With her friends happily showing the Wonderlandians around Book End, Greenly decided to get a haircut. She arrived at the Tower Hair Salon. Greenly wasn't exactly sure what to do with her hair. Her mother had always styled it for her. But after spending some time in the real world, Greenly decided that she was old enough to pick out a new haircut. She walked to the door when a person came out and bumped right into her, knocking Greenly and whoever bumped into her, to the ground.

"Oww! Watch it!" snipped a familiar voice.

Greenly felt her skin crawl. She remembered that voice all too well. She looked and saw that it was none other than Briar Beauty. Alongside her was Apple White and Blondie Lockes. "Oh, it's you." Briar said with much disdain. Apple and Blondie helped Briar up. Greenly sighed as Briar and Blondie glared at her. But Apple offered a kindly hand of assistance.

"Are you okay, Greenly?" Apple asked with genuine concern.

Briar and Blondie were shocked as Greenly took Apple's hand. The fairest girl in school helped her fellow princess up. "I'm good. Thanks, Apple." Greenly said.

"Apple, what do you think you're doing talking to her?!" Blondie said.

"Yeah! Are you forgetting what she and her crazy friends did to my party last year?!" Briar added.

Despite many changes happening, Briar and Blondie were still their same old selfs...unfortunately. Greenly didn't want to be a drama queen this year. So, she decided to make some kind of peace. "Look, Briar, I know you're still mad about that. But I'm really, really sorry for what happened. My friends and I didn't mean to hurt anyone. And I hope you can forgive me."

Briar kept her scowl. "Apology not accepted. I put a ton of hard work into that party and your little gang ruined it! And I'm not going to let you ruin the Legacy Day dance! I've got my eyes on you, Pea!" She pointed to her eyes then to Greenly. Blondie did the same gesture as she and Briar walked away.

Apple just sighed. "I'm sorry about them." she said to Greenly. "Parties mean a lot to Briar. So, she really gets upset when she misses one or one is ruined. As for Blondie, well, she just goes along with it since we're besties and all. Why she keeps fibbing about being a royal herself, I'll never know..."

"Well, that's because instead of being herself, Blondie yearns to fit in with the cool kids, aka, you and Briar. That's High School 101. But why is Briar so obsessed with parties?" asked Greenly. "It's always party this, party that, party why?!"

A sad look came across Apple's eyes. "Because Briar is cursed to sleep for a hundred years. So, she has to enjoy life to it's fullest while she still can. And it's not just parties, but anything filled with hexcitement, like ziplining through her family castle." She chuckled a little before her frown came back. "I mean, sure, I'll probably never see Briar again...but it's how things were meant to be." Her red lips trembled a little.

"How can you say that?" Greenly said in disbelief. "Briar is your best friend. And you clearly don't want to lose her."

"Greenly," Apple put a hand on Greenly's shoulder. "I know it's hard. But we are royals. We're honor-bound to accept out destinies and follow our stories. Otherwise, those who don't sign the Storybook of Legends and rebel will vanish from existence and endanger everyone else from their story as well."

It felt like a valve opened and drained all the color out of Greenly's face. Her mind went back to her conversation with Raven from last year, when Greenly told her that she didn't have to follow her evil destiny if she didn't want to.

"Are you okay, Greenly?" asked Apple. "You look pale."

"Uh, yeah. I'm okay." Greenly said numbly. She went into the Tower Hair Salon. A few girls were sitting in their chairs, looking at their phones as they waited to get their hair done. But when Greenly walked passed them, they gasped and started murmuring to each other before they got up and quickly left. Ever since Greenly's 'attack' on Briar's party from last year, a lot of people were too scared to go near her.

But Greenly didn't care. She had more troubesome things on her mind.

"Hey, Greenly! What's up?" Poppy greeted. But Greenly didn't respond. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost!" She pondered for a moment. "Hey, do they have ghosts at Ever After High? Are they creepy?"

Greenly put her face in her hands. "I don't know."

Seeing her friend concerned, Poppy put a hand on Greenly's shoulder. "What's the matter?"

"I don't think I should tell you." said Greenly. "The last thing I want is to rope people into my problems."

Poppy knew there was a lot on Greenly's mind. And she can't ignore how this was affecting the teen princess. "Well, I have no customers right now, which is weird because I saw some girls waiting over there..."

A twinge of guilt struck Greenly.

Poppy smiled. "Which means you and I have the whole salon to ourselves!" She switched the 'open' sign to 'close' and pulled back the window drapes. "And you know, just talking out your problems doesn't mean you're roping people into anything. So, maybe we can talk about this over a new hairstyle?" Poppy ran her fingers through Greenly's hair. "I always know a perfect canvas when I see one!"

