A Mournful quite settled on Canterlot as Celestia's sun was replaced by Luna's moon. Small villages of tents were set up around outside the eastern portion of the cities wall. Princess Celestia flew from tent to tent checking in on civilians, many whose homes have been completely demolished as well as the weak and injured soldiers lay for residents after the attack. It lifted the Sun Princess’s worries knowing that they’ll be okay and luckily no fatal causalities. Celestia landed near one last particular larger tent and poke her head inside, her younger sibling spotted her instantly. "How is everypony, sister…?” Princess Luna mumbled weakly.
Celestia trotted straight into the tent. Her younger sister was atop a mountain of pillows and blankets, and both wings were bandaged along around her midsection. "They're fine." Celestia lay beside the injured Alicorn.
"Things could've been worse", Discord appeared floating above the two in a full body cast. "I mean, Bowser could've ruined my face." He gave a broad smile revealing his uneven fangs. One of them dropped loose onto the floor.
"What did Bowser take?" The question came from the entrance of the tent. "What's Tartarus? Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle looked terrified when Sonata told them what he was after." Standing in the entrance was a battered and bruised Mario, his eye brow quirked questioningly at the two Alicorns and Draconquus God.
Celestia sighed sadly. She had hoped that there would be less of an explanation required once Bowser and his allied forces were defeated. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. "…it started with a monster, his name is Tirek."
"Tirek?" Mario looked up at the pony princess.
"Yes, Tirek. Many centuries ago my sister and I once wielded six of our world most powerful artifacts; ‘The Elements of Harmony.’" Celestia continued.
"Elements of Harmony?" Mario repeated, looking at her confused.
"You're a child of the stars correct?" Celestia asked Mario curiously.
"Yes, why?" Mario sat down in a comfortable position as he listened to the large Alicorn.
"The Elements of Harmony are similar to your power, except they choose who wields them." Celestia stated confidently. "But Tirek is different. He was not something magic alone could over power."
"Why not?" Mario quirked his head to the side.
Luna sat up to answered. "He is something of a magic sponge, capable of absorbing then wielding magic like it’s his own."
"We didn't trust the elements," Celestia added. "We didn't know how they would interact with Tirek and considering their main for lack of better term attack is a beam of pure harmonious magic. We deemed it too dangerous to use the elements."
"So with the help of Tirek’s brother we created Tartarus; a prison designed to hold him." Luna finished for her sister.
"But after...after Nightmare Moon we lost sync with the Elements and resorted to using Tartarus as last resort for the worst criminals, the ones who refused to be reformed" Celestia's gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't meet eyes with the plumber, because of a crippling amount of shame she felt. "The Book of Tartarus is simply a book, with names, abilities, and recorded crimes of every single pony, griffon, and any other manner of beings put into Tartarus. If Bowser manages to release any potentially dangerous criminal…"
Mario sat still absorbing this new found information. After a silent moment he stared at the Sun Princess "…how do we get to Tartarus?"
"What?" Shocked, Celestia locked her light purple eyes with Mario’s blue.
"My bro and I need to go to Tartarus and wait; it'll take a bit of time for Bowser to find it…" Mario stood up, before falling back onto a knee."
"You're hurt, Mario!" Celestia trotted over to the plumber. "You need to rest."
Mario took a couple of breaths before steadily standing on his feet. "Yeah you're right, but…but I need to stop Bowser!"
"And what happens when you meet Bowser in conflict? You would be lucky to last ten seconds against him in your current condition." Luna pointed out.
Mario's mind went back to the shrooms have gave to the ponies in the Crystal Empire. "Darn it, I used up my super shrooms at the Crystal Empire…" Mario hissed at himself, knowing had he saved them he could heal his injuries instantly.
"You saved so many of my little ponies Mario" Celestia placed a hoof on the red caps bruised shoulder. "Just rest Mario Bowser will need to some time to build a portal to Tartarus" She gently eased the tension evident on Mario's face.
