The ringing of the school bell almost didn’t break through the high pitched voices of the fillies and colts in the class room. Although their class only held eight foals, they made up for it with enthusiasm and cheerfulness that only young and carefree minds could possess. Right now, they scampered all around their classroom in what looked like a game of tag, running between their small desks and chairs with squeals of joy and much laughter. They didn’t seem too bothered about blown away papers or dropped books, unlike their teacher who entered the room with a rather stern expression.
The old stallion cleared his throat and the foals almost froze in their steps. He raised his eyebrows and the fillies and colts quickly gathered everything back in place. Before a minute had passed, the classroom was somewhat orderly again and the grade students sat behind their desks, ready for their lesson.
Their teacher nodded in approval and class began.
A few hours later, the teacher finally finished the last lesson of the day. Even Velvet Heart who was at the top of the class sighed relieved when the final bell rang and like the others, she quickly gathered her things into her saddlebag
“Before you go, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
Half a dozen groans sounded out and Sweetie Tooth asked what everypony feared
“You’re not giving us more homework, please?”
The stallion chuckled softly, to the relief of this students, and shook his head
“No, it’s not really homework. As you all know, in three weeks, there will be the crystal faire taking place once again.”
He stopped for a few moments as the foals erupted into happy cheers and smiled along
“I know, I’m excited as well. There will be festivities, games, music and many, many visitors from Equestria again.”
Sweetie Tooth nodded and hopped up and down on the spot
“I know! Auntie Applejack told me that even Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon will visit this year!”
The other foals gasped in surprise and started to talk even more excited with each other. The teacher laughed and raised his voice a little to be heard
“Alright, I get it, we’re all very excited for the crystal faire. And since it’s going to be the biggest faire yet, the other teachers and I had an idea. We would like every class to contribute to the faire in one way or another.”
The fillies and colts looked at each other, then back at their teacher
“We would like to set it up as a fundraiser for our school. You can decide what kind of project you want to do, of course. The choice is all yours.”
Again, the classmates looked at each other
“A fundraiser?”
“And only three weeks?”
“How are we supposed to do that?”
The teacher smile at the youthful enthusiasm
“You can ask somepony for help of course, maybe your parents or friends. It’s not important to raise a lot of bits, just do your best and have a lot of fun!”
Sweetie Tooth and Velvet Heart grinned and looked at their best friend Ocean Waves
“You know what that means, right?”
The slightly older filly smiled and nodded
“Cutie Mark Crusader meetup, at our place, in an hour?”
“You got it!”
The foals cheered and ran out of the classroom, leaving behind a chuckling teacher.
“Okay, so what do we have so far?”
Ocean Waves took the list she made as everpony gathered around her. Other than the classmates, her brother Amber Waves and a few ponies from his class had joined in as well, wearing their Cutie Mark Crusader capes just like the others. Even though some of them already had their cutie marks, the Crusaders of the Crystal Empire stuck together anyways. Like the original Crusaders from Ponyville, helping each other was more important for them, whether somepony got a mark or not. Even a few fillies and colts who had moved to the Empire from other cities of Equestria had joined the Crusaders by now.
Before Ocean could start to read though, there was a bright flash of golden light and suddenly, an alicorn filly stood in room with them
“I’m so sorry! I came as fast as I could, but Sunburst’s lesson just went on forever!”
A few fillies and colts backed away surprised, but most of them just smiled and Amber Waves hugged her friend
“It’s okay, Flurry Heart! We’re just glad you could make it!”
The young princess smiled and waved to everypony as they got closer again. Usually, she avoided using flashy magic around her friends, but today she was impatient enough to teleport straight out of the palace to the meeting. Luckily, the other Crusaders knew her well enough to not be scared of her magic anymore, as well as to know they didn’t have to treat her any special when she wore her Cutie Mark Crusader cape. She’d feel bad if her friends thought they had to bow down or something.
Ocean Waves cleared her throat and pointed to her list again
“Okay, so we gathered a few ideas so far, but we need to see if any of them are doable in just three weeks.”
Flurry Heart nodded and sat down between Amber Waves and Sweetie Tooth. Even though she got private lessons from Sunburst in the palace, she knew all about the school and the fundraiser.
They started with a lively discussion and in the end only two options were left
“So it’s either a song for the festival or a stall at the market.”
