My Little Paper Mario

by Codex92

Journal Snooping and the Return of the Annoying Pest

Up high in the sky in Peach's castle, the princess paced around her room, a little bored and still worried about the well-being of Mario and her Equestria friends. Twink watched Peach, knowing she was greatly concerned for everyone down below. Peach let out a sigh and turned to the Star Kid.

"I hope Twilight and her friends are safe," Peach said. "I know Mario can take care of himself, but they can't. Who knows what Bowser's soldiers will do to them?"

"I'm sure they must be safe somewhere," Twink assured. "And Mario can protect them when he finds them."

"...You're right, Twink." She let out an irritated grunt, looking over to her bedroom door. "I can't even leave my own room...I need to do something to help Mario. Anything!"

"It's too bad there's guards everywhere. And I can't exactly go out erratically, otherwise I'll end up getting followed again." Twink flew over to the window balcony. "And escaping from the window isn't a good idea. Bowser lifted your castle pretty high. A lot higher than where Star Haven rests, too."

Peach looked around her room, quite obvious that there was no possible way for her to escape. The door was guarded by a Koopatrol at all times, and her balcony didn't have any safe ledges underneath for her to land on if she jumped out. She then gasped as she looked by her fireplace, remembering some way that she could break out of her room.

"Wait! Maybe there is a way!" she said. "I remember Toadsworth telling me about a secret passage here in my room. And it had something to do with the fireplace." Peach approached the fireplace, the light fire burning behind the protective grates giving some warmth to her room since they were up high in the atmosphere. Twink floated closer, watching the princess poke and prod every part of the stone structure, hoping to find a secret button or switch hidden inside it. She then moved a nearby picture off the right side of the wall, seeing a small indent hidden behind it with a red button sticking out. "Hmm...Maybe this is it?"

Peach pressed the button, suddenly hearing the flames in the fireplace die out as part of the wall slid open. Both princess and Star Kid looked inside, surprised to see a hidden passage on the other side, the grates falling over in the empty pit. They looked at each other, their shock turning to glee as they found their escape route.

"That's so cool!" Twink exclaimed. "Now, let's see if we can find a way out of this castle!"

"Right." Peach took the lead and Twink followed, entering the tall fireplace and into the secret passage. It only had one corridor, candelabras already lit up in the hall to see through the slightly dim passage. On the other side was a small platform with a pair of railings around it, leaving an opening for anyone who wants to step onto it. There was a button in the middle of the wall. "Hmm...I wonder what this does?"

Peach pressed the button, making the platform shake slightly as it began to slowly spin around. She and Twink were both a little surprised by the sudden movement, wondering where it was taking them. As it rotated around, they could see the inside of another room that was in the castle, the platform finally stopping after making a complete 180 degree turn.

"Whoa. Where'd we end up?" Twink asked.

"It looks like an abandoned study in one of the castle's rooms," Peach said. "We're probably not that far from my room."

As they looked around, avoiding taking a peek outside in case a guard was patrolling close by, Twink spotted an opened book lying on the table. He floated over to it and looked through the opened pages.

"Hey, Peach. Looks like someone's diary or something lying here," he said.

Peach approached the desk and took a look at the diary. As wrong as it was to read someone else's personal thoughts, she couldn't help but feel a little curious as to what was written inside of it.

Today, I went up to Star Haven and stole the Star Rod. Now I'm invincible! Cool! I also captured those seven Star Spirits, so they won't annoy me anymore. It was a hard day's work and I'm feeling a little bushed. Dinner was nice, but a bit bland.

It was quite obvious from just the first entry they looked at, it was Bowser's diary. Peach and Twink looked at each other for a moment, already dreading reading it, but they continued on with the next entry, which just so happened to be the day after he stole the Star Rod.

