Glimmer’s Gone Green
Minutes later Bella reached the stable. Ben wasn’t in front of Glimmer’s stall like he had been so often over the past few days. Maybe they’re inside the stall with Glimmer, she thought. She could see the stall door was bolted tight.
“Violet? Ben?” Bella said, reaching Glimmer’s stall. “Are you—”
She stopped midsentence.
“Ben! HELP!” Bella yelled. “Frederick! Help! Please!”
Her fingers felt clumsy as she unbolted the stall door and stepped in. She blinked furiously.
Gone were any traces of Glimmer’s usual purple color. Instead Bella’s unicorn was a vibrant emerald green from nose to tail!
Oh NO!
“Bella?” Ben called down the stable aisle.
“In Glimmer’s stall!” Bella yelled back. “Glimmer’s sick!”
The princess reached a hand out to Glimmer’s cheek. Glimmer didn’t feel hot.
Ben skidded to a stop and entered the stall. Immediately he began feeling Glimmer’s muzzle, looking into her eyes and ears, and lifting up her lip.
“What’s wrong with her?” Bella said, trying not to cry. If she cried, she would probably scare Glimmer.
“Glimmer, tell me what’s wrong,” she said.
Bella turned at the sound of her father’s voice. King Phillip stood outside Glimmer’s stall with Frederick.
“Ben,” Frederick said. “Come.”
Ben bowed his head to King Phillip and did as he was told. The king nodded at Ben.
“Dad, we need Frederick!” Bella said. “Where is he going?”
“He’s going to explain to Ben why Glimmer changed color,” her dad said. “Glimmer isn’t sick, sweetie.”
“She’s not?” Bella’s knees almost crumpled under her from relief. “Then what’s wrong?”
“Let’s take a walk together,” King Phillip said. He held out a hand to Bella. She took her dad’s warm hand and stepped out of the stall. She latched Glimmer’s stall door and followed her dad out of the stable.
Sunlight beamed down on them and made the castle seal on King Phillip’s shirt sparkle. He turned his kind green eyes to Bella. “How have things been going with Violet?” the king asked.
Bella looked up at her dad. “Good,” she said. Then she frowned. “Okay, not so great. But Dad, what’s wrong with Glimmer?”
“Glimmer will be just fine,” King Phillip said. “Tell me what’s going on.” He and Bella started down a pebble-lined path to one of the ponds. Bella wanted to know right now why her beautiful, sweet unicorn was green, but it seemed like her dad wouldn’t tell her without Bella answering his question.
“I guess things aren’t going exactly as I expected,” Bella said. “I was feeling a little left out because Violet, Ivy, and Clara became friends like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Plus, Glimmer loved Violet from the moment they met. I promise, Dad, I’m so happy that everyone likes Violet so much. That’s why it’s so confusing, I guess, that I keep having these weird moments of being annoyed at her.”
The king nodded. “Have you told Violet any of this?”
“Not yet,” Bella said. “I talked to Ivy and Clara before I came to the stable. I told them how I felt, and they understood. They told me I should talk to Violet, and I was looking for her at the stable.”
The princess and her father walked the rest of the way down the path in silence and reached a wooden dock. Bella walked to the far end and sat down, swinging her legs above the water. King Phillip sat beside her. The water turned clear as Bella glanced at the pond. When Bella was little, she always wished she could see the creatures at the bottom of the pond, so King Phillip had applied a crystal clear spell to the water. Whenever Bella visited and glanced at the water, it would become crystal clear and the princess would be able to see the life at the bottom of the pond.
A small boat tied to the dock bobbed in the water. It had a glass bottom so Bella could watch crabs, fish, and other creatures whenever she floated around in the boat.
“There’s more,” King Phillip said. “I can tell. I happen to know my daughter very well.” The king touched Bella’s arm with his hand. “What else is wrong, Bells? You can always talk to me.”
“I know I can,” the princess said. “It’s hard. I don’t know what I’m feeling! This whole week was supposed to be about the party on Friday. But all Violet wants to talk about is unicorns, and she hasn’t even asked me how my ceremony went. Every time I bring it up, she doesn’t want to talk about it. It’s like she thinks her Pairing Ceremony is going to be easy and perfect. Or maybe she thinks the ceremony part will be boring. I don’t know.”
King Phillip reached over and put an arm across Bella’s shoulders. Bella leaned against her dad, feeling relieved to have told him what had been going on all week.
“You and Glimmer share a bond that no one else has with you,” King Phillip explained. “She is very in tune with all of your emotions and feelings. Glimmer is green, Bella, because you are feeling one emotion very strongly.”
Bella sat up so she could look at her dad’s face. “What? I turned Glimmer green?”
“Your feeling of envy or jealousy toward Violet,” King Phillip said.
Bella was quiet for a moment. “That’s the weird feeling I’ve had. The thing I didn’t know how to explain. It was jealousy all along.”
“Jealousy is a powerful emotion,” King Phillip explained. “It can motivate people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t, make them feel things that possibly aren’t true, and it can be a consuming emotion.”
“I’ve been jealous of Violet this whole time,” Bella said. “Dad, I was jealous that she and Ivy and Clara became friends so fast. Same with her and Glimmer. I guess I’m a little hurt, too, that Violet’s here and I could have told her every detail about my ceremony, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”
The king stayed quiet, nodding and listening to his daughter.
“Dad, how do I get Glimmer back to normal?”
The king smiled. “You might want to start with talking to Violet.”
Bella wrapped her arms around her dad. The king hugged her back. “I love you, sweetheart,” her dad said. “I know you’ll have Glimmer back to purple in no time.”
Bella scrambled to her feet. “I’ve got to find Violet right now!”