Mario and Luigi are sent to Equestria and embark on another adventure to bring peace back to Equestria.
At the end of one of their usual adventures of rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser's clutches, the tables are turned when they are sent through a portal to a new world; Equestria. A new enemy appears and sends the Elements of Harmony, with the aid of the Mario Brothers, on another adventure to bring peace back to Equestria.
It was a normal day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every citizen was going about their business, enjoying the peacefulness of their everyday lives. That is, until King Bowser Koopa and his troops invaded the Kingdom and kidnapped their princess; Princess Peach which caused kingdom wide panic...again.
Bowser was laid back in his throne grinning as he waited for Mario, and probably his cowardly brother, to arrive and save Princess Peach.
"Kamek, is everything ready?"
"Yes, your Evilness," a Koopa floating on a broom garbed in a blue cloak and pointy hat said. "Everything is set for when the Mario Brothers arrive."
Bowser snickered. Things were going all according to plan.
"Whatever it is you have planned Bowser, it won't work!"
The Koopa King turned towards the princess who was locked inside a cage hanging beside his throne.
"On the contrary my dear, my plan is foolproof. I'm actually looking forward to seeing Mario and Green Stache," he said with a sinister smirk.
"What exactly are you planning?" she asked hoping to get him to go on his little monologues. He's been confidant about his schemes before, but not like this. She was starting to worry.
"Let's just say that I've finally found a way to rid me of those pesky plumbers for good, and that's all you're going to get out of me."
Just then, the Throne Room doors burst open to reveal Mario and Luigi. Seeing them made Bowser give a toothy grin. "Ah, glad to see you made it to the party."
"Let the princess go, Koopa!" Mario demanded.
"Gwahahaha! So, glad you could join us on such a grand occasion, Mario and Green Stache," the Koopa King chuckled.
The duo was confused by that statement, but they kept a brave face.
Bowser leaped from his throne, and landed in front of them. The room shook under his feet which made Luigi yelp and hide behind Mario.
"Because after today, I'll finally be rid of the two thorns that have been in my side for too long!" he roared before unleashing his fiery breath.
Mario jumped successfully out of the way, while Luigi just barely side rolled with his overalls slightly burnt. From his jump, Mario stomped on the Koopa King's head.
Bowser was disoriented, but quickly recovered and charged at Mario throwing punches which the plumber successfully dodged. He then jumped up and slammed his feet into Bowser's skull again. Now annoyed, his claw shot up and grabbed Mario while in midair and then tossed him towards one of the walls. Mario managed to recover and land on his feet before charging at the Koopa King.
Bowser inhaled deeply before exhaling multiple fire balls in Mario's direction. Mario managed to dodge all of them with little to no new burn marks. When he reached Bowser, he quickly slides underneath a surprise fireball before slamming his feet into Bowser's stomach and sending him flying into the opposite wall. Seeing stars, the Koopa King toppled over and groaned in defeat.
Confidant that Bowser was out cold, Mario rushed over to Peach's cage.
"Princess, are you okay?" he asked concerned.
"Yes, thank you Mario. I knew you'd save me," she said happily. She was happy that Mario was there, but she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe things went a little too easily. Her suspicions were confirmed when Mario couldn't locate a key nearby.
"Mario!"
Hearing his brother's cry of distress, Mario quickly turned around to find Luigi in one of Bowser's claws.
"Gwahahaha! Looking for this?" He used his other claw to reach into his shell and pull out a gold key. Mario's scowl made Bowser grin. "Now, Kamek!"
Kamek, who was watching from a safe distance near the ceiling, cackled while dashing on his broom towards the plumber. He pulled out a wand and fire a red ball of energy. Mario quickly rolled to the side and the energy ball collided with the wall behind Bowser's throne. He was about to rescue his brother, when he froze when he heard a crackling sound.
Upon seeing Bowser's smirk and his brother's look of terror, he followed their gaze and found the wall cracking. The wall then shattered like glass and revealed a spiraling vortex.
"W-What is that?" Mario asked.
"That is your ticket out of my hair forever, plumber," Bowser chuckled. With a toothy grin, he brought his arm that held Luigi back and tossed him at Mario.
Mario heard his brother yelp again and turned, but before he could react they collided and they were both sent into the vortex. Everyone watched as the vortex vanished immediately. Peach stared on in horror, while Bowser was jumping up and down like a child on Christmas Day.
“Yes! I did it! I finally beat those pesky plumbers! Now nothing will stand in my way of ruling the Mushroom Kingdom!”
Peach continued to stare at the wall that swallowed her Kingdom’s saviors. Tears flowed down her cheeks as her thoughts were consumed by thoughts about her possibly never seeing them again.
It was a beautiful night at Canterlot Castle. The stars twinkled in the cloudless sky, and the moon shown brightly. It was the perfect night for the Princess of the Sun, Princess Celestia, to host the Grand Galloping Gala. At her side was the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, who volunteered to co-host the glorious event. They were currently welcoming guests at the castle entrance.
"I appreciate the help you provided to help organize the Gala this year, Twilight," Celestia happily declared.
The young Alicorn's eye gleamed at her former mentor's kind words. "Anything I can to make things easier for you, Princess."
"Thank you," Celestia giggled. "I look forward to actually enjoying the Gala for once."
"I know, right?" A pink pony suddenly popped up behind Twilight, making her jump from surprise. "The Gala will be so much more fun this year! I just know it!"
"Pinkie, I thought I told you to stop doing that!" Twilight growled through her teeth.
Pinkie just giggled before hopping around the purple Alicorn. "Sorry, I'm just so excited about the Gala this year! With all of us here, It'll be the best Gala ever!"
