"The hay is that thing?"

"Looks like a sewer pipe."

"Crazy thing scared me half to death."

A small side street in Ponyville had been torn up by a green sewer pipe the suddenly burst from the ground, shocking the nearby residents who had been leisurely passing by that afternoon. They were even more astounded after they saw another being pop out of the pipe. He was similar in build, but he wasn't a pony. He was dressed in green and blue overalls, and he heaved himself up out of the pipe, falling over the rim and face-planting right into the ground. The mysterious figure was followed by a similar being, but dressed in red, and they both had glorious moustaches (the green man's being slightly less glorious than the red man's). As a third surprise, another person popped out of the pipe, quite literally, and slowly glided down on a parasol she drew out of nowhere. The red thing walked over the green one and held out his hand saying, " 'Ey, Luigi, this is-a no time to be laying down on the job!"

The one named Luigi looked up and upon seeing all the faces of the many ponies surrounding him staring at him, he jumped seven feet straight up into the air, screaming in fear, and he hugged a nearby lamppost. The red man sighed and covered his face. The female walked up to Luigi.

"Luigi," she said in a light but firm tone, "I told you you don't have to worry about the locals." She chuckled as she turned back to the small crowd. "They're probably more scared of you than you are of them!"

Luigi was shaking his head with his eyes shut tight. "Princess, I'mma not comin' down," he whined. "You and Mario are just-a gonna have to carry on without me." Luigi was now on the verge of frightened tears.

Mario pivoted and walked away, calling back, "Okay, but remember, if ya get lost, don't blame us."

Luigi's eyes popped open as he detached from the pole and yelled, "Lost?? On second thought...I'll stick witch you guys!" and he dashed away to catch up with the two travelers.

The trio was well inside the center of Ponyville by now, and were constantly getting weird glances from the residents.

Mario glanced around at the archaic style of the buildings and the ponies surrounding him. He had seen strange things over his career, but this...this just took the cake.

"Well, Peach, you weren't kiddin' when you said you were-a taking us to a special place," he said.

The princess giggled. "It's a quaint little town, isn't it? I remember being here so long ago."

Luigi's interest piqued. "Huh? You know this-a place that well?"

Peach nodded. "I find that a little hard to believe," Mario added.

Just then, an older mare passed by. She wore a stetson and her coat was lime-green. As the group walked on, she turned and squinted at their retreating backsides. Then she perked up and smiled. The trio heard a sudden whistle behind them and turned to see the old mare waving and calling, "Ms. Peach! Izzat you? Goodness me, child, you...have stayed pretty much the same since I last saw ya. Did y'all bring a couple male suitors, 'r who are they?" in a light Southern accent.

Peach blushed and waved back. "No, Granny Smith, they aren't suitors. They're friends, and I guess bodyguards, to an extent. Listen, I can't really stay and chat today, but maybe we can catch up later."

Granny smiled and called, "G'bye," before carrying on her way. As Mario, Luigi, and Peach resumed walking, Mario leaned close to Peach and whispered, "Now I believe it."

Pretty soon, the trio had come to the foot of a grand purple mountain. Peach started up before turning to the Marios.

"You two can go off and look around for awhile, if you want. I think you'll be surprised at what this little town has to offer."

Mario took a step forward as if to walk up the mountain with Peach. "Are-a you sure ya don't need an escort?" he asked.

Peach smiled daintily and shook her head. She walked up the steps carved into the lavender rock. "Just remember to come see me after, maybe...two hours?" she called back.

Mario nodded and tipped his cap, then ran off. Luigi turned, but hesitated and looked back at Peach and said, "Bye Princess, have a safe-a trip. Don't fall."

Peach giggled again and said, "Don't worry, Luigi, I won't."

Luigi tipped his cap and followed his brother.

Twilight was finishing up her errand of running around town and taking any unused books that other ponies had lying around. Her pack was heavy and weighed down with old textbooks, foal's picture books, and other assorted media, and was on her way home.

"Wow, so many books!" she said to herself, lugging a few of them in her arms.

