I'm sorry that this one is shorter than the others (but still not by much), but you can expect the next couple of chapters to come pretty fast. So, enjoy!

Murder in the mushroom kingdom

Chapter 4-The Party Begins

It was the night of the party. Peach was eagerly waiting in the ballroom as guests poured in and found their seats. The princess smiled to herself; she had pulled it off! The entire party was set up without any mistakes…or at least so she thought.

She began to daydream two days back. She remembered screaming at Toads and Toadettes, throwing random fits and mood swings, and getting the sensation she was going to have a heart attack. The reason for that was her stress and nervousness. It was the kind of feeling you would get when you had to give a speech to huge crowds of people…but ten times that…

Peach began to smile. It seemed almost funny to her as she reflected upon her past occurrences. Maybe she had gotten just a bit over-worked? Really though, it wasn't that anything bad would happen if the party wasn't perfect, right? Ooh, so maybe a few people would feel a little uncomfortable; it wasn't a big deal.

Daisy certainly wouldn't have gotten so stressed, Peach thought. Daisy was always one of those laid-back kinds of people. She generally didn't give herself a lot of time in advance, but then again, she stayed oddly calm even when she was rushed. If only Peach could inherit that trait…

The princess glanced up on stage. Most of the 'important people' were on the stage as of yet. The Toad band was preparing to play their music after Peach' s speech, which, compared to the stress she had gone through while setting up the party, was no big deal.

The speech and party would start in about ten minutes. People of all different species were taking their seats. Even Yoshi and Birdo were there, as well as some classic Mario enemies that Peach had become friends with over the years; these included Koopas, Goombas, Shyguys, Hammer Bros, Bob-Ombs, and even a pair of Chain Chomps. Peach trusted them so much that she even let one of the Goombas be the 'bouncer', who was still standing outside the door holding his giant list of party guests.

It was time…it was time to actually announce the beginning of the party. Peach felt so amazed it began to feel like a dream to her. Was the party actually going to begin? It took all that work to set up the entire thing, and now…this was her chance! This was her chance to show off everything she had worked over the past two days.

The princess scaled the small steps up to the stage. Everyone quieted down, and the Goomba bouncer walked in, shut and locked the front door, and sat on a nearby seat.

Peach looked out at the faces staring up at her. Suddenly she became very nervous. Great…If this were a cartoon, the classic sound of crickets chirping at night would be heard…but obviously, this was no cartoon…, "Umm…I'd like to thank you all for coming! As you all probably know, I'm celebrating my 33rd birthday tonight…"

Peach paused as everyone mildly clapped. She almost wished the clapping wouldn't end…not because she wanted to feel good about herself or anything, but because she wasn't entirely sure what to say next. Should she keep talking? What about? Oh, this was painful…, "Well…I uhh…don't really have much to – umm – say…," Peach began hoping that she wasn't sound stupid with the constant 'umms' and 'uhhs'. Well, she never really was a good public speaker, but she had hoped she was going to do better than this…

Everyone was staring up at her. It looked as though each and every person was thinking 'well aren't you going to talk'. To make matters even worse, Peach couldn't try to imagine everyone in their underwear either…unless Chain Chomps, Goombas, and Bob-Ombs wore underwear…now that would be weird. Peach smiled to herself. It would be funny, too. Maybe she really could find the strength to speak in front of a large crowd…, "But I'd like to thank all of you that had supported me over the years, and my Toads and Toadettes for working extremely hard and getting this party put together in time. And most importantly, everyone up on stage for making an impact on m-,"

Peach froze as she turned around to look at everyone standing on the stage. All had gone so well…but now…there was a big problem. The party had seemed so perfect; Peach didn't think there were any flaws, whatsoever. But she was wrong…there certainly was a flaw…there was a big flaw…

There was no Mario…