Celestia giggled as they watched Pinkie hop away.
"I'm sorry about that," Twilight sighed.
"Don't worry," she assured Twilight. "I'm glad your friends could also attend."
After greeting the last of the guests, the two Alicorns entered the Ball Room where all the sophisticated ponies of Canterlot had gathered. Twilight scanned the room to locate her friends.
Applejack was selling apple products over by the buffet table, which were actually selling really well when the ponies discovered how delicious they were.
Rainbow Dash was hanging with Spitfire and Soarin of the Wonderbolts. She has been getting top marks in the Wonderbolts Academy, making her a shoe in for a spot in the Wonderbolts.
She spotted Pinkie hopping around the room making sure everypony was having fun.
Rarity was conversing with Fancy Pants, and for some reason Fleur was giving her a death glare which Rarity either ignored or didn't notice.
Fluttershy was sitting at a table and conversing with the Lord of Chaos himself, Discord.
Everypony seemed to be having a good time so far. Nothing could possibly ruin tonight.
Pinkie stood a the punch bowl surveying the room. "I'm so glad that everypony is having fun. This is turning out to be the best night-!" She suddenly freezes before she turns her head to notice her tail twitching. "Uh oh, twitchy tail!"
She looked around, but didn't notice anything that would indicate anypony or anything was going to fall. She then looked up at the ceiling, and her eyes widened. She noticed the ceiling was cracking, but it also had a glow to it. Suddenly her whole body started to vibrate. "Oh no..."
Twilight was sitting alongside Celestia when she was tackled suddenly by a pink blur, which caught them both by surprise.
"Twilight, we have a big problem!" Pinkie shouted franticly. Her shouting was loud enough to get everyponies attention.
Twilight pushed the pink mare off her so she could get back up. "What's wrong, Pinkie?" she asked as she dusted herself off. "Ant was it really necessary for you to tackle me like that?"
"Well, first I got a twitchy tail which means somepony or something was going to fall. But I looked around, and no pony was doing any falling. Then I looked up and saw THAT!" she said in one breath.
When she pointed her hoof up towards the ceiling, the two princesses gazed upwards and their eyes widened at the sight of a huge spider web crack in the marble ceiling. Everypony in the room noticed as well, and began to panic. The ponies in the room, except for the Element bearers, Discord, and Celestia, quickly scurried out of the room.
They all watched as the ceiling then shattered to reveal a spiraling vortex. Celestia and Discord shared a glace. With a rare serious face Discord nodded his head, which Celestia returned.
"Everypony, be prepared for anything. We don't know what will come through," the Sun Princess said.
"Wait, what in tarnation is that?"
"And does anypony here screaming?" Rainbow added.
Their sights returned to the vortex and they then noticed two small figures that were steadily getting bigger.
"Incoming!" Pinkie shouted.
They quickly moved out of the way as the two figures fell through screaming, and crashed in the middle of the Ball Room floor. The impact was strong enough to shake the whole room, and form a small crater in the center of the floor.
The ponies and draconequus cautiously approached the unconscious creatures. Their appearance was something that they've never seen before, except for Twilight.
"What? No way, they're humans!"
Everypony, except Discord and Celestia, turned to her in shock.
"What, you mean like the creatures you saw, that looked like us, when you went through that magic mirror?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes, but these humans look different compared to them," Twilight contemplated.
"That's because these two are from a different dimension all together, Twilight," Discord said.
"What, but how-?"
She was cut off by Celestia raising a hoof. "Now isn't the time to discuss this," she said with a commanding voice. She then gestured to the two humans. "We must take them to the infirmary so that they may recover."
Celestia turned her head towards Discord as if asking him to move them.
"Say no more," he said waving his lion paw dismissively. He then simply snapped his talons and the humans, and everypony else, vanished in a flash.
Mario jumped over another one of Bowser's fireballs and stomped on his skull. He used the momentum to dash towards Princess Peach, who was trapped in a suspended cage. He was just within reach when the cage suddenly jerked and ascended and disappeared. The floor shook and crackled until he fell through, and the scenery changed into a wasteland covered in a blazing inferno.
Mario was frantically searching for his princess, when a sudden quake shook the ground and made him jump. He turned around and found a 50 ft. tall Bowser smirking down upon him. Upon closer inspection, Mario spotted something in one of Bowser's claws.
"Mario!!" It was Peach.
Bowser guffawed and began stomping, trying to crush the red plumber. It took everything Mario had to keep out from underneath the giant Koopa's feet. One final stomp sent Mario hurdling as he stumbled and get a face full of dirt. He was too exhausted to really move, except to roll onto his back and watch as Bowser continued his maniacal laughter and raise his foot once again ready to crush Mario for good.
Time seemed to slow down as the giant foot came down. Mario braced himself, but then a beam of light suddenly crashed into Bowser's chest. The impact sent him tumbling back and landing on his shell. Mario observed stunned by what transpired, but then became confused and the giant Koopa's body began to form cracks. Bowser then exploded in a flash of bright light which forced Mario to shield his eyes.
Mario hesitantly uncovered his eyes, and found himself in a open field surrounded by trees. He looked up and noticed a clear night sky and a full moon.
"What's going on? Where am I?"
"Worry not human, you are within the dream realm." a heavenly voice echoed.
Mario's eyes widened as the moon gave a faint glow, and a figure that looked equine in nature descended. After lightly landing on her hooves, she gave a light smile and giggle at Mario's stunned expression.
"Greetings human from another world. I am Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night, and co-ruler of Equestria."
At the mention of "Princess", Mario blinked out of his stupor and grinned.
