"Help!"
Peach moved away from a small figure dashing at her from a play. The person spun in quick circles around her, then finally stopped.
"Help!"
"Wait, slow down! What's wrong?"
The figure looked like a star, with a blue ribbon making up her body. "Sorry, I got ahead of myself. My name's Stella, and I'm this theater's guardian."
"I'm Peach. It's nice to meet you."
"Anyways, the plays have been taken over! These weird guys showed up and started wreaking havoc! Can you help? I would do it myself, but I can't do much with these ribbon arms. And they threatened to tie me up if they saw me again! I don't know if they meant by rope, or actually tying my body into a knot, but I don't want to find out."
"Don't worry, I already promised I would help get the theater back. And thanks to you, I think I know how to! Where's the issue?"
Stella pointed to the play she came flying out of. "The Swordfighter play is under attack! We have to take it back!"
"I guess I'm seeing my show after all...Toadsworth, you wouldn't mind waiting out here, would you?"
"But I-" He started, which cut short with a sigh. "You can care for yourself, I don't need to accompany you anymore. Just come back if things get too out-of-hand, alright?"
She kissed his mushroom cap. "I promise. Alright, Stella. Let's save Sparkle Theater!"
She entered the door, and found right away that the stage was pitch-black. She continued along until she saw a single Theet, unconscious, in a spotlight.
"Oh no..." Stella said. "Those guys must have knocked this poor Theet out cold."
Peach crouched down. "How do I help him?"
"Well, I have Sparkle. Let's try that."
Peach stood again. "Okay. How do we use Sparkle to help him?"
"You just have to put your arms out like this." She spread her arms as wide as they could go. "That's the range I can do. It'll let me know how to use my Sparkle. You can also use it directly upwards," she thrust her hand into the air, "and just forwards," she put one arm in front of her. "So try motioning to the Theet."
Peach pulled her arm back, then moved it quickly so her hand was in front of the Theet's face. Stella turned to a single short ribbon with a glowing star on the front end and shot at the Theet, following the length of Peach's arm. She tapped the Theet and he got to his feet.
"Thanks so much," he said.
Stella returned to Peach and turned to herself again. "Okay, to be honest with you, the reason why I needed you was for that. I can't use Sparkle on my own. I'm too tiny for that."
"I don't mind helping you," Peach said. "But did you-"
The lights clicked on, revealing a town.
"Oh."
"What was your question?" Stella asked.
"Did you put my hair up?"
"Oh, yeah! I let you use Sparkle! Sorry if I didn't ask first!"
"I don't mind. I wear my hair up pretty often, actually."
"Oh, that's good."
Peach continued, then came to a stop. A Theet was shaking in the corner as a purple man pestered her.
"Uh...what?" Peach walked a bit closer.
"Bleh! You're just a little 'fraidy cat! What are you gonna do about it?" The man mocked.
"Leave me alone!" Cried the Theet.
"That's one of the guys I was talking about!" Stella said. "Try using Sparkle to stop them!"
Peach whacked him with Stella and he fell over. He gave Peach a bitter look, hopped back to his feet, and stomped in a child-like tantrum.
"No fair! I told you not to come back, and then you come back and have help?! Madame Grape is not going to like this!"
"Grape was the one who took over the theater," Peach mentioned, "so you must be part of that 'Sour Bunch' she mentioned."
"And she's smart?! Noooo!"
"Stop ruining the plays!" Stella demanded.
"No!" The Sour Bunch member said. "I'm just doing what Madame Grape told me to. And she said we could do whatever we wanted~! So you can't stop all two hundred or more of us! And Madame Grape...when she finds out what you're doing, she's going to make sure you can't make it to the basement!"
"The basement?" Stella asked. "Why would we go into the basement anyways? Basements are creepy."
"That's right! Stay away from the Sour Bunch's business, you weird little thing!"
Peach gasped. "Stella isn't a thing!" She smacked him with Sparkle again. "And she isn't weird!"
"Oof! It's going to take more than that to stop Madame Grape. Maybe she still does have a chance..." He vanished in a small puff of purple smoke.
