Tales from the Yellowbell Kingdom:

The Princess & The Robot

By Sean Tonelli

For Natalie and Graeme, because, love.

1: The Kingdom

Have you ever looked up? I mean, up, up and up?

Past the clouds and the sun and even the sky? I bet you

thought you saw everything! But not everything is as it

seems.

You wouldn’t notice it on the first glance, and

you probably even missed it on your third or fourth. But

high in the sky there is a magical place, where three very

special events occurred. The first event (which we won’t

get into much here) is special because it gave this ever-so

secret kingdom its name, Yellowbell. (Let’s just say it

involved lots of flowers and a magical wish.)

The second event in Yellowbell, is dreadfully droll,

and suffice to say, it’s only special because someone paid

a lot of money to make it so. But that is something you

didn’t hear from me.

Which brings me to the third event, and for my

money, the most important, wonderful, special, exciting

and magical of the three. They say, sometimes, just

sometimes when two people meet, it starts a series of

happenstance that shape the way the whole universe

works. This is what happened when Princess Natalie met

a robot named Graeme.

The day started out rather boring and utterly

unremarkable. The milk-bees were busy humming along

the grasses, finding just the right flower to rest their lil’

heads upon, the purple snorks were frolicking about the

Strawberry River, while the not-so purple snorks looked

on with snide contempt since they found frolicking to be

a frivolous endeavor, and just like every day, once the

suns rose over the Sherbet Mountains, all the little

citizens of Yellowbell Kingdom arose to greet the day.

Soon, the Yellowbell Square Market was filled with

the citizens of Yellowbell, hoping to catch a deal on the

fresh milk-bee lait, which tasted so, so good in their

morning tea. Yes, every Yellowbellian, from old Mr.

Crackerbottoms, who had a silly white moustache, and

whose bottom was actually made of crackers, to the

young Rimpletim twin’s, the kingdom’s go to lads for

mischief, made it to the Market. (Actually, it turned out

that the Rimpletim’s were the first to be at the market,

having carefully and strategically placed a bucket of

water, teetering above Mr. Crackerbottom’s door.) It

seemed almost everyone made it every day, everyone

except, young Princess Natalie.

Princess Natalie, who was pretty blue-eyed blonde

with a button nose and a penchant for pink, lived in

Yellowbell Castle, a double towered castle made of

peppermint swirls and sugar cookies. Being of royal

descent, meant that Princess Natalie, had other duties to

perform in the early hours of the day. Each day, Princess

Natalie would be awoken by her maid-bot Zooey, who

more than a little resembled a nice grandmother, albeit a

silver one, now, as I said before, this day was just like

any other day in the Kingdom.

“Allwright, Yer’ Grace, rise en’ shine” Zooey said

as she threw back the Princesses pretty pink drapes and

waited for a response from little lump in the middle of

the pretty pink comforter in the middle of the pretty

pink room. “Now we go through this every day, I’m

programmed to wake ya, and by golly I won’t leave till I

wake ya.” Just then a pretty pink pillow hurdled

through the air, nearly nicking Zooey’s shiny head and

flying right out the window.

“I’m nawt getting’ that, but you are getting’ up!”

Zooey’s patience was wearing thin since her patience

setting was only turned to level two. Zooey then raced

across the room on her heel wheels, grabbed Princess

Natalie’s pretty pink comforter, and threw it off Natalie

and accidently right out the window.

Natalie laid in her bed, arms crossed and exposed

to the world. She then furrowed her brow and said “I’m

not getting that.”

Meanwhile, down in the charging quarters, the

other robots were just powering on for the start of their

shift. Robot’s in Yellowbell have been used for

generations and generations to help the royal family with

the mundane tasks that, everyone who doesn’t have a

server-bot, has to do anyways. Chores such as mowing

the royal lawn, or washing the royal dog, were done

thanklessly and diligently by a specific bot. The only

time there had been a problem was when the dishwasher-

bot was replaced by a dishwasher. Luckily for him, the

thrill of loading the dishwasher wore off, and the

dishwasher-bot became the dishwasher-loading-bot... his

name was Greg, but he’s not important. Now Graeme is!

