Pixie, Dixie, and the Ugly Duckling ran to the tailor shop, and arrived just in time to see the Duke of Dastardly give his instruction's to the tailor (Huckleberry Hound).
"Once you weave the thread into cloth," he said, "you are to make the finest wedding attire for myself and the future duchess here."
"Right away, your dukeship, sir," the tailor said, with a salute.
"Good," the Duke said, and he handed the tailor a piece of paper. "Here's an idea of what our attire should look like. I expect the designs to be followed exactly to the letter!"
"Yes, sir, your dukeship," the tailor said. He looked at the designs for the outfits, and cringed at the dress the Duke had in mind for Cinderella to wear. It featured long poofy sleeves, a large sash that tied in the back in a huge bow, a large ruffled collar that was similar to a court jester's, and a huge full length bell skirt with layers upon layers of ruffles and frills. Enough ruffles to rival the dress of an Azalea Trail Maid's.
"Uhhh . . . ." the tailor said, trying to choose his words carefully. "I'll do the best I can, your dukeship. But I don't know if . . . ."
"Details, details!" the duke shouted. "Just do it, or else! Come along, Muttley. We have things to attend to. I'll be back later, tailor, to check on your progress!"
"Yes, sir," the tailor said. Then he put the gold thread on a loom, and proceeded to weave it.
"Once I get this made into cloth," he said to Cinderella, "I'll take your measurements. I bet you're all excited about the upcoming wedding, aren't you?"
Cinderella then burst into tears, and buried her face in her hands. The tailor just nodded his head.
"Yeah," he said, sniffling slightly. "I always cry at weddings, too."
"That's not why she's crying, Mr. Tailor," the Ugly Duckling said, as he, Pixie, and Dixie arrived at the tailor's shop.
"Yeah," Pixie said. "She's crying because she doesn't want to marry the Duke of Dastardly!"
"He thinks Cinderella can spin straw into gold," Dixie said. "Rumplestiltskin really did the spinning, and then he left Cinderella in the lurch."
"And she's afraid of what's going to happen when the duke finds out," Pixie went on. "If he finds out she can't do it, then . . . . ."
"Cchhhkkkkk!" Dixie finished, making a slashing motion across his throat with his finger.
"And besides," the Ugly Duckling said. "Cinderella loves somebody else, anyway. Prince Charming. But Rumplestiltskin made Cinderella sign a contract, and . . . . ."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," the tailor said. "I'm getting a might lost here. Why don't you start from the beginning?"
And with that, Pixie, Dixie, and the Ugly Duckling told the tailor Cinderella's tale right from the beginning. When they were finished, the tailor let out a whistle.
"Wow," he said. "That's some story."
"We're trying to figure out how to get her out of this," Pixie said. "But we can't think of any way to do it."
"I can't, either," Cinderella sniffled. "I just don't know what to do."
"Hmmm . . . . ." the tailor murmured, eyeing his measuring tape on his table. "I think I just might have a plan in mind. Y'all leave it to little ol' me."
Cinderella and her friends looked at each other and shrugged. The tailor then took the gold thread and continued to weave it, so he'd be able to work on Cinderella's wedding gown, for when the Duke of Dastardly came back. Shortly after the tailor was done with weaving the thread, the Duke of Dastardly returned.
"Well, tailor," he said. "How's it going?"
"It's going along right smoothly," the tailor said. "But I'm gonna have to take your measurements now for your wedding attire, sir. See, I need to know if I'll have enough of the gold material, and all."
"All right, all right, but make it snappy!" the Duke of Dastardly shouted.
"Will do, sire," the tailor said, taking his measuring tape. He began taking the duke's measurements, all the while wrapping him in the measuring tape, as quickly as possible, until the duke was completely wrapped up.
"What's the big idea, tailor?!" the duke shouted, thoroughly unamused.
"Uh huh," the tailor said, writing a note in his notepad. "Size six and seven eighths. Thank you very much, sire. Oh, by the way, I'll be needing my tape back."