"Pleasure to meet you, Princess," he said with a slight bow. "My name is Mario."
"You are quite different from the other human I visited. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he first took notice of me," she said a slight head tilt. "Luigi, I believe he called himself?"
"Ah, yes he's my little brother. He's quite easy to scare." He blinked. "Wait, did you call me a 'human from another world' a few minutes ago?"
Her smile softened. "I did. You and you're brother, somehow, arrived through a portal from another dimension."
Mario let out a frustrated sigh. "So, that's what Bowser did. Do you know of a way to send us back, Princess?" he asked hopefully.
Luna placed a hoof on her chin to think. "There might be a way to do so, but it might take some time to locate a spell to accomplish such a feat." She sighed and gave him a small look of sympathy. "I'm afraid that means you are going to be here in Equestria for some time until we can locate such a spell."
"Oh, mamma mia..."
"Do not fret, we will do everything we can to sent you back home, rest assured." She placed a hoof on one of him shoulders to reassure the red plumber.
Mario gave a soft smile that said 'thank you'. She returned his smile before saying, "Now it is time you woke. We ask that you explain everything to us then."
Her horn suddenly lit up and flashed a bright light, and Mario's vision began to smudge.
Mario's eyes shot open, but he immediately flinched from the bright sunlight from the window to his left. His vision was blurry at first, but after a few minutes it returned and he could see everything clearly. He found himself surrounded by white walls and ceiling with the sent of alcohol.
Yep, a hospital.
He looked to his right and found Luigi snoring loudly in a second bed on the other side of the room. Mario leaped out of bed, and was surprised at how well rested he felt. He walked over the his sleeping brother and gently shook him.
"Luigi," he said softly. The only response he received was a loud snore.
"Luigi," he said a little louder. More snoring.
Now Mario was getting frustrated. He inhaled deeply. "LUIGI!!!"
His eyes burst open, and with a yelp, tumbled out onto the floor. He groaned as he pushed himself up onto his feet. "What's the big idea, bro?"
"We're not in Bowser's Castle. Whatever that Koopa did, I'm not sure we're even in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore."
Luigi looked around, just realizing they were in a hospital room. "I don't think so either, if that dream was anything to go by," he said as he stood up and stretched.
"Dream?" Mario asked raising an eyebrow. "What kind of dream?"
"I had a dream where someone named...Princess Luna, I think she said...appeared and said something about a place called..." Luigi was having a had time recalling the dream. He looked to his brother to find him staring wide eyed. "What?"
"She didn't happen to say "Equestria" did she?"
"Um...I can't remember, but that sounds about right," Luigi said scrunching up his face in thought.
"If that's the case, that it means we are definitely far from home." Mario said disheartened. He could only hope the Princess was okay.
Before they could debate on what to do next, they heard what sounded like voices and the sound of clopping...hooves?...on the other side of the door.
"Are you sure we can trust those two?" said a tomboyish voice. "How do we know they aren't spies or something?"
"Honestly, Rainbow Dash, do you have to assume every new face is a spy?" said a voice that sounded like it belonged to a sophisticated individual.
"They're not even from our world, Rarity! How do we know they aren't here to check and see if Equestria is the perfect place to invade!?"
"Calm down, Rainbow," the next voice had quite the southern accent to it. "The Princesses said that they didn't sense any bad intentions from them, and if they say they're okay then they're okay. Besides, if they lie I'll be able to call them out on it."
"You shouldn't judge anypony when you don't even know them, Rainbow Dash," The voice was so soft that Mario and Luigi could barely hear it. "They could very well be nice humans."
"Besides, from what Princess Luna told us from their dreams, it looks like they were sent here against their will." From the tone, the new voice sounded like it belonged to a scholar. "We're here to take them to the Princesses to find out how they were sent here in the first place. They might be able to help them get home."
That last statement got the Mario Brothers attention. Their Princesses could help them get home?
"Then, after that, we can throw them a welcome party! But not just any welcome party, a "Welcome to our Dimension" party! I hope they like parties! Oh who am I kidding? Everypony likes parties!"
"Well, the sooner we get things over with, the sooner you can start planning their party."
The door then opened and revealed six technicolor equines. But their size Mario had to guess that they were all ponies, because horses were much bigger than these six. Upon seeing their new visitors, Luigi's eyes became saucers. It wasn't the fact that they were ponies, no, he and his brother have seen much stranger things than that. It was what kind of ponies they were. Two regular ponies weren't shocking at all, but two pegasus ponies and two unicorn ponies on the other hand were another story. However, one of the unicorns had wings just like the pegasi.
"Bro, we are definitely NOT in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore."
One week had passed since the day Mario and Luigi arrived in Equestria. The Mario Brothers were sent to a little town called Ponyville to stay at Twilight's castle until the Princesses were able to send them back to their own dimension. Settling into Ponyville was fairly easy since all the townsponies were very welcoming, unlike the ponies in Canterlot who were none too happy about them interrupting the Gala even if it was not their fault.
-Flashback-
One week ago...
Mario and Luigi stood before Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Discord after being escorted the Throne Room by Twilight and her friends. Mario had just finished explaining he and his brother's situation.
"Yes, you said that this "Bowser" was the one that sent you here when I visited you in your nightmare," Luna said with a hoof under her chin.
Discord chuckled as he floated on his back. "From how you described him, I doubt he truly knows what he did. He just saw an opportunity to get rid of his enemies and took it."
"Can you send me and Luigi back, Princesses?" Mario asked.
"Well, yes but..." Celestia paused as if hesitant to answer him. "I'm afraid that we won't be able to do so at this time."
