I have created a songfic series for every fandom that I write for on this site. As I was looking through my stories, I noticed that I have not yet unveiled one for Tangled. Thus, this series was born. Of course, the obvious choice for the singer is Mandy Moore, but don't expect many songs from the movie; I want this series to go its own way and it wouldn't if I used those songs. There will be a couple there. Recently, I took a list of songs and picked out several, thus forming the plot for this series.

Starting off is a lesser known song called Extraordinary. It's a very short song, so I'm thinking this one's only going to be five chapters, but there will be longer stories later in the series. I look forward to writing this series for you and I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1: Nontraditional Princess

Ten years ago, the kingdom of Corona was blessed with the birth of a beautiful new princess. Princess Rapunzel was a ray of sunshine to the already-bright kingdom. As the little princess grew, though, it became apparent that she would be unlike every one of the kingdom's young princes and princesses in the past.

Whereas the other young royal heirs took interest in their parents' day-to-day work from an early age, Rapunzel had her own schedule. She tended to live within her own daydreams, fueled by the stories her mother would read to lull her to sleep at night. During the days, young Rapunzel tended to focus on painting the visions she designed from the words she heard in these stories. She was quiet and unseen, lost in these daydreams and visions.

By the age of ten, it was common for the prince or princess to begin hosting suitors, in hopes of soon finding their partner for life. Rapunzel was a beautiful girl, there was no denying that; every within the kingdom could tell this. Unfortunately, Rapunzel had no interest in finding her soulmate. Despite the kingdom's "coming-of-age" traditions, Rapunzel remained unattached, her only interests being her artistic works.

Walking through town with her mother one afternoon, her attention was drawn to the whispers and side glances. Somehow she could just tell that it was all about her. Being polite, she just smiled and waved, reminding herself to talk with her mother about it that night.

That evening, once her mother had finished the story, as Rapunzel was drifting off to sleep, she reminded what it was that she had not wanted to forget. "The kingdom…they don't like me very much, do they?"

Her mother, who had crossed the room and was about to turn off the light, turned around quickly and walked slowly back to Rapunzel's bed. "Nonsense, Rapunzel. They love you!"

"Well, they don't like that I'm not 'like every other prince and princess'. I think they don't like that I spend so much time painting." Rapunzel's mother was about to reply, but her daughter stopped her. "When I'm in town, they always seem to whisper and…it's always about me, isn't it?"

Rapunzel's mother knew that she could not lie about this to her perceptive daughter, so she just gave a small nod and whispered, "Yes, Rapunzel."

The little girl wanted to cry even though she had already known the answer. "Why? Just because I'm different that all the others. That's not fair!"

The queen stroked her daughter's short brown hair to comfort the girl. "It doesn't matter to me and you know why?" Her daughter's big-eyed gaze was enough to show that she was listening for the answer. "Because you are you and I love you for who you are," she told in her soft, gentle voice.

"Ya know what, Mom? I'm ready. Now I'm ready. I'm ready to be extraordinary!" The emphasis in her voice showed new determination, fueled by her mother's compassion.

Her mother smiled, relieved that the girl's depressed mood had brightened once again. That was one thing about Princess Rapunzel. She tended to be happy and those rare times of sadness in her life would quickly pass. "You can be extraordinary, " the queen told the princess with a laugh, "but right now, you need to sleep."

"I'll show them. I'll show them how extraordinary I am," Rapunzel said, more so to herself than to her mother.

As the queen flicked off the light and the room grew dark, she whispered, "Okay, but just make sure to never change. You are perfect just the way you are." Then, she closed the heavy wooden door and the room was still. The whispered words seemed to hang in the air and, though they had been spoken softly, Princess Rapunzel had heard them and she drifted off to sleep, confident that she could prove to her kingdom that, sometimes, being different was not such a bad thing afterall.

This is a lot harder to write than I anticipated. I've listened to the song a lot and I have an idea, but I just always feel that it doesn't fit with the storyline established by the movie. I mean, my storyline is meant to differ (Rapunzel lives as the princess and has the short brown hair, for two differences). For one thing, I keep feeling like I'm making her mother OOC. It's hard because so little is known about her. We never even got a name or a voice!

Well, not much to say. This story serves as a prequel to the series. If you really don't want to read any more of it, then you can just wait until I post the next story. In this story, it just sets up Rapunzel's character and personality for the series (which, of course, will be much like it is in the movie).

Thanks for reading chapter one and I will most likely post chapter two sometime in the near future.

Posted: September 16, 2013