One day...
While Mario lay in his bed sleeping, he had a dream that every enemy he had encountered in his life had surrounded him. They all looked angry, and started to close in on him, but 6 blurry figures had surrounded him like a hexagon. "Who are you?" Asked Mario as he still looked around. "People you thought you knew." Said one of the figures. Just then, a white light had appeared in the sky, and started to get brighter and brighter until the next thing Mario saw was the sunlight in his eyes. "Another weird dream..." Said Mario as he threw the covers off of himself, then started to stretch, like always. Mario then went downstairs for breakfast, and was surprised to see Twilight there, but not Spike. "Hey, Twilight. Where's Spike? Asked the plumber as he looked around for the dragon. "He's upstairs getting something for me. But, I can finally tell you something that I've been meaning to tell you a long time." Mario then looked at her. "OK. What is it?" Twilight then blushed as she said it. "Mario, I love you." She then hopped onto his shoulders as she kissed him, then they got married, and had three beautiful children and- "TWILIGHT!" Yelled out Mario. "Huh? What happened?" Asked Twilight as she looked around. "You said you had something to tell me, then you just zoned out!" Twilight's blush then grew brighter. "Oh yeah. I-" But before she could finish her sentence, they both heard a terrible scream. "AAAHHH!" Spike then came running down the stairs. "What was that?" He asked. "I don't know. We're gonna go find out right now." Said Mario as he opened the door. The pony, dragon, and plumber all ran out to see their friends there. "So we weren't the only ones to hear that, correct?" Said F.L.U.D.D. "Nope. Anypony know where it came from?" Said Rainbow Dash. "I can track the source of the scream." Said F.L.U.D.D. "Wait, where's Applejack?" Said Rarity. As everyone looked around for the orange pony, F.L.U.D.D. had gotten done developing the data. "I have detected the scream. It appears to be coming from Sweet Apple Acres." Said the nozzle. "Sweet Apple...Applejack!" Said Mario. Everyone looked at each other for a second before running over to Sweet Apple Acres.
When they got there, they all gasped to see the barn drowning in brown graffiti. Then, they heard crying, and looked to see Applejack sitting there, and doing the crying. "AJ, what happened?" Asked Rainbow Dash as everyone knelt down next to her. "I woke up this morning to go help Granny Smith make some apple pie, but when I walked past the barn, it was replaced with this goop!" Then she went back to crying. "Shadow Mario." Said Mario to himself as he got up. "What are you doing?" Asked Fluttershy. "I'm gonna go clean up this graffiti! It's what I do, you know." Said Mario as he started to spray the graffiti away. He was doing a good job, until he saw a giant glob of graffiti. So he sprayed it, while the ponies watched. Then, out of the glob of graffiti came an old friend... "What the heck is that?" Asked Spike as a Polluted Pirahna Plant came out and growled angrily at Mario. "Remember how I told you that Shadow Mario's paintbrush can create all types of creatures?" Said Mario turning around. "This is one of them?" Said Twilight as Mario turned back to the Polluted Pirahna Plant. "Yeah. It's called a Polluted Pirahna Plant." Said Mario, which after, the Pirahna Plant beared his sharp teeth for everyone to see. Fluttershy then hid behind Applejack for protection. "Don't let those sharp teeth fool you. It's actually pretty harmless in reality. The only time it might prove a threat is when you wake it up when it's sleeping. And even then it's not dangerous." Said Mario as he prepared to do battle with the Pirahna Plant. The Pirahna Plant then weaved his head back and forth as he opened his mouth. Mario then sprayed F.L.U.D.D. at the open mouth and the Pirahna Plant howled in pain. Mario did this two more times before the Pirahna Plant had a spasm and retreated back into the glob of graffiti. Then the graffiti seeped into the ground as all of the graffiti dissapeared. Then, the ground started to terraform as the barn rose from the ground and didn't even have a scratch on it. Mario then folded his arms as everyone gasped as they saw the barn. "Oh, thank you, Mario! Thank you so much!" Said Applejack as she hugged Mario. "No problem, AJ." Said Mario as he realized that Applejacks grip was getting stronger and stronger. "Uh, Applejack? You can let go now." "Oh. Sorry." Said Applejack as she let go of Mario. "Hey, where's Rainbow Dash?" Asked Spike. "She said she went to go get something to eat." Said Rarity. "Speaking of which, why don't we get something too? I'm starving." Said Mario. Everyone then laughed as they went inside of the house to get some food.
Meanwhile with Rainbow Dash...
