving her.

And there it was again, right before her eyes.

"Where...?" She fumbled for the portable GPS locator that Bright Heart had made for all Care Bears that were going on Earth-bound missions, just to insure they never got lost. Finding it, she plugged the coordinates from the telescope into the locator and punched up the location.

Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught at the display that came up on the locator.

LOCATION: UNITED STATES, CARBON HILL, AL

"That...can't be...that's my hometown...or at least, the forest around it. But how...?"

Just then, one of the other Care Bears walked by. "Well, good morning, Swift Heart...something wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Well...in a matter of speaking, I think I have..." She turned to see who it was addressing her. It was True Heart Bear, co-founder of the Care Bear Family.

"I don't understand."

"True Heart, did you know I had a sister?"

"Well, no...when we found you, you had just washed up from a river...alone..."

"Wait...you found me in a river? Then..."

"Yes..you were just barely clinging to life...and for about a day after we found you, you were calling out a name...we had no clue who, though...who you were talking about..."

"What name was it?"

"Rhiannon..."

"That's my sister...were you ever able to find her?"

"No, we didn't have time. Remember, Dark Heart was following our every move and we had to act fast...why do you ask?"

"Because...I think I found her...see, the day you found me, we were out getting some food when we were attacked by a wolf...while we were running I fell into a river and we got separated."

"I see...then why don't you go find out?"

"I want to, but..."

"But...?"

"True Heart, what if I'm mistaken and it's not her? I...I don't want to be disappointed...after all, I do miss my sister, though I don't talk about it much. Since that day, I've just tried to lose myself in competing in things like the Obstacle Race and all sorts of things...just to keep myself from remembering. But, a couple months ago I went on a mission near my birthplace and it all came flooding back..."

"I see. After all, it did take you a couple of days to return. Noble Heart and I had wondered what was taking you so long. Now I understand. But, Swift Heart...you have to understand something. " She sat down on a bench and sighed.

"Whether or not it is her, you have to go and find out the truth, no matter what that truth is. If you don't do this, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering."

"I guess you're right...maybe I'm just scared. But I gotta go, and besides, it's a good place to train for the race. So..."

True Heart held up a paw. "Go on, Swift Heart. And remember, no matter what happens, you always have your family here in Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings. And you always will, forever, no matter where your path takes you. Be safe, and I hope that you return soon."

Somewhere in the forest surrounding the sleepy Alabama town where she was born into the world, Swift Heart emerged in a flash of multicolored light, courtesy of the Rainbow Rescue Beam.

"Ten years and I STILL haven't gotten used to that..." she muttered, taking out a compass from her purse as well as her locator, checking where she came down against the coordinates she'd still kept stored in its memory. Seeing that they were nearly a perfect match, give or take twenty feet, she called out into the misty morning air.

"Rhiannon...is that you?"

Nothing responded at first. She called out twice more. Hearing nothing, her ears drooped a little bit and she sighed. "Perhaps I was wrong..." she muttered.

A rustling in the brush punctured the silence and her ears perked back up, blue eyes scanning around her alertly. Ten years hadn't dulled her alertness in the slightest.

Her eyes picked up a blur of motion--about two seconds before it ran full speed into her and both her and the unidentified blur rolled head over tail into a tree.

"That's me...but...who are you?"

Swift Heart looked up at the reddish furred rabbit that stared down at her. She had brown eyes, a white tuft of a tail as well as accenting the tips of her ears, and stood about a foot taller than her. "Don't you recognize me?"

"I don't...wait...you do seem sorta familiar."

"I should..."

The older rabbit stepped back a step or two to get a better look at the other rabbit she'd blindsided--and blinked. "If you aren't the spitting image of myself...but how...I mean, I did have a sister, but that was years ago, and she got lost in the river...I haven't seen her since..."

Then she blinked again, eyes wide in disbelief. "You can't be...Chrissie?"

Swift Heart chuckled a bit, then nodded. "I haven't gone by that name in years, but yes."

"Oh my..." Rhiannon pounced on her long-lost sister. "Where in blazes have you been? What happened to you? And what's happened with you since? And what's that on yer tummy?"

"Well, we have a lot to catch up on now do we?" she answered, her eyes misting over with tears, albeit tears of joy at finding a piece of herself that she'd thought gone forever.

"Don't mind the mess in here, sis...I never was a great housekeeper." Rhiannon mused with a chucked as both rabbits entered her modest den.

