Obligatory the characters have never met before reminder. And that I took the story in a bit of a different direction, though I hope I still got that Polar Express feel.

The conductor turned to them, his posture ridged. He stepped towards the door, placing a hand on the handle. "Make sure you sit down and stay in your seats." He slid open the door. "And don't mind the other kids, we have some odd passengers tonight."

Mario and Luigi exchanged a glance. Odd passengers? A smile grew one his face. Odd means interesting! He pushed past the conductor, entering the car.

A blast of warm air hit him, and he froze. The activity in the car halted as soon as the brothers stepped into the room. Mario's eyes flicked from child to child. The company was odd, indeed. There was a small green dinosaur, with big blueish eyes and a tiny red shell on his back. And there was a little, brown-furred ape who wore a red bib with the letters D and K on it. The other two passengers were human, one a little girl with blonde hair, and the other was their cousin.

"Wario!" Mario cheerily greeted, approaching his cousin. "What are you doing here?" He glanced at the passengers again. "Where's Waluigi?"

Wario sniffed, narrowing his blue-tinged eyes. "What are you doing here?" He crossed his eyes. "And Waluigi wouldn't get up, the lazy stick."

"We're here because the train pulled in front of our house!" Mario explained.

"Ah-ah! What did I say?" the conductor barked, his face hard in a glare.

"Uhh…" Mario rubbed the back of his head.

"Take your seats," Luigi mumbled from besides Mario. Wario snickered, and Mario shot him a warning glare.

'Don't,' he mouthed. Wario stuck out his tongue in reply, plopping on his seat next to the girl. "Sorry, sir," Mario apologised, grabbing Luigi and dragging him over to the closest bench-seat, the one across from Wario and the girl. He fiddled with his coat, unzipping it and setting it besides him. The car was warm enough that he didn't need it. Luigi, too was trying to detangle from the layers he had wrapped himself in.

"Hey, Luigi!" Wario called with a snicker. "You trying to cosplay as an eskimo or what?" Luigi's face flushed as their cousin laughed. He elbowed the girl next to him, whispering something to her. She clearly wasn't amused, as she inched away from him.

"Put a sock in it, Wario," Mario snapped, turning to help Luigi get un-bundled-up. It took a few minutes, but soon Luigi's winter clothing was bunched on the bench with Mario's.

"Hi!"

Mario turned around, turning his attention up to the scaly, round face of the dinosaur. "Oh! Hi!" Mario grinned. He can talk? Cool! Now they could be friends! "Who are you?"

"My name is Yoshi!" the dinosaur chirped. "What're your names?"

"I'm Mario, and this is my brother Luigi." Mario pointed to them each. Yoshi's eyes flicked between them, and he opened his mouth. "We're twins, in case you were wondering."

Yoshi shook his head. "No, I wanted to ask where you're from." His eyes lit up. "I come from Yoshi's Island!"

Mario's eyes widened. "You own an island?"

Yoshi laughed. "No! No! That's just the name!" He pointed to himself. "I'm a Yoshi, but my name is also Yoshi!"

Sounds like your parents weren't very creative. He didn't want to say this aloud to Yoshi, however. It would probably offend him. "Gotcha. We're from Brooklyn, New York!"

"New York?" Yoshi's large nose wrinkled. "I've never heard of New York, where's that?"

"It's one of the United States' states. It has New York City and the Statue of Liberty!"

Yoshi blinked.

He must not know. It probably was because he wasn't human. "It's okay if you don't know." Mario grinned. "I've never heard of a 'Yoshi's Island'."

"That's okay!" Yoshi grinned. "This is my first time leaving the island!" He squealed, shivering. "Ahh! It's so exciting!" He leaned forward, his little tail wagging. "We're going to the North Pole! We're gonna see Santa!"

Mario's smile dropped, and he turned his head away. Except Santa… he doesn't exist. He wouldn't ruin Christmas for Yoshi, though. Even if every other kid on this train believed in Santa when he didn't, he would still pretend, for all their sakes. He'd have to prevent Wario from ruining their faith, as well. His cousin was very verbal about his beliefs.

"That's just mean!" a young, feminine voice cried.

Speak of the devil… Mario turned his head towards the girl and his cousin. The girl had pressed herself against the window, her eyes wide and nose wrinkled. Wario was leaning towards her, wearing one of his toothy grins. The ape was peering over the back of the seat, his round eyes watching the pair.

"It was hilarious!" Wario shook with laugher, wiping a tear from his eye. "If you'd seen it, you would agree with me."

