> It All Started With A Big Bang
>  by Cipher800
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Universal Rebirth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was so close to beating that damn plumber, Mario. He mowed through my galaxy and left me to die. But if there's one thing that you must know at me, I'm good at living, aka not dying. I walked across the dying remains of the star I made, worn and beat, and extremely weakened. I stumbled across what remaining rock there was, drowsy and nearly asleep. I used what little of my strength left to see my work crumble before my very eyes as I roared out into the cosmos.

"NOOOO! My galaxy! My empire!" I said before I roared out into space.

"This can't be happening!" I roared out as I sunk into the star that gave my galaxy heat. And then, all hell broke loose as it collapsed into a supermassive black hole. I lived, that's for sure, and I can sure as heck see what went on outside of the black hole. The airships and the observatory crumbled, yet oddly Peach's Castle remained intact as she and Mario hurtled through space. Sadly, anything that comes into a black hole, with the obvious exception being me, goes through the ultimate shredding machine, and not even their atoms remained.

And then that Luma character jumped from my archnemisis's head, and in a moment that even me sad, it and several others attempted to neutralize the black hole from the inside just as the last of the stuff entered. Even Mario died along with the Lumas, even Rosalina, the woman that attempted to save the two, perished. But why me?

I watched the last of the universe get sucked into the black hole before my very eyes, well, before everything went out with a bang. I'm not joking, it literally went out in an explosion of light.

I was too weak to sigh. I could only watch as everything went from black and stuffless to foggy in a soup of stuff way too small for me to understand, all in a fraction of a second. I curled up into a ball and from what I can tell you, I've been dormant for a long, long time.






13.7 BILLION YEARS LATER...


Twilight Sparkle, a lavender alicorn with a navyblue mane and tail sat in her castle bedroom with one of Fluttershy's stuffed animals nearby. Her purple eyes looked upon her scrapbook. Sure, there was that chandelier that her friends made from what remained from the Golden Oak Library after it was destroyed by Tirek, but she always like this.

She wasn't originally born an alicorn, she was born a unicorn in Canterlot and was always interested in Celestia, and watched her raise the sun in the Summer Sun Celebration. She was always interested in magic, and studied to be like Celestia. She was her personal student, and still is in a way. When Nightmare Moon returned, she met her friends and learned that friendship is, well, magic. She toppled threat after threat. She danced with Discord, foiled a wedding sabatoge, stopped King Sombra, toppled Tirek, and reformed the pony who is now her current student. She has went through so many stuff, and all the while she had her friends.

A purple dragon whelpling with green spines walked in with a scroll in his hand.

"Twilight! I got a message from Princess Luna!" Spike said as Twilight unraveled the letter.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, I've sent this parcel to you to tell you that a burning light has appeared in the night sky that was well beyond my control. Meet me at the observatory in Canterlot. Signed, Princess Luna." Twilight said out loud.

Twilight charged her horn and teleported herself and Spike to Canterlot Observatory, where a dark blue alicorn with an ethereal mane that shares resemblance to the night sky is standing with a look of fear and satisfaction, or some mix of the two.

"Good, you're here. Recently, my sister and I were alerted of a meteor hurtling towards Equis." Luna said as she walked with Spike and Twilight to two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns.

"I didn't tell you everything, but I have to tell you thism there's something wrong with the meteor. It seems to be giving off some odd readings that's unlike those of the very few meteors that landed in Equestria and discovered. It may be small, but there's no telling what could be inside that thing." the Princess of the Night said as she looked into the sky with her telescope.

A small asteroid entered the upper Equestrian atmosphere and started to burn up and broke apart to reveal a green ball with white spikes on it. That said ball began to light on fire. It did not burn up, and withstood the fire. Then, it did something totally unexpected that shocked Luna. The spiked ball moved to another direction.

"What the? It moved!?" Luna said as the flaming spiked ball turned its path yet again.

"We could handle the meteor chunks, but that flaming spiked ball keeps moving in a different direction every few seconds, and there's no telling what it would strike if it keeps doing that." the Princess of Friendship was very surprised, yet very interested. She hoped that the spiked ball would not strike the Crystal Empire, her sister-in-law is still hasn't given birth to her baby yet, and her brother would kill himself if that thing struck her cold before she can give birth.

"What do you think we should do?" One of the observers said as he temporarily looked away from the telescope.

"We'll find it."





Twilight Sparkle now found where the spiked ball landed. She and Fluttershy went through White Tail Woods and near Equestria's border with the Undiscovered West to find a huge crater were a few acres of trees once stood, some of which were on fire.

"Alright, Fluttershy. It's now or never." Twilight said as she and her yellow companion walked into the crater. Very few animals were walking here, well, unless you count sentient beings as animals.

The two saw smoke in the center of the crater. Had to be where it landed.

"There it is. Um, what now?" Fluttershy said as they saw the green ball lying there, the flames long since gone, as it seemed. It was very big, about as high as Discord's default height plus hers.

But then, something happened. The spiked ball began to open up, releasing a cloud of hydrogen and helium gas into the atmosphere.

"Oh my goodness." Twilight said in a high-pitched voice as the being within was revealed. It was a reptilian turtle-like creature covered with orange scales all over its body except for its head, which had green scales. Its snout and stomach had light pinkish-brown scales and it had spikes pretty much everywhere. The spiked ball was actually its shell, after closer inspection, it had spikes on its tail. On the beast's head was a mane of bright red hair with a single grey streak in it. Its eyebrows were the same, except it was inverted and the red was duller. The only accessories the creature had were black bands on its neck, shoulders, and arms.

"Twilight, its injured!" Fluttershy said as she pointed toward the dragon-turtle-alien thing. True to her word, there were scars all over the creature's body, some of which were seeping out blood, and some of its spikes were cracked. It was unconscious, poor thing.

"Alright, Fluttershy. You did bring the first aid kit, right?" Twilight said as her friend began wrapping the creature's injured spots in snow white bandages, which were soaked red.

"And I think we've found an alien." Twilight said to herself as she came towards her friend.
> Swift Recovery, Unfortunate Realization
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't remember much recent events, and I thought that damn Mario must have beat me down hard. Then, I remembered it all. The universe died along with my previous home world. My body feels weak and sad as the seeds of consciousness return to me. It's funny that I have a lot of unspent talent on my hands. I attempted to open my eyes, but immediately closed them in response to the brightness of, well, whatever lights there are.

This time, it's a world all too different for me. I have no army, no kingdom. None, nada, zip. Personally, I'm glad that Mario's gone, but then again, I'm sad that the universe is never the same again.

"Well, judging by the analysis, that alien's anatomy mirrors that of a dragon's and a turtle's, maybe a bit of dinosaur in the mix along with the other two." a female-sounding voice said. Even though I can't see anything worth even half of a penny, I can hear everything pretty good. I attempted once more to open my eyes, but the light was still to bright. This time, I blocked the light with my hand.

"He's moving. Quick, get Twilight over here. She needs to see this." another voice shouts in fear and bit of excitement. Thanks for squeaking that, whoever you are, I've still got a body that can move. And so, I let my eyes adjust to the bright lights. It looked like I was in a hospital bed, with those weird mummy bandages. An IV was stuck to my left arm, drawing blood. I can see that I'm in a stereotypical hospital, or at least, a hospital by the looks of it.

"Where, where am I? Who are you?" I groaned as I made out the shapes before me. They were all equines of some kind. Some of them had wings, some had horns, and some had both. They were of many different colors, and the all seemed shocked at the fact that I spoke.

"It speaks!" One of what I could assume would be a male said as what I think is a female, well, fainted in what appeared to be shock.

I heard the door creak open and close just as a purple horse creature with a dark blue mane that had a purple and pink strip in it walk into the room. Unlike the other members of the group, it had both a horn on its head and a pair of wings. Alongside it was another equine, this time a yellow, pink-maned specimen with only a pair of wings sticking out.

But I then realized a burning feeling in my stomach. I was hungry.

"Wait a minute. Are you really a bunch of talking horses or are you just normal humans? I think I'm so hungry that I may be starting to hallucinate." I said as the yellow one hid behind the purple specimen.

"He's hungry. He, he's going to eat us!" the yellow thing, a pegasus, from what I recall. Wait, why would I eat that thing, or any of them for that matter. I bet it tastes horrible.

"No! I don't want to eat you, I just wanna know where I am, any why the heck I am in a hospital." I said.

"Oh, you are in Ponyville's Hospital. If you are talking about the country, you're in the Kingdom of Equestria, a peaceful land of magic and friendship. We ponies live here. Who are you?" the winged unicorn said.

"Okay... I must be dreaming. Let me go back to sleep and hopefully, I'll wake up somewhere that's worth mentioning."

"Oh no you don't! You have to answer my question. Who in Equestria are you!?" the winged unicorn said.

"Well, Little McMissy, if you must know, I'm Bowser, the King of the Koopas, King of the Court, King of the Track, King of Tennis, and the soon-to-be ruler of my home world." I said before I remembered what has happened to me. I hung my head low while I thought about what I should tell them. I did not know the demeanor of this new world's inhabitants, so I simply, shrunk my problem.

"Or, at least I was, until my home planet was destroyed by a black hole." I lied. It was partially true. As I hoped, they bought it.

"Oh, I had no idea. I first thought you were a threat judging by your horns and spikes. I'm Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship."

"And I'm Fluttershy." the yellow individual said. I think I would have to recover much longer with that thing around.

Deep down, I felt kinda, no, I felt really happy. It ain't over for Bowser yet. She's a princess to this land, and I'm not sure if the friendship title is special or just a way to make her feel special, but you get what you get. I looked around at the various doctors, nurses, and patients. Every one of them that was conscious or not focused on other things just stared at me, and who can blame them when a creature from ages past is recovering in a hospital along with the other patients, which are mostly those horse-looking creatures.

I'm friggin' Bowser, how is that odd? But, then again, the other patients are pretty much all ponies. If I cannot take over my world, then I'll slowly plan to take over this one. When the time is right, I'll kidnap the so-called Princess of Friendship, but I first need to lay low and study this new world before I can go willy milly. I may not be smart, but I'm definitely not stupid, and yes, before you ask, I'm able to read. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces once Equestria's in my claws.

"Hi, are you the alien Twilight told me about? My name is Pinkie Pie and I will throw you a Welcome to Equestria Party. Do not ask, it's what I do every time someone new comes, hi hi hi hi hi hi!" a pink specimen who called herself Pinkie Pie said as she jumped up and down very fast, and said her words so fast that I could barley make them out.

"Don't worry, she's normally hyper." one of the doctors said as Twilight chased Pinkie around.

"Pinkie! Did you drink coffee again!" Twilight said.

"What? I thought it was hot cocoa." Pinkie said, this time slower.

"Remind me how long I'm going to recover?" I said.

"Oh, about a week."

A few hours passed but Twilight managed to calm Pinkie down. Even without the caffeine rush, she was still hyper, but she had better control of it. Here goes the official introduction and what not.

"Yep, his name is Bowser, and he's staying with me for a little while." Twilight said as the pink pony handed me a cake. I needed more that that to take my hunger away.

"What do you eat here? I would go for a nice roasted chicken or pig. I'm so hungry that I could eat a horse, err, I mean cow." I said as the ponies grimaced.