"I wouldn't mind it if the place were crowded with junk, I'm just happy to have my sister back after all these years." Swift Heart replied.

"Chrissie, you have no idea...you don't know how many nights I stayed awake wondering where you were or what happened to you, whether or not you were still alive, or anything. I looked all over this state for you...for years and years, until I couldn't look anymore...then I just prayed and prayed, never once giving up...and now here you are..."

Swift Heart couldn't say a word--anything and everything she'd thought of to prepare herself for this moment just vanished from her mind.

"How did you find me though?"

"Well, it wasn't hard to spot that blur moving through the forest..."

Rhiannon just laughed. "Point taken. But you still haven't explained that symbol there on your tummy. What's that supposed to mean? And what's with what yer calling yourself now?"

Swift Heart thought for a moment, then chuckled. "I could spend days and days explaining this to you, or just simply take you with me to where I live now and show you..."

"I think I just might take you up on that, but we gotta wait til later..."

"Later?"

"Well...yeah, I gotta wait for the old man to get back with the kids so I can let him know I'm going off for a while..."

"You mean you have a family?"

"Oh yes...'bout three years ago in fact. Met the cutest guy in the forest...settled down and had a couple kids. Cutest things in the world too...they mean so much to me..."

"I see..."

"But don't ever forget, Chrissie, so do you. And another reason I wanna wait til later is don't you want to see your old hometown too? I mean, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Well, yeah...but I do come down here from time to time. I just thought..."

"Yeah, it is pretty backwoods here, even for us. So I don't blame you for not coming by sooner. And for all you knew, I was dead. I feared you were too but like I said, I wouldn't allow myself to give up..."

Swift Heart nodded. "I understand..."

"Well, what about you? Surely you must have someone back where you are waiting for you..."

She hadn't expected THAT remark, so she blushed and shook her head. "Well, not yet..."

"Oh, give it time, sis, it'll come. Sometimes, it comes from the place where you least expect it at the last time you'd expect it to. But, there's someone out there for everyone...even you."

"You really think so?"

"I don't think, Chrissie--I know so."

"Thanks, Rhiannon."

"Oh you don't have to thank me. We're family, and that's what we're here for. I'm just thankful there was someone to take care of you all this time, and I'd really like to meet whoever it is so I can thank them myself."

"You will...but speaking of family...what is it like to have to raise your own?"

"Sometimes, it's a major chore...I just wanna tear my hair out and scream. But then I remember why I fell in love with the guy and why I decided to raise a family with him, and the wonderful children we have together, and somehow, it's all worth it. And one day it's gonna be hard seeing them grow up and leaving home, but I just gotta remember I raised them right. And pray for the best. "

"I see..."

"You'll understand more when you have your own someday..."

Swift Heart blushed at the thought. "Eh...I'm more of a competitor...I don't know if I'll have the time to settle down and raise a family."

Rhiannon chuckled. "Guess you really do take after your sis huh...I was just like that too...and probably for the same reasons you are--to try and move forward with my life after you disappeared."

Swift Heart nodded, as she was right on the money. "I know..."

"I didn't think for a minute that I'd have the time or the energy to settle down. But, I learned that my mate and my family give me the strength to carry on when I thought I was just about to give in. I owe it to them too that I never gave up looking for you too...in my darkest moments, they carried me."

"I see...well, I'm here now, so don't worry so much, ok?"

"I know now I can sleep better at night knowing you're alive and well. And I can't wait to introduce your niece and nephew to you...when they get home that is..."

"I can't wait to see them..."

"And, well...hey, I know...want to go down by the river again? I know it might scare you, but before that day, you used to love going down there...just splashing your paws in the water and just enjoying yourself..."

She nodded, slightly uneasy, but knowing she'd have to face her fear of that day sometime. "Well, why not? Can't really hurt anything--and besides, I'm not three years old anymore and you're not six...we're both capable of defending ourselves this time if we get into a scrape, right?"

"Right. So, let's go."

The two sisters were sitting on the bank of that fateful river, paws resting in the water.

"So...tell me what it's like where you live, sis..." Rhiannon finally said at length.

"Well, there's just so much to see I'd have to show you myself..but I suppose we have time for a little bit of a heads up. I live above the clouds, far above the earth, in a place called Care-A-Lot...well, actually, just outside it in another place called the Forest of Feelings...it's a nice and pretty place..."

