Ever After High: 5-Minute Fairytale Stories
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was the daughter of
Rapunzel, ever after all.
Actually, she wasn’t the only daughter
of Rapunzel. She had an identical
twin, Poppy, who couldn’t go to Ever
After High. Holly was born just a hair
before her sister, making the family
legacy her responsibility. Poppy was
destined to be a fairytale without
a story, and Holly knew it always
secretly bothered her sister. So
Holly promised herself she would
make sure Poppy could join her
at Ever After High. The night
before Holly left for school,
she looked at the stars outside
the tower window and wished
that both of them could have a
Once Upon a Time.
Ever After High was like all Holly’s favorite
storybooks coming to life to hang out together.
But she was most excited about Legacy Day.
That was when the new generation of fairytales
signed the Storybook of Legends to bind
themselves to their destinies. Holly couldn’t wait
to declare her destiny as the next Rapunzel!
That year, however, the script was flipped.
Raven Queen declared she wasn’t going to be
the next Evil Queen. She was going to rewrite
her own Happily Ever After. Did Raven’s actions
mean that destiny wasn’t set in stone?
Then Holly realized this might be her wish
come true. If destiny wasn’t a sure thing, maybe
the O’Hair twins could actually be at Ever
After High together! Holly could be the next
Rapunzel, and Poppy could write her own story.
Holly ran to Headmaster Grimm and asked
him if Poppy could come to Ever After High,
since Raven had proved she didn’t need to have
a prewritten story.
Headmaster Grimm slowly turned. His face
was redder than a riding hood. “Ms. O’Hair,” he
growled through clenched teeth, “your sister can
never come to Ever After High! Not while I’m
headmaster!”
But Holly was positive there had to be a way
to change his mind.
Holly went to visit her sister in the Tower
Hair Salon where Poppy was attending beauty
school to become the most fableous stylist ever
after. Ever since they were kids, Poppy always
loved styling hair. In fact, she styled her own hair
in a new way every morning. Now her schedule
was always royally booked! But she always made
time for Holly.
When Holly rushed into the salon, she just
couldn’t wait to tell Poppy the big news! “Raven
Queen declared to not follow her destiny! Maybe
that means you can write your own Happily
Ever After!” Holly said hexcitedly.
Poppy wasn’t so sure. It was one thing to
refuse to follow your storybook destiny. It was
another to not have a destiny at all. But Holly
pleaded with Poppy to consider attending Ever
After High if she could convince Headmaster
Grimm to allow it.
Poppy laughed. “If you can change his mind,
not only will I go to Ever After High, but you can
borrow any of my scarves for a month,” she said.
It was a win-win, and Holly pinkie-promised
to seal the deal!
Now that Poppy had agreed to come to Ever
After High, Holly just had to find a way to make
it happen. Over the next several days, Holly sat
in the library and reread every story that she
knew, searching for new meanings about finding
your own destiny. But every story seemed
hexactly the same as the last time she read it.
Then Holly suddenly heard a knocking. She
looked around the library to find the source, but
nothing was out of the ordinary. Then she heard
the knocking again. It wasn’t coming
from a door. No, the knocking was
coming from under the floor!
Holly followed the sound
until it stopped suddenly and
an old book fell in front of
her. She wiped the dust from its
cover and read: The Origin of Ever After High by
M. Grimm & G. Grimm. The headmaster must
have written this book with his brother! Then,
curiously, the book opened on its own. Holly
read the page before her and gasped joyfully. If
this book wasn’t going to convince Headmaster
Grimm to let Poppy join Ever After High,
nothing would.
Holly took the book and went straight to the
headmaster’s office. Upon entering, she placed
The Origin of Ever After High on his desk and
showed him the page that had opened magically.
It said Ever After High welcomed all the
children of fairytale legends to learn the art of
fulfilling their destinies.
He looked at Holly hexpectantly.
“All the children of fairytale legends, sir. My
sister should be allowed to come to Ever After
High. You wrote the rule yourself, Headmaster,”
Holly explained.
Headmaster Grimm
considered this for a
moment and sighed. “Very
well, Ms. O’Hair,” he said.
“Your sister may attend
Ever After High.”
