Secret of the Sugar Flare

Chapter 14: The Origins

Still in shock, Meringue Cookie absentmindedly followed the Witch in disguise through the thick forest. "Why didn't you tell us you were a Witch when you first met us?"

"I don't usually volunteer that information," Azalea Cookie explained. "I had to make sure you had the interest of other Cookies in mind."

"So that's why you tried to trick me into abandoning them..."

"Yes...but you proved to be the Cookie I thought you were. A Witch-baked Cookie would've dropped them to save their own necks in a heartbeat. Then again, I should've figured you would come, considering the message I sent you. I thought about appearing to you directly then, but I knew your ma would have better luck convincing you."

"My mother? Wait...YOU sent me that dream??"

"A simple phantasm charm really does the trick, hm? I was worried you wouldn't answer to it, but now, perhaps there's hope,"

"Hope? For what?"

"I was hoping I could wait until you were older...but Lydia and Nyx have forced my hand."

"Lydia and Nyx...the other two Witches?" Meringue Cookie didn't understand what was going on. "But they're the Godly Makers of the world! The stories said that YOU tried to destroy all Cookies because they wouldn't give you the credit for bringing them to life with your secret ingredient!"

"That's only what you've been told. But now, you're about to see the truth."

Azalea Cookie came to a stop in front of a huge cliff. "We're here."

Meringue Cookie looked up, but didn't see anything important. "Where's...'here'? This is just an empty cliff."

Azalea Cookie pointed her walking stick to the top of the cliff. "Close your eyes and think back to the past. Above this valley, there lies a kitchen, piling high with ingredients of every kind. At its core is the First Oven, where we baked your very ancestors. Dozens of candles, intricate cutlery and utensils...so grand it was only worthy to be used on the grandest of occasions."

Meringue Cookie thought back to her days in the Vanilla Kingdom, when she was still young and innocent. Her mother had mentioned something like that before she had left. When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer standing at the base of an empty cliff...but on the shelf of an enormous kitchen, standing before a bubbling cauldron. "This place...why have you brought me here?"

"Look."

Meringue Cookie obeyed and saw three enormous figures, gathered at a table. They were conversing with each other and laughing. That's when it hit her: they were the Three Witches. "Can...Can they see us?"

"No," Azalea Cookie shook her head. "This is just a memory."

"But...it's not MY memory. I never left the Vanilla Kingdom before the war,"

"Your ingredients bore witness to this memory before you took form. My sisters and I created the Cookies by using our magic. Our colorful sugar crystals, silky butter, moonlight, and the whispering of our spells was what kneaded their dough,"

"And your Life Powder is what gave us our consciousness. I know this story, why are we here?"

"Because you DON'T know this story. Come on."

Azalea Cookie kept walking, Meringue Cookie hesitantly trailing after her. Why was Azalea Cookie showing her all of this? Was she asking her to make up for the mistake she made in the past? Or was this all a trick? She didn't know what to think, but she had no choice but to follow.

"What is the meaning of this, girls?!"

Meringue Cookie peeked over a jar to see a younger Azura, arguing with her sisters. "Having the Cookies for dinner?! This is absurd!"