(A/N: In that first chapter, Mario just might have talked the Broodals into helping Princess Peach out of her predicament. Let's start this chapter and see what happens!)


The Broodals flew their airship close to Bowser's, and as soon as they caught up to him, they boarded his ship.

"I'm glad to see you guys are back. Thanks again for nabbing that cake for the wedding. Now the next item on my list is-" Bowser started, but he was interrupted by Topper, who said, "Tell it to us later, boss. We've got something more important to do right now."

"Who threw up in his salad?" Bowser wondered as he watched the Broodals walk on by, not even looking back at him. He didn't know what was going on, but it probably had to be something bad if his wedding planners didn't want to know what they had to steal next. Or maybe they weren't ready to know what it was yet.

The Broodals reached the door that led to the bride's chamber. Hariet lightly knocked on the door, checking to see if the bride was in there or not.


Peach was sitting in the bride's chamber, feeling sorry for herself, and she was very sad that she hadn't escaped from Bowser in the Cloud Kingdom when she had the perfect opportunity. She felt even worse about not saving Mario's hat when the whole ordeal began. Next to her was Tiara, who was presently in her Bonneter form.

"I feel so bad, Tiara. I know for a fact that I could have saved Mario's hat if I had reached up and caught it, or dove on it to protect it from Bowser." Peach moaned to her Bonneter friend.

"I know, Peach. But if it helps, I feel bad, too. Watching Bowser practically kill Mario, and Cappy, isn't doing us any good at all." Tiara said.

"If only I had been brave enough to jump ship after Mario defeated him in that battle they had in the Cloud Kingdom. Bowser wouldn't have tried to kill him then because he would never be able to hurt Mario without hurting me, too, and we'd be in the clear." Peach sighed.

Then Peach and Tiara heard a knock at the door, and Peach figured that it was Bowser, wanting to give her more misery. She'd had more than enough of him and his penchant for upsetting her and breaking her heart for one adventure, and she decided that it was time to verbally let him have it!

Tiara got scared at the thought of Bowser coming in and quickly turned back into a tiara, landing neatly on Peach's head.

"Listen up, Bowser! I'm going to say this once, and I'm not going to say it again! I want nothing more to do with you and your fruity little wedding! Now I suggest you go away and leave me alone, unless you've decided you're not ready for marriage and want to take me home! In which case, I'll be glad to go home because then I don't have to worry about looking at your ugly face!" Peach shouted at the door, not even bothering to open it.

"Uh, Your Highness... we're not the boss..." Rango said, kind of taken aback by the Princess' shouting. His siblings also looked taken aback. They thought she'd seemed unhappy, but they didn't expect her to yell at them, thinking they were their boss.


A few seconds later, the door opened the slightest crack, and the Princess peeked one eye through the crack. She looked and saw the Broodals standing there, trying to see her.

"Where is he?" Peach asked in a low, dangerous voice, trying to sound as threatening as Daisy would whenever she got angry.

"You are talking about da groom, aren't you, miss?" Topper asked.

"That's exactly who I mean..." Peach replied, her voice still full of danger.

"He's in da main room, waiting for us to come back and listen to his demand. But we wanted to speak to you about something first." Topper informed her.

"And it's a matter of great importance." Spewart said.

Peach looked up at Tiara, who looked back at her with wondering eyes. They were going to need to talk about this before going any further.

"Please excuse me for a moment." Peach said before closing the door.


The princess and her tiara conversed in whispers for a moment, talking so softly that the Broodals could not hear them through the door.

"What do you think, Tiara? Should I believe them?" Peach whispered.

"I don't think so, Peach. They've been taking orders from Bowser this whole time, stealing stuff for the wedding and trying to kill Mario and Cappy. For all we know, Bowser told them to come here and hurt you until you agree to cooperate with him." Tiara whispered back.

"I didn't see him out there with them. Plus, if I got hurt, there would be enough evidence for the audience to have him convicted. He wouldn't want that." Peach whispered in reply.

"I know he wasn't out there, but even so, Peach, we have to play it safe. I really don't want you to get hurt." Tiara said in an upset whisper.

"Tell you what. I'll let them in, but I'll keep one hand on the doorknob so I can get out in a hurry if the need arises." Peach said in a decisive whisper.

"Okay, you can do it. Let them in." Tiara gave in.

The door opened slightly, and the Broodals looked at the Princess, waiting for her response.

"Fine, then. You may come in." the Princess replied, stepping aside and opening the door wider, allowing the Broodals to enter.

Now that the Broodals were in the room with her, Peach closed the door, but she kept one hand on the knob, fully prepared to turn it and bolt from the room if worse came to worse.