“Thank you, sir!” Holly
said happily. She ran
straight for the Tower Salon
to tell Poppy the great news!
On Poppy’s first day at school, everyone asked
Holly if she ever doubted that Poppy would
come to Ever After High. Of course she didn’t!
It was destined to come true.
Cedar Wood
After Cedar Wood, the daughter of
Pinocchio, was carved from magical wood,
her father wished for the Blue-
Haired Fairy to make her kind,
caring, and honest. But Cedar
wished he’d spent a little more
time thinking about his word
choice. The Fairy took him
way too literally. Now she had
to tell the truth no matter what.
So how was Cedar supposed
to become a real girl? The
entire Pinocchio story was
about searching her heart
for the right choices. And
Cedar didn’t have any choice!
Art was Cedar Wood’s
favorite class. Truthfully,
it was her only real outlet. She could plug in
her headphones, turn up her muse-ic, dip her
brush, and paint away. She never had to worry
about truth or lies, curses or wishes. There was
something about a blank canvas that felt…free.
But Cedar was throne
for a loop by her latest
assignment: joy. The class had
to paint something that was full
of joy, but that seemed impossible
to Cedar. How could she paint a
feeling? All she felt was confused.
Cedar finally decided to paint the
moment when she would become
a real girl. It seemed like a happy
moment, right?
As she finished, Professor Card came over
to her easel. He tapped his chin th
oughtfully.
“Technically, it’s perfect. Yet emotionally, it’s
empty. I can tell you want me to feel happiness,
but I don’t feel your joy. Real joy,” he said.
Cedar’s heart went timber.
“How do you paint ‘joy,’ sir?” she asked.
“Cedar”—Professor Card smiled kindly—
“find your true voice. Then you’ll know.”
Cedar left class more confused than ever after
before. “How do I find my true voice?” she asked
herself. She knew what it was like to tell the truth.
In fact, she could only ever tell the truth. But
Cedar’s painting was of something that hadn’t
really happened yet. Maybe that’s
why the painting didn’t feel like
real joy, she thought. So
Cedar needed a way to
find the truth. She was
getting a splintering
headache just
thinking about it!
Cedar went to the Mad Hatter of
Wonderland’s Haberdashery & Tea Shoppe
for a hot cup of willow sap tea to make her
feel better. There she found…Madeline Hatter!
Maddie hopped onto a chair next to Cedar.
“It looks like you could use a friend,”
she said.
Cedar told Maddie that she couldn’t find
her voice.
“So where do you think you left your voice?”
Maddie asked. When Cedar explained that she
was trying to find her voice in Arts & Crafts,
Maddie got confused. “You don’t use your voice
in art. You use paint. That’s a riddle fiddle.”
Then Maddie’s eyes lit up! “Voice…paint…
riddle! I’ve got it!”
Maddie grabbed a heart-shaped
key, and unlocked a heart-shaped
door in the corner of the Tea
Shoppe. On the other side of
the door, they found Lizzie
Hearts playing Wonderland
croquet. Lizzie was the
daughter of the Queen
of Hearts and the heir to
Wonderland’s throne.
“If anyone can help
you, she can,” Maddie
whispered.
Maddie told Lizzie all about how Cedar
needed to find her voice.
Lizzie thought about it for a moment before
speaking. “Paint the roses!” she demanded,
pointing to a white rose bush with a can of red
paint next to it.
Cedar’s eyes darted to Maddie, who smiled
and nodded. Cedar dipped the brush into the
paint. As soon as her brush touched the petal,
Lizzie snatched the brush from Cedar’s hand.
“Off with her head! Paint the roses red!” she
shouted.
Lizzie handed back the brush. Cedar asked
Maddie to help her understand. “What does she
want?”
“She wants you to paint the roses red. Or she
doesn’t. Maybe the rose knows,” Maddie replied
with a shrug.
So, feeling a bit silly, Cedar leaned over to ask
the rose bush what Lizzie wanted. Of course, it
didn’t answer. Yet Lizzie nodded. Cedar asked
herself over and over again, “How do I paint
the roses red without painting the roses red?”
