From The Prettiest Flower

Chapter 5: Road to the Wishing Crater

"This is...less than ideal."
The Brain paced back and forth in his makeshift lab. Hearing that the royal siblings had left Warnerstock, and were searching for the cause of the vines, had more than worried him.
"Aww, don't worry Brain! Poit! I'm sure that your music career will take off eventually!" Pinky smiled, making a flower crown while sitting on the floor.
"Your confidence is misplaced, my friend. The Royal siblings are searching for the roots. Once they do, they'll discover our plan. Do you know what that means?"
"Uhhhhmmmm, NARF! We'll get in trouble?" Pinky said innocently.
"Trouble is an understatement." Brain glanced at the glass on the Root Control 1000, every possible terrible outcome coming to mind.
"Sooooo! What are we gonna do? What's the plan?" Pinky hopped up, proudly holding his flower crown, and putting it on Brain.
He was immobilized for a second, due to the sudden addition of magical flowers on his head.
"It's simple, Pinky. We're going to follow them, and make sure they don't uncover our plot."
"TROZ! Wonderful, Brain! Oh, wait! Those charming little puppy kids put you in charge! What are we gonna do now that WE'RE leaving?" Pinky gushed, picking up more flowers, possibly to make another crown.
Brain froze, genuinely not taking that fact into consideration.
"I did not consider that....'

The royal traveling party had only been on the road for about an hour or so, but Dot was already extremely tired. She didn't know if it was all the sudden revelations of the day, or not being used to walking so much, but she was ready to stop for the day. And it was only mid-afternoon.
"Soo. This flower stuff, it's bad news?" Bobby asked.
"Really bad news." Yakko said, only to be glared at by Dot.
"That's my flower you're talking about, buster." She was touchy about the whole 'flower birth' thing.
"Well, we don't know. These vines are nuts, they're disturbing people's lives, destroying homes..." Yakko glanced at Dot.
"But we don't know all that they can do. Not yet, anyway. So for now they're...morally gray."
"Yikes. Sounds pretty bad." Pesto perched on Dot's shoulder.
"Well, the Goodfeathers are here, and we'd do anythin' to protect the royal family, no matta the cost!"
Squit, moved by Pesto's miniature speech, perched on Dot's other shoulder.
"Wow, Pesto. That's very noble of you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well I'm just saying you're being very noble"
"So I'm like a junky prize? A dull, expensive piece of metal that they give out to stuffy smart guys, just to sparkle for you? Is that what you're saying?"
"No! I'm just saying you're noble, you're doing a noble thing!"
"You're saying I, am noble?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying!" Pesto paused.
"THAT'S IT!"
Pest dove off Dot's shoulder, ready to pummel Squit. The angry ball of feathers bailed off onto the ground, where Bobby stopped to just laugh at the sight. He was soon joined by Slappy, who was also enjoying the bird brawl.
"HEY!" Dot yelled, stopping the fight instantly. "I don't know if you know this, but this trip is kind of sort of SUPER IMPORTANT to Warnerstock, and me. And we won't get there, if we're stopping every 8 minutes to FIGHT EACH OTHER!!"
"Wow. Didn't know you had that in ya, sis." Wakko said, putting a hand on Dot's shoulder. Dot brushed his hand away, walking ahead of the party.
"Come on! We've lost time!"

"Are you sure this was the best course of action, Pinky?"
"Of course! I know of no one else who is more fit to run the kingdom!" The two mice had left Warnerstock's vine-riddled castle, and were not on their own trail to the spot where the Wishing Star once laid.
"Alright, I'm trusting you." Brain said, tightly holding the rope of the Root Control 1000. The machine had been put on wheels, in order to monitor the magical activity of the roots. As of now, the inside of the glass dome had been flashing green in strange intervals.
"Brain?"
"Yes, Pinky?"
"Where do you think the royal siblings are? Poit?" Pinky asked, playing with the leaves and flowers as they went.
"It's best not to worry about it, Pinky. We must stay focused on our task."
"NARF!"
"Yyes...narf..."

