FSE

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Chapter 7: The Real World

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

A sandy yellow furred hand reached out from the bed and swung around on the bedside table, searching for the snooze button. After another minute of skull pounding alarm noises the owner of the arm sat up. She was a sandy yellow fennec fox with green eyes and long hair the same color as her fur that was a tangled matted mess of a bedhead. Her huge ears twitched as she scanned the room, finally spotting the glow of the alarm clock on the other side of the room on the desk alongside her laptop and school binders.

She yawned as she slid out of bed and trundled over to the alarm clock, pushing the "off" switch. "Who moved my alarm clock across the room?" she grumbled as she scratched several itchy parts of her body.

"I did, squirt, so you wouldn't smash it like the last one." The rough voice drew the fennec's attention to the door, where a young adult man with short black hair, sharp brown eyes and wearing a dark blue business suit and red with a pale green striped tie stood in the doorway.

She scowled, "Don't call me squirt, Terrence, and don't come in before I'm dressed."

"Right, like you suddenly care if anyone sees you naked," Terrence rolled his eyes, "Just hurry or you'll be late again, Cassandra."

Cassandra stuck her tongue out at her older brother as he left the doorway. She shook her head then went through her morning stretch routine in front of the mirrors on her closet doors: touching her toes, leaning her arms behind her back, stretching her arms sideways, lunging with her legs, pulling her legs up behind her back and twisting her head a few times before she was satisfied.

The hot shower water was the last shock Cassandra needed to finish waking up and she sighed contentedly. She always used too much shampoo but then again she not only had all her fur to clean but her own long hair that hung past her shoulders. After about ten minutes, including time to condition her hair, Cassandra stepped out of the shower and grabbed the huge fluffy green towel off the rack which was seemingly too big for her with her height, Cassandra being roughly two-thirds to three quarters the height of most of her peers, but necessary to get most of the water out of her fur. Once she was reasonably dry she grabbed the brush and comb off the counter and set about the task grooming her hair.

Cassandra had thought about cutting her hair short several times over the last nine years, especially once it started becoming a tangled rat nest every morning. After a while she decided she liked having long hair so she started taking care of it properly, learning to tie it off in a large braid when she wanted it out of the way. She winced as the brush caught a tangle and she carefully pulled it out, trying not to rip the hairs out of her head. Five minutes later she set the brushes down and ran her hands through her hair, letting it cascade down her back and shaking it just a bit to let it settle more naturally. Satisfied, Cassandra skipped back to her room to get dressed.

White undergarments, an orange t-shirt, black socks, and blue jeans with a hole cut in the back to accommodate her tail (something that her mother had to cut and sew into all of her pants). Cassandra stretched a bit to let the clothes settle better then grabbed her school binders, stuffed them into her backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Took you long enough," Terrence commented as he took a sip from his coffee. "Mom and dad left already."

"That's fine," Cassandra grabbed a box of cereal and poured some out, added milk then dug in without bothering to sit down.

"If you took less time in the shower you wouldn't have to rush every morning." Terrence set his empty coffee mug down.

"Says the guy who doesn't have a body full of fur and long hair to take care of," Cassandra smirked as she gulped down the last of her cereal.

"Maybe try getting up earlier, squirt," Terrence stood up and grabbed his car keys out of the bowl on the counter.

"Stop calling me squirt," Cassandra snapped as she headed for the door.

Terrence watched his little sister as she strapped on her knee, elbow and forearm pads, stuffed her sneakers into her backpack, pulled on and laced up her roller blades, and finally pulled the helmet onto her head, pushing her ears through the holes cut into the helmet then headed out the door and took off down the street.

"Be careful!" Terrence called as he climbed into his old junker of a car and headed for work.

Cassandra rolled down the sidewalk with a force in her skates, feeling the wind in her hair and ears. She spotted two guy in business suits climbing into her dad's car just ahead and grinned. She skated down onto the street itself and waved to her dad as she rolled past the driver's side window, nearly bowling into one of the other men without even breaking her stride.

"Who or what was that?" the man asked as he picked himself up off the ground.

"You're new right? That was my daughter, Cassandra," her father smiled as he watched her roll away.

"Your daughter Avalon? But she's not... I mean..."

"She's adopted dumbass," the third man said from the front passenger seat.