Velvet Heart and Sweetie Tooth shook their heads in perfect synchronization
“A song is a bad idea.” “Crystal Note says she needs weeks to prepare for a performance.” “And she’s a professional.” “Even if we find a song…” “… and manage to learn it…” “… it would never be so good that we could raise a lot of bits.”
The foals giggled as always when the twins did their little routine where they continued each other’s sentences, but they had a point this time.
“So it’s going to be a stall. We can build one in a day or two, easy.”
“And we can take shifts during the faire. That way we can sell all day long.”
Flurry Heart pouted and her ears flopped down
“I can help build it, but I can’t do anything during the faire. Mom wants me to take part at the ceremony and stuff.”
Ocean Waves gently nudged her friend with her hoof
“Don’t worry, Flurry. We understand, you got princess duties.”
“You’re here now after all, that still counts!”
Flurry Heart smiled brightly and the foals giggled, all but Violet Haze
“Um, guys? I don’t want to be the wet blanket, but if we set up a stall, what are we gonna sell?”
The foals looked at each other, obviously nopony had thought about that so far.
“It has to be something many ponies want to buy.”
“And something we can make ourselves.”
“Oh! We could draw a lot of pictures and sell them!”
“You know how many pictures we need to draw? If anypony would want them, anyways. We don’t all have a painting cutie mark like you, Violet Haze.”
“Maybe we could make something else?”
“Uh-huh. My uncle sells hoofmade necklaces with crystals and gems.”
Amber Waves shook his head at that
“Your uncle and at least a dozen other ponies as well. Also we don’t have the materials we need.”
Flurry Heart, impatient as ever, started pacing around already
“So we need something that’s not hard to make, doesn’t take too much time and that many ponies like… hmm… Cookies!”
Flurry Heart gasped out and immediately started hopping around excited
“Cookies! That’s it! Everypony loves cookies! Soo, let’s do a cookie stall!”
Flurry Heart’s excitement was infectious and soon all fillies and colts juggled ideas on which kinds of cookies would work. Again, Amber Waves had to be the voice of reason
“Guys, you realize that half the stalls will sell something to eat, right? Including the big one from Appleloosa and Sour Berry with his baked goods.”
“So?”
“I’m just saying, if we want to compete with them, we need like the best cookies ever! Something nopony could get outside the Crystal Empire!”
“Easy!”
All heads turned to the young earth pony colt next to Velvet Heart
“Crystal berries! They only grow here in the Crystal Empire, right? So if we make crystal berry cookies, everypony from Equestria wants to try them out for sure!”
Sweetie Tooth suddenly let out a giant gasp and everypony turned to her. Velvet Heart grinned and nudged her sister
“What do you say? Think you can come up with something, sis?”
The other crusaders knew about Sweetie Tooth’s skills in the kitchen of course, but the filly seemed even more excited than Flurry Heart this time
“Totally! But I think I have an even better idea!”
The others scooted closer and held their breathes as Sweetie Tooth milked out every last second of her moment
“How about, we make… crystal berry candy!”
The fillies and colts looked at each other and one by one joined in grinning
“Awesome!”
“I don’t think anypony has a stall for that.”
“Do you know how to make candy, Sweetie Tooth?”
The filly in question shook her head, but her grin stayed wide
“Not yet, but I know Sour Berry does. I’m sure he’ll help us.”
Velvet Heart gasped excited and jumped to her hooves
“Mom’s friend in Ponyville is a candy maker, too! We can write her a letter and ask for advice.”
“But why is candy better than cookies?”
Flurry Heart tossed in, just a tad pouty that her idea got dismissed so quickly
“Think about it, Flurry. Cookies are best fresh, so we had to bake them just before the faire. But candies…”
Flurry Heart gasped and hopped up and down on the spot, quickly joined by Sweetie Tooth and Velvet Heart
“Candies don’t get stale! We can start making some right away and we’ll have loads of them when it’s time!”
“This is going to be great!”
The other colts and fillies cheered along for a few minutes, until Ocean Waves called them back to order
“Okay, so let’s get to it, Crusaders! This might be our biggest mission yet!”
Amber Waves and three other colts jumped to their hooves
“We’ll go and find things to build our stall.”
