Chapter One: The Crown

In the stormy Mushroom Woods, the pink clad individual picked up the box, shaking hands with the individual in the cloak. They shared a knowing smirk with each other, fully aware of the powerful contents in the box.

"I'm glad you've agreed to this plan," The hooded individual said.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't hate to make this plan go with any… imperfections," The pink one said, giving a small giggle.

"Be sure you're not caught," The one in the hood said. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you the price of treason in there."

"Obviously," The pink one said. "But, she trusts me completely. Even with her little secret."

"This shall be such sweet revenge on this boring kingdom," The hooded one said. "Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!"

"Save the laughter for later," The pink one looked around. "We gotta be quiet or—"

Suddenly, Bullet Bills began shooting at them from around them. The one in pink ran off while the hooded one raised her bony green hands, calling forth lightning as she disappeared.

"Looks like we scared 'em off good," A Shy Guy said, walking over to the box. "Time to take their stuff."

"We should have been more careful," A Koopa with a bucket helmet said, following him. "What will his rancidness think?"

"That we're awesome?" A Goomba walked out, wearing a blue hat with a puff on top.

"You're right!" The Koopa exclaimed. "Now, what's in this box?"

The three stared down into the box as they opened it, looking at the glowing object inside.

"A crown," The Shy Guy said, looking in confusion. "It's just a crown."

And, he was right. The crown in question was golden in color and had a pink, mushroom like center section. It even had two eyes looking right at the three.

"Let's just get it back," The Goomba said. "Perhaps it's secretly magical and will help us."

At Mushroom Castle

The princess was sitting in the garden, looking at the roses. She loved the roses ever since she was a young girl, playing with Daisy in the roses and often getting cut up with the thorns in them. She loved how they gave a nice pop to her orange hair (A/N: I prefer orange haired Peach to blonde). Her blue eyes looked softly at them as well.

Her pink dress was quite ruffled and her white gloves a bit wrinkled, but she didn't care. She was happy how she was. She had even kicked off her shoes and socks to walk barefoot in the grass. She had decided to put on ankle socks today since she didn't feel like stockings.

She sighed in satisfaction as she thought of Daisy. She was her constant companion back then. Peach had to admit she was great… in more areas than one… She quickly shook her head to erase that thought. That wasn't right. She knew where those thoughts could get her.

She continued to look at the flowers, amazed by their looks. There was a pool she could look into and it was the clearest water in the entire Mushroom Kingdom. She quite liked splashing in it. Daisy would sometimes have joined her, but ever since her father had died and Toadsworth had become her advisor, that had happened less and less. Peach understood why, but had no real ability to fight it, nor would Toadsworth give her any. No guards were around, so she could take a nice dip if she wanted. She began to undo the ties on her dress.

However, a moaning sound now distracted her from her thoughts on bathing. She stood up and walked over to the pool where she got quite a shock. Lying face down and unconscious by the pool was a woman clothed in a dress that was the color of soot. Her hair was as red as fire, but also with a good deal of orange the same shade as Peach's, tied in a ponytail. Peach could tell her body was quite muscular, but hidden by her clothes and body.

She tried to pick up the woman, but she weighed more than she did. Peach was no weakling, but she was also no plumber either. She had enough strength to do things if she had powerups, but she had none on hand.

She tried to drag the woman, but the weight of her combined with her clothing making friction on the ground made it a chore to do that. Peach managed to get her near the pool, turning her over with a good deal of struggle.

Once she'd done that, she was surprised to see that the woman's dress mimicked hers in its design. It had a red gem in the front, however. The gloves she wore were black, rough, yet soft. The woman's lips were wearing a soft blackish red lipstick that made her lips pop. Peach, ever the curious and mischievous princess, opened one of the woman's eyes carefully, looking to see that it was a red color, but it looked so naturally so. Peach could also, thankfully, see the rise and fall of her… ample chest. It wasn't massive, but Peach was certainly a bit jealous.

Peach's face began to heat up at the sight of this unconscious woman. She certainly resembled her in a way, but she was clearly a different person that had her own look to her. Peach could also tell this woman had a good deal of height on her, almost a foot.

Peach was well aware of how this woman seemed to be older than her, but it's not like Peach ever cared about age. What she did notice was her face. It was striking to say the least. Regardless of one's attraction, they had to admit that she was attractive. However, the eighteen year old couldn't focus on that much. She needed to see how to help this woman if she could. There was no telling how long she'd been here and Peach really didn't want to involve the guards about this.

"Please wake up," Peach shook the woman gently. "I want to talk to you."

Almost as if to her command, a groaning came from the unconscious woman as her eyes blinked open. Immediately, she squinted them to avoid the sunlight that bore into them

"Hey, it's okay," Peach said softly, looking at this woman with a feeling she knew all too well. "You're alright."