"What, it's a figure of speech."
> Meet the Crystal Heir
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy, does anybody here have a rough night? I sure had when I realized the situation. I have no archnemesis, no army to command, my kingdom was gone and worse, and worse, I'm stuck in a land of colorful talking horses, namely in a hospital. I cannot believe this cruel joke fate played on me. Me, a once powerful tyrant, feared and respected by many, with the exception of those pesky plumbers, was reduced to recovering in a hospital and dependent on multicolored horses to survive.

Turns out that these "ponies", much like horses in my world, don't eat meat. Cows are sentient, so no eating them. Typical. Fortunately, there are still meat-eaters here in "Equestria", but cows, buffalo, and deer are sentient, or sapient in the planet I'm currently stranded in, so I'm reduced to eating chickens and pigs.

Sooner than I expected, I made my recovery and was out of the hospital in no time. Apparently, Princess Twinkle Sprinkle or whoever she's called is letting me stay at her castle for now. This "Ponyville" that the hospital was set in was too happy for my taste. I could have sworn that there were heart signs everywhere I look. And just like the hospital, everybody was staring. My world was dead before I can rule it, so this world would have to do.

As I followed Twilight, I took a look at the surrounding landscape. That pink pony from before was apparently working at a bakery, and the yellow pony, "Fluttershy", worked with animals. A rainbow-maned pony zipped through the skies along with several others in matching suits as an orange pony handed out some apples. A white pony was chatting with a smaller white pony, an orange one, and a yellow one as they all go into a merry-go-round.

I wasn't very long before I saw the castle that I was supposed to stay in. There wasn't anything that was my style. It didn't look like a castle at all, except maybe for the people of Brooklyn, who reside in a land in which everything was weird. It basically looked a common house was built upon a giant tree coated in crystal. A large double door flanked by two glass windows. Bah, what a ripoff! I've seen much better from Peach's Castle!

"Oh Spike! We have a guest!" Twilight said. Of course, I thought it was another pony, but boy did I not expect to see a small bipedal purple lizard with green spines open the door for us. Well, he was accompanied by a unicorn, who's fur while purple, was a lighter purple that that of my current host's. Her mane was purple with a blue strip in it. If she had wings like the pony with me I would have sworn that she was her sister, but back to the topic.

"Twilight! Isn't that the alien thing that crashed to Equis? He's huge" the lizard said. Equis is the planet's name, I did not have time to learn it, but I'm not into learning.

"Yep, Spike. He says his name is Bowser, and says that his planet was destroyed. Me and Fluttershy had found him unconscious in what used to be part of Whitetail Woods, near the Undiscovered West. he's gonna stay with us until we get sorted out." the alicorn said to her reptilian friend. Stupid ponies did not let me do my epic Bowser introduction.

I walked around the hallways. Way too empty, just like my life was.

"Hmmm, not too shabby, but can use a little more gray and some brick." I said.

"Where do you live?" Spike asked.

"Oh, nothing more than a large castle with security measures such as lava and hundreds of guards. I was a king, you know." I said before Twilight started to run upstairs along with Spike and the other unicorn like there was something important. Man, all those fitness classes really helped with my speed greatly. I did not have time until I saw Twilight smiling as she started into space. I saw her look at what appeared to be a snowflake. Was it winter yet?

The picture came more clear when it landed and opened, quite literally like those weird origami puzzle things, revealing a letter.

"It's a Crystalling invitation!" Spike said.

"A Crysta-what-vantation?" I asked.

"A Crystalling invantation. My brother and sister-in-law have gave birth to a baby sometime during your recovery. My BBBFF is a father now, and I'm an aunt. Tell you what, I'm bringing you with me." she said. Though I managed to hide my feelings quite well, I still was very sad about the fact that all eight of my children perished when the universe reset.

"Oh, and Starlight, this is the perfect way for reuniting with your friend, Sunburst!" Twilight said with an enthusiastic smile, electing a nervous giggle from the unicorn.





The train I had to go into, this so-called Friendship Express was ridiculous. I cannot believe that I would have no choice but to ride that sugar-coated, frosted gumdrop. The only thing that this thing was good for was as an amusement park ride or food. I'm glad and a bit humiliated that I'm inside, which doesn't look girly. It overall looks casual by human standards.

Multiple ponies sat along with me as we went ever closer towards the so-called Crystal Empire, taking to each other. As for me, I was looking at a map of "Equestria" and noticed that it looked so small when compared to Equestria. What a joke.

"Um, Applejack, what is that?" a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus said with a yawn.

"Oh, just a little something for the young'un." Applejack said before pulling a cloth to reveal a western-style cradle with a bunch of apples painted onto the wooden frame.

"Made from genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple trees. We make 'em for all the  Apples, and anypony related to Twilight is practically family." Twilight blushed at the comment before the rainbow-maned pegasus began talking.

"Yeah, it's okay... But it's no Cloudsdale mobile! Bam!" the rainbow-maned pegasus said as she revealed a mobile with weather-related stuff on it. The pink pony attempted to touch it, but ended up knocking one of the chains down with a glasslike sound.

"Well, a mobile is real nice... as long as you have somethin' to lay in so you can look at it."

"And a fetching blanket to keep you warm." the unicorn said as she used her telekenisis to replace the blanket already on the cradle.

"I'm sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will love all our gifts. But I think they're more happy we'll be attending the baby's Crystalling." Twilight said before I interrupted the conversation.

"Are we there yet?" I said before I heard the train stop. Well, that answered my question. Everyone came out, jumping and flying right out of the train while I lumbered out behind them. Why I can fit in their buildings is a mystery even to me.

"Step one, head to Sunburst's house and get you two started on the right  hoof. Step two, get to the castle with enough time to visit the ba-" before Twilight can finish, she bumped into a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane, who was apparently asleep. Boy, he looked like he really needed his medication, and people should look while they walk, thank you very much.

"Um, Twilight, is that guy real? I think I may be hallucinating!" The unicorn said.

"Shining Armor, he is real, and his name is Bowser. He crashed into the planet a month before your baby was born, and woke up a week after we found him." Twilight said, only to have the unicorn sleeping.

"Is he always like this, because I can tell you he looked like he slept in a dumpster." I said as the alicorn glared at me.

"Is he alright?" I said, waving a hand over the unicorn's face before he woke up.

"Never better! Being a father is amazing! And wonderful, and amazing, and  confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that  you'd know. You wouldn't know, I know... You know?" the unicorn said, grinned insanely before falling back asleep.

In truth I knew, I was a father before the universe reset thanks to my galactic conquest. But what I can't believe is the reaction he had with seeing me, Bowser Koopa.

"Earth to Mr. Cant-get-enough-sleep, we came to see your child." I said as I once more waved my hand at him, only for no response.

"I like this guy's logic, Starlight. Come on, let's go meet up with Sunburst." Spike said as he headed with the purple unicorn to another part of the crystalline city that I saw in the distance. Little guy ain't that bad himself, I'll promote him once I take over Equestria, but back to what we're doing. Fortunately, Shining Armor was awake and I didn't have to get annoyed by his constant snoring.

After a good hour or so of walking into a massive, and I mean MASSIVE palace of crystal, we are finally at where the nursery is.

"Before we go in, I should probably tell you. Seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock." Shining Armor said before Twilight opened the door to let us all in.

"Come on, big brother. I've met babies before. I expect meeting this one won't be any different." Twilight said as we gazed upon their little gift from above. It was a pure white filly, with a purple and blue mane around her horn similar to Starlight's but more curly. All of the ponies felt it to be pretty normal until blanket fell off to reveal the filly's fully-feathered wings. It opened its light blue eyes and gazed at us and cooed before sucking its hoof with its mouth. I may need to return to the hospital.

"What's so weird about that?" I said with obvious sarcasm, saying it like it was something completely normal, causing Twilight to roll her eyes at me like I didn't get it.

"Don't you get it? The baby is an alicorn!" she said as the baby moved its wings, still sucking on her own hoof.

"It looks that way..." I looked to see a pink alicorn with a mane of purple, yellow, and magenta. How come I did not notice her before?

"But... But... But I thought Alicornhood had to be earned by accomplishing some great, princess-worthy deed!" the white unicorn said.

"Yeah, how can you just be born with them?" Applejack said.

I turned my head to see two more alicorn mares with opposing colors, one with white fur and a sparkling rainbow mane and one with dark blue fur and a mane that resembled the night sky. Was there an air current where they were standing?

"The birth of an Alicorn is something Equestria has never seen!" the tall white one that barely came up to my elbow said.

"It is beyond even our understanding." the smaller black alicorn said.

"Yeah, as if what you just said was reassuring. Welp, I'm done, I'm gonna just sit outside in the local park. Adios." I said as I went out and closed the door behind me, ignoring their reactions at my show.
> Taste the Blizzard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stupid little ponies, they dragged me here just to see a baby, only to be shocked that it had a horn and wings. Pitiful, that's what these horses are. They should've been more shocked about say, an extra eye or no back legs. I slammed the door behind me, ignoring the wild horse hootenanny inside. I thought about everything I lost as I walked through the palace, but the past is past, and I'm sure I will not be able to go that far, even with my time magic. It just cannot work that way.

I walked across the courtyard without any aim, looking around. Turns out, the Crystal Empire really suited the crystal part, but why can you call it an empire? Either it's just a city-state, or the ponies purposefully distort their maps to make themselves look big. It was not that bad to me because it was less girly and more majestic, but either way, ponies. They weren't like the ones I saw at the hospital, all of them were earth ponies with a overall crystalline appearance.

Overall, the journey was pretty boring, to me at least. Until that fateful moment when dark, angry storm clouds flew overhead. The crystal ponies lost their, well, crystal, and started panicking as a fresh blanket of pure white snow is falling upon us at a fast rate.

"Great, a blizzard. And just in time for the holidays." I said, more bored than scared. To be honest, of of any of the blizzards I've been through, this one was more volatile. The two tall ones from before, the ones with the flowing manes, those things came flying into the sky and began shooting lasers at the upcoming blizzard. Sure, they shot a few clouds, but the dark blizzard was too large.

"Alright, what is going on here!" I said as I saw a horde of ponies run towards the palace. Staying in the shadows, I saw a few ponies and that lizard get together and then go into the heart of the palace. Unfortunately for me, I fell into a bunch of snow, almost giving me their attention. As soon as I thought they were away, I followed them.

At the center of the palace, Twilight was taking notes or something on a scroll with a quill, accompanied by a pink alicorn and a bunch of broken shards to something.

"Uh, I think that's everything..." Twilight said as she transfered the letter to the pink alicorn, apparently named Mi Amore Cadenza, or simply Cadence for short.

"It looks right to me, but... there's only one way to find out!" Cadence said as she walked away from the area. Twilight let a beam loose from her horn and attracted the pieces together in a heart shape. Apparently, their magic can only go out through their horns. If they don't have a horn, no magic, and with no magic, no way to escape their kidnapping. I'm a genius, but back to the topic. Cadenza went in and helped Twilight hold the pieces together. When they thought they were done, they released it, but it broke back into shards. Weak.

"The spell failed. I don't know what else to do." Twilight said. I was just about to jump out of the curtains and pounce on Twilight to destroy her horn so I can kidnap her properly, when suddenly, the group came in.

"There goes my chance." I said quietly as the Mane Six, Starlight, an orange unicorn male, and the two other princesses go inside.

