The Ghost Bride
One good day of autumn, the Koopalings were passing by the cemetery of the Darklands.
"Hey, look, we're passing by the cemetery," Larry said
"Hurry up, guys!" Morton added frightened as he skipped "we're passing by the worst place of earth, where the dead have their eternal rest and sometimes tend to wake up from their slumber and-"
"What's your point?" Roy asked him angrily
"It scares me"
"Well, you'd better get used to it because maybe we'll be buried here one day," Iggy said
"I know, but there's a lot of time before that happens"
"Unless we end up like the Ghost Bride," Lemmy added
"Hey, who's the ghost bride?" Junior inquired
"Wha-? You don't know who the Ghost Bride is?" Roy asked his youngest brother uncredously
"You don't know the sad, tragic and horrific legend of the Ghost Bride?" Morton asked also
Junior shrugged
"Come on, Ludwig, tell us," Larry asked his older brother
"Oh, that legend is my favorite!" Goomba exclaimed "please let me tell it!"
"Maybe you know the legend, Goomba…" Iggy said "but we all know Ludwig is the Ace of Legends. Tell it, Ludwig"
At this point, Ludwig proudly smirked
"But I know it!" Goomba added annoyed
"Whatever!" Roy replied angrily
"Shut up so Ludwig can tell us the legend!" Larry said
"Let's hear it already!" Lemmy complained
Goomba angrily stomped his right foot.
"It all started 80 years ago, in the middle age," Ludwig started to relate, "a young and beautiful woman who was really in love with her fiancé. She counted the days left to marry. Her greatest dream was that they could live happily ever after and love each other eternally. Finally, the day they would marry came, she looked radiant in the altar with her white, bride dress… but, as hours passed, the bride realized what everyone suspected: her future husband had left her at the altar. Then, the bride discovered that her fiancé hadn't shown up. The guy had fallen in love with her sister. The next day, they got married. That night, the Ghost Bride went to her wardrobe and put on her wedding dress. She went to the basement, and found a big and sharp axe. She walked three sidewalks to her sister's house. Her sister and her husband were asleep in their bed… but they never imagined the terrible incident. When the police arrived, they found her sitting in the rocker next to the bodies, rocking as she hummed the Nuptial March. When, horrified, they could only see how in one jump she got up of the rocker and threw herself through the window, what resulted in her death. She was buried with her wedding dress, exactly in this cemetery. And every year, in the anniversary of the facts, she awakens from the grave and wanders through the graves humming the Nuptial March… looking for more victims…"
When Ludwig finished telling the story, Morton was trembling of terror while Larry was now cradled in Iggy's arms.
"… The end"
"I could have narrated it better!" Goomba angrily said, "besides, you forgot the most important part: the anniversary of the horrible crimes is tonight!"
"I wonder if there's really a ghost bride," Lemmy added
"The only way to know it is being here tonight when the sun sets" Ludwig replied
"Let's come in the darkness and see if the Ghost Bride comes out!" Roy said excitedly
"Alright," Iggy said as Larry snuggled deeply into his embrace
"I'm scared!" Morton added frightened
"You don't have to come, Morton" Junior told him
"Yes, I do, because if I don't Roy won't stop saying I'm a chicken, and that's very annoying! The last time I go a nickname it was terrible because everyone didn't stop laughing at me at I felt very sad so I told dad but he told me to fend for myself with these things so-"
"SHUT UP!" everyone yelled at him
"Well, I'm leaving!" Goomba angrily said
"Alright, then, at what time do we come?" Wendy asked
"Err… no offense, sis, but… I don't think you should come…" Iggy told her
"It's not for girls!" Lemmy said
"Yeah, this is only for men!" Roy exclaimed, "Besides, girls get scared very easily!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Wendy asked angrily, "I won't get scared!"
"Oh, yeah" Ludwig said sarcastically as he and the others walked away
"I'd like to see that" Larry commented
Wendy was way too angry.
Five minutes later, back at the castle
Wendy was looking in her wardrobe
"It's not for girls!" she repeated Lemmy's words in a mocking and angry tone as she got a white dress out of her wardrobe and went to the basement. There, she grabbed a chain
"Girls get scared very easily!" she mocked once again at Roy's words. "Well, we will see who gets scared easier!" then she laughed as she took a wooden hammer for cricket.
Later, at sunset, back at the cemetery…
The koopalings, except Wendy, were in the entrance waiting for Morton
"Well, where do you think he went off?" Lemmy asked
"He said he was going to the bathroom" Iggy answered
Morton then arrived, trembling and whimpering
"Oh, I'm very scared… I'm scared, we're going to die, but I'm not a chicken!"
"Do you really think there's really a Ghost Bride?" Junior asked as they all entered the cemetery
"I think I'm going to get wet…" Morton whispered frightened
Soon after they entered and went away, Wendy entered and closed the door with a chair she was wearing the white dress from earlier.