2: The Thing About Robots

Graeme was a maintenance-bot, and was one of the

hardest working bots in the castle. Every day he would

begin working on a series of never-ending tasks. Some

day’s he would fix the loose steps in the north-east tower

in The West Wing, which the Queen had named after her

favourite television shows. Other day’s he would

lubricate all the doors in the castle so they would squeak

because the King in his later years had grown paranoid,

and shivered at the thought of someone sneaking up on

him. One week, Graeme was ordered to remove the door

all together, but the King hated people seeing him in the

buff more than he hated being snuck up on, so the doors

were quickly, and thankfully, replaced.

This particular morning, Graeme was tasked with

painting the royal rose bushes purple. Purple, being a

royal colour, and neither red, nor white, which is

commonly associated with the Queen of Hearts from the

Looking Glass stories, who was notorious for beheading

her subjects. The Queen of Yellowbell did not, for one

teeny tiny second, wish to be mentioned in the same

breath as that horrible fictitious tyrant, and insisted all

the flowers be painted purple at once.

So there Graeme was, painting away under the

Princesses window, when all of a sudden the world went

completely black. This is queer, he thought, I just had

my eye circuits checked, maybe the Doctor was a quack

(just as he always suspected) what does a, well, whatever

he is, know about fixing robots! That’s it, he was going to

march right into that office and tell the Doctor what was

what! So Graeme threw the pretty pink comforter that

was covering his whole body on the ground and stormed

away. He got about three and half steps when he realized

he could see again.

Huh, he thought again, I can see. He then reached

into his chest cabinet and pulled out his mirror, just to be

sure he could really see. I see my face, my eyes are still

yellow, and my nose is silver, silver face, blue hat, yes,

yes all seems to be good, so why can’t I see? Graeme

looked up and down, left and right but still couldn’t

understand why he couldn’t see. So he went back four

whole steps lifted his foot and saw that he had trampled

all over the pretty pink comforter which lay there

motionless on the grass. Oh no! Graeme thought to

himself, I’ve killed it. Graeme felt horrible, he had never

so much as hurt a fly, let alone killed anything before. He

started to panic, he had to hide the body, but where? A

thousand and one thoughts swam through his

motherboard, which is the thought processing limit just

so you know. Then out of nowhere he heard a voice call

to him from the window above. It was Zooey.

“Aye’ Aye’ you, down there, yes you.”

Graeme looked up, gripping the lifeless pink

comforter in his hard metallic hands. This was it, his life

was all over. There was so much he had yet to fix, so

many fences left unpainted, and worst of all, he never got

to replace the screen door in the King’s quarters. He will

be dismantled, and remembered for all of time as a

failure. These thoughts and more kept Graeme from

responding to Zooey for at least a minute. Thus, Zooey

became annoyed.

“Ugh, look, in the nayme of d’Princess I demand

you return dat comforter to d’Princesses qwuarters post

hayste!”

“Umm?” Graeme was not the brightest of the bots.

Zooey’s patience chip was wearing thin. “It means

naw!”

“Naw?”

Zooey shot a look of daggers at Graeme and yelled

at the top of voice box “Nnnoowww!”

Graeme bolted from his spot and ran through the

side door of the tower, then up and up and up the stairs

to the princesses quarters. He burst through the door,

ran towards the princess, who had just finished putting

on the most beautiful pink gown, and held out his poor

defenseless victim. He fell to his knees, bowed his head,

and began to plead.

“I’m sorry Grace! I d-d-didn’t mean to, I just, I

was working, then it fell over me and the next thing I

knew it was under my feet, and now it’s d-dead!”

Princess Natalie began to giggle. A little at first,

then louder and fuller. So much so that her eyes started

to water and her sides proceeded to hurt. Graeme,

obviously, was confused by this response.

“Oh you silly ‘bot, that’s only my comforter, and I

assure you, it cannot be killed.”

If Graeme’s face could turn red, then it would be

redder than the behind of a red-furred sugar bear. The

kind Princess sensed his embarrassment, but more than

that she sensed something else. This robot was special,

not too bright, but special, unique even.

“You are however my hero, and for returning my

comforter which brings me so much... umm, comforter, I

shall reward you with whatever you shall like.”