Ocean Waves nodded and scribbled a note on her list as the four dashed out of the room. Sweetie Tooth and Violet Haze ran out next, after exclaiming they’d go talk with Sour Berry at his café. Three more volunteered to go and find out where they could get enough crystal berries for candies and Ocean Waves wrote it down on her list.
Velvet Heart was next
“I’ll go write a letter to Auntie Bon Bon in Ponyville.”
“Oh, I can help!”
Flurry Heart smiled wide and even flapped her wings excited
“Aunt Twilight taught me how to send letters with magic, I can send it directly to Spike and he can deliver it way faster!”
The two fillies grinned and vanished in a golden flash from Flurry Heart’s horn. Ocean Waves nodded and wrote down the final note
“Okay, I think that’s everypony except… hey!”
She looked around the now empty room and jumped up with a pout
“Don’t leave me all alone like that!”
With that, she packed her list and ran out after the others.
Velvet Heart scribbled the last words on the scroll and nodded to Flurry Heart
“I think that’s it.”
“Great! Now let me write a quick note for Spike and I’ll send them together.”
Flurry Heart picked up the quill with her magic and wrote a far shorter note, then rolled both scrolls up and sealed them
“Okay, now for the hard part.”
She focused and her horn glowed brightly with golden magic. The scroll lifted up and was surrounded by a golden flame, even though Velvet Heart didn’t feel any heat from the fire. Instead of burning to ash like normal paper, the scroll turned into smoke without a trace and then the small cloud of golden smoke flew away through the closest window
“There! It’s on its way. Now we have to wait.”
Velvet Heart watched the last trace of smoke vanish and smiled
“That’s so cool! Why don’t we all use that instead of regular mail?”
Flurry Heart smiled weakly and took a deep breath
“Because it’s really, really hard. Mom taught me because I’m an alicorn, but not even Auntie Twilight could do that spell when she was still a unicorn. That’s why Auntie Celestia enchanted Spike’s dragon flame instead. The only unicorn I met who knows that spell is Grandma Twilight Velvet.”
Velvet Heart eagerly absorbed any information she received, even if this time she ended in a small pout
“So no way you could teach it to my Mom.”
They both giggled but Flurry Heart shook her head
“I don’t think so, it’s really hard and… oh!”
A glow from Flurry’s horn ended the magic lesson early and with a little flash, a new scroll appear in Flurry’s magic
“That was fast!”
The fillies leaned over the scroll and Velvet Heart smiled happily as she read
“Dear Velvet Heart,
Seems like you’re very lucky, Spike was already nearby when he got your message and gave it to me right away. I think it’s a great idea you all had. I’ve never worked with crystal berries much, but I’ve written down my basic candy recipe and a few tips for you. I’m sure you and Sweetie Tooth can figure out the rest. I’ll be coming to the crystal faire as well, so you need to save some candy for your Auntie Lyra and me!
Best wishes to you, your sisters and your mother! Many hugs from Lyra and me!
With Love,
Your Aunt Bon Bon
PS: Thank you Princess Flurry Heart for delivering our letters!”
The two friends smiled at each other and Velvet Heart grabbed the scroll before the two ran back to the other Crusaders.
The fillies and colts soon met again and while Sweetie Tooth and Velvet Heart went through the letters and notes from Sour Berry and Bon Bon, the other started building the stall already. Most of them at least. Ocean Waves again was putting together another list since she was the most organized of the Crusaders and next to her sat Flurry Heart. The alicorn filly wasn’t too nimble with her hooves so she couldn’t help much with the stall. Of course she could just use magic instead, but the others had so much fun working together, she knew she’d just feel like she one-upped them. She wanted to help, but out-staging her friends with magic was no fun at all.
Ocean Waves noticed Flurry’s moping after a while and tried to cheer her up, but when Flurry saw she was putting together a schedule for everypony except her, the alicorn filly didn’t feel much better
“I just want to help and do my part, but I can’t because I’m a stupid princess!”
“Hey, that’s not true Flurry Heart. You’re anything but stupid, and you helped us before because you’re a princess! Besides, you’re here aren’t you? I’ve read so many stories of princesses who never left their castles and would never even think about helping others. You’re nothing like that!”
Flurry smiled and hugged her friend, at least partially appeased
“I still wish I could do more.”