The girl shook her head, rising from her seat. "No." She squared her shoulders as she met Wario's eyes. "I don't see any fun in humiliating others, and species who do make me sick." She stood past him, her movements as graceful as a princess. Mario blinked as she came over. She halted, gazing down at him with sapphire blue eyes. "Excuse me, but is it okay if I sit here?"

Mario grinned and scooted over. "Not at all!" He patted the seat next to him. "The more the merrier!"

Luigi mumbled something in disagreement, but Mario ignored him. He was just shy. He'd would warm up in time.

"Thank you." She gently took her seat, folding her hands in her lap. "What are your names?"

"I'm Mario, and this is my twin brother Luigi!" Mario beamed.

"And I'm Yoshi!" the dinosaur piped up. "What's your name?"

"I'm Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom, though you may call me Peach." She gave a small smile. "Where do you all come from?"

That's a pretty name. Peach herself was also very pretty, her skin was fair and her hair as golden as the sun. Her fuzzy scarlet coat also contributed to her beauty, as well as expressing holiday spirit.

"I come from Yoshi's Island!" Yoshi replied, reminding Mario that he needed to answer.

"Oh! Me and Luigi come from Brooklyn."

Peach fiddled with her fingers. "I've never heard of those places. Are they nice?"

Yoshi nodded. "Oh yeah! Yoshi's Island is the best! The village is awesome! There's more than enough food to go around, and, as my Grandpa always says, the forest provides. It really does, we use sticks and leaves to build our huts. It's so different here, you guys use weird stones and stuff I've never seen before. How do you do it?"

Mario shrugged. "Dunno. We don't build the houses."

"What's Brooklyn like?" Peach asked.

"It's great!" Mario exclaimed. "There's plenty to see and do, and we live in a nice apartment with our Ma and Pa."

"They're probably worried about us," Luigi moaned, his forehead pressed against the frosted window.

"Nah, they probably didn't even notice us leave. I don't think the train woke them up." Mario frowned. "Though I have no idea how…"

"That's because this is a magic train," Peach explained. "It's magic, so it only wakes up the passengers." She laughed, a softly pleasant sound. "I live in a castle full of Toads, so I would know. There's no way this train wouldn't of woken anyone up if it wasn't magic."

Magic doesn't exist. Mario bit back the statement. But really, it was the only explanation. Just how…?

Peach's hand grabbed his. "Magic is real," she insisted.

Mario's eyes widened. How did she—?

"Oh…" She retreated, folding her hands in her lap. Her head drooped. "You… you just frowned… and it looked like you didn't believe me."

Oh… she's just good at reading people. Mario took a breath, twiddling his fingers."Sorry… Magic just… I don't really believe in it."

"Or Santa?" Her eyes gazed upon him, wide and innocent.

Mario bit his lip, which seemed to give her an answer, for she returned her gaze to her hands. The silence between them was thickening, and Mario didn't like it.

Luigi laughed, and Mario glanced over at him. He and Yoshi were in deep conversation, and Yoshi was in the middle of telling an apparently funny story. Mario smiled. I knew he would warm up!

He turned his attention back to Peach. "So…" He mind wracked to find a conversation starter. "What's the Mushroom Kingdom like?"

"Peaceful," Peach replied. She fiddled with her pink mittens. "It's full of Toads, little Mushroom people."

Mario tried to picture a mushroom as a person. He pictured a brown mushroom, one that he'd found in the park once, then imagined it with stick arms and legs, and a cartoonish smile. He giggled. "Mushrooms?"

"Yeah, Toads." She smiled. "They're all really nice, and they makes sure I'm always happy. Toadsworth especially, he looks after me since my parents are busy a lot of the time."

"That's nice. Do you have any siblings?"

She shook her head. "I'm an only child." She put on a smile. "Though Toadette is like a sister to me. Her father's my Father's advisor, so she's always around the castle. We always play together."

"Oh, that's neat!" Mario shuffled closer to her. "What do you two play? Adventure games? Super hero adventures?"

Peach blinked, giving a chuckle. "No. We play tea and dress-up. Sometimes we play family. Or we just talk."

"Oh… Sounds… neat." Boring. Those games never had any action in them. What was the point of a game with no action?

Peach opened her mouth, but the conductor's voice crackled over the loudspeaker, "All passengers are to please sit and stay down as we approach the next and final stop. I repeat, everyone sit down and stay seated."

