The Peppermint Princess

by Helen Perelman

Why did they ever agree to help Lolli and Scoop and the king and queen? If they hadn’t cleaned the Hall of Records, they never would have discovered the Peppermint Kingdom books, and Dash would still be just Dash the Mint Fairy and not Dash the maybe royal princess.

  When the Candy Fairies returned to the palace, there were many Ice Cream Fairies arriving for the Ice Cream Fete. Drizzle and Fluff flew over to the five Candy Fairies. There was lots of hugging and excitement. But not for Dash. She was escorted to sit down with Queen Swirl. She waved to her friends sadly as they rushed upstairs to change for the fete.

  Queen Swirl sat down with Dash. “Before you go upstairs and change for the party,” she began, “I want to talk to you.”

  Dash lowered her head.

  “You must let us know if we need to plan a coronation,” Queen Swirl said. “These ceremonies take planning and time. There hasn’t been a crowning of a princess or prince in a very long time. This would be a grand event.”

  Dash gulped. She wasn’t sure how to respond to the queen. Luckily, Prince Scoop flew over to her side.

  “Don’t pester her, Mother,” he said. “There is plenty of time for all that. First, Dash needs to decide what she wants to do.”

  “Well, it would be best if she made a decision by tomorrow,” Queen Swirl said as she turned to fly off.

  Dash’s wings hung down low. She felt so much pressure. Prince Scoop smiled at her and gave her shoulders a squeeze. He sat with her quietly for a while.

  “Don’t mind my mother,” Prince Scoop finally said. “She means well. Take your time. This is a big decision.”

  “Do you like being a prince?” Dash asked.

  Prince Scoop laughed. “Well, I didn’t really have a choice,” he said. “I think that you’ll be a great royal.” He smiled. “You are kind and understanding, and you are always ready to help your friends and others.”

  Dash blushed.

  “If you were a Peppermint princess,” Prince Scoop continued, “you could bring all the Mint Fairies together. There hasn’t been a mint royal in a long time to do that. Wouldn’t that be so mint?” He looked around. “You should get upstairs and change for the fete,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Dash said as Prince Scoop was escorted away to mingle with all the guests.

  While her friends were busy catching up with Drizzle and Fluff, Dash flew up to the guest room. She peeled off her dress and got into bed. Even though she hadn’t had any ice cream, her stomach ached. She was flattered by what Prince Scoop had said, but she was scared. How could she lead the Mint Fairies? She was the smallest one! She snuggled into her bed and shut her eyes.

  A Royal Decision

  The next day, just like the day before, Dash woke up before her friends. Their room in the Ice Cream Palace was silent. Dash must have been more tired than she realized, because she hadn’t heard the Candy Fairies come into the room after the Ice Cream Fete. She stretched and silently got dressed. Dash didn’t want to wake anyone. She knew the first thing her friends would ask would be about her royal decision. Today she would have to let the queen and king know if she was going to accept the role of Peppermint princess.

  On the nightstand next to Berry’s bed, Dash noticed a tiara that Berry had made. The silver piece had dozens of tiny pink sugar crystals, and it must have taken Berry hours to make. Dash flew over to the jeweled headpiece. She placed it on her head and looked at herself in the oval mirror hanging on the wall. She felt foolish. She looked silly. The tiara was too big and looked out of place on her head. Who was going to listen to her? Who was she kidding? No one was going to take her seriously as a ruling fairy princess! Dash looked out the window at the sunrise. The sky was filled with warm orange colors.

  At that moment Dash knew what she had to do. She had to fly away—and fast! She was not cut out to be a princess, and she was too embarrassed to tell anyone. She had to leave the Ice Cream Palace at once.

  Dash quietly opened the window. Before she left, she looked over her shoulder at her sleeping friends. She didn’t want to make them mad or worry them, so she wrote a note and stuck it on the mirror.

  There was a chill in the air, but Dash didn’t mind. She flew straight toward the rising sun. Below her she could see mounds of colorful ice cream and swirls of different flavors. There were not many Ice Cream Fairies up and about, and Dash enjoyed the quiet. Ice Cream Isles was a scrumptious place.