Today was great, diary! I used my castle to lift Peach's up into the sky, all thanks to the powerful Star Rod! Not only that, but I also expected Mario to be there, and I actually won! Take that, you linguine munching plumber! I've finally beaten you after all these years!
Although, it was also a strange day. Along with the princess and Mario, there were these six animal things that were there. They had some weird...magic, I think Kammy told me, but they clearly weren't a match for me and the Star Rod. The purple one said something about "the magic of friendship", or something sappy like that, and what good that did them. I got a bit of a scolding from Kammy after blasting them out of the castle when they turned into those glowing lights, even though all I did was zap them.
Oh well. Whatever they are, I don't care. All that matters is that I won, Princess Peach is mine, and I'll take over the Mushroom Kingdom without Mario around to bother me ever again.

"Ugh. He even has to gloat in writing," Peach grumbled. "He's lucky they're still alive, otherwise I would have done worse than slap him across the face. Twilight and her friends are new to our world, and he doesn't even care about them."

"Hey, I think he wrote something else, and the date on this one was yesterday." Peach looked down at the latest entry Bowser made as Twink pointed to it.

Well, it looks like the Koopa Bros. were beaten. I figured those four would have won with that move of theirs, but nope! Beaten! Stupid Mario.
What's worse is that they managed to find one of those...uhh, what did Kammy say those six things were again? Eek quineys? I don't know what they're called. She said they were like those weird four-legged animal things in that dumb book she showed me. They barely look like them, with their big eyes and being far too colorful for my tastes. And the pink one was just plain annoying!...Pink is good on Peach in that lovely dress of hers, but that thing had too much pink! But, yet again, Mario saved it along with beating up the Koopa Bros.
I'm not all that worried, though. So what if he saved one of the Star Spirits? There's no way he'll find the one hidden in Dry Dry Desert. He'll need to solve the mystery of the Dry Dry Ruins, that is if he can find those ruins. And we'll also find those ekey wine things that my men have spotted soon enough. Kammy believes if we can figure out how their magic works, then we'd be even more unstoppable.

"The Dry Dry Ruins in Dry Dry Desert..." Peach let out a small laugh. "Bowser, you really aren't that smart. Twink, you have to give this information to Mario."

"Of course!" Twink said with a salute.

"Gah! I can't believe I left my diary out in the open!" Peach and Twink gasped as they heard Bowser's voice on the other side of the door. Twink quickly hid behind the chair right as Bowser barged into the room. As soon as he caught sight of Peach standing them with a nervous grin, his jaw dropped in shock. "W-What!? Peach!?"

"Uhh, hehehehe. Hello, Bowser," Peach said with a small wave.

"H-How did-!? How'd you get out of your room!?" Behind the princess, lying on the table, was Bowser's diary. He let out a shriek, running past Peach and snatching his diary away with a blush on his cheeks. "D-Did you read my dia-er, I mean my journal!?"

"Journal? What journal?" Peach asked, feigning obliviousness.

"Don't give me that, princess!" the Koopa King accused. "You read my journal! Guards! Get in here!"

Two Koopatrols barged into the room by Bowser's orders. "Lord Bowser! What seems to be-!?" The two spike-shelled Koopas yelped in surprise, seeing the princess out of her room. "W-Wha-? How did the princess escape!?"

"I don't know, you nimrods! You tell me since you all have shifts watching her door!" The guards stammered, feeling completely clueless and had no excuses to make. "Just get her back in her room! Now!"

"Y-Yes, Lord Bowser!" The guards obeyed their leader and grabbed Peach's arms, escorting her out of the study and back to her room.

"Ugh. Why do I have such incompetent guards?" Bowser asked himself, his back turned away from Twink as the Star Kid sneakily hovered away from him and out the door. "First the Goomba King, then the Koopa Bros., and now these idiots. How hard is it to watch Peach's bedroom door?" He looked down at his diary, mentally beating himself up for carelessly leaving it here. "I should put this back in my castle, so no one else looks at it...And what other private entries I made that no one else is supposed to see..."

---

After getting a good night's sleep back in Koopa Village, the heroes headed back out onto Pleasant Path and return back to Toad Town. Most of Bowser's minions weren't much of a problem with the addition of Bombette joining them. It was difficult getting out of town with the Bob-omb's ex, Bruce, wailing and clinging to her, begging her not to leave. After she gave him a proper scolding, and literally blowing up several times in his face to get him off of her, he finally got the message, though it was disheartening for him to realize their relationship was over.

