Two hours later, empty chairs and flower petals littered the abandoned courtyard, and the once-bustling, rambunctious area boasted only a dozen toad servants. The servants rearranged chairs, set up the wedding arch, and cleaned the area, striving to turn the disaster area into a serene area for the reception.

Larry Koopa hid behind an untamed, wild bush and spied on the servants. He snuck towards the courtyard bush by bush, careful not to make even an inaudible sound—a simple task for the Mohawked Koopaling.

He held back on further pursuits, now cautious. The entire Mushroom Kingdom knew about Larry and his spying for the past decade, and they've been more vigilant towards his potential spying. They're still behind; the koopaling often snatched useful and confidential information about the Mushroom Kingdom before the wretched Mario Brothers noticed his presence.

"They're setting up for the big event," Larry pulled out a walkie-talkie, "Ludwig! Are the others ready?"

No response. Ludwig always answered walkie-talkie messages the slowest, much to the younger koopalings' annoyance. As Larry prepared to summon Ludwig again, the oldest Koopaling responded.

"I vill get zem veady incase zey aren't. How's ze conditions over zere? Ze Princess out? Over."

"Nah. Not yet. The reception won't start until a few hours from now. I have a false mushroom costume I can wear to blend in with the guests, but I don't have hair gel to put down my hair. Know of any good places to buy some? Over."

"Negative, Lawrence," declined Ludwig, "Don't do zat; ve vant to keep low profile. Ve don't vant ze 'Fire Flower' issue to pop up again, or rather, pop 'OFF'. Heh heh heh."

Larry shuddered. "C'mon, it's not my fault fire flowers don't grow in Dark Land! I needed some seeds from Pipe Land that day! I didn't know the Marios would be there too!"

"You could have combed out your Mohawk, Lawrence," Ludwig said, his voice hinting at another giggling fit, "You vould've came home vith seeds razzer zan deep gashes and a broken arm."

"Roger, I guess that's true. I don't want a repeat with the fire flowers, because you will always bother me with any new story. Anyway, the lousy peasants are just setting up the reception. I'll hook you up with some new details when I get them. Larry out."

Larry put his walkie-talkie in his shell and continued staring at the servants, mesmerized by their organized movements. Two servants propped up multiple tables, three inflated white and pink balloons for the balloon arch, and two more set up chairs. None cared about the littered petals thrown across the courtyard's granite floors. Even with no servant cleaning up the mess, the servants moved in a harmonious fashion, and Larry thought... He wanted that for his siblings, too. If only they moved harmoniously with each other, rather than against, then Dark Land would've won the age-old battle years ago.

"Nothing new going on," Larry muttered. He would dress in his disguise, but he knew the best option would be to wait here. Ludwig would kill him if this plan went haywire. "I wonder what the Princess is up to."

"I-I-I'm married..."

Peach tried to relax in her bedroom, but her rushing thoughts kept her up. She didn't hate being married to Mario—nowhere near that. Her life changed. Here she is, married to the one person who endured terrifying terrains, vicious vermin, and Bowser's bashings for almost two decades only to rescue either her or the Mushroom Kingdom's allies. Though Mario had always committed himself to shorter-term events such as saving the day, Peach assumed that a long-term commitment like marriage seemed almost taboo to the plumber.

Still, she's happy that Mario wanted this commitment. Throughout all these years, her love for him grew and blossomed. Now they will never be separated from each other, and they'll spend the rest of their adventure-filled lives together.

"I'm really married," she muttered again.

At the end of her mumblings, Daisy and Toadette entered the room, still in their dresses. Daisy's orange dress rustled in the doorway's crossbreeze, while Toadette straightened out her yellow bridesmaid dress.

"You are married, chica!" the Sarasalandian Princess squealed. Although turned away from Daisy, Peach forced a smile.

Toadette nodded and offered her accolade, "Congratulations, Peach!"

"Thanks, you two..." Peach murmured, still in a daze, "I'm just... You know..."

