1

It was the greatest castle that has ever been built in Mushroom Kingdom's history. Constructed about three years ago, it was a huge, looming majestic structure that could be seen up to thirty uninterrupted miles away. It was constructed in response to the recent victory of the Mushroom Kingdom after a failed invasion by the notorious nemesis in all the land, King Bowser. His recent criminal uprising has raised a new threat to the Mushroom Kingdom; that is, the number of Bowser supporters continued to skyrocket. In effect, Bowser had developed a huge supportive army that would follow every command he commences upon them. As for King Toadstool, it was a different story.

It all started with the death of the Queen Toadstool almost fifteen years ago. The king had become immensely depressed and had thoughts of suicide. Not being able to create a male heir, he knew that he was the last descendent of royalty, besides the fact he has two beautiful princesses to look after. The eldest of two, Peach Toadstool, who just turned eighteen, was also the most elegantly dressed. She usually wears a pink dress and fancy pink shoes which bring emphasis to her long, silky, and healthy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. The other princess, Daisy Toadstool, was also very gorgeous in her appearance. Though she is only a year younger than her 'stepsister', Daisy also enjoyed making herself look elegant. She preferred gold instead of pink and she had long, beautiful brown hair which pink lipstick would do nothing to enhance her "impressiveness" as she called it. Daisy was too good for that. On the other hand, it seemed that all of the other girls were wearing lipstick to look like her famed stepsister. But she didn't care.

As for their father, he was becoming deathly ill. He was suffering from a severe case of lung cancer, which will undoubtedly kill him in a matter of minutes. Peach and Daisy found themselves standing next to their dying father in the castle infirmary. Both princesses were in tears, though they tried not to cry in front of the king, because it would only make him feel worse. Still, it was hard to hold back their true feelings.

"Peach? Daisy?" said the king in a sick tone.

"Yes?" the two replied.

"I know this may sound repetitive, but please just listen to me for the time I have left."

"We're listening, father." Peach replied.

"I want each of you two to find someone that deserves the honor of taking my place in the throne, someone who has the heart to guide the rest of us to eternal happiness."

"Who?" Daisy asked.

"Someone who is willing to take of you for the rest of your lives." The king replied. "It is only a matter of time before you two must find husbands."

There was a momentary pause, and then the king started to talk again.

"Before I pass away, I must tell you that the cause for my cancer is not natural."

"What do you mean father?" Peach asked suspiciously. "What do you mean it wasn't natural?"

"Someone had given me a toxic pill that promotes the growth of cancer, made from poisonous mushrooms."

"Do you know who gave it to you?" Daisy asked.

"I…I…" the king struggled.

"Who did it?" Daisy asked.

"I…"

Silence.

"Father? Father!" still no response. Daisy checked his wrist, but felt nothing.

"He's gone."

"NOOOOOO!" Peach cried, falling into her stepsister's lap. "He can't be gone! He just can't!"

"It's okay, Peach." Daisy said, trying to calm Peach down. "He's in a happier place now and he'll always watch over us." Daisy felt tears developing in her eyes.

"What are we going to do?" Peach asked.

"I don't know, but we'll just have to do the best we can to take care of ourselves." Daisy said. "It will only be a matter of time before the whole kingdom knows about it."

Toadsworth, the doctor (who was standing with them the whole time), gave both of the depressed princesses a hug, whispering in their ears: "Everything will be alright."

Toadsworth then stood up.

"I will gather everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom and break the news about this tragic loss." As Toadsworth continued, "I don't think they will take it very well, but it's better for them to know about it than wonder about it."

"Thank you." Peach said as Toadsworth walked away from the side of the bed and down the hall to alert everyone to gather in the ballroom. Daisy tried to grab Peach by the hand to convince her to go with her, telling her that there was nothing she could do to bring him back, even if the doctor tried to resurrect him. But Peach was already out of the room, waiting for Daisy to come with her.

While they are walking away in a depressed mood (mostly Peach), the princesses started making funeral arrangements for the great King Toadstool who reigned for over thirty years. As they made their way towards the ballroom, they saw that the doors were being held open by two of the castle's guard toads. There were forty-eight others standing side-by-side along the red carpet, including doctor Toadsworth.

Toadsworth grabbed his horn and blew out a loud noise to make the room very silent.

"Please, toads! Quiet!" he said. "Please welcome Princess Peach and Princess Daisy." All the toads in the room gave their applause as the princesses walked through the doors and onto the center stage.

"Thank you all for coming to this meeting on such a short notice." Peach said. "You are probably asking why you guys are here right now. Well, I have very important news and it is not the good, exciting news that you hear from me, my sister, or my father. The news is about the king himself."

She took a couple of breaths and then started speaking again.

"Our beloved father, King Toadstool has just passed away from lung cancer."

The whole room fell silent as everyone gasped at the shocking news. It was obviously not the news that they had envisioned.

"But even more shocking is the fact that it wasn't an accident. He told me and Daisy just before his death that he had been poisoned after someone gave him a pill made poisonous mushrooms!"

Everyone gasped again, more so than before.

"Therefore, I declare a search party to hunt down whoever's responsible for this unnecessary tragedy! They will pay for their actions!"

The toads started talking and questioning all at once about this tragic occurrence. Peach was quick to silence everyone again.

"Now, all I ask of you guys is a moment of silence to honor our King Toadstool." Everyone joined hands and bowed their heads.

One minute later, after the brief prayer, Peach dismissed the crowd and followed Daisy back upstairs to their bedrooms. Princess Daisy patted Peach on the back and gave her a long hug, telling her that she did the right thing and that 'daddy will always be in her heart'.

But just as the mystery of the king's untimely death became prominent, two new mysteries soon arose. Will anyone travel to the Mushroom Kingdom and help the princesses out? If so, who? And what will be the fate of the Mushroom Kingdom?

Hey everyone! Sorry I forgot to talk to you about this when I first uploaded the story. I'm still pretty new to fanfiction, but I'm making some real progress. I just wanted to tell those of you that are reading this that this is my attempt at explaining how the two brothers ultimately became the famous-mustached heroes that we have known for over thirty years. I am pleased that you have taken the time to at least check it out, and for that I thank you.

In chapter one, the thing that stands out is the discovery that King Toadstool's death was not natural, but was the result of someone given him a pill that had been crafted from poison mushrooms. But no one is certain as to who's responsible. Nonetheless, both Princess Peach and Princess Daisy are deeply affected by their loss. It seems that they have a mystery on their hands...