Super Mario Galaxy: Equestrian Stars

by warpd


Ghostly Infiltration

A patrolling bale of koopa troopas rounded the corner to another empty dusty hallway. The green shelled one yawned. “Man, the wait for Mario is probably worse then when the dude actually shows up.”

“No way dude, it is when you see the shadow above you. Those few seconds when you realize that you are about to be stomped on is the worst.” The yellow shelled koopa shuddered. “I can only imagine how bad that is as a goomba.”

“Bro, it is so much better now. With that shadow queen pony lady around we get all that awesome umbra magic.” The red shelled koopa grinned as he quickly glanced out one of the windows for Mario. “I heard that we will be getting some upgrades like the others soon. We can really knock Mario for a loop with all that shadow stuff.”

“Wonder how her pony shades will hold up in action.” The black shelled koopa mused out loud. “They seem a whole lot like Boos, though they are more tangible.”

“Dudes, do you hear something?” The red shelled koopa hushed his comrades. “Do we have bats in this old castle. Could’ve sworn I heard something flying by.”

“Pony skeletons, man. I just saw a Dry Pony over there. I think. It was pretty fast so it could have been anything.” The yellow shelled koopa yelled as he pointed at fleeting shadows.

“Howdy, y’all!” The disembodied head of Applejack hollered in the middle of the bale.

All the koopas screamed as they jumped into each other’s arms, forming a nice shell tower.

“Fancy meeting you all here in this spooky castle.”

“Bob, the pony is missing the rest of her body.” The green shelled koopa stated the obvious.

“She’s also on fire, and my name's not Bob, it’s ‘Frank’!” ‘Bob’ snapply corrected. “You do have a point though, where is the rest of you!?”

“Ah shucks, I had to pay a toll fee to get entry. You mean to tell me I was hoodwinked out of my body?” Applejack’s head bobbled pitifully. “I guess I’ll take one of yalls.”

“What!? No, I love my body.” ‘Frank’ hugged his shell.

“Naw, I’m just messing with ya.” The purple flames turned a shade darker. “Just here to give y’all a nice--”

KABOOM

Applejack, the headless mare, trotted past the knocked out koopas and grabbed her head. “Now to find where they’re hiding Princess Luna and Princess Peach.”

Down the hall, Fluttershy gulped as she watched these strange enemies march. They heard the explosion so she had to react quickly. Those unnerving masks barely muffled their seemingly mindless chatter. “Ok, I can do this. Just have to be scary. Like a bat. A cute little fuzzy bat. Who would rather be snacking on a tasty apple.”

Shy Guys marched under her, their training had prepared them for this moment. Though they lacked weapons, were a little slow, and not really all that big. What was important was that they had heart, and the vain hope that nothing was actually wrong. “One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.”

Red leader marched in front as they counted their march. “One, two, three.”

Yellow echoed with the others. “One.”

Blue rhythmically continued. “Two.”

Green finished eagerly. “Three.”

The pleased red Shy Guy restarted the march with Yellow and Blue. “One, two, three.”

Red Shy Guy thought it was odd that Green missed his step.

“One, two, three.” As did Blue just now.

Frustrating him further, Red Shy Guy was ready to turn around to dress down his men. “One, two, three.”

Red about face to face an empty hallway, with no other Shy Guys. “One?”

“Two.” His voice echoed down the corridor. Red looked around, he doubted his men were cowards.

“T-three?” Red trembled as his hesitate steps followed each other. Something struggled in the darkness above him. He dared to look up. His comrades were tied up by curtains around the hanging chandelier. A creature with leather wings stared at him with glowing scarlet eyes, hanging by her flexible tail.

The only reasonable response was to scream, so he did. Red screamed hard enough for his mask to pop off, which led to Fluttershy screaming. “Eeek, sorry!”

Fluttershy wobbled until she fell down, directly on the Shy Guy wrapping him in leather wings like a blanket.

---

“See. This is why we don’t work in ghost houses.” The echoes of screams reverberated down the hallway to a troop of Goombas. “Darn goofy ghosts are always pulling pranks. They are on the other side of the hall and we can still hear them screaming.”

