Warning: This chapter might be a little sad-ish, so if you're not in the mood to be upset, I recommend that you do not read this. If you are reading the entire story though, I recommend you DO read this, because a lot happens here.

Chapter 3

Peach awoke to the sound of her door slamming open. Her body shot up from the bed and she pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. Daisy was frantically pulling spare clothes out of the wardrobe. Peach got out of bed and put her hands on Daisy's shoulders to stop her.

"Daisy, what is wrong with you?" Daisy could feel the silk ends of Peach's night gown wrap around her ankles.

"Let me go!" she snapped and broke away from her grip. She continued to pull her suitcase from under Peach's bed.

"What's wrong? You aren't leaving until next week, why the sudden panic?"

Daisy put the pile of clothes in her suitcase and slammed it closed. She realized that she was wearing the same dress she wore earlier today, but she didn't care. "I-I need to leave…now."

"Toadsworth won't allow it," Peach pulled Daisy back, "Neither will I. Now, tell me what the reason is for all this."

Daisy looked away from Peach and bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't care! I'm leaving!"

"Why?"

"Be-because…" Daisy's voice lowered, "My dad…is…"

Peach nodded before she could say anything else. She quickly took Daisy's suitcase and walked towards the door. The hall lights were still on, meaning that Toadsworth was still awake. Peach looked around to make sure that he wasn't nearby. Daisy peeked over her shoulder, looking both ways down the hall.

"We need to go to the stables. The train will take too long to arrive and walking will take the rest of the next day. Riding is our only chance."

The girls walked out of the room and quickly dashed through the halls. They needed to be quiet, for the servants were still roaming the halls. The stables were on the other side of the castle. Once they reached the left castle courtyards, Daisy ran past Peach, not caring if someone had seen her. Peach quickly followed until they reached the stable doors.

The stable was locked for the night, Yoshis were sleeping peacefully. Each one was a different color, making the sable light up with a rainbow shade.

Every Yoshi was a different color, which was also a nice way to tell the Yoshi's personality. The purple Yoshis were mostly very shy and quiet; the yellow Yoshis were calm most of the time, but when threatened, they would attack; the blue Yoshis were very talkative with their friends, but never to strangers; etc.

Peach opened the gates of two purple Yoshis, trying to be as quiet as possible. Daisy took her suitcase and looked at Peach frantically saddling the animals. "We need to hurry. The servants will most likely check our rooms again at dawn."

Daisy nodded and patted the fist purple Yoshi. It cooed to her touch, making her giggle.

As the girls led the two Yoshis out of the stable, they saddled up, tying the thin reins against their hands. "We'll be there by morning, right Daisy?" Peach looked up from her feet.

"If we hurry. No breaks, no nothing. Come on!" She signaled for the Yoshis to move forward and the two began to gallop off to the north.

The rest of the Yoshis were sleeping, but one was wide awake. A green Yoshi that was simply named…Yoshi.

He was a tad smarter than the rest of his species, making him seem more like an outcast. He knew how to open his gate door and how to roam around the kingdom without getting caught. Yoshi never befriended many of his kind, but he was warmly welcomed into the human kind. These two brothers that he knew always treated him like a pet, which was fine by him, because he loved to be pampered.

Yoshi noticed that the main stable gate was left wide open by the princesses. He unlocked his gate and walked out into the sleeping world. It was just as he predicted- the world was a huge, vast, land that (from the naked eye) never ended. Yoshi looked back at the stable gate, which was still wide open. He closed it quickly to make sure that no one else got out. The city was in view from the stables. Yoshi ogled at it and suddenly remembered that the brothers lived somewhere in there. He could tell them about the princesses and they would praise him even more.

Heck, he could become the hero of The Mushroom Kingdom!

Yoshi smiled at the thought and trotted over to the city.

The sands swirled around the girls. The wind was picking up, which was the sure sign of a sand storm. Daisy didn't want to strain the Yoshi, but if they didn't hurry, then the storm would catch up with them. She urged the animal to travel faster.

The castle was in sight, hidden by hovering sands. Daisy beamed, excited to be home, but anxious to see her father.

Peach followed hastily behind Daisy. The storm was almost on their tail.

"Just a little farther!" Daisy announced.

The sun was beginning to rise, making the desert land seem fiery with a mix of gold and orange. Sunrises were easy to see around Sarsaland, since no buildings or houses really covered your view. Daisy had always spent time with her father to just watch the sun rise and set. When Daisy was younger, she always thought of this as a boring activity, but it was the boring things that she remembered well. She remembered how the sun would shine on just them two, how they just talked or said nothing at all, how everything was so perfect back then. The past was better than the present.

Daisy's vision was blurred by tears, but she held them back. She didn't want Toadette or Peach to see her cry. Not here, not now.

The large castle doors were protected by two guards. As the princesses hopped down from the Yoshis, the guards saluted. They opened the doors stiffly.

Peach smiled with excitement. She had never been around Daisy's castle before and seeing it up close was much different from seeing it in old textbooks. The guards led the Yoshis to the other side of the castle where the river was and the girls strode inside. Toadette ran down the marble staircase quickly to greet the princesses.

"Princess! I'm glad you could make it!" Toadette hugged Daisy around her waist.

"It wasn't any trouble." Daisy kneeled down to her friend.

As they backed away from each other, Toadette bowed before Peach. "Good to see you, Princess Toadstool."

Peach curtsied. "Same to you, Toadette."

Toadette looked towards the closed doors to the throne room. "Your father is right this way, Daisy. Follow me."

Daisy walked hastily behind Toadette. The large throne room doors were opened by another two guards. They bowed at the girls and closed the doors behind them.

