Chapter Three – Forreal
Peach lay in a field. The morning air whispered into her ear for her to stand up; the welcoming grass lulled her into staying and soaking in the ambience. Something she hadn't appreciated for years. The Moo Moo's were kept in the next field along and the farmer lived in the cottage right next to it. Although it wasn't visible from up in her bed chamber, the field was surrounded by a metal fence with some manner of curse around it. Peach discovered that the hard way when she tried to clamber over and meet a Moo Moo in the flesh. Her rump still ached several minutes on. The mountains loomed large behind her – no longer feeble scraps of paper but vast giants that blocked out the light instead of being eaten up by it. A collection of clouds swirled around its summit. Peach promised herself that in this day she would eat a cloud and finally taste snow. Unlike the other days, the farmer stayed indoors the entire time instead of playing with his cattle and feeding them. As long as Peach could remember he had been there.
She picked herself up from the ground, brushed down her garments and scanned the area for somewhere where she could get some breakfast. Unlike the previous day, here elegant pink robes were now patchy brown rags that vaguely resembled a dress. They itched horrifically. Not sighting a town anywhere in walking distance, Peach decided to try her luck with the farmer. As she got closer, it became increasingly obvious that what the whole farm needed was some desperate TLC. The farmhouse had windows hanging on the hinges and missing bricks in all crevices, the barn had no roof and the animals were looking malnourished. Peach knocked the rusty door knocker (which subsequently fell off and landed on the cobbled path with a clunk) but there was no reply. There were lights on inside the house though. Touring the fields made no difference: the farmer seemed to have completely disappeared from his estate.
Shrugging it off fairly quickly, Peach went into the large barn to forage for food. The chickens who usually roamed free were confined in cages; cages so small that the chickens couldn't move around. It was locked with a padlock else Peach would have liberated them on the spot. A crate filled with eggs was left open next to their enclosure. Leaving it open suggested that they were just asking for people to come along and take a few as they pleased. As soon as she laid hands on the crate, however, a low voice chilled her to the bone. It was deep and masculine yet was whining like a baby without a dummy. Although she had little experience with people in the real world, Peach thought that she couldn't have scared him that much.
"I'm so sorry! Please don't harm me!" shouted the man. Peach turned around to see a small toad with a bushy black moustache and muscles bulging out of his arms.
"Why would I harm you?" asked the princess soothingly. The toad was physically shaking and seemed hardly able to keep himself in one place long enough to deliver an answer. Peach placed the eggs back into the box and took a step away to show that she meant no harm – not that that put the toad at ease anymore.
"I thought my pasture was up to regulation but really, if it needs to be smaller, I will quite happily change it. Obviously you'd have to use another one of those charms of yours to secure the cattle once more but other than that I'm sure we can arrange for-"
"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Peach before the man fainted, "I'm just here because I'm homeless and hungry." In that moment, Peach thought back to Toadsworth and the Mushroom Palace. It pained her to think what state her old friend could have been in upon finding an empty bed. She felt guilty that she had told Toadsworth she needed to talk to him and then left him hanging for what could be eternity. Would he come looking for her? Or would the Mario brothers charge up to Bowser's fortress without a moment's hesitation or consideration? A tear slowly leaked from her eye which in turn made the toad calm down a bit.
"Oh… I'm sorry… I thought you were part of Bowser's patrol," the toad said guilty, dragging his foot through the mood slowly to try and hold his attention.
"Me? Part of Bowser's lot? But I'm-"she paused for a moment. She wasn't Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom for today (or however long this experience lasted) but just a normal woman trying to survive out in her local town. "-lost."
"Oh, well welcome to Forreal. I'm the farmer here at Forreal Farm." The muscular toad beamed, puffing his chest out once more to try and gain some social stance again. "It's not exactly a happy place to be nowadays but I'm sure you'll get on just fine." The farmer offered breakfast with fresh eggs and bacon straight from the farm. Even when he offered it to her, the farmer (who she now knew was called Alphonse) faltered about sharing anything with her. It was a delicious meal (better than anything at the castle) yet it felt somehow half-hearted from a farmer who was acting like he was breaking the law. After, Peach helped arrange the flowers in a vase on the kitchen table whilst Alphonse washed up. The house was oddly circular with a vast wooden table in the middle and small little utilities around the edge. Even the kitchen and sofas were bent in order to fit in with the geometry of the room. From the outside it was clear that the upper floor was similar in structure.
"So what's Bowser trying to do now?" asked Peach. There was a pause.
"You'd better go," said Alphonse, not tearing his eyes away from the window.
"I'm sorry… what?" said Peach angrily.
"The name's taboo. Right now a Kamek is probably hurtling towards us," said Alphonse bitterly, failing to make eye contact. "You have a few minutes to run before they turn you into a Moo Moo." Something clicked in Peach's brain. It was worth escaping as quickly as possible if the Moo Moos outside were anything to go by. She grabbed her cardigan and yanked the door open.
"Thank you for everything Alphonse!" she cried out. "But please tell me – I didn't just eat…"
"No, all of that meat is given straight back to Bowser. You're safe in that respect. Now go."
And Peach ran. Then she remembered her satchel. She pulled a star out of it and granted herself the ability to be able to run much quicker. She hurtled towards the mountains in hope of finding salvation.
"I do not know what you're talking about. The Grand Master's name was mentioned upon my property. Now if you excuse me I need to-"
"You can't get out of it that easily, Mr Alphonse," sneered Camilla, her staff lodged right under the toad's voice box. "I trust you know what happens to traitors in our society." Alphonse gulped, his eyes flashing out the window. One of the Moo Moos was right up next to the fence emotionless yet willing him to get out to the other side alive. What that Moo Moo witnessed remains unspeakable, but it wasn't anything new to it. The truth of the matter was that only the week before had similar things happen to the Moo Moo – things that nobody should ever have to watch or experience. Something that scared you for life.
