A Poster With Too Many Crowns

Penelope Starwrite sat in the tallest pen tower of Starwrite Manor, her desk crowded with pens and a half-finished comic panel.

Her phone buzzed. “Chapter City Parade route updated,” the alert said.

She leaned to the window. Four pen towers framed the courtyard like giant ink bottles. Beyond the gate, a fresh poster clung to a streetboard. A crowned figure held a pancake on a stick like a scepter.

Penelope grabbed her sketchbook and swished down the stairs, her rainbow cloak flickering in the light.

Outside, the poster was bigger than she thought.

“PANCAKE PRINCE—TODAY!” it shouted in bold letters.

A clatter of hooves snapped her head around.

A tan-and-white goat man jogged in, hugging a wooden crate. A whisk poked out, and a tin of syrup rattled.

He skidded to a stop. “Your Highness! Finally! The tower ovens are waiting—”

Apron Emergency

Bramble, the tan-and-white goat baker, bounced on his hooves. Flour dust puffed off his white apron.

“Come, Your Highness,” he said, and tugged Penelope’s sleeve toward the nearest tower door.

Penelope jogged beside him, her rainbow cloak swishing the stone steps. “Wait. I am not—”

“You can explain while walking,” Bramble said.

Inside, the air changed. It smelled like hot sugar and metal. They burst into a big kitchen under the tower, where three tall parade ovens stood like angry closets.

A hummingbird the size of Penelope’s hand zipped over a mixing table, its tiny ankle tied to a phone with a string. The phone screen flashed: 00:00… 00:00… 00:00.

“The timer app keeps restarting!” Bramble bleated. “It is making the ovens chase the wrong heat.”

One oven banged from inside. A thin line of smoke curled out.

Penelope lifted her sketchbook like it might help. “Okay. Who tied a bird to a phone?”

Bramble shoved a squeaky crown headband toward her. “No stamp, no safe setting. Put it on—quick!”