Graeme was taken aback. No one had ever asked

him what he had wanted before, and he had no idea how

to respond, so he said “No one has ever asked me what I

wanted before and I have no idea how to respond.”

The Princess simply smiled, put her hand under

Graeme’s bowed chin and met his eyes. “Then I shall owe

you one. Now, hero, what is your name?”

“Graeme.”

“Hello Graeme, I am Princess Natalie of Yellowbell

Kingdom, but you may call me Nat.” And from that day

on, the two were inseparable.

3: Time

Time passes in Yellowbell Kingdom much like it

passes for us. Minutes are minutes, hours are hours, and

days are days. The only exception being years, which are

called Jason’s named after Crazy King Jason who

decreed it so long ago just because he didn’t like the way

‘years’ felt in his throat.

So over the Jason’s, Graeme and the Princess grew

closer and closer and had many adventures. There was

the time when the two ventured deep within the giants

beard to steal a bread crumb to feed the tiny mite village.

This other time, the Princess had sold her royal crown to

a sneaky witch for the price of some magic lollies.

Graeme had to battle the witch to a game of wits, which

was very challenging for both contestants. In the end

Graeme simply tossed water into the witches face and

melted her. It is common knowledge that witches melt

when exposed to even the smallest drop of liquid. One

would think that with all the potions that witches brew,

one of them would have cured their water problem, but

then again, maybe they’re too busy being wicked, stupid

witches.

Yes, everything was going wonderfully for our

dynamic duo. So much so that when it was time for

Princess Natalie’s Space Prom, she could think of no one

else she’d rather go with. Space Prom is a very important

night for any young Yellowbellian, but for Graeme this

one was going to be extra special, he was going to ask the

Princess to be his Super-Special-Someone, which would

eventually lead to hand holding, and yes, dare he dream,

even a kiss. Graeme could picture it now, right after the

Milky Way Memorial slow dance, Graeme would whisk

the princess away to a secluded meteor, get down on one

knee, and there in the pearly blue glow of the moonrise,

he would pop the big question. Graeme was all smiles, he

just had one thing to do, he had to ask permission from

the King and Queen of the Yellowbell Kingdom. This

made Graeme very nervous.

The King and Queen were not terrible people, not

even by a long shot. They were just, well, the King and

Queen, of the whole entire kingdom, and Graeme, try as

he might, felt like he had never made a really good

impression. He felt the Queen liked him, but there was

that time he lost control of the Paint Gun 5000 and

covered the Queens royal face a very un-royal blue. She

was not amused. Even worse was the time when Graeme

had run over the King’s golf ball, mid-play, with the

lawnmower, which made the King lose a Royal bet with

the Duke of Chocolaton. The King had to spend the next

3 days wearing the Queens prettiest gown. This time

however, the Queen was amused, the King… not so

much. Oh dear, oh dear, Graeme thought. What if they

say no?

Graeme, dressed in his finest baby blue suit,

complete with ruffled lapels (and a snazzy bow-tie), made

sure he approached the King and Queen before he picked

up the Princess. As he entered the throne room, he heard

his metal heart beating so loud in his chest that the

Royal Rapper could have made a whole song out of it.

The King and Queen heard it as well which brought a

smile to both their faces. Having finally made it to the

base of the Candy Thrones, Graeme bowed on one knee,

pulled out his crumpled speech and began.

“Ahem… Since the d-dawn of Robot time, in the

long, long ago, Robots have sought company and c-

companion ship. I believe it was Colecco Vision Version

1.01 who first said 0-1-1-0-1—“

“Enough!” The King rose from his throne, brows

furrowed, stroking his beard. Graeme began to shake.

“You want to ask our beautiful daughter, Princess

Natalie Norah, the first of her name, to be your Super-

Special-Someone. Am I correct?”

“Ahh, yes, essential, if it pleases your G-Grace.”

The King let a boisterous laugh that shook the

whole room, then smiled. “Of course you may young

Graeme, on one condition.”

“Ok yes, your Grace, anything your Grace.”

Graeme began to smile as well.

“You love her and protect her with your whole

heart. No half measures, do you understand?”

