//------------------------------// // Vs Mushroom Kingdom // Story: The Conversion Bureau: The Multiversal Fronts // by KrspaceT //------------------------------// The sky quaked, the sound resonating across the peaceful, yet to be conquered tranquil fields, cities, racetracks, scorching deserts, high mountains, horrifying ghost infested lairs, and other pleasant locals as the great wooden airships flew across the sky, almost like a fleet of sky pirates in design. All manned by the followers of the mighty, fearsome, and all powerful king of Koopas, Bowser. Said Koopa standing at the front of the lead ship, arms crossed and determined. Some might call him a turtle, and that would be correct. Bowser was a shelled creature, his body was scaly yellow and his shell dark green with sharp spikes, and these spikes being surrounded by red markings. His massive hands could crush boulders, his feet break floors, and his horns impale those who irate him. His flowing red locks were the envy of all hairless Koopa, and his mouth loaded with sharp fangs kept sparkling light by his flames burning away any food scraps left in them. As to why the great Koopa’s airships were flying, it was quite simply you see. Perhaps not how they were physically in the air, for that involved astrophysics. No, the statement was meant as to why they were in the air, not how they were in the air. Bowser would take the castle of Princess Peach for himself. He would also take the princess, and with it control over the Mushroom Kingdom. The Koopa Kingdom would reign supreme. He would of course be a quite benevolent ruler: all his loyal minions would be given castles, land would be redistributed among the non-Toad populations somewhat marginalized by the Mushroom Kingdom (a fact he had used to his advantage in many of his past attacks). The Toads….well he wasn’t sure what would become of them, but he wasn’t going to order them killed or anything. He’d probably just rob them of all their coins, powerups, and treasures. He may or may not also turn them into blocks with his dark magic talents, it really depended how quickly they took to bowing to him. And yes, it was technically the…… At that thought, the Koopa’s pose turned from intimidating to contemplative. What attempt was this, exactly? He'd been trying to take the Mushroom Kingdom over for a long, long while now. As he pondered that question……the airships suddenly halted. The pondering Koopa nearly lost his balance and fell to his demise, though he managed to rebalance himself quickly enough. Sure, his demises never did stick, but he didn’t particularly like falling to his doom. Doom hurt. About to yell at the pilot for why their advance towards the castle had stopped, Bowser looked ahead and got his answer without having to scar some poor Rocky Wrench moles into hysterics: again. A giant, glowing energy barrier seemed to swirl around where Peach’s Castle had been. A blue dome, Bowser was unable to look through it to see what was inside. “Alright….” Bowser growled darkly “Who stole my gig!” attacking the Mushroom Kingdom was his job, and no one elses! It better not be one of those Fawful, Cackleta, Shroob sort of things. He had just gotten through all of the repair work after the Paper-him incident. The sound of fluttering wings was heard in the distance, growing ever closer. Bowser narrowed his eyes as something emerged from the barrier. And lo and behold, a chariot being pulled by a duo of winged horses emerged, the two of them having colorations that reminded the Koopa a bit of some Toads he had encountered working with a certain pair of plumber brothers: one was white and blue and the other white and yellow. The chariot fluttered in place before him, and from there Bowser got a good look at who they were pulling. It was another horse, but instead of wings the horse had a large horn on its head. A unicorn, Bowser believed they were called. The unicorn had light blue hair, and a mark on it’s rump that resembled a Fire Flower, if the colors were just a bit off, being more orange than red. “Who’re you?” Bowser demanded as the horse looked at him with narrow, disdainful eyes. “I could ask you the same thing.” The horse replied with a female tone of voice. A mare then? Well, as long as she didn’t possess his body, he could care less. “Me? Me? You don’t know of me. I am the great and terrible Bowser, King of Koopas. King of the Track, King of the Court, and soon to be ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom!” with that last one, he noted the energy dome currently covering the castle “As you are clearly unaware of this, allow me to explain it to you clearly: I conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, not random horses. So, take down your little lightshow and go bother someone else. Might I suggest