Mario and Luigi: Super Mare-io Brothers.

The smell of Luigi's Super Mushroom Omelette wafted through the entire house. When the smell hit Mario's nose, his body told him to get up now, 'cause if you don't, all the seats are gonna be taken. So he tossed the covers off and realized the entire living room was empty. The night before, Mario gave up his bed for Twilight, and Luigi slept on the floor, along with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Rarity stayed in the one recliner the brothers had, and Pinkie slept in Luigi's bed. Mario rushed to get his shirt and overalls on. He didn't bother with the cap, because they weren't going anywhere. Yet.

As he entered the kitchen, he saw that Luigi was a miracle worker. Pinkie was stumbling into the kitchen in a dreamy trance, practically following the smell of the eggs and mushrooms. Luigi hadn't noticed her, so Mario went up to his brother and said, "Hey, Luigi, those eh-classes really paid off," and he pointed to Pinkie. "You're cookin's a-good enough to raise the dead!"

When Luigi saw Pinkie voluntarily sit down at the table and pick up her fork while still fast asleep, he doubled over, desperately trying to stifle his laughter. The other girls at the table chuckled. Luigi hit himself in the chest a couple times to get the giggles out and walked over to Pinkie and gently shook her.

"Pinkie..." he crooned. No response.

"Hey, Pinkie," Luigi whispered again, shaking harder. Pinkie went slack and her head hit the table, still out cold.

"Don't bother," Twilight said, waving her hoof aside. "She sleeps like a brick."

Rainbow Dash leaned close to Pinkie and articulated, "Gee, that's a shame, because she's going to miss breakfast," as clearly as possible.

In an instant, she picked her head up and asked groggily, "Huh? Wha-? Somepony say breakfast?"

Twilight put her head in her hand. "Until that happens," she added.

Luigi chuckled and picked up the eight omelettes that had been cooling on the counter. With a surprising amount of grace and poise, he slid each of them off his arms and onto the table.

"Order up!" he said as he came to his own seat. He tossed the last plate high into the air and quickly sat down. The omelette fell off the plate and the plate itself went down faster. Luigi caught it and a second later, he raised the silverware to catch the food. He set it down on the table. Everyone was looking at him. Luigi looked up from his dish and froze under their gazes.

"Whut?" he said with his mouth full.

Mario shook his head and smiled. "Showin' offa for the girls, eh?"

Luigi swallowed hard and slammed the table with his fist. "NO."

Once everyone finished up, Twilight brought out a piece of paper.

"What's 'at for, sugarcube?" Applejack asked her.

"Well, while Luigi and Pinkie were busy in that big room full of goodies, I went back to the library and did some research on the items we're supposed to find," Twilight said, as she turned the parchment around. On it were diagrams of the various items, containing footnotes, measurements, and location information.

"Wow, you did all that while we were in there?" Luigi said.

"Well, you two were playing around for five hours. I imagine it's possible," Dash remarked.

Twilight continued, "I've done some thinking and by process of elimination, I think the two easiest ones on this list to accomplish are getting a Warp Pipe and finding King Kreem's Pool. Considering Warp Pipes are everywhere here, and no doubt one leads to Layer Cake Desert, we can take one there, find the pool, do our thing, and when we come back, I'll just cast a stasis spell on the Pipe and see what that does."

Mario finished munching on the last Super Mushroom in his omelette. "Sounds-eh like a plan," he said, and stood up.

"Let's-a go!"

The sun beat down on the desert sands unrelentingly. Amidst the high dunes of icing stood a lone Warp Pipe. Twilight lifted herself out of it and immediately got sand in her eyes.

"Ack! Mother of Celestia!" she cursed.

She got out and rubbed the sediment away, and the entire group followed her. After everyone clambered out, Mario stepped in front of them and said, "Okeedokee, inventory check-eh! Mushrooms?"

Rarity held out a bag full of Super Mushrooms and a couple 1-Ups.

"Assorted powerups?" Mario said again.

Pinkie held up another bag and shouted, "Here!"

"Water?"

Fluttershy raised her hand.

"Great! Anything I forgot-eh to mention?" Mario said. Everyone thought a minute and Mario slapped his head.

"Oh, that's right!"

"Did-did I forget something?" Fluttershy asked meekly.

"Oh, no! I just have-a this!" and Mario pulled out a kitchen knife.

Dash cocked her head. "What's that for?" she asked Mario.