Graeme could hardly contain his excitement. “Yes

your Grace, of course your Grace! Thank you, thank you,

thank you!” Graeme sprung to his feet and hugged the

King and Queen as hard as he could then ran out of the

hall. He felt like he could take on the whole world.

When Graeme finally came down off his cloud, he

realized he was late to pick-up the Princess! He ran as

fast as he could to the courtyard where his date would be

waiting.

It’s been said that beauty rests in the eye of the

beholder, and eyes can be quite deceptive. It’s sad to say

that one may live life without ever seeing real beauty.

Dawns on the Rainbow Road, the birth of a new Sprite,

even the Kingdom itself are all thought to be ‘beautiful’,

but today, the Kingdom learned what they had

perceived as beauty, was wrong. When Princess Natalie

emerged from her tower, into the courtyard, where the

whole Kingdom awaited with baited breath, the

Yellowbellians all fell silent. The Princess stepped out

with pink glass slippers, which were covered just slightly

by a beautiful pink dress that seemed to shine like a

morning sunrise. Her golden blonde hair which bounced

in loose curls under each step was even more radiant than

the dress which she had topped with her pink crystal

tiara. The there were her subtle pink lips which pursed

ever so slightly, just enough to show a smile, one you

would dream about for days. Yes, Princess Natalie on the

night of her Space Prom was truly, undoubtedly,

beautiful.

When Graeme finally made it the courtyard, his

robot jaw fell to the floor, literally. He couldn’t believe

his circuits and while he fumbled about, reattaching his

jaw, he thanked his lucky stars that someone so beautiful

would spend their time with someone so ordinary.

“You’re late.” The Princess coyly remarked.

“And you’re b-beautiful, your Grace.” This caused

the Princess to blush, she loved the way he said that.

“Also I’m sorry, I got held up with the King.”

“Indeed, he does demand a lot of time. Shall we?”

Natalie held out her arm which Graeme proceeded to

take. The two walked down the court yard, while the

butler bots placed clear space bubbles over their head so

that they may breath whilst in space. At the end of the

road, a shiny red rocket ship was waiting to whisk the

couple away to the Space Prom.

4: Space Prom

Space, if you have never been, is big, black and

mostly empty. But near the Yellowbell Kingdom, space

is just a bit prettier. The stars seem to dance across the

milky way, where pink nebulas pulsate, and rings spin

around planets. Space Prom takes place right in the

middle of all this wonder and the sights aren’t even the

best part!

There’s the amazing smorgasbord of food to kick

things off, treats as far as the eye can see! From roast

candy-beast to lollies that shoot rainbows with every

lick, then after the feast there is the zero-gravity

dancing. Everyone was having a grand time. Even the

emo-kids were getting into the groove of things, as best

they could, you know, because of how sad they pretend

to be. But no prom would be complete without the

announcement of the Prom King and Queen. And can

you guess who won that little contest? That’s right,

Princess Natalie and her date, Graeme the maintenance-

bot. It was truly a magical night indeed.

After the two had their victory dance, Graeme took

the Princess on a white rocket-horse and brought her to a

secluded part of the Space Prom boundary, a lovely little

section that had a view of the Pink Fairy Nebula.

Graeme was nervous and rightfully so. Here he was in

the most beautiful part of the galaxy, with the most

gorgeous Yellowbellian in the galaxy.

“W-what a beautiful sight!” Graeme sputtered

out.

“Yes, it is quite breathtaking.”

“No, I meant, y-y-you” Graeme turned his head

toward the Princess who raised one eye brow and then

started laughing.

“You did not just say that to me!” Natalie gave

Graeme a playful little tap on the shoulder.

“I thought it was going to be one of my better

ones!” In the distance a sparkle of electricity reflected in

the Princesses eyes, that made them look even more

beautiful and Graeme could not help but get lost in

them. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“And what’s that?” The blue electricity danced

even closer now and Graeme opened up his chest door

and pulled out a tiny green ring box. Natalie’s eyes

swelled with tears, but something was wrong and Graeme

turned around suddenly to see what was behind him.

“What’s the matter?”

Graeme’s eyes shot wide with terror, he put the

ring back in his chest and slammed it shut. “We need to

leave, now!” Graeme kicked the rocket -horse on, flung

the Princess behind him, and pulled down on the

throttle.