"That was a pretty good snack." Said Rainbow Dash as she layed in a cloud. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of someone doing some graffiti, and looked down to see that Shadow Mario was doing it. But he was just doodling on the wall, not trying to tarnish Mario's good name or anything. Rainbow Dash then hovered to the ground behind him. "Hey!" Said Rainbow Dash. Shadow Mario then stopped doing the graffiti and turned around with his hands on his hip. "You better stop, or else I'll slam you into the wall!" Shadow Mario stared at her, then went back to doing his graffiti as if she wasn't even there. "I warned you!" Said Rainbow Dash as she tried to charge Shadow Mario, but he stepped to the side and dodged her attack. She then smacked the wall, and Shadow Mario laughed at her while walking away. She then started to growl at Shadow Mario, but his graffiti caught her eye. She then looked at it, then at Shadow Mario, and thought to herself. "Ok Rainbow Dash. I know that it looks fun and all, but he's a villian, and you're a hero. You can't give in. You're stronger than this. Don't do anything that you're going to regret later." After thinking to herself, Rainbow Dash came to her conclusion. "Hey!" Shadow Mario then turned around. "Wait up!" Shadow Mario then waited for Rainbow Dash as she caught up with him, and the two walked off together.
Later that day...
"Wow! That was great AJ!" Said Mario as everyone was walking out into town. "Now what's for dessert?" "Dessert? You ate an entire pie, and you mean to tell me that you're still hungry?" Said Applejack in disbelief. "Yeah. Is that bad?" Said Mario looking his friends. "NO!" Yelled out Pinkie. "Desserts are never bad!" She said, putting her arm around him. "Now, this is someone who is speaking my language!" Said Mario pointing at Pinkie. Then, as our heroes were turning a corner, they saw Shadow Mario, but this time, he had a pal with him. "Shadow Mario!" Yelled out our heroes as the two split up. "Which one do we go after?" Said Twilight. "You guys go after Shadow Mario. I'll go after his little assistant." Said Mario as he ran after Shadow Mario's helper. "You heard him. Let's get him, girls!" Said Twilight as they picked up buckets of water and ran after Shadow Mario.
While Mario was chasing the helper, he noticed that she was moving as fast as lightning, and as fast as a certain pegasus that he knew. "Alright. Playtime is over!" Said Mario as he sprayed water at her, causing her to fall to the ground, and to be stunned. Mario then got on top of the shadowy figure. "Ok, who are you?" Said Mario as he pulled off the mask that she was wearing, and was horrified by what he saw. When Mario pulled off the Shadow Mask, he saw Rainbow Dash, and the scene kept replaying in his mind over and over again. He even hoped that it was all a bad dream, and he would wake up from this nightmare, but it never happened. "R-Rainbow Dash?" Mario said before Rainbow Dash reached into a pouch she had and pulled out three smoke bombs and slammed them on the ground. when the smoke cleared, Mario tried looking for Rainbow Dash but she wasn't there. Mario then stared at the mask that he held in his hand. Then the Mane 5 came to him. "Mario!" They yelled out. "Hey Mario. Shadow Mario was a breeze. How were things on your end?" Asked Twilight. But Mario didn't give her an answer. "Mario?" "You know that Shadow Assistant that Shadow Mario had with him?" Asked Mario. "Yeah, what about it?" "Well, I found out something shocking about them. It's not who you think it is." Said Mario. "What are you talking about, Mario?" Asked Applejack. "I'm saying...I'm saying that the Shadow Assistant, is...Rainbow Dash." Mario said with remorse. "WHAT!?" Said everyone. "You're kidding me, right Mario? This is all a set up, and some type of joke, right? You really got us good Mario." Said Applejack as she started to laugh. Mario then shook his head. "AJ, I'm not kidding. I even got the mask off of her." Said Mario holding it up. Then Applejack stopped laughing as she stared at the mask. "I can't believe this..." Said Rarity as everyone had tears in their eyes. "What are we gonna do?" Asked Spike. Mario then had his answer. "We're gonna take care of her, like every other annoying paint induced foe we've encountered." When Mario said that, Fluttershy started to cry.
