Chapter 1

One of the worst things in the morning is when a good thing gets interrupted. Cake baking, filling batter with love and passion—these things cannot be done when cosmic doorways to the other side of reality are being opened up right outside one's front door.

Peach had beaten in the eggs when Rosalina materialized outside her castle. Her sudden arrival startled Peach so much, however, that she almost forgot to add sugar. A horrible oversight. The whole recipee wouldv'e been ruined without it. She imagined Mario eating the cake without that essential ingredient—disappointment would've spread over his adorable round face. His mustache might've drooped—few things were sadder than a hero left disappointed by a delicious treat.

And he deserved it.

Just four days ago, he had rescued Peach again from the wrath of Bowser. He had foiled Peach's birthday party—again! The Koopa King summoned these weird maps and games for them to traverse. All the guests had a good time, so Peach figured that, as with a few of their previous parties, Bowser was up to his usual, harmless mischief. But that thought had been dashed when Bowser threw a butterfly net over Peach's head, and had attempted to run off with her.

That was when Mario put his foot down.

The usual fun.

Peach turned to one of her Toad servants standing on either side of the kitchen door. With all the island counters and ovens—all pastel colors—it was hard to spot the short little Toads. But, once Peach spotted the nearest of those sweet little toadstools, she smiled, bend over to make eye contact with the sweetie, and said, "Mind finishing my cake for me?"

The Toad cocked its head—Toads were, after all, unisex. "But Princess, this is the fifth cake you made today. Mario can't eat that many—"

"He will." Peach's heart raced a little at thought of Mario seeing all four of his victory cakes. Peach might have to help him along with eating it. The poor full little boy might need some to rub his overfull tummy, which might give way to...other things…

"Why're you blushing?"

Peach realized her face was as scarlet as a raspberry. She tried to hide her face behind her glove. Why was it so hard to mask embarrassment once it made its appearance known? "Don't worry. Just do what I say. I might bake you some chocolates if you do." Peach poked the Toad's face—she'd say its nose, but Toads lacked those—and strode down the stairs outside, to meet her cosmic guest.

Peach always considered herself a tall woman. The Toads stood at hip-level. Mario and his brother Luigi stood at breast-level—with Luigi rising to her clavicle. The only woman to ever make Peach feel short remained Rosalina. The beautiful blonde in her baby-blue dress hovered a few inches above the ground, her dress billowing like the clouds above. Little yellow stars levitated in orbit around her. She remained too flawless to be real. Peach sometimes wondered if the form Rosalina took wasn't just some transformed state to make Peach feel comfortable—that, in reality, she more closely resembled the stars and planets she nurtured.

"Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom, milady." Peach bowed a little. "What can I do for you?"

Rosalina looked nervous. Peach felt that emotions, like viruses, were contagious. Already, Rosalina's anxiety made her anxious. "There is a disturbance in the dimensional boundaries."

Peach smiled, giggled. All forced. She struggled to keep herself from shaking. "I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with those concepts. If you come inside and have some hot chocolate—"

"No time. I need to warn the Kongs and Daisy next. I've already alerted the Brothers, but—you need to assemble your forces. Someone from beyond our world has invaded."

Peach straightened up some. "The Brothers should be able to handle it."

"I sincerely doubt it," Rosalina replied, "At least, not alone."

"Do you know what they want?"

"I have no idea," Rosalina replied, "There's no way of knowing without interacting with this creature. All I know for sure is that this creature first materialized on an outer world, and has been traveling toward the Mushroom Kingdom, leap frogging from planet to planet. Each planet has ended up corroded and dead."

Peach cocked her head. "Dead? Well, how long did it take for them to revitalize?"

Rosalina hesitated. "They didn't."

"What do you mean they didn't?" Death lacked any meaning in the Mushroom Kingdom. Life was currency. Their coins were solidified life force. The more one had, the more times they could restore their bodies after something terrible happened—like being burned up, stabbed, or eaten. If, for whatever reason, a person ran out of life, they'd return as a Boo or specter of some sort, but Professor E. Gadd, last she heard, had been working on a contraption to restore the spirits to life. "There's no way they're still dead. Surely you can round up enough change to—"

"They're dead, Princess," Rosalina stated, a little more forcefully, "The worlds are cold and barren. Even the atmospheres have collapsed, meaning, if anything did restore itself on the cold stone, they'd die immediately afterward. They're coming here. You need to prepare."

Peach tried to take it all in. A permanent, unnatural death. Surely the ghosts still lingered on the planets, so—really, it wasn't so terrible. They'd reconstruct a ghost world on the old world, so, really, they lived on in that sense. However, ghosts couldn't eat cake, couldn't enjoy the wonderful flavors of that those with flesh could. "Well, how much longer until they come here?"

"Within a week, at most." Rosalina began to drift back, as though a leaf on the wind. "We need to unify your people. There are many other kingdoms that share space on this planet. Many other forces. Your planet needs to unify."

Peach shuddered. "I don't think you can get everyone to work together. Have you tried putting Wario and Mario in the same room, and tell them not to fight? Or Bowser and—well, anyone else?"

"You're not taking into account King Boo, Birdo, the Yoshis—"

"No, I thought of them, too. I just didn't get to talk about them yet."

Rosalina, with a heavy sigh, placed a hand on Peach's shoulder. "Be grateful it's just the Mushroom Kingdom in danger—just your world. If they reached the Luma's birthplace—this whole reality could truly dry up and die."

"So they're coming here specifically? Why?"

