Trying to shake herself out of her melancholy, Ditzy made her way to nearby Sugarcube Corner to start to set up her daughter’s party. Mr Cake was helping Pinkie put up a number of decorations around the function room, while his increasingly rotund wife was still serving at the counter downstairs. It was still a few months until the Cakes’ foal was due, but Mrs Cake was already larger than Ditzy remembered herself being when she was carrying Dinky. In the function room, Trixie had somehow managed to get her mobile stage into the building and was preparing for her big show later on; opposite her, Vinyl Scratch was setting up her deck for the disco. The two seemed to be competing for the award for the most noise made when setting up for a party. So far, Pinkie’s party cannon was winning.
This was going to be the biggest birthday party her daughter had ever had, thought Ditzy as she started to arrange plates of food on the buffet table. Normally she couldn’t afford anything so lavish, but so many ponies around the town had volunteered to help. Ditzy felt so honoured that so much of the town loved her daughter. Still, not only was it her birthday; as she had recently gotten her mark, it was her cute-ceañera as well, and that deserved something special.
Ditzy glanced out of the window to see her daughter and a herd of her friends rushing through the streets. Dinky seemed to be enjoying her new skates, apparently locked in a race with Scootaloo. The latter was on her scooter while Dinky, on her skates, was being pulled along by a large white dog, a Great Ponynees, far bigger than even the largest of the foals. Ditzy would normally be worried, but she recognised the dog as Parcel, Silver Script’s loyal companion, and the likely source of Dinky’s recent interest in owning a puppy. The saddlebags on the dog were empty, so it looked like he and Silver had finished their rounds and her boss had let the dog frolic with the foals for a while. In fact, yes, there was her boss, trotting along at a more reasonable pace following the foals. It was odd to think that he was probably the most important male figure in Dinky’s life. The thought brought her back to Castor’s letter and she tried to bury it again. Watching the children play, Ditzy could see why her daughter would rather spend her time with them than her. She tried her best, but she was far less entertaining. She sighed for a moment. Why did things have to change? She remembered when her daughter had loved to spend her time with her.
“This is gonna be a great party,” said Pearl, Sweetie Belle’s mother, breaking Ditzy’s train of thought.
“Huh? Sorry?” asked Ditzy.
“I said, this is gonna be a great party. You alright?” She continued in her nasal accent, “You look a bit out of it.”
“Sorry, I was just thinking,” Ditzy looked up at the older unicorn. Pearl had been a great source of advice for Ditzy as long as she’d been living in Ponyville. The older mare had raised two unicorn fillies, after all. “Do you ever feel like you wish Sweetie Belle would stop growing up?” she asked.
“Oh, all the time,” laughed the pink coated mare. “I remember when me and Magnum were her whole world. Now it’s always Scootaloo this, Rumble that. You can’t keep them in your apron strings all their life. They’re not babies for ever, I’m afraid.”
“I know, and maybe it’s wrong of me, but I just wish it would all slow down for a while. I miss it when Dinky was my little filly. Why can’t things go back to that?”
“Sounds like somepony’s feeling a little broody! Magnum got like that when Rarity started to get a bit more independent. He begged me for another foal, and, well, that stallion can be quite persuasive when he sets his mind to it. I think he was hoping for a colt.” She looked over at her husband, who was discussing something with Mr Cake that apparently required very involved hoof gestures. “Maybe you should think about getting yourself a stallion.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Ditzy, shuffling her hooves. “I’ve thought about dating but I don’t really have the time, and, well, I don’t think anypony’s interested.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Maybe you should put yourself out there a bit - you never know who’ll turn up. Apple?” she asked, levitating a large red fruit form a basket left open for the guests.
“Um, thanks,” said Ditzy, not sure about the non sequitur. She took a bite out of the fruit. It was sweet.
“Maybe you could get used to eating apple more often,” suggested Pearl, waggling her eyebrows. She paused as if waiting for a response, only to get a bemused stare from Ditzy. “Anyway,” she continued, “You think it’s bad now? Wait a few more years, your daughter won’t want anything to do with you. Too embarrassing. Rarity used to love watching hoofball with her father or playing dress up with me. Then suddenly overnight, ‘That sport is for barbarians!’ and ‘Do you have something a little less... tacky, mother?’” said Pearl, imitating her daughter’s affected accent. She looked down at her pink blouse and white sweat pants. “Tacky! These are classic. Anyway, it’s a rule. They hit puberty and suddenly they want nothing to do with you. You’ve just got to live with it.”
