Super Mario and the Elements of Harmony

“Everybody to the lifeboats!”  “Has anypony seen Spike?”  “SPIKE!”  “Stay calm, I will find you!”

Spike could hear these voices in his head while he slept.  He did not want to open his eyes.  He could feel gentle waves splashing his face every few seconds.

“Amigo?  Are you all right?”

Spike mustered up enough energy to open his eyes.  He found himself lying down in the sand on an unknown island, face to face with a giant, floating skull with a pirate hat.  “Muchacho, you were a victim of a shipwreck.  Are you okay?” the giant skull asked him with a Spanish accent.  Spike nudged back due to fear.  He thought the voices in his head were only a dream, but they weren't.  He looked at his surroundings and noticed that he was on the beach of a different tropical island.

“Wha-what happened?  Wh-where are the others?  Where am I?  And who the heck are you?” he asked the skull.

The skull said in reply, “Amigo, you were shipwrecked here.  I saw everything happen.  I am Cortez, the spirit of the legendary pirate who founded the Pirate's Grotto on this island.  You say that you were with others?  Who are they?”

Spike picked himself up from the sand, brushed himself off, and replied, “I am on a journey with my friends to save Princess Celestia and Princess Peach from Bowser and Discord.  My friends’ names are Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Yoshi, and Mario.”

“Did you say Mario?” Cortez asked in excitement.

Cortez, after a few seconds of floating around, looked into his memory and continued, “He defeated me once a number of years ago.  I then decided to help him in his quest.  He went all over this side of the Mushroom Kingdom to find the seven Crystal Stars.  I’m sorry, but I have not found any of your friends yet.”

“I expected that,” Spike said sadly.  With a tear in his eyes, he looked up at Cortez and asked, “Do you think I will ever find them again?”

Cortez looked down on the young and sad dragon, saying, “Of course you will, amigo.  I will help you.  I know this island well, and we will look until we find your friends.”  So the pirate skull and the young dragon set off to find the other lost members of the group of heroes.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Pinkie were lost in the forest of Keelhaul Key, wandering aimlessly.  Pinkie was still her happy, jumping self, while Twilight showed a sense of urgency.  “Pinkie, how could you be so happy at a time like this?  We may never be able to get off this island!”

The pink bundle of joy, who was still hopping up and down, stopped to look at Twilight and replied, “It's because I learned from a young age to always stay happy, no matter how crummy things may be!”

Twilight responded, “But I just can't do that, Pinkie.  I’m not like you.  I am so worried that we will never be able to find our friends or finish our mission.  We can’t let Discord win!”

Pinkie popped up behind Twilight and put her hooves around Twilight's mouth, forcing her to smile.  She then said, “Remember to smile, Twilight.  It will go a long way!”

Twilight tried her best to smile. Her mouth trembled. “Ugh, I just can't do it!” she yelled out while sitting down and throwing her hooves in the air.

"Maybe I should sing you a song that I heard a long time ago.  It really cheered me up,” said Pinkie while pushing up Twilight's chin.

“I guess it wouldn't hurt,” Twilight replied.  Pinkie let out a little, happy squeak and began to sing.

“When you're rife with devastation

There's a simple explanation:

You're a toymaker's creation

Trapped inside a crystal ball

And whichever way he tilts it

Know that we must be resilient

We won't let them break our spirits

As we sing our silly song

When I was a little filly a galloping blaze overtook my city

So they shipped me off to the orphanage

Said, ‘ditch those roots if you wanna fit in’

So I dug one thousand holes and cut a rug with orphan foals now

Memories are blurred and their faces are obscured

But I still know the words to this song

When you’ve bungled all your bangles

And your loved ones have been mangled

Listen to the jingle jangle

Of my gypsy tambourine

‘Cause these chords are hypnotizing

And the whole world's harmonizing

So please children stop your crying

And just sing along with me.”

“Pinkie, that was beautiful!  Where in Equestria did you hear that song?” Twilight asked her cheerful friend.