After what felt like forever after, something
novel happened. A gentle breeze blew. The rose
gracefully fluttered in the wind. The sun’s rays
kissed its petals, making them turn from snow
white to sunset red. It was simply the most
beautiful thing in the world.
Cedar smiled at Lizzie. Ever so slightly, Lizzie
smiled back. The roses had been painted red
with a little patience.
By the time Cedar had her next Arts & Crafts
class, she was confident that she knew her own
voice. She closed her eyes and remembered how
special it made her feel, knowing she had to be
at that exact spot in that exact moment to see a
simple rose brighten the world. First she sketched,
then dipped her brush in her watercolors and
started painting a sunset-red rose.
Professor Card grinned from ear to ear,
“Spelltacular!” he said. “I feel joy in every
brushstroke. How did you find your voice?”
Cedar put down her brush to admire her
painting. “Even though I’m not a real girl yet, I
do have real feelings,” she said. “I don’t need to
overthink happiness. Sometimes it’s as simple as
stopping to smell the roses. And that’s no lie!”
Madeline Hatter
Madeline Hatter—or Maddie for short—
couldn’t wait to follow in
her father’s footsteps
to become the next
Mad Hatter. She loved
throwing tea parties
and solving riddles,
just like they did at
home in Wonderland.
This year, everyone
would take their first
step toward their
fairytale futures. It was
Legacy Year, and all the
students had to pledge to
follow their fairytale destinies.
Maddie was excited to be the next Mad Hatter,
but Raven Queen, Maddie’s best friend forever
after, wasn’t so lucky. Her mom was the wicked
Evil Queen from Snow White’s story, and Raven
was just wicked awesome. Raven wanted nothing
more than to leave the poison apples to the real
villains and make people happy!
During their first week at school, Raven and
Maddie had been separated into two groups:
Raven had to go with the villains, and Maddie
went with all the other silly fairytales. Maddie
was trailing behind her group, jumping around
backward with one foot in the air. She jumped
all the way until she bumped into Kitty Cheshire,
her old friend from Wonderland. Kitty was
the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, and she
was always ready with a riddle
for Maddie.
Seeing Maddie, Kitty perked up and scribbled
something on a piece of paper. “I have a riddle
for you,” she said as she gave Maddie the doodle
she’d just made. Maddie examined the drawing.
It was of a monster smashing a town.
“What’s this worth to you?” Kitty asked
mischievously.
“Oh, Kitty! That’s too easy,” answered
Maddie. She could solve the first clue to Kitty’s
riddle. She had drawn her a picture, and a picture
was worth a thousand words. That meant that
Maddie had to look for the answer to Kitty’s
riddle in the best place to find words: the library!
Maddie dashed away to find the answer as
Kitty roared with laughter. Maddie would show
her! She couldn’t be out-riddled!
Maddie loved when the unhexpected
happened! Just like when she hexpected the
step-librarian to help, but all she did was shush
her. So Maddie
read through
the Encyclopedia
of Monsters and
History of Villages
& the Beasts that
Destroyed Them
before realizing
they w
ere more
frightening than
helpful.
Right when Maddie was going to give up, she
heard a knocking coming from the distance.
There was something familiar about it. It wasn’t
a knock that said, “Hello, I’m at the door.” No,
it was more like, “Find me if you can.” Maddie
loved to play hide-and-go-seek! She also loved
knock-knock jokes. The mysterious knocking
was like two goodies wrapped into one! She
knocked back: “Ready or not, here I come!”
She followed the knocking deep into the
library. This must be how Hansel and Gretel felt
following the breadcrumbs! she thought.
Maddie followed the knocking all the way to
the back of the library, where she hit a wall. But
it was a secret-door wall! Maddie knocked and
said, “I found you. Now let me in.”
With a flash, Maddie was transported from
the school library to a maze filled with dusty,
old books. The knocking was much louder in
there. Maddie twisted, wound, and rounded
through the hallways until finally she walked into
an office with books scattered all over. Sitting
at a desk was an old, bearded man knocking
on its surface. And imagine her surprise when
he spoke to her in Riddlish! Riddlish was the
language everyone in Wonderland spoke.
“Tapping two ways trickle down, unto too