Private ‘Undertoe’ Goomba nodded in sage like agreement with Private Goombro. “Too be fair, it sounds like that got them pretty good. Those Shy Guys sound like Lord Bowser just told them to give him a sponge bath.”

“Don’t joke like that. You haven’t lived that.” The thousand yard stare of Private ‘Gloomba’ said everything that needed to be said.

“What’s with the look?” The slightly thick headed Private ‘Underfoot’ asked as he ignored the above explanation. Granted being thick headed might give him a chance to survive being jumped on. “Besides, scaring a Shy Guy is easy mode.”

“Why is the new guy narrating everything?” ‘Underfoot’ read the nametag on the weirdo goomba wearing an oversized mustache and glasses. “Private Gummy, and I’m not thick headed! I just need extra time to think about stuff. Like what we want for lunch. Hmm, chimichangas or enchiladas?”

“How about some chimicherry or maybe cherrychanga. Those are both really good. Well, they’re actually the same thing just with a different name depending on which thing is more fun to say. Chimmmicherry.” The oddly pinkish goomba was making her comrades a bit peckish.

“Wait, cherrychanga? Chimicherry? That sounds like a dessert.” Goombro poked Gummy much to her confusion. “You gonna get tubby eating only desserts.”

With a fake gasp of surprise, Private Gummy took a step back. “I’m shocked. Shocked I say. The very tone of my voice should convey how shocked I am.”

‘Underfoot’ glared at ‘Gummy’. “I dunno. I’ve seen shockier.”

“Pretty sure it is just more shocked, or maybe more shocking. Darn it, your stupidity is spreading.” Goombro yelled at his teammate.

“By the way, I’ve lost my map and I can’t find my way around this big old castle. Could one of you fill me in on where the important locations are?” Gummy smiled sweetly as she took out her cannon.

“Oh no problem.” ‘Gloomba’ snapped out of his thousand yard stare as he took out his pamphlet. “Lord Bowser has a few traps ready for Mario here. Lady Nightmare made some traps for the ponies here. Team Delta did a sweep for hidden power-ups so the heroes won’t find them.”

“Interesting. Please go on.” ‘Gummy’ filled her cannon up with ammunition.

“The Princesses are being kept here and the super secret special weapon is with Lord Bowser and Lady Nightmare at the end of the level. I think Larry Troopa found in deep in this castle somewhere.” ‘Gloomba’ closed the pamphlet. “Does that answer everything?”

“Yuppers.” ‘Gummy’ started to try and light a match.

‘Underfoot’ tilted his head. “I have a question. What kind of name is Gummy?”

“A great name for my pet alligator.” Pinkie finally got her match going. “There we go.”

“You’re one of those ponies aren’t you?” Private Goombro gulped.

“My apologizes.” Pinkie aimed her party cannon as her disguise fade away. “I was never really on your side.”

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled at her friend startling everyone as she snuffed out the cannon. “What are you doing? Are you actually going to use a cannon on them!?”

Pinkie looked down at her cannon and back up to the goombas that once believed her to be their comrade in arms, even if they lacked arms of any kind. “Well, I wanted to be all cool after I got the intel. Here by the way, they told me everything.”

“Good job, but this is unnecessary. Goombas are hardly a threat and using a weapon like that is overdoing it.” Twilight took Pinkie’s hastily written crayon drawn notes. “Just bop them on the head, there’s no need to use resources like that. According to the minion's list provided by the brochure, they are underlings to underlings.”

“Oy’, we’re plenty dangerous.” Private Gloomba protested. “We may not have tough shells, fireballs, magic, spines, or any kind of weapons, but we have something that is the most important factor.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “If you say ‘heart’ I’m going to throw you all out the window into the swamp.”

“Hea--er, no of course not. Determination.” Gloomba stuck up his chest. “We stand bravely against any threat against Lord Bowser and we attack with enthusiasm. Goombas deserve just as much respect as any of Lord Bowser’s minions.”

