Ever After High: 5-Minute Fairytale Stories Read online

  was the daughter of

  Rapunzel, ever after all.

  Actually, she wasn’t the only daughter

  of Rapunzel. She had an identical

  twin, Poppy, who couldn’t go to Ever

  After High. Holly was born just a hair

  before her sister, making the family

  legacy her responsibility. Poppy was

  destined to be a fairytale without

  a story, and Holly knew it always

  secretly bothered her sister. So

  Holly promised herself she would

  make sure Poppy could join her

  at Ever After High. The night

  before Holly left for school,

  she looked at the stars outside

  the tower window and wished

  that both of them could have a

  Once Upon a Time.

  Ever After High was like all Holly’s favorite

  storybooks coming to life to hang out together.

  But she was most excited about Legacy Day.

  That was when the new generation of fairytales

  signed the Storybook of Legends to bind

  themselves to their destinies. Holly couldn’t wait

  to declare her destiny as the next Rapunzel!

  That year, however, the script was flipped.

  Raven Queen declared she wasn’t going to be

  the next Evil Queen. She was going to rewrite

  her own Happily Ever After. Did Raven’s actions

  mean that destiny wasn’t set in stone?

  Then Holly realized this might be her wish

  come true. If destiny wasn’t a sure thing, maybe

  the O’Hair twins could actually be at Ever

  After High together! Holly could be the next

  Rapunzel, and Poppy could write her own story.

  Holly ran to Headmaster Grimm and asked

  him if Poppy could come to Ever After High,

  since Raven had proved she didn’t need to have

  a prewritten story.

  Headmaster Grimm slowly turned. His face

  was redder than a riding hood. “Ms. O’Hair,” he

  growled through clenched teeth, “your sister can

  never come to Ever After High! Not while I’m

  headmaster!”

  But Holly was positive there had to be a way

  to change his mind.

  Holly went to visit her sister in the Tower

  Hair Salon where Poppy was attending beauty

  school to become the most fableous stylist ever

  after. Ever since they were kids, Poppy always

  loved styling hair. In fact, she styled her own hair

  in a new way every morning. Now her schedule

  was always royally booked! But she always made

  time for Holly.

  When Holly rushed into the salon, she just

  couldn’t wait to tell Poppy the big news! “Raven

  Queen declared to not follow her destiny! Maybe

  that means you can write your own Happily

  Ever After!” Holly said hexcitedly.

  Poppy wasn’t so sure. It was one thing to

  refuse to follow your storybook destiny. It was

  another to not have a destiny at all. But Holly

  pleaded with Poppy to consider attending Ever

  After High if she could convince Headmaster

  Grimm to allow it.

  Poppy laughed. “If you can change his mind,

  not only will I go to Ever After High, but you can

  borrow any of my scarves for a month,” she said.

  It was a win-win, and Holly pinkie-promised

  to seal the deal!

  Now that Poppy had agreed to come to Ever

  After High, Holly just had to find a way to make

  it happen. Over the next several days, Holly sat

  in the library and reread every story that she

  knew, searching for new meanings about finding

  your own destiny. But every story seemed

  hexactly the same as the last time she read it.

  Then Holly suddenly heard a knocking. She

  looked around the library to find the source, but

  nothing was out of the ordinary. Then she heard

  the knocking again. It wasn’t coming

  from a door. No, the knocking was

  coming from under the floor!

  Holly followed the sound

  until it stopped suddenly and

  an old book fell in front of

  her. She wiped the dust from its

  cover and read: The Origin of Ever After High by

  M. Grimm & G. Grimm. The headmaster must

  have written this book with his brother! Then,

  curiously, the book opened on its own. Holly

  read the page before her and gasped joyfully. If

  this book wasn’t going to convince Headmaster

  Grimm to let Poppy join Ever After High,

  nothing would.

  Holly took the book and went straight to the

  headmaster’s office. Upon entering, she placed

  The Origin of Ever After High on his desk and

  showed him the page that had opened magically.

  It said Ever After High welcomed all the

  children of fairytale legends to learn the art of

  fulfilling their destinies.

  He looked at Holly hexpectantly.

  “All the children of fairytale legends, sir. My

  sister should be allowed to come to Ever After

  High. You wrote the rule yourself, Headmaster,”

  Holly explained.

  Headmaster Grimm

  considered this for a

  moment and sighed. “Very

  well, Ms. O’Hair,” he said.

  “Your sister may attend

  Ever After High.”

