The Mushroom Kingdom had fallen quiet. It had been a week since the joyous pre-wedding celebration. The paper lanterns were still hanging, yet most of the town had taken down the fresh flower decorations. Many of the houses had lit candles in their windows, one red and one green, in hope that Mario and Luigi would soon return home. They were the heroes, always saving the kingdom, but this time, they needed the help.

No one had heard anything from Rosalina either. She'd left nearly a week ago in a quest to find more information on the star eater, yet she still hadn't returned.

Peach leaned up against the balcony railing, propping her chin on her hands as she stared solemnly up at the night sky. The sky was peaceful and cloudless. Yet even as the stars twinkled happily and the cloud hung low in the sky, the place felt lonely.

With her ambition, Peach surely could have chased after the cloud and beaten it with her parasol mercilessly, yet she hadn't a clue where to start. The kingdom had been searching high and low without a moments rest, leaving no block unturned, in search for the star eater, but not a single person returned with a sighting. The star eater was gone. Daisy had returned to Sarasaland to watch over the same search. Last Peach had heard, Daisy hadn't turned up a thing either. Their only hope was Rosalina.

"Peach!" The luma who often accompanied the pink princess flailed as it floated towards her. "Peeeaaaaaach!"

The princess turned, catching the panicked star in her arms as it threw itself at her. "What ever could be the matter? Did you find something? Did the shadows frighten you?"

"Mmmm~~~" the luma groaned in fear. "Mama sent a warning! Something about a world engine and bad galactic magic but the message got cut off! Luma cannot contact her! Luma is worried!"

Peach bit her lower lip as she held the frightened luma. She wanted to say it would all be okay, but she would just be lying to the luma and herself. Something was wrong. 'Bad galactic magic' was troubling.

"Keep trying," Peach suggested. "Perhaps she's simply out of range." Her words were filled with hope that there was a range in Luma-speak and that Rosalina was simply out of it. Both silently knew that something had happened, that the situation had grown even more dire.

...

"PRINCESS!" Ninjetta, a ninji who labeled herself as Daisy's retainer, hopped frantically and erratically into the room.

Daisy stirred. She had been sitting on the balcony of her own castle in Sarasaland, staring out at the stars. While they twinkled, something felt off about them, as if they were suddenly fading. She wasn't entirely certain how long she'd been staring at the sky or if she'd even moved since she'd sat down. It was uncharacteristic for her, as she was normally so energetic and full of life. The more time had passed, the more she longed for Luigi, the more she wanted to beat up that star eater herself. Yet as with Peach, Daisy had yet to find the star eater.

"What's wrong, Ninjetta?" Daisy tilted her head, finally stirring from her star-staring stance.

"Bi-birabuto!" she stammered. "The kingdom! It just... disappeared!"

Daisy stared, her eyes widened. Birabuto was one of the kingdoms in Sarasaland, not too far from Chai where she currently was. It was a desert land, notably so arid and hot goombos wouldn't even live there. Not many plants survived there, simply some palm trees and piranha plants. In recent years, pokey took up residence in the area, along with a large population of pidgit and ravens.

"What do you mean, disappeared?" The words just didn't make sense. How could an entire land just disappear?

Ninjetta just shook her head. "I don't know. That was the message! I mean, I'm pretty sure I heard it right..."

...

Daisy hadn't even bothered to change into her racing gear when she'd taken the motorcycle to travel. She barreled down the main highway at top speed, Ninjetta clinging on to her skirt for dear life. Something was going on, and it sounded dangerous. Kingdoms don't just disappear overnight. That was a fact she was absolutely certain was true.

The bamboo forests of Chai soon faded away, giving way to the harsher lands familiar to Birabuto. Though it was the middle of the night, Daisy couldn't see any sort of familiar shapes in the distance. Lately, Birabuto had become a place known for its nightlife as the days were far too hot. A band of entrepreneurial pidgits and ravens had started up a casino in the buildings which had been abandoned after the alien Tatanga had tried to take over Sarasaland. The casino always lit up the sky, filling the night with glittering lights. But tonight, however, the sky was completely black.

Noticing something was off, Daisy suddenly shifted sideways in an attempt to pull the bike to a swift halt. As she'd been driving down the road at top speed, the bike continued to skid until the highway simply ended into nothingness, flinging Daisy, Ninjetta, and the bike off a cliff and into a pit of darkness.

"OH MAN!" Daisy shouted, attempting to grab whatever was left of the highway, missing it only slightly before gravity kicked in and pulled the hapless duo further into the darkness. Ninjetta lost hold of Daisy's skirt, frantically grabbing for whatever she could. Reaching forward, Daisy grabbed the ninji, pulling her close into a tight embrace. She wasn't sure how far this pit went, but she wasn't going to lose Ninjetta in the process.