“Yeah, Twilight. Stop being mean.” Pinkie poked Twilight. “They all deserve to have our full attention without holding back.”

“Yeah, Mario treats us all equally under his jumps.” Undertoe retorted. “Unless he is speeding through a section like he’s trying to avoid rush hour, or you have spines then he just uses a shell on you.”

Twilight groaned. “Fine, Pinkie, have at it.”

With a squee, Pinkie reignited the cannon. The goombas’ eyes widened “Crud! I think we shouldn’t have defended our pride!”

“All right, so there is a secret weapon that we really should learn more about before rushing head first into trouble.” Twilight talked away as the explosion blew her mane and tail dramatically. “I’m confident in our ability, but I’d rather not leave anything to chance.”

“Good-a job clearing out the first area.” Boo Mario would have patted Applejack and Fluttershy on the back if he still had hands. “Especially using a new super-a power for the first time.”

“Ah, shucks. Wasn’t a problem.” Applejack blushed as she balanced her head on her back.

Fluttershy sighed from the ceiling. “I didn’t mean to scare them all that badly.”

“Guys, I scouted ahead and there are a ton of skeleton dudes that are walking around.” Dry Dash landed next to them. “I mean, I think we can take them, but it could get hairy.”

“So they look like you?” Twilight tilted her head. “Necromancy is so scary. Mario any advice?”

“Fire doesn’t bother Dry Bones, but ice magic can-a freeze them solid.” Mario looked over at the ghostly form of Rarity.

“Well then, I suppose it is time for me to pull my weight.” Rarity grinned a smile that would chill spines. “Watch me work, ladies and gentlecolt. Applejack and Twilight, if you both wouldn’t mind cleaning up the riff raff after I am finished.”

Rarity glided a few inches from the ground as she turned the corner to the next hallway. Sure enough, skeleton forms of Koopas, Piranha Plants, and Spinies marched the halls. Their pale light gaze turned to her. “Good Evening. I’m sure you all were told to be good hosts, but we can’t stay and chat.”

The closest Dry Bones lunged, only to be frozen a few steps away with a simple wave of Rarity’s hoof. “Colder than your sense of humor. Well, I hope you appreciate if I create a winter wonderland!”

Like a heat consuming hunger, ice stretched from Rarity with vicious wrath. Ice moved by her will as it enveloped the hall and foes. Not missing the beat, Applejack threw her head at the rows of frozen undead and blew them to pieces. Twilight hesitated, her power was something related to explosions. “Welp, for science!”

While Twilight wouldn’t call what she did an exact science, the results did meet her approval. Her yellow eyes glowed as a hazy orange mist blanketed the ground like an ankle high fog. The back draft from Rarity’s ice magic aided the spread of the mist as it clinged to the enemies. “Combust!”

Twilight stamped her hoof, like a spark. A healthy glow of orange erupted into a raging inferno. The windows blew out, the walls buckled, and the floor got dangerously close to collapsing. Undead bones scattered anywhere. Rarity turned around, prompting Twilight and Applejack to do the same and bowed like an actor. “Hope that performance was satisfying.”

“Whoa. That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help to do an aerial loop. “I mean, I’m pretty sure we lost any element of surprise, but with that kind of firepower who needs it?”

Pinkie Pie whistled as she held a trembling Flutterbat. “Well, maybe if we held off of doing something like that for a while. Very impressive though.”

Rainbow patted Flutterbat on the back “Aw, don’t worry, Fluttershy. That explosion was not as big as the one time we had those fire powers against Nightmare Moon.”

Fluttershy nodded as she looked up and gave Rainbow a sweet smile, a cute scene if Rainbow Dash wasn’t a skeletal abomination. Twilight sighed “Sorry, but it looks like we took care of the ones here. I want to go find some information before we take on Bowser and Nightmare Moon. We need to find a library or a study hall.”

---
In the library where dust bunnies were choking on the dust, a few color coded magikoopas toiled away with old scrolls. “Hurry up, four eyes, I don’t know how long we have until Lord Bowser tells us to pull out of this dump.”