"Final stop?!" Wario exclaimed, his jaw falling open. "But weren't they the final stop?" He pointed towards Mario and Luigi. The little ape took advantage of his distraction by rushing over to Yoshi's seat, hopping in besides him. Wario had been talking him the whole time, probably about nothing pleasant. Yoshi, in turned dropped from the back of the humans' seat to sit besides him.

"No, we have one more child to pick up." The conductor glanced down at the clipboard. He clicked his tongue. "Hmm."

Luigi let out a gasp, prompting Mario to turn his attention to the window. His jaw fell open.

"Whoah!"

Outside the window was a flat, barren landscape. The ground was snow-covered, but patches of blackened, drought-cracked, earth made itself present in several places. Light smog clogged the sky, the light of the stars barely shining through.

"Mama Mia, what is this place?" Mario breathed, his eyes wide.

"Doesn't look too good…" Yoshi let out a whimper. "Where are the trees? Even your Brooklyn had trees and grass! This place… there's nothing!"

The train screeched, and Mario was lurched forward a little. Peach let out a yelp, nearly sliding off the seat, had not Mario grabbed her shoulders. Luigi, however, took a tumble to the floor. Once the train slowed to a stop, Mario released Peach and leaned down to help his brother.

Luigi's eyes flickered to Peach, and he frowned. "Thanks…" he mumbled.

"No problem!" Mario replied, patting his brother on the shoulder. He glanced past him, gasping. "Look at that!"

The other kids gasped, and even Wario hobbled over to see what the fuss was about. Outside the train was a towering castle, crafted from dark stone. Several watchtowers lined the outside of it, and there was a drawbridge, covering a path over a bubbling moat of lava. Mario barely heard the conductor leave the car, shutting the door behind him.

"Oh, sweet!" Wario whistled. "Boy, I've love to own a place like that one day."

"Maybe you will," Mario suggested.

"Yeah, I will."

"What's that?" Luigi asked, his face pressed against the window. Mario was by his side in an instant, peering out the glass. He spotted the conductor's lamp right away, the flickering light illuminated a strange… turtle. It stood on two legs in a very human-like manner, its height barely reaching the conductor's elbow. It even had fingers on its hands and toes on its round feet. True to a turtle, it had a shell, but the top and bottom pieces weren't connected. Not to mention it had a red tuff of… fluff on its head? Mario scratched the back of his own.

"I don't know." A smile burst on Mario's face. "But he sure is cool!" He elbowed Luigi. "Do you think he'll come on the train?" That would be cool.

"What?" Peach asked.

Mario ripped his gaze away from the turtle to gaze at Peach. He pointed to the window. "There's a weird turtle outside!"

Peach covered her mouth. "Oh no! The poor thing will freeze! It looks really cold outside."

"Oh." Mario hadn't thought of that. Then I really hope he comes on the train! Then the turtle wouldn't freeze, and he could get a better look at it.

"Oh, he's backing away." Luigi's posture slumped, and he turned towards them with a shrug. "I don't think he wants to get on."

"Aww…" He turned to Peach with a shrug. "Maybe he likes the cold. I think that if he wanted to be warm, he would've come on."

Peach circled her thumbs, keeping her eyes on her feet. "True…"

The train whistled. It jerked forward, starting to pull away from the castle. Mario leaned back into his seat with a sigh. It would've been cool to meet the turtle… They already had interesting company, with Yoshi and the ape, the latter of which Mario had yet to talk to.

"Oh!" Yoshi exclaimed. "He's on! He jumped on!"

"The turtle?" Mario shot back to the window, pressing his face against the frozen glass as he strained to spot the creature in the snow. He didn't see it. Had it really managed to catch a moving train? Turtles were supposed to be really slow, and he'd seen Dylan's. Rocket had barely been able to take one step in a minute!

The door slid open and shut, and Peach leaned out to view the conductor. Her eyes widened, and she tapped Mario's arm. "Hey, he's on!"

"What?" Mario scrambled next to her, peeking out into the train's aisle. The conductor was checking something off on his clipboard, but at his feet stood the turtle, who was shivering from the cold. The turtle's head jerked up, his red eyes landing on the two children. His bushy eyebrows narrowed, and he bared sharp fangs in a snarl. Mario's mouth fell open. Wow…

"Take a seat," the conductor instructed the turtle.

The turtle growled, much like a dog. "You can't tell me what to do!"

The conductor flashed him a stern look, his posture tensing. The turtle shrunk under his glare, turning and obediently clambering onto the closest bench. The conductor pulled a hole-puncher out from his pocket, clicking it repeatedly. He turned to the turtle, holding out his free hand. "Ticket, please."

