The baker couldn’t believe what had just happened. “My cake!” he howled. “My masterpiece creation! Twelve layers of sweet, fluffy cake, made with the finest vanilla and sugar in the land! All my hours of preparation. And now it’s ruined!”

Gus peeked his face out of the basket sadly. He felt horrible about what had just happened.

Cinderella took a step toward the baker and put her hand on his shoulder. “It was a beautiful cake,” she said kindly. “Everyone who saw it knows how hard you worked on it.”

“What good is that?” the baker cried. “Now there will be no dessert for the fair! The royal family specifically requested that I bake them the Prince’s favorite cake! What am I going to do now?”

“We’ll work something out. I promise,” Cinderella told him.

“But how?” he asked. “There is not enough time to bake another twelve-layer cake now! The special dessert is always served after the parade. That’s in only six hours. I’m doomed!”

Cinderella smiled. “I’ll find a way to do it,” she said. “Come to Lady Tremaine’s château tonight at five o’clock. We’ll have a dessert ready for the fair. I promise!”

“A cake,” the baker corrected Cinderella. “It must be a cake!”

Cinderella nodded. “I will make sure of it,” she told him.

“Thank you,” the baker said, his voice full of relief. “I will pick up the cake at precisely five o’clock this evening.” He gave Cinderella a grateful smile.

But as Cinderella turned away to begin the walk home with Gus safely tucked into the basket, her smile quickly faded. How would she ever bake a cake to serve the entire village and the royal family—and get all of her chores done, too?

Cinderella grew more and more worried as she headed to the château. “Oh, Gus, what am I going to do?” she asked. “I’ve never made a giant cake before! Only regular-size cakes. I just don’t know how this is going to be possible.” Cinderella looked down and let out a sigh.

Gus pushed back the lid of the basket and climbed out. He was so embarrassed about what had happened.

Then, his eyes suddenly lit up. He tugged at Cinderella’s sleeve eagerly. “Cinderelly! Cinderelly! That’s it! You figured it out!” he shouted happily.

“What do you mean, Gus?” Cinderella asked.

“Little cakes!” Gus exclaimed. “Making a great, big, giant cake would take too long. But we can make lotsa little cakes—one for everybody!”

“Hmm,” Cinderella replied thoughtfully.

“It’s a good idea, Gus. But still, making hundreds of cakes will take a lot of time and effort—and I’m just one person.”

“One person with a lot of friends,” Gus corrected her. “Everybody will help! Jaq and the other mice. . . and the birds . . . and I bet Bruno the dog would help, too!”

Cinderella smiled. “You know, Gus, you might be right. Maybe we can pull this off, after all!”

In a few minutes, Cinderella and Gus arrived back at the château. Luckily, Lady Tremaine had been very busy supervising Anastasia and Drizella’s music lesson and hadn’t realized that Cinderella had been gone so long.

Meanwhile, Gus raced through the château to round up all the mice. “Cinderelly needs us,” he told them. “Come down to the kitchen right away! Shh! We have to be really, really quiet!”

A few moments later, Gus found Bruno asleep in the kitchen. Gus woke him up. “Bruno, we need your help,” the mouse pleaded. “Will you join us, please?”

Bruno slowly got up off the floor and yawned. He wagged his tail and gave Gus a small nod.

Then Gus noticed some bluebirds sitting on the windowsill. “Come on!” he exclaimed. “Let’s all help Cinderelly!” The birds tweeted happily and followed Gus.

When Cinderella got to the kitchen, she could hardly believe her eyes. A group of mice and birds was gathered and ready to help out. Even Bruno was there, waiting to pitch in.

“Oh, thank you, everyone!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much! I just know we can get this done with everyone helping. This is going to turn out great!”

“Um, Cinderella?” asked Jaq. “What is going to turn out great? What do you want us to do?”

“We are going to bake cakes!” Cinderella told them. “Hundreds of tiny cakes for the village fair.” She quickly explained what had happened earlier that day.

“So now everybody’s going to eat our cakes,” Gus finished. “Even the Prince and his family!”

“What do you think, everyone?”Cinderella asked hopefully. “Would you be willing to spend the day baking with me? I think it could be a lot of fun.”

“Of course we’ll help our Cinderelly,” Perla said immediately.

Suzy jumped up and clapped her hands. “We can do it! I know we can!” she cried.

“Can we eat some of the cake, too, Cinderella?” Jaq asked shyly.

Cinderella laughed. “Let’s focus on the baking first,” she said, smiling. “Okay, everybody! Let’s start making cakes!”