"An old sutdent of mine believes he does." the white pony said. The orange unicorn stared at the broken remains of crystal.

"The baby did this!?" he said in shock. Really, a baby did this. Again, this place is weak, and too easy to take over. Boy, they won't know what hit 'em once I take over Equestria and transform it into my liking, right before I likely change them entirely. Twilight was about to say something when the orange one completed the alicorn's sentence for her.

"The spell of Relic Reconstitution. No, that won't do it. The Crystal Heart's been around for millennia. Restoring a relic like this is way  beyond one spell. You need to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself. Something that strengthens it and provides it with power...?"

"The Crystalling!" Twilight said in realization. Apparently, they'll be trying to combine reparing this so-called 'Crystal Heart' with their little 'Crystalling' event. Everyone fled back outside while Twilight, Starlight, and the two wave-haired alicorns began releasing powerful beams at the shards of the Crystal Heart, pulling them together. Welp, time to check on the other side.

Well, on that side, I focused outward to the heart-shaped podium. Why does everything have to have hearts in this equine wasteland!?

Both Cadence and Shining Armor kissed their baby before uniting their magical auras and lifting their child into the air.

"Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!" the orange unicorn said as the baby alicorn opened her wings. It seems as if their names (mostly) mirror their but tattoos, or their talents, or other things among that. When the crystal ponies touched the ground, the streets lit up. The orange unicorn touched a shard onto the floor, and it absorbed all the energy.

"Welp, I know how this goes." I said as I closed my eyes. Right on que, a shockwave of pure energy removed all the snow and the climate began warming back up, and everyone turned into living crystal.





Now, we are back at the train station, in which a dark blue stallion and a white and purple female, both unicorns, walked out. I turned out to be the only one not turned into crystal, not that anyone noticed. They both turned out to be Twilight and Shining's parents.

"You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. Came out of nowhere." the male unicorn, Nightlight, said. I rolled my eyes at the statement as I crossed my gold-scaled arms and snorted.

"But it was all worth it to see this peaceful little angel! Awww, so sweet! Come to your grandmare!" the female, who was also coincidentally named Twilight, said as the little creature giggled. It then started to inhale like it was going to sneeze. Everyone except for me and both couples ran off as the baby sneezed.

"We have Sunburst to thank for that." Shining Armor said.

"I hope he takes his role as Crystaller seriously. Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical advice."

"Cadence, darling, aren't we gonna name the poor little dear, or are we gonna spend our entire visit just calling her "the baby"?" the other Twilight: Twilight Velvet said.

"We were thinking... "Flurry Heart"." Cadence said.

"You know, to remember the occasion." Shining Armor said.

"Yeah, because how can anyone forget this, I was there, too." I said as I went for the ugly-looking train that we unfortunately have to be riding in, soon to be followed by the rest of the group, with a few exceptions of course.

As I sat in the seat, Twilight and Spike came in on the same car.

"What's wrong?" Spike said.

"I don't know, Spike. I think I have a lot to learn about being a teacher." Twilight said

"What are you talking about? Your lesson went perfectly! Starlight and Sunburst got over their past and rekindled their friendship!"

"No thanks to me. I know a lot happened. I just wish I could have given my pupil the attention she deserves." Twilight said, still looking as sad as ever.

"Well, I know she needed to be put on the right path, but giving her the  space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. Isn't that how  Celestia taught you?" Spike said. In that moment, Twilight gained confidence and smiled.

"You know, I never thought about it! But I guess it is!" Twilight said as Starlight said goodbye to her friend.

"Maybe you're a better teacher than you thought." Spike said as the train whistle blew and my ride back to where I'm staying began at last. Gotta tell you, the ride showed me that the landscape was extremely similar, yet so different.

Yes, there were rocks, trees and bodies of water, but it didn't look anything special to me, just plain flat terrain accompanied by giant mountains. There were no pits placed at random and implausible locations just waiting for someone to fall in. No moving or floating terrain was seen for miles. There were no golden question mark blocks just waiting to eject whatever treasure inside when someone whacks them hard enough. Not even a single green pipe sat in the landscape.

This is definitely a new world and not another part of my old one, since the universe reset.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to the world of sleep.
> Life in the Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the fiasco with Flurry Heart and the Crystal Empire, we were back... at home, I suppose. But, I must confess, I did not go dormant right away after the universe was reborn. Yes, as I said before, I was hurled into the event horizon. I must have spent one hundred thousand years in the primordial universe before falling asleep. I didn't age or need to sleep or eat, just exist. For a plan that was days in the making, I blew it, and yes, it was extremely boring. At first, I went mad, but after a few millennia, I got bored with that, too and went sane and a bit tired of it, so I fell into a state hyper-hibernation until I woke up right here in Ponyland.

Admittedly, the village has a way of keeping me entertained. Hey, if you were in the situation I wound up in, or at least something similar to it, then even the most mundane of things can keep you going. I wish this was another fit of delusions of mine, but this is not such a delusion, it was all too real, I can feel it. Currently, I am walking down one of the hallways in Twilight's castle, going into my room. It was virtually cavernous, and has some basic furniture made for me.

"Out of all the possible planets I could have landed onto, I went into this!" I roared into the sky, or the ceiling, to be more specific before looking out the window with my hands behind my back. "Keep it together, Bowser, you've come this far and it could've still been worse than your situation. At least I wasn't being cornered by thousands of tarantulas on a train..."

"Yeah, those things are creepy..." a perky voice said. I jumped up in shock and immediately turned grabbed the perpetrator to see that see that super-coffee drinking pink pony from when I first woke up in the hospital. "I'm guessing that you are feeling down, lately?" Pinkie said in her usual cheerful tone, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there a giant fire-breathing turtle in the room.

"How the heck did you know that?" I asked in confusion.

"Eh, just a hunch." Pinkie said as I dropped her. She casually just got up and hopped out of the room in her usual happy dance. I swear she drinks inhuman amounts of coffee to be this hyper. But, then again, how does she do it? There's got to be some explanation, scientific, magical, I'll believe any of it.

"Hopefully, some fresh air would help with this..." I whispered to myself as I got out the door to go to the balcony, only to find that Pinkie character again. "But, how? It's like you know my every move!" I stammered in confusion.

"I decided to follow you, and I've got my sister, Maud, visiting. Twilight thought you might need a little help, and bam, here we are." Pinkie said casually.

"Help? What do mean by help me? I'm friggin' Bowser, I need no help with my emotions." I said proudly, crossing my arms in pride, only for the pink pony to laugh.

"Oh, silly Bowsie. Everypony needs help."

"Ugh! That again? I'm not a pony, and there's clearly non-pony inhabitants here." I say plainly. It's just plain confusing. The inhabitants of this world I seen so far, even that weird lizard, said the pony effix instead of body in everybody. Its just anypony this and somepony there.

Now I'm starting to think the ones who made the language in this universe were racist.

"I know just the adventure you need. Rarity has opened her shop in Canterlot and is on her way to the Manehattanite division. Me and her are gonna met my sister, Maud, and Twilight suggested that you should come along in the ride." she said, either totally not paying attention or not caring in the matter. I snorted and let smoke come out from my nostrils at that response, making a good cartoon impression.

"Oh, come on, we'll have a blast!" she said, grabbing my arm with her hoof. I don't know how they do such a thing without hands. Soon enough, I was stuffed into the Friendship Express, again, and we set off for Manehattan. Hopefully, this trip will be nice and peaceful, just like the last one was.





"We're going to Manehattan, we're going to Manehattan, we're going to Manehattan...!"

I was wrong. That annoying pink horse has little self control and was literally bouncing all over the place as I sat on my seat, teeth gridding and hands on my ears as I was trying to get that song out of my head. Heck, even the others are just as annoyed with her as I am. Fortunately, she stopped when she came into contact with Rarity, who was nonplussed with the situation and... filed her hooves with her magic? Okay, the magic part I get but this I don't.

"Yes, yes, Manehattan, the height of sophistication, elegance, culture... Since my boutique in Canterlot has been doing so nicely, it only makes sense for me to open one there as well." Rarity said, barely unfazed with the pink nuisance.

"We're almost there! Why doesn't your face look like this?! Eee... " Pinkie squealed. She was not lying when she was excited about seeing her sister. I mean, who wouldn't be excited to see a relative in a long time. I saw everyone die before me, and yes, I cried at that moment. Yes, I normally don't cry, but that was another story. My depression was one of the key things that drove me into madness billions of years ago.

"Oh, Pinkie, dear, this is just a business trip for me. I need to scour the city for the most perfect location for my new shop. And while it's lovely how excited you are, there's absolutely no chance of me getting swept into the–" her calm demeanor vanished when she saw the city. "energy, the beauty, the majesty of the greatest city in all of Equestria!"

I looked at the window to see this Manehattan city that she was excited about. Bah, it looked like nothing more than a cheap ripoff of New York City to me. "So this is Manehattan. Why am I not amused?" I say sarcastially before that white unicorn went up to me.

"You simply don't get it. The sheer beauty of this city is absolutely divine!" she said in an excited manner. It didn't take any longer before we were at the station. Of course, she'd be the first one to open it. "This city's simply a-ma-zing! It's just... everything, ever!" she almost squealed in sheer excitement at what I can only describe as just another big city full of typical riff-raff. I'm quite surprised, to be honest. Usually, everybody that I come into contact with panics and runs away from me while screaming in fear. All I see is ponies just, going on about their business.

"And it's about to get everything ever-er!" Pinkie said in excitement.

"And how is that gonna get any better?" I ask with a shallow grunt.

"Because guess who I see!" Pinkie said before pointing at a grey earth pony with a purple mane. "M-A-U-D! You know what that spells?" She said, going down the stairs and SOMEHOW arranging her body to form the letters she was saying before landing next to the pony she pointed at.

"Anyone would know that spells "Maud", now, can we-" my sentence was interrupted by the pink pony, who squealed in excitement at being with her sister and fired a cannon full of... confetti? Whatever happened, it caused a big scene that attracted some attention, and the pink pony once again tried to grab me, but I was prepared and simply stepped to the side as she pulled the unicorn and whoever she is into a big hug before releasing it, this Maud character's face still retaining its signature deadpan face, and surprisingly unnerved at the recent ruckus.

I sure hope that I can get through this with my sanity intact.
> Manehattan, City of Boring
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last time on "I Got Sucked into a Land of Ponies", I was stuck in a land of pones, collecting my thoughts in my brand new room in Twilight's Castle when all of the sudden, a wild Pinkie Pie showed up at the scene, and with me and a white unicorn in tow, we went to the Bootleg Brooklyn of Ponyland: Manehattan. There's even a ripoff Statue of Liberty to accompany the rest of it. But to the white unicorn, it was no ripoff, but the crown jewel of Equestria, but I couldn't care less. Pinkie went here to see her sister, and I was dragged here because of the disease I caught known as isolationism. The first thing that happened when we were at the train station, Pinkie went to a random grey pony, which I'm guessing is Maud.

As they talked to each other, I looked around the city, trying to get my thoughts off of this friendship nonsense. How could a bunch of weird-looking horses construct skyscrapers. Everybody besides myself is either a technicolor horse that is minding their business like a normal person or a technicolor horse that is totally insane. This "Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day" thing was that special day that Pinkie was talking about. Every year, Maud's gift apparently blew out Pinkie's, but this time, she was gonna give her something special: a rock pouch? And Maud called her lucky rock "Boulder" and treats it like someone would to a beloved pet. Now, I'm concerned on a number of levels.