"I'm surprised more ponies don't read. There's some great classics in here: Don Qipony of La Manecha, A Hearth's Warming Carol, and more! But then, most ponies can't pull off three all-nighters in a row like me," she mused.

The Mario Bros. were leisurely strolling down the walkway. Mario was keeping his eye out for any pasta stands to grab a quick bite to eat, but as far as he could guess, as he walked to a street vendor, there were only bakeries.

Aw, that's-a disappointing, he thought. Too much cake, not enough spaghetti.

Luigi was looking all around at the scenery, and he found it quite fascinating.

So fascinating, in fact, that he didn't watch where he was going.

Mario turned his head to see Luigi on a crash-course with Twilight, who couldn't see over her tower of books. "Luigi! Watch where you're-"

*Whack!*

"...Goin'."

Luigi had turned around just in time to get a face-full of "The Sisters Karamazov," and both he and Twilight fell over each other and onto a pile of hardcovers. Luigi kept flinching as the corner of one book was poking him in the stomach.

"Owie..." he groaned.

Twilight had closed her eyes during the impact and scrambled up, tripping over a couple books in the process. She finally got to her feet and tried to say, "Oh, dear, I'm sorry! Are you all right?" but what she saw lying under her stopped her cold.

There was...a thing there. It had the build of a pony, but it wasn't one. The nearest thing she could see it being was a hairless monkey, clothed in green.

"Luigi!"

Twilight looked up to see another monkey just like the one she fell over onto running toward them, but it wore red. He ran up to the green one and grabbed him, stood him up, and dusted him off. The green man had a very glazed look in his eyes. Mario looked him over and snapped his fingers in Luigi's face.

"Luigi?"

Luigi gave no response. Mario facepalmed and shook his brother.

"C'mon, Luigi! Wake up!"

The shaking seemed to do it, because Luigi shook his head violently and stared right back at Mario. He smiled and said, "Thanks, bro." Mario grinned too. The brothers turned to face Twilight, who was still on the ground with her jaw hanging open in disbelief.

Luigi grinned sheepishly and faced the other way, murmuring, "Sorry..."

Twilight brought her hand up and pointed at the Marios, whispering, "Who...?"

Mario walked up to her and held out his hand. Twilight retracted away from him at first, but slowly held out her hoof and Mario picked her up.

Mario smiled and exclaimed, "It's a-me, Mario!"

Applejack had just come back from the orchard, hauling a bounty of Red Delicious apples up to Sugarcube Corner.

"This'll be enough fer Mrs. Cakes' pies, Ah reckon?" she asked a waiting Pinkie Pie.

"Hmm..." Pinkie looked over the cart, zipping around it and measuring the amount of apples stored inside. After awhile, she looked back at Applejack with pride and said, "Yep!"

"Thank goodness," said Rainbow Dash, who was reclining on a cloud just above them. "I can't wait until they're made. Twilight can try out that new heat spell to cook'em faster."

"Speakin' a which, anypony seen Twilight 'round lately? She said she'd join us'soon as she collected a few donations from the villagers. Ya'd think she'd be done by now," Applejack asked.

The other two shrugged and looked around. But then they heard something very out-of-place.

"Yippee!"

Applejack lifted her head quickly. "Y'all hear that?"

Dash nodded. "But who said it? It sounded really far-off."

"Sounds like it came from waaay up there," Pinkie said, pointing to the sky.

When Applejack and Rainbow looked up, they could just barely see a figure in the middle of the sun. It was slowly getting bigger, as if it were descending.

"What'n tarnation...?" Applejack began. She was cut short after the figure landed. It was Luigi. He stood up and glanced around to see the girls staring in shock. He blushed, never having been the center of attention, much less to a bunch of girls.

"That was amazing!" a familiar voice called.

The three mares and Luigi turned around to see Twilight and Mario rounding the corner. Mario beamed with pride at Luigi.

"That's-a my brotha," he said.

Rainbow Dash jumped off of her perch and flew over to Twilight. She was visibly shaken from Luigi's sudden impact.

"What in the name of Celestia was that!?" she cried.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Pinkie shortly after. "Because it was so cool!"

