Hi there!

I've been itching to write a Mario fanfic for a long time. I've been playing these games since forever, and with a new Paper Mario (kinda…) on the horizon, now seems like the perfect time to give a little bit back! I hope to be able to tell you all a good story, and maybe get a few of my headcanons out there while I'm at it.

A couple of heads up before we get started:

1. This story is going to feature Mario x Vivian, because she's a sweetheart and this pairing needs more love. (Yes, that is a subtle hint, fellow writers). I'm aware of the gender issue - she's a girl here, let's just leave it at that.

2. Mario will talk, because of course he will, he's a main character. I'm probably not going to bother with the accent, because it's pretty silly.

3. Thoughts are italicized quotes, "like this."

Lastly, it should go without saying but I own nothing. Mario and all the others, for better or worse, belong to Nintendo.

We good? Excellent. Strap yourselves in; hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

Here we go.

Chapter 1 – Star Light, Star Bright

The Star Festival always brought out the best in the Mushroom Kingdom. Of all the holidays the people here knew, it was this one that put their spirits highest. Each year, the Toads and miscellaneous inhabitants of Toad Town would rise early, bustling about and getting ready for their long night of staying up late. Decorations would be hung, songs would be sung, and the humble town would be transformed into something beautiful.

This year was no different – the celebration was everywhere, and the sun hadn't even set. The cobblestone streets and plazas of the capital were brimming with visitors of every race, from all corners of the kingdom. As a young man in red made his way through the crowd, he paused a short moment to take it all in. Here, a vendor's kiosk selling jelly pops and cake to a throng of eager youngsters. There, a grove of trees strung up with a bright rainbow of lamps shaped like star bits. Further on, some Bob-ombs setting up a fireworks display by a shimmering pond. This evening, every inch of the city was alive with light.

In the center of it all, the white towers of Peach's Castle reached up like a slender hand towards the sky, as if ready to catch the shooting stars when night fell.

As for the young man in red, his destination was that very castle. He was Mario Mario, a hero to the people here, so of course he had been invited to visit the princess' home on this, the night of the Starlight Gala. Of all the festivities in the city, none matched the Gala in splendor. At this grand gathering, the kingdom's elite came together for a magic night of dancing, drinking, and heralding in the blessings of a new year. To be invited was a sign that you had truly become someone. The wealthy strove for it, young girls pined for it, and the people of Toad Town counted down the days until the annual tourism boom it brought.

Simply put, it was the social event of the year, and invitations were sacred.

Mario and his brother had set out from their home in the late afternoon. Luigi, as always, had run on ahead to "mingle," which more or less meant "get there first so I can have some attention before Mario shows up." Mario, for his part, was perfectly willing to let his little brother have some time in the spotlight. He'd rather take the scenic route and enjoy the sights and smells of the festival.

He was enjoying himself, but to be honest, he wasn't just slowing his footsteps for Luigi's sake. He was nervous about seeing the princess again – they had hardly spoken in the months since their quiet, well, he supposed you could call it a "breakup." The hero and princess had always been close, and so they had played at a relationship for a while, but found that it wasn't meant to be. How could it? The gap between ex-plumber and royalty was too great for even him to leap across. In the end, they had decided to stay "good friends," but somehow he hadn't seen her very much since then.

So he meandered through the streets instead, offering kind greetings to familiar faces and strangers alike. He passed the hastily-erected juice bar of a Pianta merchant, and politely declined to try the odd-smelling "pineapple eggnog" the thing had concocted. A minute later, a pair of starstruck young Koopas approached him for a photo, and on a night like this he was more than happy to oblige. He gave his biggest bushy-mustached grin as they shared a selfie together, and wished them well as they went on their way. Tonight was made for memories, after all.

But eventually, all good detours must come to an end, and Mario found himself entering the castle grounds. Great brass gates, flung open for the evening, bore the royal family's insignia in ornate, twisting metalwork. Beyond them, stone walls and hedgerows rimmed a brick plaza the size of a city block. Gardens and fountains lay to the west, and ahead the white stone castle loomed up and away into the twilight. In here, the laughter and shouting of the town festival gave way to the music and chatter of a high-society affair.

"Greetings, Mario!" a Toad guard chirped to his left. "The princess is waiting for you inside!"

