Super Mario's Lost Adventure: Equestrian Chronicles

“What’s the matter Twilight? What does it say?” Goombella asked, curious as to why she reacted the way she did.

Twilight levitated the letter to her friends, holding the expression on her face like she had just seen a ghost. Mario grabbed the letter and everyone else gathered around.

“My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,

I apologize for not writing sooner, but something has happened in Canterlot regarding Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon has returned, and the cause of this appears to be that mechanical being you mentioned previously. It seems to have used some sort of dark power which had the capability of releasing Nightmare Moon. I have little knowledge of its motives with the exception that it is after those ‘Crystal Stars’ that you also mentioned. It is vital that you and the other elements come to Canterlot immediately. I will debrief you upon your arrival. I would also advise you to bring your new friends. Something tells me that you will need their help if you plan to stop Nightmare Moon and this new creature.

Your mentor,
Princess Celestia”

The other mares in the room were setback upon finishing the letter.

“That can’t be possible!” Rarity said suddenly, “we stopped her! How could she have been freed again?”

Goombella was puzzled.

“Who is Nightmare Moon?” She asked.

“The mare in the moon,” Twilight began, “at least that’s what she was known as in the legend, is a powerful alicorn of the night. She was sealed in the moon for a thousand years before she was finally able to free herself. We used the Elements of Harmony to put an end to her reign, and Princess Luna was free of the corruption. But it seems like Mecha Mario was able to bring her back, and if that’s the case, this mission just got a lot more difficult.”

“OH NO!” Mario shouted.

“It’s all our fault…” Goombella said guiltily. “If we hadn’t come here in the first place, we would not have put you all in danger like this.”

“Don’t say that!” “Rarity said to Goombella. “You never could have known that it was going to happen! We’ll stop them, darling, we will, we just have to keep going and find those stars, we can do this!”

“It’s not that I don’t think that we can do it,” she replied, “it’s just that we have caused you all nothing but trouble upon arriving. Unleashed a monster into your world with artifacts of destruction that he is after, caused seemingly irreparable damage to your town with said artifacts, and now, because of our arrival, a previously defeated demon of the night has returned. We never should have come here…”

“NO!” Mario said. He began to speak, reminding Goombella that it was him who opened the rift to get them there, and that if anyone was supposed to take the blame, it would be him, however, he wouldn’t let that stop him from undoing the damage that was caused because of it.

Applejack approached Goombella.

“Don’t beat yourself up, hun. We’ll fix this mess. We can rebuild the town and stop Nightmare Moon again. Shoot, we can take on that Mecha Mario problem too. Don’t worry about us, we’ve had our share of baddies that have tried to take over Equestria, believe me, we have, we’ll all pull through this together, pardner.”

“Besides, it’s not all bad,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to bolster her confidence. “We did make friends with a dragon out here, that’ll definitely be good in the future, and we needed a good adventure anyway! Things get pretty boring in Ponyville, it’s good to have some excitement every once in a while.”

Goombella looked up at her friends.

“You’re right, moping around about it won’t solve anything, we’ll stop them, and make everything right again!”

“That’s the spirit, Goombella!” Twilight said, “Now,” she got more serious, “the next thing we need to do is catch a train to Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia will know what to do from there.”

“Then let’s get to it,” Applejack said, “better sooner than later.”

No one could agree more, and with that, they left the Everfree Forest and set out for the train station. Two stars down, five to go, and a new threat at hand.

SLEEP MODE ENGAGED, RECHARGING MAIN BATTERY

REDIRECTING SELF-AWARENESS

PLAYBACK PRERECORDING

“Sir Grodus, we have just gotten word that Super Mario has retrieved the Ruby Crystal Star, putting him at four versus our one,” stated a young X-Naut officer.

“He is working fast; I have to give him that much,” said Grodus, “that’s alright though, in time, he will get what is coming to him, I have been conducting research on this man, he is definitely a worthy adversary.”

“Not to be rude, sir, but how does that help us stop him?” Asked the officer.

“You’ll all find out in due time, I have done extensive research around his past, what he has accomplished, how he has gone about achieving his goals. It sickens me, just another wannabe hero trying to put so much time planning for world domination to waste. Even now, he is able to thwart every foe that opposes him…”

Grodus paused for a moment.

“But…” he continued, “he is not unbeatable. I’ve noted many of his strengths. This will be very important for what I’ve planned for him. Not only this, but I’ve also discovered a vital weakness in him.”

The officer was quite puzzled at Grodus’s ability to obtain Intel on his enemy so easily. It was almost unnerving, what is he really planning?

“And what would this vital weakness be, Sir Grodus? I’m sure this knowledge will be very useful in defeating Super Mario.” The officer said.

