Chapter 15

It was the next day, Luna and I were just starting to board the train, and once we were on, the train began its journey to Ponyville. Thanks to Celestia, we were able to get our own private booth, equipped with a bathroom and even a bed. The booth itself was bigger then the one that I was on when I first came to Canterlot, and due to the size of the room, Luna decided that it was a good time to start my magic training, starting with the basic lighting spell.

“First, just concentrate all of your energy into one area on your body.” Said Luna, guiding me in the first steps of spell casting. “Since you don’t have a horn, I suggest that you try your hands, since during the match, that was how you were able to cast your spell anyway.”

We were sitting on the ground inside the booth; my sais and bow staff both in between us. I looked at my hands and began to concentrate on putting energy into my hands. After a while, my hands began to create a soft yellow glow.

“Good, good! You’re getting the hang of this quicker then most unicorns, which is surprising, considering that you are technically not a magical being in the first place.” I raised an eyebrow at her comment. One thing that I noticed about Luna during our training; she can get a bit blunt during her teachings, saying things such as that, or comparing me to normal unicorn students. Far from being annoyed, however, it just amused me.

“Well, I am a quick learner…at least…I think I am…” I said, trying to recall if I was indeed a fast learner. Luna giggled at this, saying, “Well, at the pace that you’re going right now, then I would have to agree with you. Now, try to increase the brightness on your hands by collecting more energy.”

I closed my eyes and began to try and collect as much energy as possible. The light on my hands began to glow brighter, but after a few seconds, I had to let go of the energy, causing the light to fade away. I sighed, saying, “Damn, this is harder than it looks.”

“Well, of course it is. I’m guessing that the only reason that you’re doing so well right now is because you somehow have an intuitive sense of magic. How this is possible, I don’t even know.” Said Luna, smiling. “Now, let’s try the telekinesis spell, just concentrate on the object in front of you first.”

I began to collect the energy back into my hands, and concentrated on one of my sais in front of me. This time, I produced a red glow like when I used the spell during the match with Shining. “Now, transfer some of your energy around the object of your choice. Once you have done that, then it should be easy to move it around by just thinking were you want to move it.”

I imagined myself surrounding the sais with my energy, and slowly, it began to glow a slight red like the one around my hands. Once it began to glow, I imagined moving it up off of the ground. A few seconds later, it shifted slightly, and slowly, began to raise up into the air, getting up to around three inches off of the ground. I was so surprised that I actually did it on my first try that I accidentally released the spell, causing the sais to drop. I sighed, slightly annoyed at how close I was. Luna noticed this and quickly placed a hoof onto my shoulder to comfort me, saying, “Hey, relax, you're doing a great job, you just got to remember to keep your concentration on the object. Once you get it down, you will be able to manipulate multiple objects at once without much difficulty.” I smiled at her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, which caused her to blush slightly.

“I know, it’s just that it gets annoying after a while, you know?” Luna nodded, saying, “Just keep it up, and you will be as good as Twilight.” I smiled again, glad that she had so much faith in me.
“Thanks, Luna. I’m glad to have both you and Twilight as my teachers.” I said. Luna smiled, and then brought her face towards mine, kissing me on the lips. I responded in kind, and we began to kiss each other for a few minutes, simply happy to be in each other’s presence.

After a few minutes of kissing, Luna parted the kiss, saying, “I think we should take a break right now. Besides, you have been practicing since we have got on nonstop, and while Twilight and even Applejack would be impressed with your dedication, it is definitely not healthy to keep up.”

I raised an eyebrow, saying, “Well, we have a long ride ahead of us, and I don’t know what else to do to pass the time…unless you have another idea.”

Luna began to blush, saying, “W-well…I kind of do, actually.”

I looked at her, waiting for her to finish. She took a deep breath and continued. “Well, I still feel bad about not letting you finish during our…foreplay…and I really wanted to repay you for your treatment yesterday. Especially for helping me during my first time.”

“Luna, I already told you, you don’t have to repay me for any-” I said, before she placed a hoof on my mouth.

“Who said that you had a choice?” She said, smiling at me seductively. I gulped, knowing that it was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not, and to be honest, I really did want it to happen.