"Ah, how are things out here?" Mario replied, anxious to delay that meeting just a bit longer.

The guard seemed new, but picked up on his real question just the same. "All's quiet on the Koopa Troop front. Our scouts haven't picked up anything either. Bowser isn't gonna be making any trouble tonight, no sirree!"

The brash Koopa king had been quiet lately, but Peach had sensibly doubled security, just in case.

Mario approved of the logic. "Bowser shows up when you least expect him," he thought. "Who knows what he might try at a party like this?" He could just imagine the big lug relishing in the chance to knock some noble heads together as he made off with the princess. Sighing, he bid the guard goodnight and turned to enter the castle.

Inside was another world. Aristocrats and celebrities alike intermingled under a sea of glass stars and golden chandeliers. Laughter echoed down stairways, and music drifted into Mario's ears from every corner. In the gardens, Toadofsky the composer led his symphony from a fountain stage. In the great hall, the singer Chanterelle enchanted guests with her silvery voice. The contemporary tunes of the Peach Hit Five could be heard emanating from some upstairs hallway. Entertainment, at least, was far from lacking. Mario bet there was probably a stage play going on somewhere, with a movie adaptation playing in the next room for the more modern guests to enjoy. Princess Peach never did anything halfway.

"Except us," Mario mused, but shook away the thought as soon as it came.

Instead, he made his way up to the balcony for a better vantage point. Here, an open-air passageway joined the entry hall to the great stone terrace which looped the castle's inner courtyard. From there, he could hopefully spot his brother, and perhaps some other familiar faces as well.

Below, tents and tables had been set up for the mingling guests. Leaning against the railing, Mario scanned the area and tried to pick out his friends among the crowd – the mayor of Shiver City, still in his ushanka; Toadsworth and Lady Lima, flirting; Lady Bow, fanning herself in the shade – but he was soon lost in a sea of faces and his own daydreams.

Mario found himself thinking back – of all things – to the Shroob invasion of his childhood. He and Luigi had been thrust back into that nightmare during a time travel escapade. To the brothers, the vicious parasitic aliens had been just another enemy; one more adventure in a long, long list. But to the innocent people of the kingdom, they had been an apocalypse. The harvesting of Toads for "vim" had bordered on genocide, and most of the Kingdom's human population had emigrated through the warp pipes to another, safer world. Mario's own parents had been among them, and it was only by the grace of fate that he and Luigi had found their way back as adults.

There had been no Star Festival that year, no grand Galas or street fairs. The cities had been dark and dead. "What if we hadn't been there? What if-"

Mario was ejected from his brooding by a flash of blonde hair and the scent of a familiar perfume. Sighing, he turned around to face the inevitable.

There she was. Princess Peach was standing barely fifteen feet away, politely chatting with a cluster of Beanish dignitaries. Her eyes met his as she glanced up, and she gave him a weary smile. Excusing herself from the Beanish, she made her way down the balcony to join him.

"Hello, princess," Mario said while trying his best to return the smile she had given him.

There was a bit of sadness in her eyes. "I've told you, Mario, 'Peach' is still fine."

She had told him – the last time he saw her, in fact – but the reminder hadn't stuck. Mario felt a bit awkward, being so casual with her. Luckily, she pushed ahead and changed the subject.

"I'm glad you could make it. The Gala really wouldn't be the same without you, Mario." They leaned their elbows on the railing and took in the sight together.

"I would never miss it, princess. You know that." It was true, too. He and the princess may be in a bit of a strange place, but he'd never dream of missing a night like this. He glanced at the sky, and saw that the sun had finally set. In a while the stars would come out, and the festival would begin in earnest.

"So, how have things been?" she asked, ignoring the fact that he had called her "princess" again.

"Oh, you know…" He didn't quite know himself. "About the same, I guess."

"I talked to Luigi earlier, and he told me to ask you about the 'Koopasta Incident,'" she encouraged. "Tell me about that."

Oof, so she'd heard about that, had she? "Mama Mia, that's quite a story. Let's see…"

So the hero and princess made small talk for a while. They smiled and laughed, but Mario watched as she cast glances aside and smoothed creases in her pink dress that didn't quite exist. "She'd rather be anywhere else than here," he realized. "She feels as awkward as I do about all this." Somehow that made him feel a bit better.