“Oh it will be very useful, officer. Not only this, it will be his undoing.” Grodus replied. “However, it will not be useful for our forces to use against him; it is not a physical weakness, officer. No, he has a weakness only a truly heartless criminal could use.”

“I’m not quite sure I understand, Sir Grodus. What would this weakness be?” The officer was very unsure of what Grodus was talking about.

“Tell me officer, do you have family back home? Don’t be shy.” Grodus asked.

This question caught the young officer off guard.

“Y-yes, sir Grodus, I have a wife, we haven’t decided if we want to have any kids yet, though. Why do you ask?” He replied.

“Imagine a horde of Bandits had taken her hostage, and left a note stating that they wanted a vast sum of money for her return. What would you do? And be honest with me.” Grodus said.

Without hesitation, the officer replied.

“I would pay that sum of money to let her go, if anything ever happened to her, I don’t know how I would be able to live with myself.”

“My sentiments exactly, you care about the ones you love, and would do anything for their safe return. This is a morally correct choice; however, it is also a weakness. The Bandits could have asked you for anything, and you would willingly give them what they asked in order to get her back. They would be exploiting your love for her to get what they want from you. Do you see where I am going with this?”

“I do, Sir Grodus.” The officer replied.

“As with most people,” he continued, “this particular weakness exists, even I was cursed with it in my younger years, but I have learned that sacrifices have to be made in order to get anywhere in this world, and thus, I have purged it from my mind. I will give nothing to my enemy in order to achieve my goals, and if it means losing the things I hold closer to heart, so be it. You must stop at nothing to get what you want out of life.”

Grodus stopped for a moment.

“Ahh, I am straying off topic. Yes officer, his weakness is that he holds his family and friends closer to heart than anyone I have ever seen, doing anything it will take to ensure that they won’t be hurt. How will this help you might ask? Well, as I stated before, you will all find out in due time. And in the end, it will be his ultimate downfall. Now, keep searching for the other crystal stars. If we can get the upper hand on him, this will only be to our benefit. I must return to my lab. Dismissed.”

With that, Grodus went back to his lab, and the officer was left, pondering Grodus’s wisdom. Whatever he was planning sounded very ominous.

‘You’ll all find out in due time.’ Nothing struck more fear in his heart than thinking about what he could be planning for Mario. As he thought, he also pondered why learning Mario’s strengths would be so important. That would not necessarily be useful information unless someone was planning to defend themselves from them, or if they were planning on using them against him.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing…” the officer said to himself, and retreated back to his comrades.

END PRERECORDING

The train station was busier than usual; ponies everywhere were boarding and exiting trains, colliding into passersby due to the lack of room to walk around.

After refueling up on perishable things like food and water, the eight heroes boarded their train scheduled for Canterlot.

The train’s engine ignited, the wheels started turning, and the train began to move, beginning its day long journey.

Mario flopped down on the nearest couch to try and relax a bit. Applejack and Rainbow Dash started hoof wrestling to see who was stronger, Pinkie Pie seemed to be pretty calm for once, just enjoying the view of the passing scenery out the window, and Fluttershy and Rarity decided to go to the small restaurant a few cars down and have some lunch

After the group had gotten settled in, Twilight figured this was the perfect opportunity to finally talk with Goombella.

“Well, with a day of travel ahead of us, I figure we have time to chat a bit, Goombella.” she said.

“That would be great, I don’t think we’ve even had a fair chance to talk since Mario and I arrived.” Goombella replied. “Anything in mind?”

“What is your world like? I imagine it’s quite different with very little use of magic.” Twilight said. She had actually been quite curious about this for some time.

“Actually, it hasn’t really been all that different being here than being back home, aside from all the citizens being ponies rather than the various races of people that live in the Mushroom Kingdom. Living without magic? It would be nice to have it, but we get by, just kinda learn to adapt, y’know?”

“I don’t think I could go by without it, or at least, not at this point after having it for so long.”

Goombella again noticed Twilight’s cutiemark.

“I remember you said that your…cutiemark was it? That they are significant to a pony’s talent in life. And that yours is significant to your abilities in magic. I can say that I’ve seen it firsthand myself. Are there any other ponies as good with their magic as you are?” Goombella asked.

“I can’t really say yes or no to that, I’m afraid. There are plenty of other unicorns in Equestria that are quite talented with using magic, I try to practice whenever I can, from basic spells like levitation to more complex ones like rapid aging of a pony from old to young and young to old.”

“That’s incredible!” Goombella said ecstatically. “Maybe you can knock ol’ Professor Frankly down a few years.” She laughed.

Twilight blushed at Goombella’s compliment.

“So can all ponies in general use magic? Or is it more specific?”