However, before I got the chance to say my own opinion, I felt Luna grabbing me in her own magical field and lifted me into the air, placing me on top of the bed. Once I was on the bed, Luna pounced on top of me and forced her lips onto my own. Her actions surprised me so much, that I didn’t even notice when she forced her tongue into my mouth. Eventually, I mentally shrugged, and just went with it, kissing her back with equal force and massaging her wings as well. As we kissed, I could feel Luna using her magic to pull off my shorts and boxers, exposing my already hard cock. Once it was out, I felt Luna place both of her hooves on either side of it, and in no time, she was already jerking on it at a fast pace, causing me to break the kiss and groan in pleasure. She grinned at me slyly, saying, “Oh, is this for me.” Before she dragged herself down my body until her head was leveled with my dick. She then placed her mouth on the underside of the shaft and began to lick on it, dragging her mouth up and down the entire length. I moaned, causing her to go faster, and said, “D-damn, Luna! D-did you d-do this before?”

Luna stopped licking my cock and smiled, wrapping a hoof around my shaft and pumping it, saying, “Well, I did kind of practice this a little when you were unconscious.” Before I could even comment on her answer, she placed her lips right over the head, and began to lick the area just between the head and shaft. I gave a sharp gasp, desperately trying to hold myself together. She smirked at this, and then she slowly began to take my member into her mouth, wrapping her tongue along the length as she did so. She kept on taking every inch of my dick, until her snout was pressing against my crotch, and I could feel her tongue lathering up the entire shaft, squeezing and licking it, giving me pleasure that I never thought was possible. She kept at it for another minute, before she began to rapidly bob her head on it, still keeping her tongue wrapped around my cock the entire time. I moaned, placing my hands on the sides of her head to help her. Once I did that, I began to thrust my cock deep into her mouth, causing Luna to close her eyes and hum with pleasure, vibrating my cock and causing even more pleasure for me.

‘Well, two can play at this game.’ I thought to myself, bringing one of my hands to her horn. I grabbed her horn, and began to squeeze it slightly, slowly pumping it up and down. Luna gave a much larger hum of pleasure, further vibrating my manhood. As I pumped my cock into her mouth, I could see that she was also pleasuring herself with her hoof as I slid my hand along her horn. We stayed like this for I don’t know how long, but to me every second of it was heaven. I soon began to feel the build up in my neither regions, and by the sound of Luna’s moaning; I guessed that she was close too. I began to pump her horn faster and increased the speed of my thrust into her, hitting the back of her throat every time I hilted inside her mouth.

I was about to tell her that I was close, when suddenly, Luna stopped her bobbing, taking my entire length into her mouth again, and began to suck on my cock like it was a straw. The force of her sucking made me cum, filling her mouth to the point of bursting. I unload so much semen into her mouth that some of it even came out of her mouth, but she still drank as much as she could, the force of her drinking my seed causing me to squirt even more into her mouth. Eventually, I stopped, the orgasm completely draining me, and I fell onto the bed, taking deep breaths as Luna began to clean off my manhood. She gave it one last suck to get the last of my cum before she took it out with a wet pop, a satisfied smile on her face. She quickly climbed into the bed with me, and by the sound of her breathing, I could tell that she came as well.

“Now, we’re even.” She said, a smirk on her face. I gave a tired grin at her and kissed her on the cheek, too tired for words. Luna giggled at my tiredness, before she too yawned. She quickly put us under the covers of the bed, and in no time we were both sound asleep, a content smile on both of our faces.

The train has just stopped at the Ponyville station, and Luna and I were just getting off of the train. As we got off, I noticed a certain group of ponies that were waiting for us on the platform.

Luna noticed this as well and said, “I think my sister must have sent a letter ahead of us to tell them of our arrival.”

Before I could agree with her, I was suddenly tackled by a yellow blur, dropping my staff in the process. The next thing I know, I have a very, very sad and upset Fluttershy on top of me, crying into my chest.

“Drakalian! Oh, I’m so glad you’re ok!” She said, giving me a death hug like the one Luna gave me in the hospital. I just hugged her back, knowing that I was the one that caused her this pain, and I could feel my own tears starting to pour out of my own eyes. As we hugged each other, I felt another pair of hooves go around my neck, as I looked up to see AJ, hugging me with equal affection, and nuzzling into my cheek as well.

“We’re all glad that you’re ok, sugarcube.” Said AJ, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled slightly and brought her into our hug, giving her a kiss on the cheek as well.