Further and further they fell. The stars in the sky faded to darkness. Daisy couldn't tell left from right anymore as they plummeted into what seemed like oblivious. And then they hit something, promptly ending their descent.

"Oooowwww~" Daisy groaned. "Sunnova-"

"Gotcha princess!"

"Huh?!" Daisy blinked, attempting to see who or what had spoken. It was impossible to see anything in the darkness of oblivion, but the voice sounded friendly at the very least. She felt the ground she'd landed on move towards what she thought was upward, wavering like a magic carpet. "A pidgit?"

"My name is Pascal," the voice replied. "We saw the fall, and I had to come after you."

The pidgit was rather swift, commanding the carpet upward at a rather quick pace, causing Daisy to hold on to the edges with a death grip. "We?" Daisy echoed.

The stars finally came into view overhead as the pidgit lifted the carpet up and back onto land. Daisy attempted to untangle herself from her layers of petticoats. She'd lost a shoe at one point, probably somewhere in the pit. As she stood up, she kicked the other one off, abandoning it in favor of being able to walk properly.

"We," Pascal motioned to the crowd which had arrived. Most were ravens carrying lanterns with a few pidgits flying nearby. A few pokey hid off in the distance. "We're survivors of Birabuto. We're not sure if there are more, but this is everyone we've found."

"Survivors?" Daisy blinked, incredibly shocked. "What happened? Where's Birabuto? What's going on here? Kingdom's don't just disappear, right?" None of this made sense.

"Birabuto did disappear, Princess," replied one of the ravens standing near the front of the group. "It happened earlier today."

"I saw it too," chimed in a pidgit. He stood on another pidgit's flying carpet. "I lost my carpet when it did. It was really strange! There was this black mass with red stars in it that appeared in the middle of the casino. It started expanding and that's when everything started disappearing! I told everyone to evacuate. Next thing we knew, all that was left of Birabuto was a large hole filled with darkness."

A black mass with red stars? "The star eater," Daisy thought aloud. "But what would a star eater want with Birabuto?" It was a question no one could answer. Most of the kingdom was aware of the star eater as Daisy had sent word out to search for it, but no one had expected it to show up.

It seemed her theory was wrong. Kingdoms really could disappear overnight.

...

Daisy stayed with the Birabuto refugees overnight, sleeping on one of the pidgit's carpets. Ninjetta had nestled up against her, mostly for protection and reassurance that Daisy would still be there in the morning. They both received a scare when Daisy's reckless driving nearly killed the both of them and they flew into a deep, bottomless pit created by the star eater. Many of the ravens nestled up, surrounding their princess, while some of the pidgit stayed awake to keep watch.

Dawn came, streaking the sky with light and life. Daisy stirred, looking up at the sky as it turned from black to blue. She pushed herself to her feet and carefully stepped over the sleeping ravens, being mindful not to wake them. Ravens were notoriously loud, particularly when upset, and she didn't want them all to start shouting at the same time.

She finally got a look at what remained of Birabuto, which wasn't much. The skid marks from her motorcycle trailed from the highway off the cliff where the highway abruptly ended. Daisy peered over the edge, seeing some of the palm trees managed to survive the attack, clinging on to the wall of the hole for dear life as they poked out sideways over the abyss. The hole was massive, expanding as far as she could see. It had encompassed the entirety of Birabuto, swallowing whole the pyramids, pipes, and buildings which covered the harsh landscape. Nothing was left. The kingdom was literally gone.

Spotting her shoe she'd kicked off last night, Daisy picked it up and threw it overhand into the pit, listening. She listened for a few minutes, hand cupped to her ear, and yet she heard nothing. Her shoe hadn't hit the bottom or even a sunken pyramid. There was nothing there. Nothing at all.

Daisy simply flopped backwards, sitting down abruptly, not even bothering to properly spread out her skirt. It was a mess at this point, dirt and tears lining the edges. She leaned forward, pushing her elbows to her knees, then burying her face between them. She wrapped her hands around the back of her neck, unsure of what to do. Everything was gone. GONE. Sure there had been attacks on the Mushroom World before. Bowser practically laid siege to Peach's castle every Tuesday, but it was never anything like this. There was always the possibility of rebuilding, a sign of hope. But here, there was nothing at all.

It was all because of that star eater. Before returning to her Comet Observatory, Rosalina had informed Daisy and Peach of what a star eater was. She babbled on about cosmic energies and dark matter and stuff Daisy really didn't listen to, but the last part she fully understood. Star eaters ate the stars and the stuff used to make stars. But Birabuto wasn't a star. It was a kingdom. Granted it emitted a lot of light at night, but it still wasn't a star.

"Are you going to be alright, princess?"