Luigi called, "Oh, I know!" and took the knife from Mario. He then went over to some exposed rock and plunged it in, cutting it into a triangular slice. He pulled it back out and showed it to Pinkie. She took it. It seemed to have the texture of cake, so she took a bite, and her irises widened.

"It is cake!" she cried excitedly.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "C'mon, y'all. We'll have time for snacks later," she told Pinkie.

Pinkie hung her head. "Aw...okay."

The group trudged away through the burning sands. Despite being told not to, Pinkie really couldn't help sneaking slices of cake from the dunes. She got caught by Twilight once and was instructed not to eat anything because that would just make her thirsty and drain their water supply. After that incident, Pinkie made her way slowly along in the back. Luigi noticed her lagging behind and swiped a piece of cake out of the rock again and made his way back to Pinkie. When he got there, Pinkie looked up at him gloomily...until he brought out the slice of cake. That made her smile so wide that her teeth reflected the sun.

Up another one of the almost-matching sand dunes, the group saw in the distance a collapsed stone tower, constantly pelted by the desert sands.

"What's that thing?" Dash asked as she shaded her eyes to shield them from the sun.

Mario looked in the direction Rainbow Dash was facing and said, "Halfway point," nonchalantly.

Luigi joined his brother. "He means-eh that that old tower was-a the halfway point to the boss castle. We'd haveta fight our way through this tower and take on the mini-boss to continue on."

Mario gestured for the others to follow his lead and he slid down the hill. The rest of the group followed suit. They made their way to, in, and through the tower with relative ease. After more long hours of trekking through the desert, they came to a large quicksand pit dotted by various islands of stable ground.

"What's all this?" Twilight asked Mario.

"This is a-the spot where King Kreem's palace used'ta stand," Mario replied.

Luigi whispered, "Y'know, I heard some stories about King Kreem. They say he was-a the most fearsome warlord of the time, and he lived to be two-hundred years old."

Dash looked at Luigi with extreme doubt and a hint of fear. "No way," she said, dismissing Luigi.

"No, it's-a true," Luigi insisted. "They say he died at-eh one-oh-two, but Death was too scared to pick him up. So he lived for almost a hundred years-a more."

"Well, stories about Kreem won't help us find him," Twilight replied. She looked at Mario. "How do we get to the Pool?"

Mario thought for a minute then said, "I read somewhere that-a the palace sunk-eh below the quicksand almost a thousand years ago, but I'mma not too sure."

Pinkie looked down at the quicksand. "Well, there's only one way to find out!" she yelled and jumped off the ledge.

Everyone screamed, and Luigi raced to the cliff like a madman and wasted no time jumping over. He landed in the sand with a splat and a sickening sucking sound quickly followed. He was right next to Pinkie.

"Pinkie! What we're a-you thinkin'!?" Luigi screamed at her.

Pinkie just smiled. "Relax! If Mario's right, we'll be fine!"

"An' if he's not...?" Luigi asked.

The sand had reached up to their necks and a second later, they were gone.

Meanwhile, everyone on the cliff was flipping out. Fluttershy was crying, and Mario was staring over the edge. He then looked at Twilight and yelled, "We haveta go after'em! That's-a my brotha down there!" Twilight was panicking. She knew she could easily part the quicksand with a magical compression blast, but if the sand was too deep, it would only force Luigi and Pinkie deeper.

"Twilight! Please!" Mario was on the verge of tears.

Looking back and forth from Mario to the quicksand, Twilight gathered her strength and aimed her hoof at the place where the two fell. With a surge of magical power, a magenta bolt flew out of her horn and went into the sand. A split-second later, the sand opened up, revealing that there was, in fact, a kind of island under the sand, with the solid ground above being supported by rock pillars. On that island was a palace that was falling apart, its color faded and cobwebs alighted in dark corners. There were also two figures standing on the edge, looking up a the bright surface above. It was Pinkie and Luigi, covered in sand, but seemingly okay. The magic bolt widened, creating a makeshift wall on two sides to hold back the sand.

Luigi squinted up at the others and waved after his eyes adjusted.

"Hi guys! We're okay!" he called.

The girls stared in a state between relief and astonishment. Mario's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted dead away.

After everyone had safely leaped down into the abyss, the group resumed exploration for the Sacred Pool. The palace of King Kreem was a maze in itself, despite being out in the open. The adventurers also noticed that all the torches were lit and fresh.

