"You haven't won yet, plumbers! I have one more trick up my sleeve! It's a new one!" Bowser roared. The two Mario brothers were poised, ready to defend themselves once more if the huge, angry reptile should lash out again. He had stolen Princess Peach, again, and had already taken quite a beating from the two. But this time it looked like he wasn't going down as easily. Bowser opened his mouth, and a huge fireball started forming. Mario started laughing, as they had already seen this before. Luigi cowered behind his brother, scared of what the reptile might do. The fireball grew bigger, and bigger, and even bigger, until it was about the size of Mario. Bowser hurled it at the plumbers, but before they could run out of the way, it hit them, sending them flying. As the smoke disappeared, Princess Peach discovered, to her horror, that the brothers were gone.

Bowser had won.

---

"Maybe it's a little early for a group hug," Twilight Sparkle said, seeing the dancing buffalo go by.

"Yeah. Come on girls, let's-"

Flash.

The ponies shielded their eyes, not knowing what was appearing in front of them. The blinding light slowly faded, and as they looked at what was there, they could not believe it. Two humans.

"H-humans?! In Equestria?! T-that's impossible!" Twilight exclaimed, her eyes practically bulging out of her head as she stared at them. One of the two groggily stood up. He was dressed in blue overalls, with a red shirt, and a red hat on, bearing a large 'M.' The ponies noticed he was slightly rounder and shorter. He had a brown mustache, and curly brown hair, sticking out from the bottom of his hat. He rubbed his head and glanced up at the ponies, who looked extremely surprised. Not taking his eyes off them, he stuck out a foot and nudged the other human, who was still unconscious. Twilight stepped forward hesitantly.

"Um, hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Welcome to Equestria." She stuck out her hoof. He carefully reached back and shook it. "If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

The human didn't respond.

"Because it seems as if your companion hasn't woken up yet, and maybe we could be of service to you..?" The human was staring at her, his bright blue eyes focused clearly on them. The ponies shifted.

"Well, um, then why don't I introduce my friends? This is Rarity, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash," Twilight announced, gesturing to them individually in turn. "And you are..?"

"… Mario. It's-a Mario."

"Hiyah Mario! Hey, I like your accent! Where are you from?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, bouncing up to him and shaking his hand quickly.

"Imma from the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario replied, somewhat more relaxed seeing this pony's happy attitude.

"Where's that? I've never heard of that? Twilight, where is that?" The pink pony looked over at her friend.

"I'm not sure," Twilight said, shrugging her shoulders.

"How'd you end up here?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying forward to inspect him. She looked at his hat. "Does this stand for Mario?"

"Yeah," Mario replied.

"Is your friend okay? Did something happen?" Rarity asked. Mario looked down at his unconscious brother.

"Yeah, but is it okay if we-a don't talk about it outta here?"

"Of course. Let's get him back to my library," Twilight said.

---

The ponies stood around the two humans, watching as Mario took something out of his pocket. Ravioli? He waved it in front of his brother's nose. Immediately, he shot up, babbling something the ponies couldn't understand. Mario nudged him in the ribs with his elbow.

"English, Luigi, English," he told him. After a few seconds some of his words started making sense to them.

"…. Whatta justta happened?! Wherra arra we?!" Luigi exclaimed, holding onto the sides of his head. He started breathing heavily, and Mario gave him the ravioli. Eating it, the other human seemed to calm down at bit. He was dressed in overalls, same as his brother, but he had a green shirt underneath it. His hat was also green with an 'L' on it. His hair was longer in the back than his brother's, and his moustache was also neater. He was taller, and skinnier too.

"So, who is this?" Apple Jack asked, pointing at the awoken human, who was still mumbling a little to himself.

"This is mah brother, Luigi," Mario said, gesturing towards him.

"MARIIIOOOOOO! WHERRA ARRA WEEEE?!" Luigi shouted, grabbing the straps of his brother's overalls and shaking him rapidly back and forth.

"Whoa! Luigi! Clearer! Calm-a down! I can barely understand-a you!" He put his hands, which had white gloves on them, same as Luigi's, on his brother's shoulders. Luigi breathed in and out, trying to calm himself. Twilight looked over quizzically, wondering if she could help. He nodded, and she conjured up a paper bag, which Mario handed to his brother. Breathing into the bag seemed to calm the panicked plumber, and he soon was able to talk again. "So, Luigi, we're in some world called-a Equestria. And I have-a no idea how to get-a back."