“We were all so worried for you, darling. Especially poor Fluttershy here.” Said Rarity, gesturing at Fluttershy, who was beginning to calm down from her crying a little bit. I looked at the yellow Pegasus and she looked back at me, her light blue eyes still filled with tears.

“Hey, Shy. I’m so sorry that I made you worry about me so much.” I said to try and calm her down. She sniffled a bit, before she slowly nodded and said, “C-c-can you…k-kiss me…please?”

I smiled, and slowly brought my head down, placing my lips gently onto her lips. As we kissed, I could feel that the others were still watching us, but I couldn’t have cared less, for I was back with all of my friends, as well as my herd mates. As we broke our kiss, I looked into her eyes, and said, “I’ll make you a deal, Fluttershy. I’ll hang out with you for one day, and we can do what ever you want us to do. How does that sound?”

She looked into my own eyes as she thought about this, and then she slowly nodded, saying, “C-can we s-start today?”

“Once I get settled at Twilight’s house, since the Princesses said that I will be living at the library for now, then we can do whatever you feel like.” She gave a small smile, and then she bought me into a deeper hug. As I sat there hugging my two marefriends, I noticed a couple of things. First, I noticed that Rainbow Dash was more quiet then normal, looking down at the ground, so I couldn’t see if she was all right. Second, and the most worrying one to me, was that a certain pink pony was missing from the group.

“Uh, guys. Where’s Pinkie?” I asked the others.

“She…uh…had to go for a while to…plan something, I think.” Said Twilight. I could tell that she was lying, but I decided not to question it, thinking that it was probably for the best that I didn’t know what Pinkie was doing, considering her randomness.

After a few more seconds of hugging, I had to release both of my marefriends, got my staff back, and we began to walk back to the library. As we walked, I noticed that Dash was still keeping her head down, and worried that she might be upset; I walked next to her and asked, “Hey, Dash. You ok?”

She was quiet for a moment, and then she said, in low voice, “I challenged you to a sparing match with the Captain of the Royal Guard, and you almost die from magic exhaustion, how do you think I feel?”

I quickly placed an arm around her, and she looked at me in surprise. I smiled, saying, “That my be true, but it was my decision to accept it in the first place, so don’t beat yourself up because of it. Besides, you did win it, if I recall, for I did somehow use magic. Just give me a few days and I’ll let you get your reward, ok?”

Rainbow thought hard for a few seconds, and then she smiled, nodding and saying, “I guess that makes sense, if you put it that way.”

“I appreciate it, Dash. So tell me, what have you been-”

Suddenly, I was once again tackled down and once again dropping my staff, except this time by a pink blur. I closed my eyes for a second and embraced for impact with the ground, and when I opened them, I saw a pink filly with golden eyes hugging me tightly.

“Drakalian! Hi! Do you remember me?” Asked Dinky, still hugging me. I chuckled and hugged her back, saying, “How could I forget Ditzy’s daughter.” Which made her giggle.

“I’m sorry about that, Drak. She just really wanted to see you again. I think she might have taken a liking to you ever since you helped me with that bully.” I looked up and saw Ditzy herself walking towards me, a small smile on her face, making me smile back. I then noticed that her coat was dirtier then the last time we met, and as I looked at Dinky, I noticed that her coat was dirty as well.

I got up, still holding onto Dinky, (Thankfully she was pretty light) and said, “Ditzy, what happened to your coat? It’s all dirty, as well as Dinky’s coat.”

Ditzy was quiet for a moment, and then she looked down towards the ground, tears starting to form in her eyes. That was when I noticed that as well as being dirty she looked a lot…thinner. Not thinner in a good way either, I mean thinner like I can see the start of her ribs thinner. I took a quick look at Dinky again, and thankfully she didn’t seem as thin as her mother was, though she did seem to have lost some weight the last time I saw her. I quickly walked in front of her and got down to one knee, placing a hand on her shoulder, saying, “Come on, Ditzy, I’m here for you. Please tell me what’s wrong.” Ditzy was still quiet, and after a minute of silence, Dinky was the one to finally speak up.

“We lost our home.” I looked back at Dinky with shock, and noticed that she was starting to cry as well. I heard several gasps at Dinky’s announcement, and I turned around and noticed that the other mares with me had shocked expressions as well.

At once, Fluttershy was next to us again, comforting both of the golden eye ponies. “Hey, its alright, you’re with friends now, we’ll figure something out for you both.”