Ditzy felt a little shaken. Surely Pearl was joking? She could understand Rarity being embarrassed by her parents; the fashionista was rather high strung, although basically a nice pony. But surely Dinky would never be like that. After all, Ditzy hadn’t acted that way around her parents... oh, she had, she remembered being mortified when her father had picked her up from a friend’s party and referred to her as his Itzy Ditzy Bear. Of course Dinky would be embarrassed of her when she grew up...
“How about this, Muffin?” said Ditzy, propping a wide brimmed hat onto her head. “How does this look?”
Her daughter stood several lengths away from her, apparently trying to pretend she had never seen the older mare before in her life. If she stood up straight, the young mare would be almost her mother's height by now - not that she often did, since slouching seemed to come naturally to her. “Mooomm!” she moaned. “Nopony wears hats any more! That was like so last week! And don’t call me Muffin.” She looked back and forth suspiciously. “Somepony I know might hear.”
“Well I like it, and it’s not very expensive. I might treat myself.” Ditzy examined herself in the mirror, tipping the hat to a rakish angle.
“Whatever!” mumbled Dinky, nosing about in basket containing a number of false beards that all the fillies seemed to be wearing nowadays.
A pair of teen mares wandered by through the market, talking animatedly to each other. One had a neat pointy beard attached to her face, while the other had an untidy bush of hair. Dinky quickly slipped behind a nearby manequin to avoid detection.
Ditzy passed a number of bits over to the sales assistant and took her daughter by the hoof. “Come on, let’s head to Sugar Cube Corner. I’ll get you an ice-cream.”
“Sugar Cube is like nowhere now, everypony who’s anypony goes to Carbohydrate Hexahedron Intersection instead,” the younger mare complained, dragging her hooves.
“Hey, Dinky!” came a cry as a young grey-coated pegasus stallion wearing a fashionable powdered wig floated across the market place.
“Oh, H.. Hi, Rumble,” muttered Dinky, shyly flipping her mane over her face.
“You busy?” he asked. “Me, Snips and ‘Bloom were going to hang out at the lake.”
“I’d love to!” said Dinky, turning away from her mother.
“Don’t worry,” said Pearl with a grin. “It’s not as bad as you think. Even Rarity shows she still loves me. You should see the dress she made for my last birthday, she’s so very talented. Not really my style but beautiful, I just need to find the right time to wear it.”
Ditzy nodded, trying to look happy. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Dinky loves me.”
“That’s the spirit. Plus, it can be fun to make your daughter squirm some times,” she said with a grin.
After setting up the food, Ditzy went out to collect her daughter and get her ready for her party. She gave the filly a bath so she looked her best. Her daughter was excited and wanted to get back to her friends as quickly as possible. It was a shame; Ditzy remembered when bath night was a special event. Dinky used to love splashing around in the tub, and they both got squeaky clean even if the bathroom ended up a mess. Dinky wanted to wear her skates back to the party, but Ditzy told her that they would be too dangerous to use in the crowded room. The purple filly had pouted a bit but had eventually agreed. She seemed to be more wilful than she used to be, thought Ditzy.
The two of them only just made it back to Sugar Cube Corner ahead of their guests. Soon foals were rushing about, bouncing off of each other while the various adults were gathering around the walls in small groups, chatting while keeping an eye on their offspring.
She and Dinky made their way through the crowd, accepting presents and good wishes as they went and offering thanks and hugs in return. Ditzy was glad her daughter was so happy, but she couldn’t help but think that it might be better if the party was smaller - something that gave her more time with her daughter while she still had the chance. She tried to drive away the thought; she was being clingy, just like she had been when her daughter was taking the test for Harshwinny academy. She had lots of time left with her daughter… if she still wanted her.
“Uh, hullo,” came a voice in a Trottingham accent. Ditzy turned to see Pip approaching. He was scratching uncomfortably in a suit and his mane had been slicked back. “Sorry I’m late, Dinky. Me Mam made we wear me good clothes.”
“Pip!” cried Dinky, rushing over to the colt. She came to a stop in front of him nervously, before giving him a quick nuzzle and pulling away, both of them blushing. Ditzy frowned a little. She didn’t think her daughter had done that before. Another way she seemed to be growing up, and rather too quickly in her opinion.