"You've-a gotta be kiddin' me! Spoiled spaghetti, and I thought is was just-a going crazy." Luigi put a hand on his forehead, letting out a sigh.

"Are you okay now, Luigi? What happened to you two?" Twilight asked.

"Is- is that-a pony talking?" Luigi stammered, pointing at her.

"Yes. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends." She introduced them all to him. "So, what did happen to you guys?"

"Well, we were-a fighting our enemy, King Bowser, and he launched some-a sorta huge fireball at us, and next thing we-a know, we're in Equestria," Mario explained.

"Hmm, interesting. Who's this King Bowser?"

"As I said, he is our enemy. He is always kidnapping Princess Peach."

"Princess Peach?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"Yes, she is the Princess of the-a Mushroom Kingdom."

"So your kingdom has a princess too, huh? Our Princesses are Celestia and Luna," Pinkie Pie said.

"Well, now that we know where you two come from, we have to find a way to send you back," Twilight said.

"How do we do-a that?" Luigi asked.

"I have no idea. But, we also have to do something in our world. As you saw, our world is in complete chaos! We have to defeat Discord."

"We better hurry Twilight. He'll cause more chaos if we don't hurry," Apple Jack said.

"Okay. Mario, Luigi, are you guys going to come with us?"

"I guess. Who is Discord?" Mario asked.

"You'll see. Just come on!" The ponies ran out the door, with the two plumbers racing after them.

---

"Discord! We're here!" Twilight announced, as the ponies and the plumbers followed her.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Luigi shouted, diving to hide behind Mario as he saw the draconequus.

"What's this? Humans in Equestria?" Discord asked, using his magic to pull Luigi up to him by his overall straps. The taller Mario brother put his hands out in front of him, shaking.

"You-a put mah brother-a down, now!" Mario yelled, clenching his fists.

"Ha! Or what? And, what are your names, by the way?"

"L-Luigi!" the plumber stammered, cringing away from Discord's eyes.

"It's-a Mario," the other brother said.

"Hmm, and how did you get here, to Equestria? And what made you so lucky to come when I am ruling?"

"That's none of your business Discord!" Rainbow shouted, flying up to save Luigi. But before she could, Discord released him, and the plumber fell onto his face on the colorful ground.

"Well, fine then! Use your little Elements on me, see how it works! But make it quick, I'm missing some excellent chaos here!" Discord snorted, leaning back on his thrown as Mario helped Luigi up.

"Come on girls, formation!" Twilight shouted, and they made the triangle shape. She lit her horn, making the crown glow. The Elements shot at the draconequus, and made him take notice. The ponies lifted into the air, and the purple unicorn closed her eyes. The Mario brothers watched this with wide eyes, as Twilight opened hers, glowing white, and the rainbow shot out of them. It twirled up and over, taking aim for Discord. As it was about to come down on him, it stopped, dead in its tracks. Discord opened one eye carefully, and saw the frozen rainbow. He reached out his paw and tapped it. The rainbow crumbled like dust, and the ponies fell to the ground. "What?! That should've worked!"

"Ha! You ponies are ignorant! You think humans can just come to Equestria without consequence? Them being here has stopped the Elements of Harmony from working. And until they're gone, I will continue to rule!" Discord cackled, rolling off his throne and laughing, pounding the ground with his paw.

"No! No! It-it can't be!" Twilight choked, bringing a hoof to her mouth in horror. They had failed. And they had no idea how to get the brothers back to their land.

---

"What are we going to do Twilight? With them here, Discord will never be stopped!" Rainbow exclaimed. They were back at the library.

"I have no idea! We don't even know how they got here! Some fireball? What does that mean? Does that mean we have to get a fireball?" Twilight paced the room, feeling herself on the verge of insanity.

"We're-a sorry. We didn't mean to-a get stuck-a here," Mario said.

"It's okay. You guys couldn't have done anything."

"Maybe you should check your books Twi.' They might give us a hint about where we should take these two," Apple Jack suggested, looking at the books surrounding them.

"You're right AJ! Quick, everpony start looking!" The eight sorted through books, trying to find one that might tell them a clue about where to go. After a few minutes, Pinkie found one.