  “Thank you, sir!” Holly

  said happily. She ran

  straight for the Tower Salon

  to tell Poppy the great news!

  On Poppy’s first day at school, everyone asked

  Holly if she ever doubted that Poppy would

  come to Ever After High. Of course she didn’t!

  It was destined to come true.

  Cedar Wood

  After Cedar Wood, the daughter of

  Pinocchio, was carved from magical wood,

  her father wished for the Blue-

  Haired Fairy to make her kind,

  caring, and honest. But Cedar

  wished he’d spent a little more

  time thinking about his word

  choice. The Fairy took him

  way too literally. Now she had

  to tell the truth no matter what.

  So how was Cedar supposed

  to become a real girl? The

  entire Pinocchio story was

  about searching her heart

  for the right choices. And

  Cedar didn’t have any choice!

  Art was Cedar Wood’s

  favorite class. Truthfully,

  it was her only real outlet. She could plug in

  her headphones, turn up her muse-ic, dip her

  brush, and paint away. She never had to worry

  about truth or lies, curses or wishes. There was

  something about a blank canvas that felt…free.

  But Cedar was throne

  for a loop by her latest

  assignment: joy. The class had

  to paint something that was full

  of joy, but that seemed impossible

  to Cedar. How could she paint a

  feeling? All she felt was confused.

  Cedar finally decided to paint the

  moment when she would become

  a real girl. It seemed like a happy

  moment, right?

  As she finished, Professor Card came over

  to her easel. He tapped his chin th
oughtfully.

  “Technically, it’s perfect. Yet emotionally, it’s

  empty. I can tell you want me to feel happiness,

  but I don’t feel your joy. Real joy,” he said.

  Cedar’s heart went timber.

  “How do you paint ‘joy,’ sir?” she asked.

  “Cedar”—Professor Card smiled kindly—

  “find your true voice. Then you’ll know.”

  Cedar left class more confused than ever after

  before. “How do I find my true voice?” she asked

  herself. She knew what it was like to tell the truth.

  In fact, she could only ever tell the truth. But

  Cedar’s painting was of something that hadn’t

  really happened yet. Maybe that’s

  why the painting didn’t feel like

  real joy, she thought. So

  Cedar needed a way to

  find the truth. She was

  getting a splintering

  headache just

  thinking about it!

  Cedar went to the Mad Hatter of

  Wonderland’s Haberdashery & Tea Shoppe

  for a hot cup of willow sap tea to make her

  feel better. There she found…Madeline Hatter!

  Maddie hopped onto a chair next to Cedar.

  “It looks like you could use a friend,”

  she said.

  Cedar told Maddie that she couldn’t find

  her voice.

  “So where do you think you left your voice?”

  Maddie asked. When Cedar explained that she

  was trying to find her voice in Arts & Crafts,

  Maddie got confused. “You don’t use your voice

  in art. You use paint. That’s a riddle fiddle.”

  Then Maddie’s eyes lit up! “Voice…paint…

  riddle! I’ve got it!”

  Maddie grabbed a heart-shaped

  key, and unlocked a heart-shaped

  door in the corner of the Tea

  Shoppe. On the other side of

  the door, they found Lizzie

  Hearts playing Wonderland

  croquet. Lizzie was the

  daughter of the Queen

  of Hearts and the heir to

  Wonderland’s throne.

  “If anyone can help

  you, she can,” Maddie

  whispered.

  Maddie told Lizzie all about how Cedar

  needed to find her voice.

  Lizzie thought about it for a moment before

  speaking. “Paint the roses!” she demanded,

  pointing to a white rose bush with a can of red

  paint next to it.

  Cedar’s eyes darted to Maddie, who smiled

  and nodded. Cedar dipped the brush into the

  paint. As soon as her brush touched the petal,

  Lizzie snatched the brush from Cedar’s hand.

  “Off with her head! Paint the roses red!” she

  shouted.

  Lizzie handed back the brush. Cedar asked

  Maddie to help her understand. “What does she

  want?”

  “She wants you to paint the roses red. Or she

  doesn’t. Maybe the rose knows,” Maddie replied

  with a shrug.

  So, feeling a bit silly, Cedar leaned over to ask

  the rose bush what Lizzie wanted. Of course, it

  didn’t answer. Yet Lizzie nodded. Cedar asked

  herself over and over again, “How do I paint

  the roses red without painting the roses red?”

