Bowser sat in his throne, his demeanor was surprisingly calm even after being beaten not so long ago. The Koopa King looked down; in front of him was a small graying mane Unicorn with wand as a cutie mark, a traitor to his fellow ponies and the princesses. "We have all the materials, Sir." The stallion stated calmly, doing his best to keep his composure in the presence of the hulking tyrant. "It will take seven days to build the portal."
Bowser nodded his head. "Ok, go." He stated simply. The Unicorn bowed in respect before trotting away to further continue the project. Bowser swiveled on his throne looking out to his armada at the lower ground level of the throne room. He observed carefully as a small group of his troops surrounded one of the primate hunters who took upon themselves to ally with him and his growing forces. The blonde white furred monkey wearing a yellow jacket delivered a punch to the centre of an attacking Koopa Troopa's gut, sending him careening into the wall of the fortress.
"Those hunters are dangerous." Queen Chrysalis commented as she trotted up to the tortoise dragon Koopa. "There's a reason why even that soft hearted Celestia rid herself of them."
Bowser slouch further back on his throne, the sharp spikes on his shell dragging down the cushioning metal surface. He then rested his head on his claws. "I know…" He frowned deeply. Somewhere along the line these monkey hunters gave off a sense of suspiciousness all around them; their reasoning being so simple, but at the same time odd. Getting exiled by the nation’s pony monarch for their heinous crimes, for whatever reason that may be, and now the timing seem too perfect for them to just seek his aid… Bowser will admit to himself this wasn’t much of his concern at first until further pondering on the concept made it apparent how oddly suspicious that seems. He jumped off his throne, pushing the thoughts away for the time being as there are far more pressing matters. "We need a plan!" He strode across the throne room and headed out into the corridor.
The Changeling Queen raised a brow before quickly pursuing afterwards. "We can take them out, you said it yourself." She stated calmly as she pace herself alongside the Koopa King.
"We need them…for now." As they walked Bowser and Chrysalis crossed an opened indoor bridge over a seemingly bottomless pit. This directed them into another passageway filled with architecture statues and portraits of Bowser himself. A few rooms passed along the way and the two mighty monarchs enter a large room. Sitting in a circle around a model fortress was his son and the Koopalings. "Anything?" Bowser asked as he approached the group.
"We can't split our forces again." Jr. stated as he rubbed the large lump on his head. "The ponies are no plumbers, but they're strong!"
"The Unicorn and Alicorn could've beaten me, daddy!" Wendy whined as she added to Jr's statement.
Bowser massages the temple of his forehead. Sometimes it is hard to be a father and a ruling warlord.
Chrysalis looked over the model with slight fascination of the replicating details of Tartarus itself. However, she did detect one crucial fault in their plan. "Shock and awe won't work." The large Changeling frowned at her own revelation. "The guards in Tartarus won't be as easily frightened as the ones in Canterlot."
Bowser grunted at her comment, his red eyes never leaving the model. "Most of the ones we want are in the outer ring correct?" Bowser touched the lake of lava around the model. The magma sizzled from his touch and warmed the tip of his single claw.
"Yeah, gramps." Ludwig Von Koopa answered. His long blue spiked v shape hair sway for each motion of his head. "So what are you thinking?"
"We set our troops…" He pointed down at the map, "here and here!" He kept moving his claws. "Chrysalis, you have your Changelings storm the fortress, create as much chaos." Bowser then frowned from a sudden afterthought."The Siren will be kept in our fortress; she’ll draw Mario out into the open." Bowser pointed along the large bridge connecting the fortress to the mainland.
"Then we crush him right!?" Iggy Koopa shouted with excitement. He then started laughing loudly with a slight slip of a manic tune. "Crush the plumber, crush the plumber!" He sang.
"No, Iggy, I need you in the fortress!!" Bowser snapped. He drew his attention back to the oldest Koopaling. "Ludwig, you lead the charge!" Bowser looked around the table. "Lemmy, Larry, and Roy follow his lead!"
"What about us, daddy?" Wendy asked from her seat.
"Each of you will be in a fortress recruiting from the mayhem." Bowser stated.
"You and I will be on the smaller resource bridges then. While my Changelings drawing out fire, what if one of the plumbers comes out, or both? "Chrysalis locked eyes with the Koopa King.
"Mario will go for the Siren. The Green Cap, he'll follow his brother or remain in the fortress. Worry more about those ponies. The Koopalings should beat them, but if they fail we'll need to beat them…" Bowser grumbled deeply.
"I'm going to explain our plan to the Changelings." The queen flew out of the room.
"The monkey’s need to be ready to face Mario." Bowser cast a glance toward Jr. "Show them." He stated simply.
Some time has passed since Bowser left his throne room unattended. During that time the lower base level were reconfigured as a large training ground for speculations and observation. Many troops of Bowser’s Koopa Troop forces are putting the subtle area into good use with the two primate mercenary experts. The small red coated and black furred monkey swung his scythe in wide arcing movements, using the momentum of the heavy weapon to add force behind his attacks. Hammer Bros and Spikes ran away from his strikes as their projectile hammers and spiky balls were redirected and flung back at them. Goombas, however, charged head first without a second thought straight into the rapidly swinging monkey. The small black monkey stumbled two steps back as a Goomba head butted his stomach. "Come one, Red!" Cheered The blonde tall monkey, Yellow, for her fellow partner. Red clicked his scythe, causing the head to explode into a fiery mass. He twitched his hips shooting straight back avoiding a clump of Goombas. The head of his scythe exploded throwing the lithe monkey into a back flip.
"AHHH!" A Koopa Troopa screamed as the monkey crashed onto the top of his shell. His speed and fluidity rivaled by few, not even his given small stature can warrant his capabilities. Red flipped back and golf swinging his scythe into the shell, catapulting straight into the Koopa at the Goomba that rammed him.
Red fell into his stance, swinging his scythe high into the air. A stubby spiked green shell flew out from the surrounding Koopa Troops. Sensing something coming his way the red clad monkey nearly buckled when the shell collided with his raised scythe. Out of the shell popped a miniature version of Bowser. "Dad wants me to show you who he wants you to beat." Jr. pointed as looked up at the two. He quickly made his way out of the lower sections of the throne room, prompting the two hunters to follow along as Jr. headed straight into a dark tower. “His name is Mario!”
They walked into a theater. The room was fairly dark save for the emitting light from the entryway. While Red and Yellow got themselves seated, Jr fiddled with the small movie projector aimed at a wide screen on the wall. It only took a moment before the recorded film started playing. Their eyes fell on a video portraying a fast moving red capped plumber; the man leaped-frog over a cannon ball, casually kicked a Koopa Troopa off of what appears to be an air ship, and stomped a Goomba without losing any of his momentum. "He's good…" Yellow commented as the video shifted to Mario spinning into Bowser, sending the Koopa King flying. "Strong…" She then added.
Red got himself comfortable as the video continued. Mario kicked a bulky Boom Boom in the gut, sending it hurtling into the wall of their arena. "He's a brawler, no finesse to how he fights…" The Boom Boom bounced off the wall flying straight into Mario, tossing the plumber into the opposite wall. Immediately the plumber was back in motion. "Can take hits…"
The footage continues to showcase more and more of Mario’s capabilities; his jumping prowess, his pyrokinesis Firebrand powers, his agilities and movement patterns, along with so much more information of his fighting style the two hunters studied and feed into their heads. "I'm gonna kick his butt…!" Yellow slammed her fist together, a cruel and toothy grin adorned her face.