Pinkie responded with a grin, “I don't know, I feel like it's from a different dimension for some reason.”  Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile.  That was a typical, crazy Pinkie Pie answer.

Twilight and Pinkie could hear a sound coming from the distance in the trees.  “I heard a noise over here,” Twilight said.

“I heard a noise over here,” came the noise from the trees.  Twilight could recognize that voice.  It could only be one person: her little dragon companion.

“Spike?” she screamed out.  “Twilight?” yelled Spike from a distance.  The two could still not see each other.  “I'm over here,” Twilight yelled out.  Pinkie and Twilight heard rustling in the shrubbery, so they went over to investigate.  Suddenly, Cortez popped out from the trees.  Pinkie and Twilight let out a scream in unison.

“Señoritas!  Have no fear!  I am here with Spike,” Cortez said to the two scared mares.  Spike popped out from behind the pirate spirit.

“Oh, Spike, I knew I would find you,” said Twilight while picking up Spike and giving him a massive hug.

Cortez explained to the two ponies, “The ship you were on was struck by a calamity.  I, Cortez, saw the whole thing from the island.  I did not see the boat hit anything, but I did see a strange figure leaving the scene.”

Spike just then received a flashback that he thought was a dream.  He told the others, “I-I think I know what happened.  I heard a noise and went to the deck to investigate.  The next thing I remember is being in the water.  The waves were high; over my head even.  When I peeked my head above water I saw Discord sitting on a floating throne.  By the time the next wave covered my head, he was gone.”

“That would explain what happened to the ship,” Twilight said in agreement.

“We must go find Dashie and Flutters,” Pinkie reminded.  The four of them continued to go find their two pegasi friends.

“Fluttershy, get up!  Stop being a baby,” Rainbow Dash screamed to Fluttershy, who was hiding behind her mane and lying down.  The two of them were ever deeper in the forest than the others.  They went to go find help, but got hopelessly sidetracked instead.

“I-I guess you're right.  We need to find the others,” Fluttershy stuttered while picking herself up.

“That’s my Fluttershy,” Rainbow said while giving her a tap on the back.

“Ow,” squeaked the yellow pegasus at the soft tapshe received.  They continued walking for a little bit.

After a few minutes they found themselves reaching a near dead end.  They came up to a cliff wall with about a foot of water around the edge.  They stared at the three rocks coming out of the water.  One was a large head with a blue painted moustache, one was a smaller blue head with a red painted moustache, and the other was a carving of a skull.  “This place is so weird,” Rainbow said.  She turned around and discovered that they were not alone.  Coming from the trees was a bouncing, green fuzzy, a creature of the jungles of Keelhaul Key.

“Aww, he's so cute,” Fluttershy said while approaching the fuzzy.  She gave it a pet on the head.  “AHH, GET IT OFF!  GET IT OFF!” screamed the shy pegasus when the fuzzy jumped on her head.  Rainbow Dash ran over and bucked it back into the forest with her him legs.  Fluttershy thanked Rainbow, but then jumped into her arms as she heard another noise coming from the trees.

“Wow, scared much?” Rainbow said to the pony in her arms.  The noise got louder and louder.  Fluttershy shook more and more aggressively.  “I'm not scared of you!” Rainbow shouted while still holding the frightened mare.

Out came Spike from the trees with his arms held up high.  “We found you,” he shouted while jumping on Rainbow's leg.  Rainbow Dash proved strong enough to keep standing while carrying the weight of two creatures.

“Eeeee, Dashie and Flutters,” Pinkie said enthusiastically while jumping on Rainbow.  The three of them proved too heavy and the blue pegasus fell to the ground.  Cortez and Twilight were just a few seconds behind when they came from the trees.

“Thank Celestia we found you,” Twilight said upon finding the two.  Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Spike looked up at Twilight from the ground.

“Whoa, who’s the skull?” Rainbow asked while getting up from off the ground.

