Cookie Batch-lorette

Flowers and-Not Roses?

The gates to the Hollyberry garden were already packed with contestants when Golden Cheese and Dark Cacao arrived. Golden Cheese flew higher to get a better look.

"Oh stars there's literally hundreds of them."

Dark Cacao glanced at the crowd before him and squinted his eyes. "324 contestants I'd say. Excluding us of course."

Golden Cheese gave him a bewildered look. She was about to ask him how in Earthbread he knew that when the announcer called for everyone's attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Thank you all for participating in this contest to win the heart of our dear queen. But don't think it'll be easy! There are multiple trials, tests and tribulations you will have to go through."

"Who is this guy?" Cacao muttered to Golden Cheese, "and why is he acting like... a game show host?"

"I actually don't know. I think I heard his name around the place. I think it's... Host cookie?"

"Here is the first trial!" The man exclaimed, tuning the two back to their speech, "The queen's castle is right behind these gates. But you can't just enter empty handed! Bring a welcoming gift and bring it to the queen! You have three hours to find a gift. Time starts NOW!"

"I'm sorry, what." Was all Golden cheese said as contestants walked by the two. "Cacao. Stay here, I gotta storm all the gift shops. This is my territory! So don't worry your pretty face off about protecting me." With that, she spread her golden wings and departed into the sky.

And left Cacao all alone.

Great. So much for sticking together.

Dark Cacao sighed as he looked around. He knew Golden Cheese meant well, but part of him wished she'd stay and help him. He was rather hopeless when it came to gifts and the like. Wandering around, he eventually found himself right by the entrance to the royal gardens. Most of the stage crew were waiting for contestants to come back at the front of the castle.

It wouldn't hurt to look around the garden, would it?

It was easy to pass the gates, almost concerningly so. There were no guards, cookie or otherwise, stationed in the garden. Odd, he thought. Though Queen Hollyberry was known for letting common cookies walk her garden, it still didn't explain the lack of security.
Despite his concerns, he began to admire the botany of the garden. With no guards he could at least have the garden all to himself without fear of being chastised. Rectangular hedges were lined up into a complex hedge maze one could easily get lost in. Flowers of pink and red dotted the hedges and scattered their petals everywhere. The air smelled sweet and had a rather calming effect on Dark Cacao. Overall, he would describe the atmosphere as peaceful. Though he noticed that some of the flowers were on the ground, as if cut from the shrubs with something sharp...

"Excuse me! What are you doing here?" A voice from behind called out.

Stars... please don't be a guard, please don't be a guard, please don't be a guard...

He slowly turned around.

Thankfully it wasn't a guard, but that didn't mean he was thrilled with what he saw.

A large plant monster loomed over him wielding a massive pair of scissors. They resembled a ginormous bouquet of flowers. A yellow ribbon was tied around the massive red flower he presumed to be the head, making the red petals look like a makeshift bonnet.

Dark Cacao bowed his head, "My apologies. I am one of the contestants from Lady Hollyberry's contest. I was just admiring the botany of this garden. It's quite captivating." He paused, "Did you work on all this? It's quite an amazing work of craftsmanship."