Rosalina shrugged. "Who can say? I sure cannot. After all, I'm merely an observer." Teal lights began to materialize in the sky, blinking like the stars around Rosalina's person. "Prepare your troops, Princess. It's time for you to fight for your world. I'll try to impede the invaders for as long as I can, but my poor babies—my Lumas—they'll be little more than cannon fodder." The lights in the air intensified. Rosalina's form was swallowed up in light. A strange grinding sound—clockwork grinding—reverberated in the air. "Just fight. You have overcome worse odds. Please, don't force me to reset this world."

The grinding peaked. The lights flared out.

Then it all faded.

Rosalina had vanished, disappeared through the star gate she had crafted on her own.

A few Toads stood guard at the front door. They had heard the whole affair. They waddled over, eyes wide with terror. The poor sweeties. "My Princess, what do you think we should do?"

Princess Peach turned to each of them in terms, sighed, and gave the a tight hug. Their soft mushroom heads squeezed together, almost smothering each other. Almost. "Just get the army together. I'm sure we can handle this ourselves without needing to get mean ol' Wario or Bowser behind our borders."

Did she feel good about ignoring Rosalina's orders? Not particularly, but Peach didn't see the need to involve Bowser in the planning for this defense. No need for it. Not when she had those two adorable plumbers.

Peach dispatched a Toad to send the brother's a letter. By supper, they were outside Peach's Castle, garbed in their usual overalls. Peach saw no need for formal attire at her castle. Vests, dresses, overalls—whatever made a person comfortable. No need to put up ridiculous standards. Her father, the former king of the Mushroom Kingdom, held people to a higher regard. Held a more strict set of rules for how to dress, how to walk, how to arrange parties.

Peach had many memories of being a girl, stuck in a constrictive gown, forced to smile and please every official from neighboring kingdoms.

Many of those domains had since crumbled.

Bowser had conquered most of the other principalities. Daisy and Wario had taken in the rest—Daisy to give them a chance at happiness, and Wario to tax the people into poverty.

Peach had suggested that they settle their military and territorial disputes with friendly competitions. Kart racing. Golf tournaments. Soccer games. After awhile, the games were less about settling military borders and more about simple fun. Though Wario insisted on their being cash prizes. He often gambled on the winner of most competitions.

Either way, the kingdom had become less cut-throat since Peach's ascension to power, and she intended on keeping it that way. Any outside force trying to stir up trouble had to be eliminated as efficiently and neatly as possible.

Who better to handle the problem than the indestructible heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom?

The Toads welcomed the two heroes with the usual fanfare. Luigi hid his head behind a gloved hand, blushing profusely, while Mario, chest inflated, strolled forward toward the princess. Peach wanted to hug them both, but resisted. There was a time and a place for everything. "I'm glad you could make it," Princess Peach said as she walked them and the Toads to the dining area, "The letter addressed most of the things I wanted to talk about, so how about we settle down to dine before we deal with any of the stressful stuff?"

"I have no problem with this," Mario replied, though he seemed even more eager to sit down for dinner once he saw the spread of food along the table.

Luigi hardly touched his meal. Or, at least, in comparison to Mario and Peach hardly seemed to eat. Whenever he looked ready to take a second dish, he ended up allowing someone else to take a plate for themselves before him, even though he had been waiting for longer.

Eventually, the talk went from casual fun topics ("How was your day so far? Find any interesting new places?") to more serious discussion.

"So this new threat—" Mario began in his thick accent, "What do you know about them?"

Peach laid a finger on her cheek in thought. "Nothing. I have no clue what they want, where they're going, or anything. All I know is that they're dangerous."

"Maybe they just want something?" Luigi asked, "Maybe we can just trade something or other with them, and they'll leave us alone without turning everything to ash?"

"No," Mario said, "These people want to fight. I say let's go give 'em one."

Peach cut Mario a bigger piece of cake for his inspirational words. "So you two will go up there and settle this for me, hmm?"

"Up into space?" Luigi turned white. "To fight the army on our own?"

Peach nodded. "I have full confidence in you both."

Luigi shifted to and fro on his seat. "I don't. We ought to get an army."

"You two are an army."

"We've dealt with bigger odds," Mario added.

"But this feels weird." Luigi squeezed his hands on his lap. "Call me a coward. Call me crazy. I just know there's something really, really wrong with these ones. You said Rosalina wanted us to form an army? Well—when Bowser tried to recreate the universe, she didn't tell Mario to bring an army. She's really, really worried about this." Another pause. Luigi swallowed his fear, and added, "I say we call the Yoshis and Daisy at least before we set out to fight this thing."

Peach rested her face in the palm of her hand. "I don't know."

Mario pushed himself back from his seat. "You can do that if you want. You'll be my back-up. I'll go in first."

Luigi turned pale. "You might die."

"So?"

"You'll die a lot."

"It's not like we don't have more lives stored elsewhere. Just make sure I come back to life somewhere safe if I die more than three or four times, hmm?"

Luigi lowered his head. "You're going up there, and nothing I say will stop you, aren't you?"

Mario folded his arms over his tummy. "That's the idea."

Luigi sank. "Alright. I'll go fetch the Yoshis and the rest, but I'm not going to talk to King Boo."

"You won't need to." Peach was a little worried about the Boos. If these invaders turned the world into dead patches of ash, there was a chance that a world of Boos might appeal to King Boo. She'd need to figure out a way to keep King Boo occupied during the incoming war.

Occupied in a way that preserved the peace and quiet.

"Before you go, though—" Peach cut another slice, and pushed it toward Mario. "More cake?"

A/N – Thank you for getting this far. The fic you are reading is a companion piece to a Zelda fic I' writing called Trials of the Triforce. To read the full story, take a look at that story as well. Right now, this fic takes place before the events of Trials, but I hope, as I write more for this, the two will converge more directly. Anyway, I'd really appreciate feedback on this. Tell me how I'm messing up, and I'll try to improve.