"I see...sounds really, really quiet up there. I guess it suits you well...you always did like it nice and peaceful..."

"Yeah...and for a long, long time it's the only home I knew. All I could remember of here was a bunch of memories, and not all in one piece..."

"Why?"

"I guess it's cuz I didn't wanna remember what happened to me and you all those years ago. I mean, I kept thinking about you, but I thought you were..."

"Dead, I know. You had no way of knowing if that wolf had gotten me or not. I don't blame you--even though I was too stubborn and too loyal to give up looking for you, part of me thought you were dead too..."

Swift Heart nodded. "Yeah...until I came back here a couple months ago on a mission..."

"Mission, huh? Exactly just what do ya do, sis?"

"Well, the goal of the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins--that's what I am, by the way--is to spread joy and happiness and help people share their feelings. To accomplish that, sometimes we gotta come down to Earth to help the kids out..."

"I see...you mean the human children?"

"Yeah..."

"Aww...they can be so interesting...what I get to see of them around these parts anyway..."

"I know, I know...but they don't always know how to share their feelings. Also, No Heart chases us around trying to mess up our work..."

"Who's that?"

"An evil wizard whose sole purpose is to spread uncaring and evil across the world. In short, the opposite of everything we stand for..."

"He'd better watch out then...now that I'm around."

Swift Heart just chuckled. "That's my sis...always being the protective one."

"I can't help it, Chrissie...I'm yer big sister...I couldn't let anything happen to you...not now that we're finally back together..."

"I know, Rhiannon...but we're both grown now..."

She sighed. "I know, but we missed out on soooooooo much growing up...I wish so much you could have been there with me when the kids were born...my daughter so much reminds me of you when you were her age..."

"You remember me when I was that little?"

"Oh sure, Chrissie...you wasn't much more than a ball of blue fluff with a puffy tail and beady blue eyes...heh..."

They were both giggling when they heard a rustle in the bushes. Both rabbits froze at the sound, ears perked, eyes scanning about for any hint of danger.

"This...this is just like back then..." Swift Heart whispered.

'Yeah, well...I don't have any intentions of letting history repeat itself...be ready to run, though..."

"Uh huh..."

Suddenly a shape pushed its way out of the bush...rather awkwardly at that, and both rabbits trembled ever so slightly at the sight of it.

It was a wolf. Albeit, rather confused. But still, something they counted as the reason they got separated in the first place.

Rhiannon didn't waste a moment, rather, rushing at the confused lupine and shouting at the top of her voice. "GET OUT OF HERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAY? "

Swift Heart could only watch, still trembling at the sight of the wolf...although its response to her sister's pummeling was totally unexpected.

"Hey, hey...ow! Watch what you're doing...I didn't do anything..."

"That doesn't mean anything...you're just a big bad wolf...so just go on and find someone else to go pick on..."

"Hey, wait...pick on?" The wolf growled a bit and pushed her just far enough away so that it could back up a step or three. Now that Rhiannon wasn't trying to pummel it into submission, Swift Heart could see that it was a male wolf.

"Just what do you mean, pick on you? I was just looking for some food..."

"Yeah, us..."

"No, not really...see, I'm kind of strange...I don't eat meat..."

Rhiannon cocked her brow quizzically at the wolf. "Since when?"

"Since about ten years ago...my father swore himself and the rest of the pack off meat after something he'd done to a couple of innocents..."

"You're joking...just what are you trying to do?"

"Not a single thing...just telling you the truth, now may I be on my way?"

"Wait a minute, this just sounds too fishy to me. I haven't seen a wolf around here in ten years myself...so why now? Why would you come all the way out here?"

"Because there's something affecting our lands...nothing can grow out there. And I don't know what it is, all I know is that it's spreading."

"I still don't trust ya..." Rhiannon replied, her eyes still blazing with indignation. "And I'd just as soon you leave here and not show yer face around here ever again..."

"I can't expect you to trust me...but still..."

Swift Heart walked up to her sister, and boldly laid a paw on her shoulder. "Sis, can we talk for a moment?"

"We can talk, but I ain't taking my eyes off that wolf there..."

"I know this is going to sound absolutely ridiculous, but perhaps we should check this out for ourselves...if what he is saying is true, whatever it is may well wind up affecting you and your family...and I don't want that to happen. I'm not saying we should be buddies with him, but for the time being, we gotta take him at his word until we find out what's going on..."

