(A/N: I recently came up with another interesting ending for "Super Mario Odyssey"; one that probably would have cheered up the players (mainly the MarioXPeach shippers) who were... not so happy about the ending of the game. Now it's time for me to start this fic and see what you guys think!)
This story begins in space, and the Toad Brigade's Starshroom was making its way to the moon. But it didn't stop at Honeylune Ridge, nor did it stop at Rabbit Ridge. It flew right over these places before it finally came to land on the surface of the Darker Side of the Moon.
"Well, here we are! The Darker Side of the Moon!" said Captain Toad.
"Thank you so much for bringing us here, Captain Toad. I owe you one for this." Princess Peach said to Captain Toad as she and Tiara disembarked the Starshroom. The princess was dressed in her winter ensemble, and Tiara was right behind her in her Bonneter form.
Now you're probably wondering just why the Toad Brigade brought Peach to the Darker Side of the Moon. Well, she recently realized that there was something she needed to talk about with Mario, and she was unable to wait for him to return to the Mushroom Kingdom. She needed to see him now, so she called him on his smartphone, and he told her that he was going to the Darker Side of the Moon. So Peach asked the Toad Brigade to take her to Mario, and they did.
"Oh, you don't owe me anything, Your Highness. You know that we're ready and willing to help you out whenever we can." Captain Toad said.
"I know that, but still..." Peach began, before she was suddenly interrupted by an excited Tiara, who was pointing at something as she said, "Look over there, Peach! It's Mario and Cappy's airship!"
Peach looked in the direction Tiara was pointing, and sure enough, she saw the Odyssey parked not far from where they were.
"Oh, good. He's still here." Peach said to herself with an inaudible sigh. Then she told the Toad Brigade, "Don't worry about taking me home. I'm sure that Mario will be on his way there when he's finished up here, so I'll be able to get back with his help."
"All right, Princess. We'll be looking forward to seeing both you and Mario when you return to the Mushroom Kingdom." said Captain Toad, and then he and the Toad Brigade waved good-bye to the princess as they left the Darker Side of the Moon.
"Do you think Mario and Cappy are in the Odyssey right now, Peach?" Tiara asked her friend, who was waving back to the Toads until the Starshroom was out of sight.
"Let's head on over and find out." Peach said as she walked over to the ship with Tiara flying right behind her.
When the girls reached the Odyssey, Peach knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She tried again, knocking a little harder, but still no answer. Then the princess looked in the window to find no sign of Mario or Cappy inside.
"Maybe they've gone out to explore this place." Peach said after seeing that neither of the boys were in at the moment.
"But where could they be?" Tiara asked.
"I don't know. That's what we need to figure out." Peach replied.
Suddenly, the girls heard something unexpected. They heard what sounded like a lot of people cheering, as well as the sound of music. And it sounded close by.
"What in the world...?" Peach asked, not expecting what she was hearing.
"Wow... It sounds like somebody's throwing a really fun party of some sort!" Tiara said.
"It sure does, but why would anyone want to have a party here?" Peach said.
"I don't really know. But something tells me that Mario and my brother may be at this party. And if we do find them there, they might be able to tell us what's up! Come on, Peach! Let's go check it out!" Tiara said as she and Peach followed the sounds of the party.
Well, it turned out that the Darker Side of the Moon was not really what Peach and Tiara had been expecting when they first heard about it. If you were to ask them what they were expecting the Darker Side to be like, their response would be that they thought the Darker Side would be kind of spooky, as in very dark and super quiet.
The Darker Side of the Moon wasn't quite as dark as the two girls thought it would be, and the sounds of the big party made it the opposite of quiet. Peach and Tiara saw a lot of characters from the different kingdoms hanging around on some high ledges around here, and they were all cheering while dancing to a really catchy song that was being played and sung by a nearby band. Everyone seemed to be celebrating something really big, but what could it be?
Peach looked through the crowd very carefully, but to her disappointment, she didn't see any sign of Mario or Cappy among the partygoers. If they weren't at this party, or on the Odyssey, then where else could they be? She hoped they weren't lost out here.
"Peach! I found them! They're right up here, with the band!" Tiara called out to Peach. She had flown up to a high ledge where the band was performing, and she was able to see Mario dancing to the music with Cappy nearby. So the princess quickly jumped up to the ledge where the band was to see that Tiara was right. Mario was not too far from the band. He looked pretty happy as he danced, like he had just accomplished something major.
"Mario!" Peach exclaimed as she reached the ledge and ran to the plumber's side.
Mario easily heard Peach's voice over the music, and he stopped dancing to see Peach running up to him.
"Mama-mia! Peach?!" Mario exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the approaching princess.
When Cappy heard Mario and saw that Peach was here, he knew that his little sister had to be here as well, since she and Peach were as close as he and Mario were. So he immediately stopped moving to the music and started looking around for Tiara, but she suddenly surprised Cappy by coming out of nowhere and glomping him while exclaiming his name in a loud and excited voice. The siblings ended up on the ground, not far from where Mario and Peach were.
"Tiara! Boy, am I glad to see you again!" Cappy said to Tiara when he saw that she was the one who had jumped him.
"Did you miss me, big brother?" Tiara asked.
"You could say that. I was glad to see you and speak with you during the tour you and Peach were on, and I knew that you were safe as long as you stayed close to the princess. But it does feel good to see you again and talk to you once more. Wait until you hear what Mario and I just did!" Cappy replied.
"Mario! It's so good to see you again! What's been going on?" Peach asked Mario as she pulled him into a tight hug.