At this point, the twins joined their friends again
“Okay, so we think we know what to do right now. But I think our kitchen isn’t really big enough for it. Plus, we need moulds for the candies and lots of ingredients. Maybe we could…”
Flurry Heart gasped out loud and excited
“Guys, I can help more! There’s a large kitchen in the palace and I’m sure we have everything we need and more!”
The others gathered around Flurry Heart at that, but Amber Waves didn’t look too convinced yet
“Are you sure it’s okay we go to the palace for that? I mean, shouldn’t we ask permission from Princess Cadance first?”
Flurry Heart just grinned
“But, if we had delicious candy, we could convince her way easier, don’t you think?”
Most of the fillies and colts giggled and at the excited looks from Flurry Heart, the twins and his sister, even Amber Waves caved in
“I guess that’s true…”
Flurry Heart almost squealed in joy and flapped her wings out of pure enthusiasm
“Great! Get ready, everypony!”
She had noticed that the others were all standing close by now and so she charged up her horn to a powerful glow
“Wait, what are you…?”
Before Velvet Heart finished, all the fillies and colts vanished in a bright flash of golden light.
In the palace, Steel Spear fought hard to hold back a yawn. He was standing guard at the door to the Princess’ private rooms, probably one of the most boring jobs there was these days. He had been a member of Crystal Guard for many years now and even though it was boring, he was wise enough to cherish the peaceful times. Before the arrival of Princess Cadance, he had been a soldier in King Sombra’s army and like everypony else, he had to live in constant fear and danger. He had seen the armies of Canterlot invade his home and he had watched friends and foes fall in battle. Even after Princess Cadance had recovered the crystal heart, he had seen his fair share of danger, when there was a changeling spy infiltrating their lines (even if he turned out harmless in the end) or recently when Windigos had attacked the city with a terrible snowstorm.
So when he felt a shiver run down his spine, he knew better than to dismiss it. Years of protecting others had sharpened his sense to potential dangers, even if he couldn’t see it at first. His ears perked up and he roamed every inch of the hallway with his eyes, looking for a potential threat.
Even with all his experience, he would have never expected that danger came with the voices of foals that echoed through the castle
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CANDY MAKERS! YAY!”
His eyes opened wide and he and his comrade shared a knowing grin
“Princess Flurry Heart and her friends are hecking something out again.”
“Should we tell the Princess?”
“We better stay in safe distance and observe for now.”
“Yes sir!”
The grinned at each other but snapped back into attention when the doors flew open and Princess Cadance all but ran out of her rooms and down the hallways. She vanished around a corner and didn’t even hear the two guards burst in laughter.
Princess Cadance passed through the castle in a sharp trot and everpony wisely stepped out of her way. She wasn’t known for lashing out in anger at any point, but they knew better than to get in the way of a concerned mother, alicorn princess or other.
While Flurry Heart was a bundle of wonderful energy and the greatest joy of her life, there were moments when her tendency to get into trouble tested Cadance’ patience to the limit. Right now, Cadance feared that this would be one of those moments. She followed the sound of giggles from the foals, somewhat relieved. That meant at least there weren’t any dangerous stunts involved this time.
She reached the kitchen tract and saw most ponies of her staff gathered in front of the big double doors leading to the big kitchen. They didn’t seem scared or angry, just a little worried. Most of them were smiling, in fact.
The crystal ponies noticed their princess approaching and bowed their heads respectfully, but Princess Cadance only nodded briefly and stepped to the door. One glance inside, and she was smiling softly as well.
Inside the kitchen was chaos, to the purest meaning of the word. A dozen foals were running around, picking up things and ingredients. In the middle of the kitchen, the largest pot, more like a cauldron, was set up. It was easily twice as high as any of the fillies, so Sweetie Tooth and Ocean Waves stood on their rear hooves on chairs as they stirred the bubbling mass in the cauldron with an oversized wooden spoon. Over their heads, Flurry Heart zoomed around like a white humming bird and added the ingredients the others brought into the cauldron, on Sweetie Tooth’s orders.
Only one of the kitchen staff stayed bravely in the room, a mare named Butter Flakes who turned on the spot in a fruitless effort to keep all the foals in view and give advice
“Oh, careful dear, that’s very heavy and… nonono, don’t use that, that’s not… oh, sweetie, please set it down again, don’t hurt yourself… Princess Flurry, please be careful when you…”
Princess Cadance walked into the kitchen and as she put her hoof gently on the mare’s shoulder, Butter Flakes jumped up in surprise
“Princess Cadance! I’m sorry, I’m just…”
“I know, Butter Flakes. Trust me, I know. Flurry Heart!”