With a friendly smile Mario left the tent limping slightly as he made his way across the camp into a large tent. Eleven ponies laid with various degrees of injuries. "Spikey…!" Rarity cried quietly, tears smeared her blue eye shadow. The nurse ponies placed the dragon on a makeshift dragon sized cot. The five humans turned ponies made their way towards the purple dragon and sulking Unicorn mare, each of them wearing a look of shame as they took in the sight of Rarity touching the dark burn on the centre of Spike’s back. The mare galloped to the dragon’s bedside giving her drake the once over. She looked for any out of place scales aside from the burnt ones. Rarity noticed the small scrapes, forcefully ripped off scales, and large cuts going deep into his thick scales.
The already to strained bed groaned when Rarity jumped to Spike’s side, she gently rubbed her entire body against his. The ponified humans felt deeply intrusive as they watched the mare snuggled up underneath Spike’s large leathery wings. "Oh, what happen to you, Spikey Wikey?" Her tears soaked his scales. She listened to the deep rumbling breaths soothing her frayed nerves somewhat. His heart beat was slow and steady and as she listen to the rhythmic beats. The white Unicorn felt a deep sigh of relief leave her body. 'He'll be ok', was her only thought. She looked around and finally noticing the five mares in front of her.
The teenage Rarity was the first to move forward. She trotted to her equine counterpart, gently placing a hoof on Spike’s wing that covered the pony underneath. "He....he..." She broke down into tears, "He saved us!" Ponified Rarity looked back at her friends, whom shamefully held their tails between their legs.
Rarity looked up at her younger counterpart. "He'll be ok." She simply stated and continues to listen to his deep rumbling breaths, that in turn continuing to supply her with some semblance of strength. She gently rubbed his hard scales carefully to avoid touching any damages. "I know my Spikey." She finished proudly. Her eyes began tracing the line of muscles underneath his scales. Rarity closed her eyes, remembering the days earlier when she spent hours carefully buffing and shining those same scales to gemstone like sheen. With a twitch the powerful wing around her body pulled her flush with Spike’s body.
Across the tent a loud confetti cannon went off. All eyes went to Pinkie Pie doing a trotting dance around Fluttershy. "Oh my goodness…" Fluttershy wrapped herself tightly in a blanket, her face a brilliant shade of scarlet. Pinkie Pie continued her dance and firing off two more confetti cannons. The group of ponified humans looked away when the mare gently placed her lips on the blushing Pegasi.
"My lovely!" Pinkie stated simply with her gazing smoky electric blue eyes.
Princess Twilight Sparkle paced herself over to Mario and sat by his side. "So what your plan?" she quietly asked.
"Me and my bro rest for a bit, then go to Tartarus and wait for Bowser." Mario replied casting a worried glance at the humans turned equines. "You should take them back to the warp pipe in the Crystal Empire. They don't need to fight." He added silently.
"Nope!" The ponified Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared from beneath the red plumber’s seat.
"Pinkie Pie, when did you-" Twilight began, but abruptly stopped to only rub her temple and remembered it was for the best to not questioned it. "You know what, I don't care…"
"Well, it's a little strange seeing myself kissing one of my best friends." Pinkie Pie’s pink fur shifted to bright red as she made that statement. "Yeah, really weird."
"Why do you say nope?" Mario looked at the pink pony questioningly.
"I'm not leaving till we rescue Sonata!" Pinkie stated defiantly, her eyes shimmer in worry.
Outside of the city of tents Luigi walked through the half destroyed city looking up at the moon. The green clad plumber wasn’t in as bad of condition as his brother was and managed to recover a good portion of his strength. He took this opportunity to wonder around and go over today’s unfortunate events. His mind was clouded with thoughts; thoughts of the consequences of losing, the Crystal Empire and its fate, even thoughts of Bowser growing even more in power once he…
"What's on your mind, plumber?" Luigi snapped back to reality to a familiar voice. He spotted Sunset Shimmer across the street. "Mom and I had to move the moon for Luna." She sighed. "It felt good for me to feel mom’s magic again." She trotted up to the plumber. "So, penny for your thoughts?"
"…I hoped we could stop Bowser before he did any more damage", Luigi then frowned deeply, "…but he got away…"
"Yeah…" She looked around herself with a neutral and calm demeanor. "We'll stop him; we know where he's going. Even with the Changeling Queen and the power of the Crystal Heart it'll take some time to create a portal to Tartarus." She added confidently.