With hope in her heart, Greenly began to smile. She took a seat in a salon station and Poppy handed her a book of hairstyles to get some ideas. As Greenly skimmed through the pages, Poppy was getting her hair supplies ready. "So, what's wrong?"

"Well, I have this friend who's like, the nicest person ever." Greenly began. "But she's in a tough spot because everyone expects her to be something she's not and she's not cool with it. And then someone, I don't know who exactly, told her that she shouldn't be this thing she doesn't want to be. But this someone recently finds out that if her friend doesn't become this certain something, there's going to be consequences, like major consequences!"

"How major?" asked Poppy. She draped a salon cape and snapped it around her neck. She started brushing Greenly's hair.

"Like, so major, you'll regret it for the rest of your life and you'll never be able to live with yourself." Greenly replied.

Poppy's eyes grew wide. "That bad?!"

Greenly nodded. "So, what should this someone do to help her friend, but not make her pay the consequences?"

Poppy sighed. "That's a toughie. But if you ask me, being pressured by people to become something you're not is stupid. I mean, how do we know these 'consequences' are even for real? What if it's just a total load to scare people into doing stuff? Like, how my mom would always say, 'Poppy, you better clean up after yourself or the hair goblins will come after you!"

"Hair goblins?!"

"Yeah," Poppy rolled her eyes. "Mom said that in the dark of night, the hair goblins come into the rooms of messy children and eat their hair while they sleep."

Greenly couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious?!"

"Oh, yeah. And I was losing small pieces of my hair. So, I believed that the hair goblins were real. Even Holly believed they were real. That is, until we found a pair of scissors in mom's room with pieces of our hair within the blades!"

Greenly spun around to Poppy in shock. "Are you saying what I think you're sayng?!"

Poppy nodded. "Our own mother was cutting our hair to make us believe in these dumb hair goblins just to make us clean our rooms!"

"Then what happened?!"

"Well, we knew mom did it because she just wanted us to clean our rooms. So, instead of confronting her, we just rolled with it and kept our rooms clean. Besides, we're Rapunzel's daughters, our hair grows back a lot faster than everyone else. So, we weren't mad."

Greenly was stunned. If Rapunzel's story about hair goblins was just a hoax, could disappearing forever when rejecting your own story be a hoax too?! Would Raven NOT disappear if she refused to be the next Evil Queen? "Y'know, Poppy, I think you're onto something." Greenly smiled. "I think I know exactly what to do!" She paused. "For my friend, I mean."

"Glad I could help." Poppy smiled. "So, any idea on what you want?"

Greenly had already looked through the entire book and there was one hairstyle that stood out the most. "I like this one." She pointed to the picture.

When Poppy saw the picture, her eyes lit up. "Now, that's what I call fableous!" She cracked her knuckles. "Alright! Let's do this!"

Some time later, Greenly stepped out of the Tower Hair Salon. Greenly's hair was now slightly wavy, but it was also bright red! Held up in a ponytail with side swept bangs. Her gold tiara glittered in the sunlight as she tossed her beautiful ponytail and began to stroll down the sidewalk, feeling pride with every step. Greenly heard a few gasps and felt several eyes looking at her. A staring boy walked straight into a lamppost. his new look was the best thing's she's ever done for herself! But then, a certain princess was in Greenly's way.

"Well, well, well, look who's trying to stand out like a sore thumb." Duchess Swan arched her brow with a smug little smile. "Honestly, Greenly, did you really think a new hairdo is going to change everyone's mind about you? Being desperate isn't attractive. And it definitely won't score you a boyfriend." She stood on her toes and began dancing and twirling around Greenly. "All it takes is a princess with flawless grace and poise." She did a perfect little pirouette in front of an unimpressed Greenly. "A real beauty like moi doesn't flock to boys, it's boys who flock to me."

"Okay, then. Where are they?" asked Greenly, grinning smugly.

Duchess blinked, confused. "What?"

"Where are they? Where are all the boys flocking to you?" Greenly said with a nasty little chuckle, making Duchess scowl. "Look, Duchess, I got this new look for myself and I love it. So, if you think you can ruffle my feathers, you're sadly mistaken. So, go find a nest somewhere to lay an egg in. After all, you're going to be a swan for the rest of your life. So, you better start practicing."

Duchess felt her jaw go slack from the sting of Greenly's words. Her shock quickly grew into rage. Just before she went honking mad, Dexter Charming walked by.

"Wow!" Dexter gasped. He was gazing at Greenly in awe. Greenly saw the young prince's jaw hanging wide open. Dexter quickly closed his mouth. "Oh! Uh, I mean, h-hi, Greenly!" Dexter said in his adorably awkward voice, waving.

"Hi, Dexter." Greenly said softly, walking up to the bespectacled prince. She twirled a lock of red hair, hoping to look cute for her crush. "How are you?"