Cortez looked at her and answered, “I am Cortez, the spirit of the pirate from this island.  I am helping you all get reunited, because there is nobody that knows this island better than me.”

Fluttershy squeaked out a question, “Wh-where are we?”

“Señorita, you were shipwrecked and floated over to this island, Keelhaul Key.  This island is part of a further section of the Mushroom Kingdom.”

“We are still missing Mario and Yoshi,” Spike reminded everyone.

Cortez added, “Mario knows this island well, he could find his way around.  The problem is us finding him.”

“He’s probably eating somewhere.  Let’s go find him,” Rainbow said as the group continued on their search mission.

Meanwhile, Mario was taking a bite into a sandwich that he had purchased at the Keelhaul Key settlement, which was made on his previous journey to the island.  The settlement was originally made of the pieces of the ship that was sunk by Cortez’s army of flaming embers on Mario’s last adventure to this part of the kingdom.  The settlement was started by the surviving members of the shipwreck, but had expanded ever since as creatures from far and wide wanted to come and visit the beautiful island.

“Well, amiga, since you think that he is eating, I think I know where he is.  Follow me,” said Cortez to the others while they were still in the same place in the jungle.  Cortez began to lead to Equestrians into the jungle and towards the settlement, where he was sure that Mario was.

While they were walking, Spike looked over to Twilight and asked, “How do you think we will continue our journey?  We have to go back to the Star Spirits to find out where Rarity or Applejack are being held captive!”  “Did you say Star Spirits?” asked Cortez.

Twilight responded, “Yes, the Star Spirits have been helping us locate our friends on our whole journey so far.”

Cortez informed the others, “Some weird creature gave me a large card with a star on it.  The star had a beard.  I have a feeling that creature was Discord.”

“What did the creature look like,” Rainbow Dash asked.

Cortez responded, “I will try to remember.  It was late last night, and he came to me and told me to guard this card.  He was quite ugly.  He had a horse head, a long tooth, two different horns, two different wings, different arms and legs, and a large, dragon-like tail.”

“Yep, that’s him,” Spike exclaimed.

Cortez continued, “We must, then, go back to my ship so you can get your Star Spirit, after we find Mario and Yoshi.  There is a settlement just around the corner.  I have a feeling that they are there.”

That feeling was right.  As the group turned the corner and entered the settlement, right in the middle was Mario and Yoshi.  Mario had on the table in front of him: five pieces of pizza, a half-eaten sandwich, four doughnuts, and an apple pie.  He was still eating.  As the group approached him, he said to them nonchalantly, “The only a-tragedy on this island is that there is no a-cake.”

Twilight slapped Mario in the face, causing a chunk of chewed pizza to fly from his mouth and into the face of a toad standing a few metres away.  She then scolded him.  “How could you sit here eating while we were trying so hard to find you?  You know that our ship sank, don’t you?”

Mario responded, “I have been a part of a few a-shipwrecks in my time.  When I a-woke on the beach, I was a-hungry so I came here to eat and to a-catch up with some old friends.”

Cortez came out in front to see Mario, “Amigo, you have a mission to accomplish.  You can’t just seat here and stuff yourself.”

Mario looked at Cortez with a smile, “It’s a-good to see you again, Cortez.  You’re a-right.  We should continue.”

Twilight spoke up, “Cortez, you need to take us to your ship to see the Star Spirit.”

“You have a Star Spirit?” Mario quickly asked.

“Yes, muchacho, follow me,” Cortez said while leading the reunited seven heroes towards the entrance to his ship, which was inside the Pirate’s Grotto.  The entrance to the Pirate’s Grotto was where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found themselves against the wall.  The entrance Cortez led them to was much closer to them and his ship.