"Sompony's been down here before..." Rarity whispered.

"Or is still down here," Luigi shivered.

Fluttershy whimpered and clutched Pinkie Pie. "Please don't say that," she quietly begged.

They passed by a couple structures that must have once been living quarters, because there were skeletons visible through the windows, still sitting in chairs and laying on beds, and they could smell the pungent aroma of vital organs that had been buried for so long that their embalming salt was losing its power.

The group continued with their search until they came to, what Twilight guessed, was the center of the palace courtyard. It was a small garden, divided into four quadrants filled with sand. Twilight guessed that at one point, the quadrants had been filled with grass and housed flowers, but those days were long gone.

Dash was panting and sat down on the marble pathway. "Can we take a break?" she gasped.

Mario looked at her and sat down as well. "That's-a good idea. Get out the mushrooms and water," he said.

Everyone sat down and had a quick snack to get their energy back up. Everything was calm for a few minutes, the only noise being the crackling fire of the torches. Then there was another noise.

*Click...click*

Everyone snapped to attention. Fluttershy whispered, "Um...what...what was t-that?"

Rarity listened intensely, trying to block out the sound of crackling fire.

*Click...click*

"I know that sound," she said. "It's...it's the sound metal makes when it hits stone, but this one is much lighter...more gentle..."

*Click...click*

"And judging by the pace...it sounds like walking. Somepony is walking down here...with us..."

Everyone was silent and braced themselves. But slowly, the sound faded away, and everyone relaxed again. Until they heard something louder, a kind of scratching on the southern wall of the garden. Everyone wheeled around to catch a glimpse of what was making the noises, and they were greeted with a message. There were words crudely carved into the wall that read, Who are you? Suddenly, the calm atmosphere was gone, and the sound of crackling fire slowly became ominous laughter. Everyone was scared beyond belief.

"Mario...?" Luigi stuttered.

More scratching, in the opposite direction. They spun around again and saw another message: You should not be here.

"Mario, I don't like this place anymore," Luigi whispered.

"I...I never...liked it to b-b-begin with," Fluttershy squeaked.

Then, a gust of wind blew out all the torches nearby, and everyone was stuck in pure chaos. No one could see and no one could tell what was going on until the torches miraculously re-lit themselves. Now that there was light, everyone could see what had happened: there was another message, scrawled into the marble that the group was standing on that read, Perhaps I will have to ask you in person. After everyone had read it, they looked at each other nervously.

"Who is this guy?" Dash asked.

"I'd be much more worried 'bout what he looks like in person, sugarcube," Applejack said.

Mario looked to where he last heard Luigi fumbling around in the dark. He was shivering violently while clutching Pinkie Pie as if his life depended on it. Mario grinned and said, "Luigi, you and Pinkie look-a like Shaggy and Scooby-Doo!"

Luigi stopped shaking and looked around. Sure enough, Pinkie was holding him up and he was hugging her neck. Luigi blushed and hopped back down, chuckling nervously.

"Sorry," Luigi mumbled.

Pinkie scratched the back of her head and blushed. "Hey, no problem. Isn't that what friends are for?" she giggled.

Then, the sand in the corners of the garden began to shake and come loose, kicking up dust which swirled around into a vortex high above everyone else. The pits of the garden were emptied, revealing four sarcophagi that had drastically different faces from most of the ones Mario and Luigi saw when they were jumping through ancient pyramids. While most had indifferent faces, these ones' expressions were filled with disdain and silent hate.

The dust tornado got thicker and thicker and lowered to the ground, where it dispersed. In its place was a tall man, taller than Luigi. He was extremely tan, and wore a traditional Egyptian head garment and loincloth. Around his arms and hands were linen bandages, greasy and stained. His body was an anomaly. His face was that of a middle-aged man, but his body seemed fit, poised, and strong. He held silver scimitars in each hand. He looked down upon the adventurers.

His voice was deep and imposing as he inquired, "I am King Kreem. Who might you tiny mortals be?"

Dash and Rarity nudged Twilight forward. She desperately tried to keep her knees from knocking together and show that she was nothing short of terrified.

"I...I am...My name is T-t-twilight Sparkle. *gulp!* And these are m-m-m-my friends. We've come...a long way to...to find your p-p-palace and the..." she swallowed at the thought of his reaction. "S-s-s-sacred Pool...?"

King Kreem looked up at the rock ceiling. "You as well? I should not be surprised. The lure of immortality temps all and the challenges to keep them away faze them not."