Of course, we travelled around Bootleg Brooklyn some, went onto the Statue of Harmony's crown, and then, they were brought to the room of claustrophobia. Thankfully, I was too big to fit in such a space, so I had a good excuse to avoid that thing. And then, there was the ice rink. It looks classy, I must admit it, but I preferred the rink from when me, Mario, Sonic and the gang duked it out in the Olympic Games before planning my conquest of the universe. I also didn't skate in it either and just sat there and watched. All the while, Pinkie brought that accursed party cannon with her. I swear, she would have been arrested, judging by the amount of times she brought that thing with her.

And finally, we were at this restaurant called "The Cantering Cook". The patio's like a typical fancy restaurant, and as for me, I was sitting right with the gang, with no seat due to my large size, and I was sitting right in between the sisters. As for one of them, she was making a picture, which drew the unicorn's attention. Oh, the joy of using puns.

"Pinkie, put down that crayon! The Cantering Cook isn't that kind of restaurant!" Rarity said, causing Pinkie to spit it out before the white unicorn spoke again. "Oh... A pony could get used to eating at places like this!" Guess I won't have to eat at fancy restaurants, but my attention was turned to Maud when she spoke.

"I know. It's the only restaurant in the city with nepheline syenite in their bathroom tiles." she said in her usual deadpan voice. Well, talk about a weird and somewhat gross thing to talk about, and caused Rarity to shudder in response.

"You know what, Pinkie Pie? Uh, maybe you could help me figure out what to order!" Rarity said, trying to pull her attention from the... quote of Maud's, and who can blame her? I certainly can't. But I caught the two whispering about distracting Maud so Pinkie can get her the pouch for that rock. They're behind the menu, but that doesn't stop me from hearing every word they say.

"Oh, why, thank you for the kind assistance, Pinkie Pie. And now I know exactly what to order." Rarity said. Well, I know exactly what I want to order.

"You are very welcome, Rarity! Now pardon me whilst I go wash my hooves!" Pinkie said before zooming off, thumping into a random pony before apologizing. As soon as she went out of the picture, I looked around before turning my head to the menu, looking for any meat dishes fit for a king. I didn't get any steaks, but they had fried fish in store, so that's what I'll have for lunch. Just in the nick of time, a waiter came to me.

"Alright, I finally found some grub suitable for me." I said to the waiter, who was shivering in fear of me. "I'll have the fried fish, preferably salmon or tuna with assorted clams, and surprise me with the rest." The waiter saluted and ran off to get my order, and when Maud finished her story, Pinkie came in, but she seemed depressed.

"Lemme guess. No pouch?"

"Huh? Oh, right." she said with that sad expression.

"Tell 'em everything, rosy. I thought I heard something about distracting somebody." I said, electing the pink pony's shock as the white unicorn ordered her food.

"I suppose so," she said, inhaling before letting it all out. "The door to the rock pouch store is locked because the owner's on a sudden vacation to Canterlot with his grandniece for a few moons, and so there's no way I can get the perfect present for Maud, and now I don't have any present for her at all, so it'll be the worst Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day forever and ever and ever!" she said before sobbing before the waiter placed our meals on the table.

"Oh, not to worry, dear! I'll just have to help you find a new present for Maud. We have plenty of time before your gift exchange at sunset and all of Manehattan to explore. We're bound to find something Maud would like. Maybe even more than a rock pouch!" Rarity said, cheering the pink pony up.

"You're right! Thanks for everything!" Pinkie said. And so, we were on the road againas Rarity takes Maud to several stores from within the city: including a toy shop, a jewelry store, and a flea market—to see if anything, anything catches her interest. However, Maud only expresses interest in rock-related things, causing Rarity immense frustration. When Maud offhandedly mentions that she wishes she had something to carry Boulder in, Pinkie Pie realizes that her original gift idea of a rock pouch was best. Then, I saw this street rat, and Pinkie traded her party cannon for the pouch.

She brought that thing with her all that time, and was willing to part with it for her own sister's gift. Now, that was very determined, but she eventually wanted her cannon back. Maud needles Rarity for the truth, and then, we were back with the street rat jerk. "I'd like to return this pouch for my sister's party cannon, please." the grey earth pony said, but the guy didn't budge.

"Sorry missy, but my sales are final." the guy said. Funny he didn't notice me, but I was starting to feel bad for Pinkie, she gave her most prized possession to her sister. So I decided to chip in.

"Really, mister. Sales are final?" I said as the street rat gazed upon me in fear as I walked closer to him. "Ya know, I've been thinking, she'd like to return this pouch, I can see it." I said, gazing at the cheapskate before he gave in. "The kid gave her cannon to you, but her confetti needs to go SOMEWHERE. So what do you say?"

"Here! Take it, take it, please! Just don't eat me, I'm skin and bones!" he said as he returned the boulder pouch and gave Pinkie her cannon back before running off.

"Thanks, Maud, and thanks to you Bowser. You both got me my party cannon back!" Pinkie said happily, firing confetti out of it. "Uh-oh. I just realized something. 'Cause you gave back the pouch for my cannon, this is now the second gift you've gotten me today! And it's something I really, really wanted! You did it again! Your gifts are always better than mine! Next year, I'm gonna have to really step it up and-" before she could say anything, Maud began to speak.

"Pinkie, gift giving isn't a competition. It's an expression of love, and you always make sure to give your gifts with lots of love. That's why I'll always love them, and you, five-ever. That's even longer than for-ever." Maud said in her usual deadpan voice, though there was a tint of happiness in it.

In my opinion, Manehattan is still a Bootleg Brooklyn, but with Pinkie and friends, it can become a little exciting. They even wanted to spend a day with Rarity. They offered time with me, but of course, I passed and stated that just once is enough for me. Admittedly, we all have our unique tastes and stuff. I looked into the sky, noting that the sky was in dusk.

"We'd better get going, it's getting dark." I said as we once again boarded the Friendship Express. I shuddered as we entered the girly train, electing laughs from the two mares as Maud parted from the group. "But, I must ask, why did she want me to go with you?" I ask the pink pony beside me, who was much calmer, by the way.

"Twilight thought you were a little down about your planet, and she sent me to cheer a special somebody up. And judging by it, you really needed that adventure." Pinkie said, electing a laugh from me.

"You wish." I say in response. "Though when you have lost everything, you need something to take it away." I admitted before I looked out the window. At one of the apartments, I kid you naught, I saw a red earth pony accompanied by a green one with inverted manes and cutie marks that had to do with plumbing, both of which were male. And on another apartment, I saw a pink earth pony with a blond mane and blue eyes. I was honestly shocked at their thick resemblance to some old... acquaintances I used to know back before the events 13.7 billion years ago.
> Bonus Chapter: Raising a Goddess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was one hundred thousand years after the universe was reset, and I was once again out of things to do, and there was nothing but a thick particle soup, more like a fog stretching for miles without end. The madness inflicted on me for all that time gave way to boredom without anything else to do and I went sane, so very sane. At this point, you may be thinking about what would happen next. Well, I thought about my past, and I finally found out why I lost so much. I wasn't the brightest solider at the time, but, in all honesty, I could've used actual weapons in my arsenal for every minion, or put my place in the wrong location, but the biggest thing I lost was my entire world. Gone. My master plan to rule every pitiful corner of the universe has backfired. It looked beautiful without my rule, and I began to regret what I had done that fateful day. It burned me inside One thought echoed through my mind.

"Was it all really worth it?" I said to particularly nobody. It was... kinda sad, to say the least. I no longer was in a fit of delusional insanity, and now, I'm solving math problems in my head to prevent boredom. First I started with basic multiplication and division problems, then I worked my way up to algebra, and then up to calculus. Each tier of math was harder than the last. I must have spent decades solving math equation after math equation. Of course, I have made a few errors, here and there, but eventually, I corrected my mistakes, and pretty soon, I mastered high school-level mathematics and stopped there. By then, the fog was a little less dense, and my line of sight extended further.

One (day, week, year?), I began to experiment with the fog, arranging it into various animal shapes. A giraffe, a hippo, a spider monkey, a dolphin, a Sushi, a Goomba, you name it. The fog was surprisingly able to hold the shapes, and the last shape that I made was that of a horse. But then, there was something surprising. A single white bone poked out of the horse-shaped cloud I made. The thing dissipated, and right before my eyes, a small winged unicorn with white fur, a brick red mane, and blue eyes was right where what remained of the cloud once was. And judging by the looks of the small horse, it was just a foal, and the more prominent eyelashes were a clear indication that this creature was a female.

I couldn't believe my own two eyes. At first, I thought I was in a fit of madness, but I found out that I wasn't. I was aware of my surroundings, and even thought I was still mad to begin with. Me and my apparent creation locked eyes as I looked at her in confusion. The filly just blinked at me a few times with a look of curiosity within in her eyes. Behind them, there was a sentient mind capable of decisions, capable of understanding. "I don't know what you are or how you came to life for whatever reason, but I really wanted company for thousands of years, and-" What I was about to say was interrupted by the filly propelling her wings to move up close to me. "Wow, you understand me, I guess you think of me as a father or something, do ya? Well, I should name you, shouldn't I?" I suggest to the filly.

"I was thinking of something not to long, and really nice. So, how about Ellie?" I ask, the filly making a motion to say no to me. Guess she really does understand me after all.

"What about Isabelle?" Another no.

"Hmm... so, what about Faust?" I ask again. This time, the filly nodded. "Okay, so Faust it is, then..." I say as I look at the little winged unicorn, whom I recently gave her name to. Faust came up to me, and she was no bigger than the palm of my hand. She may not look even remotely like the Koopalings or Junior, but, they're gone now, and I guess this could be all the company I need about now. I was not intending to dishonor anybody by adopting the little pony, but I never got to fully raise my children since you know what. If she is a reincarnation, then I'd tear off my eyebrows and eat them.

The filly was still a newborn, and could not speak yet. Faust was such a handful at her foalhood, but my experience as a father had paid off, even if she was a different race. Fortunately, there was no need for food or drink, and she was quite healthy. The fog wasn't very tasty to begin with, anyway. When she was a child, Faust grew to the length of my hand and wrist, and she was always full of questions. Just six and a half years after her creation, she was quite the little bugger, and when she was five she cast some sort of spell on a cloud of gas, turning it into what appeared to be a stuffed animal. In a flash of light, a picture of a quill and an ink pot appeared on her flanks, one for both of them. I was just as shocked at the little cutie's mark, which she misinterpreted the words as 'cutie mark'. I still miss my old children oh so greatly, though.

When she was eight, she was about Junior's age before he died in the reset, and there was something that I didn't expect her to ask in a long time. "Daddy?" she asked. "Could you explain to me what it was like before I was born? Was it always a soup of fog, or was there something before it?"