"Peach?" The woman muttered, her gaze shifting to the pink clad princess.

"H-How did you know my name?" Peach asked before it dawned on her that she was (in the public eye) the most powerful person in the Mushroom Kingdom. She was supposed to be well known. But, this woman didn't address her as "Princess Toadstool" or even "Your highness". It was simply "Peach" she was addressed by here, a personal greeting… wait, she didn't remember giving her first name out to anyone.

"Ain't you the princess?" The woman muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Y-Yeah," Peach said, chuckling nervously as an embarrassed blush crept across her face. "But, I guess it's odd since not many people know my first name."

"I… I figured everyone did," the woman said. "O' course, I don't think I remember much 'sides you… and something about someone in pink… of course, you're wearing pink. Maybe it's you… I don't know."

"You… don't remember anything?" Peach asked. "Well… that's too bad. I'm so sorry for you."

"Ain't your fault," The woman shrugged. Peach found herself inexplicably drawn to the crown. She could sense… something from it. But, as to what, she had no idea."

"Do you remember your name?" Peach asked, diverting her gaze back to the woman.

"Nope," The woman made to stand, falling unceremoniously into the pool, becoming quite wet in the process. She flailed a bit before grabbing the side of the shallow pool. Pulling, she somehow managed to break off part of it with sheer strength alone.

"H-How did you do that?" Peach asked, shocked as she grabbed a flailing hand.

"Guess I don't know my own strength, I guess," The woman gave a sheepish grin, rubbing her hand behind her head.

"She kind of reminds me of… Bowser," Peach thought, removing those thoughts from her head. Bowser always kidnapped her, this woman seemed nice. Also, Bowser was male and this woman was… well, not. Of course, she seemed to have an air of Darkland about her, but something about her made Peach want to trust her.

"How about I call you… Bows—no, Lucinda?" Peach asked, cursing herself for almost thinking of a name that close to Bowser.

"Eh, whatever," The woman, now Lucinda shrugged. "Call me whatever you want. If it's from you, it sounds good."

"A lot like Bowser." Peach thought with a shrug. "But, I am sure she'll be accepted here. Someone in a dress like that must have some mannerisms about her. Toadsworth doesn't have to find out for a while, does he?"

Later

Toadsworth, upon seeing the newcomer, commended the princess for finding her. But, Peach knew it was a façade in front of the help. She knew what he was thinking behind his 'kind' old smile and the implication she knew he had.

Lucinda walked with an arm around Peach like they were old friends, something Peach had absolutely no complaints for. She quite liked the company of the taller woman. But, first, she needed to get her some clothes.

Upon arriving at her room, she opened her closet, which held several pink dresses and a purple one that she had from a trip to Rogueport. That wasn't something she wanted to talk about much. But, she liked the dress despite the bad memories it held. Feeling yourself enshrouded by a living shadow that invaded every part of you was truly a terrible ordeal.

"Got anything in black?" Lucinda asked.

"Perhaps," Peach said, opening the chest she kept under her bed. She pulled out a dress that was black and a little big.

"Take this," She said, handing it to her. Lucinda touched it, falling to the ground with pain, something coming to her mind.

"I made you this, princess." She heard a voice say to the princess, handing her the dress. "Try it on or I won't force Kamek to make you a cake."

"I… made this…" Lucinda said with a strange look. Peach looked at her.

"But… Bowser said he made it," Peach said. "I can't believe he lied. Did he hurt you?"

"I… don't know," Lucinda said, taking off her dress in front of the extremely flustered Peach. "The name sounds familiar, though."

"Bowser is the evil king of the Koopas." Peach said. "But, it's alright. I suppose you wouldn't remember if you had memory loss. Let's just get you something to eat."

"I guess I could go for something." Lucinda said as her stomach growled.

"Princess," Toadsworth's voice came. "Your suitor is here. You should meet with him for dinner."

"Okay," Peach sighed. She looked at Lucinda. "Do you still want to come?"

"Sure," Lucinda shrugged. "And, hey, if he tries anything, I'll eat him."

"You're quite protective over someone you just met," Peach said.

"I don't know why…" Lucinda said. "But, I feel a desire to be with you."

"W-Well," Peach felt her blush again. "Let's get lunch."

"Alright," Lucinda nodded. On the way out of Peach's room, they passed Toadette, who seemed to notice the crown. She turned and kept walking, Peach and Lucinda continuing to walk to the dining hall.

So, this is an idea I had while talking with a friend and I had the idea of Bowser putting on the crown sometimes because Peach is bi-curious and it slowly turned into this idea, but I also wanted to have a darker plot going on. I wanted my own twist as well, so I had the whole memory loss. But, I'm not sure where this will go in terms of romance, so we'll see. I hope you enjoyed.