"Ha, ha, ha!" she mocked
Back with the male Koopalings, they were in front of the Ghost Bride's grave.
"Here lies Cynthia Snell, she lived her life and went straight to…" Iggy read "I can't read the rest"
An owl suddenly flew away from the grave it was resting on.
"Well, the sun' already gone" Larry said
"Well, yeah, is officially dark…" Junior added, "and there's no Ghost Bride…"
"Right, so I suppose there's no Ghost Bride…" Morton said relieved
"I suppose we've proven there's no Ghost Bride," Ludwig added, "so I think we should go back to the castle-"
"Good idea!"
Morton was the first one to rush for the door… but when they got to the entrance, the door was closed with a chain. Iggy tried desperately to open the door
"It's closed!" he exclaimed horrified
"It's the Ghost Bride, it was her!" Lemmy exclaimed, "We'll be her next victims!"
"She's going to kill us, she's going to cut us into little pieces with her axe and then she's going to hang us!" Morton cried frightened
"hey, Morton, calm down" Ludwig added, "it must have been the guard, why don't we go to the north gate and see if it is open?"
"You're right!" Roy said sarcastically
"Let me see if I got it: you want us to cross a cemetery at night and with no lanterns?" Iggy asked uncredously, though he was as afraid as the others
"Someone that's not Lemmy carry me!" Morton cried frightened as he and the others went into the cemetery. The clouds covered the full moon, there was mist everywhere, giving the cemetery a frightening appearance. Suddenly, a humming was heard…
"What's that?" Morton asked frightened
"It sounds like the Nuptial March!" Larry exclaimed as he hugged Iggy tightly
"And it's the melody the Ghost Bride hummed when she killed her sister and her husband with axes! She's out there waiting for us!" Lemmy exclaimed terrified
"maybe it's just someone that came to the cemetery and… likes the Nuptial March so much that it… hums it!" Ludwig tried to find a logical explanation for that humming, just to receive confused looks from his younger siblings, "it's anything but the Ghost Bride!"
However, a shape rose from behind a grave and it wore a white dress with a veil.
"IT'S HER! IT'S THE GHOST BRIDE!" Morton screamed horrified
Soon the koopalings screamed in terror and ran away. The "Ghost Bride lifted something that looked like an axe, now Ludwig screamed too and ran away following his brothers. Not knowing the supposed Ghost Bride was in reality their sister Wendy disguised.
"HA! Who's are the ones who got scared easily in the end?" she smirked to herself
Meanwhile, the Koopalings kept running away from the Ghost Bride. Soon they could see the north gate was opened
"guys, it's open!" Ludwig yelled
But when they were about to cross the door, it closed and an iron bar blocked it afterwards.
"It's the Ghost Bride, she locked us in here to cut us into tiny pieces!" Iggy cried horrified
"Calm down, Ignatius, there must be a reasonable explanation" Ludwig tried to comfort hi younger brother
"Yes, that she locked us in here to cut us into pieces!"
"That doesn't sound reasonable, you crazy genius!" Roy told him annoyed
When the door started trembling, the Koopalings ran away frightened. But they did not know that the door had been another of Wendy's tricks. She grinned behind a grave
"HA, HA, HA!" she laughed
The male koopalings wandered around the cemetery until Morton finally kneeled facing a grave and started to cry of terror.
"She's out there, waiting for us so that she can cut us into tiny pieces!" Larry cried
"Don't worry, we only have to think on a plan to get out of here" Ludwig replied
They heard the humming again and were horrified.
"It's her! She's coming with her bloody axe!" Roy cried horrified
"Lemmy, knock it off!" Ludwig told Lemmy, who was humming the Nuptial March
"Sorry, guys, but that melody is sticking!" Lemmy apologized
"Oh, we're all going to die!" Morton cried desperately
"It's okay, Morton" Iggy tried to comfort his younger brother
"No, it's not!"
The humming was heard again
"Knock it off, Lemmy!" Roy said angrily
"it's not me!" Lemmy replied
The "Ghost Bride" came out of another grave, the koopalings horrified ran away
"Ha!" Wendy laughed when they were out of earshot, "what a gang of cowards! Ghost Bride! Only an idiot would believe that there's such a thing like a Ghost Bride!"
Suddenly, Wendy heard a humming and looked back. There was a shape dressed in a white wedding dress and a veil that came out of a grave.
"AAAAHHHH!" Wendy screamed as she ran away
The koopalings, meanwhile, were still running away.
"Guys!" Wendy desperately called for them, "wait! Wait!"