"Oh, I forgot about all that, Faust. I'll tell you what there was beforehand." I said, looking out into the fog. "Before there was this orange fog, there was a vibrant world, one teeming with life." I said. And I told Faust about a vibrant world full of grass, trees, animals, and all that. I also told her that the reality was reset, but I wouldn't tell her the whole truth until she will become sixteen. The filly loved my story, and held the stuffed bear she made right close to her as she grinned, her eyes filled with just as much curiosity as I wove a very wonderful tale. "...and who knows, when the fog dissipates, there could be a world just like it, somewhere out there." I concluded. "The future can give us a wild ride from time to time, and who knows what would happen next..." I said as Faust's jaw dropped.






MANY, MANY YEARS LATER...


A now-adult Faust walked across the halls of her castle and came opened a set of doors, entering a room with a single crib in it. She walked towards the crib and smiled at the little treasures inside. They were Celestia and Luna, her little filles, and her father's new grandchildren. Bowser was right about one thing, the future is, indeed, a wild ride, and she wasn't expecting marriage or motherhood.
> Man of the High Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While we were at it, Pinkie gave me a few stops along the way to Ponyville. I had my thoughts about the three ponies from earlier. Their resemblance to Mario, Luigi, and Peach, while not obvious, gave me shivers, and not because of them. If they were reborn, then others would be as well. Now that would be scary, but they likely won't remember.

But, back to the topic. She decided to go an alternate route, past two cities known as "Fillydelphia" and "Baltimare". What is it with this world and really bad horse puns of names of cities from Earth. Luckily, these visits were usually going out to eat once and such. And fortunately, it was clearly obvious that it wasn't a date, since some of her friends came in. Sure, I kinda made them nervous, but everything went swimmingly. Well, as swimmingly as it can get when a yellow and green monster's out and dining with them.

Not long after, I saw the peak of Mount Canter in all its glory. We once again went through that cool tunnel, and sooner than later, we were back at Ponyville. As we went out of the Friendship Express, I stretched my arms wide. Unlike what the other cities have, Ponyville has been attacked by monsters constantly, and the town even got face to face with the occasional powerful thousand-year threat. No wonder they aren't fazed by me, but seriously, my interest wasn't in it.

As I walked out of the station, I saw the Friendship Castle out in the distance. Home sweet home, for now. The crystalline interior was rather bizarre compared to the other castles I encountered, but virtually all of them dwarfed it in size. As the sound of my feet on the floor echoed through the halls, I heard someone else's pitter-patter. I turned around to see the white unicorn from earlier carrying a familiar purple lizard on her back. "Wait, since when does he glow?" I muttered as my eyes took notice on Spike's condition. His skin was glowing and he was scratching all over. Finally, some action.

Despite the looks of things, she must be pretty fast and, admittedly, caught me off-guard. I decided to follow her, since this looked pretty interesting. In the room she arrived in, Twilight and the white and blue alicorns from before were just having some unique get-together of sorts. Why do I get the weird feeling I'm related to them?

"I don't know! Nngh! All of a sudden, my scales just started glowing and... burning!" the lizard said as he kept on sracthing himself. Was this some kind of magical mosquito that did this? Now that'll be something I'd not want to be around.

"Alright, lay it on me. What's all the ruckus?" I asked.

"Oh, that. Little is known about dragon culture, but this is a phenomenon we've seen before. It is the call of the Dragon Lord." the blue princess said. Dragon Lord? That should be my title!

"Dragons glow whenever the Dragon Lord has need of them in the Dragon Lands." the white alicorn said. Huh, that's quite interesting. I knew I should've practiced summoning spells more.

"Lemme guess, ya have to answer his call?" I asked. Both elder alicorns nodded.

"B-B-But the Dragon Lands are full of... dragons! And they're ghastly creatures! Oh, oh, not you, of course, Spikey-wikey. But remember that rotten Garble?" Rarity said. Who's that guy?

For a second there, I saw Spike gulp. "How could I forget? He would have burnt us to a crisp if you weren't there. If I have to go to the Dragon Lands, would you two come with me?" he said in a fearful tone.

This caught Twilight's attention. "Ooh! Oh my goodness, I'd love to! We are sadly lacking any information on dragon culture and customs. I could research them – maybe even write an article! This could be my chance to make a great contribution to the knowledge of Equestria!" Books, that's all she thinks about. But then again, I haven't known very much of this land since I first arrived. "And be there for Spike, heh, of course."

"Well, somebody has to run the fort. Being out in the world with a pink pony at your side, can tire you out." I said. This is not my fight, I'm 13.7 billion years old and fell from the sky, so of course that guy wasn't aware of me, right?

"Very well, be careful. The Dragon Lands are particularly dangerous for ponies. It would be wise to be discreet." the white alicorn said.

"Ooh! I'm sure I still have the dragon costume we used the last time we snuck into the Dragon Lands!" Rarity replied.

"But before we go, we might need something a little more practical." Twilight added.

After they all left, I waved goodbye to them before walking in. Guess I'm the Man of the High Castle now. Kind of ironic that the term is from a book from Brooklyn. If that did happen, the Mushroom Kingdom would have a lot more humans than just the Mario Bros, Wario Bros, Peach, and Orange Peach. There's also Rosalina, but she doesn't count. If you are interested in alternate history, you should read it. I then turned to see Starlight. "So, what do you want to do? Perhaps a few games to pass the time?" I ask her. While they were gone, me and her had to do something. She nodded.

So, we went into the library, beside the fireplace, and guess what? It had a board for checkers. We played a few rounds here and there, I won some rounds, and she won other rounds. For once, I've felt some bit of moving on. But what about those other ponies? Surely, one of them saw me, but they didn't seem to know. What does that even mean?





Meanwhile, in Canterlot...

Celestia and Luna were wondering about the strange dragon/turtle creature, who called himself Bowser. They clearly knew he fell from the sky, but they felt as if he was related to them. This creature is just getting more and more mysterious by the minute.
> A Stellar Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wait, where am I?" I asked as I woke up. It was all like what Canterlot was, judging by those pictures Twilight and Spike gave me to look at, but this time, everything was all grey. "Alright, what the heck happened here?" I said, looking around the forsaken place. Who could have done this? As I thought, I wandered around the place, the sky was grey, and a black sun lay proudly in the sky. I was too busy gazing upon it when I heard someone yelp. I turned to see the two regal beings from before. Standing next to me was a white alicorn with a rainbow mane and a dark blue alicorn with a starry mane. "I was having this sweet nap, and then I ended up here. Did you wake up here, too?" I asked them.

"In a sense, yes." the small blue alicorn said. "Normally, visions are my thing, but that doesn't explain why all three of us are here." she exclaimed. Wait, I'm having a VISION? Doesn't look like a lot of activity. "I just had this vision, and I walked around before bumping into Celestia." So, Celestia's the white alicorn's name, nah, I think I'll just call her Sunbutt, and the blue one will be called Moonbutt for the time being.

"Well, wherever we are, wherever I am, I think we're all supposed to be glad that we aren't alone in this." I said. Both alicorns nodded in response. "Now tell me, Moonbutt." The small blue alicorn reeled back at the nickname. "Why exactly do ya have these visions?" I asked in a demanding way. Deep down, they were intimidated. Of course, being an 8-foot dragon beast would scare the pants off of beings that aren't your kind, but they're trying to hide it.

"To put it simply, we have them whenever a great danger arrives, but that still doesn't explain why you are here?" Luna explained. "But if you want some more details-"

"Um, pass." I replied. I have gotten enough. "I don't know why we are here, but-" What I was about to say was interrupted by an all-too familiar screech. "I know that cry, show yourself!" I yelled out. "Grr, why did this have to happen right now of all times?" I muttered as Celesyis and Luna subsequently followed me. And then, I saw it. A small, blue orb with a black star on it. Its spines grew out and glowing red eyes opened.

"What is that thing?" Celestia asked me as the Dark Star came from the ground.

"That, is the Dark Star." And with one surge of darkness, I woke up, panting. "(pant, pant) I thought it was dead, but, but's it's coming." I said in realization. I looked back at the window to comform it is not a dream. And lo and behold, there were definitely NO grayscale objects, except for rocks and mountains, which were already gray to begin with. I went back to sleep, hoping that no more visions would come. What I didn't notice, was a small black bug walking across the floor (more on that, later). And I could've sworn I heard the words "I have fury?" in a questioning matter before it scurried off. I first thought of it as another vision when I saw the Fawful Bug, but later, I'd know I should've squashed that thing right there and then. But I thought is was just another vision. I said that already... didn't I?





Meanwhile, in an Unknown Location near the Crystal Empire...

The Dark Star Core, a black sphere with eight spines and a blue star with white eyes, watched as what used to be Fawful scurried around like a bug. Surely, it thought that he was gone, but, then again, when the Dark Star inhaled the Fawful Bug to fully become Dark Bowser, it was always bound to the little insect. So, a new goal was formed into its mind. Merge with the remains of Fawful to become whole once again. That turtle was lucky, with red and green plumbers right beside him, but this time, it'll have the last laugh. Though, it did have to admit it was impressed that Bowser survived the universal reset. It retreated into another universe to regenerate to a self-sustaining state. Its core remains, but that'll do for now. Then again, it will still regenerate, and so with that Fawful Bug go into a form reminiscient of its old self.

It looked out and saw a black horn with a curved red tip. Smirking with a nonexistent mouth. The Core spawned two spiderlike beings known as Dark Sattellmites. At its current state, it can only spawn them every few hours, and it took a lot of sap off it, but soon, it'll have two new minions at its disposal. It watched with glee as the Sattlemites copied the genetic material within the horn as the Core itself extracted the dark essence (but not the DNA, that was for the minions). Pretty soon, the Sattlemites began to change into blue unicorns with black manes and glowing red eyes with red mists, both of which had a black star on each of their flanks. The Core's new minions looked back at it, waiting for new instructions. The Core knew it had been weakened, and the dark power within would take some time to assimilate, so it instructed the newly-made Dark Sombras to teleport it out of the middle of nowhere and to the nearest cave.

What they didn't count on, however, was a coal black unicorn dressed in silver regalia and a red cape got up and looked around with his catlike eyes. "I'm, free? But I thought that this dark magic was permeant." Suddenly, his legs caved in on himself and caused him to collapse. "Oh, great, now the cold's getting to me..." Sombra said as he went further into his cape and in the snow, shivering and hoping for someone to save him, not that there would be any saving. At least he hopes someone would save him, anyone. He had to thank that star for freeing him, but now that he's free, he's even more shackled than ever before, or should he, should her? That was all that he thought before blacking out.
> Friendly Neighborhood Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So... yeah. While Twilight, Rarity, and Spike were at the Dragon's Lair, Starlight made a new friend: this cerulean unicorn with a bluish, almost white mane. This "Trixie Lulamoon" character was some show-off magician that claimed to be "great and powerful". Apparently, she wasn't on very good terms with Twilight. Always wanting to best her, even taking some demonic artifact known as the Alicorn Amulet, which would make you insane just by wearing that thing. No wonder Twilight has been all cuckoo about it. But... in the end of it all, their friendship was accepted. But what I'm telling you wasn't about that, but rather, the dinner after that. Currently, I am eating with Celestia, Starlight, Trixie, and a few others present in the castle.

"...and then, just when the Koopa Troopa, ya know, like me, but less spiky and much smaller, was about to serve the ball to this Shy Guy and Toad, when it bonked onto his own head! He was quite dizzy for a few moments, though" I burst out laughing at the story I told about one of the Tennis matches. Turns out, neither side in the Great Mushroom War was strong enough to enforce a treaty, although we did get to a stalemate. I gave up on evil and Mario made fortunes upon fortunes from his wealth from his last adventure. He was bored out of his skull. I mean, how was he even enjoying it? My guess is that he likes the thrill of being an adventurer. That was like his destiny.