  After what felt like forever after, something

  novel happened. A gentle breeze blew. The rose

  gracefully fluttered in the wind. The sun’s rays

  kissed its petals, making them turn from snow

  white to sunset red. It was simply the most

  beautiful thing in the world.

  Cedar smiled at Lizzie. Ever so slightly, Lizzie

  smiled back. The roses had been painted red

  with a little patience.

  By the time Cedar had her next Arts & Crafts

  class, she was confident that she knew her own

  voice. She closed her eyes and remembered how

  special it made her feel, knowing she had to be

  at that exact spot in that exact moment to see a

  simple rose brighten the world. First she sketched,

  then dipped her brush in her watercolors and

  started painting a sunset-red rose.

  Professor Card grinned from ear to ear,

  “Spelltacular!” he said. “I feel joy in every

  brushstroke. How did you find your voice?”

  Cedar put down her brush to admire her

  painting. “Even though I’m not a real girl yet, I

  do have real feelings,” she said. “I don’t need to

  overthink happiness. Sometimes it’s as simple as

  stopping to smell the roses. And that’s no lie!”

  Madeline Hatter

  Madeline Hatter—or Maddie for short—

  couldn’t wait to follow in

  her father’s footsteps

  to become the next

  Mad Hatter. She loved

  throwing tea parties

  and solving riddles,

  just like they did at

  home in Wonderland.

  This year, everyone

  would take their first

  step toward their

  fairytale futures. It was

  Legacy Year, and all the

  students had to pledge to

  follow their fairytale destinies.

  Maddie was excited to be the next Mad Hatter,

  but Raven Queen, Maddie’s best friend forever

  after, wasn’t so lucky. Her mom was the wicked

  Evil Queen from Snow White’s story, and Raven

  was just wicked awesome. Raven wanted nothing

  more than to leave the poison apples to the real

  villains and make people happy!

  During their first week at school, Raven and

  Maddie had been separated into two groups:

  Raven had to go with the villains, and Maddie

  went with all the other silly fairytales. Maddie

  was trailing behind her group, jumping around

  backward with one foot in the air. She jumped

  all the way until she bumped into Kitty Cheshire,

  her old friend from Wonderland. Kitty was

  the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, and she

  was always ready with a riddle

  for Maddie.

  Seeing Maddie, Kitty perked up and scribbled

  something on a piece of paper. “I have a riddle

  for you,” she said as she gave Maddie the doodle

  she’d just made. Maddie examined the drawing.

  It was of a monster smashing a town.

  “What’s this worth to you?” Kitty asked

  mischievously.

  “Oh, Kitty! That’s too easy,” answered

  Maddie. She could solve the first clue to Kitty’s

  riddle. She had drawn her a picture, and a picture

  was worth a thousand words. That meant that

  Maddie had to look for the answer to Kitty’s

  riddle in the best place to find words: the library!

  Maddie dashed away to find the answer as

  Kitty roared with laughter. Maddie would show

  her! She couldn’t be out-riddled!

  Maddie loved when the unhexpected

  happened! Just like when she hexpected the

  step-librarian to help, but all she did was shush

  her. So Maddie

  read through

  the Encyclopedia

  of Monsters and

  History of Villages

  & the Beasts that

  Destroyed Them

  before realizing

  they w
ere more

  frightening than

  helpful.

  Right when Maddie was going to give up, she

  heard a knocking coming from the distance.

  There was something familiar about it. It wasn’t

  a knock that said, “Hello, I’m at the door.” No,

  it was more like, “Find me if you can.” Maddie

  loved to play hide-and-go-seek! She also loved

  knock-knock jokes. The mysterious knocking

  was like two goodies wrapped into one! She

  knocked back: “Ready or not, here I come!”

  She followed the knocking deep into the

  library. This must be how Hansel and Gretel felt

  following the breadcrumbs! she thought.

  Maddie followed the knocking all the way to

  the back of the library, where she hit a wall. But

  it was a secret-door wall! Maddie knocked and

  said, “I found you. Now let me in.”

  With a flash, Maddie was transported from

  the school library to a maze filled with dusty,

  old books. The knocking was much louder in

  there. Maddie twisted, wound, and rounded

  through the hallways until finally she walked into

  an office with books scattered all over. Sitting

  at a desk was an old, bearded man knocking

  on its surface. And imagine her surprise when

  he spoke to her in Riddlish! Riddlish was the

  language everyone in Wonderland spoke.

  “Tapping two ways trickle down, unto too