"You should take your friends back to the warp pipe. This isn't their fight." Luigi locked eyes with the Unicorn.
"I could try, but I doubt that ‘they’ would go." She replied easily. "Well, maybe Fluttershy, but even her I'm not too sure about."
"Why wouldn't they want to go home?" Luigi asked sitting atop a piece of rubble.
"They're the type of people who lives to help. Combine that with their hurt pride..."
"Pride?"
"Yeah, well mostly Dash, and AJ. They're stubborn to a fault, and they too had to be rescued like some kind of damsel. It hurt them more then the dragon did, especially how Spike was injured because they weren’t able to help him more. Since Dash and AJ are staying Rarity will stay, she's too loyal to her friends and will want to help keep them safe. Fluttershy will follow suit. Pinkie Pie will stay for cake alone, but add to that Sonata being taken and the others staying…" Sunset monologue to the sitting plumber, she had a faint smile on her lips. "Yeah, my friends will stay no matter how hard I fight for them to go home. I'm kinda glad; I don't want them to be hurt. But it's good to know they'll be beside me for a little while longer."
Luigi nodded his head in understanding and looked back up at Luna’s moon. Both pony and plumber remained silent and watch the twinkling night, the large orb in the sky shone a bit brighter. Luigi doesn’t know why, but thanks to Sunset’s appreciation for her friends made him felt the impending thoughts of failure and consequences soothe away from his head.
Back at the campsite the young Rainbow Dash limped out of the tent, hearing her friend’s pony counterpart, Fluttershy’s faint giggles, as Pinkie Pie danced and joked around her bed. The atmosphere was too sappy for her taste and Rainbow Dash felt the need to spread her wings. "Where you going, Dashie?" She turned to the all too familiar voice. Lying by a small campfire was her counterpart, her eyes half closed.
"Just going to fly, Rainbow." She replied to the natural born Pegasus.
Rainbow stood up, popping her wings out with audible crack. She stretched out like a dog, her backbones cracking, and then stood up on her back legs swinging a few jabs. Her earlier clashes with Gilda, despite how extreme and exhausting the battle was. It wasn't going to stop her from a good flight session. "Try to keep up, Dashie." She said before rocketing into the air.
"Hey wait!" Dashie shot off after her.
She beat her wings furiously, but she didn't seem to be gaining any ground on the Pegasi. "Slow your wing beats, wider smoother strokes; like swimming." Rainbow Dash called back to her human counterpart.
Suddenly, the Pegasi dropped, then corkscrewed between a collapsed pillars of stones, only to shoot straight back up to eye level with Rainbow Dash. The ponified human smirked and dropped down, only to bounce off the earth and shoot back up to cloud level. "Not just your wings, Dashie!" The cyan pony stated.
Dashie shook the cob webs out of her head trying to grasp an understanding. "What do you mean?" Dashie asked as she slowed down dramatically looking back at the former professional flier turned captain of the royal guard.
Rainbow glided next to her younger counterpart. "You know moving your wings and bending them will alter your flight path. But so does your tail and even moving your hooves will cause some drag making certain turns easier." As if to prove her point Rainbow moved her front right hoof and veered into a lightning fast turn. Dashie mimicked her movements and turned in almost the exact same way. Laughs echoed across the night sky as two rainbow blurs shot all over the city.
Early the next morning Mario was atop a stone spire, watching from a distance between the camp sites and Canterlot. He spotted an orange Earth Pony wearing a Stetson trotting down the dirt path. It took him a moment, and then the plumber managed to recognize the human who was ponified. Once she was close enough Mario looked down, his eyes met the emeralds of Applejack. "Hello!" He called out, waving down at the young pony mare.
"Howdy!" Applejack waved back at Mario.
Mario flipped and landed atop the stone tower in a sitting position. "Did Sunset Shimmer tell you what Bowser took?"
"Yep!", Applejack tipped her hat to Mario. "That ain't good!"