And speaking of destiny, when I saw that awful whatchamacallit show from Brooklyn, my final button was pushed. I wanted to change my destiny. I wanted to show those egghead know-it-alls and holier-than-thous what I really am. I may not be very smart, but even I don't underestimate my abilities as a Star Child. And then, yada yada ya, you know all the rest, but there was something kept me awake at night, metaphorically speaking. The Dark Star. But why isn't Celestia acting like it was a big deal? Was I the only one who remembered it, or were the Celestia and Luna with me just another representation in the vision? But then, I turned to the white alicorn as soon as it all died out and everyone went home.

"Celestia, we need to talk about something." I said in a serious manner. "You may not remember it, but I had this dream about the Dark Star." I said.

"I was there, Bowser. You, Luna, and I were in some sort of shared dream. Normally, it's me and Luna who have trouble with visions, but you have then for whatever reason." she said before a realization hit her. "This Dark Star, is it from where you come from?" I nod silently. "Well, tell me about it."

"Alright. It all started centuries before you know what. The residents of the kingdom were going about their happy little lives of theirs, when suddenly, a meteor fell to the surface. Said meteor contained a mysterious star. However, this star was not benevolent. It was a frightful star that harbored a great evil." I continued. Celestia didn't flinch. She's a thousand years old, as Twilight told me, so of course she'd have that stuff by now. "It reeked havoc amoung the land, destroying villages and ending countless lives in its wake." I would not tell them the whole truth, I'm afraid that it might scare the living jeeves of them. The white alicorn was starting to show a little fear at that last little sentence. "However, it was stopped by three powerful beings, who stopped the beast before it can do any more harm, and they sealed it way underground, where no one would find it. That is, until this bean of a scientist came in and crashed the party, attempting to use its power to take over the entire universe." That stupid Fawful, he was so dangerous, that I and my archenemies were forced to fight as one. "However, three heroes came in and defeated the mean bean and the Dark Star right in their tracks. How do I know about this, here's the shocker. Are you ready for it?"

"Yes, I guess." Celestia said as he levitated a small cup of tea to her mouth and began drinking it.

"I was one of the heroes who defeated it." Celestia spat out the tea in shock, right in my face. "Yeah, gasp. Gasp at the dragon-turtle who is living with a studious alicorn who learns a lot more than healthy and her weird pet dragon who thinks he's cool. And go fetch me a napkin while you're at it." I said in a sarcastic matter. "Besides, that thing is serious stuff. I read a lot of your legends and heard about them from you and your friends, and none of them even killed. This thing, however, will not hesitate to turn your body inside out where you stand." I continued. "I'm really scared that I'm gonna lose a second world. I lost one once, and there should not be a second time. If I hadn't stopped it, the Dark Star would've destroyed planet by planet, solar system by solar system, galaxy by galaxy, and it will NOT stop until who knows what remains! KAPEESH!"

When I heard her gulp, I immediately calmed down. "Sorry for my behavior, I've been a little cranky from these thoughts about it in my head." And a little scared that I'll lose everything all over again. "Look, I know how everything goes. You zap an even with your rainbow, it lays dormant for a thousand years before striking back a second time before your little friends strike it down since you were no longer connected to the Elements. I'm guessing you didn't have a run-in with that ancient evil, did you?" Celestia nodded to say no. "Good to see you're telling the truth. But bad news because you didn't know about it and Fawful and all that stuff. Remember what it looks like: blue with a black star in the middle, eight black spines rotating counter-clockwise no matter where you look, and two beady red eyes in the star. I doubt it would've looked like that since it may or may not be much weaker. We did beat it pretty bad, after all, so no doubt it will try to absorb dark power, or dark magic, in this case, to grow stronger than ever before." I said as I got up from my chair and thought about it before a familiar voice interrupted my train of thought. I looked to see Celestia gazing right at me.

"I'm sorry to hear about it. Judging by how you acted, I'm guessing that this Dark Star took someone you loved." The white alicorn said. It didn't take anyone I loved (other than Peach, which was one-sided now I thought about it), although it tried to engulf the entire universe in a sheet of pure darkness, but that's another can of worms. "I can tell that you feel very afraid of this new threat to Equestria. What do you-"

"What do I want to do? This thing has been a pain in the shell since way back when, which was only two times. No doubt it is doing something. When I find it, I'll destroy it once and for-"

"Bowser, I'm sure that we'll be able to find and defeat it, just hang in there for me." Celestia asked. "But for now, just try to relax and enjoy it while it lasts."

"Fine, fine, fine. But be warned. When you do find it, alert me so I can finish what was started eons ago..."
> A Matter of Darkness, and Bowser Tells the Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was unknown what that thing was and how it came to be, but just three months after the birth of Flurry Heart, it had happened. The Dark Star teleported to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire with both Dark Sombras at either side as it gazed upon the city: the perfect base of operations. Soon, it will find Fawful, or whatever has the other half of the dark power and merge with it to become whole. Hiding within the blizzards, one of the Dark Sombras tried to head in, only to be blocked by some invisible force. So this place had defenses, huh? It looked onto itself, its outer shell was now back.

Noticing its old power back and the new power was converted into dark power, it would've smiled. It floated up to the sky and shot a beam at the barrier before ramming into it, and it cracked. It was still a bit weak, but at least it had a good chunk of power. It sent a message into the brains of both Dark Sombras, and both transformed into shadowy mists with glowing red eyes and red horns. They began to charge at the empire with the Dark Star itself turned invisible, and crept into the city borders. "What in Celestia is-" the crystal pony was knocked cold by the mist.

As the shadows began circling, the crystal ponies were in panic. True, it had its cave, but this city will become a foothold in its conquest for destruction. It summoned eight Dark Sattlemites: its new power was very helpful with this job, and a whole new world of spells. Soon, the Sattlemites latched onto their kill and transformed into dark versions. It looked onto the massive castle up ahead. Turning off its invisibility, the Dark Star began terrorizing the city along with its minions just for fun. Its real target is that big castle.

Meanwhile, a pink alicorn with a multicolored mane and a white unicorn with a blue mane watched as the carnage unfolded upon them. "Honey, I don't think Sombra's at work. I detected something much more powerful at work. The Royal Guard is doing its best, but even they are being bested." Cadence said with tears in her eyes. When they both saw the Dark Star appearing Cadence began panicking. "And we don't have much time. Quickly! We must write a letter to the princesses and the bearers while we have the chance!"

"Gah!" Celestia, Luna, and Bowser said at the same time when we all awoke. "Oh no, Bowser's right. That thing really is a serious threat." She said as she went over to Luna's chambers.

Meanwhile, Luna awoke from the vision, and went to Celestia's chambers to warn her. Both galloped at full speed with panic on their faces, not noticing that they were running into each other. With a loud bump, they were both knocked back by their own recoil, with blood dripping out of the elder's left nostril. "Sorry sister, I came to warn you, and I guessed you did the same."

"Yes, Lulu, and I forgive you." Celestia replied, her voice sounding a little funny because of the nosebleed. "But knowning the last vision, one other person must have witnesses it. And I think I know who that person is." the elder continued as she looked down at the small village of Ponyville.





I woke up from that horrid vision. In it, the Crystal city-state was being attacked by the Dark Star and what seems to be its new minions. This is bad, if I don't stop that thing, then it would mean the loss of everything I had gained. This is not a fate fit for this world, and quite frankly, I don't want to lose everything a second time. "13.7 billion years and you finally came out of hiding." I said coldly. Platforming is the thing for my nemesis, but I'd rather teleport. I was about to do so when a scream went through my ears (which were just simple holes at the sides of my head) as I covered them. Two screams, to be exact, both short in time, but they hurt my ears so badly. "Alright, what's all the ruckus?" I said while going out of the door. "Hello, is anyone there?" I asked before I went into Twilight's room. I quietly knocked on the door, but as it opened due to knocking on it, I saw her trying to go back to bed.

"Oh, it's just you." she said. "I was having this wonderful dream when Princess Luna warned me about this evil thing that she called the Dark Star."

"I know, it came from where I came from. Look, I thought it was gone, but somehow, it came back. I should've destroyed what remained of it before it floated into the sky when I had the chance." I said. "But hey, I'm gonna make things right between me and this world, and I will stop at nothing to do it." I looked out of the window. "Ya see, I haven't had a serious challenge in the three months since I awoke here. That, and I have a grudge with that thing. 13.7 billion years ago did it start."

"Wait, what? Are... are you... have you..." Twilight said, choking on her own words. The poor girl is speechless in my presence.

"Yes, I have been around as long as this universe, but the majority of my life was in dormancy." I said. "But, since I have told you my age, it's about time I tell you the story. You see, the universe comes in a cycle. Clouds of gas and dust give way to stars, which will form galaxies. Eventually, the stars collapse into stardust, and the universe resets. I was there when it happened, and I caused the last reset. My rivalry with two red and green plumbers extended all the way back to my babyhood, and it went from there. Eventually, I took to the stars, and sought to build a Galactic Reactor that would allow me to rule the universe for over 10,000 years. But my final fight with the brothers, who intended to stop me, which they sorta did, unknowillingly caused it to malfunction, causing a universal collapse. I don't remember much after that happened, all I remember before going dormant after the reset is a couple of blurry faces within the clouds of gas. Just three blurry shapes accompanying my own." I said as I looked at her. "While you may call me crazy, it was all true."

"But, how can you do all that... that's impossible... and what's a galaxy?" Twilight asked. My hand met my face.
> Bonus Chapter: Amore
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faust wasn't the only kid Bowser had. There was a second alicorn filly, while she was white like her sister, and her hair started out a light shade of red and eventually turned purple. The Koopa King loved them both, partially because they were his only company, and partially because they saw him as a father figure. Finding out about her love magic, he named her, Amore. The two sisters were very close, and went from planet to planet after they were formed. When they found a planet with flora and fauna that matched some of the creatures that Bowser talked about, they settled in and made themselves at home.

"So, this is it. A new world to settle down in." Amore said as she took a deep breath. The air there smelled wonderful, much more than the flimsy gas from the early universe. "Do you like it?" Amore asked her sister.

"I love it, it's absolutely beautiful." Faust replied. "Dad did describe a world similar to this, with some flora and fauna being very similar." The two began to walk around. Nature, in a sense, has much more creativity that the mind of even the most experienced artists. One day, they came across a tribe of ponies, much like them, save for  the fact that every one of them neither had both, some had none, some had just wings, and some even had horns. The moment they saw them, they faced towards them and right then, they immediately looked to see two strange angels from the heavens. "Amore, is this supposed to be a bad thing?" Faust asked.

"I don't know what they're saying." her sister asked. "But we can cast translation spells, don't you remember?"

"Oh, right." Faust charged her horn in a golden aura, and cast the translation spell that they learned from their father in case there were in a bit of trouble with languages, just as they grew up. "Now, what is it you want?"

"Oh, sweet mother of Megan, this monster keeps terrorizing our village and we need help." the pony they assumed to be chieftain said. Goddesses? Then again, they looked a tad strange to them. "Hopefully, you two have been appeased by our pleas for help! Please stop this monster."