The young alicorn blushed as she landed in front of her mother, looking down at her hooves
“Flurry, can you explain what’s going on here?”
“We’re making candy, Mommy. For the faire!”
The filly couldn’t hide her excitement and when she dared to look up, her beaming grin even had Cadance’ stern expression melt into a smile
“I see. And you didn’t tell me before you started, because…?”
Flurry’s ears sank down into her mane and her eyes dropped to the floor again
“Um, because we wanted to surprise you?”
It was a lame excuse, and she knew it. She heard the sigh from her mother, but when a wingtip gently tilted her head up again, she smiled softly. Cadance simply couldn’t be angry at her daughter for longer than a few heartbeats
“Snowflake, I know you get excited, but you need to tell me before you do something like this. You startled everypony and you nearly gave poor Butter Flakes here a heart attack.”
Flurry Heart’s ears immediately flopped down again and she turned towards the mare in question
“I’m sorry, Butter Flakes. We didn’t want to scare you.”
The mare just smiled softly
“It’s all forgiven, Princess Flurry. It’s all for a good cause in the end.”
The filly nodded and when she heard Sweetie Tooth call out to her, she threw a pleading look at her mother. Princess Cadance just rolled her eyes, but with a smile
“Go help your friends, Snowflake. But we’ll try to keep the chaos contained from now on.”
Flurry Heart ran back to her friends just as two more mares entered the kitchen. Butter Flakes sighed relieved as Opal Waves and Crystal Note joined her
“Somepony told us you could need a few extra hooves in here.”
Opal Waves grinned widely
“Especially since the Crusader meetup in our living room suddenly vanished in a bright flash.”
Cadance groaned and the three other mares giggled
“I’m sorry. You know how excited Flurry Heart can get.”
“We know, Princess. And we love her for it, just like you do.”
The mares laughed softly and watched the Crusaders carefully
Sweetie Tooth and Ocean Waves noticed their moms and Sweetie Tooth whispered to Flurry Heart
“I think we should maybe stop before we get into trouble and…”
“No!”
Sweetie Tooth nearly fell off her chair, startled by Flurry’s sudden call
“We have to do this now, it’s really, really important! Trust me!”
The young princess looked very serious all of a sudden, so Sweetie Tooth just nodded. Next to her Ocean Waves immediately remembered that look on Flurry Heart from back when the Windigos had attacked. Back then, the princess had told them that the crystal heart would protect them all, and even if she couldn’t explain it, Ocean Waves believed and trusted her friend immediately. Now she also had that light in her eyes that just made everypony want to believe her. Somehow, the young alicorn could see something that they all could not. Flurry Heart didn’t get serious like that just out of a whim, so she gave an encouraging nudge to Sweetie Tooth and continued to stir the candy mass in the huge pot.
Under the watchful eyes of the mares, the fillies and colts quickly gathered the ingredients from Velvet Heart’s recipe, but in the end Sweetie Tooth took the lead on what to add and when. After a short while, the whole kitchen started to smell like candy and everypony smiled, except Sweetie Tooth. She had an uncharacteristically serious look on her face as she concentrated on the task ahead.
When she asked Flurry Heart to bring her a bottle with a golden liquid, Butter Flakes suddenly perked up
“Princess Flurry Heart, careful with that! That’s vanilla essence, it won’t go well with crystal berries.”
“It will!”
Everypony turned around to look at Sweetie Tooth
“Trust me, it’s just what we need for the best candy!”
“Um, sis, it’s not in the recipe from Sour Berry or Auntie Bon Bon.”
“I know, Velvet. But I’m sure about it!”
While the twins discussed, Flurry Heart got that same look on her face from earlier and hovered over the cauldron with the bottle
“I trust you, Sweetie Tooth. How much do we need?”
“All of it!”
“Sweetie, no darling, that’s way too much.”
Butter Flakes tried to reason with the fillies, but Flurry Heart already poured in the thick, golden syrup while Sweetie Tooth stirred the pink candy mass. While everypony watched her, Princess Cadance kept close eyes on her daughter. She sensed something was different today, but clearly it was a good change, so she didn’t worry.
