This Just Got Deep😭 Ong The Wizard Cookie Angst Is Thriving

This just got deep😭 ong the wizard cookie angst is thriving

I’ve been wondering on how the bad batch would meet Moonlight cookie and Stardust Cookie and their options on them?

(I would also like to know moonlight and stardust cookie options on the bad batch as well)

In canon, Gingerbrave, Strawberry Cookie, and Wizard Cookie go to the City of Wizards to recruit Moonlight Cookie against the forces of Dark Enchantress Cookie.

In the Bad Batch AU, I imagine a different set of cookies are sent by PV to speak with Moonlight Cookie. (Most likely Black Raisin and Strawberry Crepe.) Meanwhile, the kids go there to try to plunder the magical secrets the city holds. The location of the City had been revealed to Wizard Cookie in a dream and he is VERY excited to see the legendary city for himself.

I imagine this arc would be very Wizard focused, specifically addressing his almost compulsive need to gain more power due to the staff. In a way, he’s following a similar path to the Wizards who built the city: their ambition seems to have been their downfall. Wizard Cookie, however, is still on that climb BEFORE the fall. There’s still time to save him from being entirely consumed by the power he fervently seeks.

Wizard would probably get into a heavy debate/argument with Blueberry Pie Cookie over this issue.

Dreams are funny things. The rules of the real world don’t apply if one doesn’t wish them to. And since the children reside in a dream controlled by Moonlight Cookie, she can very simply change some rules, even in her dormant state. Like, for example, the need for a certain cookie to remain holding a certain staff. And she wouldn’t even need to lift a finger in order to, just as a hypothetical, subconsciously twist the dream in such a way that same cookie gets separated from the staff and his group.

This wouldn’t be done with malicious intent; in fact, it would be the opposite.

During their journey through the City, the kids would come across the Labyrinth of Remembrance. It wouldn’t be a big piece of the arc, considering Sugar Glass Cookie is no longer here. But it is within the Labyrinth where Wizard gets separated from Wild Strawberry and Gingerbrave, kickstarting them having to wake Moonlight up in order to get him back. HOWEVER, this trip inside the Labyrinth will have an unintended side-effect that will come back later to haunt them:

Some of the kids’ memories get imprinted on the sugar glass. Memories that are discovered by one of the cookies sent by PV. This bit won’t come into play until much much later, but it’s something that will have consequences, nonetheless.

Meanwhile with Wizard, it is revealed the dream that told him the location of the City was Moonlight Cookie’s doing, though it was subconsciously. When the Slumbering Moon silently wished to see a “real wizard” again due to her heartache and fear of a terrible calamity, her Dream had rushed to fulfill her desire, though not entirely how she intended.

While she had not originally intended to invite Wizard and his friends here, she is still glad he came.

Another funny thing about dreams, despite how nonsensical they are, they’re also terribly honest. They lay a person’s rawest emotions and desires out plainly, as one’s subconsciousness pushes itself to the forefront in a desperate bid to be acknowledged. Wizard cannot hide anything from her because of this. She pries away the hard shell forged of hurt and bitterness that Wizard has constructed to protect himself and sees the boy for what he truly is: Afraid. A lost and scared little boy who just wants to be free. A little boy who has been taken advantage of by an evil spirit and told that only being powerful and ruthless will get him what he wants. Beyond the hurt, she sees a child who is bright and brilliant, whose zeal for magic reminds her so much of the Wizards of the distant past. It’s almost as if her dear friends were in front of her once again, in the form of this small child.

And she feels pity for him.

“Come rest. Know peace.” She gently beckons, and pulls Wizard into a soft embrace, holding him in a way nobody ever has before. “I will protect your dreams, for as long as you are here.”

Wizard is not afraid of her. Rationally, he should be, yet he can’t help but feel completely safe here. He still asks, “Why…?”

He’s rotten. He’s no good. He’s corrupted and fowl and everything he touches burns and burns and burns until all that’s left is ashes. He’s hurt others just as much as others have hurt him. He’s a vile child who is going to grow up to be a complete monster. He knows this to be true, because it’s been told to him over and over again by others. There is no going back. No hope for him. Yet here is this Goddess of Dreams welcoming him into her warm embrace despite just having met.

Why?

“Do I need a reason to comfort someone who is hurting?” she asks. “Does kindness need to be conditional?”

If this were the waking world, Wizard would hiss and curse. He’d tell her he didn’t need her pity. He’d shove her away and recoil even deeper into his shell, untrusting and hateful.

But this was a dream, a realm where one’s truest self is laid bare, so the boy cries and sinks deeper into her embrace, wanting nothing more than to be held and soothed in the way he has seen other children comforted. And Moonlight Cookie cries with him, for she sees the wicked thorns the Azure Flame Staff’s curse has buried into his soul and she knows there is nothing she can do to help him at this moment. Not without risking great damage to him, that is. And they cry together, just the two of them, in this peaceful quiet dream.

