Peppermint Frost wearily closed a book which she'd been reading. Yawning, she shuffled to her bed, trying not to stumble on her way. As soon as she pulled the quilt over herself, she fell asleep.
It was a crisp and sunny day, with a mild breeze to cool it. Peppermint was woken up by the bright rays of sunlight that pierced through the gap between her curtains. As she opened her eyes, she saw her clock read half past eight.
"Oh, no!" She exclaimed. "I'm late for the faire!"
Today was the day of the Crystal Faire, an annual event held in the Crystal Empire. Peppermint had planned to go as early as possible as she lived on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire, and this year, the crowd of visiting ponies would have been increased.
Peppermint hurried over to the crystal berry juice stand. A lot of ponies were around her, pushing and trotting, trying to cut in on each other. Many of the visitors were trying to catch a glimpse of the Crystal Heart. Foals were running around, laughing and playing, and their mothers were calling out after them.
Above, on the balcony of the castle, were Princess Cadence and her husband Prince Shining Armor, with their foal, Princess Flurry Heart. They were waving down to the crowd. When they arrived at the faire ground, a large herd of ponies circled around them.
Peppermint spotted her friend Amethyst Shard, whose eyes shone with excitement. She walked up to her friend.
"Peppermint, you finally made it! I thought you'd overslept with your late-night reading!"
"Amethyst, you know I wouldn't!"
Amethyst giggled.
The two mares walked towards the Crystal Heart, trying to squirm out of the crowd. Suddenly, trumpets were heard and a carpet was seen rolling out. Eventually, the crowd split in half on either side of the carpet. A golden carriage was at the end of it, with flags next to it. Everypony tried to get near it. Then, somepony stepped out of the carriage. Somepony with a flowing mane and tail.
Peppermint coughed on the juice suddenly before she turned pale. She turned around and sped away in the other direction.
Amethyst Shard stared at her friend as if she was mad. "What's wrong with that pony?!"
With that, she disappeared into the crowd.
Not today, I can't. I can't face her, were the words muttered by Peppermint over and over again. As she kept murmuring, she realized that she was running around in circles.
Suddenly, she stopped.
A certain purple mare was waving at the ponies around her and they smiled and bowed. A mare that Peppermint vaguely remembered from her past. It was none other than the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle.
With a jolt, Peppermint stood still like a cockatrice had petrified her. The Princess, having met her eyes, was also behaving the same way. This continued for a while.
"Icicle, is that you?" Twilight whispered at last.
Peppermint snapped out of her trance when she heard her old school name being called. She couldn't believe that she was in front of her old school friend, not to mention that she was a princess now. Of all the memories that came flooding back, she remembered how Twilight had helped her efficiently in her studies, how she had stayed overnight at Twilight's reading books with her, and laughing with their friends when attending the annual Grand Galloping Gala.
"Yeah. T-Twilight?"
"Yeah."
She was suddenly hugged by Twilight, feeling tears slowly trickle off her cheeks. At last, when Twilight drew back from the hug, she smiled at Peppermint and her eyes were also watery.
"I've missed you, you know." Twilight whispered.