Dash's eyes widened. "Immortality? The Pool can do that?"

Kreem struck the ground with a scimitar. "Silence!" he shouted. Everyone was quiet without hesitation. Mario tentatively stepped forward and took off his cap. Kreem looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Mario nodded as if asking for permission to talk.

"Speak your mind, mortal," King Kreem said.

"Your highness," Mario began, "we don't have any interest in immortality. We just...well, it's a long-eh story, but we need to use the sacred eh-pool to create an enchanted 1-Up Mushroom."

The king's tone became suddenly informal as he said, "What...? Seriously? You crossed my once-rich desert, braved the Quicksand Ocean, and intruded on my palace just so you could soak a damn mushroom in my Sacred Pool?"

Mario nodded sheepishly. "That's-a 'bout the whole of it."

The king scratched his chin and was silent for minutes at a time, at which point Applejack whispered, "Whaddaya think he's doin'?"

Kreem quickly raised his hand palm-up, and everyone was dead silent again. He looked back at the group and nodded slightly. He said, "Considering you have no interest in immortality, and are genuine in your statements, I shall grant you some leniency. Stand down, men."

Everyone noticed that undead skeleton warriors dressed in Egyptian armor and carrying more scimitars had surrounded them and were standing in the four entrances to the garden. At the king's order, they lowered their weapons and stood in the doorways, blocking all exits.

"To deem yourselves worthy of the Sacred Pool, you must pass one test," King Kreem said. "You must defeat me in honorable combat."

Mario, Luigi, and the ponies looked at each other and nodded. Mario and Luigi took their battle stances and the Mane Six stood at the ready.

"Are you prepared?" Kreem asked the heroes.

"Bring it on," Dash told him.

In a flash, King Kreem sprinted toward the group and his swords glinted in the torchlight. He swung both scimitars in a wide arc when he reached them and they all dodged in different directions to avoid the attack. Kreem turned left and faced Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Mario. The king squinted and charged forward. Dash raced into him, jabbing him in the face with her elbow. Mario had leaped into the air, and was coming down fast. Kreem recoiled and saw Dash heading in for another attack. When she tried to hit him with a flying kick, he grabbed her leg and held her up to Mario, who was about to come down on top of them.

Mario had to make a split-second choice: continue his attack and risk hurting Dash, or find a creative way out of it and get her out of Kreem's clutches in the process. So, he did a backflip and when his upper body was close to Dash, he reached out, grabbed her, and used her as an anchor for a swinging kick that hit the king when Mario split his legs so they wouldn't hit her. King Kreem let go of Rainbow Dash, and Mario held on to her as they jumped back to safety. Kreem then threw one of his scimitars at Fluttershy. She yelped and ducked. The edge just barely clipped her wing, and the sword took an arced path back to the king like a boomerang.

Suddenly, Kreem felt the force of a cannonball hit him in the back. Pinkie had her Party Cannon out and had just launched Luigi out of it. His Green Missile could be surprisingly deadly, and that attack would've killed a normal person. Clearly though, King Kreem was not normal, because after he went careening into a wall, he stood up and, while not severely injured, was clutching his left arm with a very pissed expression.

"It seems I do not need to hold back on you," he said. He then dropped his scimitars and clenched his hands into fists. They started to glow with blue fire. He wound up his attack, stepping backward and yelling, "Fire of the Afterlife! Andeddo kasai!" He forced his palms out and a wall of blue flame came streaking at the heroes. Rainbow Dash grabbed Mario and Luigi, Fluttershy picked up Applejack, while Twilight grabbed Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and they flew up and over the flames. The fire spread and covered the garden.

"Looks like we ain't goin' back down," Applejack sighed.

Mario was hanging by his left arm, and looking up, he saw Dash wasn't holding on to him. He let go and fell down, and while he was falling, he brought his fist up, taking aim at King Kreem. His hand began to glow red and small tongues of fire were escaping between his fingers.

"Ken no kasai!" he shouted. He swung at Kreem with full force. The king brought his hand up and and caught Mario's punch. They stayed like that, with Mario locked in midair, as if the force of his punch was keeping him up.

"You have great power," Kreem said, "but you lack the speed to deal it."

Mario smiled wryly. "Actually, I wanted you to catch my hand," he said. Kreem froze, and his expression changed to fear in a second.