  After circling the isles for a while, Dash grew tired. She landed in a white field that smelled like fresh sweet mint. The scent made her think of Peppermint Grove. She noticed a thick vine with teardrop-shaped leaves. As she got closer Dash recognized the scent. It was a peppermint plant! She settled down under the thick mint leaves and closed her eyes.

  A soft breeze blew Dash’s hair, and she opened her eyes. There, in front of her, was a large white unicorn with a red-and-white mane. The unicorn had a glow around her, and Dash wasn’t sure if it was the sunlight or if the unicorn was actually glowing.

  “Hello,” Dash said. Her voice sounded thin and weak. As she gazed at the white unicorn Dash wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or if there really was a unicorn standing in front of her.

  “Hello, my name is Frost,” the unicorn said.

  Hearing the unicorn speak startled Dash. She rubbed her eyes. She thought she must be dreaming!

  “Hello,” the unicorn said again.

  “Hello,” Dash managed to reply, very slowly. “I’ve never understood a unicorn before.”

  Frost shook her thick mane. “Only Peppermint royal family members have been able to understand my speech,” she said. The unicorn took a few steps back and looked Dash up and down. “You look very familiar.”

  Now Dash rubbed her eyes again. Maybe she was dreaming. That would make sense.

  “You seem confused,” Frost went on. “I seem to have shocked you. But, to be honest, seeing you sitting here has shocked me.”

  Dash looked into the unicorn’s eyes. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “You must be the long-lost Peppermint princess,” Frost said. “I’m glad you have returned to Ice Cream Isles and to the Peppermint Castle. It has been far too long since there was a Peppermint royal living here.”

  Dash looked around. “There is no castle,” she said.

  “Ah, but there once was a castle on this very spot,” the unicorn replied.

  Dash leaped up. Then her eyes focused on the unicorn. “Did my friends tell you to find me and say all this to me?” she asked. She half expected the Candy Fairies to jump out from behind the cones and yell “Surprise!” She asked Frost, “What castle are you talking about?”

  “Peppermint Castle,” Frost explained. “It was made of pure mint. There are quite a few layers of ice cream here now, but underneath the pile of frozen treat is a castle from many, many years ago.”

  “That’s strange,” Dash said. “I’ve never been here before. I was just out flying and landed here.” She took a deep breath. “I love the scent. It reminds me of home.” She touched the leaves and then put out her hand for Frost to smell. “I love the smell of the mint leaves.”

  “Yes, me too,” Frost replied. “You look just like your great-great-grandmother.”

  “You knew her?” Dash asked.

  Frost spread her large silver wings. “Yes,” she said. “I am very old. Unicorns live much longer than fairies.”

  The unicorn nudged Dash’s leg and sniffed out the butterfly marking on her ankle. “Just what I thought,” Frost said. “You have the royal marking. You are part of a line that cannot be broken.”

  The unicorn stood up and shook her red-and-white mane. Dash got a whiff of strong peppermint, like she smelled in the early spring in Peppermint Grove.

  “You must be true to your destiny,” Frost told her. She shook her mane once more and then took a flying leap up into the air.

  “Wait!” Dash cried. “Don’t go! Please come back. I have so many questions for you.”

  In a flash, the unicorn was gone and Dash
was sitting alone under the mint leaves. She wasn’t sure if what she had seen was real or not, but she had a very strong feeling that things would never be the same. She had to face the minty fact that she was a Peppermint princess.

  A Supermint Question

  Dash was about to go searching for the white mint unicorn when she heard something flying above her. She squinted up at the sky and saw her four Candy Fairy friends!

  “There she is!” Cocoa cried.

  “Dash!” Raina said. She came swooping down and landed next to her.

  The Candy Fairy friends quickly crowded into a big group hug. Dash was shocked that they were all there. And that she was very happy to see them!

  “What are you doing here?” Dash asked. “How did you find me?”

  “We were so worried,” Cocoa told Dash. “We had to come find you! We have been searching all over Ice Cream Isles.”