"Still shocked? Girl, you better snap out of it! You have the rest of your life figured out!" replied Daisy in her borderline-sassy tone. A sincere smile appeared on Peach's face at her friend's harsh yet necessary words.

"Thanks a lot, Daisy. I'm thankful for your words, I really am. You helped me a ton during this time, but I was just thinking... What if..."

"What if what?" Toadette questioned. Peach turned her gaze from the window and focused her attention from the bustling city to the pink mushroom. Peach wanted to regurgitate her thoughts onto her friends, but she also felt as if they'd heard enough of her panicked nonsense. Eying her fungus friend, the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom uttered a dramatic sigh. Perhaps they're right, and she needed to lay off the Worry Juice. Still, things could go wrong.

"Nevermind, you two. I'm thinking much more than I should at the moment. This entire marriage thing hasn't sunk in."

Peach turned her head back towards the window, once again eying the crowds below. Nothing much changed, save for a gathering group of mushroomers holding a sign reading, 'Peach and Mario forever!' Peach blushed at the sign.

"I need to get used to it. I need to get used to this phase of life and practice being a great Queen for when the time comes. The people down there; they need me. My parents; they need me. Lastly, Mario; he needs me. Everyone needs me to be a terrific Queen one day, and I should worry about that more than I should about a wedding that already happened."

Daisy did a cheery jump. "That's the spirit, gal! The reception starts in an hour and a half, and when it does, I want you to rock that courtyard like an earthquake! Like a 10.0 earthquake! Well, maybe more like a 4.0 so you won't destroy anything, you know. But still! Be an earthquake, girl!"

Peach smiled at Daisy's comparison. She found worrying about anything to be impossible around her. Daisy understood every problem Peach faced, then went as far as providing exceptional advice to not only disintegrate the original problem, but to find a working, plausible and acceptable solution.

"I see you smiling! It's a great sight to see! Now keep that planted on your face; the residents here need a happy and smiling Peach!"

"I'll remember that, Daisy. Thanks so much for the help!" Peach thanked. She focused on the pink mushroom girl, who stared into space as she played with her pigtails. "Toadette. Be a huge help to me and watch the servants setting up the reception. I know it's none of my business now, but I need to know when to get prepared. Also, my parents and I would hate it if the servants take longer than scheduled."

Toadette snapped from her trance and curtsied. The toad acted like she heard Peach's entire command, but the way she jumped back into reality proved the pink mushroomer didn't pay any attention.

"W-W-what—I mean o-okay, Princess. At your service!"

Toadette curtsied again and dashed out of the room, not daring to question Peach's command. Peach sighed as she stared out of the window at the growing crowd for the third time. Though they cannot see nor hear her, Peach still muttered a few, fear-ridden words towards them.

"I hope I do a great job for all of you..."

Back in Dark Land, Ludwig, Iggy, Wendy and Lemmy entered a room tucked in an unexplored portion in Kastle Koopa's east wing. Sunlight—an uncommon sight in the Darklands—seeped into the unidentified room and rested on a mid-size blue table. A dozen cyan office chairs spaced around the table in a chaotic fashion.

The Koopalings found the room to be a terrific setting for conspiracies due to the room's distance from their father's care. Several plans, such as allowing the Koopalings to return to invasions, and brainstorming ways to obtain more money from their father, originated in this room.

The quartet inspected the room's corners, edges, and sides for any spy gear. No bugged devices in sight, the four mischievous koopalings went to one end of the table and sat down.

"All right, Roy dropped out of our plan and joined Morton, so ve must mend our plans to prevent the two from stopping us..." the Prince, seated at the table's head, addressed his 'cabinet' members. The three others asked questions, such as 'what is the new plan?' and 'why are you so paranoid, Ludwig?' but Ludwig dismissed them and continued his speech. "I vill continue on first, zen I vill answer questions. You see, Roy decided to be against us, as vell as Morton. Larry seems to be on our side still, but you know how easily persuaded he is vith money, and you know how close he's been with zose two also. Roy, Morton, and Larry make up the Unholy Trinity, after all. Zey alvays commit crimes togezzer. Anyvay, ze four of us can accomplish zis feat. Zis can be confirmed true vith my new plan."