Amore and Faust blinked before they saw smoke rising from the trees. Flying up to get a bird's eye view, they saw a humanoid rock monster with two heads glanced at the burning village. "You dolts think you can keep Yanshi at bay with your pitiful shamans? Aww, to see such a cute widdle village try to repel me but miserably fail, pathetic." the creature now known as Yanshi said as it breathed fire at one of the houses. Both alicorns knew that this terrible creature had to be stopped, and so, Faust charged a yellow aura and Amore charged a blue aura, and they both unleashed beams of magic at the creature. "Huh?" Yashi said before writhing in pain. He looked to see two unfamiliar ponies with BOTH horns and wings. "So they had their secret weapon after all. Heh, can't say I'm not surprised that this'll be a cinch. After killing you off, this whole town's going next, and the last of your race."

"Hold it right there, rock monster. Leave this village and never return." Faust said, only to be nearly burnt by Yanshi's fireball. "Very well, it's your choice." Yanshi jumped at them, but the two alicorns dodged it as he went to it. The battle was long and fierce, even more so when Yanshi called up all the Titans: Shuang, the Frost Giant, Huo, the Lord of Fire, and the Great Tornado, Bei-nian, who were allied with a rogue plague master. In the end, Faust and Amore beat the creatures and killed the plague master, but at a terrible cost. The chieftain was dying. Both alicorns went to his hut and saw the brown unicorn with a black mane, who was in his deathbed. He somehow had a big smile on his face. "You're dying, but why are you so happy? Aren't you a little bit said about your people.

"Thank you for saving my village, and my people. The Titans were... ruthless. They killed almost all of our kind. If it weren't for you, then our village would've been completely wiped out, and along with it, my race." the chieftain said. "Yes, I feel a bit said that my people will no longer have me, but watch out for the last five hundred ponies, will you, goddesses?" the chieftain said, looking straight at them. They have been treating them as heroes, but, they need a leader to look after them so their species won't fall to extinction.

"Will do." Amore said. "Now, is there anything else you want?"

"Yes, but be careful. This land is dangerous. Over the years, you must migrate my tribe eastward so we can grow safely and securely." The chieftain noticed that his remaining strength was fading away. "Now, I don't have much time at my disposal, and we are very small. But I can see it, the looks of great leaders behind your eyes. I bet your father will be proud of you." With his final breath, the chieftain muttered his final words. "Knock 'em dead buddy." No heartbeat. No pulse. No nothing. The two alicorns cried the following day, but they still had a promise to fulfill for the chieftain. In the following century, Faust and Amore looked across various lands in the east. They labeled themselves as princesses rather than queens, the title of king belonged to their father, after several hundred years, they found a land that was promising for them. No titans, no carnivorous plants, no nothing too threatening.

In the thousand years they ruled afterward, the ponies eventually became numerous, and went from a few hundered to several hundred thousand. Life was shining for them. And something else was shining for the two sisters. "Discord, this isn't funny!" Faust said. She met the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony during their trek eastward.

"Oh, I'd say it was priceless, Faustie. The way you slipped at that banana, coming tumbling towards your sister. And you were smooching up a storm!" the draconequss replied.

"That wasn't kissing! That was ramming snout to snout!" The white alicorn had a completely red face by now.

"Oh yes, that. Oh well, Amore should be screaming in pain about... now!" Discord exclaimed. Faust knew that Amore was going to have her child soon. Both of them had their lucky stallions, and to absolutely no one's surprise, Faust bore two alicorn foals, whom she named Celestia and Luna. Amore bore a filly as well, a pink alicorn with a purple, yellow, and magenta mane, whom she named Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short. The draconeqqus just snapped his fingers and vanished without a trace as Faust began racing towards Amore's room in the castle.

"Come on, just push it out." Amore's husband said. Giving birth was a painful experience, Faust and Amore both knew it because, they did it. The white alicorn came barreling into the door, panting heavily. "Oh, hey Faust. Discord told you the news, didn't he? Forgive me, he was the quickest way I knew of getting it to you. Sorry if he was a bit rude."

"I forgive you, but we have more pressing matters to attend to, no pun intented." Faust said as she looked to Amore. "It's all gonna be okay, sis. Just, let it all out. The pain will be gone pretty soon." Faust said. In a few seconds, Amore's pain stopped, and the baby was born. It was a light purple alicorn filly with a navyblue mane, she had a purple and a pink strip in both of them. While they didn't know it, purple eyes were resting comfortably under her lids.

"Aww, would ya look at that. I'd like to congratulate Amore having her brand new baby girl." an all-too-familiar voice said as its speaker appeared. "So, Inkbutt." Faust glared at him for that nickname. "Oh, sorry, should've been more polite since you have a new niece for your sister to look after. I came to congratulate you right before you decided on what to name her, just because I can. Toodaloo!" Discord said before he snapped his fingers once more. Faust let out a sigh of relief, she was constantly annoyed by him, but that was besides the point. She looked at Cadence's new younger sister, who was now wrapped in a night sky blue blanket with its pin being a magenta star.

"Sister, this is your foal, so you should decide on what to call her." Faust said as Amore looked at her child, and then thought about the stars of the night sky.

"I was thinking of something among the lines of... Asteria." the younger sister said.

"I think that is a beautiful name. Now you should get something to eat. I'll get the chefs to whip something up." Faust said as she exited the room.
> Fury of Fawful
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, that's for a latter discussion. Now, I have to deal with the Dark Star. Heh, I never thought that I'd have a good fight in this land." I said. Twilight was trying to find words before I stopped her. "And before you start, you do not even know a thing about this threat. Back before you know what, I researched the Dark Star, and from what I heard from Mario and that green guy, Linguini, I think he was called, the Dark Star COPIED my body and power, turning into a dark version of me that nearly destroyed the universe." I continued.

Suddenly, that little dragon came walking in, no, running in, and he was holding a scroll in his hands. "Twilight! The princesses sent us a letter!" Spike said. A letter? So my vision really was true, me and Twilight went to the letter, and to absolutely not my surprise, everyone but me gasped.

"Dear, is that my name?" I said, looking at the letter. Both Twilight and Spike nod. "Okay, that was still less awkward than the time that I almost thought you were in love with eachother when you both slept in the same bed."

"Spike's bed was-"

"And his bed was a box in the floor. Anywho- me and Luna received a vision where this "old friend" of yours was terrorizing the Crystal Empire, and creating dark clones in the process." Dark clones? It's worse than I thought, the Dark Sattlemites can also copy things now! "The locals are being evacuated by the minute. Not even the Crystal Heart can protect them. The prince and princess are also captured." Both Twilight and Spike were absolutely horrified. Huh, the irony that I once kidnapped princesses and now I have to save a royal family is... kinda weird. "Anyways, aside from that, let's not get any more interruptions, shall we? This thing has exceeded anything we ever encounter, even able to outmatch the Tree of Harmony in power. Everything, except you. We felt something... off with you the moment we first saw you. We were always scared that you would destroy us all, your power was too great for the Elements, but you showed no signs. You are the only one who can help us! Sincerely, Celestia and Luna." I then was about to close the letter before my vision detected something else under the letter. "P.S. There is a mirror inside that will allow one to accesses another world, don't le-" I heard a boom. "Okay, what is GOING ON HERRE!?" I roared as I marched out to the window and saw a face that I never thought would be possible.

"I HAVE FURY!" a familiar voice rang through my ears. That voice. A beam of pure energy blasted one of the houses in the background, causing it to self-destruct. "Fawful pities you horse-men like an angry battery with no friends. He may have failed once, or twice, but the spicy mustard of doom will be smeared all over this world!" Another beam of energy came down, destroying another house. I immediately knew who that person is.

At first, I did not know why he returned, but, I finally get it. That weird babbling nerd became bound to Fake Me as soon as he was inhaled, and now, they are literally one entity split into two. "Grr... stay down, you two! I got someone else to fry that I haven't quite figured out how it came yet." As both of them went downstairs, I stormed to the stairs, went up them and to the balcony. "You!" I said, pointing to a figure flying in the distance. The dark blue robe that he wore when he was Dark Fawful sat upon him. In fact, he looked exactly like his dark form, all the way down to the red goggles he had.

The moment Dark Fawful looked at me, he glared, yet still beared that weird grin of his. Did he ever stop smiling? Why does he even smile? "Fink-rat! And here Fawful thought you were all gone like an infinite cabinet wiped by the washcloth of universal reset." Fawful said. Still don't understand that freak. "You, however, are one of the finkest of fink-rats, always showing up along with those moustache brothers to ruin Fawful's plans." the freak said as he crossed his arms.

"Alright, listen up, you weird, babbling nerd! I don't know HOW you or the Dark Star came back, but I am 100% sure that you'll end up like the last time, with a bang." I said, growling at Fawful. I had every right to hate that guy, he attempted conquest on MY kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom not only once, but twice. He was so dangerous, that I was forced to join forces with Mario and Linguini to defeat him. The Dark Star incident almost destroyed the entire universe. I lost it once, and I won't lose it again.

"Fawful laughs at you, Fawful laughs at all of you. Neither moustache brother is here to help you now, and you are like a small wolf cub who has lost his way. You have nothing, and I have DARKNESS! And once Fawful finds and merges with his ultimate price, he will be like a mower compared to the grass of the horse-men. And once he is done, he will spit on you like a naughtly little child who-" I spat a small fireball to interrupt him.

"Really, I hate you and all, but I think you should scram." I said plainly. "I have lost my universe-" my calm demeanor was interrupted by my glare at him. "AND I WON'T LET YOU OR THE DARK STAR TAKE THE NEXT ONE!" I lunged at Fawful and punched him with all my might, causing him to fly into the nearby forest. I teleported to the place where he landed, and there was a massive crater, in which that nutcase got up from, panting. "So ya got a challenge now."

"Haff… haff… Fawful admits, that hurt him, but Fawful was holding back!" Suddenly, a dark aura formed around him as his skin darkened. "And now, you will face, the furious FURY OF FAWFUL!"

Both me and Fawful charged at each other. One thing was for certain. This was going to be the start of a great battle whose kind was unseen by the land of Equestria, until now.
> Fighting Fawful's Fury
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He summoned three orbs of darkness while I countered them with fireballs. We fought pretty hard, but boy, this was the only circumstance I'm glad he's here. I hadn't had a fresh punching bag for THREE months since I woke up. I may be a bit sloppy, but hey, who can blame me. I have had a bit of peace and quiet, spending most of my time getting to know the land like the back of my hand. I haven't changed that much, but I did grow a bit smarter, and a bit wiser. I have a soft spot for all the fillies and colts in Ponyville, I was a dad, after all. Suddenly, a wild Twilight Sparkle teleported in. "Bowser. I know that this is a bit of an awkward moment, but I know you are a bit rusty on your attack." she said. This is just very, very funny indeed, author. Making the RPG spoof, and why am I fourth-wall aware. Oh, what the heck, Mario and Linguini had to do this every time in your little "video games", so I might let it slide. "Watch out, he's preparing an attack! Press-"

"You know what..." I said as I dodged Fawful and punched him to the side knocking him into a tree. "Why are you even here to begin with?"

