7

The castle's front garden was enormous. Giant maple trees were seen lining the stone trail as far as the trail went. Beautiful white daisies and yellow daffodils decorated the outline of the path and medium-sized trees loaded with ripe peaches which were being picked out in the nearby harvesting yard, located beyond the stony path in front of the castle and out in the grassy field. Mario wanted to just go up to one of the trees and pick out one of the peaches, considering how hungry he was. But he knew that it would be rude and would also be considered a public violation.

"So this is where our city's supply of peaches comes from?" Luigi asked.

"That's right, brother." Mario said. "It all comes from this very location. Just imagine how many peach pies that we can make out of that fruit!"

"That's a lot of pie!" Luigi said.

Overhead, the castle was looming high and majestic into the azure blue sky. As the four friends got closer to the front entrance, they observed a large stained-glass mosaic window that depicted a lady wearing a pink dress and had blonde hair. It was the most elaborate window that any of the four friends have ever seen, and was obviously a unique feature to the castle.

Turning their attention away from the giant stained glass window, the four friends crossed the stone bridge above the moat and walked up to the front door where a Toad man guarded the front door and carried with him a giant roll of paper, the list of guests for the funeral and celebratory party.

"Names, please." said the Toad man in a somewhat demanding tone, but no way to be rude.

"Mario." said Mario, being the first in line. The toad went down the giant list and located his name.

"There you are!" he said. "You may enter, sir."

"Thank you."

Luigi was next to being checked off.

"You also may enter." said the Toad man.

"Thank you, sir." Luigi said.

Sonic and Shadow soon followed behind and met with the two brothers just right inside the door. They then followed the red carpet down the granite hall.

"We're in the castle, you guys!" Sonic said. "And, we still have about three and a half hours until the funeral."

"I know," Luigi said, "we're way early."

"That's alright though." Mario said. "It's not like we're required to be right on time."

"Yeah," Shadow said, "but I know the real reason why we're early…you just want to get your hands on…"

"Dude, would you just shut up already?" Luigi said. "Your attitude is just a major mood killer!"

"I concur." Mario said.

Shadow said nothing after that, for he was no longer willing to dig himself into a deeper hole and become the bad guy of the group.

The four friends walked down the hall and entered into a huge fancy foyer with huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. The floors appeared to be made of tiled and polished black and white granite slabs and the stairway banisters were evidently golden as the light from the chandeliers reflected off the metallic surfaces of the posts. There were also huge magnificent paintings hanging on the stone walls, depicting kings from earlier eras and dynasties of the Mushroom Kingdom, when it was a much more peaceful and forgiving place. A statue of King Toadstool was placed at the center of the room, tying all of the various elements into one beautiful masterpiece. To top it all off, there were also four square-shaped skylights on the ceiling, which let in much of the natural light that was coming from outside. The four friends were stupefied and entranced by the shear architecture of the room. Then, another Toad man came up to them.

"Welcome to the castle, gentlemen." he said. "I see that you are admiring the foyer."

"I've never been anywhere this fancy before." Sonic said. "It's just amazing to look at."

"Perhaps you gentlemen would like to take a tour sometime?" said the Toad man. "By the way, my name is Toad."

"Could we take a tour of the castle right now?" Mario asked.

"Well, I'm afraid the tours are closed today, because of the recent events that have taken place here. I'm sure you guys already know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah," Luigi said, "but do they know what caused the king's deadly lung cancer?"

"No one knows for sure." Toad said. "Some think it might've been one of the people here in the castle, but no one seems to be willing to provide any information to the authorities. Personally, I don't know anyone here who would do any such thing to the king, because everyone here respected him greatly."

"How are the princesses taking all of this in? Are they alright?" Mario asked.

"Well, they're obviously very upset about it, as you would imagine. After all, we're talking the death of their father here! It's been very rough over here though. Everyone is in a huge panic because with no king, there will be guaranteed economic collapse. There's even talk about inaugurating two new kings, where if one king dies, then the other will take over. It's just a huge ugly unexpected mess that everyone isn't enjoying at the moment. Just awful the way it played out…"

"Oh yes, we understand." Mario said.

"Say, are there any refreshments available here?" Sonic asked. "We're really hungry."

"Not until after the funeral." Toad said. "However, there is a free tea dispenser in the castle's main dining hall located near the kitchen. That's about the only refreshment we have available at the moment, other than water of course."

"I think that should do us until dinner." Shadow said. "We're not in too big of a rush."

"Where exactly is the kitchen?" Luigi asked.

"I'll show you guys where it is." Toad said. "Just follow me."

Toad led the four friends to another hall that branched away from the foyer until they reached a golden archway leading into a large dining area. There were three large dining tables all lined up end-to-end across the room with beautiful white table cloths and expense silver and golden dinner plates and eating utensils. There were also many booths that lined the edge of the room and another large crystal chandelier was seen hanging from the ceiling as well. The kitchen was located just beyond another golden archway at the other end of the room, but it was dark and empty at the moment, so it hard to make out any details.

"This is where all of our guests will be eating and drinking." Toad said. "I must warn you though. Some of the people here can get really carried away with their alcoholic beverages."

"I can agree to that." Mario said. "My fat cousin is a perfect example of such a person! Not to mention my brother's skinny yet devious cousin."

"You mean Wario and Waluigi?" Toad said. "I think I remember seeing their names on the list, but I can't be sure."

Oh no! Mario thought ruefully. I sure hope they don't show here, otherwise we'll be screwed!

"So where is the tea dispenser?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, that's right! It should be over there next to the two large booths over there." Toad said, pointing to the other end of the room. "There are also some sugar packets in a small cup holder over there in case you need some."

"Thank you so much, sir!" Luigi said.

"You're welcome. If you guys have any more questions, feel free to ask me. I'll be over by the front entrance greeting other guests."

"Sounds good." Mario said. "Thanks!"

"I'll see you guys later!" Toad said as he walked out of the room.

The four friends walked over to the tea dispenser and each grabbed a small tea cup to use for their drinks.

"I know I shouldn't be drinking any of this," Shadow said, "But I guess it'll just have to slip by this time."

"Why can't you drink any tea?" Luigi asked.

"He gets on really huge sugar kicks whenever he drinks anything with sugar in it." Sonic said. "Once you give him sugar, he won't calm down for another hour."

"Well, then don't use any sugar packets!" Luigi said. "After all, tea just by itself has no sugar."

"Luigi." Mario said.

"What is it big brother?" he asked.

"Look over there and tell me if you see what I see." Mario said, pointing over back to where they came from."

Luigi looked over and saw two beautifully dressed ladies walking over to where they were standing and immediately froze. One of them was wearing a pink dress and had long blonde hair; the other was wearing gold and had long brown hair. But more importantly, both girls were wearing crowns on top of their heads!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mario asked, giving Luigi a nudge on the arm and a wink.

"Yeah." Luigi said. "Those must be the princesses!"

While Sonic and Shadow just rolled their eyes, Mario and Luigi were caught into an inescapable trance when observing the two princesses. They were starting to fall in love with them…who knew that anything like this would happen at a funeral? Not Mario and Luigi!


The layout of the castle is based upon Super Mario 64, particularly the giant stained glass window. Even the inside of the castle is similar, especially the main foyer with the tiled floor and the stairs. The chandeliers and golden banisters were added in by me, along with the statue of King Toadstool and the dining area. The idea of the paintings was also inspired by Super Mario 64.