“Um, I got you a present.” The small foal reached into his saddlebags and brought out a gift-wrapped shape.
Dinky wasted no time stripping it of its wrappings and levitating it in front of her. “Don Roc... Rocinante?” she read.
“It’s about this old stallion who goes about fighting all these cool monsters but it’s actually all pretend, like we do. Me Da read it for me and it was really cool.” His eyes zipped between Dinky and Ditzy. “But you’re really good at reading so you can probably read it yourself.”
“I’ll help you with any long words,” said Ditzy. Dinky was smart for her age, but she would probably still need help. She was surprised by the gift; she had expected the colt to bring something more piratical given his usual interests.
“Thanks, Pip,” said Dinky, giving her friend a hug.
“I’ll take this over to the gift table,” offered Ditzy, “while you talk to your friends.”
“Thanks, Momma,” said Dinky, placing the book on her mother’s back.
Ditzy trotted over to the table near the back of the hall. Near the front were the gifts from her fellow element bearers; an extra-large basket of chocolates from Lyra and Bon Bon, a bottle of homemade shampoo from Carrot Top, the strange contraption Cheerilee called a Xiǎomǎguó hoof trap, and a large illustrated book of fairy stories from Raindrops. Only Trixie’s gift was missing; the representative had promised it would be revealed before the end of the party.
Ditzy added the new book to the stack Dinky had already obtained from her various friends, both foals and adults; including Pokey (Prancy Doo and the Missing Mirror), Sweetie Belle (Little Mares) and Scootaloo (“I saw Rainbow Dash and she was reading this series called Daring Do, and your last name is Doo, and it's so close, and here's the first book, it's so AWESOME”). Even more gifts were scattered around; a carved dragon figure from Firelock, sweets from Twist and Truffle Shuffle, honey from Snails (“My bee friends made it for me”), a homemade cup with Dinky’s new cutie mark on it from Alula, records from Pina Colada and Bee Bop, an extra birthday cake from Pinkie (“I had a spare, in case of birthday cake emergencies!”), a beautiful dress from Rarity, a box of homemade apple fritters from Applebloom, oddly a necklace from Diamond Tiara similar to the one Dinky had given her mother for her last birthday, and even a hoof written voucher for a free mane cut from Snips (Ditzy appreciated the gesture but gently shoved that one to the back of the pile).
“That’s quite a haul,” noted Cheerilee. She and Trixie were standing guard on the treasures.
“Yes, it’s good that Dinky has so many generous friends. It’s just a shame I can’t afford to get her more than I did.”
“You get her plenty, it’s not like she needs that many toys and things. She’s just happy to be with other foals.”
Yes, thought Ditzy, Dinky was happy with her fellow foals. She didn’t need her mother to entertain her any more.
“Hey! Don Rocinante!” cried Trixie, running a hoof gently over the cover of the book. “Who got her this?”
“Pip, the brown spotted colt over there,” said Ditzy, pointing out the boy.
“Huh, he’s certainly got taste. This book got me through a lot,” muttered Trixie. “Not many foals appreciate it.”
“He’s a nice colt,” said Cheerilee with a little pride. “A little too easily distracted sometimes, but very imaginative. You should read some of his stories, once the spellings have been fixed, anyway. He seems to get on with Dinky really well,” she said nudging Ditzy.
The grey mare scowled a little. “I don’t think Dinky’s old enough to be getting on really well with any colt.”
“Well, I think they’re cute,” said Trixie.
Both other mares turned to stare at her. “Who are you and what have you done with Trixie?” asked Cheerilee.
“Don’t look at me like that! They’re obviously really good friends, and they’re only foals! You don’t have to bring anything icky into it!”
Before Ditzy could agree with Trixie, there was an excited cry from behind her. “Momma, look!” She turned to see her daughter making her way across the room, pulling a young pink coated mare behind her. “Look what Sparkler got me! Aren't they pretty!” The foal held up something small and shiny in her aura.
Ditzy leaned closer to get a better look. Dinky was holding a pair of earrings; each was a purple gem cut in the shape of a star. They were exquisite. “They’re lovely, have you thanked your sister for them?”
“Thank you, Sparkler,” said Dinky.
“That’s all right, Dinks,” said Sparkler, ruffling her sister’s mane with her hoof. “Now we just need to get your ears pierced. Maybe we could talk to Nurse Redheart, or maybe Pokey could help?” she pointed over to the blue stallion.