"Fresh air," Bombette sighed as they walked along the path. "Finally happy to see some nature than the stone cold prison cell we were trapped in."

"I'm actually a little surprised the other Bob-ombs covered up the hole you guys made to trap them in that cell," Goombario said. "Man, Red Ninjakoopa sure sounded furious down there."

"Maybe some time locked up will cool their egotistical heads," Kooper pondered. "But enough about those guys. I wonder where we're going to next."

"Well, until we get a lead or if Twink comes down to give us some information, we'll just have to wait." Mario nodded in agreement with Goombario.

"Twink? Who's that?" Twilight asked.

"A Star Kid," Goombario explained. "He's kind of like Eldstar, though a lot younger and smaller. Little guy's keeping Princess Peach company and is our little messenger whenever they find something useful for us."

"I see...And I take it Twink doesn't know where my friends are either?" Sadly, Mario shook his head in response. "Right. It can't be that easy. What else could go wrong?"

"Aha! There you are!" The party stopped in the middle of the road, only several yards away from the entrance to Toad Town as they heard someone getting their attention. Jumping out of the bushes, Jr. Troopa pointed a finger at Mario, the plumber groaning in slight irritation at the eggshell-wearing Koopa's appearance. "I finally found you, Mario! Now I shall take my revenge!"

Jr. Troopa let out a battle cry and ran forward, only to trip on a rock and slide face first across the ground. Everyone watched as the little miscreant slipped over the edge and fall into the river running alongside the road with a splash.

"...Uhh, what was that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, please don't tell me that was who I thought that was," Goombario pleaded.

Jr. Troopa grunted as he climbed back up the side, soaking wet as he finally managed to pull himself out of the calm stream. "Ugh. I meant to do that." He shook the water off of himself, then quickly got in front of their way to town. "I'm back for a fight and I'm tougher than I was last time!"

"Oh jeeze," the Goomba groaned. "It is. Jr. Troopa."

"Who is this kid?" Bombette asked.

"He's...my family's annoying bully," Goombario explained. "He constantly picks on us, and if anyone enters his 'playground', he beats them up for no reason...But how does he know you, Mario?"

"Oh, he knows full well what he did!" Jr. Troopa said. "And he's going to get what's coming to him! No one makes a fool out of Jr. Troopa! Here I come! Yaaaaaaaaah!"

The irate Koopa charged forward, heading straight for Mario. Before the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom could defend himself, Twilight used her magic to hold Jr. Troopa in place. He struggled to move, trying to break out of the alicorn's telekinetic hold, but her magic was stronger than his wild flailing.

"Ok, let me get this straight," Twilight said. "You're attacking Mario, who's known for saving this kingdom several times, and you want revenge on him?"

"Yeah, you weird purple dog! Mario and that old Goomba stepped on my playground, he beat me up, and I will not be happy until I beat him to a pulp!" Twilight ignored the rude comment by the young Koopa, sighing in irritation.

"You beat up my grandfather!?" Goombario exclaimed. "You little punk! How dare you attack Goompa!?"

Goombario tried to leap up and bonk Jr. Troopa, but Kooper held him back, holding onto him tightly. "...Do you have any idea who Mario even is?"

"No! And I don't care! Mario, tell your pet horned bird to let me go or else!" Twilight's eye twitched, already having enough of the spoiled, ignorant creature who only cared about his ego over who he's dealing with.

She slammed Jr. Troopa down hard to the ground, stunning him a bit as the wind was knocked out of him. "First of all, you little brat, I'm a pony! And I am nopony's pet! Second, you're really starting to get on my nerves thinking you're stronger than somepony who saves the world from an evil king, who we're in the middle of trying to stop before he destroys the Mushroom Kingdom! And third-"

Jr. Troopa stood up, ignoring Twilight's ranting and tackled her hard in the chest, knocking her over. "Ok, I'm gonna deal with the giant winged cat thing first for talking too much, THEN I'll deal with Mario!" Angered by the annoying little pest hitting Twilight like that, Mario rushed forward and kicked Jr. Troopa hard in the face, sending him flying off into the bushes. He held up his fists, telling Goombario, Kooper, and Bombette he'll deal with Jr. Troopa while they cover Twilight. The young Koopa growled as he poked his head out of a bush, leaping back onto the road, stomping his foot angrily. "Cheap shot, Mario! But like I said, I've gotten stronger! MORE POWER!!!!"