"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Peach asked the Broodals as they stood there looking at her.

"We were informed that the Frost-Frosted Cake, which we stole for the wedding, is not exactly the best cake, like we first thought." Rango replied.

Peach didn't really know if the Frost-Frosted Cake was the best or not, but she knew that she'd never seen such a huge cake in all her life. It was much bigger than the one Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings were hiding in on her birthday when they planned to kidnap her.

Also, this was probably what Bowser had envisioned when he demanded a galaxy-sized slice of cake from her when he attempted to take over the galaxy a second time. She figured he'd eat the whole thing before they could even cut the cake.

"Is that so?" Peach asked, trying not to look surprised.

"Apparently. We just heard from the mustached guy the boss didn't invite that you make good cakes." Spewart said.

Hearing that got Peach's full attention.

"What? What did you say? Did you say the man who told you this has a mustache?" Peach asked, trying to hide her excitement but failing.

"Yes. I did." said Spewart.

"Did any of you happen to take a picture of this man you speak of? If you did, I would like to see what he looks like. Is that okay...?" Peach asked.

"Yeah, you're in luck, lady. Da boss texted me a photo of him when we agreed to help him plan his weddin'. I've still got the text session with him on here, so let me find it... Ah! Here it is!" said Topper, bringing up the picture on his green smartphone and showing the princess.

Peach's blue eyes widened as she looked at the photo on the phone's screen. The photo was of Mario.

"It's Mario! You just recently saw him, you say?! He's... he's alive?!" Peach asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Yeah, he's still around..." Hariet said.

"Oh, praise Grambi! Mario is alive!" Peach shouted joyfully, happy tears stinging her eyes.

Tiara internally celebrated Mario's survival. If he lived, then that meant her brother, Cappy, was also doing fine.

"Listen, Princess, we didn't come to tell you that this man you seem to like is still alive. And you know as well as he does that he's NOT INVITED!" Hariet reminded Peach.

"I don't care whether he's invited or not! I invited him mentally, and I had to do it because I love Mario, and he loves me!" Peach declared.

"Whatever! We're not here to talk about men you love dat aren't invited to da weddin'. Dat man told us you make good cakes." Topper said.

"Mario never could resist my cakes. Whenever he eats them, he always gives me a review that could make anyone want to try them, even if they're not a big fan of pastries." Peach replied.

"Does that mean you can also make good carrot cakes?" Rango asked.

Peach almost blanched when she heard that question. Carrot cake was not one of her favorite cake flavors. She'd baked it once before when she was a young girl, but she hadn't really enjoyed it like she thought she would. She had, however, liked the cream cheese frosting, but that was it. It had been years since she last baked carrot cake. But these characters were rabbits, and they liked carrot cake, so...


"I could. I don't bake carrot cake as often as other flavors, but I know I can do so." Peach said.

"Could you bake us a carrot cake so we can find out how good yours is compared to others?" Spewart asked.

Peach thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, I could do that for you. But I'm afraid that I've got good news, bad news, worse news, and terrible news."

"What's the bad news?" Hariet asked.

"I can't tell you that without first telling you the good news." Peach said.

"So tell us da good news first." Topper said.

"The good news is, I do know of a good recipe for some great carrot cake." Peach replied.

"That's neat!" Rango cheered.

"But the bad news is that I didn't memorize the recipe. It's not etched in my mind, like certain recipes are, so I'd need my recipe book, and wouldn't you know it; I don't have it. It's back at my castle." Peach replied.

"Ohhh..." the Broodals groaned.

"The worse news is that I hope you weren't expecting me to bake you a carrot cake on this ship, because despite the fact that there is a kitchen here, Bowser has none of the ingredients I'd need for baking, like flour and sugar, nor does he have any of the baking supplies, like mixing bowls, non-stick cooking spray, or even an oven!" Peach said.

"Is he insane?" Spewart asked, realizing that maybe their boss wasn't a great guy after all.

"I should think he is, for he told me that he didn't need me to bake a cake for the wedding, even though I said I would have been more than happy to. And I would've made it devil's food cake, which I think is perfect for him. I was sure he'd like that, but do you know what happened when I ran the idea by him?" Peach asked.

"What?" Topper asked.

"He screamed "NO!" and turned it down completely flat, telling me that since I couldn't make him a big cake, I wasn't going to be doing any baking of any kind! He didn't have to go and yell at me like he did! That really hurt!" Peach said, tears stinging the corners of her eyes as she remembered the way he outright refused to let her bake a wedding cake, which is something she wouldn't have minded doing. If he'd said yes, her plan was to bake a layer of chocolate cake, then shove the steaming hot, freshly-baked layer right into his ugly face when he came in to look at it.