Cassandra ventured a look upwards at the trees. The leaves were already many shades of red, yellow and orange, some falling as she rolled past. She smiled and sighed as a cool breeze added to the wind from her skating speed, this was always her favorite part of the morning.

Cassandra risked a glance at the watch she had tied to her backpack strap and gaped, "Crap, gonna be late, better take a shortcut!" She bent low and grabbed at a parking meter to help her make a sharp turn down an alley. She grumbled, "I hate to admit it but Terrence it right, I gotta get up earlier.

She looked up and skidded to a halt, stopping a few meters away from three men in their mid-20s who barred her path.

"Well well, what have we here?" one asked, then blinked and looked closer at her, his eys drifting down to her chest, "Seriously, what do we have here? Definitely a girl but what is she?"

"Who cares," one of the others slapped the first man on the back of his head then leered at Cassandra. "She's down our alley so she's ours to have fun with."

"Wonder what we should do with her first, I mean..."

Cassandra had her arms folded and was tapping the front wheels of her right skate against the ground, her big ears twitching as she caught their whispered conversation, something a lot of people thought they could get away with until they knew her. "Hey!" she shouted, catching their attention, "As much fun as it is can you move it! I'm gonna be late for school."

"Shut up, bitch! We're discussin'," one with a particularly thick accent said.

"Yes, I can hear every word your saying. You're monsters and I don't care so just let me through," Cassandra, moved into a ready stance as she watched their reaction.

"I said, shut up!" one of the men closed the distance, moving to slap her across the face. He only struck air as Cassandra dropped and swung her roller-blade covered foot at his legs, knocking him off his feet with a crack of plastic on foot.

"There, now are you gonna let me through? Ack!" she felt a tug on her hair, one of the gang had been waiting where she entered the alley and had grabbed her hair from behind as the others closed in.

"Now hold still, he's gonna-" he didn't get anymore words out as he felt a very painful *whack* between his legs, where Cassandra has swung her leg back and struck him in his sweet spot. He made a high pitched whine and fell to the ground.

"Gotcha!" another ran forwards and grabbed at Cassandra's right wrist around the guard. "Now hold still until we decide what to do."

"No chance!" Cassandra's left fist fired into his windpipe before he had a chance to blink and he fell backwards, struggling to breath and holding his throat.

"Dirty trick." Cassandra heard a higher pitched voice behind her before the once behind her had somehow recovered and pulled his arms under hers, on his knees to be closer to her height.

"Let me go!" Cassandra demanded.

"Hah, can't get out of a full-nelson can you?" he gloated, his voice dropping back to a normal pitch.

"That's a weak nelson," Cassandra still had her legs on the ground and twisted forwards. The man yelped as his legs left the ground and Cassandra grabbed an arm, lifting him up then slamming him hard on top of the man whose legs she had kicked out earlier.

Cassandra looked up at the last man ahead of her who just stared for a moment, the turned and ran. Cassandra growled, backed up a couple paces then took off, using the downed gang members as a pain filled springboard and skating towards the fleeing member, only to jump off an overturned trash can and bounce off his shoulders sending him painfully to the ground. She hit the ground running on the other side of him and swore. "Shit, I'm really gonna be late!"

Cassandra burned a trail down the street as she finally pulled into the front of her high school. She weaved between the other late-comer students and up the wheelchair ramp, stopping only to take her rollerblades off and pull on and lace up her shoes. She charged down the hall towards her locker, pulled off her knee, elbow and forearm pads as she went. She skidded to a halt in front of her locker, muttering under her breath as she twisted the combination to her locker, then tossed her rollerblading equipment into the locker and removed her helmet. She pulled out her school binders and ran to her first period class.

"Made it!" Cassandra swerved as she entered the class and swung into her seat, panting slightly. Everyone stared at her as the class bell rang then turned their attention to the teacher at the front of the classroom. The teacher just rolled her eyes and sighed before turning to the chalkboard.

Cassandra opened her binder, "Just one more year," she muttered as she started taking notes.

OoOoO

Miranda's car pulled over at the park near the edge of the city, "Here we are." She said, unlocking the doors for her friends. Sage Heart Bear, Life Heart Unicorn, Love Heart Bear and Sweet Heart Pegasus stepped out.

Sweet Heart shielded her eyes and looked towards the taller building at the center of the city. "Wow, they're so tall." She flapped her wings, levitating up just enough to get a better look.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Life Heart asked looking through the driver's side window where Miranda still sat.

