Power of the Stars

"So, what-a is this farm? It-a looks pretty busy." Mario inquired. Since he travelled pretty much all across the Mushroom Kingdom during his adventures, he's seen plenty of interesting things. But the plumber never actually seen many farms during his travels, or at least one without that many animals.

"Sweet Apple Acres." answered Twilight, "Our friend Applejack lives nere with her family. Everyday she's working to harvest as many apples as she can." she explained. Spike sprinted behind her to catch up, Pinkie and Fluttershy having returned home earlier.

Mario shrugged, "Her name-a seems fitting."

The three walked ahead to the fields, where they saw an orange earth pony wearing a stetson over her blonde mane kick a tree with her hindlegs, forcing all of the apples in the tree to fall down into a small bucket she placed, not one missing its shot. The mare wiped sweat off her head as she turned around.

"Oh. Howdy, Twilight, Spike... And uh..."

Twilight cleared her throat, "Oh, right. Applejack, this is Mario. He's from another world."

"Hello." greeted Mario.

"Hey there, Mario. What brings ya here to Equestria?" Applejack questioned him.

The plumber shook his head, "I-a do not-a know. One minute I was-a fighting my enemy Bowser, but then-a suddenly, a portal opened up and-a then I woke up here." he explained the best he could. "So, you-a seem pretty busy here." he said, changing the subject.

"That's right. Everyday, mah family has to attend to these here trees in the orchard. Ya know what?" she inquired stepping away from the next tree she was going to go to. "I'll let you have a chance. Try to get as many apples into the basket as ya can." she suggested. Mario looked at Twilight and Spike, who shrugged.

"Alrighty then." sighed Mario.

The red-clad plumber raised his fist and reared it back. He punched the tree with all of his might, knocking down all the apples with ease. Mario rubbed his knuckles as he smlled, "Mama mia. That-a was easy." he responded.

Applejack chuckled, "Ya got some skill there, Mario. Something tells me you'd be great help around here."

"Yeah, sure."

The four looked up to see a lone cloud floating by. "Did that-a cloud just talk to us? I've-a seen weirder." Mario wondered, pointing upward at said cloud.

"No!" said the voice. A rainbow trail sped out of the top of the cloud, landing next to Mario. "You're talking to Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in all of Equestria. You did good down here, but I can clear this field faster than you."

"Rainbow Dash! Were ya lazing around in the orchard again?" Applejack groaned.

"What? It's a nice quiet spot?" Rainbow huffed.

Mario crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "What's that look for?" she asked.

"I know a hedgehog exactly like-a you. Fast and a big ego." Mario chuckled. Rainbow growled as the plumber continued, "So-a, you're-a Rainbow Dash, huh? Nice to-a meet ya, I'm-a Mario." he introduced himself.

"Heh. Ya got some talk in you." Rainbow smiled extending a hoof, "Nice to meet you." the plumber gave the pegasus a questioning glance before extending his arm, shaking her hoof. "So, what brings something like you into Ponyville?"

Mario sighed, telling the story again. "Heh. When I meet this Bowser creep I'll send him flying across the planet!" Rainbow boasted, earning an eye roll from the ponies.

"We have to find him first, Rainbow. But Mario mentioned that these Power Stars are essential as well." Twilight pointed out, "They fell out of the sky a few days ago! Mario said that they were actually from his world, and that this Bowser characters wants them to gain ultimate power somehow."

"That explains the meteor shower." Spike replied, "What are Power Stars anyway?"

"I'll-a explain later. I-a just hope that Bowser hasn't-a become aware of this matter yet." Mario said to the dragon before looking down at the alicorn, "So-a Twilight, do we-a have to stop anywhere-a else before we get-a started on finding the stars and my brother as well as my friend Yoshi?"

"Actually there is." Twilight said.

Mario shook his head, "What am I-a even looking at right now?" he asked aloud upon staring at the building.

"That's the Carasoul Boutique, Mario. Our friend Rarity lives and works there." as Twilight explained this, Mario looked at Spike, and he swore he saw hearts in his eyes. The plumber raised a brow in confusion, but he just shrugged it off and knocked on the door, with the two standing by his side.

The door slowly creaked open, the pony in question who opened it was a white unicorn with a purple mane. "Hello. Welcome to the Carasoul..." her words died in her mouth upon seeing Mario, who frowned upon her reaction.

'Is everyone going to-a be like this?' he thought. He turned to Twilight, who decided to explain things.

"Rarity. Um, this is Mario. He's from another world and needs help in doing that... Rarity?" Twilight said, but the unicorn remained still. Spike walked up, waving his hand around her face.

"My word... Those clothes..." Rarity mumbled, "They look so... So... Outdated."

Mario rolled his eyes at the comment, "I've-a been wearing these overalls since I was a child." he said. "Nobody has-a ever commented on-a them until now. What's-a wrong with them?" he asked the unicorn, who shook her head.

"That red does not go with blue overalls! You should've went blue with red overalls!" Rarity practically screamed.

Mario rubbed the side of his head, "I-a already did. I grew out of that and-a settled with this."

Rarity huffed, "Very well. What brings you three here anyhow?"

"As I was saying... Mario needs our help in stopping some new foe from taking over this world and his own." Twilight repeated.

"Well we can't have that, now can we? What do you suppose we do about this?" Rarity inquired.

Spike decided to speak, "Weren't we going to meet back at the castle or something? Then head out to find these weird stars Mario mentioned to Pinkie?"

The unicorn's eyes widened, "Star?" she used her magic to levitate something out the door, "You mean like this?" she asked. The star also had a face like the one Mario had.

"Mm hmm." nodded Mario, "I'm-a not sure how many are-a here but we should find out soon." as they walked back to the castle, Mario swore he saw a cloaked figure watching him, but when he turned around, they were gone.

"You idiots!"

Bowser grumbled at the army he brought with him to Equestria, hiding out in a secret cavern. "I give you ten Power Stars! Ten! And how somehow manages to lose half of them? What do I pay you for!?" he asked his scared minion.

The Koopa gulped, "Y-You don't pay us at all sir!"

Bowser pointed at the turtle and snarled, "Exactly! It's because of nonsense like this that you work for free!" he crossed his arms and sighed, "Look, we have enough Power Stars to continue anyhow. We just have to make sure that Mario and Green Stache don't find the ones we're missing before we do. Open a portal... I'm sending a small army to the nearest town to draw them out."

"Sir..."

Bowser opened his eyes, "Uh? What is it Kamek?"

The Magikoopa cleared his throat, "Your big muscled majesty! I used a spell and managed to track down two of the missing Power Stars! The five we lost fell in a meteor shower. I tracked the two in a town called Ponyville."

"Ponyville, eh? Sounds as subtle as the Mushroom Kingdom. That's it, we're sending the Koopa Troop there first! Let's see if Mario and his friends can handle this in time!"