Chapter Text
The early morning sunlight shone down on Sunflash’s back as she flew over the Dragon’s Valley. As she flew past the flame-red mountains, she caught glimpse of a pair of dragons - a large red fire dragon and a slightly smaller purple dragon - sleeping peacefully in a cave.
Looks like Flare and Amethyst are still asleep. Sunflash thought. I better not wake them up.
With that, she kept flying. The phoenix dragon soared over the landscape to the cooler part of the valley; suddenly, she heard the screech of a pterosaur followed by a whistle.
“Good morning, you three,” she greeted the cabbage pterosaur and the two young Cookies riding them.
“On your way to watering hole?” the white-colored Cookie directing the pterosaur’s flight asked. Her friend sat behind her, clinging onto her body.
“Starch Noodle Cookie, you know me so well,” Sunflash replied with a chuckle. “Yes, I’m meeting my siblings and my sister in law there. It’s been a while, so I’m looking forward to it.”
“Phoenix Dragon colonies often send out hunting parties in search of prey,” Flat Tofu Cookie noted, “so I can only imagine what interesting stories the local flock has.”
“Indeed; they seem to have no shortage of wild tales,” Sunflash replied. “I’ll have to tell you some of them during my next proper visit to the Stock Village.”
“We’re looking forward to it!” Starch Noodle Cookie replied as her Cabbage Pterosaur flew down towards the fruit trees below them.
Meanwhile, Sunflash flew on towards the watering hole. She immediately spotted a cluster of multi-colored dragons gathered at the edge of the massive lake, and landed beside them.
“Did I miss anything of interest?” she asked Scarlet.
“Not really,” the pink dragon answered. “Just the usual bragging.”
While the family enjoyed the cool blue waters, the phoenix dragons who came to this watering hole were chirping at each other, competing over who found the most interesting thing while out hunting. One claims they found a vast grassland filled with wild cattle. Another said their party found the ruins of an ancient city that was sure to be filled with treasure. A third proudly boasted that they made contact with another flock, and so on.
“This is all very impressive,” a dragon said in chirps. “But my squadron traveled farther than all of you combined, and we found something that will blow your discoveries right out of the water - pun not intended. We found an abandoned castle.”
“And how is that different from us?” the dragon who brought up the ruins asked.
“Simple: This castle was MASSIVE,” the other dragon replied. “Bigger than anything we’ve seen here. I tell you, giants must have lived there in times long forgotten!”
The other phoenix dragons were immediately enthralled. Even Sunflash and her family listened intently.
“I can only imagine what secrets that castle holds,” the explorer dragon chirped on. “But it seems we weren’t the first ones there. Another, older phoenix dragon was wandering around the garden while we were scoping out the area.”
“An older phoenix dragon?” Beacon echoed. “You don’t think it could be…? I mean, I know it’s unlikely, but…”
“Was it anyone we knew?” another lesser phoenix dragon questioned.
“No,” the explorer answered. “I didn’t get his name, but he had scars on his chest and back and a star birthmark on his forehead.”
“L-Lots of phoenix dragons have scars in those areas,” Summit tried to rationalize. “And it’s not as if star birthmarks are particularly rare.”
“I could sense he had the aura of a greater dragon,” the explorer chirped. “And his eyes glowed for a moment, as though he was using magic to see something happening somewhere else - or maybe to see into the future…”
“Okay, that’s definitely Dad,” Violet concluded.
“Excuse me,” Sunflash said to the explorer, “but what was this dragon doing?”
“He seemed to be running from something,” they told her. “He looked… scared and out of breath. And I think I could make out some ice-colored cuffs around his front and back claws.”
“Alright,” she responded, “and in which direction should we go to get to this castle?”
“Just keep flying southwest until you get there,” they answered. “You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you,” she replied before turning back to her family. “Everyone, it’s time to find our father.”
***
The group of six flew southwest through most of the morning and into the afternoon.
“I have to admit,” Scarlet spoke up. “When I woke up this morning, I was not expecting to find out that our missing dad was spotted in an abandoned giant’s castle.”
“You don’t think it’s a Witch’s castle, do you?” Beacon asked.
“You’d know that better than anyone,” Lily told him. “You used to live with them.”
“If it is,” Summit replied, “I’m honestly excited to see it. The main mission is to find our father, but I also want to learn more about our mysterious benefactors. And I wish to properly thank them for saving our lives during that fateful day…”
“We’ll find out when we get there,” Sunflash told the others. “But before we do that, I need to check on the Silver Tree.”
“Girl, you were just there yesterday!” Scarlet exclaimed, flying to block her sister’s path. “None of us want to see the day they escape their confinement, but it has been decades since the last incident. I think we can afford to not check on the tree every five minutes.”
“I don’t check on it that often!” Sunflash protested. “I check every five DAYS.”
“Scarlet has a point,” Beacon said. “They’ve luckily been dormant since the Silver Tree was healed. I think it’ll be okay if we left for a while.”
“Yeah, they’ve been doing…” Violet went on. “What is it they’re doing in there? I hope they actually are sleeping.”
“Eternal Sugar Cookie definitely is,” Scarlet said jokingly.
“Okay, if you all say so,” Sunflash replied. With that, they kept flying on towards the castle. Only time will tell what secrets they’ll uncover…
***
After much flying, the castle was finally in sight. As they flew closer, the castle only grew in size.
“That castle is MASSIVE!” Violet exclaimed as they got closer.
“It’s definitely a Witch’s castle,” Beacon replied, “but it seems abandoned…”
Through one of the windows, they noticed a towering figure walking around the castle, holding a book in their hands. Aside from the figure, the castle seemed desolate and carried an air of long-forgotten magic and secrets.
“The phoenix dragon explorer said they saw our father around a garden,” Summit recalled. “Perhaps we should try looking around there first.”
“Good idea,” Scarlet replied, “except I can’t see where the garden is.”
“Perhaps those thorny brambles down there?” Lily suggested. The group of dragons descended, with Lily leading the way and clearing a spot for them to land.
“If Father was here,” Sunflash said, looking around, “it seems that he left already.”
“Then I suggest we leave,” Violet replied. “This place is giving me the creeps…”
Several small eyes peered out at the group from the shadows. They immediately recognized the tiny, crispy beings as Cookies.
“We’re not here to harm you,” Sunflash quickly told them, trying to make herself as small as possible. “We’re just looking for my father.”
The hidden Cookies gave no answer.
“He looks just like her,” Scarlet added, pointing to Sunflash, “except he has a star-shaped birthmark on his forehead and claw mark scars on his back and chest. And he has actual wings, not flame wings.”
The Cookies lumbered closer to the dragons. Upon closer inspection, their dough seemed underbaked, and their eyes were lifeless.
“There’s something wrong with them…” Beacon realized.
A cloaked figure watched from above as the group of dragons were surrounded by the horde. They suddenly raised their staff, using a magic spell to drive back the undead Cookies. This snapped them out of their frightened daze, encouraging them to fight back.
Together, the dragons and the cloaked Cookie fought against the horde. Eventually, the undead were completely defeated and rested once again. Sunflash turned to look at their savior; a pair of golden eyes with white, diamond shaped pupils peered out from under the cloak’s hood. Before she could say anything, the Cookie disappeared with another wave of her staff. This left her to stare at where the Cookie once stood.
“Sunflash! Earthbread to Sunflash!” Scarlet said from beside her sister.
“Huh? What?” The phoenix dragon turned to the larger pink dragon.
“You okay?”
“Umm, y-yeah,” she answered, blushing. Or was she blushing beforehand? “A-Anyway, Father most likely went into the castle. Let us begin our search!”