"Listen, princess, I…"

Mario found his thought cut short by a light impact on the terrace to his left, and turned to find a skittering crystal, dancing with violet light. In an instant it was joined by more; a hail of sparkling orbs in blue, green, and gold.

Star bits. Hundreds of them, then thousands, pouring like candy rain from the night sky. They fell from on high, hopping and skating here and there as if held aloft by some unfelt breeze afraid to let them touch the ground. The courtyard was suddenly a flurry of activity - guests pouring in, cheering and pointing skyward, trying to catch a glimpse of the fabled comet that brought with it the falling stars.

"Oh! I have to go, Mario," Peach said, "They'll be expecting me to give a speech, and Toadsworth will be cross if I'm late."

With a nod, he let her go and turned back to the sky. Through the hail of star bits, he could see that the true stars were beginning to emerge.

Soon he found himself walking down the terrace. Inside, the stuffier nobles continued their schmoozing as usual; but below him, children chased star bits and each other around the courtyard, and Mario considered leaping down to join them. Before he had the chance, though, a gloved hand grasped his shoulder and he turned to find his brother.

"There you are, bro!" Luigi smiled, "I've been looking everywhere for you! Well, by 'everywhere' I mean the dining hall. I was sure you'd be in there. They have shroom steak!"

Mario gave a hearty chuckle and rubbed his belly. He could only begin to imagine the feast the princess had prepared. "I haven't quite made it there yet. What about you, eh? I expected you to be in some quiet corner with Princess Daisy."

Luigi's face turned as pink as Peach's dress at that. "Er, Daisy isn't here. Something about, um, 'not her kind of shindig.'" Then, as if prodding for revenge, he continued, "What about you? Have you seen Peach yet?"

Mario didn't quite blush, but glanced to the side. "Yep, we talked. She made me tell her about that awful pasta prank we tried pulling on those Goombas."

"Yeah, I might've mentioned that to her. I just want you two to be pals again, bro. We used to be a trio! Remember the three of us on the Subcon adventure?"

"Toad was there for that one, too," Mario pointed out.

"Oh yeah, I always forget him," Luigi admitted. Then, as if trying to change the subject, "H-hey, isn't that what's-her-name over there?"

"What's-her-name," being an incredibly unhelpful indicator, prompted Mario to take his eyes off the stars and glance around until Luigi indicated someone in the entryway behind them.

She turned out to be Vivian, his shadow siren friend from a few years back. At this moment, she was emerging hesitantly onto the veranda as if she wasn't quite sure where she should be. When she caught sight of Mario, she almost darted back into the shadows before he and Luigi enthusiastically called her over to join them.

As she glided across the balcony, Mario took note of her appearance. She was taller now, he thought, and she had grown her pale pink hair out a bit. She'd also traded in her striped hat for a long scarf of the same pattern. Mario never claimed to know much about fashion, but he imagined she looked very stylish.

She swept up beside him, her lavender eyes wide with wonder. "Mario, it's so wonderful to see you! I didn't expect to…" she floundered, "I mean, I knew you'd be here, because why wouldn't you be? It's just, I never thought we'd run into each other, or…"

Mario couldn't help but grin. "It's great to see you too, Vivian." He started to make for a hug, when the amassed crowd around and below them suddenly began to gasp and cheer as one.

Vivian shrank into herself, startled, but Mario took hold of her hand and guided her to the spot on the railing where he and Luigi had been situated. Together, the three friends watched a miracle be born in the sky.

The rain of star bits had only been the beginning of the night's magic. Now the stars themselves had come out in earnest, and with them had come a brilliant, shining comet.

The night was cloudless, and the new arrival was the brightest thing in sight. White and blazing, it announced its presence to the planet, as it had so many times before. This comet was a dearly welcome sight. It visited the planet each year - always on this same mid-spring night –and for centuries the people of the Mushroom Kingdom had called it an omen, a spirit, or a miracle. Mario knew better. Rosalina, watcher of the stars, had come to pay her respects to the departed and to shower the living with her love.

The crowd here tonight, though, knew only the spectacle and that it meant a night of wild celebration; so Luigi soon suggested that the three move into a small side room, to continue their conversation away from the noise.

