Five in the afternoon approached, and countless celebrities and special guests packed the courtyard. The reception's lush, regal design compared to the castle interior in its elegance. The Mushroom Kingdom monarchs planned on kicking off the reception, but the two noticed one problem: everyone arrived but the newly-wedded couple.
"Where's Peach? Where's Mario?" Queen Toadstool questioned her husband, who's once again stuck in a golf hallucination. The King snapped out of his happy-land when he picked up the condensed concern within her voice.
"W-what?" he stuttered, drifting back into reality bit by bit, "She's probably... Uhh... Talking to Daisy!"
Queen Toadstool focused her attention on the crowd, trying to pinpoint Daisy. She spotted several red-spotted white Toad hats, and Luigi in his green-and-black tuxedo. The Queen turned back to her husband and sighed.
"I would ask Luigi if he knows where they are but... I don't know."
She exhaled again as the only response she received from her husband was a grunt.
"Well, they better be here soon!" she cried, "They have twenty minutes until it's simply too late to be acceptable!"
An hour and a half before the reception, Peach had risen from her stool and plopped down onto her bed. Exhaustion had gripped her body with a stiff, daunting hold like a stealthy piranha plant. She wanted only to sleep it off, wedding dress and all.
The Stars had granted her wish without her knowledge.
She jolted back into consciousness when pounding erupted on her door. Grogginess plagued her body, but the princess rolled towards the door, resulting in her falling off the bed. She brushed herself off and answered the door, where Mario stood, still dressed in his tuxedo.
"Took you long enough," Mario greeted, "Now let's go to the reception before your perfectionist mother kills us both."
Peach blushed as she grabbed Mario's hand. He's right, but Peach didn't feel any rush to arrive on time. After all, the reception's the informal part of the wedding ceremony, and one must expel extra effort to mess up a plotless gathering.
They descended a flight of stairs and meandered through the hallways. They initially held hands before they began playfully shoving each other. The empty hallways echoed their shrieks and giggles, carrying the fading sound to every room within each far-reaching side of the majestic castle.
When the two lovebirds passed the kitchen, Tayce T. spotted them as she dished several portions of teriyaki chicken from the pan to a large food tray.
"Hey, you two! You're giving your mother a heart attack, Princess!" the resident chef exclaimed.
Peach smiled and approached the kitchen counter. An assortment of desserts rested by the chicken. They were chocolate-drenched desserts, but she couldn't tell what they were. Either way, after this stress-filled day, she brought up fantasies of her lounging on the bright, warm, white-sand beaches of Water Land, a bottle of sunscreen in one hand and a cream-pumped donut in the other. Her daydreams crashed after an unused spatula swatted her.
"Shoo!" Tayce T. waved them off, "You'll see the desserts later! It's a surprise! Please, I insist, find your parents, Princess!"
"Okay, okay!" Peach retreated. She knew Tayce T. meant no harm and the mushroomer desired to make her cooking a surprise for everyone, but Peach felt she deserved to sample one of those dessert items. What if they taste weird—and there she goes again with the worrying.
Mario and Peach rounded the corner and entered the courtyard. Peach gasped at the decorations: a large wedding arch saturated with white balloons stood under the door, fancy tables littered most of the courtyard's floorspace, and a brigade of lights decorated each edge and corner of the castle's outside walls. A makeshift dance floor packed with wedding guests ate up the remaining floorspace, with two large speakers playing various music genres ranging from upbeat, get-crazy songs to soft, slow-dancing melodies.
The guests on the dance floor paused their dancing when the couple entered. The patrons knelt in respect, while the Queen approached her daughter in relief.
"Phew, Peach! You made it safely! Please don't be late again; I was having panic attacks!"
"Thanks mom, but I'm not sixteen anymore! I can take care of myself."
"Oh, of course you can, darling," the Queen brushed her black-manicured fingers in Peach's hair, "But it's best to be careful. You know you hold a lot of power in the Kingdom. I don't want you getting hurt."
"Mother," Peach sighed, "It's a wedding reception. MY wedding reception. We have so many guards, I'm pretty much safe. No need to worry."
"So be it. Is Daisy somewhere? I thought she was with you."
"I haven't seen her in a few hours actually. But she's probably taking a break, or talking to someone else in private. You know how she meets someone she likes then steps out with them."
"Well, true," the Queen acknowledged before smiling, "And you're right. It's time to stop worrying, and it's time for a great reception!"
As the Queen walked away from the bride and groom, the guests stood back up from their kneeling and continued their prior activities. When another slow song started, Peach dragged Mario onto the dance floor and slow-danced with him.
"This is our first night in forever. I can't believe this is happening," Peach whispered to Mario before she put her head on his shoulder.
"Me neither. I love you."
"I love you too."
"Okay. Lemmy's keeping Father busy, so ve don't need to vorry about him coming," Ludwig told Iggy and Wendy, "Vendy, stay here. Vhen I say the command to you, scream. Got it?"
"Whatever," Wendy pulled out a megaphone.
"Good. Now c'mon, Ignatius, ve're still a half-kilometer avay from ze castle."
