//------------------------------//
// Simply Magical 
// Story: The tale of Frost, Peppermint Frost 
// by Peppermint Frost 
//------------------------------//

Peppermint pushed open the wooden door and entered her classroom. She gasped at its arrangement. The walls were painted in a deep, pink hue, which reflected against the lighter squares of the checked floor tiles. Dainty golden lanterns were held up by strings attached to the ceiling. Royal blue drapes hung over beautiful stained glass windows, which were glittering against the sun's reflection upon them. But what naturally caught Peppermint's attention the most, were the colourful books propped up on an antique wood bookshelf. Oh, think of the information in all those pages, waiting to be absorbed into one's mind!

She let her eyes wander over the rest of the room, and her sight came to rest upon the teacher's desk, and a tall pony next to it. She had a multi-colored mane with a pastel touch. It waved and swayed continuously. She noticed Peppermint staring at her, and smiled. 

Peppermint was interrupted from her musings by a gentle, silvery voice. "Welcome dear! Why don't you introduce yourself?" 

Peppermint turned her head and realised that it was the princess who spoke to her.

She wore a smile on her face and answered. "Your majesty, my name is Peppermint Icicle Frost."

Princess Celestia stared at her and murmured softly, "Peppermint... what a beautiful name." Then, she said aloud, " Why don't you take a seat next to Twilight here?" Gesturing to a lavender filly with her nose buried in a book.

Peppermint made her way to the small table, and sat on the chair next to Twilight. The unicorn smiled at her but went back to reading her book. Peppermint heard the voice of her teacher filling the room and sighed happily. 

This school was one she had been yearning to attend since she was little. Her father used to urge her to learn proper magic, since he was a magically skilled unicorn himself. So she started reading any spellbook she could get her hooves on, and also historical books on magical events and sorcerers. In one of them, she read about Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and that it was the most wide-known magic school in Canterlot for a thousand years. So she practiced and worked hard to pass the entrance examination to enter. 

When the day came, the inside of her stomach was swimming with snakes. It was a tough spell, to hatch a phoenix's egg. Every ounce of her magic energy was concentrated on the egg, but it refused to budge. Then, she remembered something she had read in a book about biology. Dragons blow fire on their eggs to warm them up and make them hatch faster. It might work on phoenix eggs too. Peppermint exhaustingly casted a heat spell, and surprisingly, a beak popped out of the egg. She started crying and laughing at the same time.

Peppermint had made new friends at the end of the day. Twilight was really helpful when it came to making potions, and was a really talented filly in Peppermint's opinion. Lemon Hearts and the others showed her around the school, and what fascinated her most was the huge library with its endless bookshelves stretching out on the hall ways. Combat duels were her favourite, and she showed a great interest in them. Princess Celestia smiled knowingly when Peppermint eagerly fired a spell at a training dummy. She also paid attention to Princess Celestia's lessons about legends.

In one of the lessons, Princess Celestia explained on how an empire in the far north was cursed to disappear for a thousand years by an evil king who forced his subjects to become slaves. She lead an army to fight the king and his bewitched soldiers, but before the king was defeated, he placed his curse upon the empire and it vanished.



When school was over, Peppermint slowly trotted towards the gates of the school, when an elderly guard walked from the direction of the Canterlot castle and came over to her. When he saw her, he smiled and walked over to her.

She slowed down and uttered in a confused tone, "Um... can I help you, sir?" 

"I'm sorry miss, I just wanted to ask if you belong to the Frost family."

"Yeah... I'm Gleaming Frost's daughter."

"I can surely see the resemblance. Your father and I are friends since he served the Royal Guard Service. My name is Storm Shield."

Peppermint was about to answer when she saw Lily Mint landing on the stone path outside. So she said, "I hope to meet you again, Sir Shield." And she waved goodbye to him and trotted over to her mother.

Lily Mint was panting as she nuzzled her daughter. "How was school dear?" She asked.

She replied, "It was simply magical, mother."