a family of apes?” He still needed to get back at that oversized ape for beating him in the last golf tournament. Surely this horse would be sufficient. “I am Tigerlily of Equestria, the new ruler of this world. This world is now my domain. Submit to my rule and undergo Conversion, or perish” the now named competitor to his role in the world stated snidely. Bowser just eyed the horse in disdain for a few moments, before noting with alarm that the barrier behind her was getting wider and wider. It was growing. With a discrete hand signal, he called for his airships to start backing up. No need to throw away his men’s lives pointlessly just yet. “So, you’ve taken over the Mushroom Kingdom?” Bowser questioned “Well, congratulations. I’m sure I’ll have a quite easy job taking it myself after that damn Plumber drops the floor from underneath you and throws you into the lava pits….” “The Plumber known as Mario, has been converted” Tigerlily told the now shocked Bowser. “Princess Peach, Luigi, they are all my servant Newfoals.” It took a few moments for those words to sink in. Mario….was defeated……by a horse. Mario was turned….into a horse. A horse….. Horrific fury rose up in Bowser, as fire billowed forth from his jaws. As the torrent flew at Tigerlily, her horn glowed and fired a laser blast. The two attacks met and were evenly matched, though the advancing wall getting closer and closer made his warship back down first. As the battle between horse and koopa ended, Bowser glared at the shrinking form of Tigerlily in the distance. This wasn’t over. Far from it. Bowser had been denied his favorite hostage. He had been denied his final showdown with his mortal enemy. He had been denied….well Bowser wasn’t sure what to say about Luigi, but the fact remained. Heads would roll for this. And they would possess manes. ….. A month later found a now grim looking Bowser reading report and report that continued to make him grimer and grimer. It appeared Tigerlily had not been kidding. She was quite serious about wanting to take over their world, and given that in the span of the month the barrier had kept growing and growing, and now the space within was easily 10 times what it had been when he had first found it. All over the world, conversion bureaus had sprung up. Tigerlily had declared to the world that there now were only two options: convert into an Equestrian, or die when the barrier makes contact with you. Everywhere from Isle Delfino to the Sprixie Kingdom seemed to have a conversion facility known as a Conversion Bureau in place, all staffed by the turned themselves. They were getting steady business. Particularly among the surviving toads following the reveal that Princess Peach was now a horse. Of course, the fact that being turned stripped you of your free will was not reported. And only the Koopa knew the truth. Of course, the Koopa were not exactly trusted. It said something when the people of the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond trusted a magical talking horse who had appeared out of nowhere and starting taking over the world more than them. Heck, he was having enough trouble ensuring the Goomba’s loyalty to him, and at least a thousand of the mushrooms had already willingly turned. He still had a solid pool of minions though, though how long he could actually keep feeding them would be a concern for the long term if that barrier started to get closer to their territory. His throneroom, decorated with banners and lava (the mark of a true ruler) had echoing footsteps across it as two of his most trusted men came before him. One, a spitting image of himself in his younger years, his pride and joy Bowser Jr, the other a blue haired Koopa, whose youth hid his impressive intelligence: Ludwig von Koopa. “Lord Bowser, we have returned” Ludwig greeted. Bowser gave an acknowledging nod, prompting him to continue. “My mission to the Kongo Jungles was successful. There is no evidence of the activities of Tigerlily there, and the Kongs are willing to negotiate an alliance to aid in stopping the barrier. However, the Kremlings were less interested in hearing me out”. Bowser growled at least statement. Damn it, couldn’t K. Rool be helpful for once! His mood calmed as his son began speaking. “My mission to the Galaxies has shown that the barrier is not expanding upwards: space is clear. I’ve sent instruction to the space crews to begin increasing the size and strength of the fleet.” The reason why they’d need a larger fleet of airships ready to take them into space was left unsaid, but Bowser was willing to at least admit the possibility that something could go wrong. Also, he had been letting his space fleet sit idly by for too long anyway. Space was the final frontier, a perfect space for his power to grow. He had originally