“Come rest. Know peace.” Moonlight Cookie cradles the boy close, running a hand through his hair and wiping tears from his eyes. “I will protect your dreams, for as long as you need me to.”

He lets it all spill out from him. His pain, his fear, his rage. His emotions feel raw, like reopening an infected scarred-over wound and letting the rot spill out. He tells her all the awful truths he’s learned; how the real world is a terrible place and the only way to survive is to be just as terrible. How tired he is, but how he doesn’t feel like he can stop, lest he disappoint his friends and their dream of a world where they can finally be happy crumbles apart.

In return, she whispers stories to him of when the city was alive. Of the lessons the Wizards imparted on her, and of the lessons she learned through their loss. She tells him how she regrets not being able to prevent the events that necessitated the city's mass evacuation. She warns him that those who are strong must also be gentle, and those who are powerful must remember to be kind. That is the secret to a truly happy world; the world he wishes for.

They both rest soundly until Gingerbrave and Wild Strawberry activate the Clocktower, probably with the help of the Union Emissaries. Right on time too, because Stardust Cookie arrives not too long after the kids reunite.

Wizard won’t tell the others what he talked with Moonlight Cookie about (was it even really talking if its just thoughts and memories bleeding into each other in a dreamlike haze?), but seeing the city she loves so much being destroyed…

Well, much to Gingerbrave’s and Wild Strawberry’s surprise, Wizard Cookie tells them he wants to go out of his way to save the City. Usually, they don’t try to rescue places they initially plan to wreak havoc in, but… Wizard seems really worked up about this. He seems to actually care and, well, who are they to say no?

So they help Moonlight fight off Stardust Cookie, however Wizard’s staff starts acting up. Why? Because it wants to consume Stardust’s lifeforce. It tries to compel Wizard to kill him. Imagine the power he would gain from killing such a being. All of it, just for him, all he has to do is take one cheap shot while Moonlight has Stardust distracted... But Wizard, for the very first time since obtaining the staff, does not comply.

“No.” He grips the Azure Flame Staff firmly. “Not this one.” Because he can see hope in Moonlight’s eyes. He can hear her fondness for one she considers a brother. He can’t take that away from her. Not after the kindness she had shown to him.

At first the spirit within the staff is confused, but then that quickly shifts to anger. Its own compulsive need to satiate its gluttonous appetite makes its calm mask slip. Wizard feels a tug, but he yanks it back.

“Stop!” He commands and the staff merely laughs; the sound echoes in the boy’s head, making him feel dizzy. Wizard Cookie thinks he’s in charge here? That’s cute.

Wizard feels something snaking up his arms, through his torso, clawing his throat and shooting directly into his head. And then suddenly he’s asleep again, but it’s not nearly as peaceful or comforting as it had been with Moonlight.

Much to his friends’ horror, the Staff begins to puppet Wizard’s body with the intent to kill Stardust. Gingerbrave, enraged by this, tackles the possessed Wizard Cookie and gets into a full-blown brawl with him. The minute he disarms Wizard, the possession stops and the boy’s body goes limp.

In the end, Moonlight and Stardust will reconcile. Moonlight Cookie will be asked to help the Cookie Union stand against Dark Enchantress, to which she will agree. Then she will turn to the Bad Batch. Gingerbrave is holding Wizard’s unconscious body, meanwhile Wild Strawberry has taken the Staff and is beating it against the nearest wall. Not hard enough to break it, but just hard enough to get her point across. Both children bristle when the Goddess approaches, unsure of what she plans to do. They weren’t expecting her to kneel down in order to gently brush Wizard’s hair from his sleeping face. She looks… sad.

“I can tell he means a lot to you both,” she says. “He feels the same about you…” She looks up to meet Gingerbrave’s wide eyes. “I wish there was more I could do for him. Alas, my hands are tied unless he makes the choice himself…”

Nobody is quite sure what she means, but it seems to weigh on her.

“Take good care of him.” She smiles, but there’s still so much sorrow in her eyes. Gingerbrave nods without hesitation.

And with a wave of her hand, all the mortal cookies awaken outside the City.

Even months after these events, Wizard Cookie doesn’t share what happened while he was with Moonlight Cookie. He lies and says he can’t remember after he woke up. He won’t even let the Staff pick at those memories, and much to the Staff’s frustration, there’s something protecting that part of the boy’s mind.

Wizard Cookie is still bitter toward the world. He’s still all-in on their plan to steal the Soul Jam. He’s still loyal to his friends and willing to continue his research into the dark arts.

But some nights, when the moon seems especially beautiful and the dark seems especially peaceful, as Wizard Cookie drifts off to sleep… Sometimes he feels a familiar warm embrace.

“I will protect your dreams, for as long as you need me to.”