The tailor grabbed one end of the tape measure and yanked it as hard as he could, unwinding the Duke of Dastardly. This caused the duke to spin around wildly, like a toy top.
"Muttley!" the duke shouted, as he spun around the shop like a mad tornado. "Do something!"
Before Sir Muttley could do anything about the duke's spin, the duke crashed into a nearby shelf, which fell, and the contents on the shelf toppled onto the duke, and then the shelf crashed on him as well. Upon seeing this, Sir Muttley snickered.
"Come on, Cinderella!" the tailor shouted, grabbing some of the gold cloth. "Let's get out of here before the duke comes to!"
"I'm for that!" Dixie agreed, and Cinderella and her friends followed the tailor out to the back entrance of his shop. They didn't stop running until they were far away from the duchy's city limits, and in the woods. Again.
"Wouldn't you know it?" Dixie asked. "We're stuck in the woods again!"
"At least we're away from the Duke of Dastardly," Pixie said.
"Thanks to the tailor," Cinderella said.
"Shuckens, I'm happy to help," the tailor said. "And I'll help you find your prince charming, too."
"Thanks," Cinderella said, stifling a yawn. "Oooh, am I ever sleepy!"
"Yeah, you've been up all night," Pixie said. "Why don't we all get some rest?"
The others agreed, and Cinderella made herself comfortable, and went to sleep. Dixie then noticed the tailor folding some of the gold cloth.
"Hey, you've got the cloth you were weaving," he said.
"Right," the tailor said.
"Think you can make something out of it?" Pixie asked. "Like maybe a new dress for Cinderella?"
"I hope you don't mean that gosh-awful wedding dress the Duke of Dastardly cooked up," the tailor said. "Eeee-yuck!"
"No, definitely not!" Pixie shouted. "But if Cinderella's going to meet up with Prince Charming . . . . ."
"She just can't go around looking like a scullery maid!" Dixie shouted. "The prince will never marry her!"
"I see what you mean," the tailor said. "And I do have her measurements written in my notepad here, as well as some of my trusty supplies . . . . . tell you what, if you all help me, I'll do it, and I'll have it done by the time Cinderella wakes up."
"How can you do that?" the Ugly Duckling asked.
"I'm the fastest tailor in the world," the tailor said. "I make seven stitches with one stroke! Now come on, let's get to work!"
Elsewhere, Prince Charming was wandering through another forest outside of Jack's town. He was still on his mission to find the girl that fit the glass slipper, but he felt like he was getting farther and farther away from his goal. After walking in the woods for at least an hour and a half, he finally sat down on a tree stump.
"This is going nowhere," he sighed. He pulled off one of his boots, and began massaging his foot.
"Man, my feet are killing me!" he shouted. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I'll never find that girl at this rate."
Just as Prince Charming stood up, he heard harp music coming from the distance. Immediately, he followed it down the path, and to it's source, which turned out to be a huge tower right there in the woods. The only entrance was a window, which was too far to reach.
"Wow," he said. "You'd have to be able to fly to get inside this place!"
Suddenly, the harp music stopped, and a blonde-haired girl wearing a pink dress and pink racing helmet (Penelope Pitstop) came to the window. She looked down, and saw Prince Charming standing at the bottom of her tower.
"Why, hello down there!" she called out. "What brings little ol' you to the tower?!"
"Was that you playing that harp a minute ago?!" Prince Charming called.
"Yes it was! Why don't you come on up and see little ol' me?! That way we won't have to shout at each other!"
"Fine with me, but how do I get up there?!"
"Why, you climb up my hair, silly!"
Prince Charming looked at the girl as if she were completely crazy.
"Climb up your hair?!" he shouted. "You gotta be kidding! I'll believe that when I see it!"
It was just then an enormous mound of blonde hair came flying down at the prince. There was so much of it, it actually knocked him off his feet once it hit him. Prince Charming groaned, crawled out from under the hair, and immediately began climbing.