"Um, what exactly do you mean by that, Princess?" Applejack asked.
"It means that we can not open another portal until the next full moon," Luna answered. That statement confused the ponies and plumbers.
Twilight, who was seated next to Luna, spoke up. "Is it like with the portal to Canterlot High?"
"Yes and no," Celestia said. "The portal to Canterlot High opens and closes once every thirty moons. Whereas a portal to other dimensions, although extremely rare in occurrence, can be opened after the moon reaches one full lunar cycle."
Mario's face paled slightly. "So we're trapped here for a month?"
"The Kingdom will be long since taken over by then!" Luigi panicked.
"Not necessarily." Discord slunk over to Luigi's side and put an arm over his shoulders. "The thing about different dimensions, is that time itself flows differently."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight clears her throat. "What he means, is that time here and time itself in another dimension wont necessarily flow at the same time as ours."
"Correct, Twilight." Discord snapped his claws and a chalkboard with complicated looking diagrams flashed into existence. He walked up to it in a white lab coat and began explaining. "The flow of time is different in every other dimension. Compared to ours, time can either flow at the exact same time as ours, accelerate, and/or decelerate. For those who don't understand that," he gazed towards Rainbow Dash, "it means it can be the same, faster, or slower than ours."
"Hey! I know what that means!" she glared.
"Anyway, take our dimension and yours." With a snap, the diagrams rearrange themselves to form the Mario Brothers in one of two circles; one being titled "Equestria" and the other titled "Mushroom Kingdom". "You are currently under our dimension's time influence. As of this moment, time in your dimension is in one of those three categories. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which one your dimension is currently in."
Mario and Luigi shoulders sagged.
"That is unless you're me, of course," Discord said with a grin. He pushed the chalkboard away, and with his eagle claw he tears open the fabric of space and time itself and the Mushroom Kingdom appeared behind a transparent veil.
The plumbers and ponies, except Celestia and Luna, all stared in shock.
Discord snickered. "I'm the Lord of Chaos. I can bend reality, time and space to my whim." He then lost his grin. "Unfortunately even my power has a limit to how far it can go. At the moment, all I can do is open "windows" to other dimensions once a portal opens and closes. If portals were able to be opened left and right, time and space would become unstable and collapse in on itself."
Mario pretty much tuned him out as he ran up to the "window". Everything looked normal for the most part, but all he could see was the Peach's Castle.
"Is there a way to shift the view point?" he asked.
"Just a second." Discord swiped his paw over the veil and it began to shift. Soon, everyone was watching the veil soar over all the Kingdom until finally a familiar Koopa, and a massive army behind him came into view. The ponies gave a startled gasp when they saw the massive turtle.
"So, that creature is Bowser?" Celestia asked as she analyzed his features.
"He doesn't look all that tough," Rainbow Dash scoffed. "I bet I could take him down in ten seconds flat!"
"Anypony gonna to tell us why they're movin' so slow?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, so they are," Discord mused. From their perspective it looked as though Bowser and his army was moving in slow motion. "It appears that time moves slower in your dimension. So when the time comes to open the portal again, it'll almost be as if you never left."
That made Mario and Luigi relax considerably. That really took a load off their shoulders.
"Well, since it seems you have nothing to fear, I believe it's time to make living arrangements for you," Celestia said with a smile.
-Flashback end-
After they arrived at Ponyville later that day, there was a town meeting where the situation was explained to the townsfolk. Later that night, there was a "Welcome to Our Dimension!" surprise party even though Pinkie Pie clearly stated that there would be a surprise party, but they were still surprised nonetheless when they entered through the front doors of Sugar Cube Corner.
Since that day, instead of lazing about until the portal is able to be opened once again, they decided to help in anyway they could around the town doing odd jobs and earning their keep at the castle even though Twilight said that wouldn't really be necessary.
Luigi decided that he would help Spike, Twilight's dragon assistant, with chores around the castle. There wasn't anything that the ponies around town needed help with today, so he was helping Spike while Mario was taking a nap in the library with Twilight, who was busy reading. They were currently in the kitchen with Spike cleaning the dishes, and Luigi was scrubbing the floor.
"I really appreciate you lending me a hoof with the chores, Luigi," Spike said. "Twilight can be a real slave driver sometimes."
"I can relate, Spike. When it came time to do some Spring Cleaning, Mario would just laze about and sleep while I did all the work."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to help Twilight," Spike said drying the last plate. "It's just that there's nopony here most of the time to help me when-*hrk*!" The young drake's cheeks suddenly puffed out.
Spike's sudden pause caused Luigi to turn his head towards him. He became slightly concerned when he noticed Spike's face turning green. "Uh, Spike? You feeling okay there buddy?"
Spike struggled to clear the kitchen and into the hallway before burping a green flame that formed into a scroll. He grabbed the scroll before in hit the floor. Luigi ran up beside him concerned for his friend's health.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. It was just my Dragon Fire bringing me a message. Oh, and it's from Celestia!"
He unraveled the scroll and skimmed its contents. His eyes widened and he then became a blur dashing down the hall. "Twilight! Emergency!"
Dear Princess Twilight,
I write to inform you that we have a situation here in Canterlot. Somepony has broken into the Canterlot Library Secret Archives, and activated the Emergency Entrapment Spell. The intruders are now currently trapped within a maze within the library. Now I ask that you come immediately to Canterlot with your friends, as well as the Mario Brothers, and investigate.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia
Celestia and Discord were in front of the building waiting for the Mane 6 and the Mario Brothers to arrive. Celestia had several guards patrolling around the building incase the intruders somehow manage to escape.