"You're not going to believe this, Peach! With Cappy's help, I just completed one of the biggest challenges that I've ever had to face in my entire life: Culmina Crater." Mario began.
"It wasn't easy, and it was far from fun, but we accomplished it together." Cappy told his sister.
"Everyone here not only cheered me on, they're now celebrating our big victory!" Mario replied, feeling good in Peach's embrace.
"You really got through all that difficult stuff?! Cappy, you and Mario are so totally cool!" Tiara exclaimed as she hugged her big brother once again.
"I knew you were going to say something like that!" Cappy said as he returned his sister's hug.
"Did you really do all that?! Mario, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you!" Peach said, giving Mario a big kiss on the cheek, which made him blush.
"So, what brings you here to see me?" Mario asked.
"I need to talk to you about something, and I have to do it in person, not over the phone. Also, I didn't really think that this conversation could wait until you returned to the Mushroom Kingdom." Peach explained.
"Oh." said Mario. Then he asked Peach, "What do you want to talk about?"
"Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you that until we're alone." Peach said.
"Right... We might want to be alone before you do that." Mario said. As much as he wanted to know what this was all about, he was sure that it must be pretty important if Peach had to come out here and talk to him about it in person, and he had a feeling that she really wouldn't want to discuss the matter in front of all those people. If they did that, they might not be able to hear each other over the sounds of the celebration.
"Don't worry, Mario! Tiara and I will stay right here and enjoy the party." said Cappy as he flew down to where the people were dancing and having a great time.
That's right, Mario! You and Peach can go talk about whatever you need to, and you'll know where to find us when you're done talking." Tiara said as she followed Cappy closely, to avoid losing him in the crowd.
"All right, Peach. Let's-a go back to the Odyssey. It'll not only be nice and quiet in there, we'll be alone, too, so we can talk as much as we need to." Mario said.
"Good idea, Mario." Peach replied.
"Ready?" Mario asked, picking up the princess and holding her bridal style. He wasn't even thinking about whether or not he should hold her on his way to the ground. He just felt that it was necessary.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Peach replied as she instinctively wound her arms around his neck. She had to admit that she really liked when Mario held her in his arms. He was so strong, and it also felt right... and good.
"Okie-dokie. Here we go!" Mario said as he jumped down to where the Odyssey was parked. He made sure to keep a tight hold on Peach, and she held onto him on the way down. When they touched down, the plumber set the princess on her feet, and they walked over to the Odyssey, holding hands. When they reached the ship, Mario ran onto the deck and opened the door, motioning for Peach to enter first. She obliged, and then Mario entered, closing the door behind him.
"Sentiti libero di sederti. Feel free to sit down." Mario said to Peach as he made himself comfortable in the chair near the bed. Peach decided to sit in the chair near the wardrobe. Once they were situated, Mario said, "All right, Peach. Now that we're alone, what do we need to discuss?"
"The elephant in the room." Peach said.
"What elephant?" Mario asked nervously, even though he had a feeling he knew what Peach was talking about.
"The one that came to exist after what happened at Honeylune Ridge." Peach answered.
Mario was surprised that Peach was finally bringing this up, for this was something he wanted to talk about with her for quite some time. In fact, he'd wanted to talk about it and apologize to her for the incident right after it had happened. But as much as he wanted to tell her how sorry he was for it, he'd been afraid to. And he had every right to feel afraid.
During the time Mario knew the princess, he'd seen Peach look at him with happiness, and later on, she began looking at him with love in her eyes. He never saw Peach look so angry at him before, and the worst part was that she looked that way when she rejected his proposal (before he could even say a word of it), and now he believed that because of one stupid move on his part, she hated him.
Mario was afraid that talking about the Moon Kingdom incident would further ruin the love that he and the princess had shared. The thought of losing her love forever was enough to shatter his heart, because he was still very much in love with her. Nothing could ever change his mind about Peach! She was his better half; his everything!
But Mario knew that this conversation was going to happen sooner or later, and as much as he wanted to apologize to Peach for what had happened and have her forgive him, he was afraid that he was going to hear what he didn't want to hear. He feared that Peach was going to say that she could never forgive him for what he had done, and as a result, they were through. He turned very pale, and he felt his heart break even more than it had when she rejected him.
Peach was trying to figure out how she was going to start the conversation when she noticed that Mario didn't look too good, and seeing him like that was enough to make her worry about him. She asked him, "Mario, is something wrong?"
The distraught plumber almost fell out of his chair and was on his knees before Peach as he cried, "Please don't hate me, Peach! It was wrong of me to stoop to Bowser's low level! I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings and made you angry with me! I won't blame you if you can't forgive me for behaving no better than our worst enemy! I admit that I'm the one at fault! I know I deserve the blame for what happened, but I can't bear to lose you because I still love you so much... I'm so sorry..."
And with that, Mario broke down sobbing into his hands.
"Whoa! Mario, you were talking so fast, I barely caught any of that! Could you please tell me this a little slower?" Peach said, surprised at the fact that Mario just broke down right in front of her. She had seen him get upset in the past, but never like this.
"I-I already know... what you're going to... to s-say..." Mario whimpered, unable to look at the princess. But if he had, he would've seen the look of concern on her pretty face.
"You do?" Peach asked.
"Y-yes... You're g-going to say that you... h-hate me, and you c-can't... forgive me for what I... I d-did... And I don't... b-blame you for it... because I know... I kn-know that I don't deserve your... f-forgiveness! I'm so... s-s-sorry for what I did..." Mario sobbed.
Uh-oh! They haven't really started talking about the problem, and Mario's already very upset about it! Stay tuned to find out if things will get any better for our heroic plumber!