by Shannon Hale
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either
products of the authors’ imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2016 by Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by LeUyen Pham
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and
recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2017
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2015937113
ISBN 978-0-7636-6513-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7636-9089-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-7636-9615-3 (electronic)
This book was typeset in LTC Kennerley Pro.
The illustrations were done in watercolor and ink.
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
For Princess Ivy and Princess Cora,
who are more dangerous than they look
S. H. and D. H.
For Princess Ysee, Princess Madeleine,
and Princess Peyton
L. P.
Princess Magnolia and her unicorn,
Frimplepants, rode toward the village.
Princess Sneezewort had invited
them to brunch. In anticipation,
Frimplepants had skipped breakfast.
2
Brunch with Princess Sneezewort
meant soft rolls with butter.
Brunch with Princess Sneezewort
meant cheesy omelets. Brunch with
Princess Sneezewort meant heaping
platters of sugar-dusted doughnuts.
3
Frimplepants preferred brunch
with Princess Sneezewort to any-
thing in the world.
The café was so close now. The
smell of hot bread rode the breeze.
Frimplepants began to prance.
4
And then Princess Magnolia’s
glitter-stone ring rang. The monster
alarm!
Frimplepants whimpered. He did
not want to fight monsters right now.
He wanted to eat doughnuts.
5
“No time to go back to the castle,
Frimplepants,” Princess Magnolia
whispered. “To the secret cave!”
His tummy grumbled. Frimplepants
hoped it would be a quick battle.
Princess Magnolia and
Frimplepants rode into
the secret cave. When
they came out the other
side, they were the Princess
in Black and her pony, Blacky.
Blacky reared up on his hind legs.
Look out, monsters! Never get between
a hungry pony and an especially good
brunch.
The Princess in Black felt a pit in her
stomach. Perhaps she was about to
meet her greatest foe yet. Or perhaps
she was just hungry. In anticipation
of brunch, she had skipped breakfast.
9
Duff the goat boy was running
toward them.
“Help!” he yelled. “There are hun-
dreds of them! It’s the worst monster
invasion ever!”
10
“Fly, Blacky, fly!” said the Princess
in Black.
Blacky did not fly. But he did run
very fast.
11
They galloped into the goat pasture.
The Princess in Black backflipped
off the saddle. The Princess in Black
raised her fists in Battle Pose.
But then the Princess in Black
grinned.
Duff the Goat Boy hurried back to
the goat pasture. He liked to secretly
study the Princess in Black’s ninja
moves. He needed more practice
before he could become the Goat
Avenger.
15
But when he caught up, the
Princess in Black was not battling
beasts. The Princess in Black was
making kissy faces.
16
That was not right. The Princess
in Black fought the monsters that
threatened his goats. Never had she
petted the monsters. Never had she
made kissy faces at them.
“Where are the monsters?” asked
the Princess in Black.
Duff was out of breath from run-
ning. He pointed at the ground.
“Where?” asked the Princess in
Black.
Duff pointed some more. There
were a lot of bunnies to point at.
18
“I don’t see anything besides these
bunnies,” she said.
“The bunnies . . . are . . . the
monsters,” said Duff.
The Princess in Black laughed.
“Bunnies aren’t monsters.”
“But they came . . . from Monster
Land,” said Duff. “They hopped out
of that hole. And they’re eating my
goats’ grass!”
19
“Oh, Duff,” said the Princess in
Black. “They’re cute little bunnies!
What harm could they do?”
Down in Monster Land, the bunnies
had been bored. Bored and hungry.
With a hundred mouths, they had
tasted everything. They had enjoyed
monster fur. They had snacked on
rock chips. They had dined on toe-
nail clippings and lizard scales. And
still they were hungry.
There was a hole in the ceiling of
Monster Land. An interesting smell
trickled down.
One brave bunny had poked its
head through the hole.
25
Grass! An ocean of green grass!
“I must taste it,” said the bunny.
The bunny munched some grass.
“This is yum,” it said. “I should
tell the others.”
It told the others.
And soon, a horde of hungry
bunnies had hopped up to the goat
pasture.
Blacky’s stomach squeaked with
hunger. Those bunnies sure seemed
to relish the grass. Blacky wondered
if it was especially delicious.
27
Blacky sniffed a deep green patch.
It didn’t smell like soft rolls with
butter. It didn’t smell like cheesy
omelets or sugar-dusted doughnuts.
28
Blacky closed his eyes. He imagined
the grass tasting as delicious as brunch.
He opened his mouth wide and took
a bite.
29
He sputtered and coughed. It
hadn’t tasted like doughnuts. It
hadn’t even tasted like grass.
Blacky’s mouth was full of dirt.
The bunnies had devoured the entire
patch of grass.
31
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And it looked like one was nibbling
on the end of his tail.
Yes, one bunny was most definitely
nibbling on Blacky’s tail.
Blacky swished his tail. The bunny
did not let go.
Blacky pranced about. The bunny
did not let go.
Blacky sat down. On his tail.
The bunny let go. The bunny
crawled away.
Princess in Black, you have to stop
these monsters!” said Duff.
He pulled at his hair. He paced this
way and that.
“Are you sure they came from
Monster Land?” she asked.
“Yes!” said Duff. “I saw them hop
out of that hole.”
33
“The poor things,” said the Princess
in Black. “They probably came here
to escape the monsters. We must keep
them safe.”
Just then, a clawed paw reached
out of the hole.
The first paw was followed by
eight more. A massive, drooling, nine-
pawed monster emerged.
34
It stood on its many hind legs. It
opened its jaws.