"Who do you think managed to actually bust in?" Discord asked.
"I have no idea. If my magic was able to bypass the enchantment I'd find out myself, but once the spell is active nothing magical and non-magical can get in nor out."
Discord smirked. "Nothing expect me, of course." Then it hit him. "You do know that I could easily teleport you in and out of there. So, why bring Twilight, her friends and those humans into this?"
"I wish to test Mario and Luigi," she said with a calm smile. "They are national heroes in their kingdom, so I wish to see what they are capable of."
Discord snickered while filing his talons and laying on a cloud he had conjured up. "You expecting them to suddenly be thrust into an adventure that will require them to save Equestria or something?"
"Of course not," she said. A slight smirk then formed on her lips. "But, knowing my little ponies, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if something like that happened."
"Princess Celestia!"
Celestia turned around to find that the Mane 6 and Mario Brothers had finally arrived.
"Welcome, everypony. I'm glad you could make it."
""Your letter said there was somepony trying to steal something from the Library Secret Archives," Twilight said. "Any idea who it might be?"
"I'm afraid not. We also do not even know how they managed to enter the building, fore there are no signs of forced entry anywhere."
Applejack raised a hoof before speaking. "Uh, excuse me Princess, but what in tarnation would be worth stealing from a library anyway?"
"Yeah, I mean, who would be that desperate to read a book?" Rainbow asked.
"Please, darling," Rarity giggled. "I distinctly remember that you tried to sneak into Ponyville Hospital so you could finish reading a Daring Do book."
Rainbow's face turned into a tomato as she gave Rarity a glare which had then shifted to a laughing Luigi and Pinkie.
"Maybe they're minions of an Equality obsessed pony who wishes to turn all of Equestria into a dull and boring place by making everypony the same through and through!" Pinkie said out of the blue.
Everyone turned to her as if she had grown a second head.
"How did you come up with that assumption, Pinkie?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know!" *Squee*
Celestia gave a cough to gain everyone's attention. "Well if we're going to find out what exactly they're after, you'll need a way to get inside." Celestia turned her gaze towards Discord. The draconequus felt her stare, and snapped the cloud away and stood ready. "Discord will teleport you beyond the enchantment so you may investigate."
Discord cracked his knuckles and out of thin air, opened a door that led into the building. "Right this way ponies and humans."
Fluttershy trotted up to Discord's side. "You're not going with us?"
"Maybe next time, dear Fluttershy. Besides you'll be fine!" Discord wraps an arm around her. "I mean, with two teams of national heroes here, I don't think you'll need me." He gave a smile to reassure her, which she returned. He then leaned in and whispered, "We're still on for tea later today, right?"
"I wouldn't miss it," she smiled.
After Discord floats out of the way, the ponies and plumbers step in front of the door ready to begin their investigation. They entered through one at a time, and once through, the door closed and vanished.
"Now we just play the waiting game," Discord said sitting upon a new cloud with a class of chocolate milk in claw.
Mario was the last one to jump out through the door before it closed and sank into the floor. They found themselves at a forked pathway that led down three different paths.
"Right off the bat we have to split up?" Rainbow groaned. "I'm just going to fly up to get a better view. Maybe I'll see the right way we're suppose to go." With a powerful flap of her wings, she was soaring towards the ceiling. She was just inches away from the top of the labyrinth, when she was suddenly electrocuted and repelled crashing to the floor with a surprised and painful cry.
"Oh dear!" Rarity gasped. "Are you all right?"
The cyan pegasus shakily stood up with bits of static running through her now frizzled mane and several slight burn marks over her body. "Well, looks like we'll be doing this the old fashioned way." she said with a neutral expression. She coughed a puff of black smoke.
"Okay, everypony pair up and choose a path," Twilight said.
"I'll go with Fluttershy," Rainbow said as she trotted up beside the shaking pegasus. "You don't have to be scared. I've got you're back in case things get messy."
"T-Thank you, Rainbow Dash," she whispered. They then went down the path on the left.
"Well then Ah guess Ah'll go with Rarity," said Applejack. "She can handle herself fine, but there's no tellin' who or what is in this here maze."
"Why thank you, darling. Though, when push comes to shove you'll do most of the shoving."
Applejack rolled her eyes at her statement as they began down the path to the right.
"Well, that just leaves us. Let's go everypony," Twilight said. "And Pinkie, don't touch anything." She made sure to emphasize her wording towards the pink mare.
Pinkie had just thrown her tenth book onto a surprisingly neat stack. "Huh, did you say something Twilight?"
"Pinkie!"
"What?"
The stack of books beside her began to glow, and then each individual book began to float. Twilight sent Pinkie a scowl.
"Pinkie, you just activated the security system!"
"Um, what does it do?" she asked becoming a little nervous.
One of the books hovered over the two ponies. They observed its every sway; Twilight ready to react if necessary. The book froze over Pinkie, before suddenly bursting open and vacuuming her up into its contents earning a surprised yelp. The Mario Brothers and Twilight fell into a state of panic. Twilight was about to retaliate, but she was suddenly flanked from behind and resulted in the same fate as Pinkie.
"Oh no!" Mario quickly jumped to grab the book, unfortunately the book floated higher out of reach and he faceplanted into the marble floor. Luigi tired his luck, but missed and slammed into the bookshelves. The books that held the two ponies flew down the pathway leaving Mario and Luigi to fend off the now magically possessed hardcovers.
Mario and Luigi tried to fallow after them, but the remanding books blocked the path. They burst open and the pages within tear free of the bindings and began to form shapes. Within moments, two white earth ponies stood before them scraping their hooves against the floor, ready to charge.
"Here we go again," Mario said.