"That was weird," Stella said. "But Grape must be the Sour Bunch's leader. So if we stop her, we save the theater! So we have no time to waste! Let's press forward!"
Peach nodded.
She saved more Theets from annoying comments and behavior from the Sour Bunch, and recovered flowers with Sparkle. She made her way closer and closer to the castle, as thorns became more prominent. Stella told her about Sparkle Gems, and encouraged her to collect a lot of them. Soon, there were too many thorns, and Sparkle wasn't enough to chop them down.
Entering the next room, however, revealed a solution to the overgrowth. A small circular pedestal sat in the center of the room, with a glimmer of Sparkle sitting in the center of that.
"Could that be..." Stella said, flying to it. "It is! Peach, the Swordfighter Sparkla left behind some Sparkle! This should be able to help us get rid of those pesky plants."
Peach walked to the Sparkle, and Stella prompted her to touch it. She tapped it with a single finger, and it flew into her brooch. It changed her clothes, and her hairstyle, when Stella flew into her brooch as well. A rapier appeared in her hands.
"Woah...So this is what Sparkle can do? I don't even know how to use a sword and yet..." She sliced down the thorns surrounding the platform. "It's like I've been able to since I was born. This is impressive!"
Her brooch flashed light blue and Stella's voice came faintly from it. "Right? We'll be able to deal with those thorns, and Sour Bunch, in no time! Let's go, to the castle!"
Peach dashed out the room, chopped down the thick thorns blocking the path, and continued. The castle was even closer now, and Peach watched it as thorns completely wrapped around the castle.
"We need to go faster," Peach said, and resumed running. "Stella, do you know anything about Grape or the Sour Bunch?"
"No," she said from Peach's brooch, "but all I do know is that they're causing trouble! I haven't seen Grape yet, have you?"
"I..."
She thought about her. Not only did she have a feeling of anger and darkness about her, but she was also unlike anything Peach had seen before. She completely lacked any sort of body, and was dressed as if she was preparing for a ball. And that scepter...
"She was a little freaky, to be fair." She sliced down some Sour Bunch. "She used magic to twist the theater to her will, and the fact she didn't have a body was really creepy. I've seen people without arms, sure, but an entire body? That can't just be...gone. You can't live without a body, unless you're a ghost. But she was too real to be a ghost."
"So...she was there but wasn't?"
"No, she had clothes at least. Thank goodness for that..."
"What?"
"Nothing. But she was...just the clothes? I think it'll be easier if you saw her instead of hearing about her."
"So she can use magic too? And it's powerful enough to counter Sparkle. That's a little scary to think about."
"Is Sparkle powerful?"
"Of course! It's the power of unity, of peace, of passion, and of love. It's everything positive wrapped into one gift! And not just anybody can use Sparkle. They need to have a great love for something, weather that be a hobby or family! You're full of love, I can feel it."
"I try to be." She stopped. "Here's the castle. Are you ready for this?"
"Yeah, let's save this play."
Peach entered the doors, which earned an immediate response from the Sour Bunch inside. "She's got a sword!"
They all screamed as Peach held it out.
"You idiots!" The supposed leader snapped. "We all have swords! Madame Grape would pay us extra if we take her down now, so let's get that raise!"
"Wait, they get paid?" Stella asked.
"En guard!" Peach said.
She charged through the rush, slicing down Sour Bunch and thorns. She finally made it to the final room of the castle, where the king Theet was tied up on the top of the wall. The stage turned, revealing thick thorns lining the ground. A large rose bud rose from the thorns.
"This is my show now. Things will end tragically beautiful; in a barrage of rose petals and thorns."
The flower itself was simple to beat. Peach only needed to avoid the thick vines and force the rose to drop its guard long enough to slice it into pieces. Once the rose was defeated, the thorns withered and died.
The Theets cheered for her and congratulated her on her victory. Peach talked to Stella afterwards, hoping to learn more of her, the theater, and Sparkle. And if they kept that pace, they would be able to save the theater in no time.
Author note: I bought PPS finally, so I can fix details about my story properly! Yay! (And it made my Grape hyperfixation come back so uhh...)