"Great! I'm...just great!" Dexter said shyly. His sheepish grin made Greenly's heart melt. "So, um, you look...really...uh...amazing!"

'Amazing...Dexter Charming called me amazing...' If Greenly had wings, she would be floating off the ground right now. "Thanks, Dexter. You're the best."

The young prince felt his face turning red as Greenly's hair. "Thanks. You...um, want to um..." He tried to complete his sentence.

"Hang out?" Greenly finished for him.

Dexter snapped his fingers. "Yeah! Yeah! That's it! Let's hang out!" The two royals walked to Hocus Latte together, leaving Duchess alone and angry. "But seriously, though, I really like your hair color. It's royal red, one of our school colors."

Greenly looked at Dexter, surprised. "Yeah, that's exactly why I chose it." She smiled. "I didn't always felt it, but I'm proud to be a royal. And now that Legacy Year is coming, I'm finally ready to accept my destiny and become the next Princess and the Pea."

"You are?" asked Dexter. "I thought you didn't care about your story because-"

"It's not as famous as a bunch of other stories?" Greenly finished. "Yeah, I did say that. But y'know, so much has happened since I came to Ever After High. I learned that the Fairytale world is much bigger than I thought and...it helped me realize how good I really have it. I may not win a lot of popularity contests. But I still have my story. And it's a good story. There are a lot of worse stories to be in, just ask Duchess."

"No argument there." said Dexter.

Little did they know, Duchess was following the two royals in her swan form, carefully flying above them, listening to their conversation. And every word she heard enraged her. Furious, Duchess flew to the Enchanted Forest until she found a nice, secluded area. Once she landed, she became herself again and let out a scream of rage. "That wicked, low-down, good-for-nothing, tomato-haired JERK!" Duchess fell to her knees and started hammering her fists into the ground. "I'll show her! I'll show everyone! I am not just some sad story princess!" Her eyes darkened. "I swear, by the power invested in me, things are going to be different from now on! I will have my own happily ever after!"

Duchess seized her ranting when she heard footsteps. Reacting fast, she turned back into a swan and flew into the bushes. She peeked through the branches and saw Ashlynn Ella, daugher of Cinderella and Hunter Huntsman, son of the Huntsman. As the next Cinderella, Ashlynn was destined to become a slave to an evil step family after the untimely death of her parents. Then, on the night of a royal ball to help the prince find the perfect girl to marry, a fairy godmother uses her magic to make Ashlynn beautiful and breathtaking for the ball. Ashlynn will go, dance with the prince, and rush off before her magical makeover fades away. But when the prince finds her missing glass slipper and finds that it fits only Ashlynn's foot, they marry and live happily ever after.

So, what was Ashlynn, a princess, doing with a brute like Hunter? And why were they carrying a picnic basket and a blanket?

"This is the perfect spot, Hunter!" Ashlynn spread out the blanket on the ground and smoothed it out. "It's just far away enough so no one will see us!"

"It sure is!" Hunter inhaled the fresh air. "Ahhh...you can just smell the sweet scent of warm grass and wildflowers!"

Ashlynn inhaled as well. "I know, isn't it great? But nothing beats the smell of fresh dirt when you're planting flowers!"

Duchess rolled her eyes. Ashlynn maybe a princess, but she was always getting dirt on her hands and playing with filthy outdoor animals. Would it kill her to keep herself clean and enjoy some time indoors?

"Oh, no!" Ashlynn gasped, noticing her bare foot. "I lost my shoe!"

Hunter smiled and pulled out a glass high heel shoe. "You mean this?"

"My hero." Ashlynn said in a swoony voice, which Duchess noticed.

Ashlynn sat on the blanket and extended her leg. Hunter kneeled and took Ashlynn's foot to return her shoe. But instead of putting on her shoe, Hunter started tickling Ashlynn's foot.

Ashlynn broke out laughing. "Ahahahahahahaha! No! Don't tickle!" She tried to pull her foot away, but Hunter wouldn't let her.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" Hunter teased with a playful smile. He and Ashlynn laughed and laughed together. Finally, Hunter stopped and slipped Ashlynn's shoe back her foot.

Ashlynn smiled. "You little!" She wrapped her arms around Hunter. And Hunter wrapped his arms around hers.

And they kissed. They actually kissed.

Duchess couldn't believe was she was seeing! Ashlynn Ella, a princess, destined to marry a prince, was dating Hunter Huntsman, a peasant?! But Duchess wasn't shocked for long. She snuck out of the bushes, quiet as a mouse. Once she was far away enough, she switched back to herself with an evil smile on her face.

"You can have your lame story sleeping on a bunch of mattresses, Greenly." Duchess said as she walked her way back to the village. "Just you wait, I'm gonna become a bigger legend than you'll ever be."