“P... P... Pierced!” stammered Ditzy, her wings suddenly shooting out as she stepped protectively in front of her daughter. “N...No, she’s too young!” Nopony was going to stick a needle through her baby while she drew breath!
“Hey, Mom,” came an excited cry followed by a rattling sound.
Ditzy sighed a little as her daughter rushed over towards her. She remembered when it was just an earring… now this. “Evening Dinky,” she said.
“I just got it finished, what do you think of this?”
It had started with an earring, and one was still there, a little bigger than the first but still an earring. On her left ear, anyway. Three silver rings graced the right. Then there were the others; the large iron ring through her nostrils was the most noticeable, along with the smaller ones in her eyelids. The studs in her lips stood out as well, until you saw the forked tongue anyway. The gold rings digging into grooves carved in her horn were almost tasteful by comparison. The rings and hooks on her body were less noticeable, really; the others, which were still jangling even after she’d come to a stop next to her mother, were almost invisible unless you made a more intimate examination. Of course, even beyond the piercings Dinky would stand out in a crowd; her mane was greased up in a Zebrican style and dyed almost every colour possible apart from her natural blonde, while her tail was cut to a short stub but just as vibrantly coloured. However, it was none of the above that the young mare was proud of at this moment. It was her latest tattoo. A minotaur tradition, tattoos were rare in Equestria; they could be covered by your coat, unless you shaved off sections, which Dinky had. It was the biggest - but by no way the first - the unicorn had had done, and covered a good chunk of her back. Black gothic script flowed from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, proclaiming ‘Thrash Metaill Lives!”. Below it was a picture of a golden guitar with a full-colour image of a devilish stallion reclining against it.
“Isn’t it amazing!” Enthused, Dinky’s grin widened and her excited hops resulted in a crescendo of jangling.
“It’s... it’s very eye catching, dear,” said Ditzy, trying to keep her eyes on the daughter. They kept trying to look away from what she had become. “You look very different.”
“And I’ve got Sparkler to thank for it all!”
“Yes, I should thank your sister for all these... changes.”
“Calm down,” said Sparkler with a grin. “I was kidding, these are clip-ons.” She indicated the small clasp on the back of the earrings.
“Momma,” said Dinky, looking confused. “What’s pierced?”
“Oh, um, it’s a way that some older ponies wear earrings. They have holes poked in their ears to fit the earring through.”
“And not just ears,” noted Cheerilee, butting into the conversation. “Some... other... places...” She realised who her audience was and began to wither under Ditzy’s glare. “Um, never mind,” she said, slinking away in the crowd.
“That doesn’t sound very nice. Doesn’t it hurt?” said Dinky, shuddering slightly.
“Well yes, a little,” said Ditzy.
“But less than you’d think,” said Sparkler, batting at her own earrings.
“Are your ears pierced, Momma?”
Ditzy’s ears drooped, trying to hide the small holes in them. She’d gotten hers done not long before meeting Dinky’s father; they’d made her feel very mature and feminine at the time. Looking back, it all seemed so silly. Was that how her own mother had felt when she told her not to get them done? “Um, yes, but I was a lot older than you are when I got mine done.”
Thankfully, Dinky seemed to accept it. “Ok, Momma.”
Sparkler levitated the earrings over and gently clipped them onto Dinky’s ears, making them flop around for a moment. “Why don’t you show your friends your new present?” she suggested.
“Ok,” agreed Dinky, already rushing off into the crowd.
“Sorry about that,” said Sparkler, a little awkwardly. “It was a joke.”
“It’s ok. Thanks for coming,” said Ditzy a little ruefully.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. So,” said Sparkler, lowering her voice. “Did you get Dad’s letter?”
“Oh,” said Ditzy nervously. “You know about that?”
“Like you suggested, we’ve talked... well, written. I asked him to send something for Dinky’s birthday.”
“It was very generous, but the letter was a little... sparse.”
“Did you tell her?” said Sparkler seriously. She nodded towards Dinky, who was showing her earrings off to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who actually looked a little impressed.
“No, I’m... I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. She knows who he is, but, well, what does he want? Does he want to see her? Now?”
Sparkler sighed. “I don’t think Dad knows what he wants. But if he asked, would you?”
“I think, I think...” Ditzy chewed at her lip for a moment. “Yes, I would. She should know her father.”