Jr. Troopa let out a roar as he powered up, only to quickly duck, hiding in both halves of his shell as an added means of defense. Twilight groaned as she stood up, rubbing her sore chest.

"Twilight, are you ok?" Kooper asked with concern.

"I've been in a scrape with a giant centaur back home," Twilight assured. "But that little brat's stronger than he looks."

"Hah! What do you think about this!?" Jr. Troopa asked as he hid in his shell, looking like a walking egg with his feet sticking out at the bottom. "Try penetrating my defenses with your pathetic punches!"

"He's hiding in his eggshell...That's a dumb strategy," Goombario commented dryly. "Idiot can't even see where anyone's coming."

"Well, he is a bit determined, I'll give him that," Kooper said. "But why is he in an eggshell? Did he even grow a shell?"

"Don't know. Don't care. As long as Mario beats the heck out of him, I'll be glad to know that twerp gets what's coming to him." Goombario looked up at Kooper, who was still holding onto him. "Kooper, you can let me go now. I'm not a plushie to hug."

"Oh. Sorry." Kooper let the Goomba down. "I was holding you back since Jr. Troopa was kinda defenseless in Twilight's magical hold. But, knowing how dangerous this kid can be, I think I'll let you go all out next time."

While Jr. Troopa continued gloating over how better his defenses were while hiding under in his eggshell clothing, Goombario was right about the lack of sight he had. Taking it as an advantage, Mario pulled out his trusty hammer and ran forward. With a powerful vertical swing, he struck the defensive Koopa hard in the head, making him pop out from his shell and yell out in pain.

"AUGH! H-How did that hurt me!?" Jr. Troopa asked.

"It's a hammer, you dunce!" Bombette stated. "It's gonna hurt even in that weak eggshell!"

"My defenses were impenetrable! I powered up and everything!" Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, and Twilight simultaneously sighed in exasperation.

"Some kind of power up that seemed to be," Goombario groaned.

"You only got a lucky hit. You won't get another one!" Jr. Troopa charged again, jumping up in the air and trying to land on Mario.

He blocked the pounce with his hammer, pushing the Koopa back across the road. Mario threw his hammer, but it missed as Jr. Troopa ducked under it, laughing mockingly as he avoided it. Mario growled and clenched his fist, the Lucky Star began glowing purple. Confused at the strange power, he looked down at his chest, then saw his fist was glowing the exact same light. He had no idea what was happening, but oddly enough, he was able to feel the hammer's handle in his hand, even though it was flung a few yards away from him.

"Whoa. What's up with Mario's hand?" Kooper asked.

"That's...the same color aura as my magic," Twilight uttered in surprise. "What is happening?"

"Hahahaha! Nice throw with that hammer!" Jr. Troopa continued mocking. Mario ignored him as he lifted his glowing hand up. Behind the obnoxious little Koopa, he saw his hammer rising up at his command. With his opponent distracted, Mario "grabbed" his hammer and pulled his arm back, sending it flying back toward the oblivious child. It smacked Jr. Troopa hard in the back of the head, sending him slamming face first into the dirt, the hammer flying back to him, catching it right back in his glowing hand. "OW! W-What!? What hit me!?"

"Did Mario really just use magic???" Bombette asked, her eyes twice as wide as they usually were in surprise. "CAN Mario use magic???"

"Unless you count his transformations when he uses a Fire Flower or a Cape Feather, then I don't really think so," Goombario said. "That was definitely like Twilight's levitation."

Thankfully, Jr. Troopa was too angry to pay attention to what the commentating group in the background were saying. "Alright! That's it! I'm done fooling around!"

