Mario & Luigi: Of Ponies and Plumbers

by EverSoNitro

Chapter 20

The battle in the library was soon underway, as Bowser Jr. quickly tucked into his shell and bolted at Mario. He was easily batted away with the plumber’s hammer, though he pulled an abrupt u-turn as he was sent spinning away and targeted the other brother instead. Luigi was caught off-guard, and the kiddy Koopa prince bowled him over, before he returned to his position across the room. Moving quickly, Mario called over Twilight, and the purple pony magically made him grow, whereupon he leapt up and unleashed a massive tremor which knocked Junior off his feet. By the same token, Luigi called over Rarity, who tore a collection of gems out from the ground, providing a staircase for him to ascend and leap off the top, sending a bolt of lightning crashing down upon the brat below.

As Luigi returned to his position at Mario’s side (after bouncing off of Junior’s skull), the little prince was sent into a tantrum. “No fair!” he whined as he stomped around on the ground. “How come you jerks get horses and I don’t?!” He growled, and shouted at the brothers. “Give ‘em, they’re mine!” Before they could stop him, Junior charged right past them, and roughly seized Rarity, wrestling and dragging her over as she struggled against him.

“Unhand be you ruffian!” She shouted out, kicking out and biting at him. Unfortunately, his scaly hide proved difficult to bite through and inflict pain.

“Do that thing with the gems, now!” Junior commanded, tugging on her tail. With a yelp, Rarity’s horn involuntarily lit up, five or six red and green gems being ripped up from the ground. With another tug, the gems were sent hurtling at Mario and Luigi one by one, though they managed to smack them away with their hammers. The gems smacked Junior instead, causing him to lose his grip on Rarity, letting her run back to the group.

Mario and Luigi both made their counterattacks, and Junior was livid again, a deep red glow building in his mouth. He spat a pair of fireballs at Mario and Luigi, and they nimbly avoided them with a jump each. Not through with his assault, he ran past and seized Twilight this time, dragging her back as she kicked and protested. He tugged roughly on her tail, and her horn sparked red, sending a bolt of magic at Mario, which he was struck by. Another tug and she sparked green this time, a bolt hurtling at Luigi a split second later, though he managed to leap over it just in time. Twilight managed to teleport out of his grip a moment later, going back to the brothers and her friends.

Eventually, after many traded blows, Junior was beaten into submission, the group panting a bit as they collected themselves.

“What do we do now?” Rainbow Dash said. “That jerk stole the elements, there’s no way we can fight him now!”

“We’ll just have to come up with another plan,” Twilight said, pacing about, looking rather frazzled. “Come on, think, Twilight, think! The princesses are counting on you!” She whined and paced a bit more as she worried herself, as everyone watched, before Mario went over and stopped her, pulling her into a comforting hug. He said a few comforting words, and Twilight sighed. “I guess you’re right,” Twilight said. “I’m not doing myself any favors getting wound up like this.” She took a deep breath and sighed again. “We just need to calmly step back and-“

Twilight was cut off as the ground began to violently shake, sending everyone tumbling about everywhere. “Earthquake!” Twilight shouted. “Everyone brace yourselves, quick!”

Everyone quickly braced themselves as instructed, but just as suddenly as it started, the earthquake stopped with a violent crashing thud. Everyone exchanged uneasy looks, before Applejack chimed in.

“How much y’all wanna bet Discord had somethin’ to do with this?” After a moment, they decided to exit the library and inspect the damage themselves. Upon exiting the library, however, a terrible and confusing sight beheld the eight heroes.
Ponyville was no longer decorated with the thick forest backdrop that the Everfree Forest provided. Instead, surrounding the town were five entirely different locales of clashing climate. A few were familiar to the ponies; the swampy terrain of Froggy Bottom Bogg, the flat desert plane that led to Appleoosa, and the wooded trail leading through White Tail Woods. However, two others, a lush tropical jungle and a tall, snow-covered mountain, were completely foreign to the ponies. Mario and Luigi, however, were quick to recognize them, and quickly informed the others.

“Cool, Cool Mountain? Yoshi’s Island?” Twilight said. She promptly took out an atlas of the Mushroom Kingdom, acting on a hunch. Sure enough, the two locales showed up on the kingdom map, and Twilight gulped a bit.

“Everyone, I think I know what’s happened…” Twilight said. “Discord’s completely mashed Equestria and the Mushroom Kingdom together!”

As everyone looked about, still in shock at the sight that beheld them, a note floated down in their midst. Twilight was quick to scoop it up, and everyone gathered together as she read aloud.

“Dear pesky ponies,” Twilight read. “Do you like what I’ve done with the place? I figured it would be so much more convenient to rule if the kingdoms were a lot closer together. It’s a bit slap-shod right now, sure, but I’ll be sure to smooth it out once I deal with you all.

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what’s happened to your little toys, the Elements of Harmony. While I could just keep them here with me, I can’t have you all pounding on my door to get them. So, I figured it’d be a lot more fun to watch you scurry around my new kingdom looking for them. As for what’s where, I thought it’d be fun to put it in the form of a little riddle. So, here it is:

“Past the deep jungle where the dinosaurs roam,
The cross-kingdom junction’s where Kindness calls home.
The wild west to your east holds a familiar face,
And Honestly, the place after is a scary fun place.
Climb, climb, climb the slippery hill,
But if you don’t have wings at the peak, you’re in for a Generous spill.
The thick, dreary marsh may spook you to your core,
But Loyalty lies after, amid an explosive war.
The autumn leaves fall so beautiful and slow,
But if you want a good Laugh, the busy city after is where you want to go.
These twists and turns aren’t quite my master plan,
But if you want your Magic, head back where you began.”