"How do we always find ourselves in these situations, bro?"
In the center of the maze, the Mane 6 were trapped in their own individual pink magic bubbles. They tried everything they could think of to escape, but nothing worked. Twilight and Rarity tried using their magic to try to cancel the bubbles with a spell Twilight knew, but they had massive migraines after the attempt. Applejack tried kicking the bubble's walls, which only proved to tire herself out faster that usual. It was like with every kick she felt more and more weight adding onto her hind legs. It didn't help that the bubble would just absorb every kick she threw either. Rainbow Dash rammed the bubble in hope of busting her way out, but that only resulted in her ricocheting within the bouncy interior.
Pinkie was having the time of her life bouncing round in her bubble while Fluttershy silently watched. They have been at it for at least an hour now, and were showing extreme exhaustion.
Rainbow Dash groaned as she tried catching her breath. "Geez, it's like that time our Cutie Marks were taken from us!"
"Please, darling, don't bring that horrible experience up," Rarity said. "It makes me fell sick to my stomach to think that I couldn't tell the difference between gorgeous and tacky!" Her face suddenly turned slightly green from the memory.
"It's all part of the security system," Twilight said. "Trapping those that try to steal from the archives is only part of the enchantment. The second part is to capture the culprit and/or anypony that touches a book, and prevent them from using any magic or strength they possess. Even my Alicorn magic is blocked off."
"Wait, if that's the case then why is there nopony else here with us?" Rainbow asked.
"The library was closed today," Twilight said. "So it makes sense that nopony would be here with us."
"Mario and Luigi are not here either," Rarity said after a quick look around.
"Oh, I hope they're okay," Fluttershy said softly.
"They're National Heroes in their kingdom!" Rainbow said. "There's no way they'd let themselves be caught!"
Applejack gave the cyan pegasus a deadpan look. "So are we Rainbow Dash, and yet look what happened to us."
"Maybe they'll run into an old friend that they know from their dimension and team up and defeat some sort of monster in order to save us!" Pinkie said with a big smile.
Everypony was silent after Pinkie's outburst.
"Yeah, I highly doubt that," Rainbow said.
"Well whatever the case, we'll have to wait until Mario and Luigi to reach us and hopefully find a way to free us," Twilight said. Her statement gained a nod from her friends, and so they got comfortable in their prison bubbles.
Mario and Luigi continued down the seemingly endless corridor of books and shelves, with the occasional paper earth, unicorn, and/or pegasus pony attacking them. What they didn't expect to find during their venture, however, were Question Blocks they found floating in their path. They would have to figure out how Question Blocks were in this dimension later. Right now, they needed to rescue their new friends.
After a few hours, or at least that's what it felt like, of walking they decided to take a breather for a moment and sit on a couple of conveniently placed chairs.
"Is it just me, or are we experiencing a sort of pattern with our lives?" Luigi asked as he munched on one of their newly obtained Mushrooms.
"What are you talking about little bro?"
"I mean, I get the feeling that after this we're going to be thrust into another world saving quest! I've noticed that's always happened after small events like this one. It's not just in our kingdom, but in others as well. Who's to say this kingdom, not to mention this dimension will be any different?"
Mario sighed. "Yes, I've noticed that too. I wouldn't really be surprised if that happened while we were here, but who knows." Mario bit into a Mushroom. "This could be a simple break in that the Princess wanted us to look into, and then the rest of the month will go by without anything happening."
Luigi popped the last bit of his Mushroom into his mouth. "I hope you're right bro. This past week has been very relaxing, and I'd like that to last a little bit longer."
"GAH! Back off you bozos!"
The sudden outburst caught their attention. At first they were confused; who else could be there...! They then noticed someone running towards them, while being chased by four paper pegasi. Upon closer inspection, the person being chased was the last person Mario and Luigi would ever see..
"You've got to be kidding me..." Luigi groaned.
The one ahead of the chase was someone they've run into several times in both the Beanbean and Pi'illo Kingdom. The self proclaimed "Shadow Thief", Popple.
The thief leaped over the plumbers and continued their dash. Popple gazed over his shoulders and yelled. "You two look strong and durable, be a good distraction!" He then dove behind a fort of stacked books that the Mario Brothers could have sworn was not there a second ago.
Mario and Luigi turned back towards the pegasi that were now charging towards them. Mario jumped up and stomped his feet into the first two pegasi, making them burst into harmless paper sheets.
"Help!"
Mario quickly turned around only to find his brother being towed away by the last two pegasi. He struggled to get free from their grasp, but to no avail. Mario saw no other way to get to his brother. He can jump pretty high, but the altitude they were gaining was too high even for him.
"Come on, there's got to be some way to get up there." He looked around to find any possible way to reach his quickly ascending brother. *Sigh* "Looks like I'll have to use the shelves." He backed up a bit to get a running start, and with a sprint, he leaped up and began applying his experience in wall jumping on the surprisingly sturdy bookshelves.
Luigi's face slowly lost it's color as he watched the floor became beyond his reach. "Oh Mamma Mia. Too high, much, much too high."
Suddenly, the two pegasi holding him up looped and changed their angle and accelerated towards the floor. This is when Luigi unleashed an unmanly scream.
"Luigi!"
His fear vanished at the sound and sight of brother jumping up the bookshelves. Luigi braced himself as Mario tackled him and forcefully removed him from the pegasi's grip, and safely hop back down the bookshelves towards the floor.
Luigi released a relieved sigh. "Thanks bro. I thought I was a goner for a minute there."
"Don't thank me yet," Mario said as he turned his attention back to the circling pegasi.
