Tales of Pluto: Sparks Flying

Chapter 10: Queen Brightness

"Sunny, sweetheart, my WONDERFUL boy, what on Pluto are you doing in my kingdom?", Queen Brightness asked Sunmaker. Pineapple was almost exploding, knowing that Queen Brightness got their pronouns wrong. But no one else was worried about that. They were all trying to figure out why Queen Brightness called Sunmaker 'sweetheart'. 

Then, it hit them. Queen Brightness is Sunmaker's mother! Sparks was really just trying to process this. Nightflyer was worrying about the towers collapsing, Pineapple was still fuming about Sunmaker's pronouns (Also about how the desert has NO trees!), and Bamboo was trying to find the right words to say to both Queen Brightness and Sunmaker. 

"Hi mum. We're here to get information from you", Sunmaker sighed, also angry about their pronouns. Although Queen Brightness was Sunmaker's mum, they weren't very close, so Brightness didn't know about Sunmaker's pronouns just yet. And just like a lot of other parents, she were still stuck in a different generation, struggling to accept change. 

"What information do you need? I don't have all the information in the world! I don't even have all the power! Well, you...", Queen Brightness tried to explain. But Sunmaker knew exactly what she was going to say, and they didn't want want all their friends to know about their power just yet.

"THE INFORMATION that we need, is maybe you could use your dragon powers to find where a dragon is? She's been kidnapped!", Sunmaker interrupted. They knew Queen Brightness was going to mention their powers again, so they got ready to interrupt again. 

"Yes! Alright, I guess you haven't really connected to your powers yet, so okay!", she explained. Sunmaker tried to interrupt but she silenced them, so they just had to hope she didn't say anything else that told the rest of the group. "Come into my desert castle, and we can get something to eat, and I can use my powers!", she told everyone, beckoning everyone into her castle. 

They all flew down to the castle door, and held it open for them. She stared menacingly at everyone as they came in, almost like she was trying to learn all their secrets. 

They all walked past the guards, millions of rooms (Sparks thought that he would surely get lost if he didn't come with anyone else), and paintings of many different things. There were paintings of Queen Brightness everywhere, but there were also paintings of a male dragon, who Nightflyer guessed was Sunmaker's father, and also paintings of the family. But most of the paintings were of Sunmaker. Sunmaker catching a fish. Sunmaker with their parents. Sunmaker flying over a mountain. Sunmaker eating a strawberry. Pineapple thought all of the paintings of Sunmaker as a small infant were adorable, and she smiled really widely at every single one. But judging by the look on Sunmaker's face, they did not like all the paintings, and their expression made Pineapple stop smiling. 

Queen Brightness stopped walking through one of the trillion hallways to stop at the opening of a room. They all entered, and Sparks gasped. It was a huge room, with what looked like a giant opening to the nightsky, but was actually a giant painting of it. There were blocks made of bark with leaves on the top for comfort, sitting next to huge bark tables. The floor was completely painted yellow, and it looked like it was made from glitter, because it was so shiny. There were a couple of plants in the corners, making Pineapple feel a little better about the environment and nature here, and all the candles made Bamboo think of her home in the rose kingdom. Everyone loved the room, but Sunmaker just thought of it as home. 

"Sunny! You've got to introduce me to all your friends! How come you've never invited them here before?", Queen Brightness asked, bringing a bark seat to a small table so everyone could fit. 

"I don't know. To introduce them... ummm... well... this is Pineapple", they said, pointing to Pineapple. "Sparks. Nightflyer. Bamboo.", Sunmaker said, moving around the room to find everyone. 

"Nice to meet you all! Sit down, and I'll get the chef to bring out some cow!", Queen Brightness told everyone, telling the chef that had just entered to grab some cow for everyone. But Pineapple's facial expression immediately went sour. 

"Ummm, excuse me, Queen Brightness? I'm vegetarian?", Pineapple said. Queen Brightness smiled sweetly, and called the light dragon chef back. 

"Eleonara, sweetie, could you also bring in a vegetarian option? Thanks!", she said, while Eleonara the chef made a mental note of it. 

"Alright! So, Sunny, my boy, what do you want to talk about?", Queen Brightness asked. "I haven't seen you for ages! You've grown up so much, son!", she stated. Pineapple looked like she was going to explode, trying to not correct her on Sunmaker's pronouns. 

"Ummm, maybe we could not talk at all? Eleonara's come back with the food!", Sunmaker said, hoping Queen Brightness would just be quiet and let them eat. 

"We can talk and eat! How about we talk about school! Is it going well for all of you?", she asked. 

But Sparks was getting a bit fidgety, knowing that they still needed the information about where Coco was. He was also very interested in seeing the light dragon powers. As nice as Coco was, she was quite protective, so Sparks hadn't gone to any other kingdom before, let alone see another dragon's powers! He decided to speak up, but be careful with his words, so he wouldn't offend her. 

"Excuse me, Queen Brightness?", he asked, making her look at him with a nice smile on her face. "I don't think we need any food! Could we possibly get you to use your powers? It's kind of an emergency!", he said, with hopeful and desparate eyes. Queen Brightness put down the piece of cow that she was going to eat (And Pineapple stopped almost throwing up at the sight of a dead animal being eaten) and smiled. 

"Of course! Follow me up to the top level of the tower, and I can show where your friend is. But, I will need to see them. Do you happen to have a painting of them?", Queen Brightness asked, beckoning them out the door and up to the top level. 

Sparks smiled, and handed her a painting of Coco. 

"What a lovely young dragon! Hurry up, Sunmaker!", Queen Brightness asked, glaring at Sunmaker, who was at the back of the pack, trying to avoid their mother's eye contact. They hobbled along faster now, just to keep up with their mother's expectations. 

They reached the top level, and this one truly had no roof, not like the dining hall, which was painted over. The sun shone brightly in their eyes, making Nightflyer wince. She wasn't very fond of daytime (She's a moon dragon) and prefers when it's dark and quiet, not bright and loud. Pineapple didn't like the view either, because there were no trees, and nature was Pineapple's resting space. 

Some sand fell off the top of the tower, making Nightflyer and Sparks jump, and Bamboo to look over the edge. 

"Cool!", she said, while everyone looked at her, wondering why they were even friends. Dragons can definitely fly, but some are still afraid of heights, and falling can sometimes shock a dragon so much that they practically forget how to fly and plummet to their death. 

"Alright. Sparks, dear, can you pass me that painting?", Queen Brightness asked, breaking the silence (And the stares at Bamboo while she was thinking about flying off the edge into the sandy depths below). Sparks gave Queen Brightness the painting, and hovering off the ground, whispering words only she could hear. 

"Who is lost is now found. Who is missing now be sound. Hear the beggings of my speak, and show us where this dragon is at peak...", Queen Brightness whispered. Sparks was trying not to blink so he wouldn't miss anything, and everyone else was in awe (Except Sunmaker, they had seen it before) watching the rays of sunlight shine on Queen Brightness' scales. 

A few moments passed, and Nightflyer opened her mouth to say something, but it was then that Queen Brightness opened her eyes, and flew back down. 

"Where is she?", Sunmaker asked. Queen Brightness' extremely frightened expression did not change a bit, and her eyes widened as she spoke. 

"She has been taken to Dark Island!", Queen Brightness, spoke, almost a whisper. Everyone stood still, and then Sparks began to cry...