Inside, they found the room already occupied. Toad and Toadette were sat in a corner, huddled together eagerly showing each other something on their phones. Meanwhile, Yoshi was leaning against the near wall sipping a drink – pineapple eggnog, Mario noted with some disappointment.

Still, three people were less bother than a thousand, so the brothers invited Vivian to join them at a cozy tea table and chat.

"Like I was saying," Mario began, "it's great to see you again. "What brings you this far away from Twilight Town?"

"W-well, I was invited. Everyone from that adventure was, so I saw it as a chance for us all to see each other again." She looked down, "but I'm the only one who showed up. B-besides you, of course. Goombella is busy with school; Koops has his new baby to care for… Oh, Mario, I'm so sorry! I know you'd prefer it if all of us were here and not just me…"

"She never gives herself enough credit," Mario mused. "I'm just glad you're here. How have you been? Are your sisters treating you well?"

So the time passed, and Mario, Luigi, and Vivian traded stories about how their lives had been. The two brothers regaled her with tales of dream realms and Voids and madmen, of haunted mansions and hidden courage. In turn, she told them about sisters who had learned kindness, and about a quiet domestic life in a faraway forest at the edge of night.

Sometime after midnight, Mario was beginning to feel tired when the gasping and yelling started up again outside. "Must be fireworks," he thought, "those Bob-ombs must have found their way to the party." He tried to tune out the noise, but Luigi jabbed him in the arm and hauled him up.

"What was that for?" he asked with a tinge of sleepy exasperation.

"C'mon, bro! We gotta get out there!" Luigi was shouting at him. When Mario just looked at him blankly, he pressed on, "Don't you hear them? Those people are panicking!"

Mario's listened closer, mind clearing in a flash – Luigi was right. Those weren't cheers, they were screams.

The brothers – and Vivian – found themselves jostling for space when they got back outside. The courtyard and terrace had filled up to the eaves with guests, and Mario found himself pushing through bodies to get a better view. Down below, the packed Toads and other creatures were looking up as one, a stone-still vigil. Some enterprising Boos and Paratroopas had flown up above the rest to see better, but all eyes were on the sky.

Mario's stomach sank – it didn't take him long at all to see why.

Hanging at the edge of space like an ominous eye was a second comet.

"Th-that isn't supposed to happen, is it?" whispered Vivian from somewhere beside him. Mario shook his head. This was very new.

The new comet was darker, larger, and glowed with a faint violet light. Its very presence seemed to suck the starlight from the sky. The star bits had stopped falling - instead, wisps and streams of rainbow light connected the two celestial bodies – falling stars turned into ammunition. "They're firing on each other." So, Rosalina had noticed the intruder as well, and she had judged them unwelcome.

The false comet flickered and pulsed with an alien aura as it cast its shadow upon the city. Now and then, it would lazily return one of Rosalina's volleys, but on the whole it seemed utterly unconcerned with her presence. In fact, it seemed to swell larger as the minutes passed.

"What does it mean?" asked a young Noki girl off to Mario's left, trembling in her shell.

"It's King Bowser, it has to be," murmured a Shy Guy who had perched itself on the railing nearby. "I knew I shouldn't have come to this party."

Mario squinted towards the sinister star, skeptical. "No, not Bowser. This isn't his style. He'd have made a scene. He's loud and sudden, not silent and eerie like whatever this is." He could have sworn the comet had grown larger even since he'd begun his thought.

It wasn't until he felt the first faint rush of heat tickle the hairs of his mustache that he realized the truth. "It's not getting bigger, it's getting closer." The plumber's eyes snapped open in an instant, dilating with horror. "It's falling."

Stepping down, he pulled Luigi and Vivian back out of the throng and into the safety of a nearby archway. "We need to find the princess and get everyone to evacuate. That thing is a missile."

Vivian covered her mouth, but managed to stifle her gasp. Everyone present knew the importance of caution at a time like this. A tense situation could easily turn to chaos, and make getting the innocent to safety impossible.

"Luigi, you and I will make our way to the front of the castle and start guiding people out. Vivian, use the shadows to locate Princess Peach. Tell her what's going on, and make sure she gets to safety." They all glanced at each other and nodded, their tasks set.