  “Are you all right?” Melli asked. She looked Dash up and down.

  “We found your note and then went searching for you,” Berry said. She put her arm around Dash. “It’s a good thing Ice Cream Isles isn’t as large as Candy Kingdom. I’m so glad Cocoa spotted you.”

  “Please don’t ever go flying off like that again. You scared us!” Melli pleaded.

  Dash shot up in the air and fluttered her wings. “You are not going to believe this,” she told her friends. “I understood what a unicorn said!”

  “That doesn’t happen every day,” Melli said.

  “Here?” Cocoa asked. She flew up in the air and looked around. “You saw a unicorn in this spot?”

  “You met Frost the unicorn?” Raina asked excitedly. She nearly jumped on top of Dash. “Frost is the most famous unicorn ever! She might even be the oldest living unicorn.”

  “I guess you read that in a book,” Melli said.

  Raina smiled. “I did! Did you know the Ice Cream Palace has a delicious library?”

  Berry moaned. “Of course you found it,” she said.

  “Frost says she knew my great-great-grandmother!” Dash exclaimed. She wanted to tell her friends more about her conversation with the mint unicorn.

  “That’s a lot of minty years,” Cocoa said.

  “Isn’t it strange that she found me?” Dash said. She thought for a moment. “Or maybe it isn’t that strange. Maybe she was meant to find me.”

  Melli picked up a mint leaf lying on the ground. “I think it makes perfect sense,” she said. “What does she look like?”

  Dash sighed and sat down on the ground. “She is so mint!” she exclaimed. “She has this long red-and-white peppermint mane and a silky white coat. Her wings are silver, and her eyes are as green as a mint leaf.”

  “Wow,” Berry said. “And what did she say?”

  Her friends sat down, and Dash told them about her conversation with Frost. As she spoke Dash herself couldn’t believe it. “She was so . . . magical,” she said. “And she smelled like fresh mint on a spring day.” She sighed. That was her favorite scent of all time.

  “Don’t you see, Dash?” Raina asked. “You need to step up and be the princess that you are. She was telling you something important.”

  Melli reached out for Dash’s hand. “I think this is a sign you can’t ignore,” Melli told her. “How many Candy Fairies get a visit from a unicorn like that? One that they can understand.”

  Dash hung her head. “But that’s the problem,” she said. “I keep telling you, I’m not a princess.”

  “Not all princesses love princessy things like jewels and big parties,” Melli told her.

  “You can bring Mint Fairies together across all the kingdoms,” Raina told her. “Here and in Candy Kingdom.”

  Cocoa stood up. “Think of all the yummy mint frozen treats that can be made here in the Ice Cream Isles,” she said. “It’s a whole new minty world waiting for you!”

  Dash was warming up to the idea, but still she was very unsure about what this new role would mean. Prince Scoop had said the same thing to her. She thought some more. “But what about my racing?” she asked. She looked at her friends. “And my candy in Peppermint Grove? Can I still live in Sugar Valley?”

  Her friends weren’t sure what to say to Dash. Dash could tell that as much as they wanted to help her, they didn’t know the answers to these big questions either.

  “Maybe you should talk to Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop,” Cocoa finally said.

  Raina grinned. “That’s a great idea, Cocoa,” she said. “They are royalty, so they would know.”

  Dash thought about Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop. They were never given the choice of whether to be royal or not. They were born into a royal family and only knew life in a castle. They were raised to rule. “How do I ask them?” Dash said. “I don’t want to make them mad.”

  There was silence as the Candy Fairies considered Dash’s comment.

  Finally Raina spoke. “I think Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop would understand. You just have to be honest with them.”

  “Princess Lolli is so kind,” Melli said. “She would definitely understand.”

  “Just talk to them before Queen Swirl and King Cone ask you again if there is going to be a coronation,” Berry said. “Remember, today was your meeting with them.”

  Raina looked over at Berry and shushed her.