“Don’t call me four eyes. You wear glasses too!” Red retorted as he scrolled over the scrolls. “Pointless history, useless spells, and dull art. The only thing we have found worthwhile are these recipes for pastries.”

Blue tapped his wand in his hand. “Well it’s not like we are going to see Mario. Dude has tunnel vision for princesses, flag goals, and power stars.”

“There was that explosion we heard a few halls away from here. We won’t be seeing him or any of those ponies.” White adjusted his glasses again. “Well when we are done here just burn the place. Gotta meet our pillage quota from Lord Bowser.”

“Excuse me. Did you just say you are going to burn all this!?” The magikoopas jumped in surprise when Twilight appeared when Mario released his invisibility off both of them. “I hope you didn’t!”

“Oh shell, the ponies found ghostshrooms, run!” Red teleported off the ladder and appeared in front of the door. White fired off a spell at Twilight, narrowly missing her and nailed Mario, causing him to lose his ghost form. Red quickly opened it to reveal Applejack waiting. “Ah, not the rope!”

Applejack quickly lassoed in Red with a quick flick of her rope. “Now hold your saddles. No need to get all antsy now.”

White wildly threw out a green spell at the group that was smoothly dodged by them. “Ha, nice try, beak face!” Dash taunted. They completely missed the spell turning into a green shell that ricocheted off the wall straight into her back. Rainbow’s pained gasp was next punctuated by her collapsing into a pile of bones.

“Dash!” Applejack yelled with fear as she tightened her grip on her rope.

“I’m ok.” Dash’s skull piped up. “Give me a few moments to pull myself back together.”

Rarity glared with ghostly blue eyes as ice creeped over the white magikoopa before he could escape. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m sure Twilight has a lot of questions for you.” Rarity grinned icily, making White gulp.

“Mario!” Fluttershy floated down next to the plumber on leathery wings. “Are you ok?”

Blue’s wand was yanked by Twilight as she glared at him. “Please tell me I heard you wrong about burning books.”

“It was a joke! Ha. Ha. See, just a funny joke Ms. Lavender Unicorn.” The sweat poured down his features as those yellow eyes gleamed furiously. “We were just here to make sure nothing valuable to Lord Bowser was overlooked after we stole the ancient artifact of doom from the basement. Turns out listening to Lady Nightmare was a good idea so now we have all these shadow powers and stuff which will really help out with the trap we prepared.”

The room was silent. Everyone stared at the magikoopa until White facepalmed. “You idiot.”

“Sorry. I talk a lot when I’m scared.” Blue gulped. Twilight’s glare turned one of outrage to one of pity glare. “We’re not going to burn them now.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, only to find it holding a pink tail. “All right buster. Bad cop Pinkie time. When’s your birthday? Is this a no party zone!? Why do you wear blue? Is it like a gi that represents your level of magi-kungfuoee. I’ll have you know, Twilight here is a black belt in highest magicability-kungfooness. She’s even wearing black right now with glowing yellow eyes.” Pinkie yanked Blue by the noggin and stared deeply into his eyes. “So whatever sneaky shadow super power meanie queenie is cooking up you better spill it!”

Blue squealed as he leaned as far as possible “Yes! I will tell you. Please stop changing into different people with your weird ghost powers! I had my birthday two months ago, yes the party was nice. Red is having a surprise birthday party tomorrow!”

White gritted his teeth. “Dude, shut your trap. That’s supposed to be a secret.”

“I like to wear blue. Take long walk on beaches. Nightmare Moon’s weapon is supposed to mind control and transform creatures into monsters. Though with some work with Lord Bowser’s R&D we made it so it upgrades his army without the whole turn into a monster deal. I want to work in R&D one day. It’s not easy, but making a flying battle ship space worthy seems like it would be really fun.”

Blue’s yapping was silenced by a lollypop being stuffed into his mouth. Pinkie patted him on the head. “That’s all we needed. Wow, I make a good interrogator.”