"I believe it," he said.
Prince Charming climbed up the girl's hair, and then into her window. The girl pulled in her hair, and then started brushing it.
"That's the trouble with all this hair," she said. "It takes forever to get it looking right."
"I can imagine," Prince Charming said. "Who are you, anyway?"
"My name's Rapunzel," the girl said. "Now who are you, and what are you doing in my neck of the woods?"
"I'm Prince Charming, and I'm looking for the girl who fits this glass slipper. She ran off from a royal ball my dad was holding. Not to mention she had blonde hair. Kind of like you."
"Well, I know it wasn't me at the ball. I haven't left my little ol' tower in years!"
"Still, would you mind trying on the shoe? I mean, stranger things have happened."
Rapunzel shrugged, sat down in a chair, and took off her shoe. Prince Charming then tried the glass slipper on her foot, but it was too small.
"Darn it," he groaned. "Another dead end!"
"I'm sorry," Rapunzel said. "But I told you, I haven't left my little ol' tower in years."
"What are you doing in this tower, anyway, Rapunzel?"
"Oh, I've been up here since I was a little baby. I think my daddy wanted to keep me away from boys."
"Don't you get bored up here all by yourself?"
"Sometimes. I keep myself busy with books, and painting, and sewing, and brushing my hair . . . . . you just don't know how long it takes to brush my hair!"
"Yeah. I can imagine that. Tell me something, don't you ever feel like getting out of this tower?"
"All the time! But I just don't know how."
"Well, why don't you just braid your hair, cut off the braid, and use it as a rope?"
Rapunzel stared at Prince Charming for several moments. Then she smiled.
"Now why didn't I think of that?" she said. "Come on and help me braid. This could take a little ol' bit of time."
Prince Charming agreed, and he and Rapunzel got to work braiding Rapunzel's hair. She was right, though. It did take quite a bit of time to braid Rapunzel's hair, considering how long it was. It was practically an all-day project! Once they were finished, Prince Charming took a couple of rubber bands, and wrapped one around the end of Rapunzel's braid, and the other at the base of it. Then he took a pair of scissors off of Rapunzel's vanity, and cut the hair right above the top rubber band.
"Okay," he said, lowering the braid out the tower window. "Now, here's my idea. I'll hold our little makeshift rope here, and you climb down. Then, I'll tie the braid to something in the tower, like the bedpost or something, and then climb down myself."
"All right," Rapunzel said. "If you say so . . . . ."
Rapunzel climbed out onto the windowsill, grabbed the braid, and began to climb down, as slowly as possible. She was a little hesitant, considering the sides of the tower wall were a bit slippery. Too slippery for Rapunzel. As she was moving downward, she lost her footing.
"Eeek!" she shouted, as she fell, grabbing onto the braid. Unfortunately, Prince Charming lost his grip on it when Rapunzel started falling.
"Oh no!" he shouted.
However, as luck would have it, a knight happened to be riding by on a white charger. His name was Sir Peter of Perfect (needless to say, portrayed by Peter Perfect, of "Wacky Races" fame). As he passed the tower, Rapunzel fell directly into his lap.
"Ooof!" he shouted, as his horse jerked to a stop. "I say there, miss. Nice of you to drop in."
"Oh, my knight in shining armor!" Rapunzel shouted. She threw her arms around Sir Peter and gave him a big kiss. "Why, you saved my little ol' life! How can I ever repay you?"
"Well . . . . ." Sir Peter said, thoughtfully. "That was a start . . . . ."
Rapunzel giggled, and let go of the braid, as she and Sir Peter began to ride off into the sunset. Before they disappeared completely, Rapunzel turned back to the tower, and waved to Prince Charming.
"Thank you ever so much for getting me out of that little ol' tower, Prince Charming!" she called out.
"Yeah, sure, you're welcome!" Prince Charming shouted. "I'm glad at least she had a happy ending. But there's still one problem left here. Without her hair, how the heck am I supposed to get down from here?!"