“Only unicorns can use magic, Pegasus ponies have wings to allow them flight, and earth ponies can do neither, but that doesn’t count them out. They are very strong, and can do many other things to make up for the inability to fly or use magic. And if you’re lucky, you can be born with a horn and wings, otherwise known as an alicorn. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are both alicorns.”

“So you have royalty here in Equestria as well then?” Goombella asked puzzled.

“Yes, they are the rulers of Equestria, and they control day and night with their powerful magic.”

“I don’t believe that Princess Peach can do that…” Goombella said.

“You have royalty in the Mushroom Kingdom too?” Twilight asked, equally puzzled.

“Yeah, but she can’t control day and night,” Goombella replied with a laugh, “but she knows what she’s doing, at least I think she does. From what Mario tells me, she gets kidnapped a lot and he usually has to be the one to go save her. Its odd how often it seems to occur, he also told me that SHE had to go save him and his brother at one point. You would think she could defend herself easily enough if the tables had turned like that for once. But I suppose anyone can be caught off guard. And no disrespect to the Toad Royal Guard, but I think they need a few more hours of training if their princess is always getting nabbed by the same guy over and over again.”

Twilight pondered for a second. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna didn’t appear to have many enemies, let alone ones that wanted to kidnap them.

“There must be something special about her if people are trying to kidnap her all the time.” Twilight said.

“Usually it’s Bowser who tries to take her all the time, for him, his intentions are unknown. But as for Grodus, his intention was to use her as an offering to the Shadow Queen as a body to take hold of, a host, if you will, so that she could use her dark magic more freely. Luckily, we put an end to that. But Bowser always seems to have some crazy trick up his sleeve to take her. It’s a never-ending cycle, but Mario always comes out on top…” Goombella looked over at the sofa to see a sleeping Mario.

Twilight could tell what she was thinking; Goombella was not exactly a subtle Goomba.

“Goombella?” Twilight called.

“What?! Oh!” Goombella snapped back to reality, “Sorry, I just got distracted for a second.”

“I can tell, have you said anything to him yet?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a time and place for everything, when things have calmed down a bit, I’ll talk to him then. So what about you? Does Equestria have any particular bad-guy regulars?” Goombella asked.

“None in particular that there isn’t a solution to. Discord had caused problems for a while, but we reformed him, and now he uses his chaotic powers for good…mostly. Aside from him, things are generally pretty peaceful here. Any true enemies that we have show themselves very rarely.”

“Discord…what exactly does he look like? I figure a person with that name probably looks pretty crazy.” Goombella said.

“You’re right about that, he’s basically a mix of many different animals in Equestria. Hoof of a colt, head of a goat, wing of a bat, claw of a lion, talon of a griffon, he’s a mess, but he’s definitely a trouble maker. We usually have to keep an eye on him, he’s very tricky and can manipulate chaos with his magic.” Twilight replied, fairly confident of her description. “What about Bowser? Is he a larger goomba? Or more human-like?

“Neither,” Goombella replied, “He’s a larger version of a koopa, the self-proclaimed ‘King of the Koopas.’ Not the most intelligent thing in the world, though.”

“What does a koopa look like?” Twilight asked.

“Well, definitely not a mesh of so many creatures into one. Koopas are basically turtles in the Mushroom Kingdom. They stand upright and have shells on their backs and shoes on their feet. Bowser is a larger and more violent Koopa. His shell has spikes covering the surface, he doesn’t wear shoes, and he has horns on his head. He has an orange mane, large body in general, and an angry disposition. He also controls an army that is loyal to him. As I said before, we don’t all have magic in the Mushroom kingdom, only some races are so lucky, but Bowser can breathe fire much like a dragon, if it wasn’t enough that he could easily squash someone with his gargantuan size.”

“I guess that’s where Discord and Bowser are different, one is a devious trickster and the other is a brute, imagine if they joined forces…” Twilight began to ponder.

“A cunning mind with chaotic magic and an army with a powerhouse leader commanding them? If they could tolerate each other, and not fight for supremacy, they might be a formidable team.” She said finally.

Twilight and Goombella laughed.

“I’m sure we won’t have to worry about anything like that happening.” Goombella said. The two continued conversing about their respective histories until Twilight noticed that they were the only ones in that particular room, noting how dark it was outside when she looked out the window.

“Is it that late already? I didn’t realize we had been talking that long! Everypony just sort of left and it didn’t even catch our attention!” Twilight said surprised.

“Guess it would be a good time to get some sleep then, huh Twilight?” Goombella asked.

“Yeah, we should be there by tomorrow morning. Good night Goombella.”

“Good night Twilight.”

With that, Goombella and Twilight went to their cabins to get some sleep and prepare for their arrival to Canterlot the next day.