Sparkler seemed to relax a little. “That’s good. I’ll write to him and we’ll see. Maybe we could visit together?”
“Maybe,” said Ditzy, looking unsure.
“Look, sorry for bringing you down on Dinky’s special day, but I had to check, you know.”
“I do... I think.”
“Good. I’ll try to stop tempting your daughter to the dark side. No piercing until she’s older or you say so, right?”
“Right,” agreed Ditzy.
“Attention, foals of Ponyville!” announced the Great and Powerful Trixie, summoning all the guests to the front of her stage. “Foals of all ages,” she amended as Pinkie leapt over and positioned herself in the centre of the rapidly forming audience.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie has been charged with a most important Task by Princess Luna herself.” A small gasp went up from the crowd.
“I have been informed that a vast horde of fearsome Bushwoolies are even now approaching Ponyville!” Behind the blue mare, shadows of large hairy creatures seemed to form. From the back of the crowd there came a cry of ‘The horror! The horror!’ “But fear not, my little ponies! For I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will protect you.” There was a flash of light and the shadowy creatures disappeared. “Still, this will be a major task even for the Great and Powerful Trixie, and I will need the help of all of you… and one in particular. I will need an assistant. I have heard there is a special filly in the audience, am I right?” Several of the crowd jumped up and down yelling ‘Me, me!’, including Snails who was apparently happy to be considered a filly if it meant he got to be Trixie’s assistant. Igniting her horn, Trixie swept a beam of light through the crowd, coming to a stop over Dinky. “Ah there she is, the Fantastic and Friendly Dinky Doo!”
Around her the crowd started to holler and stamp as Dinky made her way to the stage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is glad to have you along, Dinky,” announced Trixie. “But our quest will take us through the whole world, from the deserts of the Mild West,” the temperature seemed to increase as a tumbleweed rolled across the stage, and an expanse of sand seemed to stretch out behind them, “To the snows of the Crystal Empire.” A thin layer of snow started to form on the stage. “You will need protection, and The Great and Powerful Trixie has just the thing.” Trixie gestured at the excited foal and there was a puff of smoke; when it cleared, Dinky was clothed in a short red cloak similar to Trixie’s but of a more practical cut. “This cloak is enchanted to keep you warm in the coldest environments and cool in the hottest of summers.”
“Thank you, Miss Trixie, I mean The Great and Powerful Trixie!” cried Dinky.
“Think nothing of it, young assistant. And one more thing...” With a flourish, Trixie produced a wand seemingly from nowhere, levitating the black stick topped at each end in white in front of the foal. “For protection, I give you this wand.” She gently tapped it on Dinky’s head and flowers sprouted from its end. “It has many secret powers.” She passed it over to the foal, who took it in her aura. “Use it wisely. Now, we do not have much time, for The Great and Powerful Trixie senses that the Bushwoolies are close.”
Ditzy watched on, smiling, as Trixie lead Dinky and the audience on a magic journey all across the world, hunting down the magical ingredients needed to vanquish the Bushwoolies. The adventure was punctuated by various tricks and illusions carried out by Trixie, ably assisted by Dinky. Her daughter was great on stage, obviously enjoying being the centre of attention, but at the same time happy to call out to those in the audience for help, giving them a chance to shine as well. Dinky’s skill with magic was much greater than Ditzy had expected; Trixie and Twilight’s lessons seemed to be bearing fruit as the foal’s telekinesis was much more stable than even a few months ago, and she seemed to be able to almost effortlessly throw out firework spells when prompted by her mentor to scare off the ‘Bushwoolies’.
Finally the show came to an end, with the magic ingredients being used to change the shadowy creatures into much cuter furry creatures, which faded away as Dinky wished them farewell to the thunderous stamping of the crowd. As her reward, Trixie let the foal keep her new cloak and wand.
After the magic show came the cake. The Cakes had really outdone themselves this time. It was larger than the birthday filly herself, and decorated with her newly gained cutie mark picked out in vanilla icing. Ditzy felt like she was piling on the pounds just by looking at it, but judging by the amount of energy her daughter and her friends were using up rushing around the room, she didn’t think it would do her much harm to be treated just this once. She was just stepping up to help Dinky cut the cake when Lyra stepped forwards.
“Before we get on with this, do you mind if I give Dinky an extra present?” she asked. “I wrote a song for her and now seems a good time to sing it.”