"I came to... wait, what did I just say back then?" she said, shocked. "Why did I teleport here, and why did I have that sudden urge to do that. It makes no sense!" she stammered, but neither me or Fawful focused on her. Poor girl had already lost it before a dark orb came hurtling at her, and out of instinct, she teleported away. I don't blame her. It was almost as if some other force gave her the urge, but, she produced barriers, so why can't I? Speaking of that, the bean prepared a massive beam of dark energy, and in time, I erected a barrier. However, unlike their barriers, mine was composed of multiple hexagonal tiles. Pretty nifty being taught by Kamek. He may be evil, but at least he was a caring parent. Taught me a lot of things before I became king. The hex-tile barrier was pretty useful, meaning I can direct magic to a particular set of tiles to focus on one thing and not another thing. But back to the topic.

"What is this weird barrier of hexagons? He said as he charged a set of dark orbs and threw them in a barrage as I ran over towards him. Thanfully, I react at faster-than-light speeds, so, thinking quickly, I directed the magic to one tile and then another. "I have uneasiness, but Fawful won't quit yet!" He said as he summoned four dark orbs and went from standing to levitating. Summoning his laser he used it to create multiple stars. Typical. Same attacks, just a little bit stronger than the last time. They all struck at once, and I didn't have the choice on which tile to pick, so I was forced to let them go through. It stung, but thankfully, he only had half the dark power. However, it caused a burn, and I immediately tucked into a ball, and using it to my advantage, I hurled myself at the demon, and landed a hit. I may not be able to see anything in this state, but there was something like a radar inside.

"You know," I started as Fawful as an antenna came into view. Several shadowy orbs came out as I countered them with either a punch or my shell. "I thought you weren't gonna be back at first..." I inhaled, and then shot a stream of fire aimed directly at him as he moved out of the way. I then shot purple fireballs, which began bouncing towards him. "But I have realized that you became fused with that abomination." The green mean bean was fast, but I had another trick up my sleeve. A green fireball was shot from my maw. Mixing my magic and fire is really handy. The thing followed him at a similar speed, but goodness knows I have to work on them a bit. "But now, when you merge, you'll destroy the universe galaxy by galaxy, then cluster by cluster until nothing is left." I shot out a yellow fireball, which, after a few meters away from me, starts shooting bullets from itself. The bean dodged a few, but got hit by the last few.

I do have to admit, this was a bit fun. But alas, I had a duty to do. The bean was durable, more so than before, but I had also grown a bit stronger. I went in, and I thought I should finish it quick. I charged at Fawful, and grabbed him and threw him in the air, jumping at him and swiping him with my claws before doing a Flying Slam on him, creating another small crater in the forest. I saw him, while he was a bit bruised, glasses broken and one of his teeth missing, still had a bit of fight within him. I was about to finish him off when he threw a dark barrier at me, knocking me back.

"Fawful sees you have been doing the muscle exercises as well, even if you are as alone as an angry batter without any friends." He got up. "But my fury will rain down like mad flames, but Fawful realized he needed an army first. He will be back for you. And just you wait like a bored boulder who wants to move. Once Fawful merges with the Dark Star-"

"Yeah, I heard that speech, like, one, twice? Now, scram, weirdo." I tried to punch him, but he teleported away, probably to heal his wounds and construct an army. This is gonna be more difficult to do, and I think that this might be a bit fun as well. Although, this is a new world that is much more delicate than my own, and I looked to see a weird crystalline tree. I sensed its magic, and it was the strongest thing I saw so far, but it doesn't even account to a thousandth of my full power, really, it doesn't. I guess this world really does need me. Everyone and everything in this equine wasteland is a whole lot weaker than the stuff that I'm used to.

I saw the pony from before, along with what I can guess is a zebra by her side. "I can not say who that Fawful is, nor about that plan of his." the zebra said. "This bean, he's as mysterious to you as you are to me, but I can tell that your power well exceeds that of the Tree." The accent tells me she came from the pony equivalent of Africa, but that rhyming sound.

"Zecora always speaks in rhyme, she's a zebra shaman, after all." Twilight said. I facepalmed. The last shaman that I met warned me not to do it, but he didn't speak in rhyme, nor was he a zebra. "I can tell that you were checking out the Tree of Harmony. Zecora and I watched the whole fight and decided to follow." she said. "This is our main method, or to be appropriate, our ONLY method of protection. When those two showed up, I noticed that, scaling from Fawful, that both enemies well exceed the Tree in power, and so do you. You are our only hope." she begged.

"Alright, fine. But mainly because of my grudge and the fact that I needed something to hit." I replied. "So, you care for a little teleportation?" I said. "So grab onto me, we're going to fetch your friends. Oh, and you may need the elements for its minions. From what Mario told me, those Sattlemites had very little power, and it relied on coping their opponents to gain power. So, for the dark minions, you can handle." I said as I grabbed the Elements from the Tree, placing them into a convinently-placed bag.

"But what about the Tree?" Twilight said.

"In the long run, it's useless. Even my wimpiest minions were powerful enough to shatter boulders." I said as they clung onto my shell. I jumped up, and with a spin, teleported back to home base. "Or to be more accurate, they are useless as they are right now. But what'll happen if I put some of my power into the mix?"
> The Reunion Between the Rulers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we teleported back to Ponyville, Twilight felt a little nauseous, and not just because of my spin. Her teleportation is a bit different, she said. Whenever I teleport, it looks like I disappear, but to me, the background distorts. This is nauseous to most, but to me, it is a smooth ride. Fawful isn't my target right now, the Dark Star is, and that was partially the reason that we were back at Ponyville. Well, apparently, since Twilight and her friends are the bearers of the Elements, I honestly hope that infusing the Elements with my power does not have any unwanted side effects.

We went to the Castle of Friendship, where we met the rest of the Mane Six. "Alright, the Dark Star was a threat from my world, and a very powerful enemy, so expect it to be a challenge. However, I got these." I opened the sack and took out the six gemstones. "At their current state, they're useless, but I might know how to buff them up, but there's probably no turning back once I go so." I said. Twilight turned to her friends, and they began to whisper to one another. They were obviously debating on whether to let me carry out my plan or not. But when they went up to a conclusion, Twilight turned to me and gave me their answer.

"Alright, Bowser. We'll do it." she said. I nodded as I focused my magic on the Elements, infusing them with some of my own magic. Again, I have to thank Kamek for my knowledge of it, but I never really used it in battle. Orange and yellow energy began to circle the elements and alter them slightly. When it is done, the Elements resembled the cutie marks of the Mane Six much more than usual, and yes, that was a real nickname for them, and no, I did not make it up. Rainbow Dash's element had its cloud and multicolored bolt, for example, and Twilight's element had the white secondary spines that she had on her star, but that's just an example. When the infusion was done, the Elements floated to the six and manifested golden collars, or, in Twilight's case, a crown. "Wow." she said as she looked at their energy signatures with a spell. Sure, it was different to what they're used to, and much stronger as well, but that was just about it.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. But don't think it'll one-shot the Dark Star, even I don't have that power." It made them a bit sad that they couldn't so it. "However, it can still do some serious damage to it. It won't be easy, but it'll all be worth it once we finish it off." I said.

"But what about that crazy Fawful guy?" Pinkie asked. How did she even know about him to begin with. But, she was probably there where the crazy bean attacked Ponyville a while back, before I finished him, of course.

"If he shows up on the scene, don't let him and the Dark Star get close to one another, Fawful said that he will merge with that thing. I don't know what'll happen, and I don't want to." I said. "Now, any questions?" I asked before the sound of a train whistling came to my ears. "I guess not." I said as I looked out the window. A crystalline train was parked at the train station, most likely from the Crystal Empire. "So, those are your friends, huh?" I asked as Twilight nodded. "Well, what are you waiting for? Talk to them!" I said. Pretty soon, we all went downstairs as they ran to the train station. As for me, I just walked there. Zecora was there, too, but she was going back to her home, I presume. She probably has something to do with potions that she has to do.





Twilight couldn't believe it. Even if the Dark Star has taken over the Crystal Empire, at least she can see her sister in law before she can. She eagerly awaited as the ponies went in and out of the station, and then, the ponies she has been waiting for came in. She waited for what seemed like hours, when she saw her targets walk in. "Caddy! Shiny! I'm so glad you're alive!!!" Twilight said as she galloped towards them and tackled them into a big hug.

"Twiley, you're choking us..." the white unicorn wheezed. The alicorn looked to realize that she was hugging them too tightly and quickly released them from almost certain doom. "We came as fast as we can."

"Where is my niece? Is she okay?" Twilight asked. Both nodded their heads as a guard pulled out a stroller. A white alicorn foal with a purple mane lay in there, sound asleep. "Aww, and here I thought I lost you..." she cooed, waking Flurry Heart up. Her soft, beautiful eyes remained completely unscathed as she cooed to the sound of her aunt.

"But, we have more pressing issues. The Dark Star, it doesn't plan on stopping at the Crystal Empire. We went as fast as the engine would allow us, and already, its minions killed a good number of citizens and captured Sunburst." Cadence said. Twilight gasped at this dilemma. Never did any villain she came across EVER killed anyone. Nightmare Moon just wanted her subjects to see the beauty of night, she would never kill anyone on purpose. Discord just wanted to pull pranks, and Chrysalis just wanted to feed her people, both got it the wrong way. Heck, even Sombra and Tirek never killed anyone. "We never thought that there could be a being even worse than King Sombra was. Key word: was."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"We have found a strange unicorn frozen in the ice. He said that this Dark Star character and its minions had stolen his powers from him, and that he was, in fact, King Sombra." Cadence exclaimed. "At first, I thought that he was lying to us about it, but, after a test with a crystal, it showed that he was telling the truth. I still don't trust him, though."

Twilight couldn't blame them, though. "We'll let him recover, but this is the same guy who took over the Crystal Empire and ruled it with an iron fist. We're keeping him under our watch, just to be safe." Shining Armor said sternly.

Twilight let out a deep sigh. She can't blame her brother, either. But their train of thought was interrupted when a familiar turtle walked in. Cadence and Shining's gaze turned to see Bowser walking over. "So, what did I miss?" he said as he went towards the couple. "Oh, who am I kidding, I was here the whole time. You like the improvements I made to the Elements of Harmony?" he asked. Both Cadence and Shining Armor, along with several other ponies, looked to see the difference in the structure of the Element of Magic. The rest of the Mane six also had their Elements on, and they all resembled their cutie marks much more than previously. They were also a lot more powerful than usual.

"How did you know where the Tree of Harmony was?" Shining Armor replied.

"I found it." the Koopa King said. "Long story short, fought this crazy bean, punched him to the Everfree, and after fighting him again, he vanished, and I found the tree and took the Elements." he replied as a familiar pink unicorn with a purple mane walked in.

"I came to see Sunburst. Where is he?" Starlight asked. As Cadence and Shining Armor told the story, Starlight Glimmer broke into tears. She had just reunited with him, and that, thing captured him. "Please. Is... is he okay..." Starlight said with tears in her eyes as her teacher softly patted her on the back.

"We haven't heard from him. We don't know his condition. What we do know is that it's pointless."

"Au contrare, mon petit pony. I'm here, and, if you forgot, I buffed up the Elements. I don't know how that thing came back from the grave, but I'm gonna be sure that thing will die and stay dead for good." Bowser replied as he got near the train. "So, who's in for a rescue mission?"