The rocket roared and Natalie screamed for an answer.

“What is going on?!”

“It’s a nebula storm, I’ve read about them, they’re

pure electricity. We have to get out of here, like, five

minutes ago!” Natalie swung her head back and what she

saw was all at one gorgeous and terrible. Like a blue

crane made of the sharpest lightening, the storm tore

through the blackness of space, barreling down upon the

patrons of Space Prom. Graeme slid to a halt in the

middle of the zero gravity dance floor and dropped off

the Princess who looked at Graeme with fear in her eyes.

“You need to get everyone back in their ships!” Graeme

shouted.

“Where are you going?!”

“I’m going to do something very stupid my d-

darling.” Graeme leaned in and kissed Natalie with

enough passion to melt a glacier and then left. Natalie’s

heart broke as she watched her love fly towards that

terrible storm, but she had to save her worries for

another time. She had a prom to save.

What happened next, happened in minutes that

seemed to drag on like terrible hours. The Princess, like a

true member of royalty, rallied her people and lead them

all safely to their rockets, sending them scrambling on

their way back to the Kingdom. Natalie, the last to

board commanded the captains that they wait for

Graeme, who was still out there heading straight into the

storm. All the while, Graeme was indeed heading into to

the centre of the storm nebula. What seemed like

madness, was indeed, an act of pure bravery. Graeme,

being a robot, was able to calculate that there was no

way the people could outrun the storm, not unless

something slowed it down. The only thing Graeme could

think to use to slow down the storm was himself, since he

was built to withstand a great amount of electrical

interference. What he didn’t know was how it would

affect him, but he did know, was that it needed to be

done.

While most people’s head would be swimming with

a thousand thoughts, some of regrets, some of

unachieved dreams, Graeme’s mind was focused only on

one; the beautiful Princess Natalie whom he gave his

heart. He was almost near the storm, and if he could

have shed a tear he would have, but robots do not have

tear ducts. He closed his eyes pushed down on the

throttle and the last thing he would ever see, would be

the smile of the Princess he loved so dear.

5: The Doctor

No one quite knows where the Doctor came from,

or what his name really is, he just sort of appeared one

day out of nowhere. He was a middle-aged fellow, with a

great poof of brown hair, a ratty old suit and a great long

scarf made of many, many colours. He quickly proved to

everyone however, that he was indeed a kind, and gifted

man. While the Doctor mostly treated various little

things, he was at best with situations that required a

different kind of thinking.

After the tragic events of Space Prom, the Doctor

had not slept for many days caring for the many who

were injured while scrambling to board the rockets. Most

of the injuries were mere cuts and bruises, but one of the

victims was worse for wear, a maintenance-bot by the

name of Graeme. It seems that Graeme foolishly and

bravely dove head first into the nebula storm and

managed to absorb most of the storms force. This in

return had fried most of his circuits, and badly damaged

his robot heart beyond repair. Graeme was broken. The

Doctor had Graeme hooked up to a series of wires,

hoping to reboot his system, and get him back to, at the

very least, his default setting. The Princess never left his

side since the moment she took a small crew back into

space and found him adrift. She sat patiently and waited

for the moment when her love’s CPU would restart.

“I brought you a tea your Grace” The Doctor

smiled warmly as he passed her the mug.

“Thank you Doctor.”

“Oh, don’t mention it at all dear, I find tea to be

very useful when dealing with stress. This one time I was

attacked by a large number of contaminated Oods.

Suffice to say, at the end of that ordeal, a nice scalding

glass of pekoe was just what the, well, I, ordered.”

The Princess stared emptily at her steaming mug

and spoke “When do you think he will awaken.”

The Doctor took a seat. “Well… that all depends,

doesn’t it. I’m not going to sugar coat thing’s here, he

may not make it…your Grace.”

“There must be something you can do, in all your,

infinite, wisdom.” The Doctor couldn’t help but detect

the hint of venom that lied within the fair Princesses

voice.

“Your Grace,” The Doctor shifted and reached

into his pocket, ”I found this inside the robot’s chest

cabinet.” The Doctor then held out a tiny green box in

his creased hand.