  “Oh no,” Dash said. “I missed it! Did the king and queen ask you this morning if I had made a decision?” She bit her fingernail. “You see, there is so much pressure! I know they want an answer. Only, I don’t know. For the first time I don’t want to be rushed! All of this is going way too fast.”

  “I never thought I’d hear Dash say that,” Cocoa said, trying to make her minty friend smile.

  “We should get back to the Ice Cream Palace,” Melli said.

  Dash took one more look around, hoping to spot Frost again. But she didn’t see any trace of the unicorn. She flew off with her friends, back to the Ice Cream Palace—though she still wasn’t sure how to answer the big super-mint question: Should she be a Peppermint princess or not?

  Peppermint Perfect

  At the Ice Cream Palace there were many Ice Cream Fairies buzzing around. A row of about twenty royal palace guards with large caramel horns stood at attention. When Butterscotch flew over with the royal couple, there was a huge roar of applause.

  Drizzle and Fluff waved to Dash and her friends, and the Candy Fairies flew over.

  Dash noticed how many fairies were staring at the couple as they flew down the rainbow-fruit-striped carpet.

  “Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop are making an announcement,” Drizzle said.

  Dash’s heart thumped very loudly. “What announcement?” she asked.

  Drizzle unfolded the Daily Scoop from her bag. “Well, we don’t really know, but look at the front page of the paper.”

  Dash took the paper and read about how all the Ice Cream Fairies were in for a royal surprise. “Sweet mint,” Dash said.

  “I know!” Fluff said.

  Dash looked at Fluff. “What do you know?” she asked.

  Fluff sighed. “Well, we all think Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop are having a baby!”

  Dash breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, we think so too,” she added.

  “The paper scooped the story?” Melli asked. “Now everyone knows about the baby before they had a chance to announce the news themselves.”

  “Part of being a royal,” Berry said.

  Dash didn’t like the sound of that at all. Did being a royal mean no privacy and not getting to announce your own news?

  “The Daily Scoop shouldn’t have leaked the story,” Raina said. “But what sugar-tastic news!” she said, giggling. “A baby!”

  “I bet Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop wanted to tell their own news,” Dash added.

  “But news of their baby is everyone’s news,” Raina said. She pointed to the fairies. “Look at all the fairies who have come to show how happy they are!”

  Dash was overwhelmed by the number o
f Ice Cream Fairies lining the palace gardens. There was lots of cheering. Raina was right. There certainly were many happy fairies around.

  Prince Scoop and Princess Lolli flew up to a landing above the front door of the palace, decorated with large swirled ice-cream cones and rainbow lollipops.

  “Thank you all for being here,” Prince Scoop told the crowd. “We wanted to clear up some rumors about us.”

  The cheering stopped, and everyone grew quiet.

  “Princess Lolli and I are going to have a baby!” he declared.

  The crowd cheered loudly.

  Princess Lolli blushed. “Thank you for being so excited about our little one,” she said. “We hope you will welcome our baby and help us keep Ice Cream Isles and Candy Kingdom in sweet shape for the future!”

  There was a loud thundering of applause.

  “Aren’t they so sweet?” Fluff said, sighing.

  Dash thought how lucky all these Ice Cream Fairies were that they got to have Princess Lolli around. “No one is sweeter than Princess Lolli,” she said.

  “We’re so happy that Prince Scoop married her,” Drizzle added.

  Melli gave her Ice Cream Fairy friends a big hug. “We’ll see you later,” she said. “Right now we need to fly to meet the royal family.”

  Dash was glad that Melli didn’t tell Fluff and Drizzle all about the Peppermint princess business. Dash wasn’t quite sure what she would tell them!

  The five Candy Fairies were shown into the throne room, where Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop greeted them.

  “We’re so happy for you,” Raina said, speaking for them all. “You are going to be the best parents.”

  “Thank you,” Princess Lolli said. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you first. We looked for you this morning, but you must have been exploring.”

  The Candy Fairies shared a secret glance.

  “I bet there’s an ice cream feast waiting for us inside the castle,” Prince Scoop said with a grin on his face.

  For the first time ever, Dash didn’t really want ice cream.