Thinking it was the Ghost Bride, the koopalings tried to run faster, but Wendy, managed to catch up to them and stood in front of them
"It's me, Wendy! I'm not the Ghost Bride! I just used the dress and make up to deceive you" she cried as she wiped the make up from her eyes
"WHAT?" her brothers asked uncredously
"What a dirty trick!" Lemmy said angrily
"I'm going to kill you, Wendy!" Roy said outraged
"I was just getting my revenge on you for not letting me come just because I'm a girl!" Wendy exclaimed angrily before her anger turned into fear, "But that's not the important thing because I saw the true Ghost Bride and she's after me!"
"Oh, come on!" Iggy exclaimed angrily
"You only say lies" Larry said angrily
"Yeah, you want to trick us again!" Morton said angrily
"No, no! I'm telling you the truth! I saw the true Ghost Bride!" Wendy cried desperately
"Let's lock her up in a grave!" Junior suggested angrily
But suddenly, a humming was heard and the Ghost Bride was standing a few meters from them. The koopalings screamed in terror and ran away; they entered a grave and closed the doors shut.
"This is horrible, horrible!" Lemmy cried frightened
Iggy blocked the door with a nearby shovel
"Do you think she saw us?" Larry asked
"No, we're safe," Iggy answered
"Look, there she goes," Ludwig whispered
The Ghost Bride was humming the Nuptial March as she wandered around the grave
"She doesn't leave! She knows we're in here!" Wendy cried
"No, I don't think so. We only have to wait until she leaves and then get out of here" Ludwig replied
And so, the koopalings waited and waited… Lemmy peered on the window of the door
"I don't see her…" he whispered, "maybe she already left"
"Yeah, maybe she left to kill somebody else with her axe," Junior said
"I hope so," Morton added
Wendy peered from another window and saw the Ghost Bride pass right by it
"She's still out there…" Wendy cried
"Well, maybe one of us should try to find a way out, who comes with me?" Ludwig asked, but nobody offered, "in that case, I will go alone"
"Don't be crazy, Ludwig!" Iggy cried
"Yeah, the Ghost Bride will catch you and kill you with axes like her sister and her fiancé!" Roy exclaimed
"We have to do something! We can't stay here forever!
"Yeah we can!" Morton added as he pointed at some coffins, "those guys over there did!"
"But they're dead, Morton…"
"I don't understand" Lemmy said
"I'll find a way to escape from here, and when I find it I will come back for you"
"I will go with you," Junior offered
"You don't have to,"
"I know, but being here with all of these dead is giving me creeps…"
Ludwig smirked as he removed the shovel and he went out along with Junior, their siblings closed the door once again. When they heard the Ghost Bride was getting closer, Ludwig and Junior hid in a bush as the Ghost Bride came closer
"The Ghost Bride…" Junior whimpered softly
"…I don't think so, Junior…" Ludwig replied in low voice when the Ghost Bride passed by them. When the Ghost Bride headed towards the grave where the others were hiding, Ludwig followed her from a safe distance. The Ghost Bride took a nearby wooden hammer and went towards the grave; Ludwig peered from behind a tree as she began to slam the hammer against the door. The shovel that blocked the door began to break, the koopalings stepped back fearfully, and Larry hugged Iggy tightly. The Ghost Bride kept smashing the door, Ludwig walked towards her.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Junior asked him uncredously
Finally, the shovel broke and the door opened. The Ghost Bride entered the grave, the koopalings screamed in terror. The Ghost Bride raised the wooden hammer, the poor koopalings closed their eyes shut, expecting the blow… but Ludwig quickly removed the veil from the Ghost Bride's face… and it was no ghost, it was Goomba.
"What? GOOMBA?" Junior asked shocked
The koopalings shot dagger glares at Goomba and yelled various things at him
"What a heavy joke!" Iggy said angrily
"I can't believe how good you look in that dress!" Lemmy exclaimed
"Alright, it was me!" Goomba exclaimed angrily, "it was a dirty trick I admit! But I wanted to tell the legend! Why it must be always Ludwig who tells the legends? It's not fair!"
"I think we should lock him up here!" Larry suggested angrily
"Yeah!" Morton added
"Let's teach him what's to mess with the Royal Koopa Line!" Wendy exclaimed
"AAHH!" Goomba screamed
Later, the koopalings could finally go out of the cemetery and walked home
"Hey, Ludwig, how did you know it was Goomba?" Roy inquired
"Well, this evening I noticed he had red socks, and then when Junior and I saw the Ghost Bride I recognized the same socks. And I thought it was the kind of jokes Goomba always makes," Ludwig explained
"Hey, should we go back and let him out?" Iggy asked
"Don't worry, it will only take him about one hour to figure out the door only closes from the inside"
Then the koopalings continued to the castle with smirks on their faces
Back with Goomba, he was tied up with a rope and trying to get free. Suddenly, he heard a humming that sounded like the Nuptial March.
"Wendy… Wendy, is that you? Please, don't be kidding me! Let me go out! Please, Wendy! Wendy! WENDY!"