"I found it! "The Guide to Other Worlds"," Pinkie said, and Twilight quickly opened it. The unicorn flipped through the pages, searching for something about the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Oh! I found something!" Twilight read the entry to herself. After a few minutes, she said something. "It says that the Mushroom Kingdom is accessible, but you need something call the Rock of Corayn. And that it is found deep in the jungles of the DayMoon Mountains."

"Well, where are the DayMoon Mountains?" Rarity asked.

"Past the EverFree Forest, over the Plains of Mercury, through the Swamps of Apollo, and across the Zeus Sea," Pinkie Pie said, reading from a different book, about maps.

"What?! Where is all this?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Well, we head south past EverFree first."

"Is this all in Equestria?"

"Yup."

"I've never heard of any of these places! I mean, the Swamps of Apollo? The Zeus Sea? Plains of Mercury? What kind of names are those?"

"The names of the places, I guess."

"Well, since we have no choice, we have to go get the Rock of Corayn. So, who's with me?" Twilight put her hoof out.

"I am," Rainbow Dash said.

"Me too," Pinkie Pie agreed, putting her hoof in along the others.

"Anything to get Equestria back," Rarity said.

"Count me in," AJ told them.

"For Princess Peach," Mario said. He put his hand in the middle.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. The little pegasus looked uncertainly at the hooves and hand in the middle.

"Okay," the pegasus sighed.

"Luigi?" Mario said.

The other brother was no where to be seen.

"Luigi?"

"Found him," Rainbow Dash snorted, finding the plumber under a pile of books. She grabbed him by his foot and hauled him out from under them.

"Luigi. Come on-a brother, we need-a to get back to the-a Mushroom Kingdom. I need to get-a back to Princess Peach." Mario paused. "And if you don't get back, Daisy will-a come and rip your moustache off."

Luigi quickly put his hand in the middle.

"Daisy?" Twilight inquired.

"Oh, just his girlfriend."

"Okay, since we're all agreed, let's go!"

Cheers went up from the circle.

---

"Okay, according to this map, we need to go south into EverFree. Then, we head north to find the Plains of Mercury," Twilight said, looking at the map as they walked.

"Okay, but Ah have a question. How big is the EverFree Forest?" Apple Jack asked.

"I don't think it's that big, I mean, it can't be more than a few acres, can it?"

"Um, that looks way more than a few acres," Fluttershy squeaked, and all the ponies looked up at the huge expanse of forest, spreading miles across.

"Great. Just what we need," Twilight grumbled, sticking the map into her saddlebags.

"I just hope we don't run into any scary beasts or anything."

"If we do, Luigi and I can-a take care of them," Mario said, poking his brother in the ribs.

"Uh, yeah," Luigi halfheartedly agreed.

"Um, no offense, but what can you guys do that we can't?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying above them.

"Can you girls-a do this?" Mario asked, and he nodded to Luigi, who nodded back. Luigi jumped, then Mario jumped, and they drove their fists straight towards Rainbow Dash, knocking her around and making coins rain out of her. The brothers floated down, and landed on their feet. She landed with a thud on the ground, rubbing her head.

"Ouch! What the hay?"

"And if we have-a fire flower, we can throw-a fireballs," Luigi said.

"Okay, I gotta admit, that's pretty cool, but did you have to test it on me?" Rainbow started flying above them again, ducking under a tree branch.

"No. We didn't. But you-a asked," Mario pointed out.

"Can you do it on Pinkie Pie for me?" Dash looked at them, smiling. Mario rolled his eyes, and the two approached the pink pony. Mario twisted, and stuck out his fist, and as he went up, Pinkie came up with him, coins flying out of her. Luigi joined them in the air, making more coins fall around them. She landed on the ground with a flop.

"Wow! That was cool! How'd you do that?" Pinkie asked, bouncing back up from the ground.

"Just a talent of ours that-a comes naturally," Mario explained.

"Man, that's handy! You probably have a ton of money right?"

"Well, sorta. Usually, we just-a find money laying around in-a our world," Luigi said.

"Oh, so-"

RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!

"What was that?!" Rarity exclaimed as her friends stopped, waiting for the ground to stop shaking. Luigi clung to Mario.

"A manticore!" Twilight shouted as the beast roared again.