Miranda shook her head, "Sorry but I don't like to leave home for long. Good luck and stop by for a visit if you ever come back."

"We will. Goodbye." Life Heart stepped back and waved as Miranda drove away.

"Bye!" Sweet Heart called as she waved after the car.

"So what do we do now?" Love Heart looked at his parents.

Sage heart felt his stomach gurgle, "Let's get some food. There should be a restaurant around here."

"Yes, we should," Life Heart nodded.

OoOoO

Cassandra went through her warm up stretches in the gym, having changed out of her normal clothes and into one of the outfits she kept in her gym locker: a white loose-fitting karate gi with a black belt tied around her waist and no shoes or even socks.

"You know there's no wrestling practise today right?" Cassandra looked up at a passing male teammate of hers.

"Yeah, but I need a workout and I don't have gym equipment at home," Cassandra said.

"What's with the bathrobe?" he pointed at Cassandra's outfit.

Cassandra smirked, "It's a karate gi." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and started to weave her hair together; by the time she reached the weight room she had tied her hair off in a long braid.

Cassandra went over to a punching bag, took a deep breath and took a fighting stance. Cassandra laid into the punching bag, timing her punches to hit when it swung back after she struck it. Cassandra dodged aside when the bag swung back at her and kicked out at it, side-stepping to avoid being struck by the swinging bag. She kept this up for half-an-hour, working up a fair sweat. Cassandra swiped her brow and headed for the showers, undoing her braid and letting her hair fall back to its normal straight appearance.

Cassandra stepped out of the shower and shook her fur out, feeling very refreshed as she pulled on her regular clothes and folded her gi back up into her gym locker. She smiled at the full-size locker, one of the benefits of being on a sports team.

OoOoO

"Hey, Cassandra! Is there a family reunion in town?" Cassandra was sitting on the front steps to the school strapping on her roller blades when she heard her classmate's voice and turned towards him.

"What?!" Cassandra glared at the boy as she finished lacing up her skates and stood up.

"I saw a bunch of colorful animals like you downtown at lunch today." He laughed, "maybe you should-" Cassandra took off on her roller blades, not bothering to listen any further. She had to see, maybe someone else saw them downtown!

Twenty minutes later Cassandra was panting as she coasted to a stop in front of the mall entrance. She slumped onto a stone bench in order to catch her breath.

"Look, another one." Cassandra's ear twitched as she heard the woman's voice and she turned to see a pair of women whispering to each other, thinking she couldn't hear them.

"It's looking this way. Did it hear us?" the other woman whispered.

"Yes I heard you!" Cassandra's shouted caused a bunch of passers by to stop and stare as she stood up. No bothering to skate closer Cassandra continued to shout at them, "Where did you see the other 'things' like me!?"

"In-in the park," the first woman pointed towards the large area full of grass that trees in the middle of the downtown area.

Cassandra smirked, "Thanks!" She turned and skated towards the park. The two women watched her go, then returned to their own business.

It didn't take long. Cassandra was barely a quarter of the way through the park when she spotted the four animals eating while sitting on the grass next to a path: an iridescent blue bear, a moss green horse- no, that was a horn, unicorn, a young pink... were those wing? Pegasus?, and a lime green bear older than the pegasus but younger than the unicorn and other bear. Cassandra just stood and watched for a moment then took a deep breath and skated slowly in their direction.

Sweet Heart Pegasus finished her sandwich and looked up to see someone approaching them on roller blades. "Look! A care bear bunny!" she pointed towards Cassandra.

Cassandra's face twitched and she stopped right next to the group, "Hey! I'm not a bunny, I'm a fox!"

"Then why are your ears so big?" Sweet Heart tilted her head to one side.

"I'm a fennec fox," Cassandra took a deep breath and grit her teeth, trying not to explode at the kid.

The rest of the turned to see Cassandra, wearing her bright red arm, knee and elbow pads, black helmet and standing on the path with her skates. Now that she was closer she could see more clearly that none of them were wearing clothes, not that it mattered for the sake of decency, and each of them had a tattoo over their stomachs: the blue bear had a heart made from rainbow colored dust, the unicorn a tree with red heart-shaped fruit, the pegasus had a wrapped piece of heart shaped red- and white striped candy, and the green bear had a large red heart with three smaller pink hearts inside it and surrounded by a dozen smaller pink hearts.