Jr. Troopa charged again, leaping up again, but instead of just trouncing Mario, he hid inside his eggshells and dive bombed the plumber. Unfortunately, since he jumped so high, he couldn't see Mario leap out of the way. Just before hitting the ground, Mario slammed his hammer down hard on the small Koopa, smacking his head even harder to the ground. Jr. Troopa groaned in pain, popping out of his defensive stance and flopped on his stomach, his eyes spinning around in his head in defeat.

Mario let out a sigh, put away his hammer, and dusted his hands off. He looked down at his hands, the glowing finally stopped once Jr. Troopa was finally beaten. It was quite an odd power he had gained, using the same levitation powers as Twilight. Mario flexed his fingers, seeing it can come in handy if he ever missed his throw and needed his hammer back. Seeing as Jr. Troopa was down and out, groaning in his daze, Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, and Twilight approached Mario as they looked down at the unconscious Koopa.

"Serves that little brat right," Goombario said with a grunt. "He's lucky I didn't beat him up. Last time he messed with us, he swiped Goombaria's Princess Peach doll from her and ran off with it. Spoiled little runt thinks he owns everything and has no sympathetic bone in him."

"I actually feel a little bad for him," Kooper said. "He doesn't even have a shell. I think at his age, he should have had one the moment he was born."

"After attacking us like that while being clueless to the real threat going on, I don't think we should pity him at all," Bombette said. "Hopefully this beating will teach him a lesson."

They left Jr. Troopa and headed into Toad Town, continuing on their quest to save the princess, the Star Spirits, and Twilight's friends. For the alicorn, she was surprised to see just how normal a town with walking, talking mushroom-headed peoples Toad Town was. For a kingdom that was called the Mushroom Kingdom, she expected them to live in giant houses carved out of massive fungi, not wood and brick homes. And even though Peach's castle was uprooted by Bowser's days ago, the town was very lively. Since they knew Mario was still alive, they were sure to believe he would find a way to bring their princess back.

"Mario!" Everyone looked up at the sky, spotting Twink floating down toward them. This time, he remembered not to drop down too fast and ram into anyone like a shooting star. "Hey, good thing I didn't have to look far!"

"Hey, Twink," Goombario greeted. "Anything to report?"

"Well, we got some good news. I know where one of the next Honorable Star Spirits are located," the Star Kid said. "We looked through Bowser's diary and he wrote down a location to where the next Star Spirit is held captive. They're in Dry Dry Ruins in the Dry Dry Desert."

"Dry Dry Ruins!?" Kooper exclaimed. "Hey, Prof. Kolorado is on an expedition to find those ruins!" He pulled out the map that was placed in Twilight's saddlebags and opened it. He pointed at a large stretch of desert far to the south of Toad Town. "The Dry Dry Desert's a train ride south of here and a hike over Mt. Rugged! I didn't think Bowser and his men actually found those ruins first before anyone else!"

"Not only that, but Bowser was a bit miffed when he heard you guys beat the Koopa Bros.," Twink continued. "He said he wasn't worried, but I doubt that." Twink finally noticed Twilight, floating over to the alicorn as they both stared at each other curiously. "Whoa. Are you one of those ponies the princess told me about?"

"At least somepony finally guessed right about what I am," Twilight said aloud. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. You must be Twink."

"Yeah. And Twilight Sparkle...Kinda sounds like a name given to a star," Twink said.

"Well, I do like stargazing and observing the constellations back home, but I prefer learning more about magic...Oh, Twink, do you think you know where my friends might be?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry. Princess Peach and I didn't find anything about where your friends might be," Twink sadly explained. "All we know is that Bowser's soldiers did find two of them, but they left out exactly where they might be." Twilight's ears drooped as she let out a sigh. "But don't worry! We'll try to find out anymore if we can!"

"Thanks. I'm just really worried about them." With nothing else to give, Twink said his goodbyes to the party and flew back up to Peach's castle. Now that they know where to go, they began making their way to the south of town where the train station was. Earlier, they wouldn't have been able to go down to the southern sections of Toad Town due to the debris from the earthquake made by Bowser's castle a few days ago. Now that it was cleared up, they could go down, but as they made their way to the station, Twilight wondered what had happened when Mario fought Jr. Troopa. "Mario, how were you able to use magic?"