Cortez led them to the shore, and then into the cave entrance.  The Pirate’s Grotto was a dark place, but very large.  Because Cortez led them through the back way, he saved the heroes much time, and they did not need to face any of his guards.  “Here we are, at my wonderful ship,” Cortez said.  His ship was wooden, old, and very creepy.  It was where Mario had defeated Cortez a few years ago in another adventure.  That was a time when Mario needed to find seven Crystal Stars to unlock the Thousand Year Door, a quest originally meant to save Princess Peach and find a legendary treasure that ended up turning into a save-the-world situation.

Cortez led the heroes onto his ship and into his special room.  Upon opening the door, the heroes were nearly blinded by the shine of all the gold and treasures.  “Oh… Rubies,” Spike said while licking his lips.

“Rarity would have a panic attack here,” Rainbow Dash said while looking at all of the glorious treasure that Cortez had ‘found’ over the years.

“Here is the card that Discord gave to me,” Cortez said while pulling out the card.  The card was large, and had a picture of Eldstar on it.  Mario went up to it.  Upon touching it, there was a blinding ash of light.  When the light subsided, Eldstar was in the room with them.

“Thank you, son,” Eldstar said to Mario, who had broken the spell against the star.  He continued, “Discord and Bowser came to Shooting Star Summit.  We thought it was you brave heroes coming to visit us.  But when we appeared to them, they locked us away with their magic and trapped us in the cards.  It was exactly what we worried about.”

“Oh goodness,” Fluttershy said.  “Are you alright?”

Eldstar looked at the sweet yellow pony and answered, “I am alright, but I am worried about what Discord has done to the other Star Spirits.  He said something about The Thousand Year Door.  You must go to Rogueport to investigate!”

“Will you come with us?” Twilight asked.

Eldstar responded, “I am afraid that I can’t.  I must go back to where I am needed, back at Star Haven.  I fear for the other Star Spirits, but I must go back to accomplish my duties.  But I believe in you.  Go to the Thousand Year Door.  If you need me, just pray.”  He then disappeared.

“Discord is such a stupid meanie,” Pinkie Pie shouted out.

Mario turned to Cortez, “Can you a-please take us back to Rogueport?”

Cortez responded, “Of course, amigo.  Just like old times.”  Cortez took them back across the small part of the ocean that was separating Keelhaul Key from the large island where Rogueport was on.  After a few hours of sailing, even though the ship’s sails were torn and ripped, they made it to Rogueport.  It appeared the power of imagination had gotten them to Rogueport.  That, or Cortez had a magical way of moving his ship, because the heroes made it to Rogueport very quickly with no sign of an engine, paddles, or having any working sails.  When the heroes’ ship pulled up to the docks, Discord was waiting for them, sitting upon his floating throne.

“I actually am shocked that you are here today, even after I sank your ship and took away the Star Spirits,” Discord said to the heroes, who were all waiting on the boat still.

“Discord, you sank a ship full of innocent workers, how can you live with yourself?” Twilight yelled out to him.

“You’re pure evil,” Spike added.

Discord said in retaliation, “I’m necessary evil.  I am also truly surprised you have made it this far without giving up, which is why I have made things harder.  Your Star Spirits have been captured and dispersed throughout this part of the Mushroom Kingdom.  You need to find all seven to unlock the Thousand Year Door.  I have changed the door to respond only to the Star Spirits.  This should take you quite a while!  I will be waiting inside the Palace of Shadow for you with your prize.  I see that Cortez has sided with you.  Some boss you are!  Anyways, eood luck, everybody!”  Discord then disappeared, leaving to go to the Palace of Shadow, which was deep underground and behind the newly locked Thousand Year Door.

The heroes’ adventure had now changed drastically.  They now have to relive the adventure that Mario had gone through to save the world from the dangers inside the Palace of Shadow.

Discord reappeared and added, “Oh, forgot to mention: you only have two days to do this,” and then vanished once again.  The clock was ticking.  What would happen if the heroes didn’t make the target time deadline was unknown, but they needed to continue, despite how tired they were.  The first step would be going to Professor Frankly, who had helped Mario on his previous mission to this island.