I nodded, and then brought all three of the girls into a hug. I could feel the tears starting to form out of my own eyes, and soon, I was silently crying with them, the others just looking on with sympathy in their eyes. We stayed like this for a good few minutes until I decided to ask Ditzy on how she lost her home.

Ditzy sniffed a few times before she began to answer. Apparently, since she got fired from her previous job, the landlord decided to let her go as well, seeing that she would be unable to pay for the rent anymore. Ditzy said that she wasn’t that nice of a pony anyways, and was just looking for a reason to kick them out. Ditzy losing her job was just the opening that she needed. Since then, she had been living around on the streets, just trying to make a couple of bits to get by. That was three days ago, and both she and Dinky have barely had any food to eat since then, though Ditzy has been giving most of the food to Dinky, which is why she’s in a slightly less emaciated condition then her mother.

Once she was done explaining, an idea suddenly popped into my head. I turned towards Twilight and asked her, “Hey Twi, I think we should let Ditzy and Dinky stay with us, how about you?”

Twilight immediately nodded, saying, “That is a great idea, except that there is just one problem. We don’t have enough beds for them. If we bring them in, we’ll be one bed short.”

I thought about it for a second. “Well, we’ll figure it out once we get there, but for right now, let’s just bring them to the library. You think that you two can walk there?” I said, asking the question to Dinky and Ditzy. Dinky nodded, saying, “I can, but Mamma hasn’t been feeling well.” I nodded, and placed Dinky down gently before I picked up Ditzy like the last time. As soon as I picked her up, I noticed the bags under her eyes. I could only imagine the sleepless nights that she had just making sure that her daughter was safe during the night. As she closed her eyes, I gave a small smile and a kiss on the forehead. This caused Ditzy to blush a little, but she was too tired to say otherwise. Thankfully, Luna was able to pick up my staff since my arms were full. Once we got everything settled, we all began our trek once again towards Twilight’s home.

We were silent for most of the walk, none of us wanting to say anything. After a few minutes, we finally got to the library, and my new home. I was about to open the door, when Twilight stopped me.

“Wait! Just…uh…just give me a sec.” She said, before she suddenly bolted through the door. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the others, who all shrugged, just as confused as I was. After a few seconds, Twilight opened the door again, her mane looking slightly frazzled.

“Ok…it’s…clear…now…” she said, panting deeply. Curious, I walked in, and as soon as I got in, I was bombarded with loud techno music. I blinked in surprise, before I thought, ‘Oh no, this better not be another one of Pinkie’s parties for me.’ I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable ‘surprise’ yell. When one didn’t come out for a few seconds, I slowly opened my eyes, and noticed that, while it indeed was another Pinkie Pie Party (PPP), there weren’t as nearly as many ponies as there were last time. The only ponies that I could see in the library were a grey Earth pony with a pink bow tie and black mane that I remembered seeing outside of Carousel Boutique, the DJ, who was a white unicorn pony with a neon blue mane, the CMC, the spa sisters, and Pinkie Pie, the latter of which was currently bouncing right towards me.

“Hiya, Drakie! Do you like my ‘Welcome Back to Ponyville, Glad You’re Not Dead’ party?” she said, bouncing around me, a huge smile on her face. I just looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a somewhat confused look, saying, “Um…care to explain?”

“Well I felt so bad that you didn’t like the last party, which also really confused me. I mean, who doesn’t like a party. Well, I guess the one at Shining’s wedding wasn’t one of my best, but it still was good even though the Changelings attacked. I mean, they didn’t do that much…” before she could continue, Dash shoved her hoof into her mouth, saying, “Pinkie, just give him the short version.” Before taking her hoof back out.

“Ok, Dashie! Anyway, like I said, I felt bad that you didn’t like the last party, so I decided to make a new one, with less ponies of course.” I was quiet for a few seconds, all of the ponies waiting in anticipation to my response. Finally, I nodded, saying, “Well, I guess that makes sense, but why did you run into the library before we could get in, Twi?” I asked Twilight. The purple unicorn smiled sheepishly, saying, “Well, I just wanted to check on Pinkie to make sure that she didn’t ruin anything in the library. Also, I wanted to see if she remembered to not shout ‘surprise’ when you entered the room.”