Twilight sighed as she duplicated Applejack’s rope to tie up the three magikoopas. “I guess that’s all we needed to know. Don’t worry girls.” Twilight teleported a box into her hooves. She took the jewels out and handed out the appropriate necklace until she fitted the tiara on her head. “Princess Celestia gave us this to make sure nothing went wrong. The Elements of Harmony helped us defeat Nightmare Moon before. Come on, everypony let’s go save the day.”

Mario watched the mares leave with renewed enthusiasm for their mission. He glanced over to the magikoopas who quickly looked away. Not even bothering with a shrug, Mario moved over to the front of one of the bookcases and jumped. An invisible block popped into existence as a single coin bounced up. The magikoopas’ jaw dropped as Mario sprinted after the mares.

“How!? How does he know where to find those things? I’ve never been able to find hidden blocks.” Blue whined as he struggled against his ropes.

“Mario has been doing this for a long time.” White shivered. “So cold.”

Red sighed as he gave up struggling. “I hope some koopa comes by to help us. Good job by the way, Blue. They took it hook, line, and sinker. Except for my birthday part. Was that really necessary?”

Blue snickered “Well the best kind of trick is one where you tell the truth. Also, sorry I do talk a lot when scared.”

“Hey, did someone leave a cupcake here?” Red noticed a candle crowned treat sitting on the table. “It’s out of reach.”

---

Twilight Sparkle never felt more confident, she had all of her friends behind her and the Elements of Harmony. Nightmare Moon was dangerous, but as previous history had proven, she was not unstoppable. Bowser was very scary, but thankfully Mario knew how to deal with him. Though, with the Elements of Harmony, they should be able to defeat both of them.

Applejack kicked open the door at the end of the hall leading the group to an open courtyard. “Well it looks like we have a party here.”

Fluttershy squeaked when she noticed an army of minions around them with an unhealthy haze of purple. “Oh my.”

“So this is where you jokers were hiding.” Rainbow Dash clopped her boney hooves together. “Looks like your bosses are here too.”

Twilight looked up at the menacing duo, and gasped with shock. “Princess Luna!”

Floating above Bowser’s scaly palm, Princess Luna and Princess Peach floated in a purple bubble. “Well look what dragged in from the mud. A herd of good doers that match a crayon box.” Bowser’s jovial mocking laugh stopped when Mario ran up behind the ponies. “And an annoying pest.”

“My dear little ponies.” Twilight cringed when she heard Nightmare Moon speak familiar words. “Welcome to the end.”

“Pish posh you stitched together rag doll.” Rarity’s icy words slipped out. “Being company to a lizard tyrant hardly makes you any different than the little ghosts we scared off coming here. The princesses have more important things to do than sit and listen to your grade school gloating so hoof them over.”

Silence reigned for a few moments until Applejack dethroned it. “Rarity, those ice ghost powers of yours doesn’t mean you have to also be an ice queen.”

“Sorry, not sure what came over me.” Rarity coughed polity.

“I am going to enjoy watching you fail.” Nightmare Moon growled a hiss.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Not today. We brought the Elements of Harmony and with our friendship this will end today!”

“Excellent.” Nightmare Moon grinned toothily. “Such an awesome power to have at your beck and call. I should know, I still have the memories of when I used them.”

“When We used them with our sister thou harlequin.” Princess Luna retorted.

Nightmare Moon glanced angrily over to Luna before taking out a small bag. A heavy beat like that of an elder dragon echoed from it. “Yet, there are powers far older. That eons have forgotten.”

“Friendship is timeless! Let’s go!” Twilight yelled as her Element of Magic glowed. Despite the otherworldly appearances, the ghost powered ponies rose as they gathered power.

Bowser grumbled to Nightmare. “Are you going to use it yet?”

“Witness the Rainbow of Darkness!” Nightmare Moon roared as she threw open the small bag. A stream of darkness poured out, consuming light like a black hole. Specks of energy danced off the twisted corrupting force.