“I’m sure Dinky would love to hear your song,” said Ditzy with a smile. It was very generous of Lyra to put in the extra effort for her daughter.
“Of course I would, Mummy,” agreed Dinky, looking up eagerly at Lyra.
Lyra reared and balanced expertly on her hind legs before lighting her horn and summoning her lyre to herself. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath
She looks outside her window at the rising sun,
Then she turns and cries her hello to her beloved Mum.
Ditzy smiles back and together they start such a loving day Ditzy smiled down at her child who sat eyes wide entranced by the music.
She eats her breakfast treat then saddles up her school bags and hears her momma say
Hey Muffin, can you see how good it is today?
You have friends all over town and everypony want to play
Your heart is full of love and your smile, extra wide
Your cutie mark shows me that your friendship will always shine!
Oh-oh-oh, Dinky Doo! All the town is friends with you. sang Lyra strumming her lyre
You're the muffin of your mother’s heart, and we all love you too,
Ah-ah-ah, Cutie! Tell me, how big can your heart be?
It contains so much love for everypony.
She takes off from her home, towards the school down the road, and
In just a single moment, she trots to a classmate
A princess like child, with temperament so mild Alula smiled shyly as she was mentioned
She cannot help but smile, their friendship is so great
Then on into the town where two fillies Spoon and Crown
Have faces marred with a frown, normally good friends, Diamond Tiara quickly glanced around to see that everyone was entranced by the singing before gently resting a leg across Silver Spoons back.
An argument made them mad, seeing Dinky they are glad
Her smile ends their sadness, of anger they are cleansed
Though she's just a little pony, each colt and each filly
Together and all on key sing for her a song
Oh-oh-oh, Dinky Doo! All the town is friends with you.
You're the muffin of your mother’s heart, and we all love you too,
Ah-ah-ah, Dinky! Tell me, how big can your heart be?
It contains so much love for everypony.
You only just got your mark, it came with a spark continued Lyra her tone becoming more serious
You saw what you could become.
It may seem that your whole life is laid out in front of you
And that couldn't be any more scary to you
You saw a world full of adults no play time no fun
Well that way you shouldn’t climb
It may seem like your childhood is near its end
Listen to what I say
You've shouldn’t give up the foal inside, full of innocence.
Don’t hurry to be adult, show your brilliance
You've got a ways left to go,
You’ve got plenty of time to grow
Oh-oh-oh, Dinky Doo! All the town is friends with you. The whole party took up the chorus, singing along with the music.
You're the muffin of your mother’s heart, and we all love you too,
Ah-ah-ah, Dinky! Tell me, how big can your heart be?
It contains so much love for everypony.
It contains so much love for everypony.
Oh, you have so much love for everypony.
Oh, you have so much love for everypony.
Oh, you have so much love for everypony.
When the song finally came to an end, Dinky leapt forwards and threw her hooves around Lyra neck, almost unbalancing the mint unicorn.
“Thank you, thank you,” she babbled.
“Hey that’s all right kid,” gasped Lyra, once she managed to prise the excited filly from her windpipe. “You’re a very special filly.”
“I want one,” mumbled Bon Bon next to her marefriend, causing Lyra to choke for a moment. “I meant a song, it’s been ages since you wrote one for me. Why, what did you think I meant?” she said with a grin.
“Come on, Muffin, time to blow out your candles,” said Ditzy. Behind the cake, Trixie lit up her horn, and the cake burst into light as flames sprung from each of the candles. The illusionist seemed to have become more adept at fire magic, a new skill she had picked up during their adventures.
Dinky hopped over and took a deep breath before exhaling with all of her might. All the candles went out almost at once, to the cheering of the guests.
“Now, it’s time to cut the cake,” said Ditzy, somewhat muffled by the large knife in her mouth. She felt a tingle as Dinky gripped the blade with her aura.
“I can help you Momma,” she said. “I can use my magic.”
She probably could, thought Ditzy. She was very good with it - something else her daughter didn’t need her for. But it was still a sharp knife, and she couldn’t live with herself if something went wrong. “I’m sure you can, dear, but just to be safe, I’ll keep hold of it. Alright?”
“Ok, Momma,” agreed Dinky, gently guiding her mother’s aim as she sliced into the giant cake. She cut off a sizable chunk of it and began to pass slices out to all of her friends.