After Dot's outburst towards the pigeons, their traveling had been mostly silent. Occasionally, Yakko or Wakko would try to liven up the mood with jokes, but Dot would shut them down. She held her mother's journal tightly, trying to decipher any and all clues from it. Soon, she turned to Minerva for help.
"You're the only one here who has seen the original Wishing Star, Minerva." She begged, almost passing the book to her, but keeping it to herself.
"What do you remember about that night?"
"There isn't too much, but I specifically remember how bright it was. I thought a piece of the moon had fallen to Earth. I do remember that it fell..."
She stood on her tip-toes, glancing above the treeline.
"In that forest, over there. I didn't live too far from where it fell, and I remember my parents telling me 'Minerva, dear, stay away from the glowing piece of the sky!'" She smiled sadly.
"So, we're going into the deep forest?" Dot asked, desperate for confirmation. Minerva nodded.
"Yeah, I'm positive."
"Great." Dot held the book closer to her chest.
"NO, WAKKO DON'T EAT THAT!!"
She heard Yakko cry.
"BUT IT LOOKS DELICIOUS!" Wakko cried back, holding a suspicious looking mushroom away from the oldest sibling.
"Let him eat it!" Skippy said, hopping to Wakko's side. "I wanna see what happens!"
Yakko reached over the kids and snatched the mushroom away from Wakko, shoving it into his Hammerspace.
"We're gonna make it to the star, WITHOUT anyone dying from toxic mushrooms!" The cries of many disappointed kids could be heard, but they kept traveling on.

Once the sun set, the party decided it would be a good idea to stop and set up camp. Slappy, Yakko, and Minerva, the "adults" were busy setting up tents and starting fires. Skippy and the Goodfeathers were playing a game of Tic-Tac-Toe in the dirt, (Pesto was losing badly and was NOT happy about it.) Dot was sitting by herself, cradling the journal.
"You okay?" Wakko sat down beside her.
"I... I'm fine." She replied, her eyes glued to the ground.
"Are you sure, you seem a little upset. This whole trip so far, you've been acting...weird-y."
"What do you mean, 'weird-y'?" Dot got defensive.
"I mean, ever since we found that book. With all the flowers, and the wishing stars, and traveling, have you had the time to actually like, think about it?"
"Who are you, Yakko? What have you done with Wakko!"
"Hey! I'm your older brother too! It's part of my job to worry about you and help ya out!"
Wakko put a hand on her shoulder, trying his hardest to be supportive.
"I don't know. I just-I felt like we finally had everything figured out. We knew who we were, things were great! Now things are...different again. Uncertain, again. It's all weird and strange, just like..." She paused.
"Like before the star?"
Dot nodded.
"Yeah. Now that I have all this new information about who I am, supposedly. And it's all connected to these vines...somehow."
Dot pulled the book away from her chest, opening it up to the pages where her mom explained her "birth".
"Now that we're on the road, I am going to find out the truth. The real truth. No matter the cost." She looked back at Wakko.
"I'm tired of being lied to, aren't you?"
Wakko looked a little taken aback by his baby sister's statement. He suddenly realized how much this was affecting her.
"Y-yeah." He said quietly.
"They lied about our parents, they lied about who we are, they lied about you. I don't like it." He drew his bag onto his lap, fiddling with the straps.
"But, now we're gonna find out the truth, once and for all. Right?"
"Yeah. And we'll do it together." Dot carefully sat the journal down beside her and pulled Wakko in for a hug.
"Hey, did I miss something?" Yakko walked up to his little siblings, finally finished setting up the tents.
"No, we were just talking."
Wakko let go of Dot.
"Everything's good now."
"We sure?"
"Yes, Yakko. We're sure, everything's fine." Commented Dot.
"Alright, good to know. Things are finally looking up sibs-"
Before Yakko could finish, he was overwhelmed by a familiar feeling. The familiar feeling of terror. He couldn't quite explain it until he heard it. The word that terrified the siblings to their very core.
"FROINLAYVEN!!""