Blondie: Rapunzel's Royal Pony (2 page)

Blondie looked around. There, beyond a low iron fence, were the biggest, most beautiful pink petunias.

Blondie picked the three best ones. Then she saw a basket on the ground next to the petunias. What luck!

Blondie put all the petunias in the basket and trotted off to show Rapunzel. The princess would love how helpful Blondie was. She’d forget all about needing a new pet!

Blondie headed toward the courtyard. Rapunzel spent a lot of time there. She had grown up locked in a tower, so now she stayed outside as much as she could.

And there she was! Rapunzel was painting a picture. Pascal the chameleon was with her. He had been Rapunzel’s friend for a long, long time.

Blondie pranced over to Rapunzel. She laid the basket at Rapunzel’s feet. She tossed her mane.

“What’s this?” Rapunzel asked. “Blondie, did you bring me flowers? Thank you!”

“Well done,” Pascal told Blondie. Rapunzel couldn’t understand him, but Blondie could. She flushed with pride. Pascal didn’t give praise very often.

“These are lovely!” Rapunzel said. She pulled out one flower after another. “Purple lilacs. Pink—” Rapunzel stopped. She looked at the pink petunia more closely.
“Oh, oh, uh-oh.”

Blondie tilted her head. What was wrong?

Rapunzel gulped. “Blondie, you and I might be in trouble.” She held out the pink petunias. “These are the gardener’s prize petunias. She was going to enter them in the
flower show tomorrow!”

“P
ascal, what am I going to do?” Blondie asked.

Rapunzel had run off to talk to the gardener to smooth things over. Blondie felt awful.

“I just wanted Rapunzel to see how helpful I am,” Blondie said. “A new palace pet is on the way. I don’t want Rapunzel to forget me.” She let out a small sigh.

Pascal shook his head. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “Rapunzel loves you. And she’ll love you just as much when she gets a new pet.”

“Really?” Blondie asked.

“Of course!” Pascal said. “For years, I was Rapunzel’s only animal friend. Then she got you and Summer. And Meadow came later, remember?”

Blondie nodded.

“And she loves us all,” Pascal said. He turned and climbed over the palace wall.

Blondie felt a little better. She sat down. But after a minute, she got up. She paced the courtyard. She loved them all because they were all different. But what if Rapunzel got another pony?
Blondie was the only pony!

Pascal had told her not to worry. But she couldn’t help it. The flowers had been a bad idea. She could still find another way to be helpful!

What could she do?

Rapunzel’s painting caught her eye. It was a picture of the bay around the castle.

Blondie looked at it closely. It wasn’t done yet. Then she noticed something else. Rapunzel was almost out of blue paint. She would need more to finish. Water meant she needed a lot of
blue.

Blondie could make more!

She imagined how happy Rapunzel would be. Blondie had never made paint before. But she had watched Rapunzel do it many times. She could figure it out.

She sat down to think. What was blue?

The sky was blue. But Blondie couldn’t make paint from the sky. Water was blue. Sometimes Pascal was blue. What else was blue?

Huckleberries!

That was it! Huckleberries would be perfect for making blue paint!

Blondie knew about a huckleberry bush not far away. It was next to the stables. All the horses ate from it. Unlike the petunias, it was nobody’s prize plant. Blondie could take all the
berries she needed.

She hurried to the bush. She picked a whole bucket of huckleberries. Then she carted them to the courtyard.

Rapunzel wasn’t back yet.
Good,
Blondie thought.

Blondie found an empty barrel in the corner of the courtyard and tipped the huckleberries into it. Then she poured in some linseed oil. It was hard to hold the slippery glass bottle in her
teeth! She added water and dropped in an egg. That was how Rapunzel made paint.

Blondie jumped into the barrel. She stomped the berries with her hooves. They squished. They squashed. They were mashed up with the oil and water and egg.

Soon the barrel was full of blue paint.

Hooray!

Blondie leaped out of the barrel. She couldn’t wait to show Rapunzel!

Blondie raced across the courtyard. She climbed the palace steps and neighed loudly.

“Blondie?” she heard Rapunzel call. “Is that you? What’s going on?”

Rapunzel came out the palace door. She stood at the top of the steps. Her hand flew to her mouth. Then she started to laugh.

“Is that—? Is that blue paint?” she asked.

Blondie nodded. But how did Rapunzel know? She had left the barrel of paint back in the courtyard!

Blondie turned to look behind her.

Uh-oh.

A trail of blue hoofprints led down the stairs and across the courtyard.

Blondie caught a glimpse of her own tail and her braided mane. They were blue, too.

Blondie had just wanted to make some paint. Instead she had painted the courtyard—and herself—blue!

B
londie hung her head. She sighed. Behind her, people had immediately started washing the stairs and the courtyard. They had even started washing
her.

Her tail took forever to clean.

Blondie was worried about Rapunzel. Rapunzel had laughed. She had even thanked Blondie for making the paint. But Blondie knew she hadn’t really been helpful. She had just made more work
for others. And she’d had to take an extra bath, too!

Blondie moped back to the stables. She would stay there. No more trying to help! She only made things worse.

Blondie lay down in her stall. She chewed a little hay. She thought about the new pet.

“It must be another pony,” she said. “One with spots. I bet its mane is twice as long as mine. And its tail is twice as curly. I bet the new pony can make paint, no problem.
And pick the right flowers.”

Blondie was feeling very sorry for herself. Then she heard footsteps. They walked up to the stables.

“Maximus?” a voice called.

Blondie knew that voice. It was Flynn’s.

Flynn had helped Rapunzel escape from the tower. On the way, he had become good friends with the horse Maximus. They were both very strong and brave. Blondie sat up to listen.

“Hey, boy,” Flynn said. “I have a job for us.”

Blondie peeked under the stall door. Flynn was giving Maximus an apple. Maximus crunched it noisily.

Mmm.
Blondie really loved apples! Her mouth watered.