Peach and Mario exited the mayor's house and were walking to the east gate of Twilight Town when a hooded, tired-looking woman slowly intercepted them. "I'm so hungry. My kids are starving. Please...give me something to eat." Mario handed her his hot dog. "Oh, thank you very much." She turned toward her house, but suddenly, DONG! the bell tolled again, and, that's right, POP! the woman turned into a pig.

"Oh my goodness!" Peach screamed. "I hope we aren't next!"

"Yeah," Mario said. "Better her than me."

The two reached the exit gate, but the gatekeeper wouldn't allow them to pass. "I'm sorry, but it's really dangerous out there. You have to get the mayor's permission to exit the town. Get the mayor to come here."

"Well, fine!" Peach said. They started to walk back, but halfway there, Mario and Peach heard the bell again. DONG!

"Oh no!" Mario said.

Peach frowned. "I wonder who it was this time. Oh no, I hope it wasn't the mayor!"

But surely enough, Mario and Peach realized upon entering Dour's house that he was now a pig.

"Oh no!" Mario said. "Now we can't get permission to exit town!"

"Well," Peach said, picking the mayor up, "this will have to be proof enough that we seriously need out of this town."

Peach and Mario exited the mayor's house, and DONG! the bell tolled again.

"Holy cow!" Mario said, digging wax out of his ear.

They reached the gate to see that the gatekeeper too had been turned into a pig.

Peach set the mayor down next to the gatekeeper. "Well, given the circumstances, this is horrible, but it's great news for us!" She and Mario slipped right through the gate.


They both walked together through Twilight Trail. Peach carried the brochure and read it as they traveled. "Hmmm..." she said. "According to the brochure, it is always twilight here. That's creepyperpetual twilight. Isn't that creepy, Mario?"

"Yep."

"Imagine it never being sunny. Never running through the sunlight. That's sad." Peach looked upset. "Hmmm... perhaps I should have read this pamphlet more carefully...I just saw the words 'bed and breakfast', immediately thought of you, and got the carriage to take us both here. What a terrible idea."

"Yep."

The farther they walked from Twilight Town, the darker the sky grew. The trail eventually went into a forest. Everything got even darker as the trees blocked the light, but it wasn't too dark for Mario and Peach to see.

Peach began to grow worried. "Mario, I'm scared. I don't want to become a pig!"

Mario shrugged. "Don't worry. You'd probably be a very attractive pig."


Finally, Peach and Mario reached Creepy Steeple. It was made of old-looking gray bricks. The gate was closed, and the fence was impossible to climb over.

"How do we get in?" Mario asked Peach. "Maybe there's a secret entrance at the bottom of that well over there," Mario pointed to the small well outside of the fence, "but if there isn't, then we wouldn't be able to get out of the well. How the heck do we get on the other side of this fence?"

"I don't know..." Peach said. She walked up to the gate, pushed it open, and laughed. "The gate wasn't locked, just closed!"

She walked through into the courtyard, and Mario followed. The courtyard probably used to be a large garden, but there was nothing here but dirt, a few dried-out weeds, and a cracked cement path. Peach walked up to the door, started to knock on it, but hesitated. "Should I knock, Mario?"

Mario didn't know whether it was better to say yes or no, so he just shrugged a little and muttered, "I dunno."

"Well, thanks, Mario. That's a big help." Peach creaked the door open slowly.

"Watch out, Peach. Let me go first." Mario entered the steeple, and Peach followed him.

The inside of the steeple was surprisingly large. Moonlight shined in through the stained glass windows. A bunch of Boos floated around inside the steeple. Some were big, some were small. Mario and Peach walked past them, then slowly walked up the stone spiral staircase, anxious to see what monster awaited them at the top.