Later that night
"He pulled off my mask, and saw who I was, now he probably told them! I can't go back out there." Said Rainbow Dash as Bowser Jr. polished off his paintbrush. "That's okay! When he saw your identity, did he attack you?" Asked Bowser Jr. "No, but-" "Exactly! Now that they know who you really are, they'll be too afraid even scratch you! And you can use that to your advantage." He said as he layed in a hammock that was there. Rainbow Dash then sighed as she flew away. She needed to get some fresh air. As she was flying into one part of town, she thought that she saw a shadow, one that looked like Mario. "Mario?" Rainbow Dash said to herself as she flew towards the shadow. Then, as if it already knew that she was there, the shadow started to run away. "Hey!" Said Rainbow Dash as she follwed the shadow into a alleyway. "Gotcha!" Said Rainbow Dash as she started to close in on him. Then the shadow figure wall kicked onto the roof of a building. "Come back!" Said Rainbow Dash as she started to fly after him, and started to close in on him. She would have gotten him, but the shadowy figure had dropped into another alleyway. "How is he so fast?" Said Rainbow Dash aloud as she continued to stalk the mysterious figure. Eventually the figure led Rainbow Dash to the town square, where he stopped. "What's wrong? Out of breath?" Taunted Rainbow Dash as the figure turned around. "Nope. I'm just fine." Said the figure. As he spoke, Rainbow Dash noticed that he had a Italian accent that couldn't be mistaken for anything else. "Mario?" Said Rainbow Dash as a ring of fire surrounded them. "Yep, it's me, Dashie, or should I say, Shadow Assistant?" Said Mario as he looked at Rainbow Dash with a grin. "Call me whatever you want, you couldn't hurt me anyways." Mario then raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" "Yeah. Now that you know that I'm the Shadow Assistant, you couldn't even bother to hurt me. I'm your friend, and you wouldn't hurt your own friends, would you Mario?" Said Rainbow Dash, acting smug. Mario then looked at her. "You can't hurt me, but I can hurt you." Said Rainbow Dash as she tried to hit Mario, but he dodged them all, and grabbed Rainbow Dash by the neck, holding her up in the air, getting ready to punch her. "Do it, Mario! If you couldn't do it before, then what makes you think that you can now?" Said Rainbow Dash taunting Mario. Mario's fist then started to shake, but stopped when he said, "I'm not afraid to do it now." Mario then punched Rainbow Dash in the face 3 times before throwing her into the air, and kicked her. Then, Mario whistled as 7 familiar figures dropped down. "7 against 1? That's not fair!" Said Rainbow Dash as she looked around. "Oh, we're not fighting." Said Spike. "Think of us as, referees." Said Pinkie. "It's just me and you." Said Mario as he walked up to her. Rainbow Dash then tried to charge Mario, but he dodge rolled out of the way. "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you trying to hit me?" Said Mario. Rainbow Dash then tackled Mario and got on top of him, but Mario managed to get his legs underneath Rainbow Dash's stomach and like a spring, kicked her off of him. Rainbow Dash's fury then went through the roof, and she tried to pounce on Mario, but he shot water at her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks, and yell in pain. Mario then got up, and as reluctant as he was, he sprayed Rainbow Dash with water. She kept screaming in pain, and Mario kept spraying. It pained him so much to do it. Even to the point where he actually had tears in his eyes. Fluttershy kept bawling as Mario did it. Then, came the twist. Mario stopped spraying and started to cry. It was too much for him to do. Then, out of the blue, Shadow Mario came to help out his assistant. Mario and the others stopped crying as they looked over to see the two. Then, before Shadow Mario could touch one hair on Rainbow Dash's head, Mario sprayed him with water to back him off. Then our heroes surrounded Rainbow Dash. "Assistant, what's going on?" Said Shadow Mario as he got to his feet. "Thanks guys." Said Rainbow Dash after her friends helped her up. "I'll tell you what's going on. I quit!" Shadow Mario then stared at her in shock. "You what?!" "You heard me! I quit being Shadow Assistant. Got a problem with it? Too bad!" Shadow Mario then clenched his paintbrush in anger as his eyes turned red. "You backstabbing, ungrateful, little-" Said Shadow Mario as he raised his paintbrush, ready to slam it onto Rainbow Dash. But right before it even touched her, Mario kicked it out of his hands. Then, he Super Punch Jump'd him into the air. "If you ever, EVER, mess with one of my friends again, you'll get way worse than that." Said Mario as he pointed at Shadow Mario, who now went to grab his paintbrush. "You'll pay. You'll ALL pay." Said Shadow Mario as he pointed his paintbrush at them. Then he transformed into a few Shadow Balls, then he flew off.
As our heroes saw Shadow Mario go away, Rainbow Dash felt guilt eating her up inside. She knew that she had to apologize. "Hey, guys? I'm really sorry that I had attacked you. I didn't want to, but the graffiti just looked so awesome, and cool, that I felt like I was willing to do whatever it took. Could you forgive me?" "No. Absolutely not." Said Mario as everyone crossed their arms. "Oh. I see." Said Rainbow Dash as she started to fly away. "Hey Rainbow Dash?" Said Mario. "What?" "Just kidding!" Said everyone as they went to hug their friend. "I have to apologize too." Said Mario. "What do you need to apologize for?" Asked Rarity. "Well, I'll admit, I did go a little overboard with the spraying. I could have really killed you! And for that, I'm sorry." "Ah, it's nothing." Mario then nodded as he held out his fist for a fistbump. "Friends?" Rainbow Dash then looked at his fist for a second before saying "What the heck." Then she spit into her hoof and they fistbumped, which afterwards, Mario said "I'm so glad that I'm wearing gloves." Then everyone laughed as they went back to their homes.