planned to ask his son to retrieve him some power stars so he could reach gigantic size and punch the barrier to bits, but after the first Koopa casualties he had decided that such a method would not work in stopping it. Bowser, however, had found a potential method to fix it. It had been damaged during earlier conflicts he had with Mario, in space, but he knew how to repair it. It had been done before, after all. “A job well done, both of you. Ludwig, did you find it?” at that question, the Koopaling nodded. “Yes sir. It’s in the vault”. “Excellent” Bowser growled as he stood from his throne. “I trust your fellow Koopalings will find the rest. Until then, we will attack the barrier!” The world would see that the heroes of the world were the Koopa! A horse would not be the end of him. … Tigerlily had been a minor noble in Canterlot, her family having ascended to noble status following her late father’s success as a railroad baron, unable to move through the system. Blocked at every attempt at rising from the inflexible older money nobles, she had resigned herself, reluctantly, to never having much influence. Though the ambition in her soul burned like fire, waiting the day it could be realized. That day had come when the Heartstrings had shown her the truth. They were not alone in reality, there existed other worlds. Worlds meant to be ruled by Ponies, and those ponies would be the ones denied power by the likes of Prince Blueblood. This world was given to her to rule, and rule as she saw fit. Having arrived in secret not long after the return of Princess Luna, she had first spiked the royal cake with the first of the masterpieces of the Heartstrings: the Conversion potion. With the so called ruler and heroes of this world turned, she used the last of her initial supply to affect the water supply of the royal servants, before setting off the barrier in the castle courtyard to begin wiping this world clean and make it into something more….homely. No more floating blocks and supersizing mushrooms, only Equestrian controlled skies and trees. She had, however, ensured that the castle of Peach Toadstool was not destroyed by the barrier though. While magically coating an entire castle had been a chore, so was building yourself a castle from the ground up. She had put her converted and controlled subjects to work turning the castle into something fit for a being of Equestria, of course. Those painting and murals simply had to go! After ensuring the castle was secure, she had made arrangements to have more potion delivered from the facility run by Stormfront, who was put in charge of the process following his brilliant removal of the human factor in a single day in his ruled world, and had thus given him the manpower to take over as primary supplier for all 52 worlds. With it, she would handle the rest of this world. BOOM! “Um, Lady Tigerlily” the red Earth Pony with the odd accent stated to her right “It appears thata Bowser is attacking”. Tigerlily rolled her eyes. She had achieved the barrier, set up a steady supply of subjects from the idiotic local populations, and commissioned artistry of herself. She had no need to worry about some overgrown turtle. Nothing he could do could stop the barrier. “It is nothing important” she snapped, startling both him and the nearly identical Green Earth Pony on her left “Bowser is no threat to me. He cannot destroy the Bureaus outside his own kingdom, he has no allies, and the barrier is immune to his efforts. He can attack it all he wants, it will do him no good. Now” she noted the fans both brothers had “keep waving those fans!” “Yes Lady Tigerlily!” ….. Pointing a clawed finger at the barrier, Bowser let forth a challenging roar. His airship armada burst forth a swarm of flying black bullets the size of Equestrians: Bullet Bills. The flying bullets flew right at the barrier and made contact: some by exploding on it, others by being disintegrated by it. Nothing. …. With a fury, catapult after catapult launched a whole storm of Bo-ombs at the barrier, aiming to detonate on it with the fury of a meteor shower. There was no visible effect. ….. Hammer Bros. sent hammer after hammer into the barrier, though every hammer that hit seemed to only dissolve. …. Boomerang Bros. were not much better. ….. Taking one look at the barrier, a tie wearing ape shook his head. He had no ideas on how to deal with something like that. …… Closer to the barrier than they’d prefer to be, a legion of Fire Bros charged up fireballs. Along with Bowser’s fire breath, a great inferno was let loose on the barrier. This actually went through. Apparently magical fire wasn’t blocked. Bowser’s grin could make a Yoshi tremble in fear. Finally, a hole he could exploit. Apparently magic fire worked where artificial fire, fire bombs, and