Twilight lowered the note, and looked among everyone, who in turn looked amongst each other.

Pinkie grimaced a bit. “That wasn’t a very good riddle, was it?” She said. “I mean, he pretty much just said where we need to go.”

Twilight nodded. “I’m a bit thankful for that, Pinkie. The question is, where do we go first?”

Everyone looked around at the five paths before them, trying to decide where they should head off to first.

Atuhor's Nose: Story progression will now be turned over to you, the reader! Simply vote in the comments below for which area you think the group should head to first!

Comments

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

Ponyville Library! Err, rather, let's do them in order, just to spite Discord!

[Paleb05]

I vote for Magic first.

2213064

Oops! On second thought, let's do Honesty first then.

[EverSoNitro]

2213055
Shoot, sorry, I should've mentioned that Magic isn't an option right now.

[arcshroob]

I vote for Kindness!

[DashieBear]

I love how it's Mario, Luigi, Pinkie. AKA MLP...

[Blade Squall]

Wait, we get to choose? Alright, let's see...

I'd rather get Applejack's Element back first. Perhaps he's lying, but the Element of Honesty is probably going to allow us to see through the rest of Discord's lies.

[RLYoshi]

I'd say Kindness first, to do them in order.

[Reddened Chaos]

Go for Loyalty!!!

[Pokelink]

2213043

I just wanted to do that, so Kidness first!

[Sweetiebellema121]

I say kindness or honest

[touileasaso]

Kindness first.

[Sweetiebellema121]

gonna go out on a limb that when it says
But if you want your Magic, head back where you began.
it doesn't mean the library that it means where mario and the ponies first met

[ShadowChilly]

Our kindess is in short supply. Find the element and power up Fluttershy!

[CrowMagnon]

Oh, I'll vote to go for Honesty.

[viconis]

Honesty! I mean like honestly why not?

[Brightness]

Kindness beacause of Yoshis and Fluttershy

[banjo2E]

2213043

Agreed.

[AlchemyGold]

Ooh, interactive storytelling! I vote Honesty.

[YorkBrony]

Kindness

[The Gno Writer]

ah say magic

[Azkhare]

I'd say laughter. It may be good for morale.

Anyway, good story, keep it up!

[Garino]

No one wants to go to Cool Cool Mountain?!? Seriously, get it out of the way, so you don't have to deal with ice physics later on!

THEN we go for honesty.

[AlexShrub]

Obviously they go to Yoshi's Island first. It is after all the best game.
Reminds me, Kamek troll funtimes must be had.

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

2213750 Yours sounds more likely.

[Silver Wrench]

2213055
I second this notion

[YarnWeaver]

I want to see Honesty done first.

[ShittyMKSound]

[Ultima D]

will having the elements unlock more Bro. actions if so Loyalty hands down

"you're kidding right? I want to see Shy get in on the action, Kindness Hooves down"

[Sonic Boom]

I DEMAND KINDNESS!

[Sonic Boom]

I ALSO DEMAND IN ORDER! Please?

[ManWithThePan]

Go for Kindness.

[Shadow Note]

You are my hero, sir or madam!

[RainbowTheTankEngine]

vote: Generous. the darn ice physics.

[Chiroknu]

I would say do them in reverse with Magic being slipped in. I mean, maybe doing them Alphabetically would be interesting? XD
I'll go with that in fact. Alphabetical order!

[SK Alex]

Kindness Please

[Pengijoker]

I can clearly tell that every location would have a boss guarding an element, right?

[Luhood the Zebrony]

'Shy needs a Yoshi, stat! To the jungle!

[StrigidaeFan]

I vote in order.
Also, I don't get why Discord doesn't just outright corrupt the Mario Bros. After all, he needs rid of them, and they would make good minions if they were properly brainwashed.
The only problem with this is that Discorded!Luigi would probably give him trouble, what with his attitude and all...

[Aenbr]

2463944

Only problem? The non-isometric ponies don't really fit with the isometric Mario sprites. That and those MLP sprites are way too overused. Not that I don't like them, of course—I'm glad the artist made them so we regular folk can use them to our hearts content. I'd like to see some isometric pixel ponies sometime though; I'd make them myself but pixel art isn't exactly an extremely easy field of art.

[supermariomon]

go with laugh loyalmagichousty kindness than genotiy

[green oni]

You gotta to them in order that they are listed in. You can't go about willy-nilly, something always stops Mario from going out of order. Trust me I have played every Mario RPG.

[RandomHamster33]

This has to be one of my most favorite fanfics of all time. Please continue story!!!! I love Luigi!!!! You made him so awesome in this!!! Such a scaredy though!!! Typical Luigi!!!

[Applejack-fan]

Yoshi's Island first

[Whiteeyes]

I vote in order of the riddle; it's an RPG you'll have unexplained and insurmountable obstacles blocking you from the other ones until you go through them in order.

[MamaLuigi]

Is this fic still active? Because,I thought maybe if you finish this fic in the future. You should do a sequel that is based on "Mario & Luigi: Dream Team". Since that game is coming to the 3DS next month.

[Tadpole]

Yoshi's Island!

[FALSE_NAME]

This has been universally approved by The Doctor
th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/065/c/8/dr__whooves_approves_by_penguin_616-d4rzdiz.png

Jolly good show old bean!

[Ember Q Discordia]

3104047 probably becasue Cd- I shouldn't say any more.

[PokeSEGA64]

In the cover art for this story, the hats spell "MLP". Was that intentional?

[Shazam 25]

From the others, I would say Yoshi Inland, I do want to read more of this story. So yeah Kindness first.