“He had a name and you’ll do well to learn it.”

Snapped Natalie as she grabbed the box and opened it,

staring deeply at the gold ring contained within. Had

things been different, she would have Graeme’s Super-

Special-Someone. The thoughts of a future that might

have been flooded her mind and she began to weep,

silently.

The Doctor put his arm around the Princess,

“There is one thing that may help.”

The Princess pensively wiped the tears from her

eyes , squeezed the ring in her hand and looked at the

Doctor, “I will do anything Doctor… I owe him one.”

“Well, his robot heart you see, “ The Doctor rose

and turned on the monitor screen which showed

Graeme’s internal circuitry. “Is not going to make it,

and the rest of the circuits are too badly fried to simply

just have a new one put in. It needs a special one.”

“I have no patience for coyness Doctor, please do

get to the point.”

“Ah, yes, sorry, old habit. He needs the Diamond

Heart.”

The Princess turned, more alert then she had been

in days. “Surely, you can’t be serious.”

“I am serious, your Grace.” Then the Doctor

smiled slyly. “And don’t call me Surely.”

“But that’s impossible, no one’s ever, I mean,

how?”

“Well, nothing is impossible your Grace, not with

the right tools and an iron will. Look for yourself.” The

Doctor rushed over to a blue chest, rummaged for a

second and then produced a clear cylinder that shone

blue and was about the size of a forearm. “Princess, you

are to go to the Crystal Cave, defeat the Glass Dragon

using this weapon and take his diamond heart. This is

the only chance we have to save your love.”

The Princess put the ring on her finger, and stood.

Gone now were her tears, replaced with a glare that

would have sent even the most vicious snarks running,

tail between their legs. She approached the Doctor and

held out her arm. The Doctor places the crystal cannon

upon her appendage and almost immediately she could

feel the power surge. “I accept your quest Doctor.”

The Doctor nodded, reached in his pocket and pull

out two stars. “These are warp stars, they will take you

to the mouth of the cave, and then right back here.

Simply eat one of them to teleport, but make sure to use

them outdoors, inside tends to get a bit messy. Good luck

your Grace, I will do what I can for Graeme here, and do

mind the Dragon’s silver tongue, they say it lulls even

the most harden warrior into a false sense of security.”

Princess Natalie took the stars, thanked the Doctor

and headed out to the courtyard. She placed the first

warp star in her mouth, noted that it had almost a

lemony flavor to it. The next thing she knew, she was

staring down the pitch black mouth of the Crystal Cave.

6: Diamond Heart

Rough, rugged and exhausted, Princess Natalie

stormed into the Crystal Cave. She had never been so

focused in her entire life, for she knew the end was really

quite nigh. She had not meant to startle the sleeping

glass Dragon but enough was enough, so startle it she

did.

“All right Dragon!” She began to shout in all

directions. “No tip-toeing no stupid game of hide and

seek, just come out so I can shoot you in the face!”

Natalie paused, gripped her crystal cannon tight

and listened. At first all she could hear was her own

breath, then after a few seconds she couldn’t even hear

that. She grew angrier with each passing second and just

when she couldn’t take no more, that’s when she started

to hear it. Low at first, then growing and rumbling, a sly

menacing laughter that tickled Natalie to her toes. Then,

the laughter turned into a voice and it spoke.

“Well hello there little Princess, and what a lovely

little Princess you are. How are you your… Grace is it?”

Exclaimed the voice from the shadows all slippery slick.

“Umm, well I’m not in the mood for pleasantries

Dragon, but now that you mention it, I am kind of tired”

Natalie replied, feeling strangely calm.

“Ah your Grace, why? What’s wrong?” The Glass

Dragon slid into the spotlight, his gorgeous clear scales

refracted the light, as if his entire dragon body glowed

rainbows.

“Well, I’ve been awake for days, caring for my

Super-Special Someone and, and now, I seem to be

forgetting.” Natalie’s thoughts drifted, she seemed to be

forgetting something very important. As if she had

something to do, or maybe she just left the stove on she

wondered.

“Well the important thing is you are here. So, here

you are, would you like anything to drink?”

“Some honey-lait would be nice.”