It said, “ROAAARRRR!”
35
The bunnies stopped eating. They
looked at the monster.
The monster started to say
“ROAAARRRR!” again. But it
only got as far as “ROAA—” It had
noticed the bunnies.
The bunnies’ noses wiggled.
36
The nine-pawed monster dived
back into the hole.
The bunnies resumed eating.
“Did you see?” said Duff. “That
massive, drooling, nine-pawed mon-
ster was scared of the bunnies!”
37
“That’s impossible,” said the Princess
in Black. “Bunnies aren’t scary.”
She petted the bunny on her lap.
But instead of one bunny, now there
were three.
“Um, are there more bunnies than
before?”
The pasture was no longer green.
The bunnies had devoured nearly
every blade of grass.
A few bunnies stuck like tree
frogs to the big oak.
“Are they eating that tree?”
asked Duff.
39
“Of course not,” said the Princess
in Black. “Bunnies don’t eat trees.”
More bunnies hopped onto the tree
trunk. Others took to the branches.
Seconds later, the tree was gone.
The bunnies smacked their lips.
“They ate the tree!” said Duff.
“They ate the entire tree!”
42
The Princess in Black didn’t notice.
She was petting the bunnies on her
lap. Now there were six.
Bunnies began hopping onto goat
backs. They nibbled goat hairs.
43
“They are eating my goats! They
are eating my goats!” Duff yelled.
“But . . . but they’re cute little
bunnies?” said the Princess in Black.
44
A cute little bunny jumped onto a
goat’s head. It opened its tiny mouth
wide. It clamped down on a goat horn.
There was a sound like CHOMP.
45
The goat now had half a horn.
“AAH!” said Duff.
The Princess in Black looked
down. A bunny was gnawing on her
scepter.
The Princess in Black stood up. Ten
bunnies rolled off her lap. One was
chewing a piece of her cape.
“You really are monsters, aren’t
you?” she said.
47
The bunnies wriggled their velvet
noses. The bunnies waggled their
fluffy tails. A tall one munched the
bell off a goat’s neck.
48
“Okay, monster bunnies, that is
it!” said the Princess in Black. “You
may not eat the goats. Go back in the
hole.”
The bunnies shuffled closer. One
sniffed her shoe.
49
The Princess in Black pressed a
switch on her scepter. It turned into
a staff. She swung it at the bunnies.
52
The bunnies dodged her attacks.
The bunnies blinked at her. The bun-
nies began to snack on a boulder.
“Duff, I don’t know what to do,”
said the Princess in Black. “There
are so many. And I can’t even touch
them.”
“Try the Fearsome Flutter Clang,”
said Duff. “That scared away the big-
eared monster last spring.”
The Princess in Black extended her
fan-shield. She hit it with her staff.
A loud CLANG! echoed across the
pasture.
54
The bunnies twitched their ears.
They ate more rocks. They crowded
around the goats. The goats bleated
nervously. Especially the one who
was missing half a horn.
55
“Back, bunnies! Back!” the Princess
in Black shouted.
The bunnies didn’t move. Except
for the one taking dainty bites of her
shoe.
The bunnies watched the Princess
in Black shout.
“The dark one sings for us,” said
one bunny.
The bunnies watched the Princess
in Black swing her staff.
“It dances for us,” said another
bunny.
58
“We should ask it if it is food,” said
a bunny in the back.
“Are you food?” asked a bunny
near her foot.
“If it wasn’t food, it would tell
us,” said a bunny on a goat’s head. “It
would say, ‘I’m not food.’ ”
59
“If it is food, we should eat it,” said
a bunny no one had noticed before.
“Perhaps it does not hear well,”
said the tiniest bunny. “Its ears are
very small.”
“Let us ask one more time,” said
the largest bunny. “All at once.”
61
Hundreds of eyes looked at the
Princess in Black. Hundreds of eyes
blinked cutely at the same time.
“ARE YOU FOOD?” the bunnies
were asking.
But the Princess in Black didn’t hear
any question. She just saw the bunnies
blink cutely. She saw them sniff cutely
and waggle their ears cutely.
“No answer,” said a bunny in the
middle. “It must be food.”
Then all the bunnies said “EAT
IT!” at the exact same time.
The Princess in Black did not know
the bunnies were speaking.
Duff did not know.
The goats did not know.
63
The hungry bunny horde spoke
the language of Cuteness.
Cute sniffles. Cute waggles.
Cute hops. Only other cute animals
could understand.
64
And that was why Blacky under-
stood.
Because Blacky was no
t just Blacky
the pony.
65
He was also Frimplepants.
Frimplepants the unicorn.
And Frimplepants the unicorn was
as cute as they come.
Blacky’s tummy grumbled.
It growled. It roared. Blacky had
a hard time thinking about anything
besides brunch. The brunch he was
missing.
Then he noticed the bunnies were
saying something. About eating.
67
Did they want brunch? Were they
wishing for rolls and omelets and
doughnuts?
No. They were going to eat the
Princess in Black!
68
The bunnies formed into one
purple mass. Their mouths were
open. Their teeth were shiny. Their
black eyes stared at the Princess in
Black.
Blacky leaped in front of his friend.
“Stop!” Blacky said with a soft
neigh.
All the bunnies looked at Blacky.
“You may not eat her,” Blacky said
with a flutter of his eyelashes.
“It does not speak,” the bunny
with a mouthful of princess shoe told
Blacky. “It is food.”
70
“She is not yum,” Blacky said with
a frisky step. “She is yuck-tasting. All
the good food is gone.”
71
The bunnies looked around at the