I nodded my appreciation to her, saying, “Yea, that definitely wouldn’t have helped me. Thanks, Twi.” She smiled at my complement, and I could have sworn I saw a small blush on her face, but it was so brief that I brushed it off as my imagination acting up on me again.

“Well, now that everything is settled, lets party…I guess.” I said, with a half attempt at some enthusiasm. This caused Pinkie to jump up high into the air, and as soon as she landed, she sped off to do god (or I guess Celestia now) knows what.

While all of the other mares started to party as well, I decided to hang out with Ditzy and her daughter, seeing as I’m not much of the party kind of guy. I went to the couch that was in the room, Dinky following me, and sat down on it, with the pink filly getting next to me. As I sat down, Ditzy opened her eyes and looked around. She then noticed that I was still holding her in my arms, and said, “Um, Drak. Y-you can p-put me down now.”

I gave a small smile at her and said, “I know, but do you want me to?” She was quiet for a moment, before she quickly shook her head, nuzzling it against my chest. She sighed with content, as she got comfortable. I then noticed that Luna was walking towards me. She also was holding some snacks in her magical field, I assumed that they were for Dinky and Ditzy, and when she came to where we were sitting, she gave the snacks to the two hungry ponies, who gladly took it and began to eat them, though they ate them slowly, to savor the taste, I’m guessing. She then whispered to me so that neither Ditzy nor Dinky could hear her.

“So, you going to ask her now?” She asked, a curious look on her face. During the breakfast before the match, my herd mates and I told her that I was going to ask to see if Ditzy wanted to join our herd. Once we explained it to her, Luna heartedly agreed to it, for she remembers her whenever she delivered some mail to her and her sister.

I was quiet for a second, and then I nodded, whispering, “I will soon, but I want to try and make her feel better first.” Luna nodded as well, understanding what I meant, and went to talk with Twilight. If I had to guess, I would say they were talking about my new training plan. This caused me to chuckle slightly.

Next to approach me were the spa sisters. They both had happy faces on them, while Lotus had a little blush forming on hers.

“We’re so happy that everything turned out all right, Drak. We were so worried for you, especially poor Lotus here.” Said Aloe, giving a slight nudge to her sister, which caused her to blush more.

I chuckled a little at her shyness, saying, “Well, I’m not going to leave you girls that easily.” Which caused them to giggle slightly as well.

“Oh, by the way, Lotus wants to ask you something.” Said the pink spa mare, gesturing at Lotus. She began to blush even more now, her coat turning to the same color as her sister’s, and she said, “W-w-well…I was j-just w-wondering if that…um…maybe…” she then went quiet, unable to finish her sentence.

Aloe sighed at her sister’s shyness, and then turned towards me. “She wants to know if she can give you another massage, since you might still be sore from your match with Shining. And when I say a massage, I mean a more…’private’…massage.” She said, giving me a wink. Now it was my turn to blush.

“Aloe!” shouted Lotus, still blushing.

“What, you were taking too long.”

“But still, I don’t want to scare him, or think that I’m some sort of creep.”

“I think that’s ok.” I said, surprising both of the spa ponies. Lotus’s mouth was hanging open in surprise, while Aloe had a smug look on her face. “To be honest, I am still a bit sore from the match, and I think a massage might be just the thing I need. Also, we can talk some more to each other during it. If you want to, we can do it after my first day working with you two. How does that sound, Lotus?” Lotus was quiet for a second, before she shyly nodded in agreement. Once that was down, the spa sisters went to go get some of their own food at the refreshment stand.

Next came the CMC, and as they came to me, they quickly gave me a group hug, nearly crushing Ditzy and I in the process. Finally, they separated us from the hug, giving us enough room to breath again.

“So did you really fight against Shining?” Asked Scootaloo, an excited look on all of their faces. When I nodded, she said, “Wow! That’s so awesome!”

“Yea! Maybe you could teach us about karate too, Drak!” Said Applebloom, a smile on all of their faces. They all looked at me expectedly, and finally with a chuckle, I said, “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to teach you girls a few things. Just give me a few days to settle back down here first, ok?”

“Ok, Drak!” They all said.

“I can’t wait! Maybe we can get our cutie marks by doing karate.” Said Sweetie Belle in an excited tone.

“Yea! Cutie Mark Crusaders Karate Masters!” shouted Applebloom. With that, they both ran off back into the party to…well, party.