The plumber couldn't describe exactly what happened. The Lucky Star began glowing, which made his hand glow, and he explained it felt like he was still holding onto his hammer when it was thrown far away from him. He told Twilight he winged it, testing this strange ability he mysteriously gained, moving his hammer with his hand's movements to bring it back to him.

"How exactly was that possible?" Bombette asked.

"Maybe it's the Lucky Star," Goombario pondered.

Mario pulled out the star pendant from under his shirt. It was odd to see the bronze star had turned purple in the center, but it matched Twilight's big star on her cutie mark, and the power he had seemed to be levitation. So far, he was only able to manipulate his hammer, though it made him wonder if he can move anything else with it.

"Maybe it was," Twilight guessed as she got a better look at the pendant. "The magic my friends and I used to save you from your fall was able to be sensed in you by the Star Spirits. And if you could use levitation, my magic must have transferred into you when Eldstar was freed."

"So, Mario unintentionally stole some of your magic?" Kooper asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"No. If he didn't, I don't feel as drained as I should if that was the case," Twilight said. "Maybe our combined magic that floated Mario down to safety transferred some of that magic to him, but is only a part of our power was given to him after we saved Eldstar. Until we find any of my other friends, we'll see if my theory is right or not."

Mario nodded his head in agreement as he placed his pendant back under his shirt. If what Twilight guessed was true, maybe there might be some other helpful skills he could gain in the future along with the Star Spirits' power. Before they headed down to the station, Twilight noticed an odd looking pink flower in the grass nearby, the stem of it somehow bigger at the roots than any normal flower.

As she walked up to the flower and gave it a curious sniff, the plant suddenly popped out of the ground, surprising Twilight as she yelped and fell over on her back. "Well, hello there, strange creature."

"Huh!?" The "roots" of the flower talked to her, a wide body with a face and feet at the bottom of it. "Y-You can talk???"

"Why of course. I am a Bub-ulb," the flora creature introduced itself. "I come from a place called Flower Fields, a wonderful land of flowers. And I love to spread flowers all across the kingdom."

"...Uhhhh...great?" Twilight was utterly clueless, unable to fathom what this odd flower being was, and she had seen stranger things happen in the past.

"And I see you love flowers too," the Bub-ulb continued, ignoring the alicorn's shocked expression. It then pulled out a large pink seed, giving Twilight the seed. "I can trust you to take care of this seed. Make sure to plant it somewhere beautiful for everyone to see."

"...Ok then..." The Bub-ulb skipped back to where it popped up from the ground and dove back in, covering its body in dirt as it left the flower on its head sticking out of the ground. "...Well, that was random...But Pinkie easily tops everything else that's completely weird and not normal."

Deciding the just hold onto the seed for now, Twilight placed it in her bags, making sure it wouldn't get mixed up with their provisions. She quickly caught up with the group before she got lost and found themselves at the train station. Sadly, the train wasn't running, a boulder that had rolled off the side landed on the track, halting their schedule.

"Is there anything the matter, sirs?" Kooper asked the train staff.

"Yeah. We can't move this boulder out of the way," the conductor said. "It's too heavy for any of us to even budge it. Because of this roadblock, we can't exchange goods or carry passengers over to Mt. Rugged, where the Dry Dry Outpost lies on the other end of the Dry Dry Desert."

Bombette walked up to the boulder, examining it closely. "Hmmm...Pthh. This thing's a roadblock? Nothing but a little explosive power should make this thing crumble to tiny pebbles. Everyone stand back! I've got this!"

"Better do as she says," Goombario warned as he, his friends, and the conductors backed away.

The Bob-omb lit her fuse, staring at the boulder in concentration. Once the fire seeped into the top of her body, she let out a powerful explosion, shattering the rock into pieces, leaving behind nothing but small pebbles. Bombette fell after releasing her blast, landing before everyone with a perfect landing.

"Wow! It's destroyed!" the train engineer exclaimed in shock.

"Now the train is back and opened for business!" the conductor said, approaching Bombette and shaking her foot. "Thanks for your help, Miss...?"