"Oh, don't worry girls, I can handle it," Fluttershy said. The manticore leapt out of the bushes, growling. "Now, nice manticore, would you please step out of the way? We're kind of in a rush." The manticore roared again, right in Fluttershy's face. She cringed, backing away from it. Then, she noticed something off about it. It was gray. "Twilight! Discord's done something to it! It won't listen to me!"

"Leave-a it to us!" Mario announced, pulling his brother off him. He pulled out a couple of fire flowers, and gave one to Luigi. The girls watched as they flickered. When it stopped, their overalls were the colors of their shirts, their shirts were white, and their hats were white with the letter the color of their overalls. They stood in front of the ponies, blocking them from attack. They pulled back their hands and threw fireballs at the manticore, Mario's were red and Luigi's were green. They beast yowled, trying to bat them away. The fireballs burnt the beast, making it even angrier. It swiped a paw towards them, hitting Luigi and flinging him back. The ponies watched as his colors faded back to the originals. He remained on the ground for a few seconds, groaning, before getting up. Mario noticed this, and frowned. Now Luigi could be hurt easily. The other Mario brother ran around the manticore, and jumped on its head. It howled, backing away from the plumbers. Mario continued hurling fireballs at it, while Luigi jumped on its head again. Soon, it back off, and crashed through the bushes, whimpering and snuffling like a puppy. The brothers high-fived and walked back towards the astounded ponies.

"That was truly awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her mouth wide open.

"I have a few questions though," Twilight said. "First, what were those things, second, how can you throw fire without being burnt by it, three, why did Luigi lose his when the manticore hit him, and fourth, how are you two able to jump that high?"

"Lotta questions… Okay, so, those were-a fire flowers. When we change, our suits are flameproof. When we are hit, we lose our-a abilities, and if we are hit-a when normal, we shrink, and then if we are hit-a again, we lose a life. We are able to jump that high because of magic," Mario explained.

"Magic? You guys are magic?"

"Your lives seem like one big game to me," AJ said.

"Yeah! Just like a video game," Pinkie agreed.

"Well, pretty much," Mario said.

"How many lives do you have?"

"I have seven now. Luigi has three."

"Why the difference? And what happens when you lose a life? For that matter, what happens when you lose all your lives?" Rarity asked.

"Well, Luigi's always-a been the unlucky one. If there's ever a bad guy, it-a usually goes after him. That's why he's such a scaredy cat. And, when we-a lose a life, we reappear in the-a same place. But when we lose all of our-a lives, we transport back to the castle."

"Wait! Hold on a minute! If you get transported back to the castle, why don't we just make you lose your lives and then you guys will be back to your world!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Noo, noo, Luigi wants to stay alive…" the brother whimpered, cowering behind Mario.

"I understand the-a logic, but losing lives hurt," Mario said.

"Besides, we're not going to try it just for our own reasons. Discord can wait for now," Twilight said, giving Rainbow a stern look. The pegasus rolled her eyes.

"It was just a suggestion…"

"Anyways, we better get going again. Come on, everypony!" Twilight started into a trot.

"I'm not a pony," Luigi said to Mario. "Am I?" Mario nudged him in the ribs and they started after the others.

The rest of the forest went without much more disturbances, except for getting Fluttershy and Luigi across a small stream, which both Twilight and Mario had no luck persuading them. She tried to use her magic to left them across, but Luigi almost jumped out of his skin at the thought of being lifted by magic, but Fluttershy was glad for the ride. In the end, Mario had to carry his brother across. A few vines had entangled Apple Jack, but Mario used his fireballs to kill them, releasing her.

"Hey! I see some light shining from this way! I'm going to go check it out!" Rainbow announced, speeding towards the light.

"Wait Rainbow! Slow down!" Twilight shouted, and the others ran to keep up with her. As they neared the other side, the unicorn tried to say something to the pegasus. "Rainbow-gasp-don't do that! Safety in-gasp- numbers! Besides, we need to reach the… Plains… of… Mercury…" They entered the sunlight. Rainbow was already staring, dumbfounded, at what surrounded her. Rolling, treeless hills and flat grasslands spread before them. The sun shone down, making the air pleasantly warmer than the EverFree Forest. Birds sang, bugs buzzed around them, and longer grass tickled their feet. Flowers grew in bunches, making the air have a sweet smell, and a thin stream trickled from somewhere far off.

"We- we've done it. We've reached them," Twilight breathed. The eight stared at the beautiful land before them.

"The Plains of Mercury."