Daisy unburied her face to find Pascal had asked, though he wasn't alone. Many of the ravens had come to check on her too. "I'm mad," she replied honestly. "That star eater messed with my home and my fiancee. He'll pay for that." She wasn't entirely sure how yet, but that was the plan. She pushed herself to her feet, watching the sun rise over the horizon, casting an eerie shadow on the void where Birabuto once stood. Her expression read as an odd mix between worry and determination. Something had to be done.

"Ninjetta," Daisy ordered. "Send word to Peach. See if she can contact Rosie. I doubt this is gonna be an isolated attack." That star eater was after something, but what she hadn't the slightest idea. It just didn't make sense. First Luigi and Mario, then Birabuto. "Everyone else, we should look for more survivors. I don't want anyone stranded out here alone."

...

Ninjetta traveled back to Chai as quickly as she could hop. There was a pipe there near the castle that lead directly to the Mushroom Kingdom. With a message this urgent, she had to make haste to Princess Peach, hoping that it wouldn't be too late. However, someone had beaten her to the castle. "Princess Peach!"

Peach was a strange sight to see in Sarasaland. Daisy was the traveler, often staying with Peach for extended times, but this time, it was the opposite. The pink princess held a rather frightened luma in her arms, worry drawn across her soft features. "Where is Daisy? Is she well?"

Ninjetta frowned, then quickly explained what happened with Birabuto.

"Oh my, that's terrible," Peach frowned, wrought with worry. "And the star eater might've caused this?"

Ninjetta nodded.

This star eater was becoming worrisome by the minute. While she hadn't exactly been specific, Rosalina mentioned the star eater's behavior was really strange. It was after something other than stars but she wasn't entirely sure what or why. She'd babbled on about colors and symbolism, mostly spitting out odd words Peach had never heard before, saying the words were from an ancient language long forgotten. And after that, she'd left to consult the books and the stars. Peach hadn't heard much from her since then, aside from the garbled message the luma had relayed.

Ninjetta added, "Princess Daisy also said to get in contact with Princess Rosalina."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Peach looked down. "We've lost contact with her."

The ninji paused, staring down at the ground. That threw a wrench in the equation, didn't it? "The princess will be back soon. She's looking for survivors."

Peach would've expected nothing less from her best friend. "I'll wait for her."

...

Daisy returned several hours later, caked in sand, slightly sunburned, and still without shoes. The floors of the castle felt good on her worn feet. With her, she had brought everyone they could find. The numbers weren't that large, as they'd only found a handful more in their search. The local ninji population had opened up their homes to take in as many refugees as possible. Those who couldn't be accommodated were offered one of the castle wings.

"Daisy."

She looked up as she attempted to pick the sand out from between her toes. "Peach? What're you doing here? What's wrong?" Her immediate thought was that the Mushroom Kingdom had suffered a similar fate as Birabuto.

"I've lost contact with Rosalina," Peach informed her. "She sent a message through this luma, but it was incredibly garbled. Something concerning a 'world engine' and bad galactic magic."

"Wait," Daisy put her foot back on the ground and furrowed her eyebrows into a knot of worry and frustration. "You don't think that star eater got to her, do you?"

Peach shook her head. "It is possible," she confessed. She'd turned the possibility over in her mind since last night when the luma panicked and hid in her arms. She'd never seen the luma act like that before. It was genuinely scared for mama.

"That sunnova-" Daisy shouted, clenching her fists at her side. "Enough waiting around, Peach! We need to do something!"

Surprisingly, Peach completely agreed. "We do. When I return home, I plan on contacting all our allies, even the shaky ones. With everyone banded together, surely we will be victorious and stop this star eater, returning our friends to us."

…

Author's notes:

Bit of a long one, isn't it? It was originally two chapters, but it just didn't flow right separate. So together they now are.

I've decided to use a lot of SMB2/USA baddies for Sarasaland to make it different from the Mushroom Kingdom. And some of those baddies don't always get love. I figure critters migrate anyway. There are mentions of cross-kingdom migrations in the first Mario & Luigi RPG.

All the critters and locations in this chapter are based on various games. Chai and Birabuto are kingdoms within Sarasaland, mentioned as levels in Super Mario Land. Goombos are round, bulbous goombas native to Sarasaland. Pidgit are those black birds that fly on carpets in Super Mario Bros 2. The ravens originated from Yoshi's Island, but I'm taking them from the Super Princess Peach version, because they're my favorite. When they cry, the shake the entire screen and stun Peach for a moment. The ninji originated also in Super Mario Bros 2 and are the little black star-like ninja critters that jump up and down. They appear in some of the Paper Mario games.

As for Daisy, I had a lot of fun writing for her in this chapter. She comes across as such a tomboy. She really seems like the type to get her hands dirty (literally even) and take care of her own problems, Super Mario Land aside (that's where Tatanga came from). I imagine her manners aren't all that proper either. I wanted to bring out an emotional side to her, one which is fueled by her desire to help and protect her kingdom and her friends. Nothing seems to go right for her.