Mario mimicked her movement tipping his famous red cap to the simple teenage apple farmer. "Yeah, we need to leave soon!" He then winced, his body still aching from his previous fights.
"Me and my friends! We need help; I don't want to be helpless!" Applejack claimed and then she flexed her back leg muscles. "I'm strong, but I'm not…strong!"
Mario leaped from the stone, fell a few feet before landing with a thud in front of the ponified Applejack. "How strong are you?" Mario asked curiously as he poked her flank. He felt the steel like muscles of her hindlegs underneath the soft fur.
Applejack blushed deeply. And then she felt it; within her she felt the sensation loss of control over her body, as it spazzed out. Without warning Applejack started bucking wildly. "Get back!" She growled thrashing from side to side.
Mario took two steps back avoiding a wild kick that shattered stone into a fine powder with ease. Mario quirked his eyebrow at that and proceeded to act fast. "Got you!" Mario closed the gap, reaching out and instantly grabbed Applejack's long blonde tail. "So long, little pony!" Mario chanted as he flings the mare into a wall.
"Ouch…" Applejack groaned quietly as she slide down the rock wall. The unusual spazzing that caused her pony body to rampage died out.
Shaking her head she looked up to the plumber reaching down to her. "Control, Applejack." Mario tugged her up and dusted her off roughly. "With that strength you'll kill someone. Whatever just happened can't happen with someone who can't defend themselves." Mario scolded the dazed ponified human. Applejack looked at the red plumber curiously. He has a kind smile on his lips. "I think you're fantastic!" He said joyfully.
Applejack face hardens. She jumped up swinging a surprise wild haymaker. "I'll get you!" The plumber laughed as he dodged the swooping punches.
Mario dodged to the left and got in close. "Got you!" He swung a straight jab sending Applejack flying back ten feet. "You left to many openings." Applejack looked up at the plumber, shaking the cobwebs from her head and thought for a second.
"You're too strong." Applejack growled in conclusion.
Mario chuckled at the remark. "Strong?" He quirked his head to the side. "Then don't let me hit you. Luigi and I fought many powerful opponents and creatures; Bowser, Cackletta, Fawful, and othermany types of baddies, all of them is stronger than me, and yet, all of them have hints and patterns in their attacks; I find predicting and reading their movements can even out Amy difference in power. Just dodge and wait till you see an opening!" Mario shot straight at Applejack. The mare back pedaled away from the plumber narrowly avoiding two punches and a kick. She stood up and swung a punch, only for it to be caught in Mario's waiting hand. She instantly swung her other hoof, but Mario caught that one also. "You're very strong." She was shaking in an effort to break Mario's vice grip on her hooves.
The two locked eyes, slight adjustments of their stance were all they can move. "Kick!" Mario commanded. Instantly the apple pony swung her right hindleg, but Mario mimicked her kick with a swinging leg to defend himself. The two broke apart and skid across the earth a few inches.
Applejack winced and fell back onto all fours. "How did you hurt me?" She asked looking up.
"You can hit hard, so I used that. When you kicked me all I did was raise my foot letting you hit the soles of my shoe." Mario explained to the little pony.
BOWSER
Within the inner sanctums of a dark domain of Bowsers castle the Koopa Troop and Changeling forces began to reorganized and prepare for the next upcoming attack. Their combined teamwork helped to easily build more proper weaponry and equipment ahead of schedule. The Koopa King sat in his throne room nursing a few wounds with light bandages around his arm. Usually he would be more outraged over the failed siege of Canterlot. However his mood was anything but furious as he had acquired the one thing that mattered from the attack; The Book of Tartarus. Across from him sat Queen Chrysalis, patches covered the burns scattered across her body as well as some bandages on her horn. She may not be showing it, but the over usage of the tainted Crystal Heart put a strain on her magic. A Dark glare formed on her face, only a matter of time before she’ll become fully rejuvenated.
"The plumber", Bowser grumbled as he flicked through the Book of Tartarus, "he knows where we're going." He growled.
"We need to be careful then." Chrysalis commented, motioning towards her burned and battered body.
"We got the traitorous Siren, he'll go for her. It's in his nature." Bowser stated simply.