"Would you have added a layer of carrot cake for us if you memorized the recipe and he said you could make the cake?" Rango asked.

"If I was thrilled about marrying this guy, then yes, I would have. But he'd also have to have the ingredients for carrot cake, too, and as I told you, he's got nothing for cake, and that goes double for carrot cake." Peach said, trying to blink back the tears.

"So what's the terrible news?" asked Hariet.

"The terrible news is that the only way I'm going to be able to bake you a carrot cake is..." Peach started, before asking them, "How badly do you want to try my carrot cake?"

"Pretty bad..." Topper replied, and his siblings nodded in agreement.

"If you must try some, then the only way you'll get it is... if you take me home before the wedding." Peach said.

"WHAT?!" the Broodals screamed.

"We can't do dat! We promised da boss we were gonna help him plan dis weddin', and dat's just what we're gonna do!" Topper informed her, and his siblings took up the cry as well.

"I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but if you don't help me now, then you never will get to try that cake. I'm going to be dead after the wedding, so if you wait, you'll never know whether or not I can make good carrot cake." Peach said to them during a pause in their complaining.

The Broodals all froze when they heard that.

"How do you know that you're going to die? Did a doctor tell you that you're dying, or what?" Hariet asked.

"I don't have to see a doctor in order to know that I'm going to die after marrying Bowser." Peach said.

"Tell us how you know." Topper said.

"I'd be glad to. Here's the thing: the groom is not in love with me. He's in love with the fact that I'm a princess, and he knows that marrying me will easily allow him to take over my kingdom." Peach replied.

"He doesn't love you?" Spewart asked.

"He never did. What he loves is the thought of turning my kingdom into a burning wasteland. He always loved the thought of destroying my kingdom more than he ever did me." Peach informed him.

"What does him marrying you have to do with you dying?" Rango asked.

"I'm getting there. He and I both know that there's no way I'm going to let him destroy my kingdom, marriage or no marriage, so the only way he'll get to do it is... oh boy... do the four of you know what domestic abuse is, and what happens when it goes too far?" Peach asked.

The Broodals gasped. They knew what domestic abuse was, and they didn't like the thought of it one bit.

"He wouldn't!" Hariet gasped. She didn't want to believe that they were planning a wedding for a groom that didn't really love his bride.

"Of course he would! He knows that the only way he'll get to do what he likes to my kingdom is to get me out of the way... before I can even annul the marriage! Because we were married when I died, he was still my husband, so everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom will die with me!" Peach said, sounding sad.

The Broodals all thought about this. Peach was looking them in the eyes when she spoke, and they detected the serious tone in her voice. They didn't think she was lying to them. Mario didn't lie about her knowing how to bake cakes. She had confirmed that she knew how, and that she really had wanted to bake one.


"If the groom is as bad as you say he is, then we can't let him marry you. It's not right. We've got to get you out of here!" Rango said to the Princess.

"Hold it! We can't just waltz on up to da boss and tell him dat we can't keep working for him just because we found out dat he wants to rule da bride's kingdom!" Topper said.

"And you can't ask him point-blank if what I said about him is true. He'll deny everything to make me look like a lying liar who lies, but that's what he is." Peach added.

"So we'll make a plan to help you get away." Hariet said.

"Can you come up with a plan that can't fail?" Peach asked.

The Broodals huddled up, looking like football players planning their next play. When they had their plan all figured out, they turned to face the princess.

"Here's the plan: we have a mannequin on our ship that we can make up to look like you. When it's ready, half of us will keep the boss distracted while the other half sneaks the mannequin in here to take your place." said Hariet.

"What should I do?" Peach asked.

"You should change back into your regular attire when we leave this ship to ready the mannequin so you'll be ready to go when we come back. Then we'll put the mannequin in your wedding outfit and sneak you off of this ship." said Rango.

"One other thing: I'm not leaving this ship without Tiara. She's my friend, and friends don't leave their friends behind." Peach said in a firm voice.

"Tiara? Who's Tiara?" Spewart asked.

"She is." Peach said, pointing at the tiara she wore on her head. Tiara revealed herself by letting her eyes show in her tiara form.

"Oh, dat's right. We took her from da Cap Kingdom, where we first fought dat mustached guy da boss hates." said Topper.

"Just get ready to help me out." Peach said, noticing that Tiara was upset when Topper mentioned what they did.

"We're going, we're going!" said Rango, and he and the Broodals got ready to head back to their own ship so they could help Peach.


Looks like the promise of carrot cake and finding out the truth was enough to make the Broodals change their minds about helping Bowser. What happens next? Stay tuned in order to find out!