Sage Heart stood up, turned to face Cassandra and held his hand forwards. "My name is Sage Heart Bear. It's very nice to meet you."

Cassandra snerked a bit but took his hand, "Cassandra Avalon," she shook his hand. Sage Heart stumbled a bit, surprised as how strong Cassandra's grip and shake were. "So who are the rest of you?" she asked, looking down at the other three.

Sage Heart stepped over to the unicorn and helped her to stand. "This is my wife, Life Heart Unicorn."

"Hello," Life Heart's voice was barely above a whisper, "Forgive me but, I'm not used to being out in the open so much."

"I'm Sweet Heart Pegasus!" The pink pegasus flapped her wings and literally flew up to Cassandra's eye level, as she was still the shortest of the five.

The green bear stood up and carefully pulled the pegasus back, letting her land next to him. "And I'm Love Heart Bear... what's wrong?" Love Heart narrowed one eye at Cassandra, whose face was strained, her mouth and cheeks quivering.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man are you serious!" Cassandra stumbled over to a tree, stumbling over the grass with her skates, and leaned up against it while she held her sides, unable to contain her laughter, "HAHAHAHA! Love Heart? Sweet Heart? You sound like a bunch of kiddie theme park mascots HAHAHAHAHA!" Cassandra slumped back against the tree, trying to get her laughter under control.

Sweet Heart couldn't resist giggling along with their guest, Sage Heart just gave a perplexed stare and Life Heart blushed and averted her gaze. Love Heart narrowed his eyes at Cassandra and stepped in front of her, "Just what's wrong with you? Why are our names so funny?!" he stomped his foot with the last word as he glared at her.

Cassandra wiped some tears from her eyes and raised her head to look Love Heart in the eye. "Hee hee, sorry it's just, Love Heart, *snrk* what kind of name is that? Does it have something to do with that funny tattoo on your stomach? Aren't you and, heehee, Sweet Heart too young for thahahat!"

"Mom and dad named us, and gave us our tummy symbols!" Love Heart jabbed his right thumb at the symbol on his tummy and pointed his left arm at Life Heart and Sage Heart, index finger extended.

"Tummy symbols?" Cassandra giggled slightly but managed to finally stop shaking long enough to stand up straight. "Still doesn't explain why you had to get gut tattoos," she prodded Love Heart's symbol with her finger.

Love Heart took a step back from the fennec, out of her reach, "So I can do this." Love Heart turned, his tummy symbol glowed white and a white beam of light fired off, striking a nearby tree, leaving no mark but creating a shower of hearts and stars where it struck for an instant.

Cassandra's jaw dropped and she turned back to Love Heart, "How did you do that?!"

"I can do this too!" Sweet Heart held up her hands and created a small flame out of thin air.

"Sweet Heart! No fire in the park!" Life Heart stepped forwards into her daughter's line of sight.

Sweet Heart immediately let the fire go out, "Sorry mom..." she scraped the grass with a hoof.

Life Heart took Sweet Heart's shoulders in her hands and dropped to one knee in front of her. "Fire is very dangerous in places like this, we don't want anyone getting hurt."

"So what, are you two adopted?" Cassandra asked, looking from Love Heart, to Sweet Heart and Life Heart then finally to Sage Heart.

Sage Heart shook his head and smiled, going to stand with Life Heart as she stood up. "No, I can assure you that Love Heart and Sweet Heart are our very own children."

Cassandra shook her head and her face shifted through several faces of confusion and bewilderment, which made Sweet Heart burst into childish giggles again. "But, you're a unicorn," she pointed to Life Heart and Sage Heart, "and a bear, how are you two even... compatible?" she formed Vs with both of her index and middle fingers and pressed them into each other, "And why does she have wings instead of a horn and..." Cassandra held her head, trying to sort out the confusing images, and a couple gross ones her questions conjured up.

"Magic just reacts strangely sometimes," Life Heart said, "And believe me, I know for a fact that they are my children, I remember their births vividly."

"And there's this," Love Heart pointed to the dark green eight-pointed star on his forehead, "This is a unicorn star, it shows that my mom's a unicorn."

"I have one too!" Sweet Heart pulled her longer bangs aside to show off her dark pink eight-pointed star, though her bangs barely covered the top points.

Cassandra shook her head, trying to clear the confusion from her brain, and stepped back onto the pavement. She spun in place for a moment then turned back to face the family, "OK new question: What are you? and for that matter what am I? Why do I look like one of you?"

