The Nightmare Queen wandered through the halls of Peach's Castle, heading for the attic. The interior of the castle wasn't at all as impressive as the exterior, but the queen knew this would be changed soon enough. She opened the doors to the attic, which was still, miraculously, dusty. She noticed the Paper Book still on the book case, but the demon could detect a trap placed on it for protection. It was a basic pressure plate trap, where if you moved the book, an alarm would sound, the doors would lock, and bars would fall over the windows, essentially trapping the criminal. The evil monarch knew this, however, and simply destroyed the doors, meaning they couldn't lock. She took the book, and strolled out the room. The alarms went off, but the queen silenced them with magic. She walked back through the castle, and walked outside the doors. She placed the book to one side, and summoned all of her servants from inside. Once they were all outside, she raised her arms up high, and her eyes turned bright. They then turned only red, as the castle bricks and the roof tiles started to separate one by one. They started spinning around, faster and faster, until they eventually started to click back together on the ground. Slowly but surely, Peach's Castle was being turned into the Nightmare Queen's Fortress. It soon looked like the castle buried deep underground. There was a tall spire in the middle, which contained the queen's throne room and her chambers as well. There was smaller spires on the four corners of each outer wall. The central palace was large and grand, with dark crystal and polished bricks everywhere. The roof was domed, and the doors were magnificent, with carvings of the Dark Star and the Nightmare Queen. In front of the palace, on either side of the bridge connecting her castle to Toad Town, she put statues of herself. She finally recreated her army, with many Shadow Soldiers of different varieties. These included archers, sword fighters, Goliath-like giants, and horse riders. The horses they rode on appeared to be made of stone.
"Yesss, my army... You have returned... Now, go and take control of the rest of this Kingdom, and take its citizens to the town centres... There, you shall create a dungeon for them to stay in..." she told the Shadow Soldiers. They all nodded their heads simultaneously, and they set off in various directions. The queen cackled at the thought of the pathetic Toads being sent to dungeons in their own town. The Nightmare Queen went up the main spire of her castle, past her chambers, and into her secret crypt. There, she opened the book, but because of her dark magic, instead of the whole Paper world coming out, only a single stone coffin and Peach's paper counterpart came out.
"What's going on? Where am I?" Paper Peach thought aloud.
"You're in my new castle... And you are here to reawaken someone you know very well..." the Nightmare Queen told her.
"Who are you? Have you... Possessed 3D Peach?!" Paper Peach asked, clearly scared by what had happened to her friend.
"Indeed I have... She was not a worthy ruler anyway. I am the Nightmare Queen, new ruler of this pathetic world..." the queen informed Paper Peach.
"Nightmare Queen...?" Paper Peach wondered to herself. "Wait! Do you have something to do with the Shadow Queen?" she asked, with a combination of anger and fear.
"Yes, I do... And that's why you're here. I need your body for her resurrection..." the Nightmare Queen explained.
"I'll never do that! It was awful last time!" Paper Peach yelled.
"I'm afraid it wasn't an option..." the queen cackled, as she wrapped Paper Peach up in a tentacle, similar to how she did it with 3D Peach. She started absorbing the energy of Paper Peach until she was nearly unconscious, and let her go. She then snapped her fingers, and the coffin lid behind Paper Peach started to move. It slid into the ground, and a green light came out of it. A single hand appeared on the edge of the coffin, as a body pulled itself out of it. In truth, the body was more of a spirit. It was starry-purple, with long pink-grey hair with the same flowing stars. It had a large crown on its head with rubies encrusted inside of it. It was also paper-thin, with small, cruel lips on its face. The green light dissipated, and the spirit glanced around the room. It focused on the Paper Princess in front of it, and although it had no visible eyes, you could sense its hate for the being in front of it. It then noticed the Nightmare Queen, and it bowed.
" Greetings, Nightmare..." it spoke.
"Greetings, Shadow..." the Nightmare Queen responded, curtseying.
" I assume it was you who summoned me back, yesss?" Shadow asked.
"Indeed I am... And I brought your newest vessel as well..." gesturing to a Paper Peach who was almost unconscious.
" Yesss... Thank you... I assume we are splitting the land equally?" Shadow asked.
"No... This book contains your Paper World, so when I unleash it, we shall conquer and rule together..." Nightmare replied.
" Perfect... An even better plan... Muh huh huh huh huh..." Shadow laughed. " Now... I shall take this body as my own..." Shadow muttered, as she bent over Paper Peach, wrapping her demonic hands around the Paper monarch, and a whirlwind formed. There was a flash of light, and when it went, where Paper Peach was laying, the Shadow Queen was standing in Paper Peach's body. She admired her new body, knowing how to control it better, since she had taken it before.
"Now... Let us take this world for ourselves..." Nightmare said, as they left the crypt behind, and walked down into the new palace...