Rhiannon stared at her sister for a moment, dumbfounded. "Chrissie...I don't know...he IS a wolf, after all...and what if this is just a trick to get him to let our guard down? I don't want to lose you again, sis..."

"You won't, Rhiannon...just trust me. " Swift Heart nodded, reassuringly, to her older sister.

She gave her a quizzical glance, then sighed. "All right. But ONLY until we find out what this is all about. After that, I'd be just as well rid of him for good..."

Swift Heart nodded again, then turned to the wolf. "We'll go with you to find out what's going on. But you have to promise us that we will have safe passage through your lands...and we're only sticking around to see what's going on. After that, we go our separate ways."

"I can't blame you...but thank you for your offer of assistance. I will escort you through our lands. You can speak with my father...he is the alpha male of our pack and perhaps he can offer some help. "

"Very well then, I guess it's a deal...um, I never did get your name..." Swift Heart responded.

"Glenn...and yours?"

"Well, she calls me Chrissie...but YOU can call me Swift Heart Rabbit. This is my older sister, Rhiannon..."

Surprisingly, the wolf gave a bow of his head in respectful greeting. "A pleasure to meet you both..."

"A pleasure indeed...can we just get going now?" Rhiannon inquired, a bit uneasy, more than a hint of sarcasm to her voice.

"Ah yes..maybe along the way, you will see that not all of my kind are bloodthirsty predators. We only hunted what we must to survive..."

"Yeah, yeah...why did it have to be us? Or our parents...or any one of us?"

"I cannot answer for ways that precede my time, Rhiannon...I can only speak for myself in the here and now. Perhaps, it would serve you well to allow the past to remain in the past. I assure you, my pack is peaceful...however..."

"What is it?"

"I cannot speak for the other packs in our lands. Some feel we are weak, even soft...that we have lost sight of the old ways..."

"Well, whatever. You might keep us safe, I'm willing to trust your word on that. But, only barely. If I even sense a HINT of danger in you, yer gonna hit the road. Got that?"

"Okay, you two." Swift Heart interceded. "Sis, I know you're trying to protect me, and Glenn, I'm willing to trust your word. But, at least for right now, only as far as she's willing to trust your word. If you want to prove otherwise to me, you're going to have to show me."

"I understand..." His green eyes met hers for only a fleeting moment. "I see some of your kind do possess honor...even if it is hard-won."

"Trust me, Glenn...I lost out on most of my life with my sister because of a wolf, and I'd rather not ever have that repeat itself again. I'm just as inclined as she is to just get this over with and then go our separate ways..."

"I see..." His gaze fell for only a moment before coming to rest on her again, something she found somewhat unnerving. Yet, at the same time, she found it intriguing. What in Creation is his interest in me? she thought.

"And just WHAT are you trying to say there, ya overgrown dog? That I don't have any honor?" Rhiannon snorted.

"No, what I meant is that SOME of your kind is willing to give me an honest chance to atone for the past. After all, I cannot be held accountable for something that I did not do..."

"Grr...sis, can we PLEASE get going?"

"All right, I guess..." She flipped out her locator and tapped a few commands on its touch screen, bringing up the communications function. "Swift Heart to True Heart..."

"This is True Heart, go ahead..."

"Hey listen, I'm gonna stay down here on Earth for a bit. Something is happening down here that's really strange and me and Rhiannon are gonna check it out..."

"Rhiannon?"

"Oh yeah, forgot. She's my sister."

"I understand. So you did get to meet her. For that, I am pleased. I understand your need to investigate the situation down there. We've been getting something down there too. We think it may be the work of No Heart, but..."

"But what?"

"This isn't like him...evil as he may be, it just doesn't make sense. Either he's having a major shift in tactics, or this is the work of something or someone else. As it was, I was just about to call you about this, since you were down there, but obviously, you've saved me the trouble."

"Small world isn't it..."

"Agreed. Keep in touch. True Heart out."

"Roger that. Swift Heart out." She flipped her locator closed, then turned to her companions on this journey. "Well, better get going..."

Rhiannon smiled at her sister and chuckled. "Someday you gotta get me one of those..."

Glenn, on the other hand, seemed positively astonished. "Just who and what are you, Swift Heart?"

"I'm a Care Bear Cousin...if you're nice to us, I might explain to you what that is and what I do...but for now, we just got a mission to complete and you two just got drafted as my partners in this. So we better get on our way."