Life Heart smiled, "That's easy, you and I and all of us are Care Bears."

Cassandra rolled then hooded her eyes, arms folded, "Bears? Hate to point this out but only two of you are bears, I'm a fennec fox."

"It's a general term, I believe you are what's called a Care Bear Cousin, or if you're part of our little group then you're a Care Bear Magi," Sage Heart said.

Cassandra held up a hand between them, "Whoa whoa slow down! What's all of this about?"

"It's a bit of a story, but we can tell you if you like," Life Heart extended a hand towards Cassandra, palm upwards, in offering.

"Alright, but..." Cassandra looked down at the watch she had attached to her backpack strap and checked the time. I should get home before it gets too late. Tell me as we walk." She turned and started to skate away.

"Wait!" Love Heart started jogging to keep up with her, "How can we keep up with you with those wheels on your feet?"

Cassandra spun around and slowed her speed, smirking as Love Heart caught up to her, "I'll go slow for you, or skate in circles if I have to. And they're called roller blades. What? Were you raised in a cave?"

"Actually yes, I was," Love Heart replied, which only made Cassandra burst out laughing again.

OoOoO

Cassandra rolled along at a leisurely pace as she listened to the family of colorful animals relate their story to her, along with what little they knew about the Care Bear Family. They were almost to her house when Cassandra finished digesting the information.

"So you're supposed to protect them from things like that No-Heart person?" she turned and let her momentum carry her backwards while facing the four of them.

Sage Heart nodded, "But first we need to find more of us and get to the rest of the Care Bear Family."

"Uh-huh," Cassandra nodded, "So I'm one of you then? A Care Bear... Care Fennec?" she scratched her chin.

"We are called the Care Bear Magi," Life Heart said.

"And you have to be one, I mean look at your nose," Love Heart pointed at Cassandra's nose.

Cassandra slowed to a stop next to a parked car and bent over just enough to see her reflection in the side view mirror. She had noticed the oddly valentine heart shaped tip of her nose before but had always dismissed it as a birthmark and nothing else, but now? She looked back at the group walking with her and they all had the same valentine heart shape on their nose too. She stood back up and sighed then started rolling down the street towards her house again.

"Well, we're here." Cassandra held out an arm to the front of her house. The front lawn was fairly large and four windows on the front of the house, which was covered in grey vinyl siding and there was a cobblestone path leading up to the front door. "How do I break this to them," she muttered as she skated up to the front door, then sat on the short step to undo her skates.

"Is something wrong?" Life Heart asked.

Cassandra stood up and sighed, holding her rollerblades in one hand. "Just wait here until I introduce you." She turned and opened the door to the house.

Cassandra's ears twitched as she stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. "Mom! Dad! Terrence! I'm home!"

"In the kitchen, Cassandra!" her mother's voice called back.

"What kept you?" Terrence stepped into the living room.

"I went downtown and met some friends," Cassandra took a deep breath. "Is dad home yet?"

"He'll be home soon. So who are these friends of yours?" Terrence asked.

Cassandra set her roller blades in the closet, undid her knee and elbow pads then removed her helmet and stowed them in the coat closet. "They're outside." She took a deep breath then opened the door so Terrence could see Sage Heart, Life Heart, Love Heart and Sweet Heart standing on the sidewalk, right when their father's car pulled up.

Their father stepped out of his car then stared at the group of colorful animals on the sidewalk, he was a thin middle aged man wearing a business suit with dark hair, a narrow face, brown eyes and glasses. After a minute of silence, Sage Heart walked towards the man and offered his hand up to him. "Hello. My name is Sage Heart Bear. It's nice to meet you."

The man stared at Sage Heart for a moment, then smile and shook his hand. "My name is Adrian Avalon, it's nice to meet you too.

OoOoO

"That's quite a story, Sage Heart," Adrian set his coffee mug down, still trying to process the presence of the four animals like his adopted daughter now sitting at the dining room table with him. They'd had to add the extension leaf to the table to accommodate them and even then Terrence had elected to stand, leaning against the doorway nearby.

Cassandra's mother put a hand on her chin, "I don't think I'd believe you if you weren't sitting in front of us right now." She was staring at the horn growing out of Life Heart's forehead.

"I promise it's all true, Sarah," Life Heart twiddled her fingers together. "I just... never expected to be in this kind of situation."