The Glass Dragon smiled and put his giant

shimmering arm around Natalie and led her to a giant

glass couch where she sat on the end and slipped off her

pretty pink slippers.

“Oh, you have no idea how much I need this.” Nat

said as she out stretched her hand to grab the tall,

dripping glass of honey-lait.

“I can imagine, though I’d rather have you tell

me.” The Glass Dragon pinched the princesses little feet

and began to massage them, listening intently.

“Well first of all, harder, first of all, I’ve been, oh,

oh my, where did you learn that?”

“Practice your Grace, no Princess should ever be

uncomfortable.”

“Yea, you said it man, everyone’s always telling

me what to do, where to go,: Natalie, do this, Natalie do

that! Natalie go to the Crystal Cave, destroy the Glass

Dragon and steal his Diamond Heart--” Natalie shot up

like an arrow, eyes wide like canyons and jaw dropped

half-way to the floor, the Glass Dragon was almost

mirrored image of Natalie’s expression. The jig was up.

“Ooo, awkward.” Said the Dragon as he recoiled

ever so slightly.

Natalie swung forward her crystal cannon and

blasted it’s million microscopic diamond shards square

into the dragon’s face, nearly blowing his head clean off.

But the dragon was quick. He hurled back in a

somersault, stretched his mighty blue stained glass

wings, and shot back with a microscopic diamond blast

of his own.

“Oh it is on!” Natalie ran, her little feet slapping

on the cold glass ground trying to get the Dragon in

perfect sight. The Dragon was weaving through the

massive air above, hurling blasts down at his helpless

target. Natalie came to a wall, ran up, and flipped

backwards and shot. The blast missed the dragon and hit

a stalagmite that crashed down and shattered one of the

Dragon’s wings.

The dragon came crashing to the floor shattering

his arm and one of legs and then skidded to a stop right

in front of Natalie. “Ow that hurt aye!”

“Yea, duh” Nat pointed the cannon right at the

Glass Dragons beautiful eyes “Any last words ?”

“Umm... don’t?”

“Sorry.” Nat bent down and kissed the Dragon on

his beak, said goodbye, then fired. The Glass Dragon was

no more, and his Diamond Heart was now in the

Princesses possession, ready for its new home.

7: Back Home

Natalie stepped outside the cave, took a deep

breath, ate her remaining warp star, and popped right

back in the courtyard she had occupied just moments

ago. As soon as the Princess gained her bearings, she

rushed into the castle, her little feet slapping against the

cool marble floor, she was tired but she knew she couldn’t

stop, she had wasted enough on her quest and now

victory was at hand,. She could taste it. She longed for

nothing more than to be in the hard metal arms of the

one she loved, to hear his voice that reminded her so

much of the radios of old, and to tell him finally that she

loved him and would stay his Super-Special-Someone

forever.

She ran through the throne room where the King

and Queen sat, yelling after her, she flew up the stairs

and pushed Zooey out of the way, who begged her to

stop, and she burst through the wooden door, hand

gripping the diamond heart so tight her little fingers

bled. What would she say, she thought, what would she

do? She wondered. But all those little thoughts and

grand ideas came to sudden halt, for when she stepped

through the doorway and into that cold sterile robotic

lab, she knew something wasn’t right.

The Doctor stood somber next to his operating

table, head hung low and eyes that glistened with tears.

Princess Natalie stood in disbelief, looking past the sweet

Doctor, to the pile of parts that rested motionless on the

table. The pretty Princess had never felt anything so

painful as this before. Tears flooded her eyes as she

inched closer and closer to the pile that was once her

love. Once she reached the table , as if she could no

longer bear the weight of herself, the Princess fell to her

knees and wept. The Doctor, who had been offering faint

explanations, placed his hands on the Princesses shoulder

only to have them violently shrugged away.

“How dare you lay your hands upon me!” Princess

Natalie roared behind tears as she stood, proud and

angry. “You assume too much, Doctor. Now explain to

me what you did! Why you did this to my love.”

The Doctor reared back, having never seen anyone

ever so angry. “I’m sorry your Grace, there was nothing

I could do. His processor clock had run out by the time

you returned.

