* * * The Jewel World - Page 8

Kicker overheard them. "But why would we want to get out? It's perfect here."

"Yeah, but think about it Kicker," said Merkeeta. "To always be living in a glass world. To never be able to run through your favorite fields. To never rest in the sun. Wouldn't you miss all that?"

Kicker considered it. "You're right. To never see my Mare and Sire again. I would miss them horribly."

Katya also started thinking about her family. She began to cry, but her tears quickly froze as soon as they left her eyes. And those frozen tears hurt her soft skin.

"Ow, ow," she mewed. "My tears are stinging me." She started breathing fast in panic. But even more tears came out which hurt even more.

As Katya cried, and the tears kept freezing, Kicker became very scared for her good friend. But that fear made Kicker's throat tighten and freeze up.

So Katya and Kicker learned what the other two had already discovered. You must focus on something pretty and enjoyable to make the difficult feeling go away. For you see, on Rainbow, only happy, light feelings are allowed. True feelings, deep feelings are forbidden. You can only be happy and will be punished for feeling deeply, or allowing your emotions to feel up and down, happy and sad, brave and frightened as people normally feel.

"What are we going to do?" the girls asked each other. Because now they were truly scared, but had to keep themselves from feeling it.

JenJen had an idea. "We thought ourselves into Rainbow. Maybe we can think ourselves right back out too."

So the girls sat together in a circle and held hands. They began whispering, 

	"The Valley. 
		The Valley. 
			The Valley."  

				But nothing happened.