Sarah was half a decade younger than her husband with a rounded face and her brown hair was done back in a bun on her head. She had green eyes and was slightly overweight, something she was privately ashamed of.

"So if I'm supposed to be one of you then where do I get one of those fancy stomach tattoos?" Cassandra pointed at Love Heart's tummy symbol from where she sat next to her parents.

"I can give you a tummy symbol if you like," Sage Heart said, making his tummy flash for a moment, "I can't say what it will be but it should suit your personality."

Terrence listened to the conversation while staring at their guests, a few critical thoughts ran through his head and he finally spoke, "I hate to be captain bring-down, but do you even have ID, or Social Insurance Numbers, or birth certificates, do you even legally exist? How are you supposed to get a job or even live in this world?"

After a minute of silence, Life Heart spoke up, "Actually I do have birth certificates for Love Heart and Sweet Heart. I registered them at the clinic in the town we used to live in."

"We worked odd jobs back home, I figured we could just do the same here," Sage Heart said, arms spread.

Adrian shook his head, "You can't do that here. Maybe you could in a small town where everyone knows who you are and they don't want to wait weeks for someone to come and help. In the city 'odd jobs' are handled by large contracting companies and people won't be as accepting of magic being used to solve their problems."

"I think I can help you with that. I work for the government and I think I can help you to get proper ID, SINs and get a GED test so you can live in this world, but it won't be free," Sarah picked up her cup and took a drink again, "Do you have some money saved?"

"We do." Life Heart's horn glowed and a purse appeared in a flash of blue light. "I've stored our money in a little magic pocket, for safe keeping," Life Heart dug through her purse to count how much they had.

"That's good, but save some because you need to get clothes," Terrence pointed to the couple.

"Why?" Sweet Heart asked.

Terrence sighed, "Because you can't just walk around naked all the time."

"What's wrong with this?" Love Heart looked down at himself then back up at Terrence.

"Because nothing shows right?" Cassandra smirked and folded her arms, "Trust me, I know what you're going to say. I've had the same arguments with mom and dad for years but most people aren't comfortable with you just walking around in nothing but fur. Save yourself the headache and just go with it."

"In the meantime, you can stay with us. It might be nice to have some guests for a while," Sarah stood up, dusting herself off.

"Where are they supposed to sleep?" Terrence cocked an eyebrow.

"Easy: Life Heart and Sage Heart can have the guest room, Sweet Heart can sleep in Cassandra's room and Love Heart can stay with you," Adrian pointed to Terrence.

Terrence hooded his eyes, "Great... I've always wanted to sleep with a giant stuffed animal."

"I'm not a stuffed animal!" Love Heart stood up and glared at Terrence.

"I call it like I see it, stuffed animal. Hope you have fun with your new friends, Squirt." Terrence turned and headed upstairs.

"Don't call me that!" Cassandra and Love Heart shouted together, both shaking a fist towards Terrence.

Sweet Heart watched the exchange curiously, "Why's your big brother being like that?"

Cassandra sighed, "It's just how big brothers are. You'll see in a few years."

"Not my big brother," Sweet Heart shook her head then grinned.

"Well then, before supper we should go out and get you some clothes," Sarah stood up, dusted off her skirt, and fished her van keys out of the bowl on the counter, "Let's go." She motioned for them to follow her into the garage.

OoOoO

Everyone stopped to stare at what appeared to be a group of large sentient stuffed animals browsing the children's clothing department in the store before being shooed away by Sarah or Cassandra, who was used to this sort of thing by now.

"So why do we gotta wear this stuff?" Sweet Heart asked, holding up a green t-shirt.

"Because, Sweetie, we have to wear clothes to appear decent in public," Life Heart patted Sweet Heart on her shoulders.

"But, there's no holes for my wings," Sweet Heart frowned, fluttering her wings to make a point.

"I can help you cut holes in the back and hem them, Sweet Heart, I can even show you how to do it yourself in the future," Sarah said, "I'll just need to measure you when we get home."

"Thank you, Sarah. There's so much I need to learn about this," Life Heart turned to a rack of dresses and smiled as she pulled out a pale blue dressed covered in vines and orange and blue flowers. "I like this one," she said.

"You'll need more than just one, and underwear, don't forget underwear," Cassandra said. "Do you know what size you need?"

"What size... umm looks like a medium," Life Heart looked at the tag at the back of the dress' neck."