But the inconsolable Princess would hear none of

it. “You said! You said that if I were to fetch this

diamond heart there was a chance you could save him!”

“Only a chance your grace, it was such a small

window.” The kind Doctor sputtered over his own words,

trying to make the Princess see reason.

“Could you not have kept him whole?! So that I

may, like, see him ! Or were you bored with your ‘toy’?”

Natalie swept the parts that were once her young love off

the table, sending them crashing to the ground in a

deafening clatter.

“Please your Grace, he awoke while you were

gone, just long enough to leave you a message on

hologram parchment.” The Doctor produced a scroll,

covered in greasy robot hand prints, bound with a pretty

pink bow. Natalie took no care in opening the

parchment, nearly tearing it as it unraveled. Then in a

flash of green light an image of her now lost love shone

from the parchment causing Natalie to drop it on the

ground.

There in front her stood Graeme, in all his former

glory, she rushed forward to sweep him in her arms

forgetting that this green image was nothing more than

that, an image. “Hey your Grace.”

Stifling her sobs, Natalie sat on the ground and

listened. “I know what you were trying to do, and if your

hearing this, then I’m sorry. My processor had just

totally run out, but don’t be upset. I’m fine, like, I

couldn’t be better! I mean aside from not b-being alive,

but that’s no one’s fault. That’s just what happens. No

one can control it, and it’s something that we all have to

deal with. But that doesn’t mean it was all for nothing. I

asked the D-doctor to dismantle me, to use my parts,

which is probably why I look like a pile of trash, so don’t

be mad at him that’s my fault. Now, our time might be

over, but you have a whole life to lead, and now you

have another reason to keep leading it. The Diamond

Heart would have never given me my life back, I was

never c-compatible, but now thanks to my left over parts

and the Doctor, there is someone who is. I love you

Princess, take good care of him.” And like that, the

image was gone, and the pretty Princess was alone once

again.

“But what did he mean, take care of who?”

Natalie looked down at her bloodied hands, at the

diamond heart that had caused her so much grief,

forgetting that she had even had it still.

“Come with me your Grace” The Doctor helped

the tired Princess to her feet and led her to a back room.

“This was my plan, all along, and I’m so sorry for the

deception but we needed that heart.”

“But, what for Doctor?” Natalie turned her head

toward the operating light, that shone down upon a tiny

metallic figure. “Who is that?”

“While you were gone, and with the help of dear

sweet Graeme, we built a robot compatible with the

Diamond Heart you hold in your hand.” Princess

Natalie then held out her hand where she still gripped

the Diamond Heat. “May I?” asked the Doctor.

The Doctor removed the heart from Natalie’s hand

and moved towards the small robot that lay silent on the

table. Natalie studied the feature of this newer and

curiouser model. The features reminded her of Graeme,

she could see his blue robotic eyes, and cute robotic nose,

but also some parts that reminded her of herself, like

those cute little dimples that Graeme loved to poke,

thinking they were some type of button. The Doctor

carefully threw back the little robots chest plate, and

paced the Diamond Heart into the open cavity. When

the Doctor closed it, the little-bot mad a whirr sound,

and it’s eyes began to flicker as they filled with life.

“Now, there we are,” the Doctor said as he helped

the little-bot sit up, “Now your Grace, this little-bot is

going to be weak at first and is going to need lots of help

to grow strong. Thanks to the diamond heart, this, he

will grown just as you did. That’s what makes this one so

special. It’ll need lots of love and lot’s of care, it’ll need a

mother.”

The Princess looked down at the little bundle and

smiled, the tears that ran down her face were no longer in

sorrow, but now came from joy. Life is a precious and

fragile thing. We have but a short time with everyone

and some even shorter than most. It’s almost too much

to ask to be in charge of someone else’s life, but that is

sometimes the way it goes. The Princess was now given

that very special and beautiful gift., the most precious

gift of all, the gift of a child. All at once, her life had

changed and was no longer her own. She was a mother

now, and as much as she loved Graeme and how much

she would miss him, she knew everything was going to be

okay, because Graeme would always live on, not only in

her heart, but in the laughter and joy of her child. That

was the most special event that could happen to any one

person... though only the third most special in terms of

the Kingdom of Yellowbell.

The End