Free Blondie: Rapunzel's Royal Pony by Disney Book Group Page A

herself off. What had happened?
    A large green toad sat laughing at the edge of the pool. He must have splashed her when he jumped into the water right in front of her!
    Blondie laughed, too. “I guess that’s
your
lily pad, Mr. Toad,” she said. “All right. I’ll leave it alone. Rapunzel likes lilacs just as much as she likes
lilies!”
    Blondie trotted over to the lilac bush. Now that she thought about it, lilacs were better anyway. Rapunzel would love their purple petals. Blondie broke off a cluster of lilacs. Then she plucked
some more. She looked at her bouquet. It was pretty, but it needed something else.
    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