Cassandra sighed, "Not that... I mean cup size," she pointed to her own chest. Life Heart gave her a confused look, looked down at her chest then back up at Cassandra. Cassandra shook her head then took Life Heart's hand, "Come on 'young lady' it's time to teach you how to pick out your own bras."

"I'm a couple thousand years older than you," Life Heart chided as she let herself be led away to the women's undergarments.

"What about us?" Love Heart set down a black t-shirt he'd been looking at.

"Oh, you just need to find a pack and style of underwear that you like, here," Sarah pointed to an aisle full of socks and underwear in bags.

"Got it," Love Heart set the shirt back on the hanger and walked down the undergarment aisle.

"So how do I attach this," Life Heart had managed to find a bra that fit her bust and had her hands behind her back, trying to attach the hooks together. She struggled for a bit before Cassandra took a hold of her hands.

"Yeesh, it's like when mom first showed me how to do this. Here just pull in and get the hooks through the loops, and there!" Cassandra stepped back so her back was against the changing room door. "how does it feel?"

Life Heart was wearing a white bra and briefs as she looked at her self in the mirror, "Kind of tight, I've never felt them lifted up before."

"You get used to it, and trust me it's better than the alternative," Cassandra shuddered and Life Heart was about to ask, when the fennec held up a hand, "don't ask, at least not right now. At least we know you're a B-cup 'cause you'll need a few of those between laundry days. Now," She turned and unlocked the door, "we need to get you something to wear over that before you come out."

"I'm wearing more then I was when I came in, can I just come out now?" Life Heart asked.

Cassandra laughed, "Yeah, I don't get it either. When I'm naked people feel only a little weirded out but when I have underwear on they suddenly act like I'm shaved bald. I'll grab that dress you said you liked and be back in a minute." She let the door close behind her as she headed back to where she'd left the others.

"Hey Cassandra, what do you think?" Love Heart called over for her to look at his outfit. Love Heart had found a pair of heavy brown denim shorts, a grey t-shirt and a heavy dark brown vest full of pockets worn over his shirt.

Cassandra stared for a moment then asked, "Where did you find that?" while she pointed at his vest.

"Over in the sports area, I think it's cool," Love Heart turned around and looked down his back, "I need a hole for my tail."

"Yeah, gonna have to fix that at home too. Yeesh mom and I have our work cut out for us," Cassandra mumbled as she grabbed the dress that Life Heart had looked at earlier.

"What do you and your mom have to do?" Love Heart raised an eyebrow. Cassandra blanched and darted back to the changing rooms. Love Heart blinked as he watched her go, then shrugged and went back to searching for clothes to add to his bag.

OoOoO

"Now for shoes, and maybe some winter boots," Sarah led the group, with Sage Heart pushing a cart full of the clothes they had.

"Urf!" Sweet Heart fidgeted uncomfortably with the pink shirt she had on, her wings making moving bumps under her shirt until she took it off. She looked down at her feet, or rather her hooves that clopped with each step on the tiled store floor, "I don't think I can wear shoes."

Life Heart looked at her daughter, then down to her own cloven hooves, "Sweet Heart has a point. I don't think they have shoes I can wear, and I don't want metal horseshoes nailed into my hooves, or my daughter's." She looked up at Sarah, her eyes pleading.

Sarah stopped then looked down at their feet, "That is a problem."

"At least the boys have normal feet," Cassandra put her arms behind her head, "How do you stand walking around without shoes?"

Love Heart and Sage Heart shared a glance and Love Heart shrugged, "I've always done it, doesn't seem so hard."

Cassandra whistled, "Your feet gotta be just one big callus by now."

"Despite that it would be a good idea to get something to wear, especially since a lot of buildings won't let you in without footwear," Sarah gestured to the aisles full of shoes. "Just getting them to let me bring you in here was difficult."

"What about me and mom?" Sweet Heart raised her hand, bouncing on her hooves.

"Excuse me, can I help you..." One of the store clerks had approached them, only to stop when he saw the bizarre group in front of him.

"Yeah, if you stop gawking for a minute. Can you help the two horse ladies find something for their hooves, without nails," Cassandra said, rolling her eyes on the last two words.

"Oh my, well I'll do my best."

Cassandra snickered at the man's bewildered expression before turning down the aisle, "Well it's his problem now, let's find you something to wear."