In contrast to the writhing void, the ponies glowed white as the world rumbled from the intense magical pressure. They floated up as their ghostly qualities were accented by the overwhelming power of the Elements of Harmony. A rainbow wrapped around them before shooting up towards the villains. The shadow ponies and Bowser’s minions looked away from the supernova power.

Twilight’s yellow eyes beamed like miniature star clusters against her black coat. Rarity’s ice form acted like a prism that further sprayed rainbows in every direction. Rainbow Dash looked like a ball of energy outlining her skeletal body. The faint glimpse of eyes could be seen on her skull. Pinkie Pie’s bedsheet turned into a coat of many colors. Applejack’s rainbow flames illuminated her head like a halo. Fluttershy didn’t really have anything unique for batty form. She apologizes.

Mario couldn’t even see the ponies anymore as he was forced looked away. He could feel the ground beneath him quake. Then it stopped. He hazarded a glance. “Oh no.”

Bowser didn’t growl, but he radiated disappointment. “That’s it? A fancy light show?”

The main six stood on wobbly legs as they all breathed like they just ran a Running of the Leaves. “Did we win, cause it doesn’t look like it. I’m not up for another shot.” Pinkie groaned.

“I don’t understand. This power was used by a demon king of old to conquer magical lands.” Nightmare Moon felt the bag that contained the Rainbow of Darkness “It’s recharging.”

“Go for a mulligan.” A random goomba from the crowd of minions shouted before being hushed.

“No.” Bowser stood up. “The ‘rainbow of disappointment’ had its turn. I am not going to risk Mario saving the princesses. Attack!”

Princess Peach gasped when she felt herself floating away “Mario!”

Koopas, goombas, hammer brothers, magi-koopas, bob-bombs, dry-bones and other minions jumped into the arena. Mario sprinted towards the villains until he was intercepted by a pair of goombas. With the classic leap, Mario tried to land on them both, but much to his surprise they melted into the floor like shadows and oozed away from his attack.

Twilight shouted out to him “Careful, Mario! They have all been enhanced by dark magic.”

“Careful to us too!” Applejack yelled as she dodged a single Koopa Troopa that seemed to spawn on her in multiple directions. “These jokers mean business.”

Mario dodged a few spinies being thrown at him from above thanks to Lakitus. There stormy dark clouds crackled with electricity until they also shot down with a bolt. Hammers bounced back and forth like over eager footballs around Mario’s noggin as he ducked and weaved.

Rarity threw down a sheet of ice magic towards encroaching dry-bones. They countered with a sickly blue flame breath that halted the advancing ice. Twilight teleported between spells being fired at her from magi-koopas. Their spells pulled 90° turns and moved through solid objects chasing after her.

“That’s how you do it.” Bowser encouraged. “Nightmare Moon, send in your Shadow Bolts.”

“Already done.” Nightmare Moon nodded mutely, still absent mindedly playing with the bag. Rainbow Dash was doing her best to protect the slower Fluttershy from the flock of fake ponies.

Dash yelped in surprise when a Shadow Bolt blasted through her, knocking a leg off. Followed by a slash that took off her bony wings. “Ow! Hey, where did you all come from!?”

“Disappointed in your weapon? Well don’t worry about it, when you’ve been around as long as I have you know how much baloney the ‘power of friendship’ can be.” Bowser grumbled. “Hey! Take out the weak ones first! The yellow one is a wet blanket!”

“I’m pretty sure I’m older” Nightmare Moon tried to correct him, but was drowned out by Bower’s explosive command.

Fluttershy froze when she heard herself being called out. “Oh no.”

“Hay bales.” Rainbow Dash bemoaned as she punched a shadow pony away. All eyes pointed straight up at the duo. “We need to go fast, Shy!”

“I know!” Fluttershy yelped as she cleanly dodged a swipe from behind. Her batty ears twitched as she pinpointed all the flying Shadow Bolts around her. Fluttershy felt like she could see them all with her ears. A quick aerial twist to dodge a side attack, a duck from buzz above her, and a quick dive to avoid a pincer attack. “Please stop attacking me.”