The brothers watched as the pegasi dived towards them. Then, at the last second, they rolled out from under the dive bombing pegasi, making them slam into the floor and explode into paper sheets.
"Whew, I'm glad I had you two take out those Paper-Mache freaks."
Popple came shuffling out from behind their book fort and marched over to the Mario Brothers. "It was very clever of me to assume that you two were capable of beating those things. The Great Shadow Thief has an eye for potential rookies, see?"
Mario and Luigi deadpanned at Popple's boasting.
Since he was no longer being hunted down, he could study the brothers a little more closely. "Hey, wait a minute..." His eyes squinted as he studied them with more intensity. Then it hit him. "Are you kidding me!? How did I manage to run into you two palookas here?" He started angrily stomping his feet. "I thought I was rid of you lot since you ruined my plans on robbing the Pi'illo Kingdom of its treasures!"
"The real, question here is," Mario spoke up. "How did you end up here in Equestria?"
"I was trying to steal from some bigshot's castle," he said calmly. "I was able to get in thanks to his security literally sleeping on the job." He then had a huge grin on his face. "I mean, c'mon, with security as lazy as that, they were just begging for me to rob them dry!"
He then scowled. "I was on my way to the castle gates, until I was caught by some the big guy and some weird Koopa flying around on a broom."
Mario and Luigi turned to each other, then back to Popple. "You seriously tried to steal from Bowser?" Luigi asked.
The thief clearly wasn't listening as he continued his rambling. "Then the Koopa on the broom tried to hit me with some spell. He missed, and blasted the gates wide open. Thinking that was my cue to disappear, I leaped through, but instead of obtaining freedom I went through some weird Poison Mushroom trip and ended up here in Magical Pony Land."
"Well, at least we now know how Bowser came up with the idea of how to get rid of us," Luigi whispered to Mario, to which nodded in acknowledgment.
"How long ago was this?" Mario asked.
"Um...pffft...several months, give ore take..."
Their eyes widened. So Popple was in this world far longer than they were. "What are you doing here inside a library?" Mario asked.
"Some pony actually told me that if I was looking for treasure to steal, then the 'Canterlot Library' would be the best place to look."
Silence filled the corridor as Mario and Luigi gave him blank looks. Popple ignored them and continued talking. "But so far, all I keep running into are those Paper-Mache freaks and possessed books ever since I tried to get through a secret door that was hidden behind a giant painting." He sighed. "Oh well, I've been through worse. I guess we're in this together until we get out of this place."
He then began walking aimlessly down the corridor. The Mario Brothers sighed heavily before fallowing.
After several hours of trudging through the maze, a few battles, and listening to Popple's nonstop babbling about how awesome a thief he is, they eventually make it to a pair of tall doors.
"This must be the end of the maze," Mario said.
"I hope so," Luigi sat on the floor, took off his shoes and began rubbing his feet. "I don't think my poor feet could take much more walking."
"I don't know why you're moping. I feel perfectly fine," Popple said.
"That's because you made me and Mario do all the fighting."
Mario tossed Luigi a Mushroom. "There's no point in arguing. By our luck, there's going to be a 'Boss' on the other side of these doors so you'll need to refuel your energy."
"Wait, you mean there's something even worse than what we've been running into behind those doors?" Popple asked.
"Most likely."
"...Well, it's been nice knowing you! I believe I'll take my chances with the bozos that we left in the dust. See ya, suckers!" Within seconds, Popple had disappeared back into the maze.
The brothers just stared in the direction the thief had bolted. Luigi then turned to Mario. "Should we go after him or..."
Mario shook his head. "There's nowhere for him to go. Besides, saving our friends is more important."
Agreeing with his brother, they walked up to the tall doors and pushed them open. But, there was nopony there.
"Where are they? This is the end of the maze, right?" Luigi asked as they searched the room.
"Guys! Up here!"
The sound of Twilights voice caught their attention, and they quickly looked up. There they were, floating in separate magic bubbles.
"Now, how are we supposed to get you out of those bubbles?" Mario asked.
"Well, they're inside bubbles," Luigi backed up a few steps. "We just have to pop them."
Twilight's eyes widen. "Wait, Luigi don't-!"
Too late.
Luigi dashed forward and jumped. Luigi's feet slammed into the bubble Twilight was trapped in, but unfortunate for Luigi it didn't pop. Instead, he was repelled onto the floor with just as much force as he used on the bubble making spider web cracks. Everyone in the room cringed.
"You okay there, sugar cube?" Applejack asked.
All Luigi could manage was a painful moan. Suddenly, Twilight's bubble began vibrating and producing electricity. A spark transferred from Twilight's bubble to the others until all of them were surging with electricity. Then they began to merge with one another.
"Um, what's happening Twilight?" Fluttershy asked; fear evident in her eyes.
"I don't know! Luigi must have triggered the defense system!"
Once the bubbles became one, it was easily three times the size of the originals. The electricity ceased and then fell to the ground which shook the room. The now grounded bubble wiggled before sprouting two arms with fists roughly the same size as the Mario Brothers, and a giant eye opened in the center of the bubble. It gazed down at them, furrowed its eye, and gave off a loud gurgling sound.
Boss Battle Prison Bubble
The room flashed, temporarily blinding Mario and Luigi. When it was safe to open there eyes, they noticed that the room was much bigger than before, and looked like a Coliseum Stage. Now they had enough space to dodge any incoming attacks.
"Huh, this also seems to happen every time we fight a 'Boss'," Luigi said as he looked around.
The Prison Bubble raised its fists and brought them down hard, sending a shockwave towards the brothers. Mario managed to jump over the attack, but because Luigi wasn't paying attention, it caused him to be sent flying backwards a few feet.