Twilight looked at Mario, who gestured for her to explain. Twilight strode forward and said, "Girls, this is Mario, the man in red, and Luigi, in green, the Super Mario Brothers. They come from a place called the Mushroom Kingdom. From what they told me, I can gather that they're regarded as heroes over there, and have gone on numerous adventures, almost all of them revolving around saving..." she stopped and looked up, pondering what to say next. Mario leaned in and whispered, "Peach."

Twilight perked up again and continued, "Oh, right! Saving someone named Princess Peach from the clutches of a...for better lack of terms, thing named King Bower. And if not that, then they're tasked with saving Peach and the kingdom from a higher evil."

All of them were stunned, trying to comprehend everything that was happening around them. Rainbow Dash asked, "Okay, but can I just ask why..." she looked back and forth between Mario and Luigi, trying to remember which was which. "...Luigi. Just catapulted in here out of absolutely nowhere."

Twilight smiled and blushed. "Well, they told me they were really good at jumping, and Mario told me Luigi was better at it, so I wanted to see how high he could go..."

Luigi turned to Twilight. "And-a whaddaya think?" he asked.

A crazy happy grin crossed Twilight's face. "Unbelievably awesome," she stated.

"My stars," said another voice. Everypony looked to the alley ahead of them and saw Rarity and Fluttershy standing there. "That's quite a yarn, darling. If they weren't standing right in front of me, I wouldn't believe it myself."

"So," said Mario. "These-a must be all-a your friends, eh, Twilight?"

He looked around at them and gave them a warm smile and laugh that only a hearty, fat Italian plumber can give, and at that moment, everybody took a liking to him.

Mario looked around and bit his lip. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know any good pasta joints around here? I'mma starvin'!"

That just endeared him even more to everyone.

After a quick snack with apple pie and ravioli, provided by the pizzeria just down the street, which Mario described as "the one place I haven't a-looked yet," the gang was chatting, sharing different stories. It quickly became a contest to see who could come up with the best tale. The Mario Bros. were winning exponentially.

"...And I jumpa'd up, higher an' higher on those fallin' stones, all the way back upp'a the castle to where Peach was. Bowser was right on my tail, but I just barely made it to the switch, sendin' him down, down, into the lava below."

"Darn it!" Rainbow Dash slammed the table, having lost another round of their little game.

Luigi shrugged and said, " 'Ey, it's okay. Besides, you wouldn't wanta be there. It's scarier than it sounds."

"That was really nice story. Wait, did you save the princess, right?" Fluttershy asked.

Mario nodded. "Of course! It's what we do."

She smiled. "Oh, that's fantastic!" she gently exclaimed.

Mario leaned over and pulled his white glove back. Under it was a watch, and when he saw it, he jumped backward and almost fell off his chair.

"Mamma mia! Luigi, we gotta go! It's been two an-a-half hours!"

Luigi bent his head forward and sighed "Aww..."

Pinkie squinted and asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Luigi looked up and replied, "Princess Peach told to come-a back in two hours. Sorry, that means we gotta leave now."

Everypony "Aw"-ed in disappointment. As Luigi stood up, Mario grinned and said, "Hey, don't be sad. We'll probably be a-comin' back-a someday."

As the girls got up to leave, Mario looked up and thought about the situation, and got an idea.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. The others turned back to him. "You haven't met-a the Princess yet, right?"

They all shook their heads. Mario continued, "Then you can a-come with us to meet her! How does that sound?"

They all smiled and yelled, "Yeah!" in unison. Luigi beamed and motioned for them to follow him. "This-a way!" he called, and they all began their trek to the mountain.

As soon as they got to the first step, they could see something was wrong. There were small fires in some of the windows, and violet mist rising from the spires. Twilight was extremely confused.

"That doesn't look right..." she muttered.

Mario and Luigi were tense, teeth clenched and they looked about ready to punch someone in the face at a moment's notice.

"What is going on?" Rarity asked, still looking at the near-black smoke billowing out of the windows.

Mario spat out one word, the one name he despised over everything else: "Bowser."

"Who?" said Pinkie as she turned to the Marios.