“Don’t you dare bully Fluttershy!” Pinkie yelled as she pulled out her party cannon. No time was given to the wick as the cannon immediately fired off. Lakitu and flying Koopas dodged out of the way as a bright yellow explosion lit up the night sky like a miniature sun. Fluttershy and Dash ducked down towards the group to reform the herd.

A rogue Shadow Bolt was distracted by the explosive charge as it banked after the two pegasi. Its wings sliced through the air making a whistling sound as it got closer to Fluttershy. Tunnel vision allowed for an opening. Dash somersaulted using her skeletal body to ignore the g-force for a tight maneuver and landed directly on the Shadow Bolt’s muzzle.

Mario saw an opening when that Shadow Bolt crashed down in front of him. Grabbing it by its hind hooves, he spun in place, giving Bowser a brief flashback. Mario and his victim turned into a cyclone blur. Koopas and goombas that had surrounded him were all knocked away. Hammers reflected back with eerie precision to the thrower. “So long, little pony!”

The Shadow Bolt went flying in an uncontrolled spin straight into a charged lakitu. With a yelp, the lakitu flipped, sending out a wild discharge into the air. Several of the lakitus close by were also hit by the blast sending out their own discharge into their allies. Then a stray bolt hit a bob-omb. Like the notorious double edged sword, it blew up.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed next to the rest of the group as enemy explosions danced all around them. Twilight was panting hard as she shielded another attack. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think I have the stamina to use the Elements of Harmony and fight an army.”

“Not to mention we still have the big evil duo up there who I’m sure will be throwing nasty things our way soon.” Applejack grunted as she bucked a koopa shell away. “With the princesses gone I’m thinking retreating might be the best plan.”

“Well if we are going to do that, now will be the time with all the chaos happening around us.” Rarity ducked another hammer. “Those bombs are causing more problems for them at the moment.”

Fluttershy pointed a shaking hoof up. “They might be able to help.”

The mushroom ship screeched to a halt above the ruined castle. An aquamarine unicorn came out the top with a megaphone. “Hey guys! We’ve come to pick you up. This place is boring!”

“Lyra, is that horn drilled into your brain!? Now the bad guys know we’re here.” Bon Bon yanked Lyra down.

“There’s our ride outta here!” Pinkie hollered as she shoved her party cannon into a safe place. A fireball flew overhead and crashed into the side of the castle.

Bowser’s flames licked from the side of his mouth as he roared “Get them!”

With very little incentive necessary, the group ran towards the ship as minions poured out from every nook and cranny. Mario patted his hat comfortably down as he sprinted, jumping and bounding from platform to platform. Regardless of the hoard, years of practice made it a breeze for him to reach the roof. Mario looked back down to see his companions struggling. “Momma-mia.”

“That’s right, annoying plumber.” Bowser laughed as he jumped down into the arena with a earth shaking thud. “You might be able to escape, but we’ll get one of these ponies.”

Rainbow Dash turned around after helping Twilight up. “Oh yeah big guy? Think you are so tough being the biggest jerk in the room.”

“Compliments are welcomed, but won’t save you, skittles.” Bowser brought his fists together. “Just keep fleeing, unless you think you can take me.”

Dash looked to her friends, back to the approaching army, and gave her friends a feigned grin. “Keep going. I got this.”

“What!?” They all yelled, but any further protests was lost on Dash as she took to the air.

“Time to even the odds.” Rainbow dived down before pulling up. Her dry-bones form gave her agility that was normally impossible with her normal body Dash ignored the flames, spells, hammers, and shells that were flung at her with ariel spins. She flew around the arena tightly, igniting bob-ombs randomly. A mini tornado formed as it blew dust up in the area.

“Keep flying around you pesty little gnat.” Bowser scraped his claws together. “Got a few squishier targets here.”

“Who are you calling little you ox faced turtle.” Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof down. “I think I have you by a few hooves.”

Bowser paid her a glance before nearly stumbling in surprise. “What the!?”