"You can just call me Bombette," she said. "No thanks are necessary. Anything in need of blowing up, I'm the Bob-omb to do it...Although, we would like a ride to Mt. Rugged. We've got some business to do out in the desert."

"Well, the train's back in action. So, ALL ABOARD!" The engineer blew the whistle, prepping the train's engine to begin its trek across the tracks to the south once again.

The group hopped inside the train, being the only passengers for the ride to the base of Mt. Rugged several miles southeast of the kingdom. As soon as it was ready to depart, the engineer rang the bell, signalling its preparations are complete as the barrier keeping citizens safe from the railroad moved away to let the train go through. The locomotive chugged off, puffing out smoke shaped like stars, slowly taking off until it sped up to the proper travelling speed.

"Say, Twilight? Do you have trains back in Equestria, or are these new to you?" Kooper asked as the group hung around the back of the vehicle, the railings keeping them from falling off.

"Actually, we do," Twilight said. "They're one of few different means of transporting to different places around Equestria. We also have boats and airships, though there are mostly hot air balloons some ponies used to fly up to cities like Cloudsdale and airships can be pretty expensive. I even had my own balloon back in Ponyville I used from time to time when I was a unicorn."

"That's pretty interesting," Goombario said with awe. "I thought you just teleport from location to location with your magic."

"Maybe some unicorns with an advanced skill with magic, but not many can. Pegasi can freely fly to different towns with their wings alone, but earth ponies and unicorns had to walk long distances before locomotion was invented." During the ride, Twilight explained a bit more about her world and what differences there were in technology compared to what the Mushroom Kingdom has.

The train passed through the grassy plains of the Mushroom Kingdom, passing over a bridge with a river flowing into the ocean underneath. It didn't take long for the fields to soon turn into dry and craggy land, entering the vicinity of the arid land southeast of the kingdom. Twilight looked over to the side, seeing the rocky Mt. Rugged up ahead, hoping to see one of her friends somewhere in the town far to the east of the mountain range and the hot desert it was located in. The only thing she was going to dread was suffer from dehydration, the desert sun with her fur coat a terrible combination if they had to travel through Dry Dry Desert for over an hour.

Comments

[GamePlayer64]

I wonder how Twilight will react to seeing Jr. Troopa having wings or magic?

[Codex92]

7986969 Questions...A lot of questions that will only give a short, brief answer that won't explain a lot. Jr. Troopa is still a questionable little pest, and we don't even know exactly where he came from...Unless he made a reappearance in any other Paper Mario game after Super Paper Mario, I don't know because I am unable to play those other games since I don't have a 3DS. I know he made a cameo in a picture in Thousand Year Door, which was kind of hilarious seeing him again, but that was it to my knowledge. And I don't like spoilers unless I get desperate to find out what happens after a long period of time.

[JediAlexColbent]

Yay! Now Twilight and co. just physically assaulted and left for dead a child several years younger than themselves!

Seriously, I know arguing about Mario logic is pointless, but somebody DOES have to realize that they're wailing on a minor in these fights, no? You could argue it's self defense, but why are they just leaving him there? Drop him off at the nearest juvenile correction center, take him back home, just do SOMETHING that doesn't make them look like any white trash Americans you read about in those sickening news stories.

[castroedgar316]

"Hahahaha! Nice throw with that hammer!" Jr. Troopa continued mocking. Mario ignored him as he lifted his glowing hand up. Behind the obnoxious little Koopa, he saw his hammer rising up at his command. With his opponent distracted, Mario "grabbed" his hammer and pulled his arm back, sending it flying back toward the oblivious child. It smacked Jr. Troopa hard in the back of the head, sending him slamming face first into the dirt, the hammer flying back to him, catching it right back in his glowing hand. "OW! W-What!? What hit me!?"

You made it sound like he used the force.

[MLPMekarm]

8233841
the force is strong with this one.

[shadowgazer2]

7989535
He doesn't. I've played Sticker Star, The game is very underwhelming. There isn't anything big to spoil. The battle system is resource based, you have "ammo" and you can run out. The sticker book could have been really cool if stickers were infinite use.