The throne room still looked the same way it did when Daisy begged for her father to stay in the kingdom until Christmas was over. He had turned down her offer to stay and left the next day to another island off the coast of the kingdom.

Daisy remembered the fragile textures of the stain glass window- how each window depicted another event in the kingdom's history. The king had told her the entire story from the first window, to the last one on the other side of the room. Daisy's favorite was the king and queen's wedding day. This window had a much different feel to it, Daisy recalled.

"Do you see this one, Daisy?"

"What's that one, daddy?"

"This was your mother and I, back when we got married."

"You look so fancy. Everyone was there?"

"Why, yes."

"Mommy looks really nice."

"You mother always looked nice; just like you do."

"This window feels tougher than the other ones."

"This, child, is meant to represent the lasting bond between husband and wife. The window will never break, just like your mother and I…our relationship is too strong to break. And once you get married, your window will be just as strong as ours…if not, stronger."

"Your majesty, Princess Daisy is here to see you." Toadette called Daisy back to reality.

The king was looking solemnly at a schedule, a cane towards the side of his throne. He never used a cane before, so the disease was already making his body weak.

As he looked up, he smiled. "Welcome, welcome!"

Daisy tried to manage a smile while Toadette kept the king's cane close to his leg. The two princesses curtsied. "It's an honor to see you again, your majesty," Peach cooed, "It truly is."

"As is to see you again, Princess Toadstool. You have become quite the fine young lady over these years, I see."

"Thank you." Peach was oozing with excitement, but Daisy wasn't too happy.

"Hi, daddy." Daisy smiled.

The king turned to her. "Hello, darling…home so soon?"

"Well, of course. I wanted to see how you were." Daisy insisted. "Are you feeling okay?"

The king couldn't deny, "Ah, just a weak leg, is all."

"Should I get a herb from the gardens, then?" Toadette looked up. "Those usually fix everything right up."

Daisy glared at Toadette. A herb would do nothing to fix his leg; the disease was already spreading through his body. Once it spreads to his lungs, it will make him so weak that eventually, he wouldn't be able to breathe. However, this would take months to put into effect, so Daisy had some time. She planned to make every minute last.

"No, no." The king patted Toadette on the head. "It's fine."

Toadette nodded and she kept her eyes on the floor, letting the royals talk in peace.

"Toadstool, you didn't have to travel all this way for me. Toadsworth may be worried sick."

Peach cringed. "Oh, I forgot. I suppose I should go back."

"However," The king interjected, "I do have a small proposal for the two of you."

The princesses looked at the king with wide eyes. "If you are not aware, I am in fact a tad…sick. I don't believe that I'm in the right conditions to rule the kingdom properly anymore, but since Toadstool has high experience with her kingdom, I believe it's time for you to teach my daughter how to rule her kingdom properly."

"Pardon?" Peach was taken aback by the king's words.

Daisy did not speak. Yes, she was shocked, but she of all people knew this was coming.

"I will send a note to Toadsworth as soon as I can and I will have someone bring your luggage for you."

"But…but my kingdom will be without a leader."

"I believe there was one man…he seems like he could take care of the kingdom well. If not, Toadsworth could take it into his own hands, but lord knows the old shroom is going as fast as I am."

"You mean…" Daisy looked at Peach.

"Mario? But…he's not royalty, what does he know about ruling a kingdom?" Peach said softly, trying not to sound mean towards her savior.

"Right, that was his name. What he doesn't know, he'll learn from Toadsworth. He taught you everything, after all." The king added.

"How long will she be staying, daddy?" Daisy asked quickly.

"Two months or so. I want you two to learn things from each other."

Peach nodded.

"Good, I will get started on the note. Please make yourself comfortable, Toadstool."

Toadette steadied the king and walked over to Peach. "I'll show you your room, princess." Peach waved farewell to her friend and walked out of the room.

The throne doors closed, making the room vibrate with the sound of the huge doors closing. Daisy was left alone with her father. Her stomach was in knots and her mouth felt dry. She was never nervous before in her life and she automatically hated the feeling.

"I know this is a little hard to understand now, but I know that you'll make a fine queen." Her father said faintly.

"But…but why did you have to go? You could have stayed here and everything would have been fine…" Daisy felt her voice trail off.

The king rested his hand on Daisy's shoulder and locked onto her eyes. "Listen to everything Toadstool tells you. She knows what she is doing, so trust her. I want to see improvement from you."

Daisy sniffled, "Okay…"

"Promise me that you'll do your best. That is all I ask of you."

She felt her vision blur again, but she didn't hold it back. A single tear rolled down her slightly tanned cheek and dropped to the marble floor. Her father wiped her face and tried to smile, but Daisy could see that behind his smile, he was just as scared.

He briskly kissed her forehead. "I love you, child."

She stepped back and kept her head down. "I love you too, daddy."

See? That was pretty sad for me, but like I said, I wrote this back when I came up with the idea to write a sad story. This is the result. I know that a lot of people want to see where this goes, but from here on out, it's gonna be pretty upsetting.

I could just imagine if I actually made one you CRY during this story. That's never going to happen though. I wasn't that descriptive with this original copy and I'm not being descriptive now.

These will be one of those stories that I try to jam humor in so that at least I don't make whoever reads this actually cry, so the only humor you can look forward to is the parts where Mario tries to rule the kingdom for two months and these beginning and ending author's notes.

Unless you don't find these funny.

This story is meant to be sad, by the way. It has to deal with life changes and learning from the perfect and ruling a kingdom, so I'm not sure if you like sad stories. If you don't then read some of my funny stuff. You know, because that stuff is actually funny...I think.

Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a review, comment, favorite, follow, whatever and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!