Mario's smile turned to a rage born of battle as he yelled, "Ue no hono!" All at once, gouts of fire erupted from Mario's fist and were as large as a solar flare. The force from this eruption propelled Mario's arm forward, breaking through Kreem's defenses and punching him square in the jaw. Kreem flew backward, smashed into the ground and slid aways before stopping dead still. The blue fire dispersed before Mario landed.

The others stared in shock and came down slowly, except Luigi, who was cheering his brother on and tossing his cap in the air. Twilight ran up to Mario and studied his hand.

"How...did you do that!?" she cried.

Mario rotated his shoulder. "Years-a practice," he said.

Suddenly, King Kreem sprang up and levitated in midair, arms outstretched. The heroes spun around and faced him, still ready for anything he could throw at them. But the king didn't do anything for a long time. Then, he brought his hands together and slowly started clapping.

"Impressive," he mused. "Very impressive. Not all of you may have partaken in this little tournament, but I can see your combined power vastly outmatches mine." Then, the four sarcophagi opened up, and water sprung out, filling the sections of the garden, and the marble pathway sank into the water. "You have proven yourselves more than worthy to use the Sacred Pool of Ages," Kreem stated.

The adventurers looked at each other and smiled. Rarity took off her pack, reached in and pulled out a 1-Up. She tossed it to Mario and said, "You won for us, would you like to do the honors, darling?" Mario smiled and tipped his cap. He walked up to the Sacred Pool and slowly submerged the mushroom in the holy water. When he brought it back out, the color of the cap had changed to silver. Mario looked up and bowed respectfully to King Kreem.

Mario set the Enchanted 1-Up on the table of the castle library.

"Oh, my! Splendid work!" Toadsworth exclaimed. "You actually found the Sacred Pool of King Kreem?"

Twilight smiled. "Well, technically, Pinkie and Luigi found it."

Toadsworth nodded in astonishment. "Ah, very impressive, Master Luigi and Mistress Pinkie."

Mario walked up to Luigi and said, "About that...never do that again. You gave-a me a heart attack!"

Toadsworth looked around. "Say, you said you had another ingredient with you...where is it, may I ask?"

Twilight's horn glowed and a Warp Pipe appeared out of thin air. She gently lowered it until it was perfectly level with the ground, and released the magic stasis field around it. The pipe stuck to the ground with the inside still being black and not empty.

"Oho, I see!" Toadsworth chuckled. "Well, then, an impressive start, if I do say so myself!"

"So, what shall we go after now?" Rarity asked.

Luigi thought for a minute. "I feel like-eh chasin' rainbows," he said.

"Okay..." said Twilight. "Just remind me...how are we going to physically get a piece of an actual rainbow?" Mario laughed.

"I'mma just gonna say 'we got friends on the otha side,' " he said.

Back at home, everyone was relaxing with some Syrup Surprise, made by Luigi, of course.

As Applejack took a drink, she asked Mario, "Hey, how did y'all get those fancy moves? The ones ya took down Kreem with?"

Mario put down his Syrup on the counter and said, "Learned-eh how to channel my Link. A Link some kinda element you're closely associated with. Mine's-a fire."

"Where'd ya'll learn that?" she questioned again.

"Place called-a the Beanbean Kingdom. It neighbors the Mushroom Kingdom, an' it's...interesting, to say the least. If you're curious, I guess we could go there tomorrow," Mario offered.

"Does Luigi have one? Can he shoot fire from his eyes?" Pinkie called from upstairs.

"Mm...Luigi's better with lighting," Mario said. Pinkie's head appeared over the balcony with a very serious expression.

"No way," she stated firmly. Mario looked over at his brother who was at the table, who was really in no mood to show off anything, much less to Pinkie Pie.

"No, thank you," Luigi said.

"C'mon, Luigi. Just-a once?" Mario pleaded.

Luigi groaned and stood up. He lowered his head. Everyone leaned in to get a good look, but Mario stood back. He knew better. Suddenly, Luigi raised his head and screamed, sending two lightning bolts from his white, glowing eyes. Everyone was sent reeling back, and Fluttershy ran into the living room and cowered under the couch. The sound of thunder soon followed this spectacle.

Twilight was staring at Luigi in awe and as she got back up she said, "I need to learn how to do that..."

Luigi sat down, his face more red than Mario's Fire Fist. Mario looked up and grinned weakly. "Looks eh-like we're goin' to Beanbean Kingdom tomorrow," he said.