The Boss swung its open palm down to crush Mario, but he dodged by jumping onto the monster's hand and running up is arm. Once he was close enough, he leaped up and planted his feet onto the top of the monster's head. Although just like Luigi from earlier, he was caught off guard as he sprung upwards do to the Boss's rubbery exterior. The Prison Bubble watched as Mario fell back down, it then brought one of its fists back and punched Mario when he was eye level and sent him sprawling along the floor. The ponies trapped within the Boss cringed as all they could do was helplessly watch.
Mario and Luigi groggily rose to their feet. Luigi turned to his brother, "Man, not even Bowser hurt this much."
"We're in an entirely different world Luigi," Mario said. "Of course there are going to be enemies we're not use to fighting."
"I'm just surprised that this is the first enemy that doesn't have spikes, and we can't rely on jumping on them like we normally do," Luigi said finally regaining his senses.
"Which means we need to find it's weakness."
They turned their attention back to the Boss when they heard their friends screaming and noticed it had bounced into the air. Upon landing, it slammed its fists onto the floor and created another shockwave. Mario was able to dodge, Luigi however jumped a little too late and the attack nipped his feet causing him to trip and summersault, turning him into a ball rolling towards the Prison Bubble.
Mario, in the spur of the moment, quickly ran up behind his rolling brother brought his foot back and kicked; turning Luigi into a projectile and crashing into the surprised monster's giant eye. The monster stumbled back rubbing its now pain filled eye.
"Ah ha!" Mario cheered. "So your eye is your weakness!"
Luigi jumped to his feet and glared at Mario. "Did you really have to kick me that hard?"
Mario scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
The brothers returned their attention back to the Prison Bubble to find it glaring and trembling with anger. With a loud gurgle, it's arms retracted into its body, and began barreling towards them.
"Whoa!"
"Incoming!"
The brothers narrowly evaded the steamrolling Bubble as they dove to the sides. The Prison Bubble was moving so fast that it couldn't navigate correctly, and crashed into the bookshelf walls and stopped completely. The Boss rolled back to reveal the giant eye swirling.
The poor ponies inside looked like they were going to be sick from the ride they just went on. "That was NOT fun..." Pinkie moaned.
Mario and Luigi took this as an opportunity to strike and stomped their feet into the Boss's eye. With a pain filled gurgle the Prison Bubble rotated its body back upright, and regrew its arms. Then, in a pit of blind rage, it flailed its arms around desperately trying to crush Mario and Luigi. They managed to avoid being pummeled into the floor, albeit just barely, by jumping over its fits when swung to the side and side stepping when swung downward. Then it raised its fists into the air and slammed them down to create a massive shockwave that the brothers didn't expect, and the attack shot them into the air.
While still airborne, Mario noticed that the Boss had halted its rampage to catch its breath. He quickly recovered and looked to Luigi, who had turned to him and gave him the same look of understanding, and they nodded to each other. Mario held out his hands and Luigi grabbed them. He then spun a few times to gain speed, and when he landed he used the momentum he needed, and he tossed his brother at the Boss with everything he had.
The Prison Bubble looked up and saw Mario rocketing towards it. Being too exhausted to react, it couldn't stop Mario from slamming his feet into its eye. The tremendous amount of force behind Mario's attack caused the Boss's body to crack. Mario back flipped a few feet from the Boss ready to continue; Luigi quickly rejoining him.
The Prison Bubble raised its arms to attack, but its body suddenly freezes and its giant eye widened. The cracks in its body increase and light began to flow through, and finally the Prison Bubble exploded into a sea of rainbow colored stars.
After the stars disperse, Twilight and the others fell to the floor where the Boss once stood. The ponies groaned as they tried to steady themselves; all of them disoriented from the ride. Light then filled everyone's vision, and they were back in the room from before the fight.
"Dose this sort of thing happen a lot with you two?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, but we're use to it," Mario said.
Suddenly, the room violently shook causing many of the books on the shelves to crash to the floor. The room was then covered in a pink aura, and everyone watched in awe as the room shrank. The room stopped shrinking, and the aura disappeared and the shaking came to an end as well. Now, they were standing in what appeared to be in a lounge.
"Okay, anypony gonna tell us what the hay just happened?" Applejack asked.
"I guess the monster was connected to the Library Security Spell," Twilight said. "The library must be back to normal."
"Does that mean that it will be easier to find the pony that tried to steal from the library is still here?" Fluttershy asked timidly.
"That's quite possible darling, that is if he has not escaped already," Rarity said.
Mario cleared his throat and brought the ponies attention to him. "Actually, we found the thief before we came to find you."
"Really?" They all asked in unison.
"And, turns out that it was someone we've run into a couple of times back home," Luigi said.
"What!?"
"But, how is that possible?" Twilight asked.
"He apparently got here the same way as us," Luigi sighed. "He was trying to steal from Bowser's treasury. Kamek used the same teleportation spell on him, which led them to use it on us."
"Ha!" Pinkie suddenly appeared behind the brothers. "I told you that they would meet somepony from their world!"
"You also said that it would be a friend of theirs," Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.
"Anyway, we'd better go after him before he can escape," Twilight said trotting towards the doors with everyone following.
Meanwhile, through a door behind a giant painting of Celestia, down a spiral staircase, a cloaked figure walked up to a book sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Upon opening it, the book produced a bright red glow revealing her face. Starlight Glimmer smirked and chuckled as she removed her hood, and gazed upon the contents of the book.
"With this, I'll be able to take my revenge on Twilight and her friends," she said with sinister smirk.