Plot summary
Princess Magnolia is the perfect princess: she wears frilly pink dresses, dons glass slippers on weekdays, and is even afraid of snails. However, when Duchess Wigtower stops by Princess Magnolia's castle for an unexpected visit, Princess Magnolia must be extra careful not to let appearances slip. Over scones and hot chocolate, the duchess confesses that her real reason for visiting is to uncover secrets. Because even though Princess Magnolia seems prim and perfect, Duchess Wigtower claims that "everyone has a secret." [3]
Their conversation is interrupted by Princess Magnolia's glitter-stone ring ringing—her monster alarm. Princess Magnolia does in fact have a secret, a secret identity as the monster-battling Princess in Black. She lies to the duchess that the ringing was a sick bird and hurries off claiming she needs to check on it. Princess Magnolia runs to her broom closet where she stashes her frilly dress and changes into a black costume. Now the Princess in Black, she slides down a secret chute and high-jumps the castle wall, landing on the back of her faithful pony, Blacky. Blacky is also a secret identity, only his alter ego is Princess Magnolia's unicorn Frimplepants (despite not actually being a real unicorn).
Meanwhile, a big blue monster has wandered out of a hole in the ceiling of Monster Land in search of goats to eat. Duff the goat boy tries to defend his goats, but becomes frightened and cries for help. The Princess in Black appears and wages battle with the monster. After many special ninja-like moves, she eventually hogties it. Despite this victory, the monster is still too big and heavy for her to push back into the hole. After struggling, the Princess in Black sighs and says "please"; the monster sighs in response and rolls into the hole on its own. Duff cheers for the Princess in Black, and on his way home comes up with an idea to train and one day help her as the Goat Avenger.
Left unattended in the castle, Duchess Wigtower snoops around until she discovers black stockings in the broom closet. She thinks she has uncovered Princess Magnolia's secret. When Princess Magnolia returns, the duchess confronts her and reveals that she believes the stockings are merely filthy white stockings the princess should wash. The stockings actually being black is ridiculous because "everyone knows princesses don't wear black." Princess Magnolia is relieved to know her secret is safe and that at least one princess does wear black.
According to Greek mythology, the Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimæra was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature from Lycia, Asia Minor, composed of different animal parts. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, occasionally depicted with dragon's wings, and a tail that might end with a snake's head. It was an offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of monsters like Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent was a Greek princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, and a granddaughter of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece. Princess Marina married Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, in 1934. They had three children: Prince Edward, Princess Alexandra, and Prince Michael.
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later Princess of Leiningen and subsequently Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, was a German princess and the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. As the widow of Charles, Prince of Leiningen, from 1814, she served as regent of the Principality during the minority of her son from her first marriage, Karl, until her second wedding in 1818 to Prince Edward, fourth son of George III.
Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, later Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn, was a member of the House of Hohenzollern who married into the British royal family. She served as the viceregal consort of Canada while her husband, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, served as the governor general, from 1911 to 1916.
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