It was a sound plan, and it might have even worked, if a nearby Toad hadn't worked out the situation and immediately raised the clarion call of panic and fear.

"GET OUT OF THE CASTLE!" the mushroom screamed, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" And suddenly the Starlight Gala became a stampede.

Luigi hissed something that sounded vaguely like a curse.

In the archway, Mario felt himself in danger of being swept away by a sea of fleeing Toads. He hopped onto an awning, and from there to the sloping rooftop. The shadows would do them no good now – he needed the high ground.

"New plan," he called to the others, "I can find the princess easier from up here. Make sure everyone gets to safety!" With that, he was off - leaping across roofs and battlements like only one of the Mario brothers ever could.

Scaling a wall, he looked back at the nightmare in the sky. In the past few minutes, Rosalina's comet had been put out of commission somehow. He spotted it drifting out of sight, listless and dull. "Thanks for trying, Rosie."

That left them with the problem of the false comet, screaming down towards them at a frightening pace. Mario landed on a flat bit of roof to pause and watch the tide of partygoers that was currently spilling into the gardens. His eyes shot every which way, searching for a glimpse of blonde hair, a pink dress, any sign of the princess he had sworn to protect.

"There," he saw her at last, "by the fountains. She must have been giving her speech there." She was making for the west gate surrounded by her guards and retainers, but the ponderous group was moving far too slowly for Mario's taste. "They'll never get anywhere like that, not without help."

He started forward, intending to make his way down to them, but ended up tripping over his own feet when a familiar voice called his name from below with worrying urgency. "Mario! Bro, hurry up, there's something wrong!" It was Luigi. His little brother needed him. With barely a glance back towards the gardens, he reversed direction.

Over the roof, down the wall, across the inner moat to a sentry tower, then up and over to a second. Years of practice, and he didn't even have to think about this sort of thing anymore. Between two turrets, down a gutter, off a gargoyle to a tree. From that tree to another, then to a hedgerow, and finally a jump to the pavement left Mario standing beside his brother.

As it turned out, Luigi was situated mere feet from the castle's brass front gates, standing perfectly still with a vast herd of partygoers behind him. None of them had gone through. "What's going on? Get everyone out of here!"

"That's the problem," Luigi answered with stilted urgency, "watch this." Without any further explanation, he put out his left hand and showed Mario how it sizzled and sparked against thin air. Then with a yelp he jerked it back and said "we're stuck."

Fighting back the fear, Mario threw out his own arm and felt it smack against a wall of solid nothing. Around the impact, faint traces of a magical barrier rippled into view. "It's a cage. What kind of sick mind would pull a thing like this?" Yoshi was nearby, hurling eggs between the pillars of the gate and watching helplessly as they ricocheted back out of sight. Elsewhere in the plaza, Toads and Koopas were slamming themselves against the air, only to be flung back like dolls into the bushes. "This is bad…" It was, but he knew that he and Luigi had lived through worse. He just had to think of a plan.

Above them, the comet consumed the sky.

Mario scanned the crowd, as he had done so many times that night. This time, though, he was desperately searching for any kind of inspiration, something he could use. The muted thrum of the trap echoed around him, mocking. They were running out of time.

Everywhere he looked, his ideas failed. "We could blow it up," he thought as he watched a squad of Bob-ombs detonate themselves and fail to crack the wall. "We could try flying over," he hoped as he spotted a cloud of Boos over the east wing, unable to fly out or even phase through. "The tunnels…!" he grasped, but Vivian emerged from the shadows and reported no exit underground. With nothing left, Mario threw himself shoulder-first against the wall with all his might. Once, twice, thrice – until his very bones seemed to spark inside him.

"What do we do?!" shouted someone, anyone, everyone.

Mario didn't know.

The comet hit the earth, and Peach's Castle erupted in terrible violet flame.

The End.

…Nah, of course not. This is just the beginning. If you've read the summary, you already know what just happened. The questions now are how, why, and what next? Stick around to find out!

For reference, Vivian's description in this story is based on a lovely bit of fanart called "The Loving Shadow" by Blue-Paint-Sea on DeviantART. Look it up!

I imagine it's been a few years since TTYD, so she's grown up a bit.

Thanks for reading!

~Sight