Mario didn't answer, he only stared straight ahead and yelled, "Come on!" and began to bound up the steps with almost feral determination. Luigi noticed his brother practically fly away and reached out to try and stop him.

"Hey! Mario! Come back-a here!" he called, and raced away after him. The Mane Six looked at each other and saw they really had no choice but to follow the two plumbers.

At the top of the stairs, the Royal City of Canterlot looked very different all of a sudden. Gone were the higher-ups, aristocrats, and nobles. The only things roaming the grounds were...turtles. And brown mushrooms with fangs. Mario and Luigi dashed through the entire crowd of them, jumping on heads and using the turtles' shells as soccer balls. The six followed in close step, not wanting to get caught by these foreigners. They were very confused, but there was no time to stop and ask questions. As they ran up to the main castle's front gates where the Marios were standing, Twilight was just about to ask what in Celestia's name was happening, but Mario charged forward and used his bare fist to punch the front gates open. Behind the doors was the main hall, and in it, three figures: Princesses Peach and Celestia, who were bound in the same dark mist that was pouring out of the spires, and a reptile much like the turtles they fought, but larger, and with red hair, and extremely mean-looking. He stared the front door, as if expecting company.

Twilight strode up to Mario and whispered, "That's Bowser, isn't it?"

Mario made no sound, he only nodded.

Bowser smiled maliciously, and took a couple steps forward. Then he laughed with a deep, booming voice.

"Well, well, if it isn't Mario. How very...expected."

He turned his back to them and walked over to the princesses. "I suppose I should explain how I got here. To put it simply: you can't escape me. Since out first fight all those years ago, our destinies are intertwined. And I have spies. That helps too." He faced the group again and continued, "When I saw you leap into that Rainbow Pipe, I thought I'd follow you. And, boy, am I glad I did! This new kingdom, this 'Equestria...' it's just ripe for the picking."

Bowser then snapped his fingers and the Rainbow Pipe popped out of the marble ground.

"From what I understand," Bowser said, "this here Rainbow Warp Pipe is the only one of it's type. It'd be a cryin' shame if something were to..."

Bowser walked up beside the pipe and with one mighty swing from his arm, he bashed it in, causing the Warp to be cancelled and destroying the only way for the Marios and Peach to return home. "...happen to it."

Mario looked at the destroyed pipe, then looked up at Bowser and smiled. "Well, now ya goofed," he said. "You just locked me and Luigi here in this world...now there's nothin' that can stop us from-a stoppin' you!"

Bowser shook his finger at Mario. Then, quick as a flash, he released black bolts from his scaly hands, immobilizing the Marios and their companions. "Au contraire, ya pasta-pulverizin' plumber," he said. "I destroyed it so I could send you idiots home. That way, I can siphon all the magic Sun-girl has over there, as well as the light magic Peach has in peace."

He then lifted his hands to the sky, flinging the group up, up, and away. They burst through the roof and kept going. Bowser's dark magic began working, slowly vaporizing the heroes, and sending them somewhere else.

Bowser stared after their trajectory. "And then, it's on to greater things."

Twilight opened her eyes and was greeted by the bright, afternoon sun. She rubbed her head and sat up. All around her were her friends, as well as Mario and Luigi, who was already up and trying to help his brother and Fluttershy wake up.

"Luigi?"

Luigi immediately looked up at Twilight and rushed over, laying Mario back down next to him.

"Twilight? You're awake already? Are you okay?" Luigi asked quickly. Twilight nodded.

"Oh, thank goodness! I was really worried," Luigi gasped. "Listen, you gotta help me get my brotha and everyone else-a home! I've got some stuff there that'll make them better."

Twilight nodded and gave a light, "Okay," as she picked up Mario, Applejack, and Rarity while Luigi held Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash under his arms and Pinkie over his shoulder. From there, Luigi instructed Twilight to his house, where he'd whip up some Super Mushroom Soup to get everyone feeling better.

Author's Note

If the Marios' dialogue is confusing, just remember, they're Italian. Also, if you're Italian and reading this, I apologize for the offensively inaccurate Italian-English accents.