Ludwig pulled a piece of paper from his shell, with the four Koopalings' names written on it. Beneath each name, a paragraph of text explained a part of the plan that the assigned Koopaling must do to capture the Princess.

"Here. I have your assignments. I typed zem due to potential Larryesque spying," Ludwig ripped the piece of paper into four separate strips. The oldest Koopaling passed out each paper to Wendy, Iggy and Lemmy and kept the fourth for himself. "Please review zem."

'Hmm,' Lemmy thought, 'Weird that Ludwig gave us paper. Well, umm, I guess I'll read this."

The ball-riding Koopaling looked down at his paper and examined the bold letters.

Lemmy: Stay home and keep Father entertained. Father cannot know about this situation, as this feat will be a surprise. I know you're the King of Entertainment, and I want you to use that skill to prevent Dad from noticing that we all are gone.

Lemmy grinned. The koopaling hated kidnapping missions; he'd rather have fun than to snatch princesses from their citadels. The melt-Antarctica-with-hairdryers plan a few years back, for example. Every Koopaling, save for two, participated in that task. Morton took a fever-inducing potion and pretended to be sick to avoid both the polar climate and the terribly thought-out plan, while Lemmy only built snowmen and entertained them on that trip.

"Yes, Ludwig! You can always count on me!" the fun-loving koopaling screeched. Not only is this task easy, but it'll also be fun!"

Ludwig smiled at his obedient brother.

"Good to hear-" the eldest Koopaling attempted to continue. However, his now-excited younger brother interrupted him.

"I can show him how to ride on a ball! Do you think he'll fit on it?! Or will he squish it?! Maybe if he doesn't then I'll put on a ball-riding show for him! I think we will have a ball doing this!"

During Lemmy's speech, Ludwig sucked in a large volume of air, appearing as if he'll burst into an explosion of harsh and tangled words.

Patience is one of the few virtues Ludwig's blessed with on a typical occasion, but this meeting's about discussing an important, confidential matter. The fact that Bowser, Morton, Roy, the Mushroom Kingdom, and even Larry cannot know about it makes this meeting even more critical.

"I have to practice-"

"Silence, Lemuel..." Ludwig seethed through clenched teeth, doing everything he could to not shout at the hyped koopa. Lemmy silenced himself, frightened, "Refrain from interrupting."

"S-s-sorry Luddy-"

"Shh. It's fine, but let me speak now," commanded Ludwig, "Anyway. Ignatius, do you agree vith your mission?"

Snapping out of a trance, Iggy looked down at his piece of paper. Ludwig noticed Iggy frown, probably about being dragged from his invention-filled hallucination, but he grinned when he read the written words on his paper.

Iggy: Your duty will be to put the Princess to sleep. How? It doesn't matter. Make sure the slumber is long enough for her to not wake up and try to escape, yet short enough for her to wake up after arriving at the castle. After putting her to sleep, MAKE SURE you leave her in the room and I will grab her. Meanwhile, run as fast as you can to the Doomship.

After reading the prompt, the mad scientist nodded his head in happiness, accepting the plan. Like Lemmy, this plan came easy for Iggy, as he built several machines specialized in expelling nitrous oxide. Those machines should be enough to knock out an entire auditorium within seconds. Even if the machines don't function as expected, he could always use his magic wand. Hopefully Ludwig won't take credit for the laughing gas invention as he did for everything else.

'Either way,' Iggy thought soon after, 'I need to just go with it until opportunity knocks at my door.'

After the thought, the young Koopaling nodded his head, ready to take the command head-on.

"I accept, Ludwig. I won't renege."

"Great to hear, Iggy," Ludwig smiled, "Now Vendy, vhat about you?"

"What about me what?" the female replied, too absorbed in her phone to offer her full attention.

Ludwig stood up and faced Wendy, his teeth and fists clenched. Ludwig may be reasoning and logical, but even he's prone to fireball-producing rage. Bowser always hated how incendiary his castle appeared to be after falling victim to Ludwig's bouts.

"Your assignment?!"

"Oh, that stupid thing. I didn't read it. Seriously, I don't read stupid stuff," Wendy replied in a harsh tone.

While Wendy continued looking down, Ludwig approached her and snatched her phone. He waved the phone in one claw and he pointed to Wendy's paper with the other.

"Vell? Do you agree?"

Wendy clenched her fists and put her forehead against Ludwig's, easily matching his level of wrath.

"You... are TOTALLY LUCKY you are Daddy's little roach!" Wendy spat, "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, grabs my phone, dude! Seriously, who do you think you are touching MY PHONE?! I totally had a TEXT to read!"

"I zought you don't read, Vendy?" Ludwig mocked, "I vas helping out your lazy, spoiled shell. Read ze instructions. Now."

"Seriously, you're still on that subject? Ugh! Whatever! Give me the paper for me to read."

Ludwig rolled his eyes, but took Wendy's piece of paper from her side of the table and gave it to her. Wendy gave him a smart-aleck grin before she read it.

Wendy: Stand far from the reception and let out the loudest scream one can utter. This will bring the attention from Peach to you. Keep doing it until the entire reception has their attention on you.

"Do you accept, Vendy?"

The prompt's a perfect match for Wendy. Her five-star tantrums could cause even the ears of Dinosaur Land's residents to ring for minutes on end. Using that gift as a source of distraction only proved logical. The recognition that the attention-hungry, fame-seeking Koopaling will receive will also fill up her monthly quota. However, due to Ludwig giving her the command, she refused to show her happy side, instead appearing reluctant.

"Whatever."

"Terrific, Vendy. Now-"

Before Ludwig went on, Lemmy interrupted him again. If any Kastle Koopa resident were to be considered the most civilized, unselfish and craved the least personal attention, Lemmy would snatch that title by a long shot. While the rest of the Koopalings tend only to their own needs, Lemmy tries to help others. Ludwig knew this also. Rather than getting mad at Lemmy interrupting him for the second time in ten minutes, Ludwig instead expressed shock.

"Ludwig! What about yours?"

"Vell uhh… Mine is ze most direct. I am to capture ze Princess."

"What about the order?" Wendy inquired.

"I vas about to discuss zat before Lemuel here interrupted me," the eldest Koopaling stated.

"Sorry Ludwig. I just wanted to know!"

"I know. Anyvay, Lemmy's task requires him to stay here, so he'll obviously be first. I vill drop Vendy off to her area, zen ve vill move ze doomship to a safe area. Both Iggy and I vill go after ze Princess. After zat, ve vill have Peach in our possession and ve vill get ze credit!"

The other Koopalings cheered at Ludwig's last sentence. No other gift, save for the Mushroom Kingdom, offered more importance to Bowser than Peach. If the Koopalings succeeded in giving Bowser his dream 'gift', then he'll flower them with anything they want!

"Yes! I can feel my two tons of titanium under my thumbs! Perhaps some other metals before I can settle to rebuild our flying vessels..." Iggy breathed out.

"My very own circus! Maybe new balls!" cheered Lemmy.

"Don't forget my trip to Europe! I can eat some sea snails in France, get totally tanned in Tuscany and tour the Alps of Switzerland! Don't forget the chocolate!" Wendy screamed in pure excitement. She's pumped for this unconfirmed trip; she probably packed for it ahead of time. At this point, either Bowser pays for it, or Wendy pays for it via Bowser's credit card.

"Affirmative! He'll provide all of zose! Ve just have to succeed! Oh, add Austria to zat list, Vendy. I loved it vhen I lived zere," confirmed Ludwig with a grin.

He checked his walkie-talkie for the time. The LED screen reads 4:49PM; the reception should start in eleven minutes. Ludwig hoped he's right about the reception being at 5pm, but then again, he did get insider secrets about the wedding in general.

"Ve should head off now. EVERYVUN! Plans are now in action!"

On the more inhabited west wing of the castle, two other Koopas lounged on a couch, sucked into the Donut Plains vs. Birabuto soccer match. In the match, a dino-torch stole the soccer ball from a goombo and passed the ball to a rex. The rex then dodged a defensive line of goombos, dashed towards the goal and kicked the ball towards it. A bunbun goalie attempted to block the ball but failed. The rex scored a point for Donut Plains, leaving the score to be 1-0.

"Yes! Score!" the two Koopas shouted. The two Koopas, although not from Dinosaur Land, always rooted for Donut Plains. How a low-tech, undeveloped, primitive land like Donut Plains had a great soccer team amazed them. They don't hate Birabuto, other than it being under Daisy's control, but to them, Birabuto has... not as diverse nor as impoverished of a population as Donut Plains.

After the goal, the television flipped to a commercial break—during which, the two Koopas began associating with each other.

"So... What about Ludwig?" a brown-scaled, grey-shelled, hefty Koopa questioned the other. The other Koopa put a pillow between the couch and his pink shell before adjusting his shades.

"Eh. Da usual. Usin' us to accomplish only his goals and nobody else's. You were wise when you didn't wanna be involved with his plans, Morty. Dat dude is a lil punk, snatchin' up my plan as his!"

Morton shifted from his side of the couch and sat upright.

"He's been like that ever since I can remember. He may have been nice to you guys before I was hatched or shortly after, but never since then."

"I know, he's a stuck-up lil jerk. For years he was. In fact, when I came back from New York after you hatched—dat was when he started going bonkers. Earlier was no exception when I took away his 'thunder'. He didn't like me telling my plan, yet he liked my plan. We got mad at each other and... I'm here now."

"He told you to leave?" inquired Morton, pondering over the entire situation. By now, the koopaling's intrigued by the conversation. Although Ludwig acting commando occurred every day, him kicking people out of a plan requiring several pairs of arms isn't. Either Ludwig underestimated the conquest of Princess Peach, or he wanted a bigger share of the glory. Maybe a half-and-half combination?

Roy also thought about the situation, but approached the topic from another angle. Instead of feeling like Ludwig wanted all the glory, Roy felt that Ludwig wanted to retain his rank as Top Dog. If Ludwig commanded a successful kidnapping of Peach in his first try without Bowser's aid, then the Koopa King will flower Ludwig with praise for the rest of his life. In Ludwig's soon-to-be corrupted eyes, his siblings will be nothing to him but either unworthy peasants or treacherous opponents.

Unless the Koopaling duo themselves can prevent that self-destructive force from working its way into their brother. Thinking this, Roy grinned.

"I got it, bro!" the burly Koopaling exclaimed, "Ludwig wants to capture Peach!"

Morton facepalmed. "No really, Sherlock? How'd you find that out?!"

"We can't let dat happen," Roy ignored Morton's snide remark, "Do you really want to hear nothing but Ludwig braggin'?"

"No. I mean not really. When that guy brags, it gets super annoying because… His bragging's just annoying," the brown Koopaling answered, preventing himself from showing off his infamous tangential habits.

"Yep! So why sit here like sittin' ducks while our siblings all go on a journey to screw up our lives? I have a plan to stop dem."

Confused about what Roy's plan could be, Morton shrugged. Of the two, Morton's the more logical, creative and observant one while Roy's the tough, fearless and power-hungry leader. While Roy's participation in planning or brainstorming do occur, most of his ideas—outside of war or battles—either don't make sense, or they are failures waiting to happen. But the plan he's brainstorming may be a welcomed exception.

The commercials ended and the game resumed, but the koopalings don't pay attention to it. In fact, distracted by the cheering and the announcer's voice, Roy powered off the television before continuing.

"I was thinking: rather dan letting dem steal da glory, we should kidnap da Princess! We have as much manpower as da other four!"

Morton nodded. "Fair."

"Hmm… Actually, even better yet, tell Pops about dere lil secret!" Roy changed his mind.

Roy's thinking outside the box. For the first time in ages, a plan of his turns out logical and sensual enough to consider it. Heck, the sensibility brought a smirk to Morton's face.

"I will do anything to go against Ludwig," Morton vowed.