“Come on, Mamma, just tell him!” I looked back at the two ponies with me, and noticed that while I was talking to the others, both Dinky and Ditzy had finished their snacks and was having their own conversation. Ditzy, who was still lying in my lap, was blushing, before she said to Dinky, “I want to, Muffin, but I’m just not sure how he will react. I’m just…scared is all. I just want this to end up being better then…you know.”

“But if you don’t tell Drak, then he will never know!” I raised an eyebrow at this. Apparently they were talking about me, and at this point, I decided to butt in.

“What is it that you want to tell me, Ditzy?” I asked her. She gave off a Fluttershy worthy “squeak!” as she slowly turned to face me.

“Um…w-w-well…I just w-want t-to t-tell you t-that…it’s just that…um…well…”

“Mamma likes you, Drak!” shouted Dinky, getting impatient with her mom.

I was quiet for a second, before I said, “I already knew that, and I like to think of her as one of my best friends.” ‘Though I would really like to be more.’

Ditzy was quiet for a moment, before she said, “Well…that’s k-kind of it, b-but, um…I well…I…I…” I slowly stoked her mane, trying to calm her down, before saying, “Just take your time, Ditzy.”

“DRAKALIAN-I-LOVE-YOU!” Shouted Ditzy in a quick burst of energy, before she quickly placed her hooves over her mouth, a huge blush forming across her face. I was quiet for a while, just absorbing what she said, a look of surprise on my face while Dinky was smiling a goofy grin, glad that her mom finally told me how she felt about me. I then noticed that the music suddenly stopped, and that everypony was looking at us. While there weren’t that many ponies to begin with, I was still uncomfortable at being the center of attention. I was about to pull on my hood, when suddenly the music was back on. The only difference was that instead of the techno music from before, it began to play some soft, slow dance like music. I looked at the turntables and saw that Pinkie was there next to the DJ pony, holding something that seemed familiar. I then realized that she somehow got my iPod, and when I went to check my pocket it just confirmed it that Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to pickpocket me without using any fingers. Before I could even begin to think on how she did that, Pinkie took the mike from the DJ and said, “Now, everypony grab your special somepony and bring them to the dance floor.”

I then realized what she wanted me to do, and with a small but nervous smile, I looked at Ditzy and said, “Well, you think you’re up for some slow dancing while we sort this out?”

Ditzy could only blush and give a slight nod. I gently got up and placed her onto the floor, before I took her closest wing in my hand gently, and led her to the dance floor. Once we got there, I turned to face her, then hesitated, trying to figure out how we would do this. Luckily, Ditzy answered that for us, by getting up on her rear hooves, placing her left fore hoof on my shoulder and her right fore hoof on my waist, while I, being the clumsy oaf that I am, just placed my hands right above her hips, causing both of us to blush even more. We slowly began to sway from side to side, getting into the song as we slow danced. I gave us a few seconds to calm ourselves down, and then I finally asked, “So, you love me?” She was hesitant for a second before she once again slowly nodded. We were quiet for another few seconds before she spoke.

“E-ever since you saved me from that bully, I began to feel something for you, and it only became more potent when you complemented me on my eyes-”

“I complemented them because it’s true.” I said, interrupting her.

She gave a small smile. “Still, it’s just that…no pony has ever been so nice to me, and it took Dinky to tell me what that feeling was, and honestly, I never thought that I would ever feel love, especially since…well…”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t-”

“No, I…I need to tell you this. Besides, you already know that I love you now. Only a few others know what I’m about to tell you now, and this includes the other Elements.”

I stayed quiet, allowing Ditzy to explain. “W-well, you know the bully that you got rid of when we first met each other?” I nodded. “W-well, I would normally get that kind of stuff all the time…and…that wasn’t the worst of it.”

“Are you sure that you feel comfortable talking a-”

“Please, let me finish!” she said in a loud whisper. She took a few more breaths before she started again. “Well, t-t-the w-worst t-thing t-that h-happened to me…was…was…”

I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, saying, “Take your time.”

She took a few short breaths before she continued her story. “Well, it happened in Manehattan…” she took another deep breath. “…Nine months before Dinky was born.”

Now my eyebrows both went up when she said that, and I said, “Y-you mean t-that…”

Ditzy was quiet for a little while longer, before, ever so quietly, she spoke.

“I…I was…raped…”