Sweetie Tooth finally declared her candy ready and everypony helped spread out moulds for the pieces of candy. When the fillies and colts suddenly realized they couldn’t move the large and still very hot cauldron, Princess Cadance and Crystal Note stepped in with their magic. They carefully spread out the batter under Sweetie Tooth’s instructions and the filly smiled satisfied
“Alright, now we have to wait for it to cool down and…”
“On it!”
Before anypony could react, Flurry Heart tapped into her magic and her horn glowed brightly. At the same time, a strong breeze blow through the kitchen, cold like a winter storm. The foals shrieked and looked for cover, a few jumped behind Princess Cadance who spread her wings to shield them from the icy wind. As quickly as it had appeared, the cold was gone again.
Princess Cadance fixed the young alicorn with a stern look
“Flurry Heart, what did I tell you about weather spells?”
The filly looked away bashfully
“Never cast them indoors?”
“And I hope now you can see why!”
Flurry’s ears dropped down further and she nodded, but her friends also quickly gathered around her. They all knew how it felt to get lectured by their mother and Princess Cadance settled down with just a sigh instead of it
“Well, I have to admit, it did work as you planed.”
From the quick burst of cold, the candies had cooled down already and Sweetie Tooth picked one up to test its consistency with a smile
“Yep, all ready!”
The fillies and colts cheered while Flurry Heart threw an apologetic glance at her mother, even though she could barely stand still from excitement.
The Princess sighed, but with a smile. Her magic spread out and a piece of candy floated to everypony in the room, including Butter Flakes, Opal Waves and Crystal Note.
“So let’s find out what they taste like.”
Sweetie Tooth watched anxiously as everypony took a taste of her candy. She saw mostly smiles from the corner of her eyes, but she kept focusing on the pony she needed to know the most. Velvet Heart pushed the piece of candy into her mouth and closed her eyes, savouring the taste. She smiled immediately and so did Sweetie Tooth, but then her sister suddenly tensed up and Sweetie Tooth held her breath. Velvet Heart opened her eyes and their gazes met. For Sweetie Tooth, time seemed to stand still for a moment, but Velvet Heart’s smile grew wider than she had ever seen before, even though she had tears in the corner of her eyes. Berries and vanilla in a very special mix. Sweetie Tooth knew her sister would recognize and her smile matched hers
“It’s perfect!”
Sweetie Tooth squealed and reared up in joy, and then something magical happened.
Sweetie Tooth lifted up from the floor, just barely an inch and only a few short moments, but she was floating on her own. At the same time, there was a glow surrounding her, more than her usual happy sparkles that danced over her coat. When her hooves touched the ground again, the glowing focused on both sides of her flanks for a quick flash. When the light faded, everypony stared in awe. They saw a big heart, coloured in swirls of red and white, like it was made of candy, like it always belonged on Sweetie Tooth’s flanks.
Sweetie Tooth seemed confused why everyone was suddenly staring at her, but Crystal Note dashed forward to pull her into a tight embrace
“Sweetie Tooth, you did it! You earned your cutie mark!”
At her words of her mother, Sweetie Tooth blinked fast a few times and turned her head back to look at her flank, staring baffled for a moment before Crystal Note kissed her cheek and whispered
“Congratulations, Sweetie Tooth. I’m so proud of you!”
Sweetie Tooth exploded into an ear-splitting squeal and wrapped her hooves tightly around her mommy for a second, then she hopped out of the embrace and ran towards Velvet Heart. The twins met midway in a hug and hopped and danced and squealed together, over and over
“Cutie mark, cutie mark, cutie mark!”
They laughed when Flurry Heart crashed into them with enough speed to bowl them over, followed quickly by all the other Cutie Mark Crusaders who piled around Sweetie Tooth.
Princess Cadance sat down next to Crystal Note who had to wipe away some happy tears. She gently placed a pink wing on the mare’s back
“You can be proud of your little filly.”
“I am, Princess. I am. I just wish her parents were here to see this.”
Princess Cadance only managed a knowing smile before Sweetie Tooth climbed out from under her friends and ran towards her
“Look Mommy, look! It’s my cutie mark!”
Crystal Note laughed away any remains of tears and leaned down to nuzzle her daughter
“It’s amazing, Sweetie Tooth. Just like you.”