Ticket? Oh no… Mario's stomach lurched, and he jammed his hands under his legs. Luigi fidgeted besides him. "Luigi…"

"I told you we shouldn't have come on," Luigi muttered, flashing Mario a glare. His eyes widened. "Oh no… we'll be kicked off!" He grabbed Mario's arm, his breaths quickening. "Mario, what are we gonna do?!"

"We…"

"You'll be fine," Peach assured them, flashing a smile. "I just know it."

Mario and Luigi exchanged a glance. They shrugged. I don't think faith is gonna cut it. They couldn't just wish for tickets, and they'd magically appear out of thin air, right?

The conductor punched something out on the turtle's golden ticket and handed it back. He spun around, his narrowed eyes locking on Wario, who stood in the aisle. "Young man, please, take a seat."

Wario waved a hand. "Sure, sure!" He lumbered over to the turtle's seat, hoisting himself up besides him. The turtle's eyes widened, though he shot Wario a glare, a growl rumbling in his throat.

"Ticket please," the conductor requested.

Wario raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a ticket— Hey!" He bolted to his feet, jabbing a finger at the conductor. "You said this ride was free!"

The conductor glared at him. "Don't give me that tone!" His face reverted back to its normal stern expression. "Check your pocket."

Eyebrows still raised, Wario reached a hand into the pocket of his yellow bathrobe. His eyes widened, and he drew out a golden ticket, identical to what the turtle's had looked like. Mario scooped his coat off the floor, fishing around in his own pockets. The first one held nothing, but the second…

"A ticket!" Mario cried, his face lighting up as he pulled it out. He turned his smile to his brother. "Luigi, check your coat pocket!" Luigi scrambled to comply, untangling his coat from the mess of winter gear. He found his own ticket on the first try, his eyes bulging out of his head.

"What did I tell you?" Peach beamed, flashing a ticket of her own. "I said we'd be fine. This train is magic, you just have to trust it."

"Yeah…" Luigi breathed, his eyes round as he gazed at his ticket.

Mario turned his eyes down to his own. It felt soft in his hands, definitely not normal paper. The gold sheen reflected the lights, giving the ticket its own special glow. A picture of the Polar Express itself was printed on one side, with the words 'The Polar Express - round trip' occupying the other.

"Tickets, please."

Mario glanced over at the conductor. He was taking care of Yoshi and the ape, punching some sort of shape onto their tickets before handing them back. Yoshi made a high 'oooh!', and the ape simply hummed.

The conductor side-stepped to the humans' bench, his hand extended. "Tickets—"

"Here you go." Peach pushed hers into his hand. The conductor gave her a tiny smile before punching a couple letters into it. He handed it back. "Oh, thank you." Peach's brow furrowed as she examined it. The conductor had punched the letters 'LE' into it.

Mario handed his ticket over next, keeping his eyes on Peach's ticket. Why'd he do letters? He'd been on a train before, and all the conductor had done was punch a single hold in the ticket's edge. Mario gazed at the conductor as he punched a couple letters into Mario's ticket. I wonder what he's gonna do for me…

The conductor returned Mario's ticket before taking Luigi's. The letters were 'B' and 'E', each on the opposite ends of the ticket. "Hey, mister, why do you punch letters into the tickets?"

The conductor leaned forward to give Luigi back his ticket. A twinkle seemed to sparkle in his eye as he replied, "You'll find out when the trip is over."

Mario let out a sigh. Aww, man. He didn't want to wait! He hated waiting! The anticipation nearly killed him every time!

"Shut up!"

Mario's posture straightened. What? He leaned forward to view the speaker; the turtle. The reptile was on his feet, his tight fists trembling as he bared his fangs at Wario.

"You can't tell me to be quiet!" Wario scowled, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm-a Wario!" He laughed.

The turtle let out a snarling roar, lunging at the human child. Wario yelped as the turtle beat his fists on him, growling the whole way through.

"Hey hey hey!" the conductor barked, striding over. "Stop that, right now!"

The turtle froze at his voice, and Wario took his distraction as the chance to shove him off. The turtle glanced between the conductor and Mario's cousin. His expression dropped to a frown. He trudged out into the aisle, walking towards the car's door.

"Sit down!"

"I'm going!" the turtle yelled, though he didn't turn around. "I'm going to sit in there! All by myself! You're all dumb anyway." He shoved open the door, violently slamming it behind him.

Mario leaned back in his seat, letting out a whistling breath. "Well… that was something."

Luigi nodded.