zombies did not! It had only taken a week of experimenting to figure it out! “Koopas! Smoke Fire Lily out of the Mushroom Kingdom! Continuous bombardment! Also, send word to the Magikoopa forces, I do believe their services will be also required” ….. Four months later, and Tigerlily was starting to get irritated. “Even as the barrier continues to grow, I still able to smell the wildfires they are causing on its edges! They burn for mile in, no matter how much our Pegasi keep the rains going. It is as if their fire can burn underwater! Worse, the fires are messing with potion quality and, cough, cough, cough” the unicorn had a sudden coughing fit “It’s starting to affect my health! Why has no-one managed to Convert that damn Koopa!” The old looking Earth Pony next to him shook his head “believe me Lady Tigerlily, if we knew how to get him to stop, we’d have done it years ago.” Oh yeah, he was an old advisor to the Princess. He would know about that sort of thing. Growling to herself, Tigerlily summoned a flask of potion and called for her chariot. …. With a burst of fire and magic into the barrier, the siege of the barrier continued. In the months since the battles had begun, Bowser had not let off on the attacks, not even for a moment. Red Fire Bros. to his left and blue robed Magikoopas to his right, this barrier was going to give, either by them breaking it with the Magikoopa attacks, or smoking out it’s masters with the Fire Bros. Any attempt by the converted to get at them with the potions was foiled by his Bullet Bill snipers. Only Mario could dodge his metallic sonic minions! Well, maybe Luigi….. The fluttering of wings ended him silently admitting to Luigi being capable of something. The chariot that had first introduced Unicorn to Koopa had returned, now flowing by a very annoyed looking Unicorn with a floating flask of Conversion Fluid in hand. “I have had cough cough cough” the Unicorn began violently coughing, causing the Koopa to grin victoriously “quite, enough, with your antics. Prepare to embrace Conversion!” the flask uncorked. “Well I have a surprise for you as well, a far better one than yours” Bowser informed the Unicorn smugly. He held his arms up high and dramatically, briefly making Tiger Lily believe him to be surrendering. The picture became much clearer, however, when the yellow-green stars began falling to the earth. They began hitting the barrier, which visibly shuddered. Tigerlily’s eyes went wide with shock as Bowser grinned even wider. “Behold, the result of assembling the Seven Star Pieces together once more, the Star Road is re-forged! The Wish Stars once more fall to the world below, granting the wishes of the world and those who desire them! Behold, my wish! My son’s wish! My minions wishes! The end of your barrier!” The stars continued to impact into the barrier, which was now starting to crack. Now horrified, Tigerlily sent the flask flying at Bowser. He didn’t even bat an eye as a Bullet Bill intercepted it, disintegrating away and taking the vial’s contents with it. As Tigerlily entered another coughing fit, Bowser promptly devoured a super mushroom and leapt from his ship. The resulting giant claw swiped the chariot in half, sending her Pegasi in a spiraling fall to the ground. He meanwhile, now even larger than normal, restrained the Unicorn in one hand as he hit the ground with the gentleness of a small earthquake. He was fine of course, which couldn’t be said for the barrier. The stars continued to impact it, until it shattered like broken glass. As the stars began to fly across the world, now targeting the wishes of others freely, Bowser grinned evilly as he saw the converted lands before him. Much of it was on fire, and all of it was……not what had been there before. It looked like something out of Wendy Koopa’s imagination. “Koopas! All Forces, advance on the castle! Take it , defeat all who stand in your way!” the Airships flew forward, into space that had once been under the barrier only moments before. From the airships spilled out Koopas and Goombas, and all others who had followed him in his mission to save the world. He even saw a few Kongs and Yoshi among them. “If you hope to reverse the Conversion, you are sadly mistaken turtle.” Tigerlily told him defiantly. “So, Mario’s going to remain a horse forever?” (Pony!) Bowser noted blandly. “Yes, and there is nothing you can do about….” “I can live with that”. Flames billowed in his gigantic jaws after having interrupted Tigerlily’s last comment, ready to see what happened to a serpent when you burned off the head. …. 52 worlds had been invaded by Pony Nobles, each seeking a land to rule as their own. At the 5 month and a week mark, Tigerlily had lasted 129 days. She as the 20th of them to meet her end. On 32 worlds, the conflict still goes on.