Nightmare Moon tilted her head as she watched the goliath monstrosity of a pegasus square off against the Koopa King. “She absorbed all of your undead minions after she blew them up.”

Like a jagged bony puzzle piece of skeletons fused together, the colossal Dry-Dash reared up and slammed her hooves right into Bowser. The pale glow in her eyes seemed to convey satisfaction with each hoof strike. The smaller minions tried to steer clear of the titanic fight, but she was making sure her swings were wide enough to catch as many of them as possible.

A claw hand caught a hoof in mid-swing. “Showtime!” Bowser threw his head forward, headbutting Dash. “I’m actually impressed, but I’ve done that before too.” He balled up his hand and swung up into Dash’s jaw knocking it loose.

Dash jerked back from the hit before returning the favor with a roundhouse kick. “Yeah, but I make this look good.”

Bowser rubbed his face before sucking in some air. “Burn!”

Rainbow yelped as she dodged to the side. Not fast enough as the explosion took over her left front leg. She coiled her hind legs before launching herself like a missile into Bowser’s gut.

Having the air knocked out of him forced Bowser to stumble backwards from the blow. He glared at the defiant pegasus before he roared. “I’m going to end this with one punch. Game over!” He leaned back with a hard fist.

Dash jumped up and spun around to give her punch some momentum. Hoof and fist collided violently before Bowser’s punch piled through Dash’s leg past the shoulder, before he dusted her collar bone separating the skull from the lower body. The body wobbled for a moment before exploding into a swarm of bones. “Oh yeah! Looks like you are boned!”

A puff of smoke and a normal Rainbow Dash landed on the ground. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Feels like I just got run over by the train.” Dash got up and saw that a shadow pony was already charging at her, but before it could tackle her Mario swooped her up.

“It’s-a ok. I got you!” Mario kicked off the wall and up to an upper walkway. With an outreached hand he grabbed onto Applejack as they swooped by on the mushroom ship. The ship hummed with power before it dashed straight into the stratosphere and became a twinkle in the night sky.

“There they go with tails between their legs.” Bowser laughed heartily. “Well I had my fun for today. Time to be back to work.”

“Plan B should take care of them.” Nightmare Moon concluded as she pawed her Heart of Darkness.

“It will rock their world.” Bowser agreed as he cracked his knuckles. “Troops, we’re pulling out of this dump. Time to take the universe.”

The magikoopas charged their wands for a mass teleport spell and all the minions vanished. Bowser and Nightmare Moon used their own teleport spells to leave the empty galaxy behind.

The ruins of the ancient castle remained sentinel to the remains of Recycle Matter Galaxy. The wind carried the song of the world with only a lone creature to listen to it. A single forgotten shadow pony.

---

“Thanks for the pick me up, Luigi.” Mario patted his brother on the back. “You’a really came through for us.”

“T-thanks, Mario.” Luigi shuffled his foot.

“It was one big old mean trap in the end.” Lyra bounced up between both of them. “Who would have thought the villains had something that could counter the Elements of Harmony. That’s crazy!”

“While it was a brash move, you did a fine job protecting us.” Rarity said as the group hugged Dash.

“At least I got to knock the big jerk around, but he throws a mean right hook.” Dash rubbed her jaw. “I’m just glad those ghost powers protected me.”

“Let’s not get in a situation where that is necessary.” Twilight took out some books she took from the castle. “I need to figure out how we can counter the Rainbow of Darkness.”

“True. Very true. It was fortunate that their primary goal failed. We must research this as thoroughly as possible.” Time Turner trotted off with his own stack of tomes.

“Well if there is anyone that figure out this, it’s you, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie grinned wide. “You are the smartest pony I know, after all.

“Thanks, Pinkie.” Twilight opened up the first book and wandered back into her cabin.

Pinkie Pie watched Twilight leave before turning a slow gaze to Mario. Her eyes had an unusual red tint behind them. Her hoof reached out and grabbed--- (\ d /) ---_

“Finally. I was hoping this _ay woul_ come. My comeback for revenge.”