Ludwig and Iggy traversed through the heavy forests covering the castle's southern reaches. Iggy, who formed his knockout invention as multiple harmless gas bombs, pocketed the gadgets into his shell before any guards became suspicious of the arsenal.
Both Koopalings arrived at the other side of the forest. Before Iggy stepped out, Ludwig held him back.
"Stay here. It's safer in here zan in ze clearing. Let me see if Lawrence's out zere still," Ludwig commanded. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, "Lawrence! Come in!"
No answer.
"I repeat. Lawrence, pick up!"
Nothing from Larry.
"Ugh. Ve're on our own, Ignatius," Ludwig sighed. He knew there'd be a time Larry became unreliable, and unfortunately for the plan, the unreliability played at the wrong time. Even worse, he may now be nuzzled under the arms of Roy and Morton. "So, Iggy, ve're south of ze castle right now, and ze reception's on ze vest side. Vhat you should do is go around ze castle anticlockvise, zen vhen you get to ze north of ze reception, hurl ze bombs at zem."
Iggy nodded, "Okay, I'm off then."
"Vonderful," Ludwig responded before he added, "Inform me vhen you're at ze northern section of ze castle. Ve'll get Vendy to scream after."
"Got it."
Iggy made his way towards the pink-and-white castle's southern wing. Before he turned the corner to the eastern side, the genius peeked over, relieved that the coast was clear. Perhaps all the guards were with Peach on the other side?
He meandered across the eastern side of the castle, once again peeking over the northeast corner before he approached the northern side. No threats within his vicinity. Iggy pulled out his walkie-talkie and informed Ludwig.
"I'm on the north side! They're soon to get a surprise! Hahahaha!" Iggy informed, expecting a response from Ludwig.
Instead, another voice piped up over the line. Rather than the bold, commanding voice of his eldest brother, Iggy sensed a worried, cautious voice.
The genius sighed and responded, "Larry. You finally came back."
"Yes, I did! You guys gotta stop this!"
"Oh nonsense, Lawrence," Ludwig's voice broke into the conversation, "Everyzing's going as planned. Are you enraged because you didn't have an active part of ze plan?"
"No! I'm serious! Stop this! I'll explain back at the castle! Come back!"
The line went silent, as Ludwig pondered over Larry's words. The way he phrased the words, the matter appeared to be serious, but Ludwig couldn't detect any threats. This may be a Roy and Morton ploy to slow down the mission, and Larry sold himself out for their coins.
Ludwig shut out Larry and decided to continue with the plan, unimpressed with a potential conspiracy. He rang in to Wendy's walkie-talkie.
"Vendy, do it now!"
A loud scream pierced the skies above Peach's Castle. From the gasps and commotion, Iggy knew that the guests heard the sound. One even shouted, "Wow! That came from the southern area!"
"They heard it, Ludwig! The guards are coming your way!" Iggy alerted before he pocketed his walkie-talkie and grabbed three gas bombs from his shell. The genius crept to the northwestern corner and peeked at the reception area. He was right; many people stood, aware of the sudden screams, while others picked up their phones in fright. Iggy sighed. He can't have the police here; he needed to execute his part as soon as possible.
"Sorry clowns, but you guys are going down! Better call your chauffeur, because the party's over! Hahahaha!" Iggy cackled as he lit three gas bombs with a fireball and chucked them towards the reception. Thick clouds of pale-yellow gas consumed the area within seconds. He heard brief coughing fits before everything, save for the soft music, went still.
Sensing possible partygoers and guards will charge his way and figuring he'd be uncovered by them, Ludwig moved towards the northwest. He'd be closer to the reception, and he'd have a higher chance of being out of the chargers' search zone. As Ludwig paced northwest, he cursed Iggy in his head: that darned koopa needed to hurry up and just use the bloody bombs already!
His negative thoughts subsided as he laid eyes on the reception not far from him. A strange, yellowish gas covered the area before the wind fizzled it out. The eldest spotted a few dozen reception members, including Peach, out cold.
"Bingo!" Ludwig cheered to himself. He looked first to the north, then the south and finally east—no threats other than a demented Iggy running from the castle grounds. Ludwig dashed from his covers and nabbed the passed-out Peach.
No threat surfaced, but Ludwig ran from the castle grounds, the princess over his shoulder. He couldn't risk being caught out of nowhere, and he figured running away from nothing would be better than walking away from sudden "heroes".
He started his way through the half-kilometer of forest to the doomship. His overworked lungs pleaded him to rest, but his adrenaline and fears commanded otherwise.
Not long after, he reached his doomship, and any happy feelings he received from finding the doomship disappeared when he noticed Bowser scowling at him, holding Lemmy by the shell.
"Uhh..." Ludwig stared speechless. What was his dad doing here, and how did he know? "Fancy meeting you here, Fazzer?"
"Get in the doomship," Bowser roared, "NOW! And drop Peach!"
Shocked, Ludwig lowered Peach to the floor. He cowered as he passed his father and entered the doomship. The eldest knew better than to show any emotion but submissiveness to Bowser whenever he's upset.
Bowser sighed; the strong anger he had dissipated into exhaustion. He put Lemmy into the doomship before he picked